Is It just a Fluke when Something Like This Happens??

       I don’t know if this is a fluke or simply how I, as a writer, process things.

But I noticed that when I have written a section of my story, I will take a break by reading a really good book by one of my favorite authors. Curled up with a cup of tea, I give my brain a time-out. My brain seems to work on two levels during that ‘resting’ time.  I will be deeply engrossed in the story I am reading and my brain will be forming new threads to the story I am writing.

And the two story lines are completely different. For example this morning I was reading JD Robb’s ‘Delusion in Death’ (an excellent series by the way) about a detective in NYC, year 2060.

 My current project is about LaVerne living in Alaska in the 1920’s.  Somehow, another section of my novel bubbles to the surface as I am reading some other writer’s words.   Even though the subjects for the two fictions are literally decades apart and wildly different.   Weird, huh??

I guess it’s nothing more than the ‘brain rest’ I am taking and reading an author who is a wordmaster.  While Dallas (the NYPD detective) puts her vehicle in vertical drive and scares the ‘be-jusus’ out of her partner, Peabody,  on a different level I am wondering how many cords of wood LaVerne will need to see her through the long Alaskan winter.

When beginning this novel I just had a few bits and pieces of my mother’s sister’s life in Alaska.  Family stories, yes, but certainly not enough to even write a short story.

And so I tried to place myself in LaVerne’s shoes (head).  What would it have been like to run away from the safe environment of the family home and get to Alaska in the 1920’s?   To build a home and a life.. from dirt.  To brave the harsh elements and literally live off the land?  Surviving meant learning a myriad of skills in a big hurry!

Back to work…….Alaska awaits!
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Heidi Jon Schmidt,  Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Caroline Leavitt, Sue Grafton, Karen Robards, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts,Raymond Benson and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August’s author and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and  slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is January’s author.
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