You know how everyone says when one door closes another one opens? At the time, you find this statement obnoxious as all get out because a) you don’t really know what the future holds, it certainly hasn’t been a cakewalk so far, and b) the thought of change is unbearable. You feel like your life is falling apart and everyone around is feeding you clichés like they’re made out of kale or quinoa or whatever the trend health food is right now. You don’t want kale clichés, you want double-chocolate fudge realisms, and you want them now. You just want things the way they were, but then something happens, a moment, an instant that sets you out on a path toward happiness you never knew could exist, and suddenly you think, huh, I don’t think I want double-chocolate fudge anymore. I think I’m in the mood for this heaping serving of strawberry cheesecake sitting in front of me…with a side of kale. And a pair of split pants, but we won’t get into that right now.

Graham Glenn may have tossed her in, but Oliver Finn made her feel again.

***

Penny in London releases August 1st!

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Come listen to the Penny in London soundtrack

Where do you find inspiration for your writing?

I love this question and yet I hate it all the same because it forces me to admit things to myself, to be honest. I know, that’s strange, not necessarily for me because I am impossibly torn on most things but, at the same time, it is strange. And I think that adjective suits me very well indeed. Why, you ask? Most likely because I am a very strange person and one, admittedly, most can only take in small doses. Which brings me to what inspires,

The first? Solitude.

That is a very odd thing, not only to admit to so many people, but also to admit as being something that absolutely inspires. However, since I am determined to be honest, it is decidedly true.

Loneliness brings out the depth in my writing. This seems to be the case for many amazing writers, i.e. Edgar Allan Poe, The Bronte sisters, Jane Austen. I would never presume to call myself an amazing writer. Though, my friends certainly say that I am. (Hint, hint. Austen, anyone?) Only joking. In all seriousness though, I meant to cite the obvious longing in their works. (And that is the only comparison I’d ever give myself against these incredible artists. Just want to clear that up.)

Longing is an ever present theme within my compositions. The mark that appears just within reach yet seems impossibly far from my character’s grasp. I love the ache it causes because it makes the reward that much sweeter. As you can tell, I love drama. I also love torment. It’s the emo-angst in me, I suppose. I never grew out of that, I think. Not that I mind, because it makes me, well, me and I sort of don’t mind being me.

Of course, the only solitude I get to experience anymore is when my son is napping and my husband is working but I embarrassingly suffer to tell you that my heart breaks for their return, however short their absence truly is. I’m a sucker for my own family. Pathetic, I know.

Which brings me to my next revelation.

I draw inspiration from ‘ridiculous love’, not the ‘I love you, sweetheart. You are my everything’ love. Blah, blah, blah. No, the bizarre, foolish, nonsensical love. The sort of love that grabs you by the collar and crushes you to a near pulp. The kind that sinks into your bones and helps define you and if you were to dissect that bone, your beloved’s name would come spilling out in exponential form.

Oh! It is such an incredible sensation, unselfish love. I wish it on almost everyone I know, save for most fascist dictators and maybe that Bob Lovell guy on my local television commercials. That guy just screams cheesy used-car salesman. Yikes.

Anyway, as I was saying, it just fills me so completely to write about unselfish love. I cannot get enough when my characters thinks of the other as a part of themselves rather than a separate person entirely. Two as one. My characters know what movies the other hates, how they take their tea, what color they can’t pull off, the things that make them tired just thinking about, their dreams, their aspirations, their souls and they genuinely want to know these things. They know that knowledge of the other is a selfish thing yet is not ammunition for other goals. They get to know one another simply for the sake of wanting to know everything that could possibly be known about each other. Because they love them.

What’s more inspiring than an honesty like that?

And last, but certainly not least…

Music. Though, it is not as important as my main two points, it is equally inspiring. I most definitely could not write without it. It swells and stretches the imagination tenfold, creating a pocket of emotion that tends to spill out over my shoulders and pools onto the ground around me. It trickles its way over the floor and often times absorbs into my son or even my husband, inciting smiles or dancing that fills me with even greater happiness. It is a gift from God.

My gift to you, courtesy of the talented Danny Elfman…p.s. Are there greater instruments than the violin and glockenspiel. Maybe the voices of a children’s choir?


Undoubtedly, a few more inspirations:

Okay, I only have one published book and it happens to be a Supernatural Romance but I’m currently writing a novel that has no paranormal elements. So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I don’t write an especially specific genre but I will allow myself to be pigeonholed one particular way. I wear the label, ‘romance writer’. Oh! How I love to write about love!

So, why do I write about love?

Because it is why I live.  I live to love my God, my family, my friends. There is not a more satisfying, more fulfilling, more sensation driven happiness better than love. And that’s exactly what love is. A sensation driven happiness.

When you’re first getting to know someone there are first jokes, first car drives, first movies, first songs, first kisses, which are all phenomenal, by the way, but with love, you get third, fourths, fifths and infinities.  It’s the promise of infinity that is so beautiful to me. It’s a concept, I think, may be lost within today’s youth. I don’t think couples stick it out long enough to find out what longevity can bring them. Deeper love, deeper respect, deeper connections. You get to know one another so well you can read the other’s thoughts and feelings without them being voiced. This is love to me. Connection is love to me.

That’s why I try to write the love between my characters with a deeper connection. Nothing is superficial about them, and although, they are flawed, they still hold themselves to higher standards and strive to meet them. Elliott would do anything for Julia and I mean anything. There’s a conversation between the two of them in The Understorey where Julia tells Elliott that she can see that he would die for her and Elliott whispers in reply, “I would kill tigers for you, Jules. Of course, I would die for you.” Theirs is a selfless love which is the only way to love, in my opinion. When a love is so profound you wouldn’t hesitate laying down your life for that person, that is genuine love in the most true sense.

I also try to convey to my readers, especially my female readers, that when someone is honestly interested in you they would do anything to keep you safe, body and soul. I love it when my female leads get into some sort of predicament and the boys come to their rescue. I mean, I know it’s an antiquated concept so just go ahead and call me old-fashioned. Now, with that being said,  I do want to point out that my female characters aren’t pansies, either. They fight back, they’re strong and intelligent and each possess gumption, a trait, I think, every girl should acquire.

It’s important to me that my readers recognize that my female leads know their own value. I can’t tell you how many girls I’ve met where I walked away from the conversation thinking, ‘they don’t know they’re worth jumping out of planes for’.  It’s just another reason why I write romances. I write how romance should be and what the youth should expect from each other. I write for entertainment, of course, because love is just a blast but I also write so my readers know that it’s okay to demand only the best because that’s what we all deserve, the best.

This envelopment with Jules smothered all lingering agony from the wanting that had these past few weeks sat so stagnant in my heart. It was as if I had been wandering through the Sahara, with a canteen brimming with water and only allowed myself to drink one tablespoon a day, though my body suffered for gallons.

HelloGoodbye ‘When We First Met’

Fellow members of ‘The Lovely Hearts Club’: