This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Virginia Crow will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
The hardest part about writing is…
Thanks for inviting me to write a guest post on this brilliant blog!
I realised a long time ago that I wanted to be a writer, and even longer ago that my head was absolutely full of stories. In fact, some of the stories I write now owe a lot to the stories I made up when I was at school. But, my writing is still my second job, despite the fact it occupies my mind constantly.
This leads me onto what I have found to be the hardest part of writing.
I believe in the need for inspiration. I have heard it said that there is no such thing as writer’s block, but I write when I’m inspired and struggle to write more than a few lines at any other time. But my inspiration always seems to come at the worst possible time!
As a general rule of thumb, I write my best work when I am stealing minutes at a time, because this is always when the muse descends! Why is it that inspiration does that? I work as a private music teacher, starting my days at 2pm, so most of my writing is done in the mornings. But, usually, I get inspired when I am just about to start teaching. Grrr!
There are also certain books, like my Caledon series, which I cannot switch-off from. That means there are some writings I can only pen at weekends and holidays.
On the plus side, I have a very obsessive nature, so events like NaNoWriMo suit me perfectly. And this is when Baptism of Fire was created. Determined to gain all the badges I could, I managed to complete the novel within those thirty days. 2019 was the first year I had taken part, because I knew I would get hooked! And I was right, but I did get to finish my novel as part of that, for which I felt very proud of myself!
To read this, you would think my job as a teacher may have put a spanner in the works for my writing, but actually it is the exact opposite. It is only while I have been able to run the two things side-by-side that I’ve produced my best writing.
So, while finding time to write is (for me) the hardest part of being a writer, the end product makes it worth putting up with!
Kevin gripped Jilly’s coat and his voice became little more than a whisper. “I’m cursed, Jilly. Everyone who looks after me dies in a fire, or someone they love does. I don’t know how to stop it.”
When Rev. Alastair Roberts adopts Kevin Alderman, he dismisses any reference to the boy’s curse. But, as the pair spend more time in each other’s company, it becomes apparent that Kevin is not the only one with a bitter past.
As the past continues to haunt them, can they hope to change their future?
Enjoy an Excerpt
“Where’s Kevin?” He looked around the room, panic seeping into him, but he forced himself to keep smiling. “Tuck in,” he continued. “I’ll just go find him.”
He squeezed past the gathered people, but Trish stopped him at the door.
“Are you alright, Vicar?” she asked, her voice clipped but her tone caring.
“I’m just going to find Kevin,” he explained.
“Did he do it?”
“Do what?” Alastair asked, confusion on his face.
“That,” she said, pointing at the dresser.
“No,” Alastair whispered, staring at the array of crossed out photographs. He didn’t know whether the word was in answer to Trish’s question or a statement of disbelief. Perhaps it was both. He took the door handle and put all his weight onto it.
“Do you want me to go find him?” she asked. “He’ll just be outside.”
“No, I’ll go. But would you do something for me?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the other people.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Don’t make a fuss, just take them down.”
Trish placed her hand on his arm and nodded across at him. Alastair stepped out of the room and back over to the French windows, then out into the garden. The sudden change from clear electric lights into the darkness took his eyes a moment to adjust, and he stood still for a time, waiting for them to focus.
“Kevin?” he called softly. There were one or two people still standing by the bonfire, smokers mainly, but Kevin wasn’t with them.
About the Author:
Virginia grew up in Orkney, using the breath-taking scenery to fuel her imagination and the writing fire within her. When she’s not writing, Virginia is usually to be found teaching music. She believes wholeheartedly in the power of music, especially as a tool of inspiration. She also helps out with the John o’ Groats Book Festival which is celebrating its 4th year next April.
Virginia lives in the far-flung corner of Scotland, soaking in inspiration from the rugged cliffs and miles of sandy beaches.
She loves cheese, music and films, but hates mushrooms.
The book is on SALE for $0.99 During the tour at Smashwords.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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After a year in Paris studying painting at l’´Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Hélene Simard returns home to Quebec City in 1939, with a secret. She has a German fiancé. She can conceal his identity, but not the baby she carries. Hans Werner, her lover, was drafted in the German army, and his dreams of ever reuniting with Hélene are shattered with WWII escalating. In 1942, a bold opportunity arises for him to cross the Atlantic. Hounded by the Canadian police and Nazi assassins, the lovers’ hope for a new life together becomes intertwined with a plot to kill Winston Churchill.
Jean Gallant Marcoux was born in Quebec City Canada, where he earned an MD degree from Laval University. As a board-certified allergist, he practiced in Quebec City from 1970 to 1977 after which he continued his career in Houston Texas until his retirement in 2007.
Miriam Halahmy is a poet, special needs educator, and novelist. She has worked with refugees in schools as well as in workshops she led for PEN and the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture. Her books include Behind Closed Doors and Hidden, which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
Although inspiration can be found in everything and everyone around us, our muse is the one to receive that inspiration and allows it to bubble up and forth into the world.
The spring of inspiration is always available to you. If you allow, the muse calls your soul forth to express in the way she desires to be seen. 
Two women from different lands, each struggling to survive; a child’s mysterious disappearance will alter both their lives forever…
Karen Gruber is an international #1 best-selling contributing author, inspirational speaker, and a Leadership Development Coach for women and moms. She specializes in inspiring moms to realize their potential as mothers, women, and leaders. Karen has had extensive specialized training in parenting, feminine spirituality, and leadership. Over the past 15 years she has provided innovative leadership coaching for moms and has dramatically transformed her own life.
Alex and Sasha are twin sisters, physically identical down to their freckles. But the resemblance is only skin deep—Sasha is profoundly autistic, while Alex is not. Sasha can’t communicate and acts bizarrely, and the family revolves around her and her intense needs. Yet the aged, wealthy, and mysterious Aunt Nana seems to have a particular interest in both girls. Offering a helping hand, she encourages the family to move to San Francisco to be near her. And when the young twins discover a tunnel in Nana’s tool shed, it leads them on a journey across the world and back 100 years in time. The tunnel is a pathway to the Firebird Estate, the home of their ancestors, located in rural Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Even more remarkable, through the effect that twisting time has on cognition, Sasha is not autistic when she’s at the Firebird Estate. Now, growing up in two strikingly different times and places, the twins must face their separate destinies among the ravages of the incipient Russian Revolution. Can they save their families on both sides of the tunnel? Can they simultaneously stay true to their own hearts, to each other, and to the people they left behind? Each sister must face her own personal challenge—but only together can they discover their own future within their family’s past.
Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master’s degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, “Suddenly Paris,” which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, “The FATOFF Conspiracy,” was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories — homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals — the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of “Alien Dimensions Magazine,” “600 second saga,” “Graveyard Girls,” “Kyanite Press’ Fables and Fairy Tales,” “The Carmen Online Theater Group’s Chronicles of Terror,” with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.
Beach Kisses & Sunset Wishes by Nora LeDuc – She wants someone interested in a fling. He wants someone interested in a ring.
