A very exciting adventure for me, since I entered the world of
authors, is getting to know other authors. I have been amazed at how
generous they are with their time and advice in helping newbie authors
like myself. One such author is William Burt. We "met" through a mutual
librarian friend. Although I have not met him in person yet, he has
given me great encouragement. I am honored that he chose me to be part
of this blog tour. I hope this tour will
expose readers everywhere to authors and bloggers worthy of more
attention. Hopefully, through this tour, you will also discover some
great books to enjoy during the summer reading season!
I would like to begin by sharing with you a little about William Burt. Having spent most of his teenage
years vicariously adventuring in Middle Earth, Bill is an avid
fantasy fan. His first allegorical fantasy title, The King of the Trees,
came out in 1998 (WinePress). Bowing to reader demand, he has expanded
the series to include a total of seven titles to date, with more to
follow. Burt holds a B.S. in English from Lewis and Clark College and an
M.S. from Western Oregon University in Deaf Education. In addition to
writing books, he works as an RID-certified American Sign Language
interpreter with over thirty years' experience. His interests include
reading, foreign languages and mycology. He is married with two grown
children. Check him out at http://www.greencloaks.com You
can scroll down to the bottom of his page and link to his blog. There
you will find the names of the authors he recommended in his World Blog
Tour post. In this way you can link to many authors and books you may
otherwise never find.
Unlike William Burt, I have not
settled into a specific genre yet. My only published book is historical
fiction. This is what I like to read, so this is what I wrote. I am not a
deliberate writer. I did not plan to nor ever desire to be an author.
Like so many great adventures in my life, it just seemed to happen.
Definitely assuring me that The Almighty is guiding my path. My first
book was just a story I made up one night to entertain myself. It grew -
seeming to take on a life of its own. My publisher would love for me to
write in one genre, but I
write for myself, not my public. So I write what interests me at the
time. I do
hope to write more historical fiction soon.
When I
wrote The Seamstress of Jamestown, I worked for 4 to 8 hours a day.
Since I demanded that it be very historically accurate, much of that
time was spent in research. I have great respect for authors of old. How
did they do research without the internet? When I wrote a chapter, it
only took about 3 hours. I just let the book within me flow out. The
characters developed on their own. They are based upon many people I
have known. Surely, a first book must be the easiest. Emma, my heroine,
is a combination of my mother, my friends, and myself. My book differs
from other historical fiction because it has my life in it. Surely no
one else wrote about Sr. Erminold and her method of teaching piano and
dance. It's the real characters that I have known that bring a fresh and
unique air to The Seamstress of Jamestown. My voice is pure as I have
taken no writing classes. The most common comment I receive about The
Seamstress is that it is easy to read and my characters seem real.
My
second book, which I am working on now, is easy. My mother wrote it.
She wrote about her life several times - just a handwritten page about
some incident (the neighbors house burning down or sewing methods in the
large dressmaking houses of NYC). She also kept her rough drafts of
letters that she wrote to relatives. Then, in her last year of life, she
recorded her memories. I have simply transcribed and combined these and
am putting them together with family photos. That hardly counts as
writing a book, but it will surely be my favorite.
Next,
will be the hardest project - the story of my grandmother's life. For
this, I will have to do much research. Her life is one of those that is
stranger than fiction. Much is what I uncovered with genealogy research,
but much is also from the one day she poured out her heart to me and
told me her life story. I promptly went to my car and wrote it down in
the back of my Daytimer. There will be a true theme, not just a story.
How did she and her sister live to be 102 and 91 respectively when their
ancestors died much younger? From whence came their strength of
character? These questions will be answered in easily flowing story
form.
Please check out three of the authors I have
discovered. Robert Mulkey wrote a memoir, This Is My Lemonade, which I enjoyed
reading and helped me understand the intense search some people have to
find home. Rose Marie Dunphy wrote Orange Peels and Cobblestones.
It is not only an interesting fiction novel about a young woman who is
torn from her loving family in Italy and brought to America but also an
immersion course in Italian culture and food. Terry Madden has dabbled in screenplays and historical fiction, and is currently
working on several science fiction and fantasy pieces, both short and
novel length. When she is not writing, she teaches high school chemistry and
astronomy. They will be posting for the World Blog Tour on June 2. Be sure
to follow them and their recommended authors!
Adopted by an Oregon family as an infant, Robert Mulkey was eighteen years old when he first learned the details of his birth family - including the brother he always dreamed of having. This is My Lemonade, An Adoption Story chronicles the amazing story of his thirty-four-year quest to know his birth family, learn of his roots, and find his identity, traveling first to British Columbia and eventually to the ancestral family home near Ascoli Piceno in central Italy. It is a journey filled with transcendent moments and agonizing heartbreak, leading finally to acceptance, understanding, and the genuine love of family.
http://thisismylemonade.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/my-inner-southern-californian/
Rose Marie Dunphy lived in Italy and now resides in New
York. With a Master’s Degree from Stony
Brook University, she taught Science for 10 years, co-authored That First Bite – Chance or Choice,
a self-help book about eating disorders using the 12 Step Program. Her
second
book, a novel, Orange Peels and Cobblestones, is based on a true event
in her
life. How does a mother give away her
own child? It has themes of adoption, the immigrant experience, and love and forgiveness. Her third book is Ciottoli
e Bucce D’Arancia, the Italian version of Orange Peels and Cobblestones,
which the
author translated herself. In addition,
Rose Marie has written numerous essays and short stories that have
appeared in The New York Times, Newsday and other publications. She is now writing a
cookbook of Italian
recipes and a sequel to Orange Peels and Cobblestones.
Dunphy is available as a public speaker and has done Book Talk/Signings
in libraries, colleges, book clubs and organizations across Long Island,
Albany, NY and the Palm Beach areas of Florida.
Copies of her books can be found and purchased on
Amazon, Kindle, Barnesandnobles.com and in New York City and Long Island
bookstores. For signed copies, contact the author at orangepeelsandcobblestones@gmail.com or visit her
blog at http://rosemariedunphy.blogspot.com. 
Terry Madden is embarking on a trilogy in the magical world of speculative fiction. Her first book in that series, Three Wells of the Sea, weaves a fascinating tale of the druid Lyleth and King Nechtan connecting Celtic culture and mythology to our modern world. Her short story "Animal," about a veterinarian in the future
and her fight to save the last animals on Earth, won the Writers of the Future Contest and appears in volume 30 of their anthology. Her screenplay "Passiontide" won the Hollywood Network's Screenplay Discovery Award, and she has placed in both the quarter and semi-finals of the AMPAS Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. She has an abiding interest in medieval and ancient culture and
mythology, especially Celtic. Somehow, that interest seems to coexist
just fine with her passion for space and worlds spinning around other
stars. Book one of her heroic/contemporary fantasy series is complete, and she is at work on book two of the trilogy. Check out her blog and writings at her website http://www.threewellsofthesea.com 