Category Archives: Author

Author, My characters, Writing

Author: A Solitary Life

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2013-07-27 09.19.12

The life of a writer is solitary for the most part. Even if you have an office it serves one. You don’t get to have lunch with the office crew. You don’t get Christmas parties or birthday cupcakes. It is just you and your chosen method of writing whether that be by pen and paper or computer.

The social aspect that comes with working in a job with fellow coworkers can’t be reproduced in your office at home. If I had my way, all the writers I know would live in a 25 mile radius of me. They could come visit and write without us saying a single word to each other. It wouldn’t be required. Just the sheer presence of someone else would be worth it. The distractions are there. Within my reach is my fridge, TV, the internet and a host of other things that can preoccupy my mind as I work on any present WIP. One has to stay focus and prioritize when you work in an office of one. Things that might not get in my way if I had regular hours and an office space outside the home.

The solitude can be hard when humans are deemed social creatures. It does not always hit me as I tend to stay busy so my mind does not have time to think. Though there are those days, few thankfully, that I sit back in my chair and wish my office had a larger staff. Someone I could go talk to for thoughts, ideas and just general chit-chat.

Thankfully my characters draw me in as they beg for me to come play with them. How they want me to come and explore what is on the next page. They are always there for me during the good and bad times. I guess in their own right they are my coworkers sitting right there next to me waiting to talk.

Author, Book Cover, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

Book Cover Release: Stacey Jaine McIntosh

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Solstice Final2

Today I want to share with you Stacey Jaine McIntosh’s new book cover for her book that is about to be released. This is a coming out party so to speak. I wish her all the best. Personally I think it looks pretty amazing.

About “Solstice”:
The High Queen was dead and Advent Mor is in the throes of being divided up piecemeal between her six children, while in the woods not far away a Faery in exile seeks to reclaim the throne of Aisling that was taken from her at birth and Dragons toy with the lives of mortals.

About Stacey
Stacey Jaine McIntosh was born in Perth, Western Australia. She has a Diploma in Spatial Services and once toyed with being a Cartographer.

At twenty-nine, her first love has always been writing and she now has three short stories; “Freya”, “Blood Sacrifice” and “Fallen Angel” published in various anthologies, along with a few more in the works. Two of her novels “The Winter Princess” and “Queen-in-Waiting” are available for free on Smashwords.com.

Stacey still resides in her home town of Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and four children. Her eldest of which began reading at age three and devours books in just the same manner as his mum.

When she isn’t spending time with her family or writing, Stacey enjoys photography, graphic design, and the occult.

You can find Stacey here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/StaceyJaineMcIntosh
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RhiannonBrid
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5575229.Stacey_Jaine_McIntosh

This book will be available for purchase 12 May 2013 from Smashwords.com and Amazon.com (and anywhere else Smashwords distributes out to)

Amazon Parrot, Author, Manuscript

Falling in love with your MS again

6 Comments

2012-08-21 09.50.10

Have you ever picked up a MS that has been laying dormant and fall in love with it all over again? I use to think when I did that perhaps I was being conceited. That was until I wrote this on my author page on FB and learned that was not the case.  In fact one person wrote, “If you don’t love your work who will?”

And that solidified it. Working on Vol 2 of my Jasper, Amazon Parrot series I realized it would be a good idea to reread the first one so I could bridge the two together. Sitting down on the couch I got my Pepsi and started to read. It had been a while since I had done this and I fell in love all over again. I laughed at the same spots, I smirked at the reactions of some of the characters and just truly enjoyed the read.  There has been an occasion where a friend had read this MS out loud to me so I could catch anything that would need to be fixed. Instead I ended up laughing and then out of the blue it hit me. I wrote this, me.

I truly love this book. I have lived and breathed this MS for a few years now. I think as authors we need to fall in love all over again with our works. Not just a few times but down the road pick it up and enjoy the words you wrote. Enjoy the adventure that falls off the page.  If you don’t, like that comment suggested, who else will? We have to enjoy what we do and trust me it will show on the pages whether the words are works of love or just a task that was done.

Case in point is another MS that I will be submitting soon, “Squirrel Mafia”which is a true story of the war between the squirrels in my back yard versus me. It makes me giggle and I hope it will make others laugh out loud for that was the point of the book. This is my first attempt at true humor. But most important it was a labor of time, effort and love over a topic that was just so much fun to write about.

I truly hope my fellow writers and bloggers that when you put words down that you are having a good time, enjoying what you are doing and absolutely having fun. It makes all the difference in the world. And if you can do that the words will shine through to others.