William Blake (1757-1827) (English poet, painter
and engraver) is one of the earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism. He emphasized individual, imaginative,
visionary and emotional creativity. He
privileged imagination over reason in the creation of both his poetry and
images, asserting that ideal forms should be constructed not from observations
of nature but from inner visions. He
declared in one poem, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s.”
When I read William Blake's statement it
rang true with me. As authors we draw from our inner vision, or as we refer to
it, our muse. Our imagination gathers information from which we draw our ideas
and create our plots. People often ask where I get my ideas. I really have no
idea. They just seem to pop into my head and I put them on paper.
I started writing to accomplish a dream
-- to write a story. All of the rest has been the cream on top. I am now on my
fifth story, and much to my amazement and delight my first story will be
published on the 21st of August. Yes, with a lot of hard work and a
bit of help from fate, dreams do come true. Mine just happened to have happened
on Christmas Eve last year. I always thought I would scream and dance, but no,
I sat frozen instead. All I could say was "WOW" in stunned amazement.
My husband was asleep, and we never wake a sleeping bear. My critique partners
live across the country from me and would probably have been happy to be
awakened to hear my good news, but I just couldn't do it at 2:30 a.m. on Christmas
morning. Now that I think back on it, having those special moments to myself
might have been a good thing. It gave me time to reflect over the last years of
working toward this moment.
A blurb on my story Paradise Pines
Series: Night Angel
Sassy Amalie Renard, a poker-playing
saloon singer, shakes up Paradise Pines, a former gold-rush mountain community
by turning the saloon’s bar into her stage. Her amazing voice stirs the
passions of the hotel owner, a man who anonymously travels tunnels at night
providing help to the downtrodden as the mysterious Night Angel. Declan
Grainger agrees to subsidize the building of a music hall to fulfill Amalie's
dream, but a bounty for her arrest could spoil his plans. Distrust and jealousy
stir flames of malice and revenge threatening to destroy their town. Drawing from past experiences, Declan and Amalie turn to each
other to find a way to save the community.
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