Tag: A Kiss Out of Time

Total 6 Posts

Finding the Time to Write

How do you find the time to write? That’s a good question! It’s not an easy process.  I admire those writers who write each and every day. I’m not as disciplined, but I would like to be. However, when I wrote several times during the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, I was able to find the discipline to do so. Despite a busy work schedule of teaching, family time, my birthday, and Thanksgiving, I scheduled time each day, usually after dinner, to write. That said, I produced three complete books during three separate NaNoWriMo’s, two of which are published, A Kiss Out of Time and A Dance Out of Time. My third is in revision stage, and I hope to get it published next year.

When asked about finding time, I’ve responded that it’s not finding time, it’s making time. At least for me that’s been the case. I am an advocate of carrying a notepad wherever and whenever I go for those bursts of inspiration. I keep one in my car, several around the house including the bathroom (good inspiration there), and in my purse.

I wrote my first novel, Wildflowers, while commuting on a bus to New York City from New Jersey. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to write a very rough draft in a small spiral notebook and later to type it all up. I’ve also discovered the recording app on my smart phone which can enable me to dictate story ideas or an outline. So, if there’s a will, there’s a way.

Since I am more of a morning person, I feel that if I can get up a bit earlier, I can use the half hour or so to write. I’ve done it before, and I can do it again. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write, suggests writing morning pages. That’s also been helpful to me. If nothing else, it allows for a free flow of ideas on paper. Who knows? It might lead to a story later on. By the way, evening time is good also. Whatever works, as long as you make the time and write.

Happy writing!

On Writing: A YA series

What goes into writing a series of books? I often wondered how anyone could write more than one story featuring the same main characters until I tried to craft one.

During the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) of 2012, I  wrote my first young adult ghost story, A Kiss Out of Time, which was published in 2013 by Featherweight Press. The story features Georgina Claythorne, a seventeen year old psychic and ghost hunter, who is unnaturally attracted to the ghost of a Confederate soldier who haunts her grandmother’s antique shop in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Having read A Kiss Out of Time, some of my readers, including a few middle school students I taught, wanted to know more about Georgina and her ghost hunting adventures.  After “living with Georgina and her boyfriend and fellow ghost hunter in my head” for almost three years, they felt like part of my family. So, I decided to use the 2013 NaNoWriMo to work on a sequel. In this adventure, Georgina confronts not one but two ghosts who haunt her family’s bed and breakfast inn in Ocean Grove. The book became known as A Dance Out of Time.

I wasn’t sure if I’d grow tired of writing about the same character and setting, but I didn’t. Instead I discovered several things in the process. First, I found it resourceful to have previous notes from my first book including a binder with maps, research, outlines, magazine photos, and character sketches nearby as I drafted. Second, I found it helpful to use flashback and connect the previous book to the current story. I also got to know my characters even better. A Dance Out of Time and was published by Featherweight Press in 2015.

Sadly, an accidental fall in 2015 waylaid plans for writing for almost a year after I broke both wrists, required surgery and a year of physical therapy. I am slowly returning to the writing.

Series writing is not for everyone, but I did enjoy my venture into it and will try it again. I might bring out a third story for Georgina and Jake as they are now young adults.  In the meantime, I have two other books in the works, another young adult featuring a junior witch and a women’s fiction story about an Irish immigrant, plus a short story coming out in an anthology of historical romances set for publication in the spring of 2017.

Both A Kiss Out of Time and A Dance Out of Time are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Feather Weight Press Pubishing.

Where did you get your inspiration for A Kiss Out of Time?

I have always been fascinated by ghost stories, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. As a child I enjoyed dressing up in costumes, going trick or treating, and watching scary movies on television. I still do! Well, I enjoy the scary movies, ghost stories, and watching the children trick or treat at my door. I also enjoy reading and learning about the paranormal.

I’m a big fan of such movies as Ghost, The Sixth Sense, and such classics as The Portrait of Jennie, The Uninvited, and A Christmas Carol.

I had a lot of inspiration for writing my first young adult paranormal, A Kiss Out of Time. My interest and belief in the metaphysical, my own experiences and that of others who recounted their experiences with psychic phenomenon, and having taught young teens for a number of years contributed to my desire to write a ghost story for young adults.

Write What You Know: Ghosts?

I’ve stayed in a castle near Seville, Spain which I believe might have been haunted. It had been the site of ancient battles and been situated near ancient Roman ruins. I also sensed a presence near a wooded area in the west of Ireland. While staying in a relative’s home in Maryland,  I woke up right before dawn’s full light and spied what I believed to be an apparition of a couple dressed in the style of the Civil War era. The man wore a gray uniform of the Confederate Army, and the woman wore a long flowing dress. They seemed to be in a struggle, and as the man held up his sword over the woman who crouched in supplication, the sun rose and the apparition vanished. Later I found out that there had been skirmishes during the Civil War not too far from the site.  I’ve also spoken to ghost hunters, psychics, and casual observers of ghosts and related phenomenon. It’s not all that unusual, and I think close to half the population surveyed on believing or sensing ghosts have reported they have had similar encounters.

Characterization

Since I have also had an interest in the arts, majoring in art in high school and studying at adult ed. programs over the past few years, I decided to draw upon that (no pun intended) to create my heroine, Georgina Claythorne, an art student and a ghost hunter. From her earliest years, Georgina experienced psychic ability and saw “dead people” who spoke to her and told her their sad tales. She used her abilities to help them to cross over to the Other Side. She also is aided by her best friend-turned-boyfriend, Jake Hanlon, a skeptic but loyal friend with a more scientific approach to the paranormal.

Setting

The location of A Kiss Out of Time and its follow-up A Dance Out of Time  is Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Having been there many times, I’m familiar with the city, the boardwalk, the beach, Main Avenue with its shops and restaurants, nearby Asbury Park, and other sites mentioned in the stories. I try to use what I’m familiar with and interested in when I write.

National Novel Writing Month

I wrote both A Kiss Out of Time and A Dance Out of Time in the month of November during National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo, as it’s called, gave me the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month. So, I had to focus when I could after work, on weekends, and around my birthday and Thanksgiving holiday to get the writing done. I would advocate anyone interested in writing a book to try NaNoWriMo for the experience and the challenge. I know it helped me, and the website offers tips and encouragement in the writing process.

Writing a YA

As a teacher, I wanted to write stories which my young teenage students in the middle school, and hopefully older teens as well as adults, would read. Several students showed an strong interest in the paranormal, and I told them of my plans to write the books. Their encouragement spurred me on in my goal of writing my first YA.

Having the ability to see and to help ghosts is not an easy one for Georgina, and like many young people who are a bit different, she had to put up with teasing and bullying as a result. Unfortunately, bullying is an all too common occurrence for children and teens. It’s important to try to stop it when it happens, and to get help if you are the victim of bullying.

I hope that you will find my young adult books interesting and enjoyable. A Kiss Out of Time is published by Featherweight Press. A Dance Out of Time is soon to be published by FP as well.

Thanks for visiting. Look for more of my blogs on ghosts, shape shifters, Wicca, and reincarnation in future updates.

Happy Haunting!