And Now For Something Completely Different...

Time for the Friday roundup!

Beth Groundwater is excited about her first big review for To Hell In A Handbasket: http://bethgroundwater.blogspot.com/2009/03/first-big-review-for-to-hell-in.html

More discussion on the Orphan Works Bill and why it is NOT GOOD for us writers: http://waltshiel.com/2009/03/26/why-i-care-about-the-orphan-works-bill

Great advice from Allyn Evans on accepting change: http://allynevans.blogspot.com/2009/03/dare-to-accept.html

The Publicity Hound’s newsletter is always full of great ideas: http://www.publicityhound.com/

Facebook is making changes in response to feedback: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/25/facebook.changes/index.html


And my little goobers, Rocko & Spunky, were interviewed by Amigo at Pets & Their Authors – it just might go to their heads, too! ttp://petsandauthors.blogspot.com/2009/03/meet-l-diane-wolfes-black-cat-duo-rocko.html

Character Inspiration!

What inspired your characters? From where did they spring? What keeps you 'in character?'

First a quick plug for my cats - they were interviewed by Mayra's Amigo - Pets & Authors

My YA series, The Circle of Friends, was originally inspired by just a wisp of a dream... I saw Lori and Jason, I knew the setting, I knew she was a swimmer - and it all flowed from that brief moment. Five books from one brief little moment.

What keeps me 'in character' as I write? Everyone has their own method, but for me, music works best. Each main character has their own 'theme' song. It embodies their passions, their emotions, their inner turmoil, and the music helps me to connect with their personality. It's a combination of music and lyrics that brings my characters to life.

Here's the inspiration behind the five main characters:

Book I...Lori -
Lori is a combination of songs. Her spirit emerged from a CD mix of 80's & 90's love songs, and their sweet innocence brought her to life.

Book II...Sarah -
Sarah's inner struggle with self-esteem solidified with Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" She was also my strongest connection, because I was a Sarah... You Tube Video

Book III...James -
The character with the most angst & baggage, James came to life with Stabbing Westward's "What Do I Have To Do?" You Tube Video

Book IV...Mike -
Mike's quiet nature & hidden struggles were best captured by Finger Eleven's "Thousand Mile Wish" & "One Thing." (His character also plays guitar, so I could picture him quietly strumming these tunes...) You Tube Video You Tube Video

Book V...Heather -
Heather was the toughest, as she's a strong, dominant choleric, but she came to life with Stream of Passion's "Passion." You Tube Video

(You Tube videos optional, but these songs may be unknown to you... and you might be curious!)

That is what inspires me as I created the stories surrounding these characters. What inspires you?

Author Laura Jensen Walker

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing
Turning The Paige Zondervan (March 1, 2009)
by Laura Jensen Walker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.
Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.
By the time she was 23, Laura had climbed the Eiffel Tower, trod the steps of the Parthenon, skied (okay, snowplowed) in the Alps, rode in a gondola in Venice, and wept at the ovens of Dachau. She’d also learned how to fold her underwear into equal thirds, make a proper cup of English tea, and repel the amorous advances of a blind date by donning combat gear and a gas mask.
Laura is a former newspaper reporter and columnist with a degree in journalism who has written hundreds of articles on many subjects ranging from emu ranching and pigeon racing to goat-roping and cemetery board meetings. However, realizing that livestock and local government weren’t her passion, she switched to writing humor, which she calls a “total God-thing.”
Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.
Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.
Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.
A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.
Another book in this series is Daring Chloe
She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog

ABOUT THE BOOK:

At 35, Paige Kelley is feeling very "in between." She's still working her temp job after two years, still not dating three years after her divorce, and still melting at every chubby-cheeked toddler she sees while her biological clock ticks ever louder. Paige even moves back home to help her ailing, high-maintenance mother.It's not exactly the life she'd dreamed of!
When her Getaway Girls book club members urge Paige to break free and get on with her life, she's afraid. How will her mother react? How can Paige honor her widowed mother and still pursue her own life? The answers come from a surprising source. A trip to Scotland and a potential new love interest help launch an exciting new chapter in her life, and lead Paige to discover that God's plan for her promises to be more than she ever imagined.
This latest release in the Getaway Girls collection delivers a smart, funny, and warm account of one woman's challenge to reconcile who she is - a dutiful Christian daughter - with the woman she longs to be.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Turning The Paige, go HERE

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310276985

What Were You Before an Author...?

This week - getting to know Spunky & friends...

Before I began writing and speaking and doing all these crazy author things... I was a professional photographer.

I started over twenty years ago working in various professional labs and for a contracting company. I'd taken photos since I was twelve and this rekindled my goal of becoming a professional.

I began first with black and white, setting up my own darkroom at my house. The first couple years I was mostly doing stock photos for Cat Fancy, Pet Product News and Homes Illustrated. Eventually this branched out into portraits and weddings. I shot both B&W and color, but my primary focus was black and white - so few photographers were still offering this service! I was a 'location photographer' and was always on the prowl for unique spots for photo shoots.

Once the prospect of speaking & authorship appeared, I slowly placed photography as a source of income on the back burner. I still occasionally shoot portraits, and I've even done an album cover, but I do not actively seek clients or jobs. My continued involvement in our local photo club over the past few years has sparked my creativity and now I enjoy taking fun, creative shots! My Deviant Art site is full of 'fun' photos and I've since discovered that outside of cats, close-ups are my favorite.

What did YOU do before becoming an author? Any regrets? And do you still do it to this day?