Guest Blogger Lillian Duncan and Deception

Today's guest is facing some recent challenges, as her husband just underwent triple-bypass surgery. I'm honored Lillian took the time to be with us here today!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LILLIAN DUNCAN writes stories of faith mingled with murder and mayhem. To learn more about her writing and her books, visit her at www.lillianduncan.net or www.lillianduncan.wordpress.com. DECEPTION (published by HarbourLight Books) is her latest release.

DECEPTION
by Lillian Duncan
Published by Harbour Light Books

ABOUT THE BOOK

As identical twins, they played the game of DECEPTION. Now, it’s not a game. It’s a matter of life and death.

Twins are supposed to have an unbreakable bond, but Patti and Jamie have serious “relationship issues.” When a niece she knows nothing about calls, Patti must unravel the yarn of Jamie’s life and her disappearance. Patti is determined to find her sister. Each step brings her closer to the truth, but pulls her further into a web of danger and deception.

Readers, buy your copy of Deception today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

QUIET PLEASE. Writer at work.

I like quiet when I write. It allows me to stay focused on my writing. The tranquility soothes my soul and allows my creativity to flow. HaHaHa!! Sounds good, but not in my house.

I have two dogs and four parrots so if you think it’s quiet in my house, think again.

It’s 5:03 AM as I write this and my Jack Russell terrier is in her cage, complaining and whining that I have the audacity to ignore her. She’s about ten months old and she is all Jack Russell, meaning she wants to play all the time. It works out all right when my husband is around to distract her but when he’s not all her wonderful, loving exuberance is focused on me. Lucky me!

My other dog isn’t too demanding, he’s content to lay near me and sleep. Only problem-he snores and loudly.

Then there’s the birds. We have four of them, two of them are relatively quiet but not Rocky and Jasper.

Rocky is a yellow-fronted Amazon—loving and adorable and likes to sing! Unfortunately, he sings the way I do—loud and off-key. So, while I’m trying to write, he serenades me with his versions of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday. Believe me, not conducive to my creativity.

Then, we come to Jasper. He’s an African Grey who lives up to his reputation of being a talker. And even though he’s downstairs when I write and I’m up, it makes no difference. When I’m home he spends much of his time calling my name, so as I write he calls out my name again and again and again. If I ignore him, he gets louder and louder.

So, as much as I love the quiet it doesn’t happen in my house very often—no matter what time of the day I write. Oh, and did I mention my husband? Believe me he’s not the quietest husband around either—but he’s one of the best!

But noisy are not, I wouldn’t trade my sweet little pets for all the quiet in the world. They bring fun, love and laughter into our home. And who doesn’t want that?

Life can be ironic. I like quiet but my house is noisy than most. I hate to drive, but managed to arrange it so I had to drive more than 90 minutes each way to work and back for at least fifteen years before I retired from that job. I consider myself shy, but now find myself searching out speaking engagements to promote my writing. Go figure.

Oops, gotta go—I hear the puppy!

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Thank you, Lillian, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: What are some of the ironies in your life?

No giveaway this week, but please interact with the author.

Welcome Lillian Duncan and Failure

Please interact with our guest authors by answering the question they provide. IF there is a book giveaway, your response will also enter you in the drawing for a free book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stories of faith, hope, and love mingled with murder and mayhem.

LILLIAN DUNCAN lives in a small town in the middle of Ohio Amish country with her husband. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology and a Master's degree from Kent State in Deaf Education.

Lillian believes books can be entertaining without being trashy. She writes the types of books she loves to read, suspense with a touch of romance. Along with writing novels, she writes devotions for ChristianDevotions.us.

PURSUED
by Lillian Duncan
Published by White Rose Publishing

ABOUT THE BOOK

Reggie Meyers has spent her life pursing the American Dream, but now she’s the one being pursued— by an unknown killer. Putting her trust in Dylan Monroe, a man she barely knows, will either be the best decision she ever made or the last.

Reggie’s a big city lawyer and Dylan’s a country farmer. In the normal course of events, their lives would never intersect but some accidents just aren't meant to be avoided. When Reggie crashes into Dylan, it makes a bad day even worse or so she thinks. Dylan, on the other hand, is intrigued by the feisty lady lawyer and wrangles a way to spend a bit more time with her by offering to drive her home after the accident. And so the journey that will change both their lives begins…

Readers, buy your copy of Pursued today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

I’M A FAILURE!

Yikes! I received an email reminder today from Tiff about this blog which is due tomorrow. Uh...the blog I hadn’t written yet. So what’s a writer to do?

Sit down and write, of course.

When I started writing sixteen years ago, it was because I loved books and I loved to read. Somewhere along the way, the reason changed. Now, I do it for the love of writing. It’s an amazing thing to see an idea go from one sentence to one paragraph to a seventy or eighty thousand word story.

Today, I thought I’d talk about FAILURE. That’s right, failure. If you’re going to become serious about writing, then you must accept the reality of failure. It can come in many different forms and they all hurt.

One type is failure to thrive. Not every idea is a good idea. I have tons of stories that I may have written partially but somewhere along the way, the story just wasn’t thriving. The original idea wasn’t strong enough to bring the story to completion. So what to do? Accept it and move on!

Another type is the failure of others to recognize how wonderful your story is. You’ve written it, edited it, revised it again and again, and polished it some more. But each proposal comes back with a big red NO written on it. What to do? This one’s a little more tricky. There are several options. Go back and rework the story if you want and send it out—again! Or it might be time to put it away and start a new story.

A writer may live in the land of rejections for many years. Rejections are a fact of live when you are a writer. When this happens, you can quit or Accept it and move on!

Now, your baby’s been published. You have it in your hot little hands. It’s so beautiful but...no one else seems to care quite as much as you do. Friends and family are excited but not excited enough to buy a copy, though they’d love to have you give them one.

This one can be particularly painful for us sensitive, artistic types. It’s hard to imagine that others just don’t get it. But it’s a fact. What to do? Accept it and move on!

Now, comes the dreaded review. You know the one. The one that tells you that your writing is so bad, you shouldn’t even write a grocery list again. I can’t say I’ve had this experience yet and I hope I never do. But what am I going to do if it happens? Accept it and move on, of course!

The life of a writer can be painful. Most writers’ journeys are filled with self-doubt, criticisms from others, and rejections from agents and editors.

Ah, but the joy of finishing a story (whether it gets published or not) can’t be beat. The thrill of looking at a paragraph you created as you wonder where those words came from and how you managed to put them in the perfect order. Then, there are the more tangible successes, getting an agent, your first contract, your first book, and your first royalty check!

So, my advice to new and/or unpublished writers is to toughen up. There’s plenty of failures in your future but there are also plenty of successes out there waiting for you as well.

As long as you accept the failures as part of the process and keep on writing.

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Thank you, Lillian, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: In or of what is your greatest fear of failure?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a FREE digital copy of the book above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to US/Canada residents only.