The Spark Blogfest

Thank you to Christine Tyler at The Writer Coaster for hosting this awesome Sparkfest!

Here are the three prompts Christine provided for the Sparkfest: 

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer? 

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

I decided to answer prompt #2, as it is the easiest one for me. The author who set off the spark for my current WIP is Elizabeth George, author of the Thomas Lynley mysteries. 

I started reading the Lynley novels way back in the 90s, and I have loved them from the beginning. I love psychological suspense, and I love mysteries that focus as much on character development as they do on the mystery plot. The best series to me are the ones that take the reader through changes in the protagonist's life as the novels progress, and this is exactly what happens with George's books. 

While the main character in my novel has nothing in common with Lynley beyond the fact that he is also a detective, I was still inspired by Lynley when creating him in my mind. I wanted to write a flawed protagonist who doesn't always have the best judgement, and isn't some kind of Superman who can instantly solve a case without any mistakes. 

My character's name is Danny Fitzpatrick, and he is a Los Angeles detective who is originally from Chicago, but transferred to LA to start a new life after a tragedy in his personal life. While I am in the very early stages of writing about Danny, my dream is to be as prolific as Ms. George has been, and have Danny's life play out in a series just as Lynley's has. 

I know that writing a best-selling series that spans decades is a tall order, but I figure if you're going to dream, you might as well dream big. :D

I recently learned that Ms. George was 40 years old when the first Lynley book was published, and she had a completely different career before she became a success as a writer. This made her even more of an inspiration to me, and there's no doubt I would love to follow in her footsteps.

Thanks again to Christine for this fun Sparkfest, and I'm looking forward to hopping around and reading all the responses! :)

Three Fun Blogfests, and One Fun Blog Party

I don't know if it's a result of my summer sluggishness, or just laziness in general, but I've been having a terrible time coming up with post topics lately. So I was glad to come upon some fun blogfests, and a great blog party, to give me some inspiration. I thought I would share in case others have not seen these fests and want to participate.

1) First up, The Spark Blogfest at Christine Tyler's The Writer Coaster.

These are the prompts for the Sparkfest:

What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer? 

What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?

Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?

 

I love this fest because you only have to answer one of these prompts to participate, and you can post any time over the four day period. In addition, Christine is offering great prizes! So, it sounds perfect to me, and I'm interested in reading the responses of the participants. And in coming up with my own answer, as I'm not even sure at the moment what that will be. 

2) Up next, the Favorite Summer Reads blogfest, hosted by Cherie at Surrounded by Books.

Cherie is hosting the blogfest to celebrate the one year blogoversary of her book review blog Surrounded by Books Reviews.

Here is Cherie's description of the fest:

All you have to do is post on your blog between August 24-27 and tell us what is your favorite summer read. Please post a picture of a book's cover art, a description of the book and why it is your favorite summer read. Then we can hop around and find great books. 
 

Once again, I love that participants will only have to write one post in a multi-day period, as that is just the right speed for my summer laziness. :D 

 

And, Cherie is also offering great prize packs to participants! So I'm happy to have the chance to win a great prize, while possibly learning about some great new reads.  

 

3) To end the summer, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain is hosting a virtual blog BBQ over the 4-day Labor Day weekend, September 2nd through the 5th. Karen started this tradition last year, and the virtual BBQ was such a success she decided to host another one for 2011. I'm glad, as I wasn't blogging last year and am looking forward to the chance to participate in the fun now. 

This blogfest is very simple, as all you need to do to join in is share a comment with your yummy contribution to the BBQ, and follow at least three other participants. If you want to sign up, stay tuned to Karen's blog for more details. I think it will be fun to say goodbye to summer and welcome fall with my fellow bloggers!

4) Finally, I'm looking forward to Talli Roland's blog party to celebrate the launch of her new book, Watching Willow Watts. Yay, Talli!

 

Talli is throwing a party on September 14th, the big launch day. To go along with the theme of the book, the party is called "If I Could Be Anyone, I'd Be...."

All you have to do to participate is post a photo of the person you'd choose to be, and your reasons for your choice. Talli is going to share the links to all the participants, so everyone can hop around and party all day with other bloggers. And, Talli is also offering great prizes, so there's nothing to lose and lots to gain by signing up and helping Talli celebrate her book launch!

Thanks to Christine, Cherie, Karen, and Talli for these fun opportunities!