It's been a while since I posted. I've been busy helping my kids with school projects and waiting for a little inspiration to strike. I've also been spending more time on Twitter, which I feel is an important tool for my author platform. I'm discovering more author resources than I realized were out there! Twitter is awesome! Thanks to those of you who are following me as I pursue my dream!
My children are on a field trip today to a writing/reading workshop for middle school. I would have loved to tag along, but I'm scheduled to work at the library today. Regardless, it caused me to take a trip down memory lane to my first writer's workshop. I was in sixth grade and only children with an interest in writing were able to attend. The class I remember the best was descriptive writing. It was due to the instructor, who was a horror writer. During his lecture, he told a few ghost stories, which he claimed were true. They consisted of a haunted grandfather clock, a zombie under the bed and a haunted window that turned out to be the ventilation system and some faulty hardware. I don't remember the name of the writer, but his lecture had quite an impact on me. I remember being scared to sleep alone because I kept replaying his lecture over in my mind. Was there really a zombie under my bed??? I started sleeping with a teddy bear again. I kept a good distance from grandfather clocks, too. My overactive imagination had gone into overdrive. I think it was the fear that made this writer so memorable for me. It's unfortunate that I can't remember his name. I should see if my mom saved the itinerary in my scrapbook. I'd like to Google him. That was my first experience with writing and the paranormal.
My second experience happened as an adult, when I took up writing again. I had started writing The Whisperer of Storms, and I was interviewing a lady for research. I wasn't expecting much for the supernatural that time, but lo and behold, she proved me wrong! It got me thinking, with the ghost stories I was hearing which involved writing, maybe I was getting a sign? Perhaps I was meant to write paranormal fiction? I took that idea and I went with it, choosing paranormal as a sub-genre. I have to admit that sometimes writing alone in the dead of the night can really freak me out, especially when I'm writing those spectral scenes! I keep expecting to look up and find someone standing beside me! Overactive imagination indeed! Now you know a little more about why I chose to write about the paranormal. It has nothing to do with current trends, but rather a gut-feeling. As a wise master once advised his apprentice to trust his instincts, I'm taking that piece of advice to heart .
Veronica
