Thursday, April 26, 2012

Guest Blog Author K'Anne Meinel

Good Thursday morning, everyone! Today, we have a guest blogger! :)


Please help me welcome author K'Anne Meinel as she talks about her book, Sapphic Surfer! :)



Welcome, K'Anne!







Why don't you tell us a little about your book, Sapphic Surfer? :)


























Ashley is a Midwestern girl who is enjoying the life in Southern California. She learns to surf, a lifelong dream that wasn’t possible in Illinois. Now she meets professional surfer Willow Samuels who becomes a good friend to her. How good isn’t really apparent until she realizes there is a mutual attraction. Can a virgin such as Ashley cope with the feelings that are building inside her for the famous surfer? Can a Midwestern girl with all the morals and hang-ups ingrained in her overcome them to actually enter into a Sapphic romance with this woman?

Ashley is conflicted when she realizes she is having feelings for her famous friend Willow. When Willow makes a pass at her she realizes that her friend is gay and attracted to her, how can she overcome a lifetime of ethics and values that just might destroy the happiness that Willow offers her?




Sounds very interesting! What was the inspiration for a story like that?



When I began to write SAPPHIC SURFER I wanted to create a story that told of first times. First time love, first time sex, first time feelings, a lot of firsts. The characters are young and have their whole lives before them. Ashley has to deal with an attraction to her good friend that is something that would not be acceptable in the atmosphere she was raised in the Midwest. I myself have had to deal with that.



I also wanted to show California in the 80’s when I lived there. I used the area of Huntington Beach and the townhome complex because I actually lived there for over a decade. I in fact bought a townhome three miles from the beach at 19 while working at The Federated Group; it was a crazy and exciting time. Using personal experience makes a story such as this more personal, believable, and touching. Fans frequently write me because they have been to these places, have had similar experiences, I’ve even been known to accidentally write their life stories.



Struggling with your morals and ethics when you are brought up in a strict Midwestern family can be difficult but the attraction you feel for someone makes you question those things. Not that they are wrong but neither are the things you are feeling that makes you take a step back and think about what you actually believe and want out of life. Essentially these morals and ethics never go away, they are an intrinsic part of you, instead the experiences of meeting someone that challenges them makes you a different person, hopefully for the better.



Someday I might continue on the story of SAPPHIC SURFER but I want to travel to the locations myself…a good excuse anyway to visit the exotic locations I mentioned in the story for future reference and great ideas! ;-)~




Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that with us! :)

Lastly, K'Anne, where can readers find outr more about you and your book?


Sapphic Surfer:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LVQM46



To see my books and biography: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kannemeinel



and on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=K%27Anne%20Meinel




Like me on Facebook to keep up on my books and stories: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/KAnne-Meinel-Fan-Page/162171377151506























Thanks so much for joining us today, K'Anne!

Happy Thursday and happy reading to everyone! :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

On Resolutions

I am not your typical thirty-something-year-old. I grew up watching classic TV shows like I love Lucy, Make Room for Daddy, Mr. Ed, and the like. One of the greatest facets to shows like these were the simplicity of their problems and the always perfect and happy resolutions that came within a half an hour.








There is one I Love Lucy episode where both couples (Lucy & Ricky, Ethel & Fred) are dealing with marital issues. At the end of thirty minutes, both couples are embracing. The women tell their husbands that they would much rather be in a rut with them than on a date with anyone else. How sweet! How romantic! How sadly untrue of real life!



Real life is dirty, grungy, raw, and anything but simple or perfect.




I live in reality, but I am a hopeless romantic. I want my life to have perfect resolutions like that I Love Lucy episode, but most of the time, it sadly hasn't. I'm not bitter, though. Still optimistic that each problem will resolve itself quickly and easily and the scene will end with everyone involved laughing (and maybe we'll even hear appaluse).




As a writer, I need to find a balance between that hopeless romanticism and reality. I hope that my books do just that.



Loving Her demonstrates the ugliness of today's world. Yet, we have couples that are truly dedicated to each other. Couples that truly stay by each other's side in sickness and health, in wealth and poverty, in joy and sorrow. They deal with death, illness, change. They deal with life and live in love.




Unbreakable Hostage deals with a dark reality, but ends in a way that we all hope our traumas will end: with tremendous hope.



Imperfect and Impeccable ride the emotional roller coaster that is life. They show us what true love and dedication are all about. Though the ending may not bring the resolution we had all hoped for, it does still bring us a peace and resolution that we can gladly accept. A resolution that brings us some peace.



My two short stories, Trajectory and Amnesie show us that even in our dark and imperfect world, love is the one thing that brings us comfort and hope.




As much as we want things to always end up rosey,we know that they may not. That doesn't mean that life doesn't have any rosey moments at all. Rather, life is a balance between the good and the bad; between the happiness and sadness. My reality is that balance. I have good days and bad days. I have joyful moments as well as sorrowful ones. As a writer, I use that balance and create new stories reflecting that balance.





So with that, I wish you Happy Reading!!!! ;)





Thursday, April 5, 2012

But, do you have anything new to say?

Good Thursday morning all! I apologize for my absence last week. Between the wedding being less than two months away, some medical issues and of course, life, I simply did not have the time to plant myself to write.




But here I am today, ready to go!




Today, I want to discuss repetition.




Is there repition in writing? You betchya! Stories have been told and retold (just look at Hollywood for that!). Even blogs have been blogged and reblogged. Why is that? Why do we repeat ourselves?





Sometimes a story will come along and will greatly resemble another story, but somehow, somewhere, there is a twist - a change, a difference - and then you have two different stories.





Sometimes, a blog will be posted and it will greatly resemble another blog, but somehow, somewhere, there is a twist - a new word, a new opinion - and then you have two different blogs.






In a world where information literally moves at the speed of light, it is impossible not to have repetition and redundancy. It just is. But, what is unique is our voice, our perspective, our opinion. That is what makes each one of us different and special. That is what separates our writing from somebody else's.





So, it may seem like we don't always have anything new to say, but just hang on. That one little twist - that one that can change everything - may not show up until the very end. But that little twist makes each story and blog its own. They are unqiue...and new. So just hang in there. It's worth the read, trust me.