Monthly Archives: May 2016

IWSG 8: I Dreamed Up An Impossible Ending For My Character

[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here]

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“All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault.”

~Ernest Hemingway

The past three months I’ve sort of felt like I’ve been facing off with my characters and their messes, and then unsuccessfully figuring out the best way to clean them up. I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault. But I dreamed it up. I built my world, my characters, and gave them all sorts of emotional holes to fall in. I got through until the end. The conclusion sort of rocked my mind. It is my fault. I refused to change the scene.

Ever been there? Ever created the most impossible ending and nothing else you could possibly think of would do?

I couldn’t dig my way out. I scratched my head for months.

But today I’m here to say, finally! Hallelujah!

I can’t say it’s the best solution. I’m not sure yet. But I can say, it’s the only shred of hope I have to finish the manuscript at this point.

So this month, I’m keeping the post short and sweet. Just to say I’m here, I did it, and I’m sorry I’ve been such a stinking recluse and haven’t been around more blogs than I hoped to. Truly, as I’ve learned through my manuscript, the pace doesn’t matter. The steps do, and telling the right story with the right sequence of action driven events.

My last thought, and I’m sharing it because it really made me laugh is this:

“Nature gave men two ends – one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man’s success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most.” George RKirkpatrick

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Cover Reveal: Trouble By Any Other Name

May 3

Posted by Erika Beebe

I met Lori L. MacLaughlin through my IWSG writers group. Her blog impressed me. Her smile has this sweet tinkle that makes you smile. If you need a great pick me up, her Thursday posts are all about positive things to think about in one’s week. When I found out she’d soon be posting a brand new cover for an upcoming book, I felt like the first grader all over again in the back row waving my hand frantically and thinking, “Oh please! Call on me!”

So here she is folks. And here is her lovely new cover for Trouble By Any Other Name.

road in steppe receding into the distance

About the Book

Trouble BY ANY OTHER NAME

Tara Triannon is no stranger to trouble. She’s yet to find an enemy her skill with a sword couldn’t dispatch. But how can she fight one that attacks through her dreams?

With her nightmares worsening, Tara seeks answers but finds only more questions. Then her sister, Laraina, reveals a stunning secret that forces Tara to go to the one place Tara’s sworn never to return to. Her troubles multiply when Jovan Trevillion, the secretive soldier of fortune who stole her heart, is mentally tortured by an ancient Being intent on bending him to its will. And worst of all, the Butcher — the terrifying wolf-like assassin she thought she’d killed — survived their duel and is hunting her again.

Hounded by enemies, Tara sets out on a harrowing quest to discover the true nature of who she is, to come to grips with the new volatility of her magic, and to defeat the evil locked in a centuries-old trap that will stop at nothing to control her magic and escape through her nightmares.

About the Lovely Author Lori L. MacLaughlin

Lori L. MacLaughlin traces her love of fantasy adventure to Tolkien and Terry Brooks, finding The Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara particularly inspirational. She’s been writing stories in her head since she was old enough to run wild through the forests on the farm on which she grew up.

She has been many things over the years – tree climber, dairy farmer, clothing salesperson, kids’ shoe fitter, retail manager, medical transcriptionist, journalist, private pilot, traveler, wife and mother, Red Sox and New York Giants fan, muscle car enthusiast and NASCAR fan, and a lover of all things Scottish and Irish.

When she’s not writing (or working), she can be found curled up somewhere dreaming up more story ideas, taking long walks in the countryside, or spending time with her kids. She lives with her family in northern Vermont.