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Please welcome back author Peg Phifer with the continuing story of her journey to publication. Peg will tell her story in a series of posts the third Thursday of every month on this blog. (Apologies for my SECOND date error! This is the FOURTH Thursday in August! Hopefully I'll learn to count soon!) Leave a comment after any post in the series to be placed in a drawing to win a copy of Peg's debut novel, To See The Sun.
In my last post, I ended with:
I'd been away from Milwaukee far too long to remember much about it. Besides, much I was familiar with had drastically changed.
(If you missed Part I, click here.)
So, I moved Tori up north into an area I was more recently acquainted with.
The writer's journey is a crazy carnival ride. Pick a ride, any ride. Even the placid Merry-Go-Round keeps you going in circles. The more intense rides have you twisting and spinning in every direction, upsetting your inner "gyro's," as I like to call them.
Anyway, Tori leaves Milwaukee, a cast off and apparently unwanted wife. She flees to northern Wisconsin where her best friend, Maggie, has a summer cottage. With keys in hand, Tori enters her temporary home in the north. There's this Forest Ranger she bumps into—literally—and sparks fly. Then there's a horrid storm, then a forest fire . . .
But Tori still has a husband. How do I solve this so she can fall in love with the Ranger?
I tried everything. Her husband was dying from some horrible disease and didn't want her to see him suffer so he sent her away. Rubbish.
Nothing worked, and the more I wrote the more I realized I didn't know THIS area any better than I knew Milwaukee.
Finally, the old writer's mantra hit home. WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. Okay, I thought that's what I'd been doing. But, it wasn't. Too many years had passed and I no longer had the familiarity of those places I used to call home.
Finally, finally, the Lord showed me where I needed to be: right here in my now adopted home town, Las Vegas.
So I (figuratively) packed up my bags and brought Tori to Vegas, changed her name, and worked from a whole different perspective.
And I've never looked back.
Next month, digging in and making it work.
Be sure to return for more of Peg's story on Thursday, September 20th, for more of Peg's story. Don't forget to leave a comment on any post in the series to be entered in the giveaway for a copy of Peg's debut novel, To See The Sun.
Please welcome back author Peg Phifer with the continuing story of her journey to publication. Peg will tell her story in a series of posts the third Thursday of every month on this blog. (Apologies for the error in my last post indicating the next installment in Peg's story would be posted on July 5th!) Leave a comment after any post in the series to be placed in a drawing to win a copy of Peg's debut novel, To See The Sun.
In my last post on The Over 50 Writer, I ended with:
But another story took its place, this time with a female character named Tori, short for Victoria, and I titled it Totally Tori. “Tori” was the initial beginning of Erin in To See the Sun.
Back to those days on my old 386 IBM clone I started a writers workshop on AOL's Writer's Club, along with two other writers. We'd meet online once a week in a dedicated chat room and talk about writing for an hour. Two of my very early members were authors Jack Cavanaugh and Alton Gansky. Honest. I was struggling with disappointment over having to give up on my rodeo-girl-with-leukemia story and trying to transition into a new story, new character, new plot, new setting, new everything.
One evening I mentioned my struggle and Jack asked for some details and we threw ideas back and forth for a few minutes. I was so thrilled! I still have part of that transcript. And Jack's willingness to take the time to encourage a fledgling writer was just the impetus I needed to send me down the road to eventual publication instead of giving up.
An aside note: During those years Jack was writing his American Family Portrait series and he was trying to find the right title for the final book which was set during the Viet Nam era. I immediately thought of all the PEACE signs, the Flower Children, sit-in protests, so I impulsively threw out "The Peacemakers." Jack liked it, the publisher liked it, and so it became. And Jack gave me credit for the title and I have an autographed copy of the book. How cool is that?
So, Totally Tori became my next WIP and I poured everything into it. As a seat-of-the-pants writer, I had no outline, no plot but I pressed on. Tori was a graduate of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee, and taught music in a local high school. For the junior/senior annual play, Tori decided she wanted them to do Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. And here I got bogged down.
Yes, I had been part of a community choir as an adult, and we did selections from The Mikado, but I wasn't a choir director, drama coach, or anything of the sort. Plus, I'd been away from Milwaukee far too long to remember much about it. Besides, much I was familiar with had drastically changed.
So, I moved Tori up north into an area I was more recently acquainted with.
To be continued . . .
Be sure to come back for more of Peg's story on Thursday August 23rd.
It is my pleasure to welcome author Peggy Blann Phifer to The Over 50 Writer. Over the past several years, Peg and I have developed a friendship that has its roots in our writing interest, but has blossomed as we supported and encouraged each other through not only our writing endeavors, but personal issues as well. Peg is one of the most persistent and dedicated writers I know. She experienced many stumbling blocks in pursuit of her goal. I am honored that she is willing to guest on my blog and share her journey with you and me.
IN THE BEGINNING . . .
No, not that beginning, though sometimes if feels that long. You see, even though To See the Sun made its debut this past January—and is technically an infant—the book is approximately twenty years old. And, like everything else, it has gone through all the pains and mistakes of growing and maturing to the point where it was ready to be “born.” I like to joke about this as a twenty year pregnancy.
My road to publication has been a rocky one. I turned 50 in 1989 and began to wonder what kind of legacy I would leave behind. I’d always written. Sometimes in my head, sometimes on paper (none of which survived) and sometimes I’d rewrite books I’d read. Like Gone With the Wind? Bonnie didn’t die, Rhett came back and they all lived happily ever after. Yeah, well . . .
I had a grand idea for a story back in the early 1990’s, about a girl in her late teens who was a barrel racer in the rodeo and already a champion. Then she discovers she has leukemia. Great ingredients for a story, right? Only I knew nothing about barrel racing, horses, the rodeo, or leukemia. But that didn’t stop me.
I’d just gotten my first computer through the company I worked for. It was described as “an IBM clone.” Specifications: 386sx 25mhz, w/1Mb RAM; 89Mb IDE Hard drive, with both a 3.5” 1.44Mb and 5.25” 1.2Mb floppy drives, 14” VGA Monitor. Base price: $1,099.00. Then I had to add Windows 3.1 and a mouse, internal modem and a 3Mb RAM upgrade (in order to install Windows.) Final price: $1,343. Can you believe it? Took me two years to pay that puppy off. Oh, and then I had to buy a printer . . . dot matrix, of course. Incidentally, Windows 3.1 came on 25 3-1/2” discs and took close to 3 hours to load.
Anyway, back to my story and research. I found a forum on the Internet about the rodeo and hooked up with a few of them and ended up being invited to be “behind the scenes” for the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) held in December. Never saw the rodeo, I was in the tents with the horses. Talk about being completely intimidated and way out of my league. Never met any of the cowboys, either, darn it all. But it was an exciting day, nevertheless.
My story died a quick death. I found several pages in longhand on yellow legal paper the other day. Let me just say, uh, RIP, Marcy’s Dream.
But another story took its place, this time with a female character named Tori, short for Victoria, and I titled it Totally Tori. “Tori” was the initial beginning of Erin in To See the Sun.
More about that next time.
(be sure to come back for the next installment in Peggy's story on Thursday, July 5th)
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TO SEE THE SUN
 Pregnant and widowed hadn’t been part of her “happily ever after” dream. And now, someone was trying to kill her . . .
Erin Macintyre never expected to be a widow and a new mother in the same year, anymore than she expected mysterious notes, threatening phone calls, and a strange homeless man who seems to know all about her. The thought of raising a child without a father is daunting enough—worse when you have no idea who might want to harm you. Put an old flame into the mix, and her life begins a tailspin into a world she never knew existed.
When P.I. Clay Buchanan, stumbles upon Erin at her husband's gravesite, he’s totally unprepared for her advanced pregnancy. Her venomous reaction at seeing him, however, was predictable. But Clay can’t let her distrust, or his guilt, get in the way—not when he has evidence that proves Erin’s life is in danger.
With few options left, Erin begrudgingly accepts Clay’s help . . . and it just might be her undoing.
Read the first chapter at: http://peggyblannphifer.com/my_books.htm
Buy Links:
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Patti's review:
How well do we know our spouses? Erin MacIntyre didn't learn about the secrets hers had been keeping from her until he was dead. Now she is left with a grieving heart, a baby on the way, and a mystery to solve. Not only is she thrown into the midst of the perplexing puzzle. Her life is being threatened as she seeks answers.
Erin's grief is laced with anger as she is faced with the return of former love interest Clay Buchanan, who betrayed her and her husband's friendship years before. Yet, Clay holds keys to the solution Erin is seeking. As Clay helps her paste pieces of the puzzle together, he struggles to regain Erin's trust and win her love.
This story piqued my curiosity on page one and led me down a path of adventure that spurred me on to the end with a sense of urgency to learn the outcome. The author combined a balance of mystery and tension, tempered with tenderness and sprinkled with humor to produce an enjoyable read.
I especially liked the interactions between the characters. The relationships were well defined, and each new player in the story had their own distinct place in the mystery, whether advocate or enemy as she traveled through a maze of uncertainty.
The portrayal of Las Vegas in To See the sun [[ASIN:1468121081 To See the Sun: Desert Faith Series Book One]]transcends the typical stereotype of "sin city" and gives readers a glimpse of the lives of real people in the person of her characters.
This debut novel establishes author Peggy Blann Phifer as a suspense writer with a bright and successful publishing future. The best thing about this book is that the story continues. Book two will follow!
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Peggy Blann Phifer is an author and columnist, book reviewer and author interviewer, whose work has appeared on various Web sites and writer periodicals both in print and online. She is also an avid reader who loves to escape by diving between the covers of a good book. Peg enjoys handcrafts of all kinds and her home shows off some of her work, though most end up as gifts for friends and family. A retired executive assistant, Peg now makes her home in southern Nevada with husband of 25 years, Jim.
TO SEE THE SUN is her debut novel, released January 2012
Contact Peggy at her website
Visit her blog “Whispers in Purple"
Friend her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter
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