Meeting You On The Web

There's only a couple of weeks until the official release of Web of Lies. I'm blogging at various sites throughout the web from today as follows:

• 16 November  -  http://jemifraser.blogspot.com.au/
• 20 November  -  http://serenatattistoryeditor.blogspot.com.au/
• 21 November  -  http://romanceuniversity.org/
• 23 November  -  http://romancereader-riya.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2012-10-11T03:00:00%2B12:00&max-results=2&start=2&by-date=false

Drop by, leave a comment and go in the draw to win a copy of one of my books.

I want to leave you with a quote from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 to meditate on this weekend.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Start writing the next exciting chapter.

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

The life journey is different for all of us. Where are you in your journey at the moment?

Jigsaw Puzzles and Writing

A Christian Riese Lassen Puzzle

Did you know there's a lot of similarities between doing a jigsaw puzzle and writing a book?

Several years ago, I completed a jigsaw puzzle of an orchestra. It was all musical instruments, bald heads and red noses. It was a challenge and it was fun. I worked the jigsaw to keep my mind quiet and focused during an extremely busy time in my life. Putting all the pieces together helped in reducing stress when I felt my life was out of control.

I also found the shapes, splashes of colour and the slotting together of all those shapes and colours aided my creativity as I planned my manuscript. Ideas for my work come to me at different times and places. I jot them down on loose pieces of paper or in my trusty notebook with its worn, grubby edges. When I'm ready to start a new writing project, I have my puzzle pieces to hand, ie., the research content, characters, plot ideas, and setting. I sort and swap, change and rearrange all these elements together to make the plot of my new novel. I approach my jigsaws in the same way. I paddle my fingers through all the pieces, searching for all the straight edges and when that outline is finished, I start filling in the middle.

While I'm writing and puzzling, I have my earphones on and listen to my favourite musician, James Andrew Black. These two activities keep me focused and in the world I've created until the work is done. An added bonus is being able to rest the eyes on colour and shape, which is a great relief after looking at black and white text for extended periods.

Recently, I understood why the travelling around Australia exercise sabotaged my writing. I had no jigsaw puzzle time while writing Web of Lies and this project took much longer than I'd planned. Now, I'm one hundred percent focused on my new novel, Broken Dreams, working title. My new jigsaw, of two swimming dolphins, a Christian Riese Lassen puzzle, is laid out on my dining room table, ready for me to place random pieces whenever I get up and walk around to release the tension in my shoulders from hunching over the keyboard. By the time I finish writing my first draft, the puzzle is done, too. It's also a great visual tool to monitor the progress on my novel, as the puzzle comes together so does my manuscript.

How about you, do you have an activity you do while you're writing or performing your work?

Australian Authors Hook Up

Have you ever thought about working with another author to produce a novel? When I first heard about the possibility of collaborating, I had my doubts, however, four Australian authors have worked together to produce The Greenfield Legacy.

Their journey started with the seed of an idea from Paula Vince. She contacted Meredith Resce, Rose Dee and Amanda Deed to work with, and in all authors' opinions it proved to be a successful venture. It started with a brainstorming session on skype. By the end of this time they had a story and then a cast of characters was alloted to each of them. They each returned to their computers and built their character profiles. As each author wrote about their characters, the plot developed and the story was written quickly.

This was a plus for each of the authors and Resce sums the process up well when she said, "The best thing about collaborating was that we each had at least three other people who were passionate about the story as we were, which when you write alone, and you enter your said fantasy world, you usually go there alone, and when you re-emerge into reality, no one really gets where you've been and what you've been working on. With The Greenfield Legacy, Rose, Amanda and Paula were on the same page, planet, wave-length, and it was great to be able to chat your characters and ideas through with enthusiastic and informed responses."

When I read this book, I was surprised that the authors' voices sounded so much alike, I expected them all to be different. I applaud these authors for hooking up with each other to create a novel that gets emotional as the characters work through their issues of where they fit into the Greenfield family. I was pleased to find a character list at the end of the book I could refer to. In the beginning so many characters were introduced I became a little confused, so the character list was very helpful.

The Greenfield Legacy is set in South Australia's beautiful McLaren Vale wine region and is available from all good book stores.

The Greenfield Legacy

To learn more about the authors visit these links:

http://www.facebook.com/paula.vince.7

http://www.facebook.com/MeredithResceAuthor

http://www.amandadeed.com.au/

http://rosedee.com/

Inspiration for Web of Lies

Web of lies

I believe all writing is inspired by experiences in our lives. Certainly, African Hearts and my soon to be released, Web of Lies have been inspired by my life experiences.

The countdown for Web of Lies is on. Thirty-one days to release date on 1st December in bookstores and on Amazon. This novel was inspired by my teenage years when I began to think more about my world, the people in it, and why they do the things they do.

In the late sixties and seventies, I lived in a country town and was aware of teenage girls who suddenly left town for several months and then returned unexpectedly with no explanation for their absence. Eventually, my curious nature got the better of me and my investigations revealed that the young women had gone away to have babies which they gave up for adoption. I was horrified to think this sort of thing was happening in the town in which I lived.

Back then there was no government assistance and the responsibility had to fall back on the families. Also, unwed mothers were ostracised and often thought of as having loose morals in some country towns. The only option available to these young women who’d made a mistake was going away to have their baby and give the infant up for adoption.

I then wondered, what if some of the children secretly came back to be reared by a member of the unwed mother’s family, as in an aunt or other relative. This thought was the germ that created Web of Lies.

Through reading this novel, I hope you, my readers, will be encouraged, and realise mistakes can happen to anyone at any time. Lies can be told with good intentions to cover up mistakes, but what happens in later years when lies are revealed and the trust that has been with a family is destroyed? Can the knowledge of the truth bring a family back together so that all can be forgiven, or are the relationships destroyed forever? Read my novel to find the answers to these questions. Copies can be pre-ordered from Even Before Publishing, Amazon or from the "Books" page on this website.

My website is in the process of being upgraded and should be finalised this week. In the meantime here are the links:

http://evenbeforepublishing.com/lauraoconnell.html

http://www.amazon.com/Web-of-Lies-ebook/dp/B009LJH8A6/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1351486835&sr=8-13&keywords=web+of+lies

I'd also like to know if you've told lies trying to protect those you love. Leave me a comment.

Inside The Writer's Mind

Being a writer means communicating at multi-levels.

There are a lot of books on finding your writing voice in the market place. Ever since I was six years old I found the magic in being able to read a book and get inside the writer's mind. The words took me to outer space, into the future, on the farm, overseas and places I'd never known. It was wonderful and exciting to be inside the mind of another person. Intriguing, too ...

When I started writing I didn't understand what was meant by 'writing voice'. My writing seemed lame compared to all the published work. What was I doing wrong? Lots..!

Well, I was trying to be like some of the greats that I'd read, Pearl S Buck, Virginia Woolf, Ray Bradbury, and all the others. I wanted to write like them when I grew up. I'm still growing up, so there's hope yet. However, now that I've found the confidence to put pen to paper, I've realised I can't write like them. I'm not them, I'm Laura, and so I have to write like Laura with her personality. My first unpublished works resembled others I'd read and it sounded like I was trying to be someone I wasn't. No wonder I wasn't getting published. My writing was bland, bland, plain boring.

So how do you find your writing voice? Write, write and write some more. From the heart with the words that are yours in the way you would say it because of the life experiences you have had. It's your life experiences that have made you the person you are and there is no one in the world like you. Really. Your perception of the world and what you see as important or unimportant is different to Pearl, Virginia or Ray, and all the others. Now that I've realised my writing is different from every other writer's on this sphere we call Earth, I hope to find the voice that is uniquely mine. I don't think this will happen overnight, but with practice I'm sure I'll find the unique way of writing that says 'It's Laura'. I'm hoping my future works will reflect the 'genuine article'.

How about you? Are you writing from the heart with your unique perspective on the world? I'd really like to hear about your journey in how you got to that point.