My Writing Corner : A Writer's Journey

The stories about how writers become published authors can be as varied as the stories those authors tell. It’s why readers enjoy hearing more about the people behind the books they read.

Today’s guest in My Writing Corner, Alana Lorens, has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. Alana lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

Welcome, Alana, please tell us about your road to publication.

The first piece I ever got paid for was a sentimental column in an Indiana paper, celebrating my grandmother’s family farm. I spent some time as a journalist in my 20s, then went to law school for some crazy reason. As I got into my 40s, I went back to writing and had my first book on divorce published in 1998. Then I turned to fiction and fantasy (so much more fun!!) and The Elf Queen came out in 2010. Since then I’ve published over a dozen books as Lyndi Alexander, in fantasy and sci-fi, and another ten as Alana Lorens in romance and suspense.

What do you enjoy about being an author?

I love when I’m on a roll and the plot points are falling into place and everything’s working. I love face to face book signings where I can talk with people about what they love to read. I love how much coffee I drink, hoping for inspiration LOL.

What do you find is the most challenging part of being an author?

The hardest part is when I am NOT on a roll and the points are hanging from the ceiling or hidden in a cave or lost forever, depending what time of night I remembered them. Fortunately our critique group, the Fellowship of the Quill, is super supportive and we often talk to each other through the tough stretches. Other writers can remind you it isn’t all fun and games and art is work, too.

What is your latest book and how did you come up with the idea to write it?

The latest book is A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME, which is a high school reunion, second-chance romance. At the time I wrote it, I was first learning about blogging and Technorati and getting points and all the things. So I got to use some of that knowledge through Marisol and her mommyblog for single moms.

What’s your next project?

Coming out later this spring is a book I’m really excited about, PROPHECIES and PROMISES, which is an historical romance with pirates! Set in 1898 as the Spanish-American War was just about to happen, it tell the story of Tamsyn MacKiernan, who thinks she’s in love with a good man—who turns out not to be a good man—or maybe with the bad boy pirate—who might just be a good man after all.

Let’s get a blurb on your newest book:

Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.

Russell's marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons' lives. In his Internet wanderings, he's found feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what's happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down.

What Russell doesn't know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?

How about an excerpt?

Debbie grinned at Russell. “I was hoping you’d come. We’re just planning some events for the dance at the gym tomorrow night, the eighties splash, you know, and I remembered you and Tiffany doing the Pee Wee Big Shoe Dance.”

A flash of embarrassment ran through him as he remembered it, too. What a geek he’d been. “Oh, geeze, Debbie. Can’t you remember some of what I did on the basketball court instead?”

“We haven’t forgotten that,” Angela purred, her eyes hungry as she watched him. “Those thin jerseys didn’t cover much.”

Russell swallowed hard. “Well. I…ah…” Maybe not that much remembering. “What about that Pee-Wee thing again? What was that song?”

“ ‘Tequila,’ ” came a quiet voice from behind him. He turned slowly to see who spoke. Marisol Herrera. Marisol Herrera Slade now. He’d seen her name in one of the interim emails from the reunion committee. So she must have gotten married after she left school. At the moment, she sat alone, though.

Marisol hadn’t changed much at all: a little older through the eyes, a little tired-looking, her smile faint as if it would fade away if the light didn’t stay focused on it. But she still carried herself well, her figure slim, and her sharp white tank and skirt showed it off. Older, and better, apparently. He’d always liked her. They’d had some real good times. She was smart, kinda pretty, and always pleasant.

She just wasn’t Tiffy.

****

Now that sounds like an intriguing story! Thank you, Alana, for being my guest today on My Writing Corner. Here are her social media and buy links:

Website http://Alana-lorens.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Book trailer:

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens

Twitter: @AlexanderLyndi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/

Ebooks