blog hop, books, writing

A Book That Has Influenced My Life

#MFRWAuthor  Week#5

Welcome to the latest week in the MFRW blog challenge where authors use weekly writing prompts to create a blog post. Please click here to check out the other authors in this hop.

There were a few books that influenced me but to name just one, it would be Mary Burchell’s A Song Begins, a Harlequin Romance in the Warrender Saga.

a-song-begins-by Mary Burchell

A  story about an opera, Anthea Benton, an opera student, who enters a contest to win money to further her singing lessons and clashes with Oscar Warrender, a world-class opera conductor. She is crushed when she does not win or place in the contest and feels it is the conductor’s fault.

 

When he finds out she had said some pretty rough things about him, he’s intrigued and sends her a letter of invitation to come to London to audition to become his student. What I loved about the story is although he was a butt-hole, she persevered and learned to no longer let his ill temper intimidate her. She won the major female role in his new opera. In the process, the romance between the two took a long time to develop.

At the end of the opera, when Anthea sang her last aria, to this day, I can still imagine I hear her clear strong soprano voice and it totally blew me away. Her voice made a huge impact on me. Reading this book helped to seal my decision to write in the romance genre. I vowed that one day I hope to make a major emotional impact on the readers of my future books.

What book or books influenced you? Tell me in the comments.

books, challenges

Where I Write #amwriting #MFRWAuthor

badge-52 Week Blog Challenge

Week 47 of the MFRW 52 Blog Hop. This week, ‘Where I write.’  

This will be a short post.

I have an office specifically for writing, however, it’s stuffed with a dozen boxes of books interspersed throughout the room that I need to load on my bookshelves.  Because there are so many boxes, I can’t get to the desk. One day, when I find the time, I plan to empty those boxes onto the shelves so I finally write in my office.  The dining room table has become my new writing spot.

It’s not a neat area. On the table to the right of my laptop are two stacks of craft books, my iPad and mobile phone. To the left is a Happy Planner with a bunch of stickers packs on top, a stress ball, eye drops, a notepad, a pen/pencil cup, white-out tape, gum, and my earbuds. Taped to the top of the laptop is a postcard that says “Always Remember Why” (always remember why I write) that I got from author Abbi Glines. Behind the laptop are various Happy Planner supplies, magazines for character fashion ideas, a few print romance books, and a battery operated pencil sharpener.

That’s it. This is where my stories are crafted. Where do you write? Please be sure to check out the other author posts here.

 

books

ALICIA COLEMAN PRESENTS A BOOKSPOTLIGHT: WILDFIRE: A PARANORMAL MYSTERY WITH COWBOYS & DRAGONS

Wildfire: A Paranormal Mystery With Cowboys & Dragons

Paranormal Novel

Wildfire-A Paranormal Mystery with Cowboys & Dragons

Blurb

Lynn Hana Alexander is a 25-year-old Japanese American shape-shifter haunted by guilt. She’s been questioning herself and her dragon abilities ever since she failed to save her grandmother.

When her best friend is threatened by mysterious fires burning up acres of West Texas, Lynn rushes to the rescue determined not to fail again. However, with a tempting firefighter, a flirty city developer and dragon pheromones distracting her, how is she going to find the arsonist?

And worse: is her primary suspect a malicious rogue dragon or the love of her life?

*** Author’s Note: Wildfire is a paranormal mystery with romantic elements. It is not a traditional romance.***

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ABOUT Mina Khan

Mina Khan is a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as stories. Between stories, she teaches culinary classes and writes for her local newspaper. Other than that, she’s raising a family of two children, two cats, two dogs and a husband.
She grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns, ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction.

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