Category Archives: MFRW blog challenge

Once a Librarian… #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge

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2018 blog challenge buttonIt’s Week 4 in the 2018 #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge and the topic is: What I would do if I couldn’t be a writer.

Book Cat

Funny cat+eyeglasses, dreamstime.com license

Well, that’s easy. I’ve been a book junkie since childhood, so I’d probably be working part time at a local public library or at least volunteering there. And to paraphrase an old proverb: You can take the librarian out of the library, but… Well, you get it. I still visit the library to check out books for writing research, as well as for some pleasure reading. And if I weren’t writing, I might have time for more reading. My to read list is ridiculously long.

Reading Dog

Reading Dog, dreamstime.com license

Last year I joined the local branch of AAUW, the American Association of University Women, and was immediately roped into doing publicity for them. If I weren’t working, I would happily avail myself of all the wonderful interest groups they have. As it is, I’m enjoying the International Interests group that studies foreign policy issues. Here a link to the AAUW branches, in case anyone is interested. It’s a wonderful organization with lots of lovely, intelligent women. I might learn to play Mah-Jong or brush up on my high school Spanish.

And of course, I would travel, as often as I could afford and manage. I have quite a wish list of places I’d like to see before I die.

And soon I’ll have this adorable little distraction underfoot. My niece and I were just approved to adopt a small female puppy. Is she cute or what?

Annie as puppy

What about you? What would you do if you had more time and enough money?

Linda

As always, use the Linky List below to hop to other posts in the #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge.

Not Just About Me #MFRWAuthor Blog Challenge

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This week’s prompt in the #MFRWAuthor 52-Week Blog Challenge is: How much of myself is in my writing?

2018 blog challenge button

Good question, but I’m not sure I have a good answer, certainly not an easy one. It varies by book.

For the first book I finished, Worth The Risk, by Lyn O’Farrell, a pseudonym for me and my friend Anne Farrell, we really stuck with what we knew. We set the book in Southern California where we live. Since we were both part-time librarians, we gave our heroine the same occupation. And I used what I knew from years of watching car races with my husband and suggested our hero be an ex-race car driver. I even drew on my experience of flying to Catalina Island in a small plane for one scene. We had fun with that book.

Worth the Risk graphic

My second book, Rogue’s Hostage, was a lot more serious. For one thing, it’s a war story, set during the French and Indian War. It opens in Western Pennsylvania where I grew up outside Pittsburgh. I did a lot of research and spent three years writing the book. My mother died during the process, and when I’d finished it, I realized that my heroine, Mara, was, in so many ways, my mother. I dedicated the book to her memory, as well as that of my grandmother, who inspired my love of storytelling and history.

#bookqw deep Rogue

The books that followed were a little less personal, but reflect my interests in various historical periods. Lily and the Gambler is set in an area my husband and I explored together, the Gold Country of California.

Lily graphic

I’ve always loved fairy tales, and that’s reflected in my Kingdoms and Legends series: Ilona’s Wolf and Tova’s Dragon. And Marooned, my steamy pirate romance, answers the question: Who do you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?

All writers put something of themselves into their books, but sometimes it’s so subtle, we’re not even aware of it. At least I’m not.

Use the linky list below to hop to other posts in the #MFRWAuthor 52-Week Blog Challenge.

Linda / Lyndi