Writing Unleashed with Laura M. Harkins

As a novice writer, I spend every moment buried in novels that evoke just about every emotion from me. My favorite novels, besides mysteries, are literary fiction by authors like Jhumpa Lahiri and Barbara Kingsolver, who sit at the top of my list of all-time favorites. Whenever I read one of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels it always feels as though she’s speaking directly to me. It feels silly to say that I admire her characters and look to them for inspiration, but they’re the ones I connect to the most. Not real people. (Perhaps that’s why writing feels so natural to me.) I see bits of me mirrored in her characters Taylor ( The Bean Trees ) and Codi/Cosima ( Animal Dreams ). Their stories aren’t identical to mine. I just know exactly how it feels to run away in search of something, looking for a place to belong. Their dilemmas and life questions push away my loneliness and fill me with hope that if they could make it through tough times so can I. Barbara also keeps ...

The silliness is spilling out of me today. I've got my Dexter's Laboratory t-shirt on and exciting ideas for my WIP skipping around my mind making me caffeine-jittery to the point I'm knocking things over in my apartment. Granted, the inability to stand up on my two feet is nothing new, I can barely contain the the surge of passion. So, before I destroy everything I own, I thought I would sit down and share something I stumbled across on Tor.com (I'm a huge fan of the sci-fi website) and, then, get to writing. Last week, I wrote about serialized fiction and whether it had a place in our literary world anymore on the Bucks County Writers' Group blog. Then, I came across the first few chapters of Catherynne M. Valente's middle grade novel The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There . Tor.com serialized the first 5 chapters of the sequel to Valente's first Fairyland book, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making . ...

Do we really need an excuse to have fun with books? I think not.  From what I understand, this unofficial game of International Book Week, possibly started on Google+, asks you to grab the closest book to you, open to page 52, and post the fifth sentence on the page. Do not include the title.  "There's no harm in flirting." Hint. It's one of these.  Post your fifth sentence in the comments below! 

Winning free books rocks my socks. I love it! My favorite part is walking into the vestibule I share with my downstairs neighbor to find a brown box with a mailing label addressed to me. I giggle. Then frantically futz with my keys to get two sets of doors open to get into my apartment, grab the scissors from the knife block, quickly cut open the box, and gently pull out my books. Butterflies fill my stomach with the weight of the book in my hands, the smell of the paper, the intricate world, fascinating characters, and thought-provoking story waiting to be discovered. The whole point of becoming a writer for me was to pass on the wonderful experience of diving into a book and getting lost in the author's imagination and words. I want give readers a story they'll enjoy. I'm still in the crafting process. In the meantime, I have a few new additions to my library courtesy of mshatch over at mainewords . Thanks! I can't wait to start reading.

I dreamt last night. And in this dream, I found myself in a leather jacket leading the investigation of a heinous murder case that took place in a high-rise apartment building. It was my first case as a detective and I had to prove myself. In true Laura fashion, it took me 10 minutes to find a walkie-talkie that worked and I got stuck in the elevator trying to reach the 11th floor with no success. I woke up when I not only couldn't get to the 11th floor, but also couldn't get off the damn elevator. Thoughts bounced around my head as I laid in bed...could I do this in real life? No. I'm the farthest thing from an authoriatrian. Then I thought how that might segue into my stories. I tend to gravitate towards writing stories with amateur sleuths, characters that aren't tethered to strict rules that police must obey. So, it might be time to push through the comfort zone and try giving one of the characters in my WIP a more authoritarian role to contrast the main charact...

Drumroll please... Blood Fugue, Moonsongs Book 1 by E.J. Wesley Cover Reveal Party   Author E.J. Wesley is throwing a blog party to celebrate the release of his new book cover and wants you to join in the fun. Jump over to his blog to learn about how you can win some awesome prizes, including $50 toward a cover of your own and advance reader copies of  Blood Fugue . Cover work by Sketcher Girl, LLC -  http://sketchergirlstudios. com/ What's the Story About?   “ Some folks treated the past like an old friend. The memories warmed them with fondness for what was, and hope for what was to come. Not me. When I thought of long ago, my insides curdled, and I was left feeling sour and wasted.” Jenny Schmidt is a young woman with old heartaches. A small town Texas girl with big city attitude, she just doesn’t fit in. Not that she has ever tried. She wears loneliness like a comfy sweatshirt. By the age of twenty-on...

I'm selfishly engrossed in a story about second chances I'm currently writing, and I'm loving every minute of it. So, today I want to leave you with something fun to do when you need a breather. Keep writing fellow scribers!   First, determine your personality type (if you don't know already) by taking the FREE MBTI test  here . Then, find out what novel character you're most like by checking out  Huffington Post 's  16 Fiction Book Characters' Myers-Briggs Personality Types . I'm an  ENFJ . My fiction character match-up is Charles Damay from  Tale of Two Cities  by Charles Dickens.  Who did you match up with?