The sunshine Blogger Award

An Invitation Into the Quiet and the Curious

The Sunshine Blogger Award Rules:

• Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog.

• Thank the person who nominated you.

• Provide a link to your nominator’s blog.

• Answer your nominator’s questions.

• Nominate up to 11 bloggers.

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First I would like to thank Chloe Calvert for nominating me. It is an honor and a bit humbling. Chloe weaves stories that take you back, back to the days of old Hollywood Glamour. Characters beautiful and sharp, where beauty can cut like a knife and decadence is wrapped in a tuxedo. From the first moment I read her words I knew she had come to play and definitely had brought her A game!

Being nominated was a pleasant surprise - I have only been on Substack for about a month and I was resigned to simply writing for myself - whether anyone read it or not. Being seen means alot. So once again Thank you Chloe!

Chloe’s Questions:

1. Is there a recurring theme or question that you find yourself exploring in your work, even when you don’t intend to?
   
   I find that my stories always seem to carry a thread of shared destiny. My heroes find each other because they are meant to. Fate is always being woven into the relationships I write, and into the characters who come knocking at my door.
   

2. If your writing had a voice independent of your own, how would you describe it? What does it want to say?
   

   I think the voice of my writing has always been mystical. It speaks of magic that lingers at the corner of your eye. It tells of love that is destined, and of promises fulfilled across lifetimes. It whispers of divine intervention and the presence of those who have gone before. It is Love—the memory of Love, and the fulfillment of Love—in past, present, and future.
   

3. Which truth about yourself have you only just begun to accept through writing?
   
   I think that I am beginning to understand that not everyone is going to love what I write and I am ok with that.
   

4. If you could write a letter to your younger self, and it would be guaranteed to be delivered, what would it say?
   
   You only live once. Take chances. Try out for the school play. Go to your prom. Learn to love yourself.
   You are enough—you always were.
   You don’t have to sacrifice who you are for the approval of others. Be unapologetically you—because there is no one else in the whole wide world like you.
   

   Don’t live with regret. Live with purpose.
   

5. What do you miss that you’ve never actually had?
   
   I never learned to play the piano, I wish that I would have been able to take lessons when I was a child.
   

6. If your emotions were rooms in a house, which one would you lock — and which would you invite people into first?
   
   The room I would always keep locked is the room of Anger. Inside, it’s filled with broken things—shattered mirrors, splintered tables, phones ripped from the wall.

   The room I’d invite people into first is the room of Love. It’s warm, filled with encouragement, positive affirmations, and genuine care.

   We are all houses, in a way—every room different. Some are kept locked or simply off-limits, except for those special people we invite in when we feel secure enough to reveal all that we are. We can be ashamed of some rooms and seek to clean them up, redecorate, and give them a new purpose. Others we can cheerfully invite people into and hope that they will find warmth and welcome.

   The key to a well-lived life is to make sure every room in our house can be visited—even the messy ones.
   
   

7. Describe a moment when you felt like you were watching your life from outside yourself.
   
   I don’t really have a moment like that. I’ve always been grounded in who I am—it’s sort of a neurosis for me. I’m constantly second-guessing myself, monitoring my actions, and trying to make sure I’m performing perfectly. I’m too attached to “me” to actually observe from outside myself. If that makes sense.
   

8. If you had a theme song, what would it be?
   Well, there really isn’t any that comes to mind - so I had to create one of my own. So without further delay - in its debut performance: The River Remembers
   
   

   
   

9. What’s a misconception people often have about your writing, writing process, or the themes you explore?

   
   I would say most people think I simply write paranormal romance. And yes—I do write about vampires, and occasionally werewolves, ghosts, and demons.

   But my writing seeks to explore the same questions that have been asked by philosophers and poets for centuries:

   Is there such a thing as true, abiding love?
   What is the meaning of sacrifice?
   And can there be redemption after pain?
   
   

10. What’s your relationship with failure in your creative life — as a concept, a feeling, or a stepping stone?
    
    Failure and I have a complicated relationship.

    Being a perfectionist at heart, any time I realize I’ve made a mistake—or haven’t hit my mark with a story or something in life—I tend to get in my head. I replay the moment things went wrong: the words that didn’t click, the misstep I should’ve seen coming.

    It takes me time to recover. To pick myself up, dust myself off, and move forward.

    Oh, to be sure—I always move forward. But the self-examination can be brutal.

    I’m still learning the skill of giving myself grace.

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Nominations

(Here are the sacred 9 who have been chosen - the next step is yours.)

Bradley Ramsey

Steve Kelsey

Jeff Mahoney

K. T. Somerset

Eidahs - Erotic Romance Writer

Chip Spencer

FranB

PD's Alternative Fiction

Tyler Pooler

Questions for the Nominees

1. What question are you trying to answer with your writing, even if you never voice it aloud?

2. Are there wounds that the act of writing are meant to heal and have you healed them with your writing?

3. What part of you do you keep hidden from others in real life, but allow to be seen through your writing?

4. Have you ever written a character that has become a mirror, helping you see yourself better?

5. What is your relationship with creativity? Is it a fire, or a storm, or a gentle breeze? Has that relationship changed over time?

6. How does your history, your ancestry, your family stories affect your writing and the stories you tell?

7. Do you believe that stories have the magic to change people and have you ever experienced that magic when writing?

8. Have you ever experienced something your couldn’t explain, a bit of magic beyond the everyday reality we all perceive, and if so can you tell us about it?

9. Do you have any special daily rituals you follow before you begin to write?

10. If your stories could be considered a prayer - what would they be asking for?

I hope that you might accept this invitation to connect with others and reveal something about yourself and the magic that creates the stories you tell. There is no obligation only a hand extended in friendship - hoping you will reach out and share a bit of your magic.

Thank you once again Chloe for nominating me - you are a rock star and I hope one day to write characters with the panache and glamour that you have given yours!

For those who I have tapped on the shoulder - I have done so in love and hope that you will take the time and share the wisdom and magic of your responses.

Everyone else - please take a chance and look at the writers I have chosen - they are worth a glance and maybe you will find a bit of magic in their words.