Thank you to Clifford Rush, a husband and wife writing team, for inviting me to participate in this blog tour, sponsored by IC Publishing. Clifford Rush's new mystery trilogy explores the question: “What if the antichrist controlled the internet?” You can learn more at www.cliffordrush.com. I enjoyed reading their short story, No Eye Has Seen and am looking forward to their upcoming novel, No Mind Has Conceived.
I am currently working on Drowning, women’s fiction dealing with domestic violence. I started writing this story a few years ago and was inspired by a dream. A dream? Yes, I had a dream about the main plot and the next day I worked out subplots in my mind while playing basketball with my son in my driveway.
I didn’t outline the novel. I’d never written any fiction and had studied finance in grad school. What business did I have writing a book? My dream wouldn’t die and the characters became real to me. I sat down and started writing a very bad rough draft and continued to the end.
I waited to do any research needed until after the draft was complete. I just wanted to get the story down and continue with the creative process.
I’ve always found it easy to continue to work on Drowning because I am driven by the theme of raising awareness to issues of domestic violence. This is something I am passionate about and it motivates me to keep working. I feel I am giving a voice to victims of abuse.
I try to write or edit every day, but sometimes life gets in the way. On days that I’m not feeling creative, I’ll edit. It has taken a long time to decide if my story is ready for publication, but Drowning should be ready to be professionally edited in a couple of months. It’s hard to imagine my journey being complete because I’ve been involved with it for so long.
I feel that reading books in the genre that you’re writing in is very helpful to the writing process. I’ve read many women’s fiction books in the last several years. Also, books about the craft of writing have helped me tremendously, especially because I never received formal training. Workshops and conferences have educated me as well.
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I’d like to welcome Caroline Abbott and Tiffany Mason to continue the blog tour.
Caroline Abbott is a Christian domestic violence advocate who was in an emotionally abusive marriage for twenty years. Because of her faith, she was determined to honor her marriage vows, but didn't realize she was being abused. When the abuse escalated until she feared for her life, she got a restraining order, filed for divorce, and got her life back. Today, Caroline is remarried, and she and her husband have many children between them. She spent seven years writing her book, A Journey through Emotional Abuse: from Bondage to Freedom. Her book tells her story, but mostly focuses on helping other women determine whether they are being abused. If so, the book helps them decide whether to stay, or if they decide to leave, how to do it safely.
Caroline dedicates her life now to helping and encouraging other abused women via Facebook, on Twitter (@Caroline_Abbott), and her website and blog www.carolineabbott.com. She is currently writing her second book, "A Journey to Healing after Emotional Abuse."
Tiffany Mason is a speaker, coach, and author. Her upcoming book, The Power of Adversity, will discuss how to move on from a traumatic event. Her business focuses on inspiring and empowering married women to unleash their feminine essence in life and marriage. A few of the services she offers are life, group, and marriage coaching, workshops and training.
She can be reached at www.tiffanymason.com, on twitter (@_TiffanyMason), and on Facebook.
Thanks again to Clifford Rush and IC Publishing for inviting me on this blog tour!
Remember if we can help just one woman, we’ve done our job.
Katelin Maloney