Come Selahway With Me…

Today the lovely Sydney Logan has agreed to write a little something to keep everyone occupied and intrigued, and I’m very grateful to her for it! I love to get different people’s takes on the blessings and challenges of living a creative life. I feel it’s important for people to really understand what goes into this sort of lifestyle and the professions that go with it – both the high points and the frustrations. As you can tell, what she has to say definitely rings true for me and many others.

On Being a Writer

(and Holding Your Tongue)

Guest Post by Sydney Logan,

author of Lessons Learned and the upcoming Mountain Charm

 

Being a creative person can be a wonderful and therapeutic experience, giving you the chance to unleash your emotions in a variety of ways. Painters, musicians, and yes, even writers, sometimes turn to their craft to deal with their own inner feelings. Words and pictures can show happiness, depression, grief, and conflict. Is a painting always indicative of what’s going on in the painter’s head? Not always. But creative expression is meant to make you feel something.

Books are no different.

So, when an author tells a story, it can be hard to deal with the fact that some readers don’t enjoy it. And, sometimes, those readers are quite eager to tell you just how much they didn’t enjoy it. Constructive criticism can be and should be a wonderful thing. It helps you grow as a writer. But when a review isn’t constructive, it can sometimes make an author wonder if putting your words out there for everyone to pick apart is really what you want to do with your life.

Especially when you can’t defend your work.

There is an unwritten rule in publishing that when you put your words out there for the world to see, you no longer have a voice. You aren’t allowed to defend, discuss, or engage. If you do, you get lumped with the other authors who chose that route and now find themselves filed under the label “Bad Author Behavior.”

Fair? Not at all.

However, I understand it’s part of the gig. While I’ve been blessed with many wonderful reviews, there have been a few that have been less than constructive and very mean-spirited. Again, that’s part of the job. I accepted it when I signed my publishing deal.

So how do I hold my tongue?

I choose to focus on the constructive reviews. I focus on the kind remarks that make my day. And I say thank you to readers and reviewers who took the time to read my book and offer their constructive thoughts.

And then I vent to my husband.

Don’t let the negativity eat at you. Vent to someone. Your spouse. Partner. Editor. Friend. Or, write about it and then send it to the recycle bin. Deal with your emotions and then go right back to writing, because you have deadlines to meet and stories to tell.

After all, your readers are waiting for you. 

 

Sydney Logan is an Amazon bestselling author and holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education. With the 2012 release of her first novel, Lessons Learned, she made the transition from bookworm to author. Sydney has a very unhealthy obsession with music, and her iPod is filled with everything from Johnny Cash to Eminem. She is also the author of two short stories: “Mistletoe Magic,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and “Stupid Cupid,” which is featured in the Romantic Interludescompilation. When she isn’t reading or writing, she enjoys playing piano and relaxing on her front porch at her home in East Tennessee with her wonderful husband and their very spoiled cat.

Her second novel, Mountain Charm, is slated for a summer 2013 release.

Links:

Website: http://www.sydneylogan.com

TWCS PH: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/authors/detail/41

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5787300.Sydney_Logan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SydneyLoganAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydneyALogan

 

 

A young girl needs to spread her wings, but a young woman needs roots.

English teacher Sarah Bray never thought she’d return to Sycamore Falls, but a traumatic event at her inner-city school leaves her desperate for the sanctuary of home. By returning to her roots, an older and wiser Sarah hopes to deal with the demons of her present and confront the ghosts of her past.

She discovers a kindred spirit in Lucas Miller, a teacher from New York with demons of his own. As the newest faculty members at Sycamore High School, they quickly become friends – bonding through Lucas’s culture shock and their mutual desire to build new lives. When they open their wounded hearts to each other, their friendship effortlessly evolves into romance.

Their love is put to the test when Matt, the quarterback of the football team, shares his deepest secret with Sarah. When the conservative community finds out, Sarah and Lucas – along with the town of Sycamore Falls – are schooled in the lessons of acceptance, tolerance, and love.

 

 

expected release date: July 4th 2013

“True love and sweet whispers, till death do us part;

Send someone to love my Appalachian heart.”

At the age of thirteen, Angelina Clark followed in the footsteps of her ancestors by casting an Appalachian love spell, which promised she would blossom into a beautiful and gifted woman who would find her true love. A young Angelina had been thrilled to participate in the sacred ritual, but through the years, her father’s untimely death and her mother’s failing health have shaken Angelina’s magical faith to its core. As her twenty-first birthday approaches, she refuses to practice her supernatural gifts and no longer believes in the love charm.

That is, until Dylan Thomas arrives on her front porch.

Dylan, a Nashville writer, travels to the mountain town of Maple Ridge to unearth the family’s supernatural secrets. While her clairvoyant mother is convinced that Dylan is her daughter’s soul mate, Angelina refuses to see the nosy reporter as anything more than a nuisance.

Despite their constant bickering, sparks fly.

Dylan admits he feels strangely drawn to Angelina and is in no hurry to leave Maple Ridge or publish his magazine article. Fearful that his emotions are being influenced by the spell, a stubborn Angelina struggles to fight her own budding attraction to the reporter.

The two inevitably grow closer just as her mother’s health begins to deteriorate, and Angelina is faced with the possibility of selling the family’s music shop to pay the mounting medical expenses. Desperate to help the woman he loves, Dylan explores his own family tree and finds support from an unlikely source. Can he finally prove his love is real—spell or no spell?

A story filled with love, friendship, family, and just a hint of Appalachian magic, Mountain Charm will leave you spellbound