My First....Novel with Guest Blogger Lynda Scott

As I anxiously await the release of my first novel, Dragon Lover, I’m reminded of where I started and the moment I fell in love with the written word. For me, it came later in life (I was 18 before I realized I could lose myself in a book) and my first novel was gifted to me by my eldest sister. It was a romance, go figure, and I’ve been hooked ever since. So I started thinking, I know where I got my inspiration. I know the moment I realized I could be a writer myself. However, I’m interested in when others have made that monumental decision. So, I've asked fellow author, Lynda Scott to stop by and tell her story.

Now, Here's where I always put a profile picture of the author, But Lynda insisted I put a picture of her writing partner/inspiration/muse/babysitter, is there anything she CAN'T do?  Wookie, the alien kitten.

Who first introduced you to the love of reading?

This may sound corny and old-fashioned but my mother introduced me to the joy of reading. She only had a 6^th grade education but she was an avid reader and she encouraged me to read everything that came my way. She often said you could do anything or go anywhere if you could read.

She was right. I’ve been to alternate Earths, alien planets, the past, the future. I’ve performed archelogy, surgery, and forensic police work. I’ve lived on a prairie on a planet with a lavendar sky. I’ve survived cryogenic freezing to wake up in the distant future as the sole survivor of some unknown catastrophe. Yes, some of this was written by other authors and some of it by my own hand.

Who influenced your decision to become a writer?

I don’t remember her name, but it was my 4^th grade teacher. She had us write a story about a magic door set in a tree trunk. This was the first time I ever had FUN doing homework. It excited my imagination and opened neural pathways that just exploded with more and more and more ideas. I was hooked. From that time on, I wrote story after story.

Finish this thought. “If not for Isaac Asimov, I would be a nurse.“

Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a nurse. Honestly, it’s one of the most honorable, courageous professions there is. It takes a special kind of person to be a nurse. Unfortunately, I’m not that kind of person but I did kick the idea around quite a lot. Then I read an old battered copy of The Foundation by Isaac Asimov. It was the very first Science Fiction I’d ever read and, even more importantly, there is a love story in it. This captured my still maturing writer identity and I was off to the races writing Science Fiction with romantic elements. It also awakened my interest in science and engineering and computers…which is where I ended up on my day job.

But I never quit writing. I wrote on lunch hours and breaks. I wrote at home after work. When I wasn’t writing, I was reading. But the books I read, while excellent, lacked a certain spark if there wasn’t at least some romantic elements. Then I read Witch World by Andre Norton. Fantasy with romantic elements? I now had a new genre to glom and I began including Fantasy in my writing.

Then I met some lovely romance writers online. And they, though they were contemporary romance writers, told me about paranormal romance. They told me that I was practically writing paranormal romance and that I should read some to see if they weren’t right. For an avid reader like myself, this was like manna from heaven. This genre gave me the Science Fiction and the Fantasy that I loved AND the full blown romance that, for me, makes the book a complete journey. After I indulged in all these lovely paranormal romance books, I realized that my friends were right. I was just a fingernail away from writing Science Fiction/Fantasy Romance instead of Science Fiction/Fantasy with romantic elements.

On that all important DEDICATION PAGE who did/will you thank?

My very first published book thanked my lovely romance writer friends, of course. Had it not been for them, I’d still be writing and keeping my work to myself. I also thanked my crit group, who while not romance writers, were excellent critiquers in their own right. And, of course, I thanked my family without whose support the book would never have been written. Family and friends and good books to read…what more can you ask?

A little more about Lynda: In her family of Kentucky 'ridge runners', oral tales were a tradition that even the children participated in. She spent many nights with her brother, cousins and friends telling tall tales to excite the imagination. Now she creates award winning science fantasy romance filled with despair, hope, love and courage

Her website is http://www.lyndakscott.com/ Check out her contact page for Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Myspace and especially for her newsgroup. she's always got giveaway drawings (either her own or by guest authors on her blog) that readers are eligible to enter. Lots of cool books and other nifty stuff ;-)

Altered Destiny, Stranded on an alternate Earth, architect and Jill-of-all-trades, Liane Gautier-MacGregor must find her way back to her homeworld before she's enslaved...or falls in love with a man who is the exact duplicate of her ex-husband. 
Devyn MacGregor's alter ego as the Reiver Lord is the only way he can fight the Qui'arel and their nefarious Bride Bounty, a tax paid with human females...until he meets the oddly familiar woman who claims he is her husband. And who sets in motion the rebellion that will either free his countrymen or destroy them.

Kindle,     http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Destiny-ebook/dp/B00579FKFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1308692836&sr=8-2             

Nook   http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Altered-Destiny/Lynda-K-Scott/e/2940012882417

Heartstone, Eric d'Ebrur is out of time. He must find the legendary Heartstone and fulfill the ancient Gar'Ja bond he shares with the Stonebearer. But when he finds her, he discovers that love can be more dangerous than the Gawan threat. Eric can defeat the mind-controlling Gawan but will it cost him the woman he loves?

After terrifying episodes of hypersensitivity, Keriam Norton thinks she's losing her mind. When handsome shapeshifter Eric d'Ebrur saves her from the monstrous Gawan, she's sure of it. But insane or not, she'll find the Heartstone and, if she's lucky, a love to last a lifetime.

Mundania Press http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Heartstone

Amazon             http://www.amazon.com/Heartstone-Lynda-K-Scott/dp/1606592335/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307896585&sr=8-1

Heartstone is available in print and ebook format