Hello lovely people! I'm so excited to have Emily Sims here today to discuss Why Being an Author is Different from Dreaming About Being Author. Before we get started, a little background info about Emily:
Emily is a mother, writer, photographer, and home-schooler. She loves family, thrift shopping, chai lattes, good books, nature, and learning new things. She strives to find beauty and divinity in imperfect things…she searches for God in the earthy and the grit and the ordinary and the joyful stuff of life.
She lives in Texas with her husband and five children.
Without further ado, let's welcome Emily!
I am a dreamer by nature. I actually don’t know a person who isn’t. Everyone has something to think about that hasn’t actually come to fruition yet. At any point in life, we have yet to accomplish EVERYTHING we dream of accomplishing, going everywhere we dream of going, meeting people we dream of meeting, and so on…
Before I wrote a book, I would lay awake at night and my head would be filled with ideas for books…myriads of books…piles of glorious books all written by yours truly. It’s the same now really. I have a large list of books I’d like to write someday. The difference between now and then is that I’ve written a book and I know it won’t fulfill all those places inside that I thought it would fill.
You know how it is.
When you reach that place you’ve been working so hard to get to, it don’t really fill the holes inside. Instead you just reach for more. It’s the plight of being human; the human condition. We always desire what we can’t have.
Now, to attach that to writing…
It is a great feeling to finish writing a book. It’s an exhilarating experience for a minute or two, and then your mind fills with all the things you still need to do. A book never quite seems done either. At least, not in my experience. At some point, you have to say, “I’ve finished this journey, it’s time to stop. There are other places I need to go now.”
There is beauty in learning when to finally stop. This applies to all of life.
So, when you realize when you’ve come to the end of your journey on a particular book, then you stop. And you move to something else, but the journey of a writer continues on.
The voices inside don’t stop…they urge you on to new things…greater, different, spectacular things!
So, basically, as an author, you struggle to put words around the pictures in your head. All those active movements and voices and people living inside your mind; all that emotion; the depth and breadth of the human experience…you struggle to put words to things that sometimes words cannot express.
When I was younger, I thought writing was all about the glory of having my name in print, but that’s not it at all. There is an aspect to seeing your name on the cover of a book and it’s surreal, but that alone is unilateral. To round out the experience of being a writer, you have to take into account everything that goes with it…the process, the people (real and fictional), the voices and the insecurities and the critics…the labor and toil over something you’ve created; something you now love because it’s a part of you.
Having a book is like having a child. You’ve been a part of its creation; that supernatural experience which happens at its inception. You’ve had a hand in it and it’s an honor, but you know it has nothing to do with you.
Being a writer is humbling. There is no end; no point in which you take one long exhale. You don’t relax as a writer, not for long. No, instead you keep struggling to create because that’s what you love. The truth is, writing is beyond me. I let go and the words just appear and the story takes on a mind of its own.
It’s a lesson in trusting myself and in trusting the process and in letting go completely.
It isn’t glorious, like I thought it might be. I am still myself…little, simple me. I am no different now that I’m a published author than I was before.
You take a breath and you keep moving and there is nothing more to it than that.
Up next is a book review for The Wasteland. Be sure to stick around for the Giveaway featuring 5 lucky winners!
Title: The Wasteland
Author: Emily Sims
Genre: Romance with a dash of Fantasy
Book Blurb:
In another world, one far removed in time and space altogether, a timeless journey awaits. The path is steep, the road is long, and it encompasses a wild evil. Here, in a place entirely different from our own, we discover the lost remains of a once vast empire and a love story long forgotten.
In The Wasteland, set against a barren landscape, we find a terrified woman named Lylah. She races along the overgrown highways of a war-torn country, pursued by a deadly enemy. Try as she might, Lylah remembers nothing about her past or who she is. Without quite meaning to, she stumbles upon a sinister forest and a small tribe of people. They have dark skin and hair. They speak in thick accents. Nothing about them is familiar, but at least they’re safe.
As she struggles to unlock the keys to her past, Lylah falls deeply in love with this primitive way of life…a way of life she’s never known before. The tribe’s leader is a fearless man they call “Matteo.” He is formidable and abrasive, but Lylah is inexplicably drawn to him.
In spite of uncertainty, one thing remains: an evil force governs this rugged land. The Opposition uses its power to oppress the tribes-people and they are quickly closing in on Lylah. Will she summon the courage to face her past in time? Somehow, Lylah’s memories hold secrets that could destroy the Opposition and break its tyrannical power.
Review:
The opening chapter(s) of The Wasteland definitely caught my attention. Although the novel was told from 1st person POV, the first chapter were narrated in such way that it read as if the narrator was talking directly to you, the reader. Confused? Take this excerpt as an example:
"I remember the first time I saw you. Your boyhood face is so clear...And more than anything, I wanted to teach you how to chew on prairie grass the way my daddy taught me. You looked like you needed to learn how to chew on prairie grass. You looked a little uptight. You didn't even know how to smile right."
I applaud the author for standing out from the crowd. If that type of writing style style doesn't suit you, don't fear--the rest of the book save that one chapter is written from a normal 1st person POV.
The whole world/setting Sims has created really intrigued me. In this fantastical world, there are 4 types of people: Royals, Guardians, Watchmen and Commoners. The Commoners are basically what they seemed to be--commoners. They're the farmers, the soldiers, the doctors--your typical everyday, normal people. The Royals are an elite group of people, supposedly they were touched by the Maker himself. Their blood runs pure and possess magical property. And, as their title suggested, they are treated like royalty because everyone else (especially the Commoners) depended on their blood. Basically, every quarter each Royal was required to donate some blood for the usage of others (ie. used in making medicine, healing, farming.) The Guardians are supposedly sent from the Heavens to protect the Royals. I'm not really sure what the Watchmen are, since the book doesn't really mention them much.
There was quite a bit of jumping between the past and present, since the main character, Lylah, has lost her memory and is trying to recover them. Fortunately, it is really clear when there is a time jump, so readers won't be confused.
The plot of The Wasteland really focuses on the Lylah's love life, in my opinion. It seems like a lot of attention was place on the relationship between Matteo and Lylah. Also, I think there was supposed to be a huge reveal regarding Lylah's past and who Matteo was in the novel towards the end; however, I'd pretty much saw it coming 40% into the book, so it really wasn't a big surprise to me. On the other hand...that last chapter. I did not see that ending coming at all. Can I say that it is not your typical happily-ever-after ending?
I really wished Sims spent more time on character development and perhaps integrating the whole Royals-Commoner-Guardian aspect of the setting more into the novel. I couldn't particularly connect with any of the characters in the book, except for Solomon. I would love to see Lylah gain some more independence as the book progresses along, since she seems pretty meek most of the time. As for Matteo, I wished he wasn't so moody, lol. But that's just me.
Final thoughts: I really loved the whole world building premise and wished the author had branched out/explored that aspect of the novel more. I didn't like how the women were assigned very traditional roles (ie. stay at home, care for children, don't talk back to the men.)
Rating:
Giveaway Prizes:
3 winners will receive The Wasteland
2 winners will get a $20 Amazon Giftcard
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