Discover. . .: Obsessed by the Past by Maggie Blackbird #FearlessFriday #TimeTravel

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please welcome Maggie Blackbird to Fearless Friday on Discover... Maggie's book will give you a glimpse into fearlessness.

Originally, I had signed up for Muse Monday, but Brenda was booked and asked if I’d consider writing a guest post for Fearless Friday. I agreed, although there isn’t anything I’ve done in my life that I’d consider fearless LOL. But it did make me think about the book I’m promoting and the fearlessness Edie Whitecrow exemplifies when she decides to walk through a time portal to make her biggest wish come true—reside with her Anishinaabe ancestors since she’s obsessed with the past and how her Ojibway people once lived.

Now that is some kind of fearlessness and some kind of faith. Would I stop my car to investigate a corn maze that appeared out of nowhere in a spot I know is barren? Would I jump through a time portal? Y’know, probably not. For one, I’m not nineteen anymore, like Edie is in the book. And two, the thought of not being able to return if something goes haywire is too to bear much since I have my hubby, our fur babies, and my family to consider.

But I have done fearless things over the years in the name of my job and as an author. Things lil shy ol’ me never would have considered that shaped and molded me into the person I am today.

Yes, I said shy. I was painfully, bashfully, extremely shy. So, can you imagine me public speaking to a crowd of one hundred? I never thought I would. But I have many times because my job at the time required it of me. That job, working for an aboriginal training and employment organization for fifteen years, demanded a lot out of me, from developing and facilitating workshops to boating across lakes or driving down winding, washboard covered roads for up to two hours to meet with First Nations communities I assisted. Traveling through snowstorms in my itty-bitty Sunbird in my twenties. Whatever horrible road conditions you can imagine, I’ve driven through them.

I always said that job pushed me to the extreme, and I’m grateful for my time working for them. They gave me a chance at a mere twenty-five years old to manage a provincial program, and oversee staff. They took a chance on me to perform duties usually reserved for people in their thirties. Yes, the staff I supervised were always older than me.

But if not for that job pushing me to the limit and demanding courage and faith, I wouldn’t have made the leap to become a full-time writer. It takes a certain amount of fearlessness to submit something you worked your butt off to receive a “thanks but no thanks” from agents and publishers. To receive reviews of “Meh…” Now, I was going to join the pack of authors who were fearlessly sharing their work with the world and bowing their head at another rejection letter.

What writers do requires courage. It’s easy to criticize. How many times have we walked out of a movie thinking, “That was meh,” or closed a book and thought, “That really wasn’t what I wanted to read.”

When my time came and I was accepted by eXtasy Books for my first novel Blessed, book one in the Matawapit Family series, I thought to myself, “I’m just a chick from the rez; how did this happen? What right do I have to join the ranks of awesome romance authors?”

I may not have hiked Mount Everest, or bungee jumped off a cliff, but that shy little girl who didn’t want to go to kindergarten and hid behind her older cousins on her first day of school, and then hid at the back of the bus, scared of all the new faces and people, achieved a dream she’d hoped for while spending countless evenings in hotel rooms after attending work meetings, quietly writing on her laptop. She is now a full-time writer. She is putting her books out there to be judged. And being judged isn’t easy. But no matter if it’s a good review or an “it was okay” review, I will keep writing romance novel starring Canada’s Indigenous People because I want to share with the world romance from the rez, written by a gal from the rez.

Title: Born for This

Series: Maizemerized, Book One

Genre: Time Travel, Historical and Contemporary Romance with a hint of the paranormal.

Heat Level: 3 Flames

She’s always been obsessed with her ancestors, and now he’s offering her a chance to live with them…forever.

Second-year university student Edie Whitecrow gobbles up each course on Indigenous studies. If only she could experience the lives of her Anishinaabe ancestors instead of reading about them. On her way to a Halloween party decked out as a historical Ojibway maiden, she spies a corn maze in a spot known to be barren.

A scarecrow figure beckons Edie to enter with the enticing offer of making her biggest wish come true. She jumps at the chance and finds herself in the past, face to face with the man who haunts her dreams—the handsome brave Thunder Bear. He claims he’s spent twelve years waiting for Gitche Manidoo to send her to him.

Life in the eighteenth century isn’t what Edie romanticized about, though. When her conscience is tested, she must choose between the modern day or the world of her descendants—where the man she was created for resides.

Coming your way on October 29, 2021 from eXtasy Books. Pre-order now.

AUTHOR BIO

An Ojibway from Northwestern Ontario, Maggie resides in the country with her husband and their fur babies, two beautiful Alaskan Malamutes. When she’s not writing, she can be found pulling weeds in the flower beds, mowing the huge lawn, walking the Mals deep in the bush, teeing up a ball at the golf course, fishing in the boat for walleye, or sitting on the deck at her sister’s house, making more wonderful memories with the people she loves most.