On Inspiration for Muse Monday by Maggie Blackbird

MUSE MONDAY

I'm happy to tell you the regular columns are back on Discover... Guest bloggers will visit three times a month with Muse Monday, Wicked Wednesday, and Fearless Friday. To open the year, Maggie Blackbird has a great Muse Monday post. 

Winnipeg is my muse.  Winnipeg, Manitoba that is.  Although I live in Northwestern Ontario, Winnipeg is a mere 4 ½ hours from where I reside.  I know.  To some, that seems far.  But when you live in the middle of nowhere, driving 4 ½ hours is nothing.  I’ve lived in Winnipeg.  I’ve gone on business trips to Winnipeg.  And pleasure trips, starting when I was a wee girl.  My parents always took us to the city for hockey games and other fun activities.  Even rock concerts since I’m a music lover.  So it was only natural that I chose Winnipeg to set my story in, along with having a Métis hero, since Winnipeg is where the Métis people were birthed. 

Note to readers: Yes, I had to look it up...  Métis are people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, and one of the three recognized Aboriginal peoples of Canada. 

Blurb: 

Two sexy work rivals each want the prestigious promotion, but neither expects to want each other.  

Driven and determined, Celeste Fisher won’t let anything stop her from anchoring the nightly news. She’s sacrificed a personal life, a love life, and left her Ojibway community to make it in the city. And if that means stomping all over her too handsome and too competitive rival to nail the position, so be it. 

Casual dating and one-night stands are all Reed Dumont can spare while building what he covets most—his career. He’s not about to lose out to Celeste, no matter if he can’t keep his eyes off her sexy legs and admiring her just as sexy brain, because sitting in the broadcasting chair is another step up the ladder to thumb his nose at his poor Métis upbringing. 

A crisis in a First Nations community sends the adversaries out on the road to cover the story. Snowed in at the hotel, rivals become humans, unable to deny their true private desires. But upon returning to the city, the new lovers face the biggest hurdle that could cost them their budding relationship when one gets the promotion and the other is left holding… frustration. Now they must decide what is worth fighting for: love or career. 

Available at:  https://books2read.com/u/bokKg9 

Excerpt: 

If Celeste kissed him back, that was it, she’d never be able to face Reed at the office again. And maybe this was all a ploy—a way to humiliate her so he could get the promotion. But lust crawled all over her insides, begging to taste his lips, even though he had stuck his tongue down the throats of every woman in Winnipeg. To worsen the situation, the little voice was saying this wasn’t a game to him or a ploy—he truly wanted to kiss her.

 But why her? It didn’t make sense. 

As quickly as his lips had brushed her mouth, giving her a sample of his ripe softness, they just as rapidly vanished. His nose was against her tip, and he stared back.

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.

Links:  Web Site | Facebook Page | Bluesky | Goodreads | BookBub | Instagram | Amazon Author Page | Newsletter Sign-Up

Stay on the Platform - Inspiration from Susan Palmquist

Please welcome Susan Palmquist as our guest blogger today. Susan has a touching account of her writing journey. She also wears Author Coach and Marketing Services hats. You'll enjoy her post. Read on! 

The last thing I ever thought I’d be is an author. In fact, I’d call myself an accidental writer.

Eavesdropping and yes, maybe greed first got me interested in the writing life.

I was visiting one of my great aunts when her neighbor dropped by. As they sat drinking tea, the neighbor mentioned that she’d just received a royalty check for a book she’d written 15 years ago. Now that sounded like a career I should check out.

Arrogance told me that it would be easy because I’d been an avid reader all my life.

How hard could it be to write a book?

So off to the library I went and checked out a book on writing. I can’t remember the title or author but I do recall one piece of advice that stood out.

Writing is like waiting for a train. Sometimes it’s late and some people give up waiting so they leave the station just before the trains roll in. However, only a handful of people are patient enough to stay.

With that sage advice in hand, I was ready to write my first novel and watch those royalty checks roll in.

My first story was a children’s book…yes, greed took over again because I’d heard the children’s market was where you could make big money.

If you’re a writer you know what I’m going to tell you next.

The rejection letters started piling up.

I did however get one lucky break. Not a contract but my first $250 earned as an author when the story won first place in the Loft’s Children’s Literature Award.

Arrogance reared its ugly head again. I was convinced editors would now see that my story deserved to be published.

Most of them didn’t share that view.

Back to the library I went to get more books on writing.

What do you like to read? Asked one author.

That was an easy answer because I loved mystery and suspense and was soon penning one of those.

However, about half way into the story, life intervened.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer and given just six months to live.

My writing stopped so I could spend as much time with him as I could.

After he died, I tried and tried to get back to the story but couldn’t. I even tried switching to another story and realized, the story wasn’t the problem, it was me.

Maybe it was a sign that I wasn’t supposed to be a writer after all and just greed and arrogance had taken over.

While I didn’t write another novel, I did however write some short stories that got published, but novel writing was in my past.

Fast forward ten years and my mom was cleaning out a cupboard when she found two birthday cards that my dad had sent me. They’d fallen behind a shelf and she asked if I wanted them.

Yes, I did and guess what he’d written inside?

Happy writing and write a good book.

Dad had been my biggest cheerleader and I knew if I didn’t get back to writing that novel, I’d be letting him down.

It got finished but I still couldn’t get published. However, the rejection letters were in fact getting more positive and I could hear the vibration of that train about to arrive at the station.

I switched genres again and decided to write a time travel story.

Like the mystery, the rejection letters became handwritten and very positive, and then one day, the day all authors dream about finally arrived.

We’d like to offer you a contract…

It had taken almost twenty years but I’d done it.

And guess what?

I eventually got contracts for both the children’s story and mystery too.

Every story has some sort of my moral and this one isn’t about not being greedy and arrogant. This one’s about not giving up on your dream.

If you know you’re supposed to be an author, no matter what the rejection letters tell you, no matter how long you wait, please stay on that platform because the train’s about to pull into the station. 

About Susan

Susan, also known as the accidental writer has worn many hats in the publishing world. She’s an author, former freelance writer and editor, tutor, teacher, writing coach and mentor to other writers who wait for the train to reach the station. And yes, she even worked for a publishing company as a publicist.

You can find out more about Susan at www.susanpalmquist.com, under her pen name, www.vanessadevereaux.com and her own writing blog at www.thiswriterslife.com

In addition to her author services, Susan publishes under the name Vanessa Devereaux.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F7KM5XM

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Room-Regency-Erotica-ebook/dp/B0113C3UVO

Life's Adventures: In Domesticity (Confessions of an Ex-Domestic Goddess)

Many moons ago, when I was first married, my husband told people we lived in a hospital. He’s prone to exaggeration, but I was kind of fanatical. I was raised by a stay-at-home mom who bought into the whole 1950s feminine persona. So, I cleaned the house every day, sweeping and dusting. I did all the grocery shopping and cooking. My first cookbook was a paperback entitled The I Hate to Cook Book given to me by my mother-in-law. I now think she was a visionary and knew how my house-wifey days would evolve. 

Fast forward a few years. Once I learned playing house got tedious, my love of shiny floors and squeaky-clean sinks died. I worked outside the house at a 9 to 5 job just like FDW. No way was I putting in 9 to 5 on the weekends inside the house. I luckily drew a mate who enjoys cooking. And he cooks good food from scratch. We lapsed into a nice routine of whoever got home first cooked. Whoever didn’t cook, cleaned up. We shared laundry and other details around the house so we could get out to fish, ride bikes, hike, or party with the Parrotheads. 

Then I found out I loved writing books. Now fast forward a few decades. Who the heck has time to do much of anything if you’re a self-taskmaster writing and promoting? Not this lady. I’m just very glad FDW still loves to cook, grocery shop, and a few other domestic shores I’ve pawned off on him. 

But once in a while, I like to step out of my self-imposed writing cave. Yesterday, while FDW vegged in front of sports on TV, I went grocery shopping…all by myself. When I hopped out of the car, I paused a moment. The carts were lined up on the sidewalk. People were rushing in and out of the automatic door. Could I do this on my own? I go with FDW once every couple of months just to see if there are new things I might want. Plus, he’s a very linear shopper…list in hand, in and out…same stuff every week. I might want to try that oddball fruit on sale or see if they’re carrying Peach Brandy yet. But I hadn’t walked those aisles alone in ages. Just inside the door is a Starbucks, so with a caffeine jolt, I did the deed. 

Costco was on the schedule for today. Naw, I’ve had enough of the grocery experience for now. FDW is there as I type. Yay, for him!