Real Writer's Can't Quit - Guest Blogger Pamela S. Thibodeaux

Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Award-winning author, Pamela Thibodeaux to my blog. Pamela is the Co-Founder and a lifetime member of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana and a member of White Roses in Bloom Authors. Multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as, “Inspirational with an Edge!” and reviewed as “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message.”

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Being a writer is one thing, an author another, and a published or multi-published author something else altogether. It seems the more I learn the more there is to learn and the more I write and get published, the more there is to do. Amidst edits and revisions there’s blogging, networking, promoting and somewhere inbetween all that and home/family/work obligations, write that next article, essay, poem, devotional and most-importantly - book!

I’ve written articles on time management…. budget your time just like you budget your money and getting rid of excuses ... you can’t find time to write, you have to make time to write.

I’ve tried goals – too intimidating. I make “to do lists” that never get completed because I scratch off one item and add 3 more. My claim to fame for being organized is a desk calendar on which I jot down those things I just can’t avoid – things that have to be done.

But the sheer truth of the matter is, life has a tendency to get in the way.

So how do I manage?

In snatches.

Experts say that frequent ten-minute walks are just as effective for long-term health as two or three longer walks. The same holds true for writing. A good friend said to me one day, “a sentence or paragraph a day is one sentence or paragraph closer to finishing” and we’ve all heard that one page a day equals a 365 page novel in a year (330 if you take Sunday off).

What sage advice.

I’ve been amazed at what I can produce in 15 – 30 minute snatches.

That’s how my story, In His Sight came about. The story began as an entry for White Rose Publishing’s ‘Hearts Crossing’ contest in which we were given a bare-bones synopsis and cover. I began writing the story in May 2009. My husband had been fighting the battle against Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and with a full time job, doctor visits, etc. my time was cut to thirty minute increments. That’s all I had but I managed to get the story 3/4ths finished before he passed away on August 18th. For months after his death I never thought I’d write again until Jan 2010.

Since the contest was long since over and the winner announced – I revised the title, made a few changes and finished this story, determined to do something, anything to wade through the grief that held me captive.

In His Sight was released on July 23rd and is available now from White Rose Publishing and is a testament to the human spirit as well as the old adage “real writers can’t quit.”

We might take a break or even a long hiatus, but we don’t quit-no matter what life throws at us.

In His Sight Blurb: Grade school teacher Carson Alexander has a gift—a gift that has driven a wedge between him and his family. Worse, it’s put him at odds with God. Feeling alone and misunderstood, Carson views God’s gift of prophecy as the worst kind of curse…that is until he meets Lorelei Conner, landscape artist extraordinaire, and perhaps the one person who may need Carson and his gift more than anyone ever has.

Lorelei Connor is a mother on the run. Her abusive ex-husband has followed her all over the country trying to steal their daughter. Distrusting of men and needing to keep on the move, she’s surprised by her desire to remain close to Carson Alexander. Through her fear and hesitation, she must learn to rely on God to guide her—not an easy task when He’s prompting her to trust a man.

Can their relationship withstand the tragedy lurking on the horizon?

Website address: http://www.pamelathibodeaux.com/
Blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com/
WRIB Blog: http://whiterosesinbloom.blogspot.com/