Welcome L.J. Holmes

My name is Lin Holmes and I write as L.J. Holmes. Currently I have twelve contracts with Muse Publishing and hopefully more coming along in the wings.

My first story is SANTA IS A LADY and is Book One of The Christmas Miracles Series. It released on December 1, 2010 and tells the story of Angie, a young woman who nearly died in a car accident and has been battling back ever since. Her friend Beck owns a confectionary store and it is five days before Christmas when she loses her Santa. With no professional Santas unemployed, Beck has to scramble. Her scramble leads her to Angie’s door.

Cameron Drayton wants to show his newly acquired daughter the perfect Christmas. Unfortunately he doesn’t think a female Santa means “perfect.”

This story amazed me. It wrote itself actually, and that must be the right way for me to tackle the creative Nudge side of me. Six weeks after releasing, it won the 5^th place in its category for the year long P&E 2010 Readers Poll. 

Now I was on a roll, but the question I get asked most frequently is, “How do you come up with your ideas?” So I thought I’d give you a little bit of a demonstration…

This picture drew me to write because it describes me, and writing. In this picture I see the many facets of my mind at various stages of engagement. There are so many levels of fantasy, creativity, and intrigue hidden in this picture I just fell in love with it.

When a storyline comes to me, I am like the sleeper, with my palm turned up and my body stretched out oblivious to what is churning just below the protection of slumbering flesh or out there in my wild imagination. It is Nudge, my inner story weaver, or some call her their Muse, spinning and shuttling here and there yanking on this thread, blending it with that one and eventually creating a tapestry of beginning, middle and end reality.

Using this picture, for instance, let me show you what I mean…

Beneath the burgundy folds of the intricate mask designed with the contours of her own face in mind, her tender nostrils flare. Somewhere within this space he walks. Would she recognize his visage as readily as she now had his scent? What world is he from? Inhaling discreetly, she tried to separate the different tangs. Could he be from the Malfa Four Quadrant? No too much nutmeg to be Malfoinian. Perhaps he’s from the Trelap Concircle? Yes, definitely of Trelapian ancestry, but with just a hint of something else. Pumpkin? Could it be Pumpkin?

How long had it been since a Frantaxian walked amongst them. Correction part Frantaxian. Great Starasia, she’d forgotten how deliciously intoxicating Frantaxians could be to one such as her. Still to breathe in that sweet, overpowering aphrodisiac after all these eons…

And from there the story goes on, and all from looking at a picture. But that’s not the only way my inner Nudge assumes control to weave her wordy magic.

I can be sitting at the Mall, eating my relaxed lunch and see a child with a balloon go from giggling toothily to howling furiously when the string of that balloon slips and drifts rapidly towards the skylight. Who is going to calm that child down and how? Will one of the nearby adults risk life and limb to teeter their way up towards the high ceiling and try snatching that dangling balloon ribbon, or will the man at the helium tank take pity on the upset child and inflate another? Suppose the balloon man inflates another only to have the child scream even louder because this balloon is green not red?

So many variables and each will take the story down an entirely different path.

I knit winter scarves and hats for my family in Montana each year. My sister-in-law is a Minister, so I also knit pounds of scarves and hats to give to the needy out there. Every scarf and hat I knit requires a certain amount of plotting, planning, and following some form of a design, but if I tweak one strand, it changes the finished product enough to resemble an entirely different piece.

For me, Nudge guides the strands, diving in and out and twirling all around, and in the end, well, in the end I have an incredible twelve contracts in just this last year with MY MUSE, Muse Publishing.

I am not a plotter as a writer. Nudge would soon put me straight if I tried to take on such unrealistic airs. I’m a by the seat of my pantser, and to be honest, it awes me when I go back and actually read the stories Nudge has guided me to write. When you are in awe of what comes out of you, there’s nothing better.

I want to thank you for inviting me to visit and letting me share my methods, convoluted though they may be.

I can be followed at my Muse Dedicated Blogs

http://linsownblog.blogspot.com  for the Main Side of Muse’s offerings

http://linsownfirebrand.blogspot.com  for the Hot Side

http://linsownbooklounge.blogspot.com for the Young Side

http://linsownoyster.blogspot.com and for all NON Muse authors.

I also have an author’s page at both Muse It Up and Muse It Hot

www.museituppublishing.com

www.museithotpublishing.com

My e-mail address is :

Spatzdkat1212@yahoo.com

My books for this year are:

1. Santa is a Lady-released from Muse It Up and available
2. Forever With You-released from Muse It Hot and available
3. The Pendulum Swings-released from Muse It Hot and available
4. The Twilight Comes-releasing from Muse it Up (MAY 2011)
5. In From The Cold-released from Muse It Hot (JUNE 2011)
6. This Time Forever-releasing from Muse It Hot (AUGUST 2011)
7. Beyond Yesterday-releasing from Muse It Up (SEPTEMBER 2011)
8. Champagne Afternoon-releasing from Muse It Hot (NOVEMBER 2011)
9. The Christmas War-releasing from Muse It Up (DECEMBER 2011)

My books so far for 2012 are:

1. She’s Gone-releasing from Muse It Up (FEBRUARY 2012)
2. Echoes From The Past-releasing from Muse It Hot (APRIL 2012)
3. Life’s Journey-releasing from Muse It Up (JUNE 2012)