My Goals as a Writer by Naomi King

            First and foremost, my goal with each book is to draw my readers out of their real worlds and so fully immerse them in my story that they hate for my books to end. Living in the fictional world I create should be as wonderful an escape for my readers as it is for me while I’m writing the story! 

            As a writer, I also strive to remain fresh—to create new situations and challenges for myself. I refuse to write the same premise again and again. Indeed, over the thirty years of my career, I’ve written under more than one name and in more than one genre, partly because that’s what kept me published but also because I have a hard time pigeonholing myself as an author of any particular type of book. It’s a liberating thing to evolve into different genres and find out just how far you can stretch your abilities and your imagination! Resilience and flexibility have gotten me where I am today.

            I used to have the goal of reaching a big bestseller list, yet experience and a lot of writer friends have taught me that attaining that sort of recognition is almost totally out of the author’s control and depends upon how much push a publisher gives the book long before its pub date. So now, if I make a bestseller list, great. If I don’t, I’m a success every time an editor offers me another contract and every time a reader chooses to buy my book—and I consider it another level of success when a reader takes a moment to tell me how much she/he enjoyed my story.

            One nice thing about a writing career is that I can work from home—or on my iPad, wherever I go—with a flexible schedule, and I can keep writing well into advanced age if I choose to. After all, Victoria Holt was still writing when she died on a cruise ship at 87, and Barbara Cartland wrote until she was well into her 90s. My final writing goal is to keep putting words on the page for as long as I enjoy doing it. When it’s time to move on to something else, I’ll go forward with a joyful heart, knowing the years I spent writing were an experience many, many people envy.

Naomi is giving away a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter. All you have to do is scroll down to leave a comment for the author, and then enter the rafflecopter. You can also click on the banner above to follow the tour and enter at each stop.

Romance is in the air during the fall wedding season in the Amish community of Cedar Creek. But while one loving couple prepares to tie the knot, Amanda and Wyman Brubaker’s large family faces a threat from outside their happy circle…and must learn to pull together.

Recently wed Amanda and Wyman Brubaker are thrilled that their children from previous marriages have blended together to form a strong family. But when the construction of Wyman’s new grain elevator is delayed, making the project more expensive than anticipated, Amanda’s determination to rally the kids into taking on work to improve the family’s finances comes into conflict with Wyman’s sense of responsibility as head of the household….

Meanwhile, as James Graber and Abby Lambright prepare for their long-awaited nuptials, folks gather from far and wide. Amanda’s nephew Jerome has long been smitten with James’s sister Emma and wants to seize this chance to woo her. But Emma’s been burned once and is twice shy of trusting the fun-loving, never-serious Jerome. As Emma and Jerome struggle to understand each other, and find the courage to make a leap of faith, the Brubakers face a bigger challenge than they first anticipated and begin to discover just what it means to fight…the Amish way.

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Excerpt


“It’s been way too long since I hitched up a sleigh,” Jerome said as he lightly clapped the reins on Sparky’s back. “I don’t think this one’s seen the snow since Uncle Atlee passed, and that’s a shame. Are you warm enough?”

Emma burrowed deeper beneath the quilts Jerome had draped over them. Now that she was settled on the plush old seat, leaning into Jerome as the sleigh tilted slightly on the downhill lane, she felt happier than she had in a long time. The full moon was beaming down from a blue velvet sky dotted with diamond stars, making the snow-blanketed pastures glimmer all around them.

“I’m cozy. And I’m having a really gut time,” Emma replied with a contented sigh. “Night rides are the prettiest, especially now that the wind has died down.”           

“Jah, it’s a perfect evening,” Jerome replied softly. “I’ve been hoping for more time alone with you, well—since the day we went shopping, Emma.”

As she thought back to that day she’d spent trying to escape Jerome’s attentions, Emma let herself relax . . . allowed the breeze from the accelerating sleigh blow away her former objections to the handsome man who was driving it. The clip-clop of Sparky’s hooves on the snow-packed road settled her heartbeat into its rhythm while the warmth they shared beneath the quilts soothed her after a day of surprising guests and revelations. “Denki for giving me another chance, Jerome,” she murmured. “You were right at the wedding. I’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities to go out and have fun.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Drawing upon her experiences in Jamesport, the largest Old Order Amish community west of the Mississippi, longtime Missourian Naomi King writes of simpler times and a faith-based lifestyle in her Home at Cedar Creek/One Big Happy Family series. Like her series heroine, Abby Lambright, Naomi considers it her personal mission to be a listener—to heal broken hearts and wounded souls—and to share her hearth and home. Faith and family, farming and frugality are hallmarks of her lifestyle: like Abby, she made her wedding dress and the one her mom wore, too! She’s a deacon, a dedicated church musician and choir member, and when she’s not writing, Naomi loves to travel, try new recipes, crochet, and sew. Naomi, whose real name is Charlotte Hubbard, now lives in Minnesota with her husband and their border collie, Ramona.

www.NaomiKingAuthor.com

https://www.facebook.com/NaomiC.Kin

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