Finding Your Voice

Well, it's Friday. Thank goodness, is all I can say! What a week.

Before I hand the blog over to the wonderful Carol Kilgore, I want to give Sangu Mandanna a huge shout-out for the release of her debut novel, The Lost Girl. The cover is fabulous, and I can't wait to read it. Many congrats, Sangu! If you don't know Sangu, hop over and follow her blog. She's one of the friendliest, loveliest bloggers out there.

Secondly! This weekend, from today to Monday, all my novels (including The Hating Game and Watching Willow Watts) are 99p/ 99 cents as part of the Labor of Love promotion, with other great authors like Michele Gorman, Elle Lothlorien, Juliette Sobanet, Dina Silver, Beth Orsoff, Donna Fasano, Barbara Silkstone, and many more. It's our way of saying thank you to all the wonderful readers who have helped us in so many ways. Click the link above for more detail, or click here for my Amazon page: UK; .com. Happy reading!

Thirdly! I am a guest today over at Jera's Jamboree, talking about author superfoods. Drop by if you get the chance!

Phew. Okay, now over to Carol. 

Talli, thank you so much for hosting me. Your blog is the last stop on my blog tour to promote IN NAME ONLY.  I can't think of a better place to end what has been a fantastic summer. This my first visit to London, and I'm noticing the differences. Older buildings and much cooler weather, for starters! But I see a lot of smiles, like in Texas, so I feel right at home. (Talli says: Londoners smiling? In public? At strangers? Carol must be out clubbing after midnight....) Since your blog is my last stop before turning off the light, I suppose it's appropriate to tell a bedtime story.

Once upon a time, I lost my voice.My writer's voice.One day I had it, clear as a bell; the next, it went missing.

Voice is a terrible thing for a writer to lose. Mine was dark and twisted. It hung out with killers and sociopaths. Psychopaths and kidnappers. Thieves and scorned women. My voice was a lean, mean voice. It loved getting into the nitty-gritty of things, getting good and dirty, and getting out as soon as possible.

The day it went missing, I looked everywhere for it. I looked in the short stories I was writing, in essays, in travel articles, in personality profiles. Wasn't in any of those places. I searched through a couple of novels. Wasn't in those, either.

Then one day, when I'd grown tired of chasing after it, there it was! You'll never guess where I found it, so I'll tell you. I found my voice on my blog—Under the Tiki Hut—soaking up the salt air and listening to the surf roll in. Lazing in my hammock playing Words for Friends and drinking a Margarita.

I was ecstatic! We celebrated long into the night and professed our undying love for one another. Or something close to that…as best I remember. Did I mention I had a headache for a day or so? Ouch!

My new-found voice is different from the lean, mean one that vanished. While it was missing, it lost its love of looking at life through a dark lens. My new voice is lighter and has a hard time resisting a funny retort, but enough of its former self remains to get to the heart of what makes the villain tick.

Losing my voice happened a few years ago, but my memory of the horrible experience is still fresh. I don't ever want to lose my voice again, so I give it lots of exercise. I hope we live together happily ever after!

How about you? Have you ever lost your writer's voice? Or had a hard time finding it to begin with?

This post was inspired by Linda Grimes and the post she made on The Debutante Ball on August 10. Thank you, Linda!

No home. No family. No place to hide. For Summer Newcombe, that's only the beginning.

The night Summer escapes from a burning Padre Island eatery and discovers the arsonist is stalking her, is the same night she meets Fire Captain Gabriel Duran. As much as she's attracted to Gabe, five years in the Federal Witness Security Program because of her father’s testimony against a mob boss have taught her the importance of being alone and invisible.

No matter how much she yearns for a real home, Summer relinquished that option the night she killed the man who murdered her father. But Gabe breaks down her guard and places both of them in danger. Summer has vowed never to kill again, but she's frantic she'll cost Gabe his life unless she stops running and fights for the future she wants with the man she loves.

Thank you, Carol! You can learn more about Carol and follow her here: Blog; Website; Facebook; Twitter; Amazon; Amazon UK. Have a great weekend, everyone!