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Friday, December 10, 2010

Guest Post/Giveaaway: Author Kristie Cook

Hello Everyone! I have a wonderful author here today, talking about her writing. You may have heard of her. Her name is Kristie Cook and she is the author of the Promise and Purpose, the Soul Saver series. Ms. Cook is here to talk about how she came into writing and how she got the idea for writing her books. So without further adu, Ms. Kristie Cook!



"This whole crazy trip of becoming a published author started with a simple school assignment when I was eight years old. We had to write a short story and I wrote about gnomes helping a lost brother and sister find their way out of a cave. It was my first contemporary fantasy and I fell in love with story-telling and writing, especially after being the only student to receive an A on the assignment. Not only did I enjoy it, but, apparently, I was good at it. My dream was born.

So, when not reading, I spent most of my free time as a child and teen writing stories. But a whole novel, with an actual plot, never came to me. By the time I started college, I thought I didn’t have a real book in me. I also became practical and creative writing isn’t exactly practical. I decided I was meant to write for business, which is what I’ve done. My dream was squashed.

Every once in a while I’d get the urge to write for fun, but I never had time to pursue it. A couple ideas came to me and one time I even outlined an entire plot with a beginning, middle and end. But then I knew what happened and lost interest. Another idea was about angels and demons – but it was a fleeting thought, just the three words “angels and demons,” and I was too busy to chase it.

Fast forward several years…I finished my degree and my kids grew up to have their own lives. They got driver’s licenses so I didn’t spend most of my time driving mom’s taxi and they narrowed their interests so entire weekends from August to June weren’t spent on ball fields or courts. I found myself with extra time I’d never had before. I started reading again. And that rekindled my interest in writing for fun.

I thought I’d just dabble, create some character sketches to get started, maybe write something for myself or my kids. But as soon as I made the decision to write fiction again, Alexis’s story came to me. Not just enough plot for one book, but several plots that would wrap up with this big climactic scene at the end of an entire series.

I can’t say I came up with the idea. Alexis found me or, as I look at it, I was blessed to be chosen to write her story. And the funny thing is, it’s about angels and demons. By the time I finished one of the early drafts, I’d decided to name it Purpose. Not only was it about Alexis finding her purpose, but also about me finding mine.

I’ve come to realize I was meant to write this series and share these characters’ stories. It’s as if various paths and events in my life had been leading up to this all along. I’d wanted to name my daughter Alexis 18 years ago but had three boys. I thought I would never have my Alexis. But when I needed my character’s name to mean “defender” or “protector” and looked those up on the baby-naming sites, Alexis was the only female name to come up.

Fifteen…ten…even five years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to write this story. I didn’t have the experiences, the time or the focus until a couple years ago. But when it was time for me to write it, everything came together. And now I’m living that dream. The point of it all is that there is a time for everything and things happen for a reason. We shouldn’t give up on our dreams. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of patience for the right time or people or other resources to come along for us. Because when something is our purpose, when we are meant to live that dream, it will happen."

Thank you Ms. Cook for being here today and sharing your wonderful experience with us.

If you like to learn more about Ms. Kristie Cook and her writing, please visit her website at: http://www.kristiecook.com/ or http://www.ihavepromise.com/

Now time for the giveaway!
Santa's Book Bash # 3
This is for a copy of Promise (Soul Savers #1), Ms. Cook first book in the series.


ENDS DEC. 17TH

IT IS INTERNATIONAL!

Good Luck and Happy Reading!







8 comments:

  1. Thank you for the great post! I really enjoyed reading it :)

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  2. I love Kristie! I loved reading her interview! I have not yet read her books so I would LOVE to win it! Thanks for the chance to win!!

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  3. Thanks for making this giveaway open internationally

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  4. This was a great post, I loved it!

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  5. Aw, thank you everyone! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you like the books, too. :) Good luck on the giveaway!!!

    Thank you, Savy, for having me!

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  6. I've been wanting to get my hands on this book for the longest time... but it is soooo expensive to buy from the UK.... so all I could do is drool :(

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  7. Thank you for this giveaway and for the whole Santa's book bash event :)

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Hello lovely reader! Thanks for commenting! I enjoying reading what you have to say :) I have turn on the comment mod due to a large amount of spam. Thanks :)