Emily Josephine Writes

Ready for a fun and clean romance? Been sitting on the edge of the your seat waiting for a new novel by Emily Josephine?

Then I have good news for you! I just published the first book in my “Rock Star Husband” series, Tony’s Rose, and for a limited time (about two weeks) I have it priced at ninety-nine cents. Download it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CM7RVF

And please, please, PRETTY PLEASE – if you like the story, give it a review when you finish. TIA!

Again, the novel is available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CM7RVF

I’ve heard a lot of voices in my time. Mostly they’ve said things like, “Teacher, he’s bothering me!” “Teacher, I have to go to the bathroom!” “Teacher, he farted!”

More recently, they say things like, “I need affirmation on this major project I just finished [or a subtle variation thereof],” or “I’m going to dig a hole for the composting toilet” (my husband); as well as, “Can I watch videos now?” or “What did you say?” (my son).

Yes, the voices of the people around you can be helpful, and they can be annoying. But there are other voices, as well. There are voices that (cue spooky music and ghost sounds) come from inside you.

Muu-ha-ha!

Sources of inner voices

Okay. Actually, those kinds of voices aren’t all that spooky. They either come from

1. Your mind (conscious or subconscious),
2. Your spirit, or
3. God’s spirit.

No, I will NOT be P.C. and replace that last phrase with “the universe.” Don’t MAKE me come to your house and give you my Teacher/Mom Dirty Look.

That settled, among authors the word “muse” is often tossed around as another way to refer to an inner voice, which is likely either your subconscious or your spirit. But I think sometimes people mistake either of those for the voice of God.

Whatever the source, the muse is that creative part of an author that helps guide the writing process. I’ve experience it at work in subtle ways before. But recently, it got really loud.

A not-so-novel struggle

I was merrily working on my latest novel, yet another clean romance, with the point of view alternative between the male and female protagonists as romance novels typically do. And then – BAM! I hit a wall.

As I rubbed my head and repented for the string of curse words that came out of my mouth during the impact, I looked up at the wall. I couldn’t look over it.

I tried to look around it, but it extended to my right and to my left as far as my eyes could see. There was no ladder to help me over it, no rabbit to dig a hole for me to get under it.

All I could see, floating up in the sky in the form of random clouds, were a handful of scenes that I knew were eventually going to happen in the story. This included the climax and resolution, and a few things leading up to the climax.

But I could not see my way to those scenes, nor the scenes that would act as bridges to the major scenes.

I. Was. Stuck.

Now, usually when I get stuck, it lasts a day, maybe two, and then my muse kicks with at least the next step. I start writing again, and then I can see my way forward fairly clearly.

This time, it lasted four whole days.

Yeah. Feel sorry for me. Children are dying on the streets in Haiti, and I was in Author Limbo for four days.

Sorry. Just trying to give myself some perspective there.

Anyway, not to write for four days might as well be a year to me. And anyone who’s ever written a novel will tell you that taking even two days off can mess you up because you start to forget little, albeit important, details.

Backtrack to a couple of weeks earlier. That is when I first began to hear The Voice relative to my latest novel. It said, “Give Rose a point of view.”

The voice was not audible, but it wasn’t quiet, either. And it came out of nowhere a handful of times, speaking very loudly in my head, before I ran into The Wall.

Now I need to tell you that Rose is the female protagonist in my previous novel, and was just going to be a minor character in this novel. However, when I hit The Wall, I heard The Voice several times over a period of just a couple of days: “Give Rose a point of view.”

If you think that’s crazy, I argued back in my head: “But then it won’t be a straight romance. But she’s already had a chance to be a main character. But but but but but but.”

Despite my stubbornness, I began to re-conceive the novel in my head. I began to see how the story would be enriched by the subplot Rose would bring to life. How she could impact the main protagonists.

On Day Five, I went back several chapters in my novel and added her in. A couple chapters later, she got the starring role again.

The Voice quieted, and The Wall disappeared like smoke in a gust of wind.

Where was the voice coming from? I once heard someone describe the voice of God as “a growing conviction over time.” Even when The Voice was not speaking to me directly, I did, over a period of a couple of weeks, experience a growing conviction that Rose was to have a point of view.

So it may have been the voice of God.

Or, it could have been my muse. I’m not positive.

But, who cares? It has proved very helpful.

As long as you don’t call the men in white coats to come get me and throw me into a padded cell. Thanks in advance. 😉

Call the men in white coats. You know, the guys carrying straightjackets.

Because I did it again.

I started another blog.

You gotta understand two things. First of all, I recently promised myself that my Pro Human Vegan blog would be The End of starting blogs for me. I would use Live Your Dreams With Emily as my author and personal blog, and use the other as an outlet for my interest in all things vegan.

Second, my starting blogs has become a sad joke between my husband and me since I began my first one in 2009. I’d start one blog, go with it for a while, then follow a shiny object which would lead me to start another blog. I would get sick of that latter one and give it up while starting two more blogs, all the while maintaining the original blog.

Finally, a few years ago I made The Ultimate Declaration: “I’m never going to blog again!” I even cancelled my webhosting.

In my world, “ultimate” means “a definite maybe.”

Which brings us to…

Eventually, I changed my mind and started my Live Your Dreams With Emily blog. It was supposed to:

1.  help me make money with the MLM I belonged to at the time, and
2.  encourage other people to follow their dreams.

By making money with me, with the MLM I belonged to at the time.

But before I’d had my latest blog for two years, I quit MLM. And was really, really sick of telling people how to straighten out their finances and eat healthy. So I started talking about my family and our homestead.

During the past few months, I went back and forth in my head, trying to decide whether I should start a separate personal/author blog. One day I would tell myself that I never liked the domain “liveyourdreamswithemily” and that anyway, and author blog is supposed to have the author’s name in it somewhere.

The next day I would tell myself that I’ve already got a small following on my blog, and that the domain name really isn’t all that important.

My “final” decision was to stick with Live Your Dreams With Emily. I was even regretting starting Pro Human Vegan.

I should give you this heads up…

I am in my late forties, and as such I go through long periods (okay, three days to a week, but they feel much longer!) when I am so exhausted, I can barely take care of basic household tasks. And/or I have a headache for four days. And/or I can’t focus on anything. It’s like I’ve got a flock of birds soaring back and forth through my head, swishing my brain this way and that.

And making me kinda dizzy in the process.

I was in a period like that when I was regretting starting my Pro Human Vegan blog. During that same period, I was never going to write another novel.

So just FYI, if I’m ever gone from this blog for a week or more, no worries. I’m most probably slogging my way through one of those perimenopausal events.

Another FYI – whenever I make a “final” decision during one of those periods, it will not be final.

And then, I woke up

All the ick lifted. I was my ambitious, goal-oriented, visionary self again.

And I knew I wanted to keep writing novels. And to blog.

I also knew that I was going to do it right this time. I was actually going to sell my work.

Enter Tim Grahl’s book, Book Launch Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To A Bestselling Launch. He told me I needed to:

• Start an e-mail list, (sign up in the right sidebar, right over there====>>)
• Ask my fans to help me launch my books, (sign up in the right sidebar, right over there====>>), AND
• Contact bloggers and podcasters to help me launch my books. (sign up in the right sidebar, right over there====>>)

He told me nothing new, only to do the marketing that I already knew I needed to do. But have I done any of that? NO-O-O! Instead, I have dug my heels in and said, “No! No e-mail marketing! No figuring out launches! I’m going to do it my way!”

Which is fine, if you don’t want many people to buy your books.

But I was finally ready for the kick in the pants that Tim provided. I wanted people to start seeing me as a serious author, and if that was going to happen, I would need to start taking myself seriously as an author.

In other words, no more playing house.

I would have to join an e-mail subscription service, and beg my fans to sign up to my list (sign up in the right sidebar, right over there====>>). And I would be consistent about my writing.

A-a-a-annd…start an official author blog. With my name in it.

So, here you go. And here I go, being consistent. Publishing my first post to my blog.

Thanks for visiting; y’all come back now, y’hear?

(And in case you didn’t get my subliminal message peppered throughout this post, sign up to my e-mail list. The form is in the right sidebar. See it? Cool. 😉 )