Maggie Jaimeson: What Shall I Be When I Grow Up?

Today is my 60^th birthday. Yes, I have actually been on this earth that long, though I think in my mind I’m still about 28. My body begs disagree, but it is my mind that counts.  When I look back on my life I have been pretty blessed. I’ve enjoyed at least three careers—computer programming and IT management, teacher and academic executive, and now full time author. I love learning and I’ve done it through education and travel and lots and lots of reading—both fiction and non-fiction.

One of the great benefits of being an author is that I am always learning—learning about my characters, learning about the craft of writing, and learning about the people and places and cultures and decisions that impact my characters and their stories. I get to vicariously live many lives through my characters, and most important I get to control the final outcome to be what I want it to be. I get to create a happily ever after no matter what tortuous journey my characters have undertaken.

All of my stories are some reflection of me. I can’t help but do that. It doesn’t mean I’ve personally lived those lives, but I believe our human experiences of grief and joy and discernment are universal no matter the country, the culture, or even a different world than earth. Often the lives of my characters are ones that I dreamed I could have for myself, but never had the guts or the time or funds to pursue them. For example, in my Sweetwater Canyon series I follow five women in an Americana band. I played piano and violin as a child and into high school and college. I had dreams of being in a band, but I never pursued it as a career. I couldn’t imagine supporting myself as a musician even though I often dreamed of it.

In my Forest People fantasy series, my young adult heroine not only has to figure out who she is and what her gifts are, but she has to save not one world but two. And she is only sixteen! I can remember being a teenager and feeling like the world was on my shoulders. I was bound and determine to make a difference and to do the right thing. Figuring out how to do that is really the journey of moving from young adult to adulthood.  I’ve learned that most of us re-evaluate that journey at every decade in our life. My path at 25 was not the same as my path at 40, and now at 60 there is even more that I want to accomplish in my life.

In my new romantic suspense Shadow Finders series, my Marine Corps buddies are backed up by the women who love them. They take on truly evil people, corporations, or governments to save those who are forgotten or lost. Though I grew up at a time when women in combat or as police officers or other typical male roles was not at all common, I still fantasized about being a big hero—whether that was as an EMT or a mercenary or my version of superman as a woman. Yes women can kick butt too, but I would do it with less violence and more thoughtful and permanent changes. Shadow Finders allows me to explore the tension between violence and peace and change while still believing that love conquers all.

What were your dreams for your future? Do you still have some of those dreams? Have your dreams changed over the years? If so, in what way?

Because this is an important birthday for me, I’m giving away a free fiction ebook of your choice. Anyone who answers my question about your dreams for your future can choose any ONE of my currently available fiction titles in the ebook format you desire.

Go to http://maggielynch.com to read more about each of my books. Choose one that appeals to you. Complete this form and I’ll send you the book of your choice.

Happy Reading!

After more than 30 years in careers including software development and training, distance learning, and executive leadership in academic computing, Maggie decided to follow her first love and pursue writing full time. She writes adult fiction in romance and SF under the name Maggie Jaimeson, young adult fiction under the name Maggie Faire, and non-fiction under the name Maggie Lynch. You can find all of her books at http://maggielynch.com 

It’s All About the Dream... Except When It’s About the Fantasy - Tawny Weber

by Tawny Weber

Dreams... We all have them, don’t we? Some special dream we like to think about. Maybe it’s to write a book or to craft a bigger career. To find Mr. Perfect and/or raise a family. Or my current favorite, to have a body we personally admire. Or maybe that vague thing called financial security.

My dreams right now focus on a little bit of all of those.

But for Drucilla Robichoux, the heroine in my September Blaze, RIDING THE WAVES, her life is completely focused on building her dream career as an astrophysicist. A great dream, right? Except she’s so busy with that, she finally realizes that her love life totally sucks. Suddenly, she’s obsessed with the fantasy of having at least one memorable sexual escapade. Something she can look back on and smile over, that might not keep her warm at night but will give her plenty of memories to use to warm things up on her own if she has to. So she takes her friend’s advice and heads off to a luxury beachside resort for vacation. On her first night, she discovers the answer to her dream –or in this case, her fantasy—in the form of a hot, sexy surfer who makes her insides melt. She gives in to the fantasy and has a wild, intense and memory-worthy boy-toy fling.

Then she heads back to the dream. Only her fantasy is there, waiting. So... how does she reconcile her day to day dream and her hot sexy fantasy? Well, let’s put it this way... She doesn’t do it very well *g* At least, not at first.

So this made me think. I’ve got quite a few dreams. And I’ve got a few fantasies. For instance, nurturing my marriage and growing old next to the man I love is a wonderful dream that I work on every day (well, to tell you the truth, I’m trying to avoid the growing older part, but so far no luck). But my Johnny Depp fantasy is pretty awesome. And yet, as much as I love both, I probably can’t combine the two. At least, I haven’t figured out how, yet :-D

How about you? Is there some special dream you’re working towards? How’s that going? Do your dreams and your fantasies ever conflict with each other? If you care to share, I’ll pick one name from the comments to win a book from my backlist!

Are We Too Old For Fantasy? - Trish Wylie

I don't think there should be an age where we leave fantasy behind. But maybe that's just me?

In the USA and Australia romance may not be considered the loftiest of literary endeavors but it never seems to take quite the bashing it does in the UK. And since this is the year when Mills & Boon (Harlequin's UK division) celebrates it Centenery, a lot of us authors are coming under the spotlight and taking tentative steps into the media. Now this can be a nerve wracking enough experience on it's own. I personally feel I have a fabulous face for RADIO. But in the UK the prejudice is such that we really need to think about donning protective armour and carrying a light sabre. 'Cos frankly - they're out to get us!!!

How DARE WE as modern thinking independent women even THINK of reading this kind of thing let alone write it??! Do women really still search for Mister Right someone asked in a recent interview I did on the Radio (where I looked gorgeous I should add...) At this point I felt like saying...erm... YES. It's FINDING HIM that's the problem.

But why should we have to give up the fantasy and escapism we find in the pages of a romance novel? In fact if anything with all the roles we take on every day in the modern age aren't we MORE entitled to a little escapism?! And correct me if I'm wrong here - but didn't women fight the good fight for decades to allow us the freedom to CHOOSE? I mean, I know I live in a writing cave most of the year but I really did think we'd got to vote and everything...

Maybe part of the problem is the fact that the Mills & Boon brand is 100 years old. The critics can look back to the days when stories told of timid little waifs being swept off their feet by rich tyrants who could force them to do things they didn't want to, bullying them all the way to a supposed Happily Ever After... But I ask you - when was the last time you read one of those??? Now a little sweeping off your feet - bring it on I say! A devastatingly good looking man - WHERE??? Oh sorry - distracted for a moment there... A little waif of a heroine who needs rescuing in order to be able to make it through the day without starving to death, being able to decide what to wear on her own and relying on a man to COMPLETE HER. Gimme the shotgun - I'll do it. So do I write/read books that make me a lesser modern day woman in some way? Well I didn't think I did. But thanks for the paranoia critics - anyone who works in any kind of a creative medium just LOVES it when you heap that on - it makes our day. And as for attempting to make me feel guilty - thanks for that too - cos obviously we women need HELP with GUILT, don't we?

It does kinda raise the question though of whether or not there's an age limit on a little escapist fantasy. This is the point at which I get to admit to several sins... Just let me take a deep breath and lie down on the sofa for a minute...

Okay. I like chocolate, red wine, desserts, carbs, a romantic comedy on DVD or at the movies , happily ever afters, I cry at the Andrex puppy at least one week out of every four, I'm a dreadful cook, I don't dress in pink feathers or anything pink when writing, I love bubble baths, I'm a candle-a-holic, I have never burned my bra cos I'm at an age where gravity scares me and I-READ-ROMANCE. I did before I ever decided to have a go at writing one. I DON'T THINK I'M TOO OLD TO STOP DREAMING and I still believe in fairies. (they steal my car keys at least once a day...)

Now after all those confessions I'm sure there's a charter jet somewhere rapidly filling up with feminists, dieticians, shrinks and plastic surgeons all ready to show me the error of my ways - by force if necessary. But I don't think there's a cut off point where we're supposed to allow the daily drudgery and pressures of real life to be the entire reason for our existance. We all know that marriages struggle and many fail, we all know the pressures on teenagers worldwide, the problems of paying bills, the rise in sexually transmitted diseases, the angst we feel every January when we realize just how much weight we put on the year before when the media says we should all be a size ZERO (which frankly means not existing at all in mind cos zero = nothing, right??) - and all that is but a drop in the ocean in angstville...

So why can't we have a little fantasy to lighten our day? Huh???

So I guess after that long, somewhat soul cleansing rant what I'm asking is; what age is the cut-off point for these things? Do you have an age you know to tell little kids not to believe in Santa or the tooth fairy or wizards or princesses? Do you sit them down at eight and say - 'look, it's time we got REAL...' Do we tell them in the gothic phase of their teenage years - 'yeah, you're right - the world IS doomed...' Do we tell them in the first flush of young love - 'That's nice and all but here's what pain and anguish and suffering is headed your way... just marry for money honey...'

If we do I'm not sure I want to live in that world.

I want that smile you get when the heroine sees the hero for the first time and thinks YUM. I want the back and forth and the sexual tension and the conflicts to be resolved and the last page that leaves me filled with hope for their future. I want to believe. I want to dream. And I want my FANTASY goshdarnit!!! Just try and wrestle it out of my hands!!! I'LL-TAKE-YOU-ON.

So are you too old for fantasy? Do you have a favourite fantasy theme in a romance novel you'd like to share with some like minded friends? You're in good company here if it makes you feel any better...

And if it helps any I'll even throw a copy of my latest Modern Heat book His Mistress: His Terms at one lucky commentor - it's a delicious romp of a fantasy straight from my chocolate and candle-a-holic fed imagination. With a hero to dream about and a heroine to give him a run for his money. It has modern day dilemmas mixed in with a slice of pure escapism. And no-one BUT NO-ONE has the need to have some man sweep in and save them from a life of drudgery or rape her along the way to make her fall in love with him - SO THERE to the critics!

(I'll pick a winner in a week)

As for me. For as long as the books continue to sell EVERY FIVE SECONDS in the UK... I'll continue to love being a part of the BILLIONS of women who AREN'T TOO OLD for a little fantasy. But like I said - maybe that's just me...

To find out more about Trish and her books you can visit her Website or her Blog.