Monday, July 14, 2014

International Author's Day



I was about thirteen when I first started reading the Dragonlance Series. I bought the early books, the ones by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, for ten cents a piece at a flea market. I already loved fantasy novels, had ever since I was a kid reading books like Alice In Wonderland, Wizard Of Oz, and The Chronicles of Narnia. I adored portal books. And I had also already written lots of short stories, poems, and a couple of terrible novels. So these books didn't get me started in any sense, but they did change the course of my life.


Something about these books hit me in a very special way. It's hard to explain, but anybody who has been impacted by a book in this way will understand what I'm trying to say. This is where my love of dragons really blossomed into what some people might call an obsession, but I prefer to think of as a passion. I already thought dragons were cool, but before this series they were just lumped in my mind with other cool mythical animals.


These novels changed the way I wrote my own stories. They turned me down a path which led me to become a published author with twenty fantasy novels under her belt (only fifteen have been published to date) and plenty more on the way.


In these first books in the series, I met my favorite character of all time, Raistlin Majere. At the time, he was the most interesting and complex character I had ever encountered in a book. And he remains, in my mind, one of the finest characters every written. His influence continues to shade my writing all these years later and his shadow can be found lurking in a number of my own characters.


These books didn't make me a writer, I already was one, but they did make me into the writer I am today. They fostered in me a love of character above all else and thus my own stories are very character oriented as these were. They also built within me a deep desire to write a story so epic, so fascinating, that it could span the test of time and draw others in so deep as to make them want to add their stories to my world.


Sometimes a story really can change your life. And that is the magic of books.










Blog Hop Hosts:
1. DDS @ b00k r3vi3ws (Host)  
2. DDS @ b00k r3vi3w Tours (Host)  
3. Eclectic Moods  
4. POLLY @ Polly Defies Gravity  
5. Vivienne Mathews @ Vivienne Mathews  
6. Nancy LaRonda Johnson @ Writer's Mark  
7. katiesalers@bookdevourer  
8. Daniel Thorne @ D. Thorne Books  
9. Her Ladyship's Quest  
10. Kateryna Kei@ Kateryna Kei's author's blog  
11. Stacey Joy Netzel  
12. Ruchi Singh @I Luv Fiction  
13. Crissi @ Crissi Langwell ~ Author  
14. Jamie @ Vailia's Page Turner (INT)  
15. Theresa @ Theresa M Jones ~ author  
16. Elle Hill Blog  
17. Dormaineg@dormainegblog.blogspot.com  
18. Rupali @ Nayak Brothers  
19. Minerva @ Chica Loves to Read  
20. NatashaAhmed@DearRumi  
21. Author Rachelle Ayala  
22. Cinta @ Cinta's Corner  
23. Natalie G. Owens  
24. Rita @ Rita Lee Chapman ~ Author  
25. Argyle Doll@ Argyle Doll  
26. Massimo@ Author Massimo Marino  
27. My Devotional Thoughts  
28. Author J. L. Weaver  
29. Linda Huber Author  
30. Njkinny @Njkinny's World of Books & Stuff  
31. Lita's Book Blog  
32. Http://glasgowdragonfly.wordpress.com  
33. Sarah's Book Reviews  
34. Pamela S Thibodeaux  
35. Muriel @ Finding My Invincible Summer  
36. Author Tricia Schneider  
37. Elizabeth @ The Consulting Writer  
38. amy@amylpeterson  
39. Jan & Dhivya @ Readers' Muse  
40. Hannah @ The Book Tower  
41. Ryshia Kennie  
42. Kristen Taber, Author  
43. Teresa@RockspringsCrafts.com  
44. Lynn Sholes Author  
45. Laura Roberts @ Buttontapper Press  
46. HL Carpenter  
47. bob@gridleyfires  
48. Lynn Sholes  
49. Anubha @ Gateway to a Different World  
50. Jenn @ Book Reviews and Giveaways  
51. Shelly Hickman, Author  
52. Linzé @ Butterfly on a Broomstick  
53. Andrea Buginsky, Author  
54. Lynn Thompson Books  
55. Diane Rapp Quick Silver Novels  
56. http://www.plaintalkbm.com/bookaholic-fairies/  
57. Hope Christine  
58. http://pawilson.ca/is-reading-important  
59. My Inner Muse  
60. Lit Lovers Lane  
61. Isla Grey  
62. T. R. Graves, Author  
63. The Nancy Way  
64. One World, Many Questions  
65. Penny Estelle  
66. Summer Reading for Kids  
67. Kritika @ SoMany Books,So Little time  
68. Meredith Bond  
69. Jennifer Ellis - Writing  
70. Marie Lavender's Writing in the Modern Age  
71. The Art Of Storytelling  
72. Nyaran @ LifeGraduate  
73. Samuel Muggington's blog  
74. PRB @ One and a Half Minutes  
75. Ann Swann  
76. Life with Autism and Bipolar  
77. Christina McKnight  
78. Emma @ The Beauty Of Literature  
79. 6feetunderbooks.wordpress.com  
80. Phoebe Sean  
81. Margo @ Words, Words, Words  
82. Claudette Alexander  
83. Beverley Eikli Author  
84. Karl Schonborn  
85. Rebecca Moatz  
86. Jennifer Wendell  
87. Sara Hathaway  
88. SS Kuruganti @ Clouds in My Coffee  
89. Aniesha Brahma  
90. Michelle Howard  
91. SM Johnson Writes  
92. Book Fairy  
93. Mahasweta Mahasweta's Musings  
94. MJ Summers  
95. Diwakar Pokhriyal  
96. CrossAngels  
97. Pamela Beckford  
98. Jo Robinson @ africolonialstories  
99. http://involution-odyssey.com/blogscribe/  
100. Tamara Epps  
101. Janice Spina  
102. MYTHICAL BOOKS (INT)  
103. Karen-Anne@Karen-Anne'sBlog  
104. RT_writes  
105. Carol  
106. Edward M Wolfe  
107. Karen-Anne @ Karen-Anne's Blog  
108. Ankit Jaiswal  
109. Kishan Chand Swain @Levying Kishan  
110. Musing Of The Writing Life  
111. http://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/international-authors-day-july-18th/  
112. P.S.  
113. Lillian @ Mom With a Reading Problem  
114. Roberta Pearce@ Roberta Pearce  
115. Myra @ Pieces of Whimsy  
116. Nat's Book Nook  
117. Jamie @ Cute Peach  

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1 comment:

  1. Great post! I love how books help shape us into the people we are to become :).

    ReplyDelete