Stephen King Quote that Hit Home

This quote exactly sums up why I started writing. I could not have said it better myself. I still have these things to say that sometimes seem like words cannot do justice. That is the writer's job. Make them come as close as you can to the things in your head. The better you do that, the more people recognize your heart in your work.
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
― Stephen King, Different Seasons

 

Imagine When-Backstory

I'm not entirely sure where I found the inspiration for the entire story. There are some things I do know. Lindsay and Nate's relationship was inspired by a couple I knew when I was a kid. I'm not sure whether they made it or not, but I wanted their story to have a happy ending, so in my head, I gave them one.
There were so many aspects I took from around me. I meshed a couple of my best friends into the character of Jessica. I took names from my real life, Tristan, Lainey (Laney), Jessica, etc. I added the character of Kyle because Asperger's is something I live and breathe on a day to day basis, and I am always promoting awareness. American military is a big component of my family's history and it was just natural to incorporate that element. WWII is very intriguing to me, and I hope other people want to consider what it was like to live through things like that.
Mostly the story just came to me in bits and pieces. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I took some advice from Hemingway and enjoyed wine while writing.Quote I wrote for awhile, got distracted by Pinterest. I wrote some more, got distracted by kids saying, "Moooommmmm." Which incidentally always sounds like this to me. "Mooommmm" I wrote some more, got distracted by this book or that one. Have you read, Gone Girl? It is amazing. I digress. Anyway, I wrote when I had time, I edited as I went. I spent much much more time editing than writing. The writing was actually easy. And then, Voila, the book was finished.

Imagine When-Teaser

When Lindsay Whitman, who lives in modern day Washington State, meets Nate Bradley; a veil to another time seems to lift. Lindsay is instantly attracted to Nate, but that attraction is secondary to an intrigue she feels because she has visions of someone else's past nearly every time she sees him.

It isn’t very long before Lindsay realizes there is a connection between herself, Nate, and her visions. She is seeing the life of a person who was once very real, Elaine “Lainey” White.

Elaine is a teenager who lives in Tennessee during WWII, and she has a very tragic tale. She and her childhood love, Sam, have an ill-fated love story. Elaine loved Sam with her whole heart for all of her youth. When WWII breaks out, Sam is instantly compelled to serve his country. Elaine hates having Sam leave to go to war, but she loves him for the person he has to be in order to make that commitment.

Lindsay sees all of these things happen in out-of-sequence flashbacks. In one of the flashbacks she realizes that Sam looks almost exactly like Nate. She tries not to let the visions influence her feelings for Nate, but she isn’t able to completely separate them. In a dream she finds that Elaine looks hauntingly like her. She comes to wonder why she is having the visions and if there is a message for her in them.

After awhile Nate confesses to having visions of Sam and Elaine as well. Lindsay and Nate bond over their unique circumstances, but young love being what it is, Nate and Lindsay eventually face obstacles of their own.

Will they be able to be Elaine and Sam’s second chance or will real life take its toll on both couples?

A Turning Point Decision

I finished my first novel, Imagine When, in January. I have been shopping it around to different publishers with no knowledge of what I was doing. I sent it to some vanity publishers, without knowing it. Vanity publishing is basically what you would call it when you want to publish a book for the bragging rights and to be able to share it with your family and friends. The problem with this is that the publishing company doesn't do any real marketing for you, and you could be expected to pay for your own editing, cover art, and marketing. It is essentially a way for these publishing companies to make money at the expense of new authors. They could theoretically get your book out there and you could be successful, but entering into a contract with any publisher gives them rights over your book that I frankly don't want to give away without them taking risks as well, because that is traditionally what a publisher does. So, I made a decision to go another route.  (Ironically, right after I made the decision, I got offers from two shady publishers)
Self Publishing!
Amanda Hocking is my inspiration for deciding to self publish. She was really the reason I felt like I could write at all. The link takes you to her story of self publishing. I discovered her books looking for something cheap to read on Amazon that interested me. I discovered her Trylle series first, and fell in love with it. I read all three of those and then started reading her other stuff. I have to explain something about myself. I am really tuned in to grammar and the proper use of English, and I noticed some mistakes in her writing. However, I was able to overlook this because the stories were that good. So, then I did some snooping on her blog, and saw that she was self published and had a moment of, "yeah, that makes sense." Which led to me thinking, "if she can do it, why can't I?" That seed was planted in my head right then, three years ago. I never really said anything except to tell my husband about her, but I don't think he was all that interested. Fast forward to last summer, my husband said he thought I should write a book. At that point, I had been a stay at home mom for years and years. That was all the encouragement I needed. I decided to go for it. I started Imagine When and it took me about 9 months to write it. Considering it is just under 60K words it is somewhat amazing that it took that long, but I'm not practiced in sitting down and forcing myself to write.
I have started on my second novel, a work which is not yet named. I'm very excited about it though. 

My First Post and Long Intro

My name is Jamie Proctor. I am a thirty year old business owner, wife, mother, almost self-published author, and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. Currently, I live in Mountain Grove, Missouri.

I was born in Ancon, Panama because I was a military dependent. I lived there for my first two years, and then we moved to Yakima, Washington. We moved around a lot when I was young, and lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia; Greeneville, Mississippi; and even South Korea. Yakima was always home base, until I was a Junior in high school, and we moved to Kennewick, Washington.

I graduated from high school in Kennewick and I joined the Air Force the following year. I was stationed in northern California at Travis Air Force Base. I worked grave-shift in a cargo warehouse for my first two years. During that time, I met my husband. We were married two weeks before 9/11. A hectic time in our lives started when those towers fell, as it did for many military families.

My husband went overseas soon after, and in the years that followed he was gone more than he was home. During that time, we had two children. Our son, Tristan, was first and then our daughter, Laney, two years later. I got out of the Air Force when Tristan was a year old because we wanted someone to be a constant presence in his life. It was good that I did, because when he was three he was diagnosed with Autism. Parenting a special needs child has been a very challenging and very rewarding job. Today, he is ten, and his diagnosis is officially Asperger’s Syndrome. He is in a mainstream classroom, about to start middle school in the Fall. Laney is a typically developing eight-year-old, and that comes with all of the drama of young girls. During our time as a military family, we lived in California, Washington, and Virginia, although my husband saw much much more of the world.

In November, after twenty years of service, and eleven years of marriage, my husband retired from the Air Force. We decided to move to his hometown of Mountain Grove, Missouri because his mother had just passed away, and we wanted to be here for the rest of the family. We figured out how important it was to have family ties, although, we have made many friends in the military whom we’ve adopted as family.

It was here that I began writing my first novel at the suggestion of my husband. It took me nine months to get it where it is today, and I’m sure I will always be improving it in my head. In the time I was writing we also opened a coffee shop. Mountain Grove is a small town and did not have one. I found myself wishing I could stop for coffee after dropping my kids off at school, but found myself making my own instead. After some market research, we decided to invest in a small coffee business. I had some knowledge because my mom and uncle ran a small coffee kiosk when I was younger. My mom helped us get up and running and we are successful after less than a year.

I love the slow pace of small town life right now. I am open to whatever publishing my book may hold in store.