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Friday, March 30, 2012

Guest Blogger Gail Sattler and Seattle Cinderella

Today, I smile at the thought of this author. She's been a fellow author at Barbour with me for several years, and she's made an infamous name for herself by changing her hair color numerous times. Even hosted a contest for others to guess what color her hair would be at an upcoming annual conference a few years back. Today, she's turning a traditional fairytale on its head. Read more to find out...


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

GAIL SATTLER lives in Vancouver BC (Canada, eh!)--where you don't have to shovel rain--with her husband, 3 sons, 2 dogs, a tankful of fish, and a lizard named Bub who is quite cuddly for a reptile, when he's not eating her houseplants. When she's not writing, Gail plays piano for the worship team at her church, jazz bass in a local jazz band, and acoustic double bass for a community orchestra. Visit Gail at her website at www.gailsattler.com.

SEATTLE CINDERELLA
by R. J. Larson
Published by Barbour Publishing

ABOUT THE BOOK

A modern retelling of one of the world's favorite fairytales, with a fun twist - find out what happens to her two step-sisters, and her godmother, in this anthology of 4 novellas written in series.

Readers, buy your copy of Seattle Cinderella today! And be sure to check out the web site dedicated to this book as well.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Fact is Stranger Than Fiction (or is it really?)
by Gail Sattler

When I was writing my first book, it was pointed out to me by other more experienced writers to be careful with what I say in the book, because even though as the saying goes, fact is stranger than fiction, if the fact is strange, even if true, people might not believe it, so make it up instead, and then present that as fact, after all, this is fiction.

Did that make any sense? Well, it will if you read it slowly.

Well, it made sense to me.

As a writer, people think I must lead a very unusual life, and to some degree, that is true. I often stop to wonder what people see in their minds when they think of what a writer is really like as a person. For example, right now one of my favorite television programs is Castle. (for obvious reasons, I would think) So here we have an actor playing an author in a television show where the fake author has written a fake book which turns out to be a real book written by a ghost author with the fake author's name on it, because the fake author is really an actor, who makes a living being a fake person. Then the book was published for real under the fake name of an author whom everyone knows doesn't really exist.

Speak of perception of authors, in one movie I saw a few years ago, Nim's Island, one of the major character was an author who was more than just a little strange. In all her quirks, and there were many, she was quite believable, and the audience wanted to believe it, so they did.

I've seen many movies and television shows that have a character who is an author. My husband has a tendency to point them out to me. Every one of them. I don't know why. But usually they show the author as a person who marches to the beat of a different drummer. They don't always fit in with the rest of the crowd, their perspective is a bit left of center, and some of their quirks are off the map.

I would like to refute that, but in a way, I can't. It is true, my mind often exists in a world of "what if?". But if I had to sum most writers up in one word, I'd say writers are naturally curious. Okay, that's two words, but I think you know what I mean. Writers are naturally curious people. We have a slightly different perspective on many things, and that's probably why we can write about them.

A lot of people I talk to, once they learn I am a writer, ask me how I got started. To that, I simply say, an idea just grabbed me, so I sat down and continued with it to see where it would go.

* * * * *

Thank you, Gail, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: If you were asked to sit down and start writing, ignoring if you've never written anything longer than your grocery list, what would you write about? What idea could you expand into a story?

No giveaway this week, but I hope you still interact with our guest blogger. Thanks!

7 comments:

squiresj said...

Hi - Gail. Remember me. I reviewed one your books a long time ago. Hair color switches hugh. I've done that. When I was younger, I loved to wear wigs so wore brunette, blonds, long, short, and had fun with it.
God Bless
jrs362 at hotmail dot com

Pegg Thomas said...

Oh... the ideas! I'd write about life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. :) Probably something historical. I'm a genuine history geek, so that's not a surprise.

Judy said...

I like mysteries! So...if I sat down and wrote a book I'd write about the mystery right here in my house. When I bought this house it was brand new. I was the very first owner. A few months later I got married. The funny thing about this house is, (we are not smokers), we can smell cigerette smoke in this house from time to time. At times the smell is really strong. There are times my husband smells it and I don't. There are times I smell it and he doesn't. There are times we smell it at the same time. So, I definitely would write about the mysterious cigerette smell!

Blessings!
Judy
judyjohn2004[at]yahoo[dot]com

Cheryl said...

Excellent post. As for if I sat down to write, I would try my hand at an inspirational romance set in the mid 1800's. I've wanted to create one for a while, but everything else seems to get in the way.

Best of luck with your book.

Cheryl

Cara Putman said...

I've got to go get a copy of this book. I love the concept and have to see how Gail pulled it off.

Tiffany Amber Stockton said...

I'm with you, Cara. The concept makes me smile every time I hear or read the title. A definite winner, for sure!

Tiffany Amber Stockton said...

Hmm, Judy, makes me wonder if some of the builders smoked when they were constructing the house. That stench permeates and gets into everything...woodwork, carpets, walls, duct systems, etc. If you're not a smoker, and your nose is sensitive to it, you'd smell it!