Pushing the Boundaries of Imagination

Click here to check out all my Kindle releases!

It's a great time to be a writer and an even greater time to be a reader!

As an author, I have more freedom now than ever before in my career. I can choose to publish my books however I want, push creative boundaries, go where no wo/man has gone before (yes, I'm a Star Trek fan <g>).

This freedom doesn't only give writers choices; more importantly, it gives readers choices. One glance at Amazon.com (and other ebook stores) and you can see how much variety is out there; far more than any brick-and-mortar store had space to shelve or any publisher had the resources to publish before.

Pushed Too Far

I don't know about you, but I grew up reading a vast range of stories, many of which didn't neatly fit one genre or another. My mom would take my brothers and me to the library, and I'd load up on books of all kinds. All the different stories made me feel as if there might be room in this magical world of books to write what fired –my- imagination, and at the ripe old age of seven, that's what I started to do.

FLEE

When it came time to choose a major at the University of Wisconsin, the only subject I could choose was creative writing. And in 2000, I published my first novel with Harlequin Intrigue. For eleven years, I had a blast writing a pulse-pounding blend of romance and suspense.

Finally after twenty-five books with Intrigue, I decided it was time to push myself a little further. Or maybe a lot.  Ebooks were coming into their own, and the possibilities were endless.

SPREE

I teamed up with my friend J.A. Konrath, a man known for both pushing boundaries and bringing his wacky imagination to a variety of different genres, and together we started the Codename: Chandler series, an action-packed, over-the-top series of spy thrillers staring a super assassin known only by her code name (FLEE, SPREE, and novella EXPOSED are out now, with THREE and more novellas on the way). And earlier this year, I released my solo police procedure thriller, PUSHED TOO FAR. I've been having a blast, to say the least.

EXPOSED

Ebooks have been great for me as a writer, but that's only a small part of why I love them. My favorite thing about my Kindle is that it makes me feel like I did as a kid, browsing through shelves of books that seemed as vast as my imagination and picking out whatever suits my fancy; traditionally published books, indie published books, backlist books, and hidden gems.

What's your favorite thing about ebooks? And what boundaries have ebooks inspired you to push, either in reading choices or in the stories you write? And lastly, are you a trekker?

Check back on Wednesday, when we'll be offering some of our books for 99 cents and FREE, to pick out whatever –you- feel like reading and comment to win a gift card! Spread the word!

Connie Flynn. Starting Over . . . and Over

Life is what happens while we're making other plans . . . John Lennon


As we move through life making plans then dealing with what actually happens, we often fail to notice how frequently we start over. That got me thinking about my writing career, the one I decided to pursue after I got to work one day and learned my boss and all my peers were being laid off. I was the only one left and not long for that world, either, I realized, so I began looking for other work.

That took me to fiction writing, novels actually, and I wrote a romance that was sold to Harlequin Superromance, the second publisher I'd sent it to. I was elated. I was on my way. Harlequin was,  of course, going to buy everything I wrote, and when you stop laughing I'll tell you what this recollection brought with it.

First, I think I always wanted to be a writer, I just didn't know it. Back in the fourth grade I had this wonderful inspiring teacher who encouraged the class to write fiction and share their stories. I wrote about Suzie and Jimmy, siblings who solved mysteries and had a black cat that had undergone a white hair examination in order to become a Halloween cat. Anyway, I quickly became a superstar in this small fourth grade class and the other kids couldn't wait to read the next Suzie and Jimmy installment.

Everyone, that is, except my best friend, Bonnie (isn't that cute, it rhymes) who told me without any sugar coating that she didn't understand why I kept writing about these same stupid people. Apparently, I didn't understand either because I don't remember ever writing another story that year.

Fast forward twenty years on an afternoon when I just finished reading a dark Phyllis Whitney gothic romance. The story grabbed me and when I finished I decided I wanted to write like that.  Typewriters weren't household items in those days and the personal computer was just an spark in the brains of future Microsoft founders, so I grabbed a spiral notebook and put it all down by hand. I wrote. I crossed out. I scribbled over old writing, I strived to write new . . . and better. Eventually I decided my writing was crap. Who was I to think I could ever write like Phyllis Whitney?

It never occurred to me to ask myself where that voice came from. Echoes of Bonnie I now think, but the page binder got stuck in a bottom drawer, not to see daylight for nearly ten years when I moved. While packing, I found the binder, started reading the pages – no easy task since the handwriting was often illegible – and discovered the writing really wasn't all that bad.  It needed rewriting, yes, but it wasn't crap.

Which circles me back to the beginning of this blog, when my working life was thrown into "starting over." I started over once again, still using a binder and ruled paper. Then I bought an almost leading edge personal computer, (256k of RAM) although I didn't spring for the hard drive. I got an employee discount from the company that would later lay me off.

That's when I really started over. I went into writing novels for the money (okay, you can laugh again) but it soon became a calling and that's when I realized that the rest of my life would be a series of "starting over."  I wrote ten traditionally published novels and each book entailed "starting over." Publishing began changing in the blink of an eye. Editors jumped ship with nowhere to land, expectations changed and the bean counters finally got control.
 
That's when I realized that independent publishing was a world where I had some control and I met the wonderful Ink Jockeys and together we are helping each other thrive by publishing independently. Life remains a series of "starting over." Only now I wouldn't have it any other way.

COMING SOON!  WATCH FOR OUR BOOK DERBY! 

PRIZES! DISCOUNTS! FREE BOOKS

Contact Connie:

Amazon author page: http://amazon.com/author/connieflynn
Blog: http://imaginationgonewild322.blogspot.com/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ConnieFlynnAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConnieFlynn
Email: connieflynn@yahoo.com
Website: http://connieflynn.com

Schedule

Subscribe to Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/qOHbT


From the Author:
The books of Connie Flynn, a bestselling, award-winning author of ten novels and several short stories, are getting some positive attention from eBooks readers these days. She writes in several genres, including paranormal romance, romantic comedy and romantic action/adventure, contemporary fantasy, and mystery/suspense. Look for several more new releases from her in 2013.