A Secret Gift by Amanda James
GUEST POST
Where do I find my Ideas and Inspiration?
As a writer I pick up ideas for new stories almost daily, but of course most of them are snippets, and ‘what ifs’. By this I mean I might overhear part of a conversation in a café or supermarket and make up a little scenario about the people having that conversation. For example, I might hear two women talking and one says – ‘But don’t tell him, I want it to be a surprise.’ Then my mind goes into overdrive. What if she’s just organised a special night in a hotel or something to re-kindle her marriage? Or she’s pregnant? Nice yeah? BUT what if the husband is having an affair with the second woman? That would put a whole new slant on proceedings!
Other times I might see something on the news or read something online which sparks a story in my head. When I wrote A Stitch in Time, which is a time travel novel, it all came from the title. I was trying to think of a catchy title and the whole story just unfolded from that. I was really excited by it and got the whole thing down in about six weeks. This was very speedy, even for me. I’ve never written a novel as fast since. I was a history teacher at the time and was thrilled that I could incorporate many favourite historical periods into the book too.
Sometimes I have no idea where my ideas come from. I’m just glad they keep coming! Until 2019, I was writing domestic-noir/suspense based in Cornwall where I live. I loved setting up the ‘who done it and why?’ dialogue with readers and found it a challenge to think of ever more interesting twists and surprises. But since Covid, and wider problems in the world like climate change for example, planning devious ways in which to bump people off lost its appeal for me. I think there is enough misery in real life, and felt I needed to write uplifting, feel-good fiction. There’s always a sprinkling of magic in there too, which means I can let my imagination off the leash! Comfort reads are the way forward for me now, and I doubt very much that I’ll return to writing suspense.
So, what about inspiration? Where I live hugely inspires me. I adore Cornwall and am inspired by the rugged north coast around where I live. We are only about twenty-minutes away from at least six beaches and I feel at my happiest when I’m walking next to the Atlantic. Something about the salt air and sound of the waves soothes my soul and energises my spirit. Often as I’m walking, gathering pebbles, I sometimes pick up the beginnings of a new story idea too.
Where did the idea come from for A Secret Gift? My daughter gave me some crystals in a little velvet bag for Christmas a few years ago and I found them both a comfort and fascinating. I’ve always been a spiritual person, and have an open mind regarding things beyond the normal day-to-day. My Cornish Connection books published last year explore the psychic phenomenon. The books follow Nancy Cornish as she helps solve crimes, while also helping members of her community in Padstow with a variety of problems.
Okay, back to A Secret Gift and the crystals! Reiki has been practiced for thousands of years and involves the channelling of our internal energy in order to heal ourselves or others. Sometimes, crystals are used to gather extra energy from outside ourselves (the universe) as everything has molecules, atoms and energy. Even inanimate objects. I was surprised to find that when I held the bag of crystals, I had a tingling feeling in my fingers and hand – a definite energy boost! I had experienced this in the past when attempting reiki healing too. These experiences and ideas helped me put together Joy’s story. She’s bequeathed a powerful deathbed gift, but is sworn to secrecy. Her quest is to make people happy…though she doesn’t use crystals in her work, she does use pebbles! But that’s all I’ll say about that for now…
I hope you enjoy the journey with Joy as much as I did. I often think about her and hope she’s happy making people happy with her special gift and being happy at last too. I’d like to catch up with her again one day. You never know, I might just do that!
BLURB
Three years ago, Joy Pentire lost her firefighter husband and she still hasn’t returned to the woman she once was. But then she meets Hope, one of the residents at the nursing home where she’s a carer.
Hope has a secret gift that she wants to pass on.
And Joy’s life is forever changed.
Surrounded by the community in her Cornish hometown, Joy’s unexpected inheritance soon leads to new opportunities, new friends, new love, and the part of herself she’d thought forever lost … her joy.
PURCHASE LINK
Amanda James has written since she was a child, and as an eight-year-old, she asked her parents for a typewriter for Christmas. She never imagined her words would ever be published however. Then in 2010, after many twists and turns, the dream of becoming a writer came true when she had her first short story published for a Born Free anthology. She left teaching in 2013 to pursue her dream full-time.
Originally from Sheffield, Amanda now lives in Cornwall and is inspired every day by the wild and beautiful coastline near her home. She has many suspense novels set there, but her last few books have been uplifting in nature with a twist of magic. She loves writing feel-good reads and has decided the world needs more joy in it right now, and her plan is to write many more novels in that genre. Amanda can usually be found playing on the beach with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.
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