Books, Chocolate and Wine with Julie Rowe

Hi. I'm glad you popped in. Please grab a glass of wine and a handful of kisses, find a comfy seat and get settled.

This is Books, Chocolate and Wine where I host guest authors. I'd like to introduce you to my good friend, Julie Rowe. Julie and I have been friends for some time. We each published our first book with Carina Press and met at the Carina Press author's party at the 2011 National Conference in New York. When we realized our books were to release on the same day we declared ourselves book-twins. We've stayed close even though Julie is from Alberta, Canada and I live in New Jersey. I know you'll enjoy her post as well as her books.

Inspiration or Insanity?

One of the most common questions writers receive from non-writers is: where do you get your ideas?

My short answer to that question is: That’s not the correct question. The correct question is: How do I string all the ideas crowding inside my head into one story? The answer is: I don’t. I’ve had 18 of my stories, of varying lengths, published since 2011. I’ve got 42,000 more to go.

A writer’s brain never shuts off the ideas. Never.

What really freaks me out is when I’m writing and I’m just going with the flow, writing without much of a plan or outline, and everything I’ve just written in the past few pages lines up perfectly with a single concluding line. Words that might have been placed on the page, haphazardly and with no purpose transform into a single coherent theme.

Out of the chaos comes balance. Full circle. Closure.

That’s the question I want answered. How does that happen? How does the mind keep track of all those small details, characters and plot, and still manage to create something profound, or at least fun/interesting/thought provoking out of…nothing?

I look out the window and I see worlds coming to life that aren’t actually there. I see heroes, villains and side-kicks. I see mountains, volcanoes and outer space. I hear conversations, complete with accents, arguments and apologies, and feel the vibrations of moving airplanes, cars and boats.

There are entire worlds in my head, whole civilizations and cultures.

I’m just one writer. One. Every day I sit at my computer and let my fingers translate the worlds inside my head on to paper. Every day I discover something more about myself, how I see the world, what matters to me.

I suppose, if I’d been born one hundred years earlier, I’d have been locked up for talking to the voices inside my head. Recent scientific studies say that there’s a close connection between creativity and mental illness (explains a lot!). The characters I create all have their own set of neurosis, strengths and flaws. The conflicts they have to resolve are complex and realistic. By the time I’m finished writing their story, my characters have grown to earn a happy ending (excluding villains), because at the very core of every story I write is hope.

For me hope is the greatest motivator, the greatest reward and the one thing that can change someone’s day from horrible to uplifting.

So, inspiration or insanity, where do your ideas come from?

Men of Action

A Short Story Boxed Set

All author proceeds from the sale of this boxed set will be donated to Quilts of Valour.

Supporting Canadian Armed Forces members past and present with quilts of comfort in their time of need.

http://www.quiltsofvalour.ca/

Secret Santa

A nurse grieving the death of her twin brother receives an unexpected gift at the staff Secret Santa party: the bullet that killed him and a message of hope and love.

Previously published in the Timeless Keepsakes anthology

A Pirate’s Vacation
A doctor grieving the death of her husband, buys a B&B in the Virgin Islands in need of a lot of fixing. Her old flame arrives to help with repairs, but will she let him heal her shattered heart?

Previously published in the Timeless Escapes anthology

Medal of Honor
When a Chicago surgeon is informed her homeless father has been murdered, she’s shocked to discover he won the Medal of Honor years ago in Vietnam. Now the killer has her in his sights, but the detective on the case has no intention of letting anyone hurt her. Ever.

Previously published in the Timeless Treasures anthology

Including all new material in each story!

Buy Links

Amazon, KOBO, iBooks

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Julie Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the North West Territories and northern Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because, “No one would believe them!”. In addition to writing contemporary and historical medical romance, and fun romantic suspense for Entangled Publishing and Carina Press, Julie has short stories in Fool’s Gold, the Mammoth Book of ER Romance, Timeless Keepsakes and Timeless Escapes anthologies. Her book SAVING THE RIFLEMAN (book #1 WAR GIRLS) won the novella category of the 2013 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. AIDING THE ENEMY (book #3 WAR GIRLS) won the novella category of the 2014 Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence. Her writing has also appeared in several magazines such as Romantic Times Magazine, Today’s Parent, and Canadian Living. You can reach her at www.julieroweauthor.com , on Twitter @julieroweauthor or at her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor