In my upcoming release
SILENT NIGHT SHADOWS, the
heroine Claire Phillips has to face her past and realize that while sheโs not
the same person she once was, she isnโt as different as she thoughtโฆ
Iโd love to say that learning such things is confined to fiction. But the truth?
The truth is we have to do that in real life all the time. One thing I love
about writing fiction is the opportunity it gives me as a writer to process
issues in my own life through my stories. I take whatever Iโm wrestling with,
feed it into a fictional character, which changes the issue to something nothing
like that Iโm facing personally, and then use my emotions to help the character
grow and change through that. And in the process? I grow and change as well.
Writing
SILENT NIGHT
SHADOWS was that way for me. Claire Phillipsโ journey starts when she is
reunited with a college friend who is wrong for her in more ways than she can
count. Claire used to be a rock climbing adventurer, but life started to feel
too unsafe to her, and sheโs shut down that side of herself in favor of a
play-it-safe future in her small hometown. Nate Torres is everything Claire
isnโt anymore, and he wants the old Claire back. As the two of them fight to
stay a step ahead of a killer who knows Claire saw too much and wants her dead,
they fall in love and Claire rediscovers a thought of herself she thought had
been gone forever.
A loss in my own life several years ago made me turn more into a โplay-it-safeโ
type than Iโd ever been before. Iโve never been a huge risk taker, but after my
personal loss impacted me, I started taking less and less risks.
In doing so? I started to lose part of myself that I loved. Iโd look at pictures
and wonder why the girl looking back at me didnโt look like the woman I felt
like now. I could recognize all of this in myself, but I wasnโt sure what to do
about it. Surely I couldnโt go back to being like that again. I had changed now.
And that was the endโฆRight?
Then I moved to a place in Alaska where the rugged mountain wilderness is
practically out my backdoor. I started seeing how many people took risks to do
what they loved in those mountains, to climb them, to adventure in them, and to
really
live their lives. And I started to decide that maybe life wasnโt
as fun when you worried all the time about the โifโsโ and the โcould beโsโ and
just lived the life in front of you, not throwing caution to the wind, but
acknowledging that life canโt be safe 100% of the timeโฆAnd I started to see that
while I might not be able to go back in my own past and be exactly the way I was
before, I donโt have to change completely.
Writing Claire Phillipsโ story was part of my journey. Ironically enough as she
was forced to face her past, I saw my past self in
her and had to stare
it in the face. While sheโs a fictional character and Iโm aware that I made her
up (my husband likes to remind me of this. Haha.), Iโm thankful for the chance I
had to write her story.
And how it helped me in the living of my own.
Giveaway
Tell us if you take risks, even a little or are a better "play-it-safe"
person. One of you will win SILENT NIGHT SHADOWS.
Sarah Varland lives in Alaska with her husband John, their two boys, and
their dogs. Her passion for books comes from her mom, her love for suspense
comes from her dad who has spent a career in law enforcement. Her love for
romance comes from the relationship she has with her husband and from watching
too many chick flicks. When sheโs not writing, sheโs often found, reading,
baking, kayaking or hiking.
HIJACKED HOLIDAY
When she's snatched off a sidewalk en route to the local Christmas tree
lighting, Claire Phillips knows her cozy small town is no longer safe. And when
she's saved by a mystery man, she gets another surprise. Her rescuer is none
other than Nate Torresโa man from her past that she's tried to forget. He's in
town undercover, investigating a drug smuggling ring, and he thinks she's
witnessed more than she realizes. Worse, he thinks the ring's leader is a local.
Someone she knows and trusts. There's no one for her to rely on but Nate, a man
whose action-packed life is worlds away from the security she craves. As the
attacks grow more menacing, it will take courage Claire no longer thinks she has
to survive to Christmas.
Romance Suspense | Inspirational Mystery
| Inspirational
Romance [Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense, On
Sale: November 1, 2016, e-Book, ISBN: 9780373447817 / eISBN:
9781488008818]
I used to be a risk taker, but now with my age and all, I'm more of a play-it-safe kinda gal.
(Kathleen Gardiner 12:47pm October 7, 2016)
I am a play it safe kind of person and have been for a very long time but when we are younger I feel all of us have a that little bit of take a chance!
(Ann Thaxton 9:50am October 8, 2016)
Forty-five years ago as a teenager I was pretty ignorant and took a lot of risks. Today, not so much
(Melanie Rosen 7:55pm October 8, 2016)
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