Perhaps you’d love to write a book. A lot of people would. They seek the thrill of seeing their names on the cover and watching their books fly off the shelves. But there are other reasons for writing a book, not all involving ego gratification. We started writing books together when we turned fifty-six – five titles published to date, and more on the way. We can’t (yet) live off the proceeds, but it’s not the result we enjoy, but the process. Writing forces us to use our imaginations as we construct plots, characters and settings. It boosts our vocabularies (and improves our Scrabble) as we search for the one word that snaps into place like the final piece of a jigsaw. And our research takes us into areas we’ve wanted to explore but never had the opportunity or the excuse.
Author Miriam Murcutt
Author Richard Starks
Writing also allows us to draw on our experiences – of which there are many, now that we’re older. And it lets us tap into our emotions – some of which have long been buried (it’s herapeutic – and considerably cheaper – to assign those emotions to fictional characters and let them sort everything out). And finally, writing a book makes us part of a community, not of agents and publishers (who turn writing into a business), but of other authors and, most importantly, our readers – people like us who enjoy a good story.
In A Town Called Paradox Novel
In A Town Called Paradox, is set in Utah during the 1950s when Hollywood arrived to turn rural backwaters into glamorous playgrounds for its stars. Available from Amazon and bookstores, in paperback and eBook, it has been named an ‘Indie Book We Love’ by LoveReading, a top book-recommendation website. Email the authors at starksmurcutt@msn.com.
Boulder author Richard Starks is an award-winning journalist, editor and publisher, and now a full-time author. Author Miriam Nurcutt is a former journalist and editor turned marketing executive with wide experience in the travel and publishing industries. She has an M.A. in English Literature and now works full-time as a writer.