Muse Author L.J. Holmes Speaks

Before I begin, I want to take this opportunity to thank my generous hostess, Delilah K. Stephans, for inviting me to guest on her blog.

When I asked Delilah what she wanted me to talk or write about here, she said whatever I want. Giving a writer with an inner muse as quirky as mine free reign is a dangerous thing---So, my daughter, Best Selling Author Kat Holmes, stepped in to direct the inner me.

"Talk," she said, "about what motivated me to write the stories I either already have up for sale, Santa is a Lady, or those about to be released, Forever With You, on February 1st, The Pendulum Swings, on March 1st, Twilight Comes on May 1st, and In From The Cold, June 1st. (I know...a daunting process-)

The easiest place for me to begin, is the one thing you are all going to realize right off the bat

...EVERY one of my stunning covers have been created by my hostess, Delilah K. Stephans, who just happens to be the absolute best artistic genius in all of the Milky Way Galaxy.

There is something else that each of these books have in common...they have elements of the life I have lived and are, therefore, semi-autobiographical...that is not always a good thing, since I seem to be rather hung up on having too many of my heroines share my biggest character flaw---a little girl voice that would make Minnie Mouse

envious while everyone else clamors for one of those huge conical amplifiers my Great Aunt Agatha plastered

against hers whenever I was around.

Now that you know one of my darkest secrets, I guess I should tell you about my books, how they came into being, and which parts come from Lin's

(L.J Holmes) pre-authorship.

Santa Is A Lady is my debut at Muse It Up Publishing...and well, everywhere else too. (Yep, I'm a bonified Newbie.)

I hadn't intended for my first ever release to be a Holiday themed story, but all other themes were closed. Not being into a Valentine Theme, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Arbor day, (how DOES one write a Holiday theme about a tree?), or even Halloween and Thanksgiving...I was left with only one celebratory day...

Christmas.

I had no idea where to go with it, but then, as if somebody on Cloud Nine

decided to hand me a gift, our local news announced a "professional" Santa had just been arrested...five full days before Christmas.

Back when I was working my way through college, I worked store security at one of the big retailers

for a year. I got to see what Christmas means to "Business".

What, I found myself wondering, would a small business owner do if her Santa was arrested five days before Christmas? How would she go about replacing Santa when all the graduates of Santa University, and yes, such a place does exist, were working elsewhere? Who would she trust? Who could she badger into donning the jolly elf's red suit?

Her best friend, of course...but what if said best friend had MY Minnie Voice?

Santa is a Lady flowed like water over smoothly rounded stones in a creek-bed, and was released to some pretty amazing, at least to me, reviews by really spectacular renowned literary voices.

Santa is a Lady is available at Muse Publishing's BOOKSTORE.

I'm a person with an awful lot to say, so I have continued submitting to Muse Publishing and now have books that fall in both their Mainstream Wing and their Muse It Hot,

as in scorching the flames right off the nanobytes side.

My second release Forever With You, is a short story about a young woman on a quest...getting her custom designed cabin built in record breaking time.

Can Keith Patterson, the owner of Patterson Construction Coryne hired have the skills to meet her deadline...and damn it all...does he have to look like a center-fold magnet?

Forever With You will be available from Muse It Hot on February 1st and it has a surprise ending you won't see coming...I promise you that.

What motivated me to write Forever With You? I love the mountains and have a secret fantasy to one day have enough money to actually build my dream cabin in the middle of nowhere, from the ground up.

I love history...especially ancient history. I also love the possibilities of Time Travel...These loves inspired me to write

The Pendulum Swings to be released from Muse It Hot on March 1st.

What would happen if an ancient Roman slave wakes up in a modern day hospital, in the body of someone else with no memory of who she is or was? And how would you survive it in a body that everyone , your husband, your staff, all who knows its real owner loathes? How do you cope? Is it a temporary leap in time, or are you stuck forever.

I especially loved writing this story and adored the seductive fireplace that was interviewed at the following link: CLICK HERE At the very least, it'll make you smile.

On May 1st my Muse It Up release, things get darker with Twilight Comes.

This story is based on events that took place in a neighboring town. When senseless tragedy strikes people we thought we knew, we can't help but try to decipher a rhyme and reason. Twilight Comes, another short story, is my attempt to understand and rationalize what is unimaginable. The story will stay with you long after the last word has faded from your screen. I know this because I am still haunted by the events all these years later.

And now we come to my June 1st release. In From The Cold is a cougar story that made me laugh while I was writing it...and cry too.

Mari Donovan is fifty and very happy in her disdain for anyone cursed with the "Y" chromosome. She has spent twelve contented years creating her mountain haven. Her only neighbor is in his nineties and not even an overdose of Viagra is going to make him stoke Mari's inner fires...but then he has the obscene rudeness to up and die...leaving all his worldly goods to Mari, with one exception...she must sell the curmudgeon's cabin directly across the graveled road from her.

She's determined it will not be sold to any male not intimately courting the Grim Reaper.

But Fate has other plans.

He's 35, deliciously built, and too annoying by half whether chopping wood shirtless, or daring to sneak off to HER lake and swim in the suit nobody should be blessed with upon their birthday.

No longer is her libido sleeping, and God does that tick her off! Only one thing for it...she's gonna have to jump his bones, do the deed, get him out of her system and slip back into her pre-bone-humping contentment.

Best laid plans ALWAYS bite you!

That's it so far. All the stories that I have covers for from Muse's Cover Art Goddess and my generous hostess, Delilah K. Stephans.

Reviews of my first book Santa Is A Lady are available at my Horn Tooting Blog

I can also be reached via e-mail
Spatzdkat1212@yahoo.com

Thanks Delilah for your covers...museum quality every one, and for this opportunity to do my Yakky Doodle imitation here as your most appreciative blog.