You Made It!
Awesome that you’re doing the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! Did you just find the hunt? Make sure you start at Stop # 1 so you can collect the clues at all 27 stops in order. That sets you up to win one of our Top 5 Grand Prizes!
Making Sure You Know The Drill
The hunt BEGINS on March 14th at noon, Mountain Standard Time at LisaTawnBergren.com
Go through the hunt using Chrome or Firefox as your browser. (Explorer will not be kind to you.)
There’s no rush to complete the hunt–you’ve got all weekend (up till Sunday, March 17th at midnight, MST). So take time to read the unique posts along the way. We hope you discover new authors to you! And learn new things about the authors already familiar to you.
Submit your entry for the Grand Prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s Scavenger Hunt post and then submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form which is at Stop # 27. (FYI that a lot of us are offering additional prizes along the way, so keep an eye out for those!)
My Guest!
I first met Jaime Jo Wright back in 2010 when I was working on my second novel, Book of Days. I needed a rock climber to make sure my rock climbing scenes were accurate. Enter Jamie! We’ve been buds ever since and it’s been a thrill to see her career take off. (It helps that she’s crazy talented.)
Here’s a quick into to her latest novel, The Curse of Misty Wayfair (which I loved BTW).
As two women across time seek answers about their identities and heritage, can they overcome the threat of the mysterious curse that has them inextricably intertwined?
Writing Without Coffee
By Jaime Jo Wright
It’s like trying to snowshoe without boots. Or if that doesn’t resonate with you, it’s like driving without a steering wheel. Climbing without a harness. Mowing the lawn barefoot. Eating pizza without cheese. *gasp!
Spin it however you will, but it’s dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
One time, when I hadn’t had my usually eighty-six cups of coffee, I sat down to write and began to pen the worst contemporary romance known to the literary world. It’s one of those novels that they’ll publish after I’m dead and everyone will have a good laugh and raise their coffee mug to me in a memorable toast and a muttered what a silly goose she was!
Bluntly put, coffee is my muse. It’s what fuels me to be creative. My husband who I fondly call “Cap’n Hook” for all reasons implied by said moniker, thinks I’m conjuring excuses to suck down caffeine. (He hasn’t read that contemporary romance, by the way, and if he did, he’d know excuses and Jaime do not coexist).
Muses are things of fantasy. Fairy tales. Imagination. Right? I present the argument, that they are not. They are justifiable inspiration that kick start a writer’s brain like a brand-new spark plug. My dad-in-law showed me a corroded spark plug once and yeah—that’s my brain without coffee. Ain’t nothin’ gonna spark.
Muses enable the senses. We all learned the five senses when we were in first grade. Smell, Sight, Hearing, Touch, and Taste. These senses are what defines our experiences. This is why we wince when we realize a comrade may struggle with a special need in one of these areas. Because the senses are what gives each moment, each memory its life. It’s why the scent of tobacco and pipe is endearing to me—it reminds me of my gruff and burly uncle. It’s why the taste of vanilla cake with raspberries reminds me of my wedding day. It’s why the sound of a thunderstorm and violent winds recalls the night I thought I was going to die on the high ranges of a Montana mountain in a tent with a flashlight and a prayer.
Muses enact an emotional, visceral response in us. Each of us is unique. Each muse is different. But this is why we cling to our muses. Why their fairy-like ambiance becomes a necessity.
Coffee? It’s my personal muse. It brings to memory sitting on my grandpa’s lap, listening to his war stories, hearing him talk of butcher-school in the 1950’s, and watching his thumbs tap against his forefingers in a tic caused by his Multiple Sclerosis. We’d dunk cinnamon sugar doughnuts in the coffee and slurp the liquid sugar that ran down our chins. We’d imagine we were in other worlds, and always, ALWAYS, we had coffee in our mugs.
Therefore coffee is my muse. It’s my inspiration. It’s a memory. It brings to life my senses. It brings to life my grandpa.
Have you discovered your own personal muse? If so, examine why it’s so important to you and embrace the joy it brings. Because usually, there’s a sweet memory involved. One that will bring a smile to your lips on the worst of days.
About Jaime
Jaime Jo Wright loves to read—and write—fiction with elements of faith, romance, and suspense from her home in Wisconsin. She is the author of three novels, including the Christy Award-Winner The House on Foster Hill, and two bestselling novellas.
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Tighefan42atgmail dotcom
Tighefan42 atgmaildotcom
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Jaime is the best, I just love 😍 her!
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