How do I begin?
First, you must be
passionate about your story.
Before I ever begin a book, a seed or an idea begins to grow. Just a
niggle, a notion really. Something, or someone touches me, turns my head, and
turns me on.I have been writing seven years. Not a long time. The single most important thing I’ve learned is, not only must the story be one in which my readers will care about , but also the story, must be a subject in which I care deeply.
Coast to Coast With A Cat And A Ghost, was not just my
personal story, but also a universal one
of accepting and understanding one
another through the difficulties of a
relationship, and in the process
evolving and becoming stronger and
better as a result. I wanted the reader be able to close the book and believe
there is life after the death of a loved one.
Second - write what
you know.
If you don’t know, make sure you find out.” To date, Masada’s Marine has been the most
difficult book I have written. It is the story of a Marine veteran who comes home,
unable to function in the country he had so proudly defended.
Much of the two years writing Masada's Marine I spent researching
the subject of the military, specifically the Marines and the Iraqi war, all of
which I was ignorant. But the theme of
the story –– overcoming difficult odds –– was a struggle I did know.
When my readers read Masada's Marine I wanted them to step up, push on with my veteran, and cheer as he marched through the events in his life. I wanted my readers to believe the possibility that what was happening could happen to them. I wanted them wonder, “What would I do?”
When my readers read Masada's Marine I wanted them to step up, push on with my veteran, and cheer as he marched through the events in his life. I wanted my readers to believe the possibility that what was happening could happen to them. I wanted them wonder, “What would I do?”
What will your readers feel?
What will your readers understand?
When they turn the last page of your book and say farewell to your characters? What message to you want them to learn? The more deeply you care about the theme the more involved your reader will be in the story.
Be passionate about the subject of your story.
Write what you know.
And write.
When her husband of 25 years passes away, Judy Howard is faced
with confusing feelings and an overwhelming sense of loss. Accompanied by her
cat, Sportster, and a stuffed doll whose uncanny and somewhat unsettling
resemblance to her late husband leads to her calling it Jack Incarnate, Howard
takes to the road on an RV trip from her home on California’s Pacific coast to
Florida’s Atlantic. And what happens next surprises even her.
In
this mystery-romance, widow Judy Howard drives her RV along Route 66,
encountering the ghosts of her teenage past when she was drugged, raped, and
forced to undergo an illegal abortion.
Tragedy strikes when Judy is drugged
and date raped on a Saturday night in the parking lot of the town’s roller
rink. But her high school crush Brad comes to her rescue, helping her deal with
the crime perpetrated against her, even going as far as to arrange an abortion
for her, though the practice is illegal. Judy must live in fear as the drug
prevented her from knowing the identity of her attacker. Racked by guilt over
the abortion and panic over the sexual assault, she accepts a college offer in
California and flees to West Coast and
begins a new life
After four decades of marriage, her
husband dies and a high school reunion invitation from Brad threatens to
shatter her illusory peace. Nonetheless, she summons up the courage to go,
loading up her motor home and heading out on Route 66 with her cat named
Sportster.
Masada
and her Marine, who were born two decades and two thousand miles apart, both
aspired to do be the best that they could be. But first, they had to meet.
Masada
began her journey in Illinois as a bumbling golden retriever puppy and emerged
twenty months later as a proud, confident American Service Dog, ready and able
to protect and preserve the life of Iraq veteran, Alex March, USMC.
Alex’s
journey began in California as an ambitious boy who only dreamed of protecting
and preserving life for the Corps, his country and his family. Twenty years
later, he emerged as one of “a few good men,” and served with honor, courage
and commitment …until he came home….
“An unseen attacker, camouflaged in the
crowd, cooled its heels like a terrorist. It waited to follow Alex and his
family home. How could he have known what lurked on the sidelines? Another war,
an invisible war, he knew nothing about and had not been trained to fight.”
Follow
Iraq veteran, Alex March, USMC and his American Service dog, Masada, who
rescues him as they become the best they can be.
Masada, a bumbling golden retriever puppy, struggles
through eighteen months of training to become a lifeline for a veteran with
PTSD.
As part of her training, the puppy is assigned to prison
life, where she matures and adapts to the cold concrete life of confinement and
experiences hair-raising risks, tension, and the ache of loneliness.
She forms unusual bonds, first with Roy, her inmate
trainer, and in the end, the total prison population as well. When she walks point for her veteran down the graduation
aisle, an awe of respect silences the crowd.
Will the readers also be led down the wedding aisle? Brad and Judy, founders of the K9s for
Warriors training facility, who have reunited
after a forty-year separation, face monumental responsibilities that test their
relationship as they try to build the dog-training program for veterans.
A touching yet educational story, about the world of
service dogs who save veteran lives.
Sportster
the cat always envied the huge cats who lived the big life in the jungle until
opportunity sends the motorhome in which he travels veering into a roadside
ditch. When strangers whisk away not only his Winnebago, but also his chauffer,
Judy, he is alarmed. However, once the dust settles, he purrs a happy tune as
he discovers he is free! I He is in the wild. And he is in the Olympic Forest
ACTIVATE
LION MODE is just what Sportster does as he spins this yarn in his own words.
Living wild and free brings on encounters that he never imagined. The life he
dreamed becomes an adventure full of bears, pit bulls, drugs and more.
Sportster weaves this story of his incredible journey as only a coddled cat of
leisure can do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a
top ranking Amazon author, Judy Howard’s writing career expands across many
genres –– memoir, romance thriller, travel, reality-fiction, and young adult ––
but the theme is always the same –– overcoming life’s difficulties.
following
her two passions, traveling and writing, Judy Howard and her cat Sportster,
travel across country in a Winnebago, which Howard calls “The Big Story,” and towing
a Smart car she’s titled, “The Short Story.”
Described
as an inspiration and a firecracker, Howard has earned her titles as
Motivational Speaker and Writing Expert.
When
Judy and Sportster are not traveling, she and her cat Sportster reside in Sun
City, California.
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