Three-year-old Rebecca Lamoreaux wanted to be a writer. Writing, at her young age, translated into etching circles into the margins of her books with crayon. She loved dreaming up fantastic tales and then retelling them to others. The magic of stories had clearly captured her heart.
Her grade school teachers nurtured Rebecca’s love of storytelling. When she was about seven years old, she was selected to participate in a special program for students who showed promise in writing. Through this program, Rebecca remembers finishing her first story. She has been writing ever since.
Though she has dabbled in all kinds of genres, she mainly writes fantasy, romance, historical fiction, and magical realism. Her historical romance novel, Lord Hyacinthe, is scheduled for publication through Pandamoon Publishing in April of 2014.
Rebecca places high value on sharing within the writing community, but she did not always feel that way. For years she viewed other writers as competition and feared her ideas might be stolen if she confided in the wrong person. Her perspective changed when a friend contacted her in November of 2012 and invited her to join a group of authors on Facebook. The Authors Think Tank group on Facebook became Rebecca’s first experience with a community of writers committed to helping other writers. So impressed with groups such as the Author Think Tank, she sought out more writing communities. Rebecca joined ANWA, American Night Writer’s Association, a network for women writers who are also affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The best thing she did for her writing career was attending writer’s conferences. After meeting other writers at an ANWA conference, Rebecca’s writing improved because of the influence of her growing writing community. And when a publisher came across her novel during a contest on Twitter, a panicked Rebecca turned to her community to help tighten up her story and help her land her book deal.
Rebecca’s advice to me, a floundering writer staring down self-publishing after turning down a book deal? “Grab on and go for it!”
She knows what she’s talking about.
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Check out Rebecca’s blog out at http://rebeccalamoreaux-anauthorinprogress.blogspot.com, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRebeccaLamoreaux
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