by Lynn Crandall w/a Kelynn Storm

Angela’s note: Today I welcome a fellow writer and friend, Lynn Crandall, to my blog as she talks about her newest release and where she finds inspiration. Welcome, Lynn/Kelynn! So happy to have you here!

Writing is often referred to as a passion, and it is just that for me. I love the process most of all, but of course I also enjoy learning that readers find something they like about the stories I write. But writing is a business too. It can take a lot of me to write the kind of thought-provoking, multi-layered stories I strive for. Some days self-doubt may claw at my motivation and I drag myself to my computer and feel like an empty pit. I try to nourish my writing soul on a regular basis, but during those empty-feeling days, I turn to a list of inspiring tactics to juice my muse.

• Pinterest – Not to plug any particular program but for me, Pinterest is a place to visit to take a break from thinking in words to view life through images. I love finding fun, beautiful, quirky, whatever is the need, pins for my boards, particularly boards for my books. It’s easy, it can be instantly gratifying, and it’s fast.
• Fresh air – There is very little that nourishes the soul as easily and fully as immersing in nature. I like to start the day with biking or hiking or just sitting in my back yard no matter the temperature. Even a few minutes of nature can boost my muse.
• Pay attention – I have a few things in my writing space that help me feel connected to writing, so it helps me focus down to look intentionally at those things. For instance, I turn on my aroma diffuser, take notice of the hearts strung near my desk, and read some of the sayings and quotes that ground me. My present favorite is You’ve Got This!
• Playlist – Whenever I start a new book I always make a new playlist of songs that align with the story. I can turn on the playlist and drop right into the tone, setting, and pace of the story. The music helps me experience the story as if I were one of the characters. In Touch of Breeze is releasing today (Yay!). It is a fast-paced drive from beginning to end. The characters are tossed into intensity and danger and must fight their way to their happy ending. I wanted music that would take me along just as fast and furiously as I built the story. Here’s a short-list of the songs on the Touch of Breeze playlist:
  • Rogue Sheriff –This song from a soundtrack of the Netflix series Longmire set a bleak, dark tone for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmKWy6ugF2A
  • Interstellar – I love this movie and the haunting soundtrack that slowly but steadily hangs on an anticipated breath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVtMYqUAyw
  • Hell Hath No Fury – There is no better action heroine than the most recent Wonder Woman and it has music to match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHMfKGkEbrA
  • Call It Dreaming – For a passionately romantic sense, this music from the same Longmire soundtrack really says it for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogcx8Wa_dNg
  • Dance Me to the End of Love – A ballad to edgy love, this song summons an ache for satisfaction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0LZ4wMV3zw

All of these ways help me stay in tune with my writing. But writing itself, for me, is what draws me back to the page to pound out a story. When I’m particularly despairing about how to go on or how to find the story worth writing, or how to find an audience, I may even think I’ll stop writing for good. But soon, the quote I heard once proves true: If you’re truly a writer, you can’t quit. Barring injury or illness, it seems true, but maybe not even then.

Touch of Breeze Blurb:

A rare white were-jaguar, she’s on a mission to save her twin brother from certain death. She didn’t plan on teaming up with a Jag Guardian who would just as soon break her heart.

Mortician London Satos works with the dead by choice. Using her were-jag ability to witness their final moments, she helps them pass over in peace. Those special moments contrast greatly with the life she leads haunted by an ancient Japanese spirit with revenge on his mind. On top of that, her twin brother is missing. Just when she thinks she has enough on her hands, Breeze Dawson stumbles into her path. Compelled by a guilty conscious, she thinks she must help him survive the evil spirit, but it doesn’t stop there. She is forced to team up with him to rescue her brother from an evil madman intent on using him to fulfill a diabolical prophesy.

Recently suspended from his job as a Jag Guardian, were-jaguar Breeze finds himself looking for anything to distract him from his troubled life. So when the beautifully captivating mortician needs help fighting battles on several fronts, he finds himself embroiled in a murderous plot that not only threatens his Guardian team but the supernatural community in general. Together, Breeze and London race to locate the mad man’s stronghold where he’s holding London’s brother, all the while fighting mutual attraction that will only complicate everything.

Excerpt:

“I am a Guardian of the Jag Council. Do you know what that is?” Breeze lifted his brows.

“Of course I do,” London said. “The Council is an organization of seven elders who govern our kind and work in concert with other shifter councils to promote peace, justice, and protection among supernaturals. Under the elders, the Guardians serve our community of jag-shifters.”

“You sound like you’ve read our website.”

“Funny. I’m Japanese American. My parents taught me to keep informed.” She knew there was no website or any other way to trace the presence of her jag community. She didn’t belong to a prowl of jaguars, but her parents did. Their group was a source of information. “Does knowing you’re a guardian tell me who you are?” she asked. She caught the little drop in his eyelids when she asked the question.

The air in the room got thin. She held her breath, waiting.

“To know who I am would take a lot longer than I have,” he said, his voice muted. He looked away. “That thing that follows you around attacked my team while they were attempting to make a rescue. It and the Crew wounded members of my team and kidnapped one.” He turned back to look deep into her eyes and her blood pumped hard in her body. “Are you familiar with Wentworth’s Crew?”

“I know the stories.”

“Then you know Wentworth is a treasure hunter turned trophy hunter. He’s killing and kidnapping shifters. The word from the Council is he’s following a prophecy. On one of his treasure hunts he found an ancient script that promised immortality to those who complete certain tasks. We believe Wentworth’s recent activities regard that prophecy. What about your brother might have attracted the attention of Maxwell Wentworth?”

“My brother and I are white jaguars.” She watched for her news to register.

Breeze sighed heavily. “Rare. So you know what happened to your brother,” he stated rather than asked.

“I saw the men take him. They’ve come after me and tried to capture me in my home. But I do not know where the men have taken him.”

Bio:

Lynn Crandall writing as Kelynn Storm lives in the Midwest and writes in the company of her cat. She has been a reader and a writer all her life. After cutting her writing teeth as a feature writer for commercial and trade magazines, a reporter for newspapers and radio, and an executive editor for a communications company, award-winning author she tuned her voracious appetite for stories to writing contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense. In her books, she enjoys taking readers on emotional journeys with relatable characters who refuse to back down, and face challenges and tribulations with heart and soul. She believes every love has a story, and hers is with one handsome husband and a large, beautiful circle of family, including her cats, Willow and Winter.

Buy Links:

All other buy links:

Find Lynn Crandall aka Kelynn Storm on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KelynnStorm/?modal=admin_todo_tour, Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19477691.Kelynn_Storm, Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/lynncrandallwriter/touch-of-breeze-the-common-elements-project/, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lcrandall246/ @lcrandall246, BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kelynn-storm, and her website at https://www.lynn-crandall.com/