This week, please welcome Lindsay Downs as she shares her personal journey on becoming a writer.

LINDSAY DOWNS' JOURNEY

My earliest memories of being enthralled with the written word dates back to my early childhood. I remember sitting on the floor with a copy of Sir Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake spread in front of me. Little did I realize, care or understand the book was what is called a 1st edition.

Very little of what I read, correction- was forced to read, in school ever had the impact that that book had on me. The way Scott laid out the words on the page was, in such a beautiful way that it seemed to me a small child, mystical.

Now, let’s jump ahead quite a few years to 2006. The job I had at the time allowed for me to rekindle, after many years, my love of reading. Somehow I got hooked on reading books about vampires and before I knew it romantic stories about these people of the night.

I won’t bore you with all the titles or authors but I did find one thing they all had in common. Each book, even by different authors, read the same. That was when I thought, maybe I can do this.

I joined a local writers group and within a month was at my first conference in 2006. What I saw, heard and experienced over that weekend profoundly changed my thinking. When I came home the passion I’d found reading Lady of the Lake was back.

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Book: Apple of My Eye
Author: Liz Botts
Additional Book Information

Caleb pulled up a friendly grin he didn’t quite feel after a long day out on the range. A long, hot shower sure sounded good right about now. Still, he was in charge here, so he ambled across the short span between the barn and the cars. As he rounded the car, his breath caught. Not only was the visitor a woman, but a woman he recognized. A woman he never thought he would see again.

 

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Book: Apple of My Eye
Author: Liz Botts
Additional Book Information

Dumping another pound of butter into the fryer, Carissa swiped at a stray hair sticking to her forehead. She cringed as she felt the grease smear across her skin. She glanced out the window over the doughnut machine; she could see the wind picking up. The weather forecast was calling for a few inches of snow tonight.

It seemed absurd to her to be making doughnuts so far after the season ended, but they had a special order from an elementary school that she just couldn’t turn down. Gran had refused to help, and Aunt Lindy was busy, so Carissa had set Gavin up in the back room that served as an office. He was watching a movie, and she suspected he would be napping before too long.

As she dumped another jug of cider into the mixer, her thoughts drifted to Caleb as they had far too frequently the past few days. He hadn’t called or come by since he had stormed out of the house several days before. Every moment that she didn’t hear from him was torturous. She needed to know what he was up to. What if he had already contacted a lawyer? How would she fight him on the meager savings she had stashed away?

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Book: Apple of My Eye
Author: Liz Botts
Additional Book Information

**The following character interview contains spoilers for my book, Apple of my Eye.**

Liz: Thanks so much for talking to us today, Carissa.

Carissa: No problem. I’m happy to be here.

Liz: Tell us a little about yourself.

Carissa: Well, I was raised in an apple orchard in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I have always loved the Hills. No other place in the world could ever be home. The last few years have been a roller coaster ride, but now I’m married to the love of my life. We have two little boys, Gavin and Jaxon.

Liz: Your little boys are twins, right?

Carissa: Kind of. It’s complicated. They have the same birthday and the same father. But biologically Jaxon has a different mother.

Liz: Um…?

Carissa: Right, I know. We get that reaction a lot. Caleb, my husband, had broken up with his girlfriend when we met. He didn’t know she was pregnant. Then we met and Gavin was the result of that. Like I said, it got complicated. Caleb ended up marrying Jaxon’s mother. He didn’t even know about Gavin until just before the boys’ second birthday.

Jaxon was born a week late and Gavin came five weeks early. Just a weird coincidence.

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