Hi there,
Today I’m talking to Cheryle Linturn who has a wealth of experience in a wide field of writing.
Over to you Cheryle…
In high school I found myself in journalism and was told by my instructor that I wrote like Edgar Alen Poe, but at that time, I wanted to pursue painting and left my creative writing skills buried in a cave deep in hibernation until I turned 40.
When the alarm went off, I was sat in a radio and TV class writing commercials, spots, and making sure the segue from talk to music was flawless.
I worked a full-time job and began writing poetry during lunch and after work. After winning three Editor Choice Awards for my poetry, and a third place for a Concrete or Shape poem I joined a website for writers. A year of writing on that site saw me win a first-place poem, and many second and third places for my writing. I also met my second husband who was in Hampshire, England, and our poetry sparked a love affair over the ocean until we met and eventually married.
I had started writing songs at that time and won five honourable mentions and three runner-up awards on several sites. Two of my songs were honoured and turned into music, that I own the rights to, through Paramount Group in Nashville, TN. Both were contracted to a music publisher to work at getting them onto records: Paint Me A Whisper and Soul of the Moon. Paint Me A Whisper is on you-tube and within two weeks had twenty thousand views.
I also wrote a comedy sitcom that made it to the second round in a competition on the first write, which I was told was unusual. It was my first real long write of anything!
I went on a site to bargain for your writing skills after my husband and I moved to Indiana. I wrote many things over four years on that site and periodically still write for a few of them. I am still writing for one man as a ghost writer and seven years later I’ve written one fantasy trilogy, one Sci-Fi trilogy and I’m currently working on my third trilogy of an Indiana Jones type of adventure.
One of my favourite jobs on that site was writing for a clothing company. They had created an app where I would author a short three hundred word story based on their clothes products. I created a female detective and incorporated their clothesline into the story about murders. It was a hoot! The story continued weekly, but the company had financial trouble and I was unable to continue. Since then, I always make sure I protect my rights to my work.
I’ve had many paranormal experiences in my life and authored a poem based on one such event, Vanishing Blue, a period when I was aware of many strange events. I wanted to turn these experiences into short stories in one book. I wrote one and sent it to a publisher. She contacted me and wondered if I could turn it into a novel. Well, I worked hard on the first three chapters making it work and stretching it out. I’ve never had college writing tuition and each time I sent it to her, she sent it back saying it wasn’t ready, until, finally after about six months of rejections I received an email with a contract! The only problem was she wanted the whole book straight away now. This was laughable because I’d only worked on the first three chapters. I asked for two weeks, and she agreed.
Looking back, I can see that it wasn’t well edited. However, I did win a Pinnacle Book Achievement Award in the category of Paranormal and sold quite a few copies.
I have since pulled it off the website and am currently re-editing it. It’s the first book in a series of paranormal fictitious books based on true events featuring the same main characters.
I am currently working on a screenplay and would like to complete three unique poetry books that are works in progress. I have two poetry books on Amazon and one children’s book. I have many ideas planned for children’s books and one for juniors.
I never run out of ideas. I believe that you can create a story from anything, a pencil, a door, a doorknob, and there’s no such thing as writer’s block if you look around you, there are endless sources of inspiration.
I’m not as skilled editing as I would like to be, but I quickly create stories, that’s my gift.
Trish, thanks for letting me share this. I could talk forever about writing!
Thank you for sharing your interesting writing experiences with us, Cheryle.
You can find Cheryle at:
https://twitter.com/cherylellinturn
https://www.amazon.com/Cheryle-Linturn/e/B00NULKM22
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Facebook - Cheryle Linturn/author
