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Friday, April 17, 2009

Dark Landscapes

My turn to bite! I am Gracen Miller the last of the Moonlighter’s trio. Welcome, welcome, I am glad you came to read my rambling thoughts and bio.

I’ll begin by giving you a taste of my insanely neurotic life. I have three boys (the third being my husband of 17 years—truly, he’s nothing more than an adult-sized kid), all of which are involved in TaeKwonDo and are ranked from a 3rd degree black to a 1st degree black. For those of you unfamiliar with karate, it can consume your life. We have made some really great friends along the way, however. And honestly, I spend more time with the karate family than I do other members of my own blood relatives. Both of my sons are 2008 World Champions, ranked #1 for their age and rank. Aside from karate, my boys participate throughout the year in basketball and football.

Next to my husband, writing is my passion. I have been spinning tales since I was in sixth grade, when my English teacher forced us to write a play. Yes, I said “forced” because that’s what it initially felt like when she gave us the dreaded assignment. I mean seriously what could she have been thinking to ask us to write? Write! Use our imaginations! Oh, the horror of it! I quickly discovered, however, that writing was powerfully inspiring and rather drugging in its deistic type-creation. There was no horror in writing, except for the horror elements I wove into the plot lines. For that particular project, I wrote about Atlantis rising from the sea with its evil citizens having supernatural powers. I laugh about it when I think of it now. It was horrific stuff, but that one project gave me the love of writing to last a lifetime. Now, I jokingly say the “voices in my head” won’t allow me a moments peace unless I give breath to their lives by writing about them. I'm particularly fond of paranormal romances.

I live in Alabama with my very active family. I have a cat and a dog that jointly own me and spend hours together doing nothing more energetic than lounging in my lap. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Troy University and an Associates degree in Paralegal Studies from Huntingdon College. Presently, I work from home as a full-time shuttle-bus for my two sports inclined boys.I am one of the original The Deadly Vixens bloggers, if you are familiar with them. I am excited to be a Moonlighter with Margay and Carrie. I also blog every Saturday at Wicked Thorn and Roses with six other fellow authors who welcomed me into their thorny fold with open arms when I left The Deadly Vixens.

We would love for you to come friend us at our Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem’s Myspace and Facebook accounts. Tell us about yourself, your family, do you write (and if so, what do you write), who is your favorite author, and anything else you can think of. Just don’t be afraid, we promise not to bite or create too much mayhem in your life. We look forward to making some lifelong friends in the writing industry and outside of the industry.

Firedrakes Weyr Publishing published my first book, The Devil’s Den, on April 1, 2008, almost a year ago. It is a paranormal romance set in the present day. The hero, Six, is a 3,000 year old vampire and one of those characters that you will love to hate. Six originally started out as a demon in a dream that was so seductive and compelling I knew I had to write about him the moment I awoke. I have a couple of other books in the works, three that need editing and another two I’m working on, so *crosses fingers* hopefully I’ll have something else soon to tell you about.

10 Moonbeams (comments):

Carrie said...

Hey Gracen,

Great blog today and interview yesterday!

It sounds like you have a very hectic lifestyle!

Have a great weekend!

thewriterslife said...

Love this blog...will tell my authors!

Margay Leah Justice said...

Gracen,
I'm with Carrie in being amazed at your busy schedule! One thing I can't identify with, though, was being forced to write. I have always loved to write, so I couldn't imagine a life without it, but my problem was being forced to write within a word limit. I hated anything under 500 words (still have issues with it!). Well, I'm glad you discovered a love for writing and have graciously decided to share it with us.

Margay

Gracen Miller said...

Aww...thanks, Dorothy! Congratulations too for being the first poster today and winning the MLM Cyber Kiss!!

Carrie and Margay, everyone always says I'm too busy, but I guess I'm so used to it that I don't think much about it. *shrugs* I have poor time management skills so that doesn't help either. LOL And I procrastinate, so that makes it worse. :D

As for being forced to write, that was the first time I had ever been challenged to write or use my imagination in any way whatsoever. My sons are getting it at a much earlier age than I ever did. But from the first moment I picked up that pen and started writing, I was addicted and in love. I never stopped writing after that and didn't need an assignment to want to write.

Sheila Deeth said...

I'm enjoying this blog. I would have said I couldn't imagine needing to be "forced" to write. But my son never showed any interest in writing, and I didn't want to push him. Then he accidentally took a creative writing class to fill a hole in his schedule. Now he's hooked, and I'm hooked on hoping he succeeds.

Gracen Miller said...

Sheila, like you I haven't pushed either of my boys to write, but my oldest is showing a strong talent for it. I'm mucho impressed with some of the stuff he comes up with and how well he pieces it together for a 5th grader. Since 1st Grade he's said he wants to be a Vet, but he's recently added writing to the mix and I explained he can do both, all the while I have my breath held hoping he'll enjoy writing as much as I do.

It's fun watching their talents blossom.

BTW, congrats! You're MLM's Cyber Cookie Winner today!!!

Margay Leah Justice said...

Sheila, I think at some point in my family, everyone did some sort of writing. My mother wrote some pretty interesting poems (I still have one that she did during the Vietnam War), my older sister writes songs, of course I write books, the older of my younger sisters also wrote poetry, and at different times, my baby sister wrote haikus and dabbled in calligraphy. I don't know about my brothers because they never shared. Now, my daughters are getting into writing and I am so thrilled! My legacy will pass on to the next generation.

Margay

Alessandra said...

How about that,I learned some new things about you today. Why because you rarely talk about yourself (Exhibit 'A' see left hand panel "About Gracen") but more about your wonderful boys-proud Momma that you are! :D

Mind you with your incessently noisy muses in your head you don't really have much opportunity to talk. LOL I'm intrigued to read that first piece of yours about Atlantis - doubt it's that bad, you ARE very hard on your writing.

It wasn't until last year when a friend, *you*, encouraged me to continue with a silly idea for the BDOHB thread we both love, and I wrote my first fanficlet. It was a blast to do and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed writing for my English Comp. class during HS(I was a new pair of Adidas sneakers in one memorable story *hides face in hands*.) The loong fanfic I am currenly working on just flows out of my pen (how and why this happens I have no clue not being blessed with a 'talking muse') but I do find myself getting more and more irritated when I cannot write. Guess I have been truely bitten by the bug.

I'll never get published as I don't have the wonderful imagination of you 'real' writers but I'll content myself with dabbling mainly to entertain myself and my husband when inspiration hits.

Best of luck with the new projects, Gracen. So very glad for the teacher who "forced" you on this wonderful path you have taken.

Now it's time for me to catch up on the earlier Moonlight, Lace & Mayhem posts I've missed.

Great blog Ladies - best of luck with it and publishing success to all 3 of you. :D

Gracen Miller said...

*laughs* Don't talk about myself much? I think that's all I do somedays. Thanks for leaving me a comment today and for ALL the support you give me from the sidelines. You're a wonderful friend and long-lost twin. ;-) I'm so glad I met you this past year. *hugs ya*

K.T. Bishop said...

Being a person with a career and family makes it difficult to find time for writing. I'm fortunate to be in a job that allows me to write. Even then, I have to generate time