Many moons ago, I met a woman who’s creativity came from a huge heart and eventually lucked out to call her friend. Much like me at the time, she was starting out on this journey of being a writer, and through the years we’ve watched the storm clouds gather, the skies split open, and the sun shine through. Today, I’m thrilled to have Mona Karel stop in a visit with her newest release from her Stormhaven series, A QUESTION OF TRUST.
Maybe the question show be WHERE is Stormhaven? Obviously it’s in the imagination of Mona Karel, who placed it in Northern New Mexico. Going back so many years, when Mona was still Monica, she asked her favorite author when they would write the next book in a series. The author informed her she was done with those people; when pressed she offered a charming smile and said “You write it.”
Wow, heady stuff. Neither Monica nor Mona wrote that story about those people. Instead a story formed about people helping people. I will now stop speaking in third person, that stuff’s just too weird! The details came from my life, people I’d met, places I’d been. A Question of Honor opens in Long Beach airport, a quirky little gem surrounded by high tech California. Sydney first recognizes that Devin walks ‘like a warrior’ which someone once pointed out to me concerning a customer at the coffee shop where I worked nights.
Writers do that, they take bits and pieces of people and places and events, and weave them into plots and sub plots and characters. It’s just the way we’re wired. We also make up lots of stuff. I only wish I had personal experience as a lingerie model…or maybe I don’t? I have zero experience as an undercover agent but I know far too much about pretending to be who I’m not.
Fake it ‘til you make it segued into a goal of Fake it ‘til you BECOME it.
This TED talk by Amy Cuddy and this article Fake it til You Become It, resonated and I decided it was past time to take charge of my own life. (It’s a work in progress)
https://blog.ted.com/fake-it-til-you-become-it-amy-cuddys-power-poses-visualized/
These books are listed as “Stormhaven Love Stories’ because they are about the relationship of two people who finally found the other half of themselves. They are not written explicitly, I much prefer the closed door or at least turned head when my people become intimate.
Intimacy is something I do know about. I also know how it feels when your intimate partner is gone. More than anything else you miss someone knowing how you drink your tea, what side of the bed you prefer, and what makes you happy on a gloomy day. Even more, you miss knowing that about someone else. In putting together the characters and events that make up the Stormhaven stories, I explore the beauty of this connection, this bond. As well as letting my inner snark take over from time to time.
Thank you Jami Gray for inviting me to share the world of Stormhaven.
Let’s see, what about an offer? How about one of the Stormhaven books to the first three people who can name the gray stallion Lana took when she first left the ranch? You can contact me at mona-karel@gmail.com
A QUESTION OF TRUST: Stormhaven Love Stories Book 3
Lana Greene doesn’t care that most of the world sees her as avaricious and amoral. All the better for her to stand as a shield against those who would exploit the weaker. Until the day she comes up against a situation too difficult for her to handle on her own, and she has to reach out to her ex-husband, Ty Randolph, owner of Stormhaven Ranch.
Adam Roberts dedicated himself to keeping the world safe—until his efforts took part of a leg and much of his self-worth. Recuperating at Stormhaven—a remote ranch, where the main concern is helping out vets—he jumps at the chance to assist his new friends when Ty asks him to take on an escort mission.
But there is far more at stake than anyone realizes—including a number of innocent lives. And Lana is in way over her head. Now she and Adam must learn to trust themselves—and each other—fast, if they are to have any chance of protecting those innocent lives.
NAB YOUR COPY NOW: AMAZON
I totally suck because I’m way the heck late thanking Mona for coming over and sharing. I have no excuse, except I was kidnapped by Life and held until the Prankster Duo paid up on the ransom demands.