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Friday, November 22, 2013

If Not Now

Welcome to the first post of my new blog.  Thanks for checking it out!

I'm naming this blog "If Not Now . . . " in honor of the women in my recently published novel, Magenta Rave. Many years ago, I felt a deep calling to write their stories after reading about Lorena Bobbitt. I was intrigued by what would cause a woman to commit such an intimate act of violence.

I decided to make Magenta Rave a page-turner, with plenty of comic relief, and as soon as I made that decision, characters, some hilarious and some tragic, began to emerge. Frankly, I had gotten tired of women always being the victims in novels and films. I hated the salacious camera angles connecting sex and violence. I REALLY hated the idea in a lot of fiction that women enjoy being hurt.

But more than that, I am tired of the reality of sexual violence -- of reading in the newspaper and hearing on the news that one more woman, or child, has become the victim of a worldwide culture that tolerates, and often promotes, violence towards women and children. Magenta Rave turns the tables on sex offenders, because sometimes cruelty is easier to understand when it's taken out of a cultural context considered "normal."

Over time, the characters in Magenta Rave changed, asserted themselves, and finally pressured me to finish and publish. "If not now, when?" they asked.

I had no answer other than, "Now is the only time I have."

Now is all any of us has. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. I realized that whatever I want to do, I can no longer let others' opinions, or my own fear, stop me.

What are you waiting to do? What both excites and terrifies you? What dream from childhood still visits your thoughts, bringing a feeling of sadness for "what might have been?"

I hope you'll share your creative vision with me and together we can support each other in bringing our dreams to fruition.

If not now, when?

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I'd love to hear your thoughts.  If you'd like to post a response, please click on the word "comments" below. A text box will open up for you. Thanks so much!

2 comments:

  1. A timely message for me, Janna! Now is all we have - but it's enough.

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  2. Love this, Janna! Keep them coming.

    ReplyDelete