Starbound Lovers: Introduction

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Introduction - Cynthia Woolf

12:01 AM | Posted by woolfcindy | | Edit Post

Hi. My name is Cynthia Woolf and I write scifi romance. It makes it sound like I’m in a 12 step program. But no, there are no twelve step programs for science fiction writers. Though there are those in our families who probably think there should be.

My scifi romances started with a dream I had when I was about fifteen. Like all teenagers, I was sure my Mom was from another planet because she just didn’t understand me or what I was going through. Then I had a dream and it wasn’t Mom who was from another planet, but me! I dreamed I was a princess from Alpha Centauri, sent to Earth to save my life. Now it’s not unusual for girls to want to be princesses. I’m sure most every little girl out there at one time or another pretends to be a princess. But from another planet? Not so much.

Well, the dream stuck with me. Fast forward a lot of years, more than I will admit to, and I still remember the dream like it was the one I had last night. I decided to write it down. I’d already finished one book, a historical western called Tame A Wild Heart and was trying to decide what to write next. That’s when I remembered my dream and I thought ‘why not?’.

The next thing I knew I was writing down my dream and world building my new planet and it’s people. I wrote on it for a long time. Then I just sort of stopped writing it. I’d been turned down by agents and by editors. There just wasn’t any call for my kind of book.

I went into a non writing funk for many years. Then I ended up in the hospital. I thought I’d had a heart attack. Thankfully it was not, but it still changed the way I looked at my life. I realized I only had this one and I needed to make things happen. The night I was in the hospital, I couldn’t sleep, who can in a hospital? I had my husband bring me a notebook and a pen and started writing where I’d left off. I finished the book that night in the hospital.

What now? I guessed I had to get back on the agent/editor merry-go-round and I dreaded it. I mentioned to my friend Michele Callahan that I’d finished my book. She said, “Great. Now you can publish with me.”

“What?” I said. “Are you starting a publishing company?”

“No.” she answered. “I’m going to self publish it.”

Now I thought she’d lost her mind. When I thought of self publishing, I thought of those companies where you paid them a lot of money and they published your book. I wasn’t interested in anything like that. She said, “No, it’s nothing like that.” Then she went on to explain about self publishing to Kindle and all the other outlets there are now.

I jumped on as fast as I could. And haven’t looked back yet. It’s been a wild ride and one I wouldn’t have missed for anything. So my ‘heart attack’ turned out to be a good thing and is allowing me to grab life by the ears when I would have sat it out before.

I hope you’ll try my books, Centauri Dawn, Centauri Twilight and Centauri Midnight.

Hey be sure and leave a comment to get an entry into the drawing for a $25 Amazon certificate. The drawing will be on May 19th. If you comment on each blog until then, you'll have that many entries into the drawing. :-)

12 comments:

Allison Merritt said...: That's a great story, Cynthia. How good that the scare turned writing around for you, although it sounds scary.; April 25, 2012 at 6:33 AM
Brenda said...: What a fantastic story. And I have all three of your Centauri books--and I'm LOVING them.

I love your writing!; April 25, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Cynthia Woolf said...: Allison, it was scary. I don't think I've been as scared ever before. But it made me finish what I started so that is a very good thing. Thanks for commenting.; April 25, 2012 at 3:40 PM
Cynthia Woolf said...: Brenda, I'm so happy you are enjoying the books. Hearing that people are liking my books makes it even more worthwhile for me.
Thanks for commenting.; April 25, 2012 at 3:42 PM
Juli Alexander said...: Kudos for your courage and your success. At one time, succeeding in Indie pubbing sounded like sci fi.; April 25, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Sheri Fredricks said...: It's always so fascinating to learn how an author finds their start. I have one of your books and looking forward to collecting them all.; April 25, 2012 at 6:40 PM
LKF said...: I take my hat off to you. I did not have the courage to self pub my first book. I also love your site. :} I have one of your books and I can't wait to read it
Lynda; April 25, 2012 at 7:02 PM
Cora Blu said...: I'm glad it wasn't a heart attack. I'm reading Tame a wild heart, but I'll make it up to space soon. "Tame..." is a great story.
Nice post, Cynthia and we're glad you kept writing.

Cora Blu; April 25, 2012 at 7:05 PM
CJ Snyder said...: I'm SO very glad you're still writing, Cynthia! I love the Tame series, but have to confess my heart is with Centauri. I love how effortlessly you create new worlds and then populate them with the most amazing animals (yes, some are human-oid) :) Keep 'em coming!; April 25, 2012 at 9:41 PM
Cynthia Woolf said...: Thanks so much everyone for your comments. I too am so glad that I got back to writing. It is my joy there is no doubt about that. I work at it 18 hours a day, seriously, but wouldn't have it any other way. Unless of course, I could get more sleep. Sometimes having insomnia sucks.; April 26, 2012 at 5:18 AM
Denise Z said...: I don't know, I am pretty sure there is a 12 step program out there LOL but we will not let you join! Thank you so much for sharing with us today and sharing your fun creativity with those of us who are addicted to it!; April 27, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Elysa said...: Heck NO! I'm not joining any 12-step program that will cure me of writing. :-)

Cindy, I think you and I are "alien soul sisters." When I was in 3rd grade I convinced the playground bullies that I was from Venus. Spent the rest of the school year telling them stories so they wouldn't pick on me. :-); April 28, 2012 at 7:27 AM

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Introduction - Cynthia Woolf

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