“Why We Write” Drop in Feature – Guest Post from Jeffrey Perren.

 

 

This Writer’s Life by Jeffrey Perren

 

Up before dawn — tea for me, coffee for the wife, pet the dog. Check emails, correspondence with beta readers, and miscellaneous.

 

So far, that doesn’t sound very exciting. But that’s the business side of things. I leave as much of that as I can to my publicist — remembering how blessed I am to have one who loves my work.

 

Later, write or edit the latest story. Currently, that’s The Lighthouse Pylon, a tale of a lonely lighthouse keeper who discovers at last his ideal woman — and finds her a very dark lady indeed. Soon, it will be a re-telling of the William Tell legend and later a trilogy set in the Age of Discovery.

 

But whatever the subject matter, the process is similar: research everything you can about the history, technology, and general society and daily lives of the period and people. Then, weave a plot within and around all that, one filled with drama, romance, and ideas to enrapture the reader for every single page until the end.

 

Tall orders, any one of them. Taken together, near-impossible. But that’s what makes the writer’s life a glorious adventure all on its own. Visit places I’ve never been but want to see. Be people I’ve never been but strive to become.

 

Like life, the effort is three-parts tedium to one-part heart-pounding excitement. And you’re continuously trying to shift the ratio, despite the never-ending resistance of the universe to move it in the undesired direction. Still, you have to try — and try and try again. To give up is to decay, to die a little on your way to complete dissolution. No profit in that.

 

It isn’t for everyone, for sure. It’s cerebral and emotionally taxing. It’s isolated and isolating, and it takes far more self-discipline than most people — me included — can manage on a regular basis.

 

No one orders you to write all day, every day. But if you don’t the page doesn’t get filled. You feel guilty when you slack off, and rightly so. You realize that no one, yourself included, is paying you to not write — neither in coin nor in praise. So, you pick yourself up by the bootstraps and plunge in again.

 

Then, you find you’re enjoying the process so much you wonder why you procrastinated so long.

 

That’s one writer’s life, anyway. Your mileage will no doubt vary.

 

THE LIGHTHOUSE PYLON

 

Genre: Romatic suspense

 

Expected Publication: December 2014

 

DESCRIPTION

 

CURL HOYER WAS A MAN WHO COULD NOT BE FOOLED… EXCEPT THIS ONCE.

An unstoppable sea and an immovable tower hold the key to several lives, past, present, and future.

Approaching middle-age and desperately lonely, Lighthouse Keeper Curl Hoyer is pining to find a wife, the unique partner just right for him.

When alluring photo-journalist Henne arrives to do a story on him and the romantic coastal facility, his prayer seems answered at last. Seductive and intriguing, she soon makes him fall in love with her — all according to plan.

What is that plan?

At first blush, it appears nothing more than a desire to corral a man of unusual character: a rare blend of passion, curiosity, and tenderness. Soon, it’s revealed to be a demonic scheme for revenge, payback for wounds festering since adolescence.

Why? What is the mysterious connection between the pair reaching back 20 years? And can Curl uncover the plan in time to save himself and the vital lighthouse?

A haunting seaside tower brings them together again for one final showdown.

“The Lighthouse Pylon is dramatic suspense harkening back to the golden age of Gothic romance, when a shoreline structure could be as menacing as the villain. Jeffrey Perren’s latest is surely his finest novel yet, with a twist at the end we challenge any reader to guess!” – ClioStory Publishing

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23513707-the-lighthouse-pylon

 

BIO

 

Jeffrey Perren wrote his first short story at age 12 and went on to win the Bank of America Fine Arts award at age 17. Since then he has published at award-winning sites and magazines from the U.S. to New Zealand.

 

His debut novel was “Cossacks In Paris,” an historical adventure set in Napoleonic Europe, inspired by a real soldier of the Battle of Paris in 1814. His second, “Death is Overrated,” a romantic mystery, is the story of a scientist who must prove he didn’t kill himself. His third is “Clonmac’s Bridge,” an archaeological thriller and historical mystery set in contemporary and 9th century Ireland. “The Lighthouse Pylon,” a novel of romantic suspense is expected to be published on December, 2014.

 

He was born in Independence, MO right around the corner from Harry Truman’s house. But then, at the time, everything there was right around the corner from Harry Truman’s house. He now lives in Sandpoint, Idaho with his wife, an economist.

 

Amazon profile

 

http://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-Perren/e/B00B7PTTKO

 

Goodreads profile

 

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6851798.Jeffrey_Perren

 

Twiter

 

https://twitter.com/JeffPerren

 

https://twitter.com/ClioStory