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Author Gaylon Greer Talks About Facing Down The Blank Page

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I’m excited to welcome today’s guest Gaylon Greer to the blog. Gaylon is visiting us today to talk about his novel The Price of Sanctuary – a romantic suspense novel. Having had the opportunity to read several excerpts, I’m already smitten with his hero – Hank and I think you will be too. 

In addition to sharing an excerpt and the cover blurb from The Price of Sanctuary, Gaylon has prepared a short blog post on something common to all authors – the task of facing down the blank page. Whether you’re an author or a reader, I’m sure you’ll find his post interesting. 

Please make Gaylon feel welcome by leaving your questions and comments for him. Someone who leaves a comment on one of his blog stops and fills out the Rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon gift card. 

When you’ve finished entering Gaylon’s contest be sure to scroll clear to the bottom of the post to fill out the Rafflecopter to enter BVS’s Weekly Grab Bag Giveaway.

 

What Scares A Writer Most

 

MEDIA KIT Author PhotoFor some writers—include me in this group—nothing is more frightening than staring at a blank page. Well, an empty file in a word processor.  You sit poised over your keyboard, staring at that blank screen with its tiny, blinking curser, and a hundred other things you could be doing come to mind.

Here’s something that works for me: don’t think about what you intend to write. Just start writing. You have thought about your story in advance, of course, and have a general idea of what you want to write.  That advance thinking will pay tremendous dividends, but thinking while sitting in front of your word processor is a dead-end exercise. Instead of thinking, start punching keys.

Okay teach, you say, punch keys. But which keys? Well, you have choices. You can retype some of yesterday’s prose, maybe even improve it a bit. You can type a few paragraphs written by your favorite author and benefit from internalizing the rhythm of her style. Or you can just write nonsense—whatever comes to mind. Whichever approach fluffs your feathers, it will also warm up your mental engine, get you ready for some serious creative composition.

Each technique has been recommended by one or more writers far more accomplished than me. I have experimented with all three, and they work. But the one that works best for me when I’m starting a brand new project is to write nonsense. The gibberish eventually morphs into stream-of-consciousness prose and usually leads to some serious interaction between my subconscious and my keyboarding fingers. Even though most of what I type during the warm-up periods eventually gets trash-canned, some of it inevitably finds its way into the finished product.

 

The Price of Sanctuary

by Gaylon Greer

MEDIA KIT Book coverAccustomed to a life of privilege, Shelby Cervosier  finds herself running for her life. Accused of killing an American Immigration agent, Shelby has undertaken a mission on behalf of a secretive American espionage agency in exchange for a promise of legal amnesty and political asylum in America. Now, however, the agent who coerced her into accepting the assignment wants her dead to cover up the bungled mission. Two hit men compete for the bounty that has been placed on her head.

Shelby and her younger sister flee into America’s heartland in search of a safe haven. They find only fear and danger, however, when they are captured by one of the assassins, Hank.

Prepared to do whatever it takes to keep her sister safe, Shelby cooperates with her capturer. Deciding that his feelings for them are more important than bounty money, Hank takes the sisters under his wing and secrets then away to his hideout: a farm in a remote corner of Colorado. They become a part of his extended family; they have finally found sanctuary.

Their safe new world is shattered when the second hit man, a relentless psychopath, captures Shelby’s little sister and uses her to lure Shelby and her lover into a middle-of-the-night showdown on an isolated Rocky Mountain battleground.

An Excerpt From The Price Of Sanctuary

The house had grown quiet except for the occasional creak of aging timbers reacting to changes in humidity and temperature. After watching a moonbeam stab through a window and creep over the floor, Shelby stared at the ceiling and asked herself why she always waited for events to overtake her. Why couldn’t she do what Hank had suggested during their road trip? In Las Vegas he had urged her to reach out to life, to squeeze it, make it respond. “Grab life by the scruff and shake it,” he’d said. But he wouldn’t reach out to her any more than he already had. The next move was up to her.

She threw back the bedcovers and swung her feet onto the chilly floor. If she thought about it, she would crawl back into bed, so she refused to think. Instead she reached under her gown to slip off her panties and tiptoed across the hall to his bedroom.

He lay on his back, stretched full-length under the covers. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Standing in his doorway, she said, “I’m . . . yes, I’m okay.”

“Are you chilly? Need more cover?”

“I’m lonely. May I get in with you?”

He shifted to the side, fluffed a pillow for her, and threw back the covers. She recognized the gesture as the one she had used in Las Vegas when inviting him to share Pearl’s guest bed. Feeling light-headed, she pulled the door shut and climbed in with him.

He lay on his side, watching her. “You sure everything’s all right?”

“I don’t know. I feel . . .” She twisted to face him. “I thought you might . . . that we . . .” Why couldn’t she finish a sentence? She concentrated on regulating her breathing.

He twisted onto his back again and extended an arm. “Come here.”

Enter  Gaylon’s Giveaway Here

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

About Gaylon Greer

Working with traveling carnivals and itinerant farm labor gangs during his teen and early adult years took Gaylon Greer up, down, and across the United States and introduced him to a plethora of colorful individuals who serve as models for his fictional characters. A return to school in pursuit of a high school diploma while serving in the Air Force led to three university degrees, including a Ph.D. in economics, and a stint as a university professor. After publishing several books on real estate and personal financial planning, as well as lecturing on these subjects to nationwide audiences, he shifted his energy to writing fiction. Gaylon lives near Austin, Texas.

Gaylon Greer’s Links

Gaylon’s Web Site

 Amazon Author Page

YouTube

The Price of Sanctuary Buy Link

 

Books By Gaylon Greer


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