Welcome to Day 6 of #RRBC’s October #SpotlightAuthor #PatGarcia @pat_garcia! @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBCSA

If you enjoy unique stories of intrigue with a touch of romance, this author’s short story is for you. It is my pleasure to introduce Pat Garcia, musician, songwriter, and author of TURN THE LIGHT ON.

Pat is passionate about her writing, as is evident from the following essay and an excerpt from her book.

WRITING CRAFT

Writing is a craft that must be developed. I am not one of those writers who believes that everyone can write a book.  I don’t think a well-written book falls from Heaven.

If a writer wants their work read, then they must know something about point of view, deep point of view, structure, sentence styling, and how to weave back story into their stories so that it doesn’t seem like they are just dumping words on the reader.

I have many craft books on writing, but I admit that I haven’t read them all the way through.

I choose what I need to read to help me write a specific chapter or even one or two paragraphs.  When I was trying to grasp point of view, I picked up Sol Stein’s books:  How to Grow A Novel and Stein On Writing.  I have other books on the point of view, but Stein does an excellent job helping me.

The structure of a story was another thing that I needed to learn, and the book that I have sitting on my desk always is The Hero’s Journey by Christoph Vogler. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have studied this book until I grasped the essence of what Vogler was saying in a particular chapter. As I began Turn The Light On, I wanted to show Della in her ordinary world. Vogler says, and I quote him here, “If you’re going to show a fish out of his customary element, you first have to show him in that ordinary world to create a vivid contrast with the strange new world he is about to enter.” That is what I wanted to achieve with the opening. I wanted to show Della’s fear, curiosity, and inability to say no to a journey that would forever change her life.

Turn The Light On opens with a Bible Verse that mirrors Della’s dilemma and her fears. Her ordinary world has begun to tumble.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you are with me. Psalm 23:4 (NKJV)

EXCERPT:

Della Cartwright sat in Macey Bergstein’s office in Frankfurt, Germany. She balled her hands into fists, flexing them, waiting for Macey, her boss, to express her opinion about the unexplained money transfers in Della’s private bank account. A plane flew over their building, and Della’s eyes followed its path as she gazed out of the window behind Macey. How she could have gotten involved with a man in a counter-terrorist group was puzzling. Downright despicable. Until now, she had made a name for herself as the Foreign Exchange Settlements department’s queen. Everyone in the department acknowledged her magical abilities. Her intuitiveness and her strong sense of discernment had caught errors and even settled deals, which would have cost dealers their jobs if she had not noticed the mistakes. Yet, she had managed to let a man whose name she didn’t even know wrap her in his web.

Fear engulfed her. What if he was not only a counterterrorist, but also using her to launder money? Her hands shook as she considered the consequences of the mistakes she’d made, and what could happen to her. She didn’t relish standing before a disbelieving judge trying to explain her stupidity.

AUTHOR BIO

Pat Garcia can’t remember a day when she didn’t desire to write. At the age of three, Pat wrote her first story. No one could understand it because she hadn’t learned to write. So, she read the scribble on her paper to whoever would listen. Born in Blythe, Georgia, (USA), she is also a musician, singer, and songwriter and has released five CDs.

BOOK BLURB

Would you ever accept a dinner invitation to meet a stranger who never spoke one word to you during your time together? Would you accept that you could not even sit at the same table with them? How about, you don’t even know their name and you continue this “game” for months?

Meet Della Cartwright. A superstar at what she does professionally, but when the tall, mysterious, Italian stranger, Alessio Terracina, enters her world, she begins to question her judgment and everything about her.

In this short story which takes place over the course of one day, this otherwise savvy businesswoman is led into making decisions that could jeopardize her professional life and maybe even cost her her freedom. But the greatest danger…just might be to her fragile heart.

CONTACTS

Author website – https://patgarciaauthor.com/

Facebook FanPage – https://www.facebook.com/patgarciaauthor

Twitter – @pat_garcia

Thanks for supporting the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB’S October Spotlight Author! To learn more about this author and all the wonderful perks she is receiving under this spotlight, please visit the RRBC SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR forum.