Geri Buckley Borcz

This week Cedar Keys series author Terri DuLong shares her thoughts on the art and craft of writing and talks about her newest release Spinning Forward.

Tell us about Spinning Forward, Terri:

It's a tale of new beginnings, old friends and lives forever bound. A New Englander born and bred, the last place Sydney Webster expects to find herself starting over is on an island off the west coast of Florida. Yet here she is in Cedar Key, trying to pull herself together after her husband's untimely death and the even more untimely revelation of his gambling addiction. Syd takes shelter at a college pal's bed and breakfast, leading her to discover her true identity and feminine soul. Her passion for spinning and knitting draws attention due to the unique composition of her wool and a door is opened. She finds herself in the embrace of a community rich with love, laughter, friendship . . . and secrets.

So what pulled you into the story and made you think 'I have to write this'?

The actual people of Cedar Key, the small town where I now reside, made me feel I wanted to write about the
closeness and caring of a small community. As far as my main character, not all women have the final say-so when it
comes to decisions or financial matters in their marriage and although it may seem fine and easy at the time, my story deals with the fact that women owe it to themselves to be aware of these issues. For Sydney, her uninvolved attitude came back to bite her.

What's your writing process and where do you write?

When I'm on deadline, I begin around ten in the morning and generally work six to eight hours a day. When we moved to Cedar Key, we had a writer's studio built for me, detached from our house but connected by a screened lanai. So this is where I work.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Don't ever give up. If writing is your passion, then keep
writing. Believe in yourself and make great things happen.

And what's next for you?

My Christmas novella, that I'm doing in the anthology with Fern Michaels headlining, will be released November 2010, the same time that my second book in the Cedar Key series will be out.

My thanks to Terri DuLong for taking time from her busy schedule to share her thoughts on writing, and be sure to look for Spinning Forward at your favorite book store.