Whoop! Whoop! Over the moon to be hosting Linda S Prather’s INNOCENT BLOOD blog blitz today. Massive thanks to the amazing Sarah Hardy of Bloodhound Books and the author for this fantastic #guestauthorpost! I LOVE IT! Let’s find out a bit more about the author and this book first though!
About The Author
Linda S. Prather is the NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author of 8 novels including two legal thrillers, a paranormal FBI series, one romance, and her current series involving Loki Redmond, a Choctaw private investigator and Jake Savior, a former police officer. Linda lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband and grandchild, along with the “king” of the house, a Shitzu name Popcorn. Her latest release, Innocent Blood is her second in the Loki Redmond/Jake Savior series. In Linda’s own words: “This book is my favorite so far. My grandfather was a full-blooded Native American, and my mother half Native American. Prior to my marriage and children I studied Shamanism and developed a true love for nature. Studying the Choctaw history, customs, myths and religions was fascinating. Taking the facts I learned and weaving them into Loki’s story and her investigation into the disappearance of two hunters on the reservation was an emotional roller coaster for me. I found myself crying quite often.”
Links:
Website: [email protected] – where you can join Linda’s email list and never miss a new release
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.prather2
Twitter: @jacodypress
Blog: jacodypress.blogspot.com
About The Book
Loki Redmond swore she’d never return to the reservation, but two missing hunters and the ancient Choctaw myth of Nalusa Falaya take her and her brother, Dadron, on a dangerous trek through the wilderness.
Meanwhile, her partner Jake Savior, heads to Tunica, Mississippi, to investigate the second mass killing by a Choctaw police officer.
Are the cases connected?
The only thing they know for sure is innocent blood has been shed, and unless they can find the source more are going to die.
Artist’s Tools – Dreaming Your Way to Success
Looking for new inspiration? Suffering from writer’s block? Have a problem that you just can’t solve? We’ve all experienced times when the harder we tried the most frustrated we became. We knew the answer was there. Just outside the recesses of our conscious thought. We just couldn’t quite pull it out. Dreams are images, thoughts and emotions experienced during sleep. Some are extremely vivid, while others are extremely vague. Philosophers have studied the dream process for thousands of years, and although there are many theories as to why we dream, no one really knows. Freud believed dreams were a representation of our unconscious desires. Hobson and McClarley believed that circuits in the brain are activated during REM sleep, and dreams are our attempt to interpret those signals. Other theories include that dreams have no purpose, while others believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical health.
For artists, dreams have always been and still are a source of inspiration. Dreams are the creations of our mind, tapping into our imagination.
Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, wrote that he got many of his best stories from his dreams. Edgar Allen Poe also shared that he relied on his dreams to inspire the moods and themes of many of his tales. Stephen King in an interview with UK report Stan Nicholls stated when asked about the inspiration for Misery: “Like the ideas for some of my other novels, that came to me in a dream.”
Search the web and you’ll find hundreds of other stories of artists who have used their dreams to create works of poetry, novels, paintings and songs. We dream every single night, but often we forget our dreams. The key to remembering dreams is to set the
intention before you sleep. An agreement, if you will, between your conscious and subconscious mind that you will dream creatively and will recall your dreams. Prior to sleep focus on the solution or inspiration you seek from your dreams. Write it down, being specific about exactly what you’re looking for. Keep a notepad and pen or pencil next to your bed. As soon as you awaken write down everything you remember about
your dream. If you don’t remember, write down what you believe you remember. Write down the first thing that pops into your mind. Focus on your feelings in the dream, list any places, symbols, colors and the people involved.
Now, play with your dream. Turn it into a poem, a melody, short story or fable. Draw or paint pictures related to your dream. Set up a dialogue with the characters in your dream. See if there’s a correlation between your dream and your current creative
project? If not, perhaps this is the inspiration for a new creative project.
Dreams can be an artist’s best tool for continued or renewed inspiration. I have dreamed many of the scenes of my current books, as well as plots for new novels.
Another simple process is prior to going to sleep, clear your mind. Think about exactly what you want to dream about, and hold that thought. Daydream about it until you drift off to sleep. Combine the power of your conscious and subconscious mind to open the
doors to your creativity. This also works well in the daytime. Frustrated with a scene? Take a moment, close your eyes and clear your mind focusing on your breathing. Breathe deeply in and out as you focus on nothing but your breathing, allowing your body and mind to relax. Now see your character, your painting for whatever it is your want to create. Play with it in your mind until you have it just the way you want it then open your eyes and create.
Absolutely LOVE this post and can totally relate as I am just coming up to the second edits- the hard edit of my first crime novel while mapping out my second novel. Thank you so much, Linda! There have been some rave reviews of this book – check out the other blogs on the blitz for more info. If this series sounds like something you’d be interested in, click the book below or head over to amazon!
