Today, I'm featuring author Lida Sideris, her book Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters and a guest post by the author titled "The Magic Behind Success". Below you'll find a link to other stops on the tour organised by Lori Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters
By: Lida Sideris
Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (11 September, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-1509202409
E-Book ASIN: B014BVSWTE
Synopsis:
Watch out Southern California! There’s a new entertainment attorney in town and she’s got game. Only problem is, it’s not the one she should be playing. Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead, she’s hot on the trail of a murderer.
Luckily, she’s the daughter of a late, great private eye and she’s inherited his love of sleuthing…and illegal weaponry. It doesn’t help matters that her gene for caution is a recessive one. Corrie finds herself in the center of a murder case, unearthing suspects in shocking places. With a cold-blooded killer on the loose, Corrie will have to up her game, or die trying.
The Magic Behind Success
Here we are, just after the New Year, either riding the hopeful wave of resolutions and possibilities, or accepting the well-worn track of habits. The choice is ours. Let’s think about this for a moment. Move forward or stay where we are on the path of least resistance? If you prefer the usual path, no need to read on. If you prefer the not yet experienced road of exciting possibilities, please stay.
If you’re like me, you work, whether inside the home or out. Or maybe you go to school. I’ve done all those things, so I know firsthand, that each is a full-time job. These days, I have two full-time jobs. By day, I’m a lawyer; by night and the rest of the time, I write (insert backflip and cartwheel here). I’m going to share a few of the ingredients I used to achieve my success in completing and publishing my first novel, a road I wasn’t sure I could navigate.
First off, it’s vital not to get stuck on the “how” of things. How am I going to write a novel? Focusing on the “how” may lead to defeat at the onset. Let’s leave the “how” out of the success equation. Instead, let’s focus on action taking (you must write!) and eliminating obstacles to success. What are some of these obstacles?
- A negative attitude;
- Giving up too soon; and
- Fault-finding.
Enthusiasm is a necessary ingredient to attaining success because when one feels enthusiastic, success finds us, eventually anyway. Who doesn’t enjoy being around an uplifting, enthusiastic and happy individual? Enthusiasm encourages and propels us forward, to share our talents and reveal new ones. It keeps us motivated to forge ahead. How do we stay enthusiastic? By reading positive books, watching light-hearted entertainment, and keeping higher thinking company. People who choose to accentuate the positive. As trite as it sounds, thinking happy thoughts works wonders.
Persistence is another necessity. Without it, one may give up before discovering that success is hiding close around the corner. In a relay race, what happens if a runner quits after they start? They’ll never reach the finish line. You can have all the talent in the world, be a great intellect, achieve a stellar education, but none of it will matter if one is not determined to pursue a worthy goal to its completion. I longed to write a novel for a long, long time. It seemed such a daunting task. So I wrote small. Short essays, articles, blog posts. They gradually became longer and better with practice. I wrote a few chapters of a historical fiction tale and entered the first chapter in a contest to win a scholarship to the San Francisco Writer’s Conference. And won! I’d felt like giving up along the way. But I didn’t. That win gave me the boost to write a novel, a light-hearted mystery, Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters. The first draft wasn’t great. Neither was the next one, or the next one. Over a hundred (I lost count after thirty) revisions later, I was done. I sent it out and…attained the end result for which I’d hoped.
And finally, one must refrain from criticism of one’s self and others. If we indulge in fault-finding, it takes us away from the full-time job of focusing on improving ourselves. Criticism diffuses our vision, weakening our purpose and goals. We don’t want that to happen.
Now is the time to seize the opportunity of feeling rejuvenated by the thought of starting something new. We can begin by accepting the day-to-day challenges and rousing our enthusiasm to accomplish our goals. If you find your goals too lofty, take up something small at first, something you think you cannot do, and then set about accomplishing it. Once we accomplish small victories, our confidence will expand and lend momentum to the will power we need to accomplish the larger things. Like writing a novel and getting it published. Hooray!
About The Author
Like her heroine, Corrie Locke, Lida Sideris worked as an entertainment attorney for a film studio. Unlike her heroine, she did not get blackmailed into investigating the suspicious death of a co-worker. Lida resides in the northern tip of Southern California with her family, their rescue shepherds, and a flock of uppity chickens. She was one of two national recipients of the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America scholarship for mystery writing.
Check out the rest of the tour here: http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/books-currently-on-tour/murder-and-other-unnatural-disasters-by-lida-sideris/
Author Links
WEBSITE: http://www.lidasideris.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/lidasideris
TWITTER: @lidasideris
Add the book on Goodreads:
No comments:
Post a Comment