Reflections of Reality (2)

Here we are at the second of my birthday blog swaps! This week, I am very pleased to welcome Lindsey J Parsons to the stage.

I would like to start off by saying a massive thank you to AFE for inviting me on this lovely blog, I feel very honoured to be here.

First of all I should introduce myself, my name is Lindsey J Parsons and (I love saying this next bit) I am an author (it actually makes this sound like an AA meeting, perhaps I should add ‘and it’s been ten hours since I last wrote’).

As soon as I was invited here I made plans to get on and write something straight away, not to spend too much time procrastinating thinking about what I’m going to talk about. I decided to discuss magic and why I believe it is real. You will be pleased to know that after an awful lot of procrastinating planning and only a couple of paragraphs written, I have given up on that idea (mainly because what I had written was so boring it had put me to sleep). You see, when I ask my brain to wake up and think up something interesting to say, my head seems to only contain a lot of cotton wool, useless facts and little else. So I then remember all the other things that need doing too, like checking my emails, washing the kitchen floor etc., and before I know it another day has gone by. I’m not such a great conversationalist either; I struggle in social situations and actually believe I would have made a great hermit. So I tried to force my brain out of its comfort zone as I’ve been told that’s what I must do, but the result was not good. I may have been a bit harsh on myself – perhaps what I’d written wasn’t that bad – but as I’d fallen asleep writing it the signs definitely weren’t good.

Unlike most of my other author friends, I am very new to writing. In fact, up until three years ago I hadn’t written anything since I was at school, which is more years ago than I wish to admit to. Writing has come as a big shock to me and even now I can’t think what it was that made me suddenly decide to write down the latest story in my head.

I’ve had stories floating around in there for the whole of my life, some more vivid than others, all of them leaning towards fantasy. But never since a completely disastrous attempt as a young teenager have I ever thought to write any of it down.

So then, out of the blue, I found myself writing a story and I enjoyed it so much I just kept going. It did also give me a great excuse to get the laptop I had been wanting for some time, but up until then hadn’t had a reason to buy.

What I love the most about writing, though, is I can now record the stories that are going on inside my head so I don’t forget any of them. This also means I can elaborate on the parts I like the most, develop my characters and spend a lot more time with them. Not only that, but now I have them written down I can share them with other people, which means I get to discuss my stories with others too. Hearing what other people think and how they perceive what I’ve written gives the stories a whole new perspective, which is both interesting and a bit of a thrill. A thrill because they are now more than just daydreams in my head; they are now a reality.

I have such fun writing, I wish I’d persevered as a teenager; I could have captured so many more stories over the years.

Thank you so much AFE for having me here.


Lindsey J Parsons is author of the Return of the Effra Trilogy. Book One, Vortex, is available to buy from Amazon, and you can also find out more about it on its dedicated Facebook page.

I'm talking about dragons on Lindsey's blog today, so please come and check it out!