RRBC SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR BLOG TOUR – 11/2/14

The Rave Reviews Book Club is an online book club of more than 500 independent authors and readers. One of the programs sponsored by the book club is honoring an author as the SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR for one week. Part of that program is a book blog tour featuring the honored author on several blog sites. I am honored today to be hosting the book tour for SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR Harmony Kent.

 

Hi there! This is the first day of my RRBC Spotlight blog tour. You can find details of all my stops here.

I just published my third Novel, and what a whirlwind ride it’s been! A couple of years ago, I couldn’t have seen myself writing at all. Which just goes to show, none of us know what’s around the corner. How did I end up here?

My life began (again) at forty. What a scary time that was. Nevertheless, so worth it. I would like to take you on my journey with me, so you can see how I got to where I am today.

I’ve always wanted to write, but didn’t always have the confidence or know how. I remember the first ‘long’ story I wrote; I was eleven. School had run a writing competition and I filled a whole notebook up with my masterpiece ‘Toby the Job Horse’. All entries were given to the head-teacher who would then grade them, and decide on the winner. Sadly, after weeks of hearing nothing, I found out he had lost my story. I was devastated. I’d poured my heart and soul into that book. It took a long time for me to write anything else, and the frequent teasing of those around me didn’t help. If I wasn’t writing, I was reading—so I was always on a different planet to everybody else. Mostly, I was misunderstood.

Then I grew up. I started out in office work, then trained as a nurse. I worked with troubled children in Mental Health, as well as adults. In short, life got in the way of my art. Turns out, I also wasn’t feeling so shiny.

Suffering from very low self-esteem, and overwhelmed by life and the world, I sought solace in a Buddhist Temple, and eventually took monastic ordination. The next thirteen years were long and arduous, but never, ever boring. I learned a lot. Mostly about myself. Also about human nature in general. I realised I didn’t need to change the world: just me. As daft as it might sound: giving up my freedom helped me to find freedom.

I became a happy, content and very confident woman. A long-buried creative streak thrust to the surface and shone in all its glory. Life was good. Then, a surgical error led to a painful and life changing disability. I’ve never looked back. Really. This proved to be a real jewel in the mud. I have grown even more through the various experiences the injury has given me. Without this, I probably wouldn’t be writing now. I have learned what the important things are, and what’s simply soap opera. I have learned that my greatest joy, indeed passion, is helping others where I can. However, none of this compares to my joy when I sit and write.

After the injury, I remained in Buddhist monastic life for a further six years, but was unable to follow the temple schedule or really take part in its daily life that much at all. So, eventually, I made the decision to return to lay life. This was scary.

Thirteen years cloistered away, and suddenly I’m stepping back out into the world again. Oh my goodness. So much was different. Even the value of money had changed drastically. Forty years old, and starting completely from scratch—what an adventure! I found myself with nothing to fill my days, and there’s only so much reading a bod can do. One day I sat down and began to write … and here I am.

In many ways it would have been a lot easier to stay in the temple … better the devil you know, and all that. But that isn’t who I am. My motto in life is: Never give up.

Harmony Kent’s new novel:

Elemental Earth (Book 1 of The Mysteries)

Young Adult Fantasy Fiction

“You turned the god of gnomes into a garden ornament?”

Sarah looked closely, but couldn’t tell if her dad was annoyed or amused—perhaps he was both …

Whilst 15 year old Sarah may be struggling to regain her feet, after being ripped from her everyday mundane life and ending up in a whole new dimension, she still knows how to have a bit of fun along the way. The Earth Elemental isn’t the only one whose feathers she manages to ruffle, and it’s only been four days. Meanwhile, her best friend is missing, and big trouble is brewing. She soon has a lot more to worry about than what happened to her phone or iPod, or even how much of an idiot Caleb obviously thinks she is.

Elemental Earth is the first book in The Mysteries series, and is aimed at Young Adults. Even if you’ve already reached an age where the young ones might call you ‘old enough’, if you’re still young at heart then you’re bound to enjoy these books just as much as the next—err—younger adult.

Age aside, perhaps we should be more worried about what further havoc Sarah’s antics might be about to wreak on the universe as we know it? We’d probably all be sleeping a lot more soundly if she’d only stuck to applied maths and the odd pillow fight. But no, sadly the lure of the proverbial rabbit hole proved just a tad too much. And now she’s taken the plunge, there’s no turning back.

Connect with Harmony Kent:

Look out for tweets @harmony_kent, and follow my blog: http://harmonykent.co.uk to keep up to date with new book releases, promos, cover reveals and sneak peeks. Feel free to connect—I’d love to hear from you.

Find out more at:

My website: http://www.harmonykent.co.uk

Twitter: @harmony_kent

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HarmonyKentOnline

4Wills Author Page: http://4willspublishing.wordpress.com/our-authors/author-harmony-kent/