Monday, May 14, 2012

Introducing me

Hi!  Welcome to Homeschool Authors.  I thought that it was about time for me to introduce myself.  My name is Sarah Holman, the girl behind the blog.  I live deep in the heart of Texas with my amazing parents, five of my six awesome siblings, and a variable number of animals.

Writing is my passion in life.  I spend, on average, between five and eight hours a day writing or editing blog posts, articles, and books. However, when I am not writing, I can often be found walking on our five beautiful acres of land, reading, hanging out with my siblings, or at my job at the Texas State Capitol.

Many people ask how I started writing.  I remember the day perfectly.  I had started Medieval kick.  I was watching and reading everything I could about this fascinating time during history. After watching The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, I was inspired to write my own tale of Robin Hood.  My mother found out an encouraged me not to adapt someone else’s story but write my own.

So that is how it all started.  For the next three years I wrote a story called Shieham.  No, don’t be looking for it on my website.  Although I loved writing that book, and the two others in the series, they are not good enough to show the world.  However, writing those books taught more about writing a book then any book on writing ever has.

In 2007, I was inspired by a movie I saw to write a Sci-Fi book. The Destiny of One (which had a different title at the time) was the first book I started writing without really knowing where the story was going.  As Maria’s story unfolded over three books I knew I finally had a story that was worth sharing with the world.
Last year, in May, I released my first and second book in The Destiny Trilogy.  I have been so pleased with the response to my books!  Although I know I still have a lot to learn as a writer, people seem to think I did pretty well with these books.

Later this month, I will be releasing the last book in the trilogy.  I am excited and sad at the same time.  I can’t wait to share the last part of the story with my readers, but I will miss my main character Maria a lot.

If you want to learn more about me, visit my blog.  You can also visit my Amazon page to buy my books

Would you like to read The Destiny of One for free?  Enter to win a copy!

Please note that I do check to make sure you did the action for the entry.  If you didn’t do it, I delete the entry. 

20 comments:

  1. I am really curious what sci-fi movie inspired you to write sci-fi. Was it a "I could do that better" or a "Oh, I want to be able to do that" reaction?

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  2. Rachel,
    I watched Star Wars episode 4 (the first one made). I loved it, but I didn't like all the 'force' stuff. I wanted to read some Christian Sci-Fi, but there isn't a lot out there. So, I wrote my own.

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  3. Sarah, how did you keep your motivation in writing?

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  4. Brian, sometimes the story and its message was enough to keep me motivated. Other times it was my readers (siblings and friends I have given portions to) who kept asking for more that kept me writing.

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  5. I love Star Wars myself. I haven't found much good Christian science fiction either. That is why I am so glad to discover your books. :) I have only recently begun writing science fiction, but I am discovering I am enjoying it a great deal. I have only written magicless fantasy and speculative fiction before.

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  6. I'm so happy that there are writers like you who are trying to 'redeem' genres like Sci-Fi. Have you ever read C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy? I haven't yet, but I'd like to. And knowing the chap, they're probably reaaalllyy good.

    There's another bit of sci-fi you might enjoy, it's called 'The Tripods Attack!'. The book looks stupid, but trust me, it's amazing. It's about a young G.K. Chesterton mucking about with a young H.G. Wells in an alternate Steampunk age, with plenty of sci-fi and action to keep the story pumping. Plus, there are some philosophical arguments throughout the book (huzzah!), and the main story is about G.K. finding faith in God. It's amazing.

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  7. And how happy I am that you decided to write your own story and I got to meet Maria! :)

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  8. I have found that a lot of sci fi stories tend to be quite political. There is usually much debate between royalty and world leaders. I'm wondering if you are inspired by this idea at all?

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  9. Haha . . . My sisters and I always played we were from Robin Hood's time. :D It was so much fun, except that my sister, Sarah, ended up being a boy. (Don't ask me how that happened, although I'm pretty sure I was to blame for that.)

    How do you go about your editing process? That's where I am, and I feel like crying whenever I look at the book. There's just so much to sort through, and I'm not even sure how much of it is salvageable. :/

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  10. Margaret ~ Yes, I was inspired by that somewhat. But the political situation is only the backdrop for Maria's story.

    Becki ~ I have three to five rounds of editing (depending on the amount of work needed). The first one I just go back through and clean up all the spelling and grammar mistakes I can find. Round two, I go through and fix issues with the book. If it need a lot of work, I will then send the book to some of my friends and ask them for their thought on how I can make it better and act on those, that would be round three. Round four send it out to your test readers/editing team. When they send it back, edit your book. Round five, look for any last mistakes (spelling, grammar, continuity). If you don't feel like the book is done after all of that, set it aside for a year or so and get back to it.

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  11. What a fantastic site! I love your thoughts behind putting this together. We have so many homeschooled authors. Cara Putman is one you should interview, she was homeschooled when homeschooling just made people look weird.

    Congratulations on your novel releases! A very big accomplishment. :-))

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  12. I enjoyed your mention of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood--that movie is so much fun. Do you still write medieval-inspired stories--or any other genres besides Sci-fi?

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  13. Sarah ~ Yes I do! I have a first draft of a novel set in the Middle Ages waiting to be edited. I also hope to write books in many genres, I don't want to be tied down to one type!

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  14. Hey, Sarah! So glad to see you on here and get a chance to read about your writing journey!
    I know what you mean about the Star Wars movies. I (unlike many who are fans,) prefer the later three, (Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan? :-) But to be fair, I also love Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jin.)
    I can't get past the clunky graphics and poorer acting, especially with the New Hope one.
    But I dooooo love Sci-Fi! can't help myself. So much scope for the imagination. ;-)
    Did you need to invent words or names for things? How did you handle that?

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  15. Elizabeth, I made up some of my own names. However, most things and people were just modified words and names. It was a lot of fun.
    Many of my secondary characters were named after stars. Most technology were terms that we have today.

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  16. Gotta love Robin Hood!! :)

    Question: Do you prefer writing in third person or first person and why?

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  17. Ellyn ~ I have only written in third person because, for the stories I have written so far, it has worked best. I think that I would enjoy writing a first person novel though.

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  18. It's so nice to finally get to know you better, and get a deeper glimpse of your novels, Sarah. I have The Destiny of One, and I'm really looking forward to reading it sometime soon. Keep on keeping on...with your writing that is! =)

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  19. Hi Sarah! I love reading about young christian authors, always find it encouraging! I love the titles of your trilogy and can't wait to get my hands on it. I read on a book review that you self-published. How does that work? You also have paperback copies of your book though, I thought it was only possible to self-publish on kindle?

    Again, Great job! God bless!


    Tell the World

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  20. FunTo ~ There a lot of publishers that will do paperback's of your books. I used Lulu publishing for a while, but I am using CreateSpace.

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