Guest Post from my very funny friend, Beth Muscat

My guest post this time is by one of my favorite writer friends.  Check out her website.  You can find the link to the right:  All Kidding Aside.  She's quite creative in her research and blogs.  She is an author, and every book of hers is a joy to read.

Beth, thank you for guest blogging.  Everyone, Beth's guest blog:

1. When did you discover you were a writer?

Well, funny thing. When my boyfriend (now hubby) and I went to a psychic fair, this psychic asked me if I knew I could write. I squished up my face and said, “Of course, I can write.” I thought she was talking about my penmanship. Silly me.

Then one day I got this notion to write a book. My early writing was very bad and thankfully, lost forever since they were on floppy disks. It wasn’t until a friend of mine got me reading the *gasp* Twilight books that I discovered reading again. That led me to buying a book by L. J. Smith called, “Dark Visions”. When I read that book, I thought, “Hey, I can write a book, too.” From there, ‘Remember The Eyes’ came to life.


2. Your books are written tenderly. They are endearing to read. Is that the effect you'd hoped for?

Yes, I think so. I’ve always been a sucker for love and tenderness, loving one another so completely. I try to write that into my books. Each of my books has a romantic feel when the man and woman love each other so completely. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Even through hardships and trials, love remains. A constant. My characters like to hold hands, to cuddle and to kiss sweetly. I’d like to think that every relationship could be that way. But, alas, most aren’t. I guess that’s why I write them that way.

3. 'Remember the Eyes' is such a wonderful tale of past and present. How did you come up with the idea?

Ah, another funny story. Sylvia Browne has a book called, “The Other Side And Back.” I was re-reading it and decided to try one of the exercises in it that told what your past life might have been. So, I did this exercise and they always tell you that the first thing that pops into your head is usually right. What popped into my head was an image of a peasant girl, standing by a fruit and vegetable cart. There were cobblestone streets, horses and dark stone buildings. I was wearing a peasant girls dress.

When I wrote “Remember The Eyes”, I used that as one of my characters past life dreams….only I just embellished it more, adding in a prince, and of course, dialogue. My character also has some other past life dreams; some real and one is made up.

4. What is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Sometimes you’ve got an idea for a story, but maybe you’re not sure how to go about it or maybe how to end it. I asked for help from my friend Scarlet (aka…Norma Beishir) when I was writing “Wildflower”. I had the idea, and I knew sort of how I wanted it to go, but I wasn’t sure about a certain part. She gave me an idea, and my Contemporary Romance novel, “Wildflower” was born.

Sometimes the most difficult part is just in the editing process. That can be long and tedious, but it’s something that we all have to do. In editing “Remember The Eyes”, I changed it quite a bit before I was happy with the end result. I even changed the title from it’s original one.

5. Your fairy tales are quite creative. Do these show the fun side of your writing?

I love writing the Modern Day Fairy Tales. They’re very fun to write. I don’t really think of myself as funny, so yes, I guess these do show off my fun side of my writing. I love adding my writer friends in the fairy tales because it’s kind of fun to match up a character, whether it’s an animal or a person, with one of my friends. For example, the fact that I wrote my friend, Mike Saxton, as Rapunzel (Rappy) because he has long hair. It was all in fun.

I had reviewed the book, Red Riding Hood, so I decided to make a fairy tale about Little Red Riding-Hood. William Kendall mentioned Rumpelstiltskin, so of course, I had to make him that character. Norma also said that William liked to be a wolf, so guess who was the Big Bad Wolf?

But, none of my fairy tales are mean. Never. The wolf wasn’t the bad guy…he just wanted a piece of the vegan brownies that Red Riding-Hood was taking to her Grandma’s. Oh and, I also try to put all of my online writer friends into my fairy tale blogs. Sometimes I have to add characters, like animals, but it’s all for fun. I’m glad everyone enjoys them.

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I’m pretty sure that I have a syndrome or disease or something. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m sure I must have something. It seems everyone else does. I think I just don’t have a name for it yet. I’ve got to blame something for all my problems.

I mean, I do have voices in my head. Does that make me a schizophrenic? What if my voices in my head are schizophrenic? Does that make me sane? If I took Clozapine, which is used in treatment resistant schizophrenia, would I get writer’s block?

Oh, that would be awful.

I’m a bit paranoid. Ok, I’m paranoid about being paranoid. Does that make me paranoid or not? I’m confused.

A woman from Oregon by the name of Karen Butler, who had an Oregonian accent prior to dental surgery, came out with a British accent.

Huh?

According to a neurologist, Butler probably suffered a small stroke that affected that part of her brain that controls speech patterns.

I remember a girl that I used to work with went to Texas for two weeks, and came back with a Texan accent. So, does that mean that if she went to the dentist, she might get her basic Ontario accent back?

This syndrome is called “Foreign Accent Syndrome.” Apparently between 1941 and 2009 there have been sixty recorded cases. Weird. I’d never heard of this before. I thought the girl with the Texan accent was just making it up. Maybe she had a serious brain injury.

Or, maybe she was just making it up.

Apparently there was another woman who got a migraine and then started speaking Chinese.

Now, maybe you don’t speak with a foreign accent, but maybe you have one of these other syndromes.

1. Art Attack: A doctor studied more than 100 tourists of Florence, Italy, who had become ill when they looked at some of the great works of art. Symptoms: heart palpitations, stomach pains and dizziness. The doctor believes that it’s a result of jet lag and travel stress.

Ok, note to self: give yourself a day or two in your hotel room before going to see any of the great works of art at the museums in Florence. Or else, just don’t go to any museums

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2. Alien Hand Syndrome: This neurological illness affects thousands of people. It is caused by damage to a part of the brain and causes the person’s hands to act independently of the other and of it’s owner’s wishes.

Note to self: Make sure that no one is looking when you pick your nose and your butt at the same time. They might think you have this syndrome.

3. Electric People: Some people are so electric, that they are capable of generating charges strong enough to knock out streetlights, and electronic equipment.

Ok, I’m almost positive that I have this. I can barely touch anything without getting a shock from it or giving one to people that I touch. It must be my ‘super-charged’ personality that is to blame. Shocking.

4. Mary Hart Epilepsy: This woman (and the only one that I’ve ever heard of), would have a seizure every time she heard Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart’s voice.

While I don’t suffer from epileptic seizures from the sound of certain people’s voices, I can think of at least one person’s voice that is like fingernails down a chalkboard. Anyone that I work with would know for whom I speak of. Enough said.

5. Uncombable Hair Syndrome: This condition causes hair to form a tangled mass, yet, it isn’t knotted, kinked or twisted, so it is hard to explain the tangling.

Well crap. So that explains my hair.

I guess I could make something up. It might make me feel better. Wait! Nah. Not knowing makes me feel better. A lot better.

Great job, Beth!  I love it.  Too funny.  Thank you again for appearing on my blog.

More guest bloggers to come, friends.

LHR