by Tara S. Nichols

Writing, to me, is a very intimate process. I become quite attached to my characters, the settings and the sentences. I put snippets of my own personal experiences into my stories and its hard for me to believe sometimes that I ever submit my work by the way I act while writing.
I’m a private person, (cough, hermit) who prefers solitude when creating plots, characters, and especially sex scenes. Solitude isn’t always readily available though. In fact it’s darn hard to come by these days. I am a mother, a spouse, a daughter, a granddaughter, a part time employee, a business owner and a functioning member of society. All of these roles take up time in my potential writing future and it makes writing in public rather difficult. Like most writers, I do what I have to do, fitting my writing in where and when I can.

I was feeling guilty and caught between two worlds, the one where I am able to write and the one that interferes with my ability to write, until one day when I had a comedic revelation. Writing is like having a secret lover, an affair even. Whether it be a keen anticipation for nightfall when the house grows cool and quiet and my three old retires for the evening, or lying to my husband to get out of social events so I can stay home and be alone with my manuscript, I relate to the betrayal of an adulteress. There’s the sidelong glances toward the computer when company just won’t go home, or the stolen moments I spare myself at my desk at work while I jot down ideas on a piece of paper. I sit, with pen and paper, huddled in a corner of a coffee shop on my lunch hours, avoiding the loud chatter of my co-workers gathered in the sunshine, my hand cupping the raunchy words that would make any passerbyer’s toes curl up. I squeeze every last second out of my brief half hour, wanting time to stop so I can stay and be with my latest fantasy world.

Someday my writing style will change. I will acquire more time and space to do what I love and perhaps introduce it to a few of my friends. For now, it seems to be working and heck, its better than nothing.

Writing is who I am. A writer is what I’ve always wanted to be, yet it is so hard to make a go if it, to prove it to oneself that it is worth standing up for, worth doing in public. Some authors don’t have such inhibitions as I do and I applaud them for that but until I can let a complete stranger see my run on sentences I’ll probably keep my relationship with my writing close to my breast.

-Tara S. Nichols

About the Author:

Ever since Tara Nichols was a little girl she has had an affinity for romantic adventures. With crushes on the likes of Tarzan and Hans Solo she grew up looking for the perfect gentleman rogue. When she is not writing about romance, erotica or paranormal fiction she can be found tending her garden, keeping bees or reading a spy novel. Tara roams free on the flat prairie land in Manitoba Canada where she lives with her young son and husband.

Visit her blogspot page at www.tarasnichols.blogspot.com

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