Please welcome Mimi Barbour, who's sharing some wonderful thoughts this Yuletide season.Mimi lives on the beautiful west coast on Vancouver Island and writes her paranormal romances with tongue in cheek and a mad glint in her eye. Asked why she prefers paranormal, she answers - chuckling.
“Because it’s fun! Imagination can be a lot more interesting than what happens in real life to so-called normal people. I love my characters, and my goal is to make the readers love them also. To care about what happens to them while the story unfolds. If I can steal my booklover’s attention away from their every-day grind, absorb them into a fantasy love story, and make them care about the ending, then I’ve done my job.”
Special Moments...This is the time of the year when we all become so busy that we sometimes forget what this season is about. About this time last year, I received an e-mail that clutched at me, and made me take notice. It was about a violinist playing his instrument in the Washington, DC Metro Station in January of 2007.
During the time he played, approximately 2,000 people went through the area, most of them on their way to work. One or two stopped to listen for a short while, an older man the longest. A few people threw money, but the ones who acknowledged him the most were the little ones with busy parents who forced them along so they couldn’t stay and listen.
After 45 minutes he finished playing and silence took over, no applause, no recognition, and only $32 for his trouble. No one knew that this man called Joshua Bell was one of the greatest violinists in the world, who played some of the most intricate pieces ever written for a violin. His instrument, handcrafted by Antonio Stradivari in 1713, was worth $3.5 million dollars.The Washington Post had organized this experiment to answer this question. In a commonplace environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty and stop to appreciate it? It raised the uncertainty - if we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the world’s best musicians, playing some of the finest music ever written, on one of the most beautiful instruments ever made - how many other things are we missing?
The thought scares me a little. I get so caught up in my writing, editing, promoting, workshops, and deadlines, in fact all the many time consuming tasks most authors have, that I must admit, it’s easy to let the world float on by.But should we? And at this time of the year especially? So my request to all you wonderful readers is to stop for a while, enjoy the special moments the season of Yuletide brings us and spoil yourself with pleasures and joy.
I wish you and your families all - a warm, wonderful, happy Christmas. And lots and lots of chocolate!I love to hear from readers anytime so write me at mimi@mimibarbour.com and stop by my website to visit and check out some free reads: www.mimibarbour.com.
I do have a new book for The Vicarage Bench Series (Halleluiah!!) called “Together Again” and it will be released on May 12th, 2011.
It seems so far away doesn’t it? Sigh!!!
