I love oranges. I wrote an entire guest post about my love for oranges. Actually, I wrote two.

In those posts, I mention how I’ve purchased books based purely on the title containing the word “orange”.

For instance, I purchased Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit before realizing it was by one of my favorite authors, Jeannette Winterson. It turned out to be an excellent read.

My luck held out again this week. I picked up Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. I couldn’t put it down. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year. It is sensual and dark historical fiction, full of betrayals and secrets, where oranges are used as weapons instead of food.

I didn’t recognize the author’s name when I picked up the book.  Joanne Harris is the same author who wrote Chocolat. Chocolat was turned into a movie starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp and happens to be one my all-time favorites (my husband’s too).

Just one of those weird connections that reaffirms my faith in the power of a ripe, sweet orange.

Some people have lucky numbers. I have a lucky fruit.

I’ve allowed the fear of rejection to keep me from writing these last few weeks. A recent post on Write To Done came at just the right time: Stephen King’s greatest lesson for writers.

Writers must battle the fear of the blank page, and then, the fear that no one will recognize the book is worthy to be published. I’m sure there are more fear roadblocks, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten in the publishing process so far

When I stop writing for more than a few days it’s not because of a lack of ideas, but because I’m spending too much time thinking about the business of writing and not actually writing (or reading). Then I read something like the post on Write To Done or the post on Crime Fiction Dossier to write a great book and I remember, “A writer is a person who writes.”

I love reading posts that inspire people to continue writing, especially when it includes quotes from one of my favorite authors. Check out Stephen King’s On Writing for more. It’s part autobiography and part lesson book for aspiring writers. It’s one of the best books on writing I’ve yet read, and I’m not just saying that because The Stand is in my top ten list.

Even though writing is a solitary endeavor, it helps to know other writers (published or unpublished) experience fears similar to my own. Not sure why that’s such a comfort. Maybe it’s a mix of ‘misery loves company’ and ‘I am not alone’ — two sides of the same coin?

Check out the various page links on my blog to read more about me and my plans for posting and writing.

Expect 2-3 posts per week starting in mid to late January. Make sure to add me to your RSS reader and check back in the new year!