About My Books

Blog posts by author Lynette M. Burrows on all things related to writing her books from how she got an idea for a book, people, places, and history that inspired a book, and her process for writing a book.

The Excitement–and the Mess–Build

Lynette M Burrows

There’s a lot going on at my house and the excitement—and the mess—build. Soon they will crescendo at nearly the same time. My hubby gets to come home this week and at the end of the week, I will be appearing at the Longview Literary Festival in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The Festival is free and runs from 10 am to 5 pm, Friday, October 26th. I’d say I’m cleaning house in preparation for hubby coming home but that’s not exactly true. Take a look. Preparations My dining room has been converted to a workshop, staging area, and collections point. I wanted to do a little something special for my sales table at the Festival. And being the overachiever whose OCD kicks in at every opportunity, things got a little out of hand. Yup, those are two of my too-curious-for-their-own-good dogs in the crate in the lower right corner. They caused a couple of paint mishaps that could have been disastrous. Don’t worry. They will only be in there for a few more minutes. The product I’m using to paint the styrofoam head drys quickly. Have I gone overboard? Definitely. Is it worth it? It’s been fun, stressful, and fun. Of […]

A Novel Announcement and the Story Behind the Story

Lynette M Burrows

Recently I realized I’ve never made the official novel announcement here. News I shared several weeks ago on Facebook and Twitter, but not here. (For those of you who’ve seen Facebook or Twitter you’ll like the story behind the story.) My novel, My Soul to Keep, went live as an ebook on August 21st. It is now also available as a paperback book on Amazon. Other retailers can order it from Ingram. What’s the Story? This dystopian tale takes place in 1961, but America is not the nation you know. It’s an insular land of righteousness, repression, and fear. Drawn into a maelstrom of political intrigue, familial deception, and social upheaval two women, one peaceful and the other violent, seek truth and justice. To find the truth they will have to make sacrifices. Triumph will free them and the nation. Failure will mean a face-off with the angel-assassin, Azrael. How A Nice Girl Wrote A Dystopian Novel You might wonder how “a nice girl like” me came to write a dystopian novel. I moved seventeen times before I graduated from high school. No, neither parent was in any armed service. Seventeen different homes, seventeen different schools. Can you imagine a […]

How to Time Travel Without a Delorean

Lynette M Burrows

Would you like time travel in a Delorean? In 1981 a Delorean cost $26,000 US dollars. In 2016, the Delorean Motor Company planned to make three hundred replicas of the 1982 Delorean. Each of those vehicles cost approximately $100,000. I don’t know about you, but that is too pricey for my budget. What if I told you how to time travel without the Delorean? In fact, what if I said you needed a Ford or a Studebaker? Would you still want to travel into the past? When writing a novel, the right details create a verisimilitude that helps your story take on a life of its own. This is especially true when writing an alternate history like My Soul to Keep. Thank goodness I learned the secret of time travel and a way to make a new, alternate America. By now you’ve guessed the secret to time travel—the internet. Not participating in WWII, America would be a bit slower coming out of the depression. So when I looked for vehicles I looked for those that were around ten- to twenty years earlier than the 1960s when Miranda’s story takes place. I found a treasure trove in antique and classic car […]