{"id":3650,"date":"2021-07-20T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/?p=3650"},"modified":"2021-07-20T14:56:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T20:56:47","slug":"music-in-story-telling-with-author-amy-walsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/2021\/07\/20\/music-in-story-telling-with-author-amy-walsh\/","title":{"rendered":"Music in Story-Telling, with Author\/Educator Amy Walsh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interview with Author Amy Walsh, from Walsh Mountain Publishing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello Amy, I\u2019m thrilled to have you on the blog today. What inspired you to become a writer?<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As far back as I can remember, I loved reading about imaginary worlds and creating my own.\u00a0 My brothers and I grew up without a television, so we spent our days playacting indoors and out.\u00a0Some of our favorite roles were being pioneers, National Geographic Explorers, detectives, and spies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also an avid reader \u2013 and avid is an understatement. I had serious \u2018nose in-book issues\u2019, which included read-walking the hallways in school, and reading whenever I had to go to the sporting events, my brothers\u2019 loved \u2013 where I would occasionally lift my head and cheer for the wrong team!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child, I began writing stories, songs, and poems.  I carried a small journal in my purse, and I would jot down prayers, story ideas, and \u2018lovely thoughts\u2019. I wrote a middle-grade fantasy novel and a novella about Jael, the heroic woman who killed the Canaanite captain in the Old Testament, while I was in high school.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think reading and writing just became part of who I am. Throughout the years, I would send out devotionals, articles, and short stories to different publishers, and I had a few things published. While on maternity leaves, I began writing novels again, and I had a couple of publishing companies  interested in my queries, but it was too hard to balance writing with teaching and raising young children. Throughout the years, I often pulled out one of my journals to sketch out plot lines of story ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I researched publishers who were seeking submissions and found one that was looking for \u201creturn to a smalltown\u201d theme and that was the start of\u00a0Elsie Whitmore: A Star from Oak Hills<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How does music play a part in your writing?  <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often my journaling has turned into song.\u00a0 I will write down phrases and hear a melody.\u00a0From there, I create lyrics and figure out the guitar chords to support the melody.\u00a0 I enjoy writing songs that tell stories. I have loved the times that my songs have encouraged others to let go of the things that burden them, and allow Christ to carry their load for a while.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love reading novels about the world of the arts, especially the opera, philharmonic, and even rock bands.  One of my favorite sweet romance series, The Warrender Saga<\/em>, is about characters in classical concert halls and opera houses.  Years ago, when I first read the series, I learned about the author Ida Cook who used the proceeds of her novels in rescue efforts during the Holocaust. I thought it would be neat to write a more modern-day equivalent of Oscar Warrender.  Perhaps that thought led to my creation of Graham Thurston and the musical production of A Broken<\/em> Nightingale<\/em> that takes place in my Elsie Whitmore<\/em> novel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have many great memories that involve singing with family members and friends around campfires, during car rides, and for performances. I hope to describe that amazing feeling of making a joyful noise with people I love in a future novel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What writing projects are you currently working on?<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a fantasy novel releasing the week of August 12th<\/sup>.  A Cursed Enchantment<\/em> is about a dollhouse family that is brought to life and then abandoned by a grieving sorcerer. I am in the revision stage right now.  I really fell in love with the characters and the settings as I was writing this book, and I think readers will as well.  My friend, Connie Sica, created a Victorian dollhouse for the cover of the book.  She is using that illustration as an inspiration for a coloring book that goes along with my novel. I will also have a teaching guide available for use in classrooms and homeschools.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also have a time-slip coming out during the last week of October 2021.\u00a0 I am very excited about this one because it takes place in a tuberculosis sanitorium that was practically in my backyard. I have enjoyed interviewing people that used to work in the sanitorium and making trips to\u00a0the historical society as I researched the historical aspects of this novel!\u00a0I am also working on sequels to my Victorian Debutante<\/em> series about characters from Oak Hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you give to upcoming young writers and\/or musicians?  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make time for doing what you love and for sharing your gifts with others.\u00a0 Even if you decide on a career that doesn\u2019t revolve around the arts, you can continue to develop your talent.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give up, no matter how\u00a0many times your work is criticized or rejected.\u00a0 Use what people say about your work as a tool to help you grow. Learn from great musicians and authors by immersing yourself in their creations, and reading professional articles to help improve your craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Amy Walsh lives in Pennsylvania, where she teaches English Language Arts to 5th<\/sup> graders in a public school.  She is active with the ladies’ and music ministries in her church, with teaching, singing, and writing songs. Her husband Pat is one of her heroes \u2013 he has served the US as an Army Veteran and continues to serve the community as a police officer.  They have three children \u2013 Bree, Spencer , and Liz, who teach her so much about God as the divine author, since they are so different from each other and have such interesting personalities!<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy, how does music play a part in your writing?<\/p>\n

Often my journaling has turned into song. I will write down phrases and hear a melody. From there, I create lyrics and figure out the guitar chords to support the melody. I enjoy writing songs that tell stories. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,16,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist-interviews","category-literary","category-music-and-the-arts"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"fr","enabled_languages":["en","es","fr","de","it","br"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"fr":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"it":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"br":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3650"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3663,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions\/3663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rescotcreative.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}