MAKING IT OUR OWN

By. M. Kate Quinn

I’m watching American Idol again this year, stunned again by the amazing talent that’s lurked in the shadows until opportunity knocked. Last night the contestants were asked to sing solo from a selected list of standards. What struck me was the different feeling, sound, and mood that came from different renditions of the same tune. To quote the former judge Simon, each made it his own.
As a writer, we learn in our quest to create stories that what’s been done before is not the issue. It’s in the telling.
My second book, Moonlight and Violet, will release on April 22nd. It is a story that involves two adult daughters of a very quirky Italian mother. The younger daughter, Penny, and Mom are two peas in a pod where older daughter, Violet, just doesn’t fit the mold. Yet, when tragedy strikes everyone’s roles change and meld together into something they call family.
Like last night’s contestants on Idol, I’ve strived to put my unique spin on this tale of family strife and sibling rivalry. I tell it from a place of honesty in my heart, a tale relayed from a place that I believe only someone that’s lived it can tell.
Whatever we endeavor, whether we write or sing or make brownies for the school bake sale, we can create magic when we give it our heart. Let’s take this day, all of us, and turn it into something magic, something unique, and ours alone. Have a good one!