Hello Savvy Readers!!! Today I’m excited to introduce you all to Sasha Soren, the fabulous author of Random Magic, Sasha is taking over today so please welcome her to the blog……….

Hi everyone my name is Sasha and today on Tina’s blog I will be discussing:


A lot of people ask writers the straightforward question, “How did you become a writer?”

There isn’t always a straightforward answer to the question. But here’s one story about the topic, if you’re just wondering how one person happened to become a writer: There wasn’t really a defining moment when I just decided to start writing, have always just had ideas and jotted them down. There was a defining moment in the progression from inveterate but casual scribbler to professional writer, though I’d been working on doing something more “practical,” which was finance, had arranged internships with brokerage houses and banks, and so on. Had two part-time jobs and one of them was working in a bank, basically filing a bunch of boring financial papers. One day, just thought, “This isn’t what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to be writing.”

There was no sound of trumpets or a blinding flash of light, just a quiet realization. Had no experience as a writer, though, but did have a background in finance. So, got a bunch of newspapers and magazines, looked up all the editors on the mastheads, and started querying them about working as a writer, but got no results. Everyone just slammed their (figurative) door in my face. It was really disheartening at the time, but if you’re going to do something, might as well do it, right?

As Winnie notes in Random Magic, when she’s taking a gamble on a question about life or (literally) death, “I’ll always take a chance on one out of two. Them’s good odds.”

So, just as Winnie might figure it, the answer’s either going to be “Yes” or “No,” so you might as well roll your dice. One day, just got a pocketful of change, stood on the corner at a payphone during lunch break, and just called editor after editor, and did that every day for maybe two or three months. Anyway, maybe 200 various phone calls later -- eventually lost track, but it was a hell of a lot of dialing -- and lots of hang-ups and snarky comments later, one editor finally just laughed and said, “Okay, come on in, kid. Bring your resume; let’s see what you can do.”

The next day, had my first interview for a writing gig. A day after that had my first assignment. They’d split the duties between two writers, without telling me, because they didn’t want to take a chance on a young writer who might flake out and leave them with no copy at deadline. Oh, I wasn’t going to flake out, believe that! A week after that had my first professional assignment. Handed it in, and they hired me the next day. And everything just progressed from there.

There wasn’t any assignment that was too tough, or anything I couldn’t learn, because it was all writing, and, as long as it was writing, was on solid ground. Might not be able to match my socks, sometimes, but writing -- no problem; maybe just give me a minute to work out how something works, then it’s all go. So, what inspired me to write? Nothing- was always a writer. But as for what inspired me to fight to make that a viable career choice…pure stubbornness, probably!! There’s no other tactful way to say it. But I knew I could do it, so just persisted until I could prove it.

So, yes, just as Winnie teaches Henry in the book -- not by preaching to him, but just by being herself and sticking it out even when their journey gets really rough and the odds are totally against them: Always believe in yourself, even if no one else does.

That was awesome Sasha!!!

If you missed my review on Random Magic you can read it here. Also you can check out info about the tour at Other Shelf Tours and even more fun awaits you at Sasha’s site!!

Happy Reading Guys.......