Anne Faye

Reader's Favorite just posted a 5 Star Review of Sunflowers in a Hurricane. Sunflowers in a Hurricane by Anne M Faye is a tender and sensitive story that is also heart wrenching and emotional. George and Dottie share a powerful love that is cut short when Dottie dies in childbirth. George is left alone to raise his daughter, Katherine, if he can. As time goes on, we find George alone, but he befriends his new neighbor, Ruth. Ruth is a thirteen-year-old girl and has moved into her grandma's house with her mother, Cheryl. Cheryl has her own story of a broken heart and a life changed by circumstances. She and Ruth have returned to put things in order after Cheryl's mother's death. Returning to Meadowbrook was never in Cheryl's plans, but now she is here to deal with the present while trying to avoid the past. As George and Ruth become closer and their lives intertwine, the unusual friendship may be able to heal new and old wounds for all three of them....

In the July/August edition of Writer's Digest , Donna Baier Stein writes about using art as inspiration for writing. Inspiration can come from anywhere, but visual images can be an especially powerful source of writing ideas because they appeal to our senses and are in themselves a creative act. Stein offers some suggestions about where to find images including museums, online art collections, local galleries, books of art from the library, and collections of poster prints. I would add photographs to that list. We are bombarded with photo images today and every one has a story. When using these images as Ask questions about the image. Who is in it? What is the backstory? Can you think of an alternate backstory? Many works of literature have been inspired by art (and no doubt the opposite is also true). And yes, I have done this myself. My novel The Rose Ring was inspired by the wallpaper border in my kitchen. I spent years thinking I wanted to write a story about someone who l...