Today I'm pleased to welcome April Knight to the blog!
Sweet Dreams is a collection of love stories. The stories are funny, quirky, touching, tender and inspiring. Every story is about people who have an empty place in their heart and they are looking for true love.
Women are so busy now with careers or college or with families and children they seem to be rushed and overloaded. When a friend of mine, who has four young children, said she rarely had time to read more than a few pages of a book before one of her children needed something or she had to run errands, do the laundry. She said she’d started reading a half dozen books and hadn’t finished any of them because by the time she got back to the book, she’d forgotten the plot. I decided to write a book for women like her who might only have ten minutes a day to sit and read before they are interrupted.
A little taste of romance might make them smile, might give them hope, might be the best part of their day.
I enjoy reading a good romance but I do get tired of the woman always being beautiful, brilliant, twenty-three years old with a perfect body and long flowing hair. I get tired of the heroes who are tall and muscular with wavy hair, a dazzling smile and of course, he’s a millionaire. My stories are about people, real people, who are too tall, too short, too skinny, too chubby. The woman aren’t models, they are waitresses, clerks and housewives. The men are truck drivers, carpenters and cooks and some are unemployed. They are imperfect people looking for perfect love. They are people, good, average people who make mistakes, get embarrassed, make fools of themselves, get a second chance and find a happy ending.
When I was a child, I grew up in a dysfunctional family, I was mistreated at home and bullied at school. I survived by escaping into books. I lived in my imagination. I thought words were magical and had power and I thought writers must be the luckiest people in the world because they could tell stories that could change people’s lives. The books people wrote would live long after they were dead.
When I was nine and the teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up the other kids said they wanted to be movie stars or policemen or firemen and the teacher didn’t criticize any of them. When I said I wanted to be a writer she told me that was impossible because I wasn’t smart enough and I didn’t have anything important to say. The other students laughed at me. I kept making up stories and somewhere I read that you don’t choose writing....writing chooses you and that writers are born, not made. When I was thirteen I wrote stories about the way I wanted life to be, not the way it really was. I wrote stories about young women who were sad and lonely and they would find love and live happily ever after. I sold my first stories to “True Love” magazine. I’d never had a boyfriend or a date but I could imagine what it must be like to be kissed in the moonlight or dance under the stars. When that first story was published and I saw my words in print and got paid for my story, I knew I would be a writer.
I have always enjoyed drawing and painting and when I was in my twenties I had two art galleries and sold enough of my paintings to feel I could illustrate some books. I’ve illustrated several of my own books, the most recent was “Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in Our Veins”, the cover is one of my painting my paintings are throughout the book. I wrote this book under my tribal name “Crying Wind.”
I am part Native American (I prefer to just be called Indian). I spent many years working in a mission for the Navaho Indians in New Mexico. I was adopted into the Kiowa Indian tribe and given the name Crying Wind Hummingbird (Niyol-Daachagii Mahn-Saw-Daynah). I was given the CHIEF award for my contributions to the Native Americans through my writing.
I have just finished writing a mystery novel, “Dig the Grave First.” I am also working on a humorous romance novel for Seniors called “Breaking My Hip.”
Blurb for Sweet Dreams
Imperfect people searching for perfect love is the theme of my new book, Sweet Dreams-50 Romantic Bedtime Stories for Big Girls.”
Each story takes less than ten minutes to read, women can have a little romance while they wait for their bus, have their lunch or right before bedtime.
I love romance but I’m tired of all the heroines being beautiful and all the heroes being rich and handsome. Ordinary people deseve to be loved, real people, people who aren’t beautiful or rich, people with flaws, people who have been the wallflowers and the nerds, the people who have been overlooked or ignored, the girl who is too tall, the guy who is too short, the girl who is too shy to speak, all find love in tender, enchanting moments moments.
The stories range from shy, innocent first love to olden, golden love of a lifetime. The stories are funny,
touching, quirky,
Love can be found in unexpected places, a pawnshop, one woman has a hundred wedding gowns but no groom,another finds love in a rusty bucket.
What do a pawn shop, a rusty bucket, a lost shoe and a giraffe have in common? They all lead to true love.
I’ve always believed in love and I’ve always had a great imagination. When I was thirteen years old I wrote a love story and sold it to a national magazine. Of course, at thirteen I’d never had a boyfriend or a date or been kissed...but I could imagine what love was. I discovered I could tell stories and get paid for it and knew being a writer was the only career for me. Over the years I had over a thousand stories and articles published, had several books published and have my own newspaper column.
Luckily, over the years, I’ve had a few real dates and been kissed, although men are often afraid they’ll be included in my next book.
You can get your copy of Sweet Dreams here:
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