I’d like to welcome this week’s Muse guest blogger, Natasha Knight, who shares what book lit the fire under her writing muse.

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So the question is what first inspired me to write. That depends on which time around.

I’ve always been a reader, I think most authors can say that. I still remember how proud I felt when my book report for Jane Eyre hung in the hallway outside my classroom when I was in the seventh grade. My memories of that period are primarily of me, on my own, reading. That’s changed a little bit to where now it’s me, on my own, writing.

The story that really got me serious about writing though was Midnight Sun. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about or have forgotten the saga, this is Edward’s version of Twilight, the book Stephanie Meyer began and never finished because someone posted it online illegally. Yep, that’s it. Really.

I resisted reading the series for a long time and finally, I don’t even know how, Twilight fell into my lap and I started to read it. I think I went to sleep at 3 A.M. that night and the subsequent few weeks when I devoured the series and reread everything two more times. When I found Midnight Sun on Stephanie’s website, I knew I’d have to prepare myself for the disappointment of the impending, abrupt end. But as much as I thought ‘I can do this, I’m ready,’ I wasn’t. I was sad and I missed Edward… Are you all shaking your heads and rolling your eyes at me yet? It’s okay, you can. I’m doing it too.

After I read it a few times through and was over my initial heartbreak, I decided that, well, if she wasn’t going to finish it, then I would! Even if it was for my eyes only! So I stared to write the rest of Midnight Sun.

I admit, I never finished the project because in that time, I discovered my passion for storytelling and, with ideas stored up over years when I didn’t even know I was doing it, I wrote my first YA Fantasy. Wait, don’t run to Amazon to try to find it! It never got published! It’s still here on my laptop and every few months I go through the ‘I’m going to edit and submit that again because it’s a great story…’ blah blah blah, but I’ll be real honest, I hate editing and especially revising. I know, all other authors love it. 😉

Anyhow, there it is, my initial inspiration to write. It wasn’t some great piece of literature or something that changed the world. It was a love story.

Bio:

I’m a (homesick) American living in the Netherlands with my Dutch husband and children.

I write casual BDSM Erotic Romance, heavy on the spanking. I love exploring the world and mind of the Dominant male and the submissive female, discovering just beneath the surface of each story the key element, which is, of course, love.

I love to create characters on paper that are as human as myself: powerful and vulnerable, flawed, perhaps damaged but with an incredible capacity to love. I enjoy writing explicit scenes that allow me to push my characters to their edge and keep them there while offering the audience a very hot read.

When I started writing, I decided that I wouldn’t censor myself and so far, I’ve kept that promise. I find myself revising my bio often as the process of writing takes me on a personal journey of self-discovery.

For more information, excerpts and free stories, visit my web site.