Inspiration for my first Novel

I am very pleased to introduce my Guest Blogger for the week, Meaghan Hoffman. Meaghan has been kind enough to share with us the inspiration behind her novel, My Life With The Movie Star.

The idea for my first novel “My Life With The Movie Star” came to me while I was on a business trip in Dallas Texas. I was staying at the Gaylord Texan, which is an enormous hotel and convention center. If you have never been to any of the Gaylord properties, they are famous for having botanical gardens, themed restaurants. As soon as I walked in the front door I imaged this would be an ideal hotel where any A List Hollywood star would stay. The story My Life With The Movie Star is about a young girl from the Midwest Abby, who meets actor Grayson Edwards at a hotel while she is away on business. Unaware of his fame, Abby starts a long distance relationship with Gray over the phone, only to have her life turned upside down by discovering Grayson’s fame. Abby then struggles with the pressures of Grayson’s high demanding world, trying desperately to fit.

Once I had the idea for my novel I had to find the perfect city to set Abby’s side of the story in.  I chose my home town of Port Washington, Wisconsin. To me Port Washington is the perfect small town.  Port sits on the bank of Lake Michigan 30 miles north of Milwaukee. Before moving to Port Washington, I lived in Atlanta Georgia for 14 years.  Atlanta is a large, crowded, landlocked city.  After living in a big city for so many years, I yearned for a smaller community and to be close to the water.  My husband and I were able to buy a house almost two blocks from the beach.  I work from home, and on my lunch breaks, I would go and sit by the lake, eat my lunch, and write.   Most of the buildings in the downtown Port Washington date back to the late 1800’s. This gives the city a pleasant, historic feeling.  Almost as if you have stepped by in time. You can go buy your meats at the local butcher shop, or your vegetables at the weekend farmers market.    I felt that this small town would be the perfect escape from a busy Hollywood life, which is what Grayson is desperately trying to achieve.

I not only set my story in the city of Port Washington, I also used many of the local restaurants, stores, and festivals in the novel. The most notable is the yearly Fish Day Festival.  Fish day is the world’s largest outdoor fish fry and is always held the third Saturday in July.  This festival attracts over 20,000 people a year to Port Washington.   After publishing my novel, I was approached by a local website portwashington-wi.patch.com, to write a weekly “Out and About” blog about Port Washington. This is something that I have thoroughly enjoyed doing and has given me a new outlet to share my love for my home town.  Since publishing My Life With The Movie Star, I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from my new community.  It’s so satisfying to get comments on my Facebook page from local Port Residents and how they enjoyed reading my novel.

Author Bio

Meaghan Hoffmann attended American Intercontinental University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Media Production. Meaghan has just published her first novel “My Life With The Movie Star.”  Meaghan also works for RICS Software in the Training department, is a CNN iReporter, and also volunteers for Big Brother Big Sister organization.

My Life With the Movie Star by Meaghan Hoffmann  is currently available on amazon.com

http://portwashington-wi.patch.com/users/meaghan-hoffmann

http://meaghanhoffmann.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Life-With-The-Movie-Star/221470914530920

http://ireport.cnn.com/people/hoffmannmeg?viewingAsOthers=true