Heartache & Sin
By Charles Soto
Genre: Suspense, Drama
When a Midwestern farming town is hit hard by a crop-destroying drought, people are willing to put their faith into anything that might bring them some relief.
Steven Wheaton is burdened by the effects of the drought on his farm, and heartbroken knowing that the chances of starting a family with his wife Karen have been damaged by her recent diabetes diagnosis.
Devastated, Karen turns to the new pastor in town, looking for faith and guidance…but even her relationship with God cannot fill the void in her life.
When ulterior motives collide with harrowing miracles, where does the line between good and evil begin?
Author’s Bio
Charles Soto is a moving and unconventional fiction author of Heartache & Sin, The friend Request, Pride and a Prayer and the ghost writer of the Auto-Biography, Frias with Love (Where we come from, where we went).
Along with his diversity as an author and his capabilities of writing in a profound array of genres, his talents as a sculptor and expertise in the painting and decorating field has enabled him to supervise such projects as the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, NV., Pantageous Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis, MN., as well as many more iconic Structures.
Charles Soto was born in Las Vegas NV., and throughout his childhood was raised in the Bay Area of Alameda County on the outskirts of San Francisco, CA. He now lives in Northern Minnesota with his wife of thirty years and their two daughters.
I would like to say thank you to Sage’s Blog Tours for the opportunity to be part of this tour.
Excerpt
Writing has always been an influential part of my life. Even in my early years of childhood I can remember staying up into the wee hours of the next morning writing juvenile stories, anticipating the moment when I could share them with my parents. The satisfaction I received was more than intrigue. It brought me a sense of accomplishment that still to this day I can find nothing to replace it.
True, the literary world is a far cry from the Painting/Decorating profession I relied on for the majority my life. Whether I was supervising the finishing trades on magnificent projects, such as the MGM Grand Casino & Hotel or Penthouse Expansions on top of Caesar’s Palace in, Las Vegas, NV. The challenges and achievements that reflect in my passion I hold just as rewarding as my success in writing.
Through decades of my life, I had always struggled with writing. It called to me and held me prisoner until I would finally abide by its conscience, surrendering any spare time and the long hours it takes to write a novel.
The hard facts were always there. Time was a virtue I rarely took for granted. Besides supervising enormous construction projects, I was a father and a husband and my time was always spoken for. But still, I never took writing stories for granted and would often find myself working on my novels into the early am hours of the next morning. Recalling visions of my childhood and any chance I had to write. It still astonishes me, and in some ways I hold sacred, how the power of words can grip your soul and adhere to your conscience. To make you understand and accept and interpret its meaning.
I have other passions of course, from building our own home, with wood elevators and giant tropical fish tanks embedded into the walls, I have in inspiration for the arts. I learned at an early age how to create sculptures, using ceramic mediums and alabaster stone. The creativity aspects always came easy for me, and I feel blessed to have a family that understands my passion.
For decades I wrote and learned my craft. No matter how hard the challenge or how much I failed, I refused to give up on something I found so rewarding.
I learned that writing is more than just words. It’s putting yourself out there and challenging yourself for the entire world to view. Regardless of what others interpret, you have to risk your own sense of worth to reveal the person you are inside.
It still amazes me how far I have come since my early years of trying to write a novel. The thought of writing a book can be overwhelming and at times frustrating. But, I learned to place the magnitude of that in the same way as I did in my construction profession—one brick at a time.
First, I decide what kind of book to write. The same way you would, what kind of home do I want? I place each sentence on that same foundation as I would a stud for my walls. I build my paragraphs to support my chapters. Like load baring walls. Each serving a purpose like the rooms in your home. It’s a funny analogy I guess, but it’s how I look at it. It helps me to navigate where I want my story to go and guides my readers for what I hope they’ll interpret.
It wasn’t until I had a horrible accident at work when I finally focused on my writing—I mean truly focus. I fell three stories to a cement parapet below and suffered a broken leg and severe concussion. It took me years to recover and it still amazes me I survived such a drastic fall, let alone recovering to the full state of condition I was before the accident. But, ever since that day, I had never looked back on my writing and had only pushed forward.
Besides my family, writing became the most important thing to me after that. Time became my friend instead of enemy and when I write the hours seem to slip away and I get lost in my imagination. Most times I’ll spend twelve to fourteen hours a day in front of my lap top working on a novel, not even realizing where the day has gone. I like those days. It means the story is maturing and the characters are coming to life.
I read various authors and genres. But, when I think about the people who inspired me in writing it always comes from prose and the lyrics in music. Great lyricists like, Jim Morris, Bob Dylan and Freddie Mercury always grabbed my attention and made me think. When I first listened to the master of space, lyricist and drummer, Neal Peart my imagination held no boundary. He inspired me to sore and reach the outer limits of my conscience. I bonded to his words of praise, ‘success is not the work of spontaneous combustion…you must set yourself on fire.’ I tried to live by that theory and keep in mind that the most important substance of writing is…without no one to read, words serve no purpose.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I would love to hear your feedback and what you think of my novel, Heartache & Sin. If you have a chance look me up on face book or find me on twitter. You can even visit my website AuthorCharlesSoto.com to get to know me better.
Charles Soto/Heartache & Sin
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