Month: November 2012

The birth of a novel.

Have you ever read a novel and wondered what the author was thinking about when they wrote the first word? Like what was Charlotte Bronte thinking when she started Jane Eyre or J.K. Rowling when she started Harry Potter? Did they know at the moment of the first word that it would be a success?

As I started my last novel I was thinking, will someone want to read this. Will it make the New Your Best Sellers list? I typed the first word and suddenly the words were flowing from my fingers. It was as though the story had to be written and I’d been chosen to write it. I knew what had to be said and what the characters had to go through to get to the words The End.

As the story evolved I became immersed in the lives of the characters. It was as though I was watching the story from a distance. I could see the house, the people, the horses, and feel the pain, love or just happiness. I even cried at one point which is so in character with myself.

To make the great novel what do you do? You put everything inside you on paper. You leave nothing unsaid and no feeling unfelt. I’m not saying my novel is the great novel by any stretch of the mind, but instead I’m saying it could be to me or maybe a fan of my writing. I can dream of the day it soars to life in someone else’s heart.

The one thing I hope to achieve from my writing, other than making a little extra money, I hope to take the reader to another world, another time and help them to experience love through my characters. My Christian series was created to help others cope with something in their life. My romance novels were created to inspire romance. Everyone needs it.

So as I close this post, I glance out my window and watch the sun shine on the golden leaves as they fall from the trees. My mind is working on the novel at my fingertips and I smile. Maybe one day after I’m gone, someone will read my books and say, “I wonder what she was thinking as she wrote these words.”

As always good writing and May God bless you.

Self Publishing: Do or Don’t?

I’ve read several posts lately regarding the decision whether to go traditional publisher or do it yourself. It’s a hard question to answer without some investigating your options. That’s what I did before I published my books. Here’s my findings and remember, this is just my experiences and opinions.

When I first decided to publish my books I sent a query letter to a traditional publisher. Well, after several months I didn’t receive a response and I was really wanting to the book out. So, being the person I am, I started looking into other options. I didn’t know a lot about self publishing, but soon I was immersed in the how-to’s. It was an interesting concept. What really impressed me was the royalty rates versus traditional rates.

One of the issues was that in traditional publishing you have someone doing book promos for you and the self publishing market you do it yourself. Being an accountant by trade I wasn’t sure about this. But with more in depth investigating I realized I could do this. Thank goodness my assistant is in college and she is very with working computer magic.

The funny thing is that it was easier than I had ever imagined. I was not a social media butterfly, so easing me into that part of the marketing was extremely funny to my assistant. The first time I received a follower on Twitter I was like, really, someone I don’t even know followed me. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. Since then it’s been crazy. I blog, I tweet and I have my books on every website I can find. My accounting office has turned into publishing central.

We even design our own covers and have gotten some real good reviews on them. I have gotten a couple of calls from traditional publishers wanting me to sign with them. That’s been gratifying but the only thing is some of them want me to pay for their services. I asked one the other day and they are a big publisher, what are you going to do to market my book? Guess what, I was doing the same exact thing they were going to do, and paying thousands less than they wanted to do it.

So, I guess with me, I’ve had a good experience with self publishing. I won’t say that I’ll never go with a traditional publisher, but for now I’m happy with doing it myself. I have been talking with a small publishing company that is interested, but that will be later on. At least with self publishing I can get it out there now, not next year.

Hope this helps you if you’re trying to decide. As always great writing and May God bless you!

How authors are portrayed.

Have you ever read a book and you had an idea in your head what the author would look like?  Come on, you know you have. Well, since becoming a published author I’ve thought long and hard about the portrayal of authors. If you write a horror story does that make you ugly and mean? If you write a romance does that make you beautiful and romantic? No, the genre you write in doesn’t make you who you are.

I’ve talked to people that know me and they always say, “Yeah, I can see you writing romance novels.” Why do they say that? What makes me more of a romance novelist than someone else? In my opinion nothing. Who says I couldn’t write a gory horror story, well I personally couldn’t but just by looking at me you wouldn’t be able to tell that.

It’s profiling plain and simple. Just like with models, everyone thinks they all have eating disorders, but not all of them do. Some of them are naturally skinny, it’s just in their nature. One of my favorite authors of romance and I’m not mentioning any names, but she was totally different from what I portrayed her as. I could see the younger person and she turned out to be a retired grandmother. This in no way made me stop reading her work because I still love her writing. It actually spurred me on because I hope I can write as well as her when I get to be a grandmother. Wait, I am a grandmother, well a step grandmother.

Oh well, good writing and may God bless you!

“The Winner is Love” coming soon!

Well, the book may not be totally finished for publishing, but the front cover is completed. This is the first of the two holiday romances that I have coming out. I am so excited about this new Christmas romance. The editing and finalizing has been harrowing, but it’s almost ready to unwrap, pardon the pun.

This is a romance about an Accountant from Atlanta that wins the “Win A Weekend With A Star” contest. She did not enter it, her best friend entered her. The star happens to be the hottest star out at the moment and she is a little leary spending a weekend in the Colorado mountains with him. What happens when a blizzard hits the first night and the power goes out? No heat, no cell reception and no lights, how will they cope? Will it be a weekend to remember? Check it out to see how they cope and what comes later.

I will keep you guys updated on the release date. Hope you like the sneak peek at the new cover. I’m real excited about it.

As always good writing and May God bless you!

First romance, what happened?

Do you remember your first romance? Not the one you had in grammar school with the boy that sat beside you in homeroom. I’m talking about that first time your toes curled and your whole body tingled when they walked into the room. The one where the looks you gave one another could start a fire. Yeah, that one. You remember. Are you smiling or shedding a tear?

Let me tell you about a first romance story. It’s up to you whether you think it’s a true story or just a tale of two lovers… You be the judge.

As she stood watching him do what he did best, work in the stables. He looked up from under his Stetson and gave her a wink.  She felt her heartbeat quicken. She began to hear a buzzing in her ears. What was happening? Why did just a look from him give her such a start? He was an old friend. That was it, or was it?

Something had changed since they’d become closer. She couldn’t put a name to it yet, but she new it was starting to take over her mind and heart. He seemed to notice something different. It was the way he looked at her. The deepness of his voice as he spoke to her.

With the love songs playing on the radio she smiled. That was it, the songs inspired love. Then as he walked toward her, she knew it wasn’t just the songs. He pulled her to him. They had never kissed, but that was about to change in an explosive way. He lowered his lips to hers and she was lost in the sensations that swirled around in her heart. 

Her toes started to curl and she found it hard to breath. He pulled back and said, “I’ve wanted to do that all night.” He turned and went into a stall to finish putting out hay. She stood there in a daze, wondering if she was in a dream. Would she wake up soon and be sorry it was a dream?

When she left the barn, he followed her out and over the window of her car he kissed her again. This time the kiss lasted a long while until he finally pulled her around the door of the car, never losing contact with her lips. They kissed for twenty minutes without ceasing. They caressed each other and held on as thought it would be the last kiss. Neither realizing it would be. It would have to last forever. He held her to him for a long while, then he said the most devastating thing. “I’m moving away in a week. I’ve enjoyed our time together and I’ll never forget it. It will keep me warm at night.”

She just stood there speechless. What was happening? Please let her wake up now from this dream that started out with so much promise and turned out to be a nightmare. 

She was brave and told him goodbye. Would it be forever? How would she move on after those passionate kisses and embraces? 

She did move on, but it was hard. She married a great man and pushed those memories to the back. But guess what, with that first romance, memories come back at the mere thought. When she sees him now she smiles, he smiles, it’s there in both their memories. She sees it in his eyes. He remembers that night, that kiss, that moment when time stopped. She hides the tears and goes on with life. One day…

Well, maybe it’s about me, maybe a friend or maybe a tale spun in my mind. I’ll never tell. Romance can inspire so much in us. Let it happen, even if it is not forever, the memories will be, if it was real romance.

 

 

Tears of Remembrance…

As I ponder this day of remembrance, the tears prick my eyes. We still have so many men and women serving in war torn countries today. They’re still in harms way so that we can sit at our laptops and blog, tweet, or just do anything we want to. My heart goes out to the parents, spouses, and children here at home wondering where their loved one is at this very moment. Are they safe? Are they hurt? When will they come home?

I was at my son’s school one day this week and they were having a Veteran’s Day celebration. Pictures lined the walls of the lobby. Some were old and faded, others were current day. They were of military men and women. I walked slowly by each one, reading their information. I stopped at one that I was drawn to. It was of a young man that was killed about six months ago in Afghanistan. He was such a handsome young man, with a family and small children. I felt the tear that threatened to spill at the corner of my eyes. I feel it now as I write this post. My heart was so full of anger, sorrow, emptiness. I could hardly breath.

I turned to see my son coming up the hall and I took a startled breath. He will be of age in five years. Where will our world be then. Will he be called up to duty? The tears that threatened to spill burst forth. I hugged my son and thanked God that he was safe. Of course my son thought I’d lost it. He turned to the photo I was looking at and sighed. He felt the pain too.

So remember our men and women serving now for our freedom. Remember those that have died through all these years to keep our freedom in tact. Respect those that are home, but served their time. It’s because of them that we have what we do and we can go to Church on Sunday, we can go to the store without fear, we can walk up our sidewalks without fear and we can live when they may not…

So just remember…

The Petals of a Rose.

Have you ever looked at a rose? I mean really looked at it. A rose has always been a symbol of romance. I was pondering why and here is my take on it.

A rose is beautiful in any color or type. The smell is usually sweet and enduring. The petals each hold onto the other as romance should hold you together. As each petal gets to the center it grows closer and tighter. Just as romance. The closer you get to your lover, the tighter you get, the closer in tune with each other you are.

As with a rose, sometimes the edges get frazzled as does any romance, but the other petals endure. The petals are soft and velvety just as true romance feels. You get all soft inside and your mind turns to velvet. Roses do have thorns that prick you, but romance can also have thorns. Just when you think you are past romance, it comes up and pricks you, making you stand up and take notice. We all need that prick from time to time. No matter how well your relationship is, that prick is needed to remind you of the days of velvet romance.

Just with reading or writing romance you get the warm, velvety feeling inside. It inspires you and makes you want to have that in your own life.

So go out and look at a rose differently. Why do you think the old saying goes “Stop and smell the roses”? It just makes you feel better. Put a little romance in your life every day, not just on special occasions.

As always good writing and romance. May God bless you!