Crying doesn’t show weakness, but strength…

I’ve talked several times about how I cry easily. It’s just a trait I have. A sweet love song, a romantic movie, a faith filled gospel song, or just a memory brought back to life.

In my opinion crying never shows weakness, but the strength to endure. When a song brings on a memory it’s the strength of heart to let your emotions open up. When a sweet romantic scene in a movie brings on emotions, it’s the strength of that emotion that brings on the tears.

Sometimes a sweet memory gets brought on by a smell, a song, a person, or just memories in general. This can bring on a silent tear that also comes from the strength of the memory.

Maybe you think differently, but I can tell you this, it’s the strength that we hide that brings on the tears. The strength of the memory that pours out as life’s sweet tears.

A good author can bring on tears in just a few words. I’ve cried reading before. A book that brings on tears usually get’s read several times and put to memory.

So let those tears flow and show your true strength.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Why is romance such a big draw?

Have you ever wondered why the biggest genre being sold in books is romance? It’s a huge market in any way. People are constantly looking for romance. In most cases people leave no stone unturned.

This is my thoughts on this phenomena. I think that everyone wants some kind of romance in their lives. It could be in their marriage, in their relationship with someone or just simply in their lives. Maybe it’s the fact that a good romance novel can take you to another place and let you live through the characters for a little time.

Sometimes people just need to read about it. It makes them feel better about things in their lives. Maybe it’s just the feeling of getting lost in someone else’s life. Do you need to get lost for just a little while? It’s a safe way to go to another world, to leave your own troubles for just a moment.

I know personally that I love to get lost in a good book. Especially if the book has a sweet romance or the promise of romance in it. It draws me in and makes me smile. I catch myself sometimes looking forward to picking the book back up to get to the next part. Have you ever been so into a book and just had to read through the night because you were so drawn in? Yep, I recognize that look, you have. What’s worse is when it’s a week night and you’ve got to get up early the next day, but you can’t help yourself 🙂

So pick up a romance today. Even men can get into a good romance novel. Men write great romance too.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You….

It’s Spring, here comes the weather…

Well, living in the South you kind of get used to the crazy weather. We had possible tornado’s around our area yesterday evening. Got to spend some time at my brother’s house as he has a storm area in his basement. Thank goodness he lives next door. Luckily we didn’t have any damage, but several in our County did have damage. It was bad enough that school was canceled for today which made my son extremely happy.

Here is 5 things I love about Spring and 5 I don’t

1: I love the budding of the trees and the rebirth of everything.

2: I love the flowers and planting my flower beds.

3: The feeling in the air is so serene and it inspires me to write which is a good thing.

4: I love to watch a Spring rain with the sun dancing through as rainbows appear in the sky.

5: I love the nice temps as it can get pretty warm here as Summer approaches.

Now what I don’t like

6: Tornado’s which seem to plague us here in the Spring.

7: Pollen oh I don’t like the pollen.

8: Bees and snakes start coming back out. Not a big fan.

9: Spring brings on the end of tax season and my busiest time in the office.

10: It means that we didn’t get any snow and have to wait until next year. I love the snow and it’s always a waiting game to see if we’re going to be graced with it’s pristine beauty.

I have to admit that my two favorite times of the year are Spring and Fall when the air is just warm enough to lose the coat but still cool enough where you enjoy the fresh air. Especially no air pollution until the warmer weather hit.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

What’s in a name?

Good Monday morning to all my friends. It was a wonderful weekend here in the deep south. We had wonderful, sunny weather. I’d planned on doing a lot of writing, but only got in a couple of chapters. Guess that’s better than nothing.

As I was doing my normal morning tour of my book sites, I started thinking of book names and how hard it is to actually name your work. So here are five things to think of when trying to name your work…

1. The name has to be somewhat close to what your book is about. You can’t name your book “The book of numbers” and the book be totally about letters. The name needs to at least bring about the book theme. Nothing is more disappointing than to pick up a book with an interesting name and find out the book has nothing to do with the name.

2. You have to add interest. Most people look at the title and pick the book based on the title. A lot of people don’t even read the description if the title is eye catching.

3. Be creative. Don’t just go with the first thing that pops in your head. Look up different ways to word what you want to say. Get out the dictionary and look up different words that mean the same thing.

4. Do you want the name to be just one word or several words? One word titles have to pack a huge punch because that one word has to draw in potential readers.

5. This is what I normally do. Google the name you come up with. If several books have the same name then you probably want to make a few changes. When someone googles your book name you want them to find you, not everybody else too.

Hope this helps in some way. Have a great Monday!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Weddings, a romance authors inspiration…

It’s a beautiful day here in Georgia. The sun is shining brightly, the air is clear, and the wind is blowing like a small hurricane. Well, my son had a bass club fishing tournament today so the house is all mine. I actually slept in this morning which is a luxury that I normally don’t indulge in.

Also today is a wedding at our Church. I love weddings. It’s so exciting to see the vows exchanged, the smiles of love, and the promise of forever. So many weddings today end up in divorce. I always say a prayer for the couple and hope that their union will be forever as it should be.

As a romance author I’m finely tuned into the feelings and atmosphere. I try to catch every ambiance and put it into my treasure chest of inspiration. A wedding is so romantic in it’s simplicity or in some cases it’s extreme elegance.

Romance is such an intricate part of our lives. I can’t imagine not having some type of romance in our lives. You may be sitting there thinking that romance is dead, but it’s not. It’s in everything we do, you just have to open up to it. Even the most simple thing is romantic if you’re open to it. My assistant says I could find romance in a bag of frogs 🙂 Well sure, haven’t you ever heard of kissing a frog to find the handsome prince.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday. Enjoy the day and remember to stop and smell the romantic roses. Live as though it’s the last day you have.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday morning coffee & doughnut…

It’s Friday people! Get excited. The weekend is only a couple hours away or if you’re one of my friends across the pond it’s really close 🙂

As I sit and sip my coffee watching the sun start to beam through the window and dance across the floor I smile. The air is crisp and clean, the world is beautiful and it’s Friday.

I know my posts have been sporadic and I’m sorry. With tax season in full swing and this old cold, allergy thing I’ve had, it’s been a crazy week.

Hopefully this weekend I can work on one of my manuscripts. I’ve been having writing withdrawals. It’ s been almost a week since I was able to work That doesn’t stop the characters and plots from running around in my head. They keep poking me and telling me to pay attention to them. Well, if all goes well I will give them my full attention tomorrow.

So if you’re a full time writer I envy you and if you do as I do and juggle writing with a full time career, then hope you get to write this weekend.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Life…Such an awesome opportunity

I was feeling a little let’s just say down to earth this morning. If you know me then you know I’m always floating around on a cloud of thought and wonder. I’m blonde, what can I say 🙂

Well in this frame of mind I got to thinking of the wonderful opportunities we are given each and every day to make a difference in someone’s life. Maybe not a big difference but at least a little bit of a difference.

As writers we are given the chance to inspire with our words, to educate, or simply to take someone’s mind off the real world if only for a little while. That’s what I think of when I’m writing. What if someone reading my work is needing a reprieve from something? Maybe they’ve suffered a loss and just need to get away for a moment to another world. Maybe they have a bad marriage and just need hope.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we don’t stop to think of others. I see so many different kinds of people from different cultures, different backgrounds and different financial situations in my business. Sometimes I just sit and listen as they tell me their problems. Not real sure why people assume an Accountant is like a bartender, but maybe it’s just I’m a good listener.

I get down on life sometimes, yes even me. Then I think of the horror that a friend may be going through or maybe I think of someone who is terminally ill and I look up and say Thank You and I’m sorry for having self pitying thoughts. I’m sure He looks down and smiles. That’s life. We have our up days and our down days.

I try to give advice when I can, but I’m always careful how I do it. One thing that’s helped me is my Faith. I give it to Him and He helps me through it. Some people don’t know to do this or don’t believe in Faith. I don’t push mine on anyone but I try to be a good example and I do let them know what gets me through the day or rather Who.

When I’m having a difficult day I try to remember it could be worse, a lot worse.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Your leading man…

When writing a romance novel you’ve got to have a leading man. How do you design him? Here’s the top ten things I ponder when creating my leading men. Hope you enjoy even if you don’t use them 🙂

1: Leading men always need to be able to take charge, be the hero type, at least for me. They have to be able to handle whatever the leading lady throws at them, or at least eventually handle it.

2: In the same instance, I like my leading men to be able to show emotion, whether it’s anger, frustration, or down right cry. It shows a human factor.

3: Most of my leading men have to be able to wear a Stetson and ride a horse. I know that’s just a personal preference, but it works in my books. The black Stetson is kind of my trademark.

4: Most of my leading men have dark hair and blue eyes. You definitely have to define the leading man’s looks and stick with it. If somewhere along the story he suddenly goes blonde and green eyed you have a problem.

5: What about size? Is he tall and lean or medium height and husky? It’s up to you, but it’s a pivotal point. If he’s a string bean with no muscles and the heroine needs to be carried off into the sunset you might have a problem.

6: Is your leading man a general good guy or does he have a bad side to go along with it? Sometimes your leading man has to be a little bad to get the lady, but that’s just my opinion. Sometimes they have a little rogue in them that draws your leading lady in.

7: Will your leading drive a car or a truck? You may say that doesn’t matter, but it does in most stories. If he’s a high powered business man that wears a suit to work, nine times out of ten he’s going to drive a sporty car versus a four wheel drive truck. Now if he’s a cowboy he’s going to drive a truck. It makes the story more realistic to get the small details straight.

8: Will your leading man be a business type, a cowboy, a blue collar worker, or maybe be unemployed for the sake of the story? You can’t go from one thing to the other in the same story without a story line to support the change.

9: Is your leading man educated? In a lot of story lines this is important because the dialogue needs to lean in one way or the other.

10: Ok, this is a biggy with me, is he romantic? Will he bring the leading lady flowers when things go wrong? Will he be the first to say those three little words that most men have a allergic reaction to? Or is he totally unromantic and moody? Your call…

I could go on forever, but these are the top ten things I look at in a leading man. Sometimes if you sit down and do a character sketch ahead of time it helps you to keep the story in line.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday night and smiling :)

Well I made it through another week. Thanks to all the well wishes I’ve received. I’m feeling much better, but still a little stuffy. I’m excited for the weekend. Not planning much of anything but some time for myself somehow among the tax returns, my son’s shot gun practice and house cleaning.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday night and remember to smile. It’s the weekend and God has given us in Georgia a beautiful weekend. Get out and enjoy the outdoors if you can.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…