Stephanie Hurt – Romance Author

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Monthly Archives: May 2013


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Friday! Waiting on Weekend of writing…

If you haven’t glanced at your calendar, yep it’s Friday. The last day of the work week for most of us. Of course if you’re a writer, it never ends. Which is good because if it’s your passion, then you look forward to the stolen moments when you sit down with your laptop or pen and paper and you just spill your heart out.

As I’m working on the finishing touches of one of my manuscripts I do hope to have the time tomorrow to get it ready for my editor. Of course that means a couple of hours of constant attention paid to it. As the weather is supposed to be pleasant I might just grab a lawn chair and sit under a tree and let the birds inspire me 🙂

I’ve come to the conclusion that you have to schedule your time or it won’t work. When you have a busy life already and you try to fit in writing time, it has to be planned. Of course you know as well as I do, sometimes the inspiration to write over loads your brain and you have to rearrange that schedule. Yep, like in the middle of the night when you have it in your schedule to sleep. That character just keeps nudging you in the shoulder shouting “GET UP!”. 

Hoping all have a great weekend and good luck with your writing time. Don’t forget to make time for your family and Church on Sunday. Inspirational time is very important… 

As always, good writing and My God Bless You…


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Romance and the writer…

Ok, so you know I’m a romance writer. I love romance. It’s a very important part of m life. I strive to bring as much romance as I can to the reader in every word I write. But sometimes writing romance and living romance are two different things.

When you live romance it’s ingrained in you and everything you look at you see a romantic element. Of course some people laugh at me when I say things like that. It’s important to bring romance about in everything. In today’s world of terrorism, crazy weather events, and  financial woes romance is not easy to bring about. 

One of the key elements is to be open to it. If you close your mind to it then that’s that. Whether you’re married or not romance can come along and surprise you. Maybe it’s as simple as a smile across the dinner table or a look in the car. But give it a little try. I know I’ve blogged several times about romance, but it’s an important element of our lives. Well, that’s my opinion.

As for romance in writing, people pick up a romance novel for several reasons. Sometimes it’s for the sexy cowboy on the cover and dreams it brings on, but a lot of times it’s to get a feel for romance. Romance can bring on a happy feeling, if just for the moment you’re reading it. So when I’m writing I try to bring a little romance into even the simplest chore. My characters have to have a romantic flare. 

Maybe the reader has no romance in their lives and they need this to get through the day. You may be saying why. If you have a marriage with no romance, the spark’s gone, maybe for just a moment you can have hope. Maybe the story can inspire you to create a better environment for romance.

So, go home tonight and cook a romantic dinner or bring home take out and light a candle. Maybe after the kid’s go to bed. But bring about some romance and see where it leads. It could lead to some secret smiles over the breakfast table 😉

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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Having the courage to jump!

I’ve read so much lately in blogs from want to be authors that are afraid to take the first step. I can tell you from experience it’s a huge step to take. I’ve enjoyed every step since then. It’s a lot to take in at first, but then you kind of get into the swing of things and it just happens.

I knew it had happened the first time I got a fan email. I giggled like a teenage girl. The thoughts running through my head were ‘do they know I’m just a normal person’ and ‘this is so cool.’ That fan has turned into a friend as have so many of my blog friends. It would never have happened without having the courage to jump…

Here are the steps I took to establishing myself as a writer and self publishing:

1: First and foremost you’ve got to finish your manuscript. Pray…

2: Make sure that you’ve read and reread it several times. Edit as much as possible.

3: Decide what genre your writing is. That means is it romance, sci-fi, horror, nonfiction, or one of the many genres available. 

4: Design your cover. This is sometimes tricky, but exciting when it’s complete. 

5. Write a short and long description of your work. This is for the book sales. Don’t get too wordy with this. The best way is to use descriptive words to describe the feeling of the book. By all means don’t give away the plot. Prayed a lot through this process…

6. Now where do you want to put your book. Amazon, Smashwords, B & N or the many other places. This is the fun part because each one wants something different. So read everything before hitting send.

7: Once you’ve set up your books on different sites, it’s time to market. I started with my blog and Twitter. Then I started finding other marketing places. I will do a blog this week on marketing.

8: Sit back and pat yourself on the shoulder. You’re an author! Just watch and see what happens. If it doesn’t do much for a while, don’t worry. It took a couple of months for my books to catch on. Pray again and give thanks 🙂

 

Of course everyone has a different approach, but this was mine. I’m available to any author that needs help. I design covers and help format/edit. If you need help with these, just send me a message and let’s talk. Authors have to stick together. It’s a crazy world out there and team work makes the dream work.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…


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Writing for fun or money…

How do you see your writing? Is it a hobby or career? I’ve talked to several writer’s lately that say they write for fun, but they do enjoy the royalty payments. Most writers work a full time job and fit their writing in where ever they can.

I love my writing. It’s so soothing and spirit lifting. I do work a full time job. Actually I own a Accounting business so I stay pretty busy, along with being a Children’s Minister and parent. My writing carries me to another world. It’s in my writing that I can get lost and leave the worries and stress behind.

I have to admit that it’s fun when the sales reports update on the various sites where my books are. And I would be crazy if I didn’t say I’d love to get a huge publishing contract. But I’d be happy to see some nice sales reports. I’ve been really happy so far with my sales. My writing takes the forefront in this scheme of things. It’s the passion that spurs me on. 

As we discuss sales, I’ve been telling you about the audio books. It’s been so fun going through the auditions. If any of you do voice overs for audio books, send me an audition. I’m trying to get those published this week if possible. I’ve got to make a decision. It’s funny how you know what you want it to sound like.

Don’t let slow sales or the need for more to conquer your passion for writing. Keep putting pen to paper or fingers to keys. If you let your dreams die, it will affect you in a bad way.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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Saturday writing time…

I’ve been looking forward to Saturday since last Saturday 🙂 Saturday morning is house cleaning time at me house. I do laundry while mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing bathrooms and  straightening our week long mess. 

But Saturday is also a time for writing. As a writer you try to find time to write. Sometimes when you work a full time job and have other obligations and passions, it’s hard to find enough time to put words in your laptop. Well, I love to write on Saturday. After the house is clean and everyone is ready for a nap, I’m ready to write.

Today is no exception. I always start with checking my book sites and social sites. That way I’ve got everything behind me as I start work. As I sit in my swing on the front porch, a light breeze blows across lifting my spirits. It’s not too warm yet here in the south. 

With this being a holiday weekend, I plan on doing a lot of writing.I have several works in progress. There’s one thing to know as a writer, the only way to sell it is to finish it and publish it. The more you publish the more you have to offer. 

So, hope you have a great weekend and hope it’s very productive. 

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…


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Writing Emotion

How do you write emotion? To someone that doesn’t write you may think this is easy. Well, it’s not easy to put emotion on paper. In life we feel so many emotions. We feel happy, excited, angry, grief, depressed and the list goes on. But how do you put it on paper? How do you get the reader to feel the emotion themselves?

I’ve read books that made me laugh, cry and even get angry. But how do you relate that feeling in your own writing? It’s all in the way you describe it and put all you have in it. Make sure you put every detail in so that it brings the reader into the situation. If you leave out some of the details it could make the reader become detached.

The words you use to make the description more vivid is key. Go for the gusto, use a Thesaurus if you have to, but make every word count. When making someone cry over a sad part, tell how the tears streamed silently, or their lip trembled as they held back the sobs. Don’t just say they looked sad. To bring about the emotion, you need to describe the facial expressions, the feelings they have and how it’s affecting those around them.

I had a fan tell me that one of my books made her cry from sadness at one point and then from deep happiness by the end. In her review she put to have a box of tissues close by when reading it. I smiled broadly and realized that I’d done my job. 

So, don’t forget to fill in the descriptions and if you laugh as you write or cry, you’ve probably achieved your goal.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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The lure of Romance…

In today’s world of divorce, affairs, depression, terrorism, disasters and just plain out life, we’re looking for a way to escape. A lot of people use reading to do this. A large percent of the books read are romance. Maybe it’s the thought of true love, untainted love or even that dream of another life.

When I sit down at my laptop I try to get lost in the moment. I want my reader to feel the same way. If you can’t get lost in the moment as a writer, then how can you get a reader lost in the moment? I want to get my reader into another world and away from the worries of life. Just for a moment to give them something to dream about…

Romance has always carried me away to another place. Sometimes it’s to another country, another time period or just to see life from someone else’s eyes. As I read a book, if it’s a good descriptive book, I try to immerse myself in the story. I try to get lost in the lure that’s romance.

Everyone needs a little romance in their life. Maybe it’s not your thing. I spoke with a friend not too long ago that said she can’t stand to read a romance. She reads only mystery and science fiction. She said she wanted to read my books but was afraid she’d be too critical. I talked her into reading one of them. Well, she’s now into the third one. I smiled as she told me how she liked the first one. “I thought it would be just oozing with silliness and lovey dovey stuff.” I laughed and told her that not all romance books are that way.

Some people do put a stigma on romance books. They think that only housewives and lonely people read them. They’re so wrong. Some of my best fans are business women, teachers, and even some men. The men are the funny ones. I have to say that I was surprised at the amount of men that read romance. So, as I say everyone needs a little romance added to their life.

So go out and pick up a romance novel today and add some spice to your life, your marriage or just to be taken away from the business of life for just a moment. 

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…


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Time… A writer’s Nemesis…

Time. We all wish for more time in the day. I don’t know how many times I’ve been working on something and wished for 25 hours in a day instead of 24. Someone told me the other day that I had too many irons in the fire, but I don’t agree.

I love to be busy. It’s a good thing since I’m a wife, mother, Accountant, Children’s Minister, Author and self publisher. Wow, what a list 🙂 Sometimes it’s overwhelming, but then again it’s rewarding. 

Everything I do is because of a passion. I’m not the type of person to jump into something that I don’t like to do. Some aspects of my passions are not my favorite things to do, but that’s the nature of the beast. 

As a writer you need a little time everyday to put pen to paper or fingers to keys. I love writing and don’t always have those precious minutes to write. I usually write at night when my son is watching television or playing his musical instruments. My husband is usually reading or watching television as I tap away. Some people say, how can you write when the television is blaring in the background, well it’s easy. I go into a world of my own when I write. It’s really scary sometimes how immersed I get.

So, make a plan. Sit down and work out a schedule of your passions. Make sure you give ample time to each one. That’s my goal this week to set up a schedule for writing. I’m going to set aside a little time each day to get that done. It may sound crazy, but in my busy life I need this to stay sane…

First and foremost I have to make sure to put in time for my family and especially for my faith. I have a prayer time everyday which helps me to get through my day. If you don’t you need to try it. It sets the tone for the day.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

P.S. Continue to pray for Oklahoma. 

 


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Honors and Prayers

First and foremost let’s get to the prayers. If you’ve been listening or watching the news you know about the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma yesterday. It’s so tragic in the fact that lives were lost and homes destroyed. I sat and cried last night and this morning after seeing the devastation. It always affects me more when children are involved. They were so young. Please pray for those precious souls and their parents. Pray for the heroes working diligently to help. Prayer is what they need now.

As for honors, I was given a very special honor yesterday. I was asked to be a sponsored author in the July issue Southern Writers Magazine on their Magnolia Corner page. The book that will be spotlighted will be “Rekindled Flame”. I’m really excited about this opportunity. 

Hopefully this post finds all of you well and safe. As storm season get’s into full swing, please heed the warnings and keep safe.

As always good writing and May God Bless You and those in our thoughts today…


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A Smile is Worth a 1000 Words

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Yep, that’s me with Country Music start John Berry. Now you know why I’m smiling. He honored our small country Church, Friendship Church,  with a concert last night. If you weren’t there you missed a huge blessing. 

I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and seeing him live in such an intimate setting was EPIC. Am I still smiling this morning, well yes. My cheeks hurt from smiling. He’s such a down to earth person and so nice. His wife was just wonderful. He had his son on drums and he’s just adorable. The bass player and sound guy were awesome too. 

Sometimes when you meet someone famous they’re just so snobbish and above you that you feel like an ant in their presence, but not the case with him and his gang. They felt like down home family and you felt like you’d known them all your life. He got right in the throng of it and hugged, shook hands, gave autographs, and just smiled. They were so  overwhelmingly nice. We even spoke to him about a repeat performance next year. 

The music was so beautiful and soul filled that it brought several including me to tears. His music is not your everyday country, but an upbeat calming sound that brings your spiritual soul to a new level of worship. The whole place was in awe. 

If you haven’t experienced John Berry what are you waiting for? He’s just as awesome today as he was when I became a fan so many years ago. If it’s possible I became even more of a fan last night. Check him out, you won’t be sorry. His music is so heartwarming and spiritually filled that you will get such a blessing.

May God Bless him, his family, crew, and career.Â