Faith Through The Tears in final stages!

As you know I’ve had several works in progress. One in particular is “Faith Through The Tears” which is the 2nd book in the Lean On Him Christian Romance Series. I’m in the final stages of it and getting really excited. If things go well, I look to have it up and run this weekend. It still has a couple of nudges and tweaks, but it’s going smoothly.

It’s amazing when you get in the groove and everything just falls into place. Since the cover has been completed for months that makes the process much smoother. Now it’s down to those pesky little edits that plague every writer. But this one has been close to my heart so I look forward to the final read through before we hit publish.

Let me give you a little hint of what this book is all about. It’s a continuation of come of the characters from “With All My Heart”. It starts with Randy and Rachel’s love story and her battle with cancer. But it takes a sad turn and yes, it’s a box of tissues kind of book. I cried the whole time I wrote the first half of this book. It just tore at my heart.

A couple of months ago I posted the first chapter on Avon Romance’s blog site and I received responses ranging from ‘you made me cry’ to ‘I’ve got to know how this comes out’. It’s so exciting when you can grab the reader with just an excerpt.

This book has some surprises from the first book regarding Luke and Amanda. So many readers fell in love with their story of faith and love through the challenges. I’ve brought out some of their lives too. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with this one. It’s filled with tremendous faith and the challenges that life brings when you lose your soul mate.

So, I hope everyone is staying warm and safe from the world’s crazy weather patterns. But for now it’s time to pick up the ledgers and get back to accounting. At least I’m in a beautiful environment with the snow covered back ground behind me. But bring on Spring!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

As the fire crackles and the pines crack!

Here we go again, but this time it’s ice. I live in the south. For pity’s sake where did the southern weather go? As I sit at my dining room where I’ve set up my laptop so that I can work, I hear the crackling of the fire in the den. But behind me is a set of french doors that lead onto our back patio, from there you hear the snap, crackle, and pop of the pine trees that can’t hold the weight of the building ice.

I did venture out earlier to grab some paperwork from my office and I could actually smell fresh pine. It’s like I was walking into a room with a pine air freshener. I love snow, but not ice. Ice is dangerous and usually cause massive power outages. Luckily at the moment we have power, but it’s flickered a couple of times. Even northerners have to say ice is different than snow to deal with.

When we had snow a couple of weeks ago, people were still on the roads a little bit, but when you have ice it’s eerily quiet. Of course the cold has brought out the beautiful red birds. I love to watch them as they poke around for a bit of food. I’ve got to admit the ice on the trees is beautiful, but the danger still looms. I’m staying inside for now and hoping for the best.

As for my writing, I made some large headway last night on finishing up “Faith Through The Tears”. I actually powered through almost 5000 words as the story unfolded in my head. I’m so excited about this installment to the “Lean On Him” Christian Series. Of course I’m working steadily on my other works in progress. It’s fun to be a writer and get to live in so many different worlds with my characters. One moment I’m in a small town and the next I’m on a horse ranch or maybe I’m on a beach in Savannah. I get to experience so much diversity through my characters and they become a part of me. It’s an awe inspiring experience.

I do hope that all of you are warm and safe. Also a shout out to my friends across the pond as you’re experiencing really scary winds. I send my prayers for everyone to stay safe. Bundle up with a good book and ride out the storm in another world. As for me, as long as I have power I’ll be working on accounting, but if the power goes out I have several books and plenty of paper. The work will go on by candle light which could bring on a whole new inspiration.

As always, good writing and may God Bless You and keep you safe…

Decisions and another ice storm!

If you’ve seen the weather reports well here it comes again. Today it starts as rain, then turning to freezing rain, then to sleet and finally a light snow. Oh Joy! Here we go again. I can handle the snow, it’s pretty, but the ice is not. That means possible power outages and that’s not a good thing.

As I told in my post last week, I had to replace one of my computers this weekend. OH, but the fun didn’t end there. Yesterday my main printer went out. Yep, I’ve got a monkey on my back and he’s not very friendly. But all in all I’ve kept up the good attitude that always follows me. I’ve tried to keep it light, but my pocketbook sure isn’t happy…

I’ve got a couple of days to decide whether I’m going to enter the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. I’d originally thought this was a definite decision, but as I do further thinking I just don’t know. It’s a great contest to enter, but I’m being pulled in another direction. A little birdy has put a different direction for this book into my ear. I’m praying on it and working through my indecision. Hopefully by Sunday I’ll have a answer.

Writers are constantly making decisions. They range from settings, main character descriptions, genres, plots, covers, blurbs, publishing, editing, and so many more. Sometimes I spend more time on this than writing which is not a good thing. In order to meet your writing goals, it’s important to know what direction you’re headed in. Try to stay on the road forward, sometimes those side roads lead in the wrong direction.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Looking back at old posts…

I’ve been blogging for almost two years. It’s been such a wild ride. This weekend I was going back through some of my more popular posts. This is one from my CreateSpace blog. If you didn’t know this I have several blogs going. What can I say, I like to multi-task…

First things First. You write the romance novel.

Posted by SHurt on Aug 6, 2012 1:41:24 PM

Well, I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. The storylines came easily to me. That was the easy part. The

hard part was putting it on paper.

I could always see the story from start to finish, but it was the in between that got complicated. I decided to go old school. I sat down

one day and made an outline of the story in my head. The outline ended up having 18 sections. SO, that was my story in a condensed

version.

I took the outline to the computer and started. I used each section of the outline to fill in my story. I would expand the section until it

filled a chapter, sometimes two. Before I knew it, two months later, I had a completed manuscript.

I looked at the manuscript in awe. I had finally done it. I had completed a whole story from beginning to end. Now what! ON my next blog I

will continue the story.

Get to writing. It can be very stress relieving.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Revisiting an old friend…

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I’ll be revamping some of my first books. They’ll be longer and more descriptive. I’ve always gained more knowledge over the last couple of years regarding different wording and such. I’m excited about it. I started working some last night on the remake of Ghost Lover which is the first book I published in May 2012.

Don’t worry for those that are waiting on the release of two of my upcoming books, they’re still in the works. But as I opened the dusty file of Ghost Lover I had to smile. This was my baby. I read the first couple of words and it was like revisiting an old friend. When you write a book you get to know your characters personally. As you write each word and describe each character in detail you gain so much love for your characters. When the book is finished it’s like a sad moment.

But, when you revisit the book it’s exciting. I’ve been changing several aspects, but the feeling of the book stays the same. It’s even going to have new categories. I’ve playing with the idea of changing the cover a little to honor the newly polished work since it is changing slightly. But the cowboy on the cover will stay the same because I just simply love him.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. Yeah, it’s finally Friday. I hope to post some this weekend on my progress, but I’m going to be busy putting programs into a new office computer. Yep, my tax program was way too large for my laptop, so I had to purchase a new desktop to replace my other desktop. Didn’t see that one coming, but that’s life. Good thing it’s tax season and that will more than pay for the new computer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing, the experience

I’ve experienced so many emotions as I write. It’s amazing the things that go through your mind as you push out that story. You know what I’m talking about if you’re a writer. Sometimes it’s that feeling that makes you think you’re going crazy. Ok, so maybe not every writer experiences this, but I do and I’ve talked to several authors who say the same thing.

Here’s what I’m talking about. It’s the feeling of getting lost in the story. You get filled with the characters emotions and actions. It takes over your brain and at times you have to shake your head to get it out. I’ve been so lost in my writing that I’d block out everything around me. My family sometimes have to actually nudge me because I can’t hear them.

One of my books has a kidnapping section in it and when I was writing this scene I actually felt my heart racing with fear. It was as if I was feeling the fear my character felt. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the emotional bond you have with the characters you write. When the character was rescued I actually sighed with relief.

Then you have those moments when you’re out somewhere or working at your day job and the writing bug hits. It’s like the flu. It hits quickly and rapidly takes your thinking processes away from what you’re doing. The symptoms can range from breaking out into a sweat, intense staring (Nobody or no one person is immune to that stare), itchy fingers, the loss of logical speaking, and then the immense need to find something, anything to write on. It can be a napkin, envelope, gum wrapper(that’s not the best thing but it works), or any writing surface that presents itself in front of you. I have notes everywhere, it’s crazy.

Of course the worst feeling for a writer is the dreaded writer’s block. You’re sitting there writing and all of a sudden you lose the whole feeling for the story. Your mind goes completely blank. It’s as though the book in your mind has been erased and all you see is a blank page. You sit with your fingers poised above the keyboard, you break out into a sweat, you’re disoriented and confused about the new feeling, then you get concerned. Maybe you have a deadline and this is not the time to draw a complete blank. The funny thing is minutes earlier your brain had the whole story completely outlined and now NOTHING!

The best feeling to me is when you hit publish. Of course it’s the most scariest feeling too. You’re euphoric at finishing your baby that you’ve fed, cleaned and babied for what seems like forever and then you have to send it away. Then it hit’s you, oh my goodness I just finished a novel and put it in someone’s hands. Now you wait. You wait for the responses, the sales (this you just hope to see something), the criticism, and the rewards. Hitting that publish button can cause you a moment of every emotion imaginable.

For me it’s really a strange feeling when someone you don’t know comes up to you in a store or event and says ‘hey, you’re that romance writer’. I know I turn red as a beet. I’m not a person that loves for someone to shower me with praises. I’m a shy person at those times. I get embarassed and excited all at the same time. Of course the hidden diva inside is jumping up and down, squealing with delight, but I’m not a diva on the outside by no means.

There are so many emotions and experiences a writer goes through. It’s different for everyone, but it all comes down to the experience of a writer. I love being a writer and expressing my love for the craft. It brings me great joy and it’s a thing of pride to hold a finished book in my hands. I hope you find the joy of writing that I’ve found. Smile, someone might be reading your finished book at this very moment. You may be changing someones life with your writing. If you’ve been holding back on pushing that publish button then you’re not giving yourself enough credit. Do it. You’ll feel better after you do.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

How do you keep the romance?

Today is the 20th Anniversary of my marriage to my hubby. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been together for 20 years. That’s a lot of water under the bridge.

So, how do you keep the romance going for 20 years? Well let me give you some tips. By the way I use these in my writing as well 🙂

1: Never, ever go to bed mad. Not only does this cause you to have a sleepless night, but you don’t get the problem resolved.

2: Always make time for your spouse. Even with a teenager in the house we find time for just us. That’s a big priority.

3: Any time we part either to go to work, or to bed we always say “I Love You”. Those are 3 very important words in a marriage. Without them you’ve got a serious problem.

4: Never shout at one another, well, not in anger. One day we’ll have to shout for the other one to hear, but that’s hopefully way down the road.

5: If you have a disagreement, which everybody does from time to time, just step back and take a breath. That always helps to get a little of the tension away. Then calmy discuss it and work it out.

I know that was only 5, but I can’t give away all my secrets. I’ve been lucky to have a good, hard working, handsome, caring, husband and father to our son. It’s been a blast that’s for sure. So, go give your hubby or signicant other a big kiss and tell them how you feel.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Dust it off and see what happens

This weekend I was working on The Winner Takes All which is the 2nd book in The Winner series. I had to bring out the first book for a couple of references and as I read it was like visiting an old friend. I actually read a couple of chapters before I knew what I was doing. But I did see some things I’d like to change or expand on. Funny how that happens as you start to learn more about your craft.

I’ve had a couple of fans say they’d like to know more back story of some of the characters in a couple of my books. One lady even put in a review that she’d love to see me expand one of my books. She loved the book so much that she wanted to know more about the back story of some of the characters. Well, that got me to thinking about doing just that.

Of course, you know me, I did some research on authors revisiting old stories and was amazed at how many famous authors have done this. Even their best sellers they’ve revisited them and some even revamped the covers and did a whole re-release campaign. So, don’t be shocked if I don’t revisit a couple of my books. I actually have some ideas for a couple of them.

Have you ever did this? Have you read a book lately that you wanted more of the story? It’s funny how you love a story but you want to hear more about a particular character. Well, I’ve listened to these requests from my fans and plan on do just that.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Cowboys, Cowboys Everywhere…

I’ve written posts on this before and it’s still true. Everywhere I look I see cowboys. Romance books, commercials, movies, they’re everywhere. I’ve written most cowboy romance and I do have to say that a cowboy main character is pretty exhirating. I mean they’re masculine, hard working, rugged, everything you’d want in a hero type.

Someone asked me the other day if all my romances are about cowboys and I smiled. I do have a couple that aren’t cowboy related, but most of my books do have cowboys and horses. As I’ve always said, you have to write about what you love. It just makes it easier. If you write about something that you’re not passionate about then it will show in your writing. Always go with what you’re passionate about.

I’m going to write what I’m passionate about. It’s just how I’m made. Do you have something you’re passionate about? As a writer you can really shine if you go with your passion. Since I’ve always loved anything about horses and cowboys, it’s only natural that I’d write about them. I’ve actually heard from fans that I’ve convinced them to love cowboys too. That made me happy because that means that I did what I strived to do.

So what’s your passion? Is your romantic hero a cowboy, Navy Seal, doctor, business man, millionaire, musician, bad boy, body guard, vampire, werewolf, shifter, the list can go on and on? If it’s romance I’ll read it, but my favorite type is obvious…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…