Writing a book is easy!…

Hello, Sunday morning…. What happened to Saturday? It went by too fast and now the weekend is almost over.  I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing, yet… Oh well, life goes on.

Here’s a question… How many times does someone come up to you and say, ‘Writing a book is easy, I can do that with my eyes closed.’? I’ve lost count of the people that have told me that when they found out that I’m an author. Usually. I just say, ‘Go ahead, give it a try.’ I know that they haven’t looked into what it entails and probably wouldn’t see it through.

If you’re a writer, you know what’s involved. It’s not the easy job that most think it is. There’s more to becoming a writer than just writing. Most people think that if you’re a writer, then all you do is sit and write. LOL! There’s more to it than that. So, here goes a short list of what goes into the writing of a book, and this is a short list, so it doesn’t get into everything.

1: A story comes to you… This could be the whole thing or just an idea.

2: You begin to outline or put together notes on the idea for the story. At this point, you’re setting up the characters, setting, and plot.

3: You start to write the story. This process could take you a week or couple of years according to how fast the story comes to you or the time you have to get this process completed. Sometimes the story doesn’t come as fast as you want it to.

4: As you write your story, you develop an idea for the cover and at that point or somewhere down the road, you design a cover that goes with the story. (This isn’t as easy as it sounds.)

5: Alright, you’ve written your story, designed your cover, now what? Edit, edit and edit some more. Then you read your story and possibly write more or change some of the story. At this point, I’ve deleted whole chapters that hurt the flow of the story, yes, I said whole chapters. It hurt but had to be done.

As you can see, this is just the start. There are so many other steps to writing a book. This is just a quick, condensed version, but you get the idea. It’s not the easy process that some think it is. But, it’s a rewarding process once it’s done and you’ve published your work.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…IMG_1489

 

Advertisement

Just a little hint…

Good Saturday afternoon! Hope everyone is taking some time to enjoy life today. I’m finally sitting down for a little bit to write and blog. But, I have a little tidbit about my upcoming new series to dangle in front of you… so here goes…

1: There will be five books in the series…

2: The series is based around a small town on the northeast coast.

3: Each story has a connection to the other stories, so yes, they are connected.

These stories will be heartwarming and make you smile. I’m really excited about this new series and I can’t wait to introduce you to it. All five covers are completed and the series symbol is ready.

Hope you have a great Saturday and stop by my website at www.stephaniehurtauthor.com to sign up for my newsletter and stay up to date on all of the new releases as they come.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday Writing…

Good morning! It’s Friday and I’ve got a smile on my face. Do you?

I’m working on several manuscripts at the moment and sometimes they become a blur. They like to intermingle and try to confuse me, but then other times, they come together to make something incredible. Not that my writing is incredible, but the way words come together to form stories that take people away from their problems, away from their world for just a moment, it’s simply amazing.

As for my current works, here’s a little snippet from Lacey’s Choice:

Drake stood holding Lacey’s hand, his shaking a bit as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Lacey will you marry me? I know it’s only been a couple of weeks, but when you know in your heart that the woman standing in front of you is your soul mate, then it’s time to make a move before she goes back to America without you.”
Lacey took a deep breath, unsure if her words would come out. She’d thought he was going to tell her he loved her, not propose. Then as she looked up into those blue eyes, the color of the Swiss sky on a cloudless day, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was the one.
Nodding her head, she smiled up at him. “Yes, I’ll marry you Drake.”
He engulfed her in his arms, pulling her close to him as he kissed her in front of the windows as the snow fell outside. The only sound was the soft music that surrounded them and the crackling fire. Then he pulled back with a look of concern.
“I don’t have a ring for you. It’s not like I knew I’d be proposing today.” He looked a little embarrassed.
“Drake, all I need is you, not a ring or anything else, just you.” Lacey reached up and kissed him again, but this time she let him know how much he meant to her.
Then her cell rang, pulling her out of the moment. She looked down at the screen and made a bad face as she saw the name, Brent. Drake saw the name too and her frown. He knew she loved him, but she’d also loved the man on the other end of that line. She’d been prepared to marry Brent and when she’d came here to Switzerland, her heart was broken. Could he possibly lose her?

Lacey's Choice front cover

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday wonderings…

Good Monday morning! Yes, it’s Monday people. It’s a new week, so let’s make the best of it.

Have you ever wondered how much what you watch, listen to, or read affects your writing? For the last 35 years, I’ve written manuscripts, journals and such, but the surprising thing is that all of this affects my writing. It gets into our minds and hearts, strengthening us as writers. Should I say, beware of what you watch and listen to, LOL!

I watched several movies and shows on Highlanders, hence, a Highlander series. I watched the Love Comes Softly series, hence, a mail order bride series. Now I’m hooked on Grey’s Anatomy, but three seasons behind at the moment. Will I write a medical series? LOL! I don’t know so much about that, but it would be fun…

Oh, then music, yes, wonderful, stimulating music. There are so many country songs that fill my head with cowboys and romance, then there are classical pieces that inspire historical romance, oh and pop classics that inspire romance in general.

As writers, we’re artists, so everything around us inspires us. Even the blowing of leaves in the trees can inspire us. So, go outside, listen and be inspired. Watch, read and listen to things that inspire you.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 

While I wasn’t writing…

Old Notebook Paper

What a wonderful day to write! It’s rainy and a little chilly. Yes, I’m back to writing and so glad.

But what happens to me when I don’t write… What happens when tax season takes all my time and leaves none for writing… Well here goes!

1: The characters in my head go nuts. Really… They go nuts. They run around screaming and yelling, constantly! Some days I wonder if I’ll lose my mind before I can write again.

2: The untold stories are filling the space around the crazy characters. Every moment of my day is filled with thoughts of where my characters can take their lives. I name characters while I depreciate assets. Yes, one character might turn up named Asset, just saying.

3: I wonder around feeling unwhole. Does that make sense? To writers, it should. As a writer, we fill the voids with our writing and when we can’t write, it just makes a hole.

4: I’m terminally stressed when I don’t write. Writing is my stress reliever… so what happens when I can’t write, well, my stress level goes up, up, up…

5: The most important thing that happens when I can’t write is I get behind and have to catch up.

Ok, so, you get the picture. Writing is my stress reliever and it helps keep me sane in this insane world. Maybe you don’t have this problem, but I do. As an Accountant, wife, mother, children’s minister, and writer, I need to keep the characters at bay or my mind will explode.

Yesterday was my first time to write over 500 words in over four weeks. It was as though my head cleared of the fog and I relaxed. My characters were walking around in my head, whistling and happy. It was a great day. Now, as I sit here, preparing to get in my daily word count, which sounds great… I’m smiling.

Just a little tidbit, I have a new series coming this summer and I’m uber excited. In the coming days and weeks, I’ll be revealing a few little things about it. But, you’ll have to be patient. Let’s just say it is big, real big, at least for me…

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Please help me get out of Twitter jail by going over to https://twitter.com/StephanieHurt4 and give me a follow. It’s hilarious that I finally get up to following 5000 and have over 4300 followers, but Twitter locks me down from following anyone until my followers go up. LOL! Yes, I just asked you to follow me on Twitter, I told you my mind has been compromised from lack of writing.

 

 

Friday’s Second Cup…

Good Friday morning! We’re finally almost to the weekend. My short vacation is almost over, but that’s alright since tax season is over with, I’ll have a little more time to relax. For now, I’m sipping my second cup of coffee, baking blueberry muffins and looking forward to my third cup of coffee…15357511258_cbf39f66bb

So, now that I’m back to a regular writing schedule, I’m back on my works in progress. I have four books in the works, two almost complete. Now to get back into the groove and push those words out.

It’s amazing when you take a short break from writing, the words still come in. My mind swirled with words constantly. It was hard not to sit down at my laptop and put them into my manuscripts, but time wasn’t there to do this.  Of course, as a writer, this was a difficult time. Especially with my characters screaming at me on a daily basis. But the characters have calmed some since I’m back to writing.

So, what is everyone working on? Me, I’m working on Lacey’s Choice, Highlander’s Son, Georgia and a new series, which I’ll let you in on a little later.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Tuscany is Free today & tomorrow!

Tuscany is Free for two days! If you haven’t experienced the world of Tuscany, now’s your chance while it’s FREE!

Tuscany is a contemporary romance set in the hills of Tuscany’s olive groves. It’s filled with mystery, adventure, betrayal and a love that builds from Chapter one and follows loves Legacy.

Go on an adventure to another country in this romance that takes you to one of the most beautiful places on earth, Tuscany. The magical lure is found on every page of this book.

This book hit the Top 55 in  Harlequin’s SYTYCW15 contest. Then was picked up by the awesome publisher Solstice, which took it to an all new high.

Free Ad

As always, good writing and may God Bless You…

Moment to Reflect…

Good morning! It’s been a while, but tax season has been crazy. You know it’s been busy if I haven’t been able to write in a couple of weeks. Yeah, I know, that’s not good. I’ve missed it, but now I’m back in action…

So, how’s everyone doing? I’ve missed interacting with all of you. Now that I’m back, you’ll be overloaded with posts, books, and lots of promotions. So get ready… get set…. go…

To my first post, I go…

While I’ve been away, ‘A Light Upon My Heart’ became an Amazon bestseller. Yep, I did a little happy dance at my desk… Glad no one could see me. If you haven’t check out this one, then grab it while it’s only .99.

Naomi Harris is only 18 when she’s sent from Georgia to Montana to marry a stranger. Joseph Walsh is a wealthy, 30-year-old, ranch owner, but he’s lonely and in need of a Christian bride. Naomi’s poor home life doesn’t prepare her for life on a large ranch and Joseph’s not sure how to react to the innocent young woman that he brought across the country to be his bride. Many obstacles stand in their way as they strive to make their marriage work, but can they get past them? The worst one is the secret that Naomi keeps, it could destroy what they’ve worked to gain. She can’t go back home, ever…

The sale will only be for a limited time… so get it before it goes back up!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 

Easter Sale!

For a limited time, my bestselling Christian Historical Romance, A Light Upon My Heart is on sale for only .99!

A Light Upon My HeartFront Cover https://www.amazon.com/Light-Upon-My-Heart-ebook/dp/B01DIEH8GI

 

Naomi Harris is only 18 when she’s sent from Georgia to Montana to marry a stranger. Joseph Walsh is a wealthy, 30-year-old, ranch owner, but he’s lonely and in need of a Christian bride. Naomi’s poor home life doesn’t prepare her for life on a large ranch and Joseph’s not sure how to react to the innocent young woman that he brought across the country to be his bride. Many obstacles stand in their way as they strive to make their marriage work, but can they get past them? The worst one is the secret that Naomi keeps, it could destroy what they’ve worked to gain. She can’t go back home, ever…

 

Tax season will be over on the 18th and then you’ll get an overload of me 😉 See all of you when I find my way out of the pile of returns… In four days!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…