Author: stephaniehurt

Stephanie Hurt lives in Georgia with her husband Tommy and their son Hunter, along with two dogs, Daisy and Jake. When Stephanie is not lost in one of the worlds that she creates, she's an accountant and children's minister. She has been writing the stories that fill her mind since she was a teenager. The moment a story comes into her mind, she's mesmerized and soon she's diving into the story with a cup of hot green tea and a notebook. Before long, the story has bones and is ready for the laptop. She happily types away in the early morning and at night. You can always find her with a notebook full of stories that have yet to come to life. Follow her journey in each of her over 40 published works! Stephanie Payne Hurt loves to hear from fans and hopes that she's helped them go to another world for at least a while! Connect with Author: Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieHurt4 Email: https://stephaniehurt4@gmail.com Website: www.stephaniehurtauthor.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StephaniePayneHurt Sign up for my newsletter at www.stephaniehurtauthor.com to keep up with upcoming events and new releases.

It’s Friday! Thank Heavens!

If you haven’t looked at your calendar, it’s Friday! I always feel a since of relief when Friday rolls around. Although Friday in an accounting office can be pretty hectic with payroll. After payroll is done though it gets pretty laid back.

On Friday it is a day to summarize the week and get ready for the weekend. I start figuring out what I will take care of on Saturday. Top of the list is house cleaning (and mine is desperately in need) and then there is my writing. Saturday is the day I do most of my writing. I wait until I have everything done, then I sit down and relax with my laptop and my current manuscript. I get giddy on Friday waiting on that special time when I can make my books come alive in my mind.

Think about the feeling you get when you look at the clock and it’s 4:30 on Friday. Your heart flips a little as you realize the weekend is only thirty long minutes away. You start watching the seconds count down. (My grandmother always said that makes time go slower to watch the clock or more precisely she said “A watch pot never boils.” Smiling at memory) Well I started when I got up this morning watching and waiting.

So have a wonderful Friday and remember the weekend starts in a couple of hours. As always good writing and may God bless you!

Two weddings, two nights, Romance!

Ok, so those of you that follow my blogs or know me personally have a handle on my views on romance. You just can’t get enough of it. Well, when you want to get romance in the raw, go to a wedding. In the last two weeks I have had the privilege of going to two outdoor weddings. It has been bittersweet.

The first one was between two good friends that were meant for one another. The wedding was beside the grooms lake that is right beside his house. It was a country wedding complete with the girls wearing cowboy boots. My husband had to sing two songs, one for the unity ceremony and one for their first dance. The unity ceremony was so unique. They used two different colored sand and pour them into one vase to make them one. It was so sweet and romantic. And yes I cried as usual, that is until the grooms rooster started crowing during the vows. It was priceless.

The second one was my cousin’s wedding. They were married in the brides parents back yard. It was very pretty decked out in lanterns and fall colors. The back drop to the ceremony was hall bails with mums and pumpkins. So cute. They have a five month old daughter. She was brought into the ceremony in a wagon pulled by the ring bearer and flower girl. Yep, I cried again.

The only drawback to two weddings in two weeks was all the good food and cake. Definitely eating light this week. But the plus to the weddings was all the romance in the air. It really spurred my writing, since romance is my main genre. I was sitting at both weddings thinking how romance was still alive and well. Sometimes you have to wonder.

So, as always, keep the romance going and good writing. May God bless and keep you!

Publishing in today’s world…

It has been an interesting ride since publishing my first novel. I had always said I would never do social media. Well, guess again. I now tweet, blog, and do most of all the social media networks except Facebook. I do have a Facebook page for one of my books, but it is handled by my editor. Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is great, but just a little too social.

When I first decided to publish my books I played with the idea of a traditional publisher. I spoke with a couple and they said well send in your manuscript and we will let you know. Well if you have ever done this it is a long wait for the let you know part. After doing a lot of research on traditional publishing, I decided against that route. As I researched I discovered a lot of things I did not care for.

One of the things that bothered me was the royalties. They wanted to pay me just a fraction of what I would be charging for the book. One publisher said we can offer you 5% royalties on all books sold and the highest offer was 25%. I sat there doing the math and decided that was not happening. When you work hard on your novel and it is like part of you, why would you give a publisher 75%.

Well, then I discovered self publishing. I smiled at the thought of the tables turning in the other direction. With self publishing I had control of my own work. I could control where it went and how. I have not regretted that decision yet. I have been approached by several publishers wanting to get my already published books in their market. One even offered to take my books to new heights for the nice round figure of $3000. After I put my jaw back in place, I nicely told him thanks but no thanks. He wanted to put them where they already were at.

I know with traditional publishing you get the whole media, advertising, and all with it. But in reality, they wanted to put my books where they already were. Now you do have some wonderful Indie publishing companies that are not out to drain you of your profits. I may decide to go with one of those for some of my future work, just to see where it leads. Who knows.

This is not a post to discourage or persuade anyone from anything. I just wanted to give my experiences. As always, good writing and God Bless!