Friday Editing Thoughts…

Good Friday morning! It’s been a crazy week in the tax office. Between deadlines and paperwork, I’ve been swamp. My reprieve is my writing. Yesterday I was able to get lost in my words for a whole thirty minutes. And that was an accomplishment. But for those thirty minutes, I was somewhere else…

Now, with this new book, I’m trying something new. Although I started sending my editor two chapters at a time during my last book, this time I’m editing some before I send it. And yes, I normally edit as I go anyway, but this time is different. I’m delving into my words even deeper the first time around.

I’ve been really working on the words that I tend to use a little too often. It’s funny how we lean on some words more often than we should. So, I’m finding new, more colorful words to take their place. Take for instance the word ‘look’. I seem to have a love for that word, lol! That is one word that I’m having a hard time letting go. I am replacing it with gaze, glimpsed, focused, stared, gaped, etc. You get the picture.

With this new form of editing, I’m using the thesaurus a lot. It’s a tool that is most important to a writer. And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but this one is learning so much from viewing the thesaurus. See, I’m using a new word.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t rush it… Patience needed!

Photo by Mike van Schoonderwalt on Pexels.com

What a dreary Monday! Monday’s are a struggle, but when you wake up to rain and bone chilling cold, well, it puts you in the wrong mood. So, let’s talk patience. LOL! Yep, that word that we’ve forgotten existed…

Patience by definition is the ability to take things in stride, not rush into something, without getting upset. In other words, even though you want to do something so badly that you hit the start button before you have everything ready. And that’s where you get into trouble.

Here’s what the Bible says: Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

And I know how hard it is to be patient, especially when you have a new release coming. Here’s an example: You’ve finished your current work in progress, but you need to edit, then send to your editor for more edits, then add those new edits, market for the new release, make sure the cover is ready, etc… You get the point. But the problem with all of this is that it takes time to do all of this, and all of this is important. If you jump into the pot before the grease is hot, well, you’ll just end up soggy.

It’s like putting a puzzle together. You can’t rush to the last piece without putting all of the other pieces together first. It’s impossible, so you have to patiently put the other pieces together. The same with publishing a book. One step at a time…

So, here’s my advice and believe me, I’ve been there and done that. Make sure to check all the boxes before you hit submit. You wouldn’t publish to Amazon before you had a cover, would you? Then don’t publish before you’ve got the steps completed in order to put out the best book you possibly can.

Patience is something we have to work on. Me included. If you feel like you’ve just got to do something, then start on the next project and market like crazy for the one you’re about to release. But make it right the first time and the patience will pay off.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

On the first day of December…

It’s the first day of December and I can’t believe it. In a year that’s been nothing short of crazy, beginning the official Christmas season is truly needed.

I’ve been a little off the grid for the last couple of days. Between holiday madness, online shopping, and a writing deadline, my brain was stretched. But, I’m back. And no, I’m not done with my Christmas shopping, but I’ve made the delivery guys really happy, just saying.

On Saturday, our family did our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm. And this year, well, I went big. Yep, I got a 10 foot tree and it’s almost that wide. It didn’t look that big in the middle of the tree farm. But once we got it home… My hubby and son just shook their heads. They knew… I didn’t…

Anyway, after many trips up and down the ladder, I got it decorated. Which is another reason I’ve been missing in action. I’ll share pictures of the finished project tomorrow once I finish putting out all of my treasured decorations. But for now, I’ll sip my coffee and watch the lights twinkle.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The author that start it for me…

If you’ve read my bio then you know I’ve been writing for many, many years, but only started publishing in the last two years. For me it all started when I was a tender, young teenager and I picked up the first Danielle Steel book, Remembrance. I was entranced in the splendor of her writing. The story took me across the ocean to Italy and I was carried away with the story.

The story filled me with inspiration and helped kickstart my career as a writer, but of course I didn’t know that at the time. The book was filled with so many emotions such as anger, romance, love, grief, sadness and excitement. I was lost to the great romance book. I even wanted to go to Italy and experience this feeling there.

I read this two inch thick book twice that summer. The next year at school I actually did a book report on the book. My teacher was skeptical at first, but then she allowed it. Let’s just say, I turned many listeners over to Danielle Steel fans. I found myself scanning books in the store many times to grab her books.

Now, back then we didn’t have Amazon, so there was no looking up online. Then I was given a membership in the DoubleDay Book Club and that really did it for me. With the membership I was given several free books and yep, they were all Danielle Steel. When they arrived I was in awe. I was the happiest girl. I remember inhaling the scent of the newly printed pages and believe me when I say that I still do this with new paper backs.

I still have those many stories that I handwrote so many years ago. Although the writing has faded slightly, I can still feel the same excitement as I read them. Some of my books that have been published started from those books.

Do you have a author that’s inspired you? Tell us about them.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Excitement and Tears…

I know I’ve already posted my normal daily post, but just had to do this one. It’s a separate post because this one is on my life.

Yesterday was an awesome day at Church. Well, any day at Church can be awesome, you just have to be open to it. But yesterday was above the normal bar. We had a Easter Cantata. For those of you who don’t know what that is, well it’s a music driven play. The Church Praise Band performed several songs and we had video’s to go with them and a speaker in the background. It went really well, and yes I cried. I know you’re not surprised. I’ve always been open to the fact that I cry easily. I’m emotional what can I say and especially when it comes to my Faith.

The second most important thing was two of my wonderful children from the Children’s Ministry were saved last week and they went down front yesterday to make their choice public. Yep, I cried again 🙂 It’s so awesome when children make that most important decision. It makes my job so rewarding. I’m always in awe of how the Lord works in such young lives.

Then since we had rain yesterday, the annual easter egg hunt was held inside in the sanctuary. I was worried about how it would go, but I shouldn’t have been. It went off without a hitch and the children had a blast.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Romance…

Romance is so elusive and sometimes hard to find unless you’re reading it in a novel. That’s the comment I hear so often. I don’t believe this state of mind that many people have. Romance can be found, lost, and revived. Still a skeptic?

Romance has been around since the first day of creation. Some people search for it as they would gold in the hills. Sometimes you have it and just don’t see it at all. It’s that simple touch from your lover that sends tiny tendrils of goosebumps up your spine. It’s that simple look of pleasure that you share across the table.

Have you ever wondered where romance hides? Everyone has a moment when you think romance has gone away. Maybe it’s when finances are bad, tragedy looms, or when a marriage fails. Romance is still there, we just as humans put it behind our heart and refuse at times to pull it out again.

As a romance writer I try to bring romance into everyone’s heart. It’s one of the biggest sellers today, romance. Everyone wants it, but what lengths will they go to? Some will spend a fortune buying gifts to show romance, but true romance can’t be bought. It’s a part of you. A kiss is free, a look is free and a touch is free. Give it a try. You might enjoy finding a little romance.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

As I Ponder 2012…

I thought this picture would be a refreshing change. Everything here is starting to look drab and dull. Winter can do that you know. I can hear the birds chirping this morning as I make my post. I love it. Well, on to the new year.

As I ponder the past year I wonder, what did I accomplish? What did I want to accomplish but didn’t? Well, let’s see. When 2012 started I had only played with the idea of publishing some of my manuscripts. Now six of them are a reality. That’s exciting to me. Wow, I published six books in 2012, should’ve been seven, but that’s water under the perpetual bridge so to speak.

My ship didn’t come in, meaning I didn’t win the lottery or sell a million books, so today I have to come back to my accounting office and start the busiest time of the year for an accountant. I love this time of year. Weird, I know, but that’s just me. I love it when it’s busy and I don’t have time to think about the things I haven’t done.

I am thankful for a healthy, happy family. It’s wonderful to have friends that care, family that is close and all of you. That’s another thing that changed in 2012. I became a social media junkie. Yep, that’s right, me, ‘Ms I don’t do social media’. 🙂 Well you all know how that turned out. Here I am blogging, tweeting, facebooking, and any other site I can get on. Funny how publishing a book can change your life and publishing six in one year really changes things.

Well, I hope you all have a prosperous year.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you in 2013!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

This is a wish for all to have a Merry Christmas and a safe one. Remember the reason for the season. “For Unto this day a child was born, Christ Jesus”.