The Winner Takes All

One of my earlier books was “The Winner Is Love”. It was my first Christmas Romance published. I got into this book way deeper than I thought I would. Funny thing is, it started out as a stand alone, but a I neared the end, I just knew it couldn’t stop there. The story needed to go on and some of the leading characters needed to have a voice too. Did I just give away something? Oh well.

The 2nd book is “The Winner Takes All”. It continues the love story of Stacy and Slade. But this one takes an interesting twist that will make you wonder up until the ending. I’m really excited about the turns this story is taking. This is one reason this book has been a long time coming.

When you have a story pop into your head you never know how many turns it might take before publication. This story was so obvious in my mind, but guess what, the characters decided to take over and make it their own. If you’re not a writer you probably think that last statement was a little nutsy, but as a writer you’d know exactly where I’m headed with it. Characters have a tendancy to want to speak up and tell their story too.

Let’s just say, I’m hoping the many fans I gained with the first installment will follow with this one. Many of my devoted Cowboy Romance fans were surprised that no cowboys showed up during this series. Believe me when I say it’s hard not to put a cowboy, ranch or horse in my work. This book has a different feel from my normal writing. Check out book one before book two comes out.

It’s looking like it will be a May release. The first book is available in several formats including ebook, paperback and audiobook. By the way it’s my bestselling audiobook to date. My audiobooks have been such a refreshing surprise.

Here’s a little unedited sneek peek of “The Winner Is Love”:

This had to be the most romantic proposal ever. He’d really outdone himself. She was still in awe of everything he’d done.

Then all of a sudden the door burst open and Andrew came in with the crew. “Great, are you two ready for this?” He asked as he came around to where they were standing in front of the tree.

“Let’s get this over with Andrew.” Slade walked over and put a log on the fire.

Suddenly the floor seemed to fall out from under Stacy. Wait a minute, was this done for publicity? Did he ask her to marry him just to get a story? She turned to look at Slade. He was suddenly being aloof.

Andrew came over and reached out for her hand. “Now that’s a beautiful ring. Congratulations by the way.” He then walked over and shook Slade’s hand. “Great job man.”

Slade smiled and winked at her. “Well when I see something I want I go after it.”

Her mouth dropped open and all she could do was stare at them. “Was this whole thing a publicity stunt for you two?”

Slade paled and walked quickly over to her. He put his hand on her arm and pulled her away from the crew. “No Stacy. I meant every word.” He could see she was getting upset. “I told Andrew to keep the crew away until after I proposed. I thought that part should be just us and not the whole world.”

Her heart told her he was being truthful, but something wasn’t right. She turned back and saw Andrew waiting for them. “Let me guess, we’re on a time schedule.”

Andrew walked over and put his arm around her shoulders. “Stacy, I know how this must look, but Slade’s telling you the truth.”

She turned to Slade. “I’m sorry. It just threw me when the crew came in.”

They took their places in front of the tree. The news anchor came in to do the interview. It went fairly fast. When it was over everyone started packing up the equipment. She sat down on the hearth and stared into the fire. Her heart was racing. Everything was happening really fast.

Slade walked over and sat down beside her. He knew she was not used to this kind of life. He put his arms around her and kissed her shoulder. “What’s on that beautiful mind of yours?”

“I was just thinking how fast everything is going with us. We’ve only known each other for a little over a month.” She looked up from the fire and met his blue eyes. He was devastatingly handsome. She was a lucky woman. Two months ago she would never have imagined that she’d be engaged to Slade Collins.

When the crew left they all said their congratulations and shut the door. Andrew turned to them and grinned. “Ok, we’re leaving you two alone. Have a great Christmas Eve?”

I will be posting a sneek peek of the cover really soon. By the way it’s already in the works and almost complete. I love it and it really makes a statement. I do hope you guys have a wonderful Friday.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S.: Here’s a couple of links to “The Winner Is Love”

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-winner-is-love-stephanie-payne-hurt/1113881708

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/260085

http://www.amazon.com/Winner-Love-Stephanie-Payne-Hurt/dp/1481133772 (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Winner-Is-Love/dp/B00EECEEWK (Audiobook)

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-winner-is-love

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-winner-is-love/id585945263?mt=11

Getting over the hump…

Yep, it’s Wednesday. The work week is halfway completed, but for a writer it’s a 24/7 job. Our minds can usually shut down the work thought process when we leave the office, but a writer carries the thought process everywhere. We can’t just shut it down. Well not usually. What happens when that thought process shuts itself down? Have a deadline and it just goes haywire because the writer’s side of your brain suddenly goes on vacation?

Yeah, I’ve been there and it’s painful. You have the greatest story to get out and suddenly, oh no, you lose it! I don’t know about you, but this can be frustrating. Especially if you’re under a deadline. Even the thought of the dreaded shut down gives you the chills.

Here’s a couple of things I do when it happens to me and yes it seriously does happen to every writer at one time or another. The length it lasts varies, but it’s real.

1: If you do outlines for your books, then pull it out. This helps me to refresh my thought process. Most of the times it’s like hitting the refresh button on my laptop. If you don’t do outlines, you might want to at least scribble down a few things to help jog your thought process in case of emergency. Just sayin…

2: For me these times usually hit when I’m stressed over something outside my writing world. Since I’m a multi-tasker, I usually have several things going at one time. Like right now I have tax season in full swing. When I do finally get a little time to sit down with my WIP’s my brain is tired and I’m just pooped. I’ve started coming in from the office and just sitting quietly for a little bit. I spend a little time with the family and since the weather is beautiful for the moment, I walk a couple of miles to recharge myself.

3: If you write about Cowboys, Military heros, or even Pirates, then go over to Google Images and search out your inspiration. Sometimes this helps me. I’ll even go on Bigstock and work on the cover if it’s not already completed. It helps me to get my focus on the reason for the story.

4: Do some research. If you have other works in process, do the research. Maybe something in the research will snag a memory or two.

5: Step away from the project that’s lost in your head. Maybe start something new you’ve had in mind, or maybe work on something you have started earlier. Sometimes it helps to step away from the work and come back a little later in the week. I’ve stepped away from one of my works in progress. When things pop into my head for it, I pen it into my outline that stays close by.

These are just some of the ways I combat writer’s block. They may or may not help you, but it could give you some ideas.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Free to the best home…

No, I’m not giving away puppies. I’m talking about book pricing today. When I started publishing it was one of those many decisions that I had to make. You’d think that would be easy, but let me tell you this, it’s not. Other writers talk about the ‘sweet spot’ and then others tell about making the first book in all their series free. Well here goes some things I’ve found out during my publishing process.

By the way, this is not in anyway a rant, but the things I’ve figured out through my writing.

1: Do your homework? By this I mean go on a book site and check other books in your genre. Check the pricing of those that are the same length and same genre. Let me also remind you, those on bestseller lists can price a little higher and sell, if you’re not on the bestseller list you might want to aim your pricing arrow slightly lower, but don’t undersell yourself.

2: Beware of the freebie backlash. You might be wondering what I mean. Well as soon as you start offering your book for free you open up yourself to the ‘freebie reviewers’. For some reason as soon as your book goes free, the slashing starts. I’ve actually looked at several bestselling authors that put up some free books and they see the same kind of reviews after offering their books for free. This doesn’t mean don’t put them up for free, I’m just warning you first. Offering your first in a series is a great way to drive readers to your others in the series. Also offering other stand alones free for a time is a great promotional advantage.

3: The Even amount myth. I read an article about this over a year ago. The author said that everytime they post a even number price such as $1, $2, or even $3 their sells went down, but if they added .99 to said price sells went back up. Not sure why, but I’ve tried it and it does seem to work. Odd but true.

4: Don’t undersell yourself. I did this for so long, but have finally decided to stop doing it. Yes the numbers can be good when you sell your book for .99, but think about this, you may sell several at the lower price, but bump it up a couple of dollars and even though you may sell less, you will still see a higher profit. You’re worth it so go ahead and try it out.

5: Look at the length of your book. If you price your 5000 word book at 5.99, more than likely you’re not going to sell it. As I said in number 1, do your homework. Don’t over price your shorter books.

This is just some of the observations that I’ve made. You can try it or not, it’s entirely up to you. Just keep writing and put more out there.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

It’s a memorable Monday morning…

For starters, today is my son Hunter’s 15th birthday. At 8:30 this morning he will officially turn 15. It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years. He’s such a blessing to us. Since we almost lost him when we lost his twin during the pregnancy we thank God every day for him. He’s a great son and the sky’s the limit for him.

Today also marks the release day for Finding The Right Time. I set this release date for today because this book is special to me. It’s my first time writing a Time Travel Romance. This book was a joy to write because it came to me in a dream and flowed out freely. I took my time writing this one. Usually it takes me only a month or two to write a romance, but this one took over 6 months from start to finish. Of course the cover was completed well before the book, I just knew what it had to be.

When you love writing and the story comes so clearly, it just makes the process so wonderful. Around the middle I ran into a road block as far as the plot. My mind and my heart had a war of the road to take, but my heart won out and I love the direction it went. The ending was the most fun. I knew the ending before I ever started the first word of the first chapter. It’s so frustrating sometimes when that happens. Why you might ask? Well, if you know the ending, that’s where you want to start, but you can’t do that. The story has to be told first and it can be frustrating when you can’t get it done fast enough.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Talking With Romance Author Stephanie Hurt

Talking In The Barn

This week I talk with multi-talented cowboy romance author, Stephanie Hurt. She’s a writer with a big heart that loves horses and I think you’ll see that in the interview.

Tell me a little about yourself & your family.

Well, I’m a busy woman. I thrive on staying busy. I’m a wife, mother of a 15 yr. old son, Accountant, Children’s Minister and a romance Author. Not to mention I run a publishing service. I’ve been married to my wonderful hubby, Tommy, for 20 years. We live about 50 miles south of Atlanta on land that has been in my family for over 150 years. We live in the country and that makes me really happy. I’m a country girl to the bone.

What type of books do you write and what led you to write those types of stories?

As for my writing, I write mostly cowboy romance. Since…

View original post 537 more words

Monday is Release Day!

This is the full book cover for Finding The Right Time. The official release is Monday. The Preorder is up until Sunday night. It is only .99 until the official release.

For an author release day is huge. As a reader it can be huge also. If you’re a fan of someone and they release a new book you usually get really excited. I know I do. If you’ve preordered the book, then guess what you have on release day, you have the book on your device and ready to read.

Release day can be riddled with excessive promotional posts (Yep, get ready because Monday it will hit) and then you have the excitement of seeing how well the preorder did.

Well here’s a little bit about the book. It’s a step away from my normal writing, but it was so exciting to write. This book is a Time Travel Romance, which makes it a fantasy lived out in a fictional book. Who hasn’t wanted to go back in time to redo something or undo something?

One of my favorite quotes in the book is:

He bowed his head and shook it from side to side. “I don’t understand how a man that’s been dead for over one hundred years can just take over your heart. How can you even think about going back to him? If you love me, how can you love him too?”

To me this is a pivotal part of the book. It’s an example of the emotions that are challenged in this book. Since I love romance, this book has such a strong pull to it. It shows that through everything, true love shines through. We’re all given a chance to love, it’s how we treat that love and nourish that love that makes the difference. If you don’t meet it halfway and give it a chance, how will you ever know where it could go. Sometimes we have to follow our instincts and most definitely our dreams.

This book was a long work in progress. I worked on this one for well over six months which is longer than my normal work time. It really pulled at me emotionally and kept me on my toes. When you step a little away from your normal genre a bit, it challenges you. I love a good challenge.

Here’s the preorder links available until Sunday night at midnight:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/413534

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/finding-the-right-time-stephanie-hurt/1118861344?ean=2940045730792

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/finding-the-right-time/id830991170?mt=11

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Guest post from Sonya Loveday

First off, I want everyone to meet my friend and fellow author Sonya Loveday. Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’. The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author. When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house. You can find Sonya Loveday on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and WordPress on the links below: http://www.facebook.com/sonyalovedayauthor?ref=hl http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/11660396-sonya-loveday https://twitter.com/SonyaLoveday – @SonyaLoveday http://www.sonyaloveday@wordpress.com

Now I want to give you a look at her newest book which will be released officially March 31st. If the cover doesn’t draw you in then the description will. I just love her covers.

This looks to be an awesome book. But let’s not forget the 1st book in this series. Casted came out July 2013.

If this doesn’t pull you in, well you need to go back to the start of this post and try again. Let’s go out and support Sonya.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Writer’s Insomnia…

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristianagasparotto/10941256573/”>Cristiana Gasparotto</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

Good Monday morning. It’s definitely a 3 cup morning. I woke at 3:55 this morning and tossed and turned until after 5. When the alarm went off at 6 I groaned and slapped the clock groggy and grouchy. But if you know me well, you know the grouchy part left after a couple of sips of coffee, but the groggy stayed.

Writer’s Insomnia is real, that is if you’re a writer. Insomnia is bad enough, but writer’s insomnia makes you crazy. It causes you to sleep with a pad and pencil beside the bed. What’s even worse is you can write several chapters in your mind as you lay tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep, but the story keeps prodding your brain.

Most of the time you end up getting up and typing late into the night. Sometimes it’s the best time to write because it’s quiet, but deep down you know you need to get some sleep. As you type or write long hand the story that plagued you while you tried desperately to sleep, your brain tells you that you need to go back to bed. But unfortunately the story fills that sleep space.

Have you ever fought the bed while a story poked at you? What do you do to get past it? Does warm milk work or do you give in and get up to fill the need to write?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday, Friday, Friday…

Good Friday morning… Well, it’s here folks. It’s finally Friday and it’s gearing up to be a gorgeous day here in Georgia. I feel like it’s been Winter forever. The sun is happily streaming through my windows this morning. As I sip my 2nd cup of coffee, I smile. It’s nice to see sunshine for a change. It’s actually supposed to feel like Spring today.

Friday’s are exciting. It’s the last day of the work week for most and it’s date night for others. Since it’s tax season for me, Saturday is my end of the work week. Oh well, that’s life. Since life has been crazy my writing has been sporadic. As most of you know I have several books in the works, so this is hard for me. I don’t get home until late in the evening and by the time I sit down to relax, I can’t get my head to work on the latest manuscript. I usually just sit and stare at the screen. I did manage to get the outline finished for one of my works in progress, which is exciting.

How’s your writing going? Are you in the middle of a deadline? Are you in a writing slump? What’s up?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

It’s Spring! I’m so over Winter!

Well, today around lunch time it will become officially Spring. Of course that doesn’t mean that Winter has let go of it’s grip here in the US. Here in Georgia we’re looking at cold temps next week and yep, a hint was given about a possible snow scenario coming really close to us next week. Really, we live in the South and for some reason Mother Nature has forgotten that. Oh well, we’ll deal with it as it comes.

When you think of Spring you usually think of Spring cleaning and refreshing everything around you. For me it’s crunch time in tax season and that means I’m up to my elbows in tax returns. My writing usually suffers some during this time of the year. I can’t keep my brain solidly on a story line when I finally get back into the house at night. But I think maybe I can go through my old manuscripts and do some refreshing.

I’ve spoken several times about revising older releases and making them new. Usually when you do this you change the cover and give the book a new outlook. I’m planning on a couple of revisions in the next couple of weeks. I’m also following some advice from a couple of my reviewers.

Also, this is a good time to clean up your files on your computer. In the Winter we get bogged down in the Winter time slow down of our brain. We let junk emails pile up, we let old, unuseful files pile up. Well, let’s clean up that computer and get ready for the Spring/Summer inspiration that comes to most writers. I write more in the Spring/Summer time period. So if the computer is clean and ready, you can write unhindered.

So, how are you Spring Cleaning your writing?

As always, Good Writing and May God Bless You…