Music that inspires me!

We all have different inspirations for our writing. I’ve written several posts about the inspirations for my writing from leaves to just people watching, even slimy slugs. Well, this post is about the music I use to keep my mind in the mood to write. I call this post the “Music that inspires me” for a reason. Here is my as I call it, “Writing inspiration playlist”.

1: Point of No Return from the Phantom of the Opera (Gerard Butler’s version)

2: I’ll Be There Where the Heart Is – Kim Carnes

3: Before the Dawn – Evanescence

4: Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler

5: Right Here Waiting For You – Richard Marx

6: I Don’t Want This Night to End – Luke Bryan

7: I Cross My Heart – George Strait

8: Haunted – Evanescence

9: My Immortal – Evanescence

10: Open Arms – Journey

This is only 10 of the over 50 songs that rotate on my RealPlayer. I have several Evanescence songs, also Mariana’s Trench, Muse, Paramore and many others. They just inspire me.

Let me know what kind of music inspires you. Everyone has that song that just inspires them to write. What’s yours?

Hope you enjoyed this post. As always enjoy you writing and May God Bless you.

The mind of a writer!

The road we take as a writer is not always beautiful and lyrical. Most of the time it’s frustrating, nail biting, and down right scary. As I sit and watch the light mist fall outside my den window, I ponder what makes a good writer, what makes a bad writer?

The mind of a writer takes on several layers. A writer can swing from one emotion to another rapidly. It’s funny how quickly things change in the mind of a writer. I know personally I have had an idea about how a book would go and suddenly halfway through it takes a different turn. Sometimes I sit back and say “Wow, didn’t see that one coming” then I laugh to myself, why would I say that knowing it came from my own mind. Sometimes I think I have two brains, one the inner writer and two the outer person.

As a writer you usually see a story out of the simplest thing. I picked up a beautiful bright yellow leaf and looked at it. My mind exploding with possibilities. I traced the veins with my brain, suddenly thinking about a story line about the road less taken or maybe even a story line of the winding roads of life. Yep I got all that from a leaf.

Last night I was helping my son feed the dogs and he picked up a bowl outside and grabbed a slug. He immediately said, “Gross!” I immediately thought of a story about a person being a complete slug and how they pulled themselves out. This being thought of as I showed my son what happens to slugs as salt is sprinkled on them. Now that’s scary.

At Christmas time I get nostalgic and that brings on a wave of new writing possibilities in my mind. I can’t seem to stay on the same piece of work, I’m constantly swinging from one to the other. My mind saying you’ve got to do this, not that.

Don’t get me started on how music effects my writing. I have a long writing playlist. I use this while writing. It inspires me. It ranges from classical, country, classic rock, love, and just plain crazy. That might be my next blog post, the playlist of a writer.

Well, I’m through rambling. Aren’t you glad? As always good writing and if it comes through your head, write it down immediately and spread it into a story. You never know. May God bless and keep you.

2 new books for the holiday rush!

Well, as I’ve mentioned a couple of times, I’m almost ready to have the 2nd book in the “Flames of Love” series published. It will be a New Year’s Eve holiday book. It is named “Rekindled Flames” and I’m real excited about it. It is the continuation of “Tender Flames” which has garnered over 1100 downloads so far. This is about a couple that have been best friends for a couple of years, but when they go to a New Year’s Eve party and drink a little too much champagne, they end up sharing a room. Just when he realizes that he loves her, she leaves town. He sees her again two years later and finds out why she left. Will it tear them apart or will they rekindle their old flame.

The second book is a book that I hadn’t planned on finishing this year, but as you know, writers are slaves to their brains and my brain told me to finish this one. I haven’t quite solidified the name but am going with “And the winner is love”. It is about a Accountant from Atlanta that wins a contest to spend a romantic weekend in the Colorado mountains with a big star. The funny thing is she didn’t enter the contest, her best friend entered her into it. The nice thing is the star is one of her favorites. What happens when they get to the Chalet is both funny and romantic. It will be a holiday based book.

Hopefully they will be published in the next two weeks or sooner. Just finishing the last editing and cover glitches. I’m excited about this holiday season with sales. Hopefully they will ramp up as people start Christmas shopping. Maybe two holiday releases will help with that.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

My Books

My Books.

The journey of a writer.

Have you ever wondered why you became a writer? Maybe you had an idea one day that was interesting and you decided to expand on it. Maybe you experience something in life that you felt others would like to hear about. Maybe you just simply love to write.

I started writing when I was a teenager and we won’t discuss how long ago that was. My grandfather wanted me to be a journalist. It got me to thinking about all the stories that ran around in my head. Sometimes I would spend most of the day in my room making notes or filling a notebook with words that came so easily. I just filed those away and went on to the next adventure.

My assistant was cleaning my old desk one day and found those old manuscripts. Some of them were written in pencil and had faded, but you could still see the words. Some were typed on an old typewriter. It actually brought back memories of sitting at a typewriter with the bottle of whiteout beside me. My typing skills came later.

Being a writer means different things to different people. For me it is a stress reliever. I get so relaxed when I’m emptying my brain on the screen. Sometimes, like yesterday, the words just flow from my fingers. Sometimes I get frustrated that I can’t type as fast as the words come. Sometimes I get way ahead of my fingers and I marvel at the fact that my fingers remember the words. It gives me pleasure when I finish a manuscript and look at it.

I know that some people may not like my style of writing, but that’s ok with me. Through reviews I’ve found that some people do like my writing. I’m not in it to become rich because I’ve done my research and I know that’s a one in a million chance. At least I can dream about it though.

My writing experiences have been fun. Sometimes it’s just fun to go back and read what I wrote years ago. My latest novel was started several years ago and all that was written was the first chapter. I don’t even remember why I stopped, but I’m glad I finished it. It was found by my assistant on a 3-1/2″ floppy. That tells you how old it was.

So, if you love writing keep it up. If you love experiencing the agony of marketing keep doing it. If you love the challenge of watching your sales numbers and not going nuts keep it up.

As always, good writing and may God bless you!

First Press Release!

http://www.prlog.org/12014198.pdf

Well, it’s official. I have completed my first Press Release. It was scary at first. I was nervous about it. My first thought was ‘what if I leave something out’ or ‘What if I say the wrong thing’. It was published late yesterday afternoon and this morning I had 70 hits and 1000+ headline impressions.

The world of self publishing has been eye opening. It has been a wild ride and an exciting one too. This press release is for my newest novel “A Love Never Lost” which has done better than I had even hoped. So, if you have a moment go by and check it out. Would love to hear some comments.

Hopefully, God willing, my current work in progress “Rekindled Flames”, the second in the “Flames of Love” series will be out in the next week. It is second book after “Tender Flames” and this one is a holiday book, so it’s release comes just in time.

So smile today is Friday and the weekend is a few hours away. Still praying for our neighbors to the north.

As always, good writing and May God bless you!

Reviews that cause you to pause!

Ok, so you’ve poured out your heart into your work. You love it, your editor loves it and even the dedicated friends that read it before it was published loved it. Then the dreaded reviews come in. Someone thinks it needs help. This post is dedicated to the feelings a review gives you.

1: A great review – Well the first great review you get makes your heart soar. You feel like nothing can hurt you at that moment. Your work has been approved by one person. Well, one person is not enough to make your book a best seller, but one good review could make it more popular than no reviews.

2: A good review – This is that review that says it was a fairly good book. But usually on a good review, there is a “But” in it. I always listen to that “But” because it is the suggestions of a complete stranger that usually makes more of a point than that of a friend who doesn’t necessarily tell you the truth about your writing.

3: A fair review – We’ve all had that review that really sat us back on our heels. I received one the other day. It was kind of half and half. What I mean by that is this. The reviewer started with “It was a great story line and I really liked it” which made me smile, but then they went into this “But, it was too rushed and didn’t get into enough of character building for me to really like it.” I sat back for a moment going, ok. That is the kind of review that can still sell books, but can also put off others.

4: A bad review – I’ve received some reviews that were pretty bad. It’s funny that you receive several raving reviews and then one of those nasty reviews come in and you go “WOW” where did that come from? I received one that said, “Sorry, but I couldn’t get past the first 4 pages”. Well, I’ve read some best sellers that I had a hard time reading them until I got past the first chapter, so I totally wrote off that review as someone who just didn’t like the story line, but then the very next review said they were pleasantly surprised how good it was as you got into the story. I think they were speaking to that other reviewer.

5: A questionable review – This is the kind of review where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they never read the book to begin with. I was reading a review the other day where someone wrote a paragraph about the good and bad points of one of my books. The problem with this is that the information provided from the book did not match my book. I even showed my editor and she said that is not from your book at all. They evidently read the description of the book and did their own version.

6: The follower review – This is the review that goes with the other persons review. Have you ever received a review whether good or bad and within a few hours you receive another review that says almost the same exact thing? It’s as if the other person just marked your book as read and then just copied the other review.

7: The “not my genre” review – I had someone write a rather nasty review of one of my books, but what was funny about the review was that at the end of the scathing review they stated that they hated romance novels. Why on earth would you purchase a romance novel and then decide to write a review on it if you didn’t like romance novels?

8: The nasty review – These are the reviews that are just down right nasty and they usually come from fellow authors. I received one that was a full paragraph totally tearing my book apart, then they went on to say that they would like to read more of my work. That was really weird to me. Especially the way they tore the book apart and told that the author (me) was not their kind of writer. Oh well, can’t please everyone. Made me feel good, because that is my best seller so not real concerned.

This post was just to state my feelings of the different types of reviews I’ve received. I have even posted some of the bad reviews on my selling sites. You may be saying “Are you nuts?” Well, yes I am, but that’s the life of a writer. Do you know that I started having more sales after posting the fair review. It’s funny how the review process works.

I think some people read the reviews and that makes their decisions on purchasing or not. Some people never even look at the reviews, but others just shrug and say, well it may not have been their kind of book.

So don’t take reviews too seriously. Not all reviews that look bad will hurt you. Don’t let a bad review cause you to put your writing on a shelf to never pick it up again. I’ve read a lot of best sellers that to me were horrible, but I knew it was not my style of book that I like, but I didn’t tear it apart in a review.

Also, when you do write a review, try to be as kind as you can. Offer some gentle suggestions and support the writer when you can.

As always, good writing/reviewing and May God bless you!

Goodreads Giveaways!

I have set up a giveaway of 1 signed paperback of each of my five books on my author page at Goodreads. Just follow this link to the “Moonbeam & Roses” giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/36077-moonbeam-roses. Follow this link to the “Tender Flames” giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/36081-tender-flames. Follow this link to the “Ghost Lover” giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/36078-ghost-lover. Follow this link to the “With All My Heart…” giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/36079-with-all-my-heart. Follow this link to the “A Love Never Lost” giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/36010-a-love-never-lost.

It has been a great week. The trees are turning beautiful colors and the air is starting to turn crisp. This Sunday is our Church Fall Festival, which being the children’s minister I’m in charge of the activities. I’m excited. Wednesday is Halloween and time for our annual “Trunk or Treat” at the Church. Trying to figure out what I’ll dress as. I’ve been a bouquet of balloons, a cowgirl, a pumpkin, a little girl and so on. SO I have to figure out something cool.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. As always good writing and may God bless you!

Surprise on Amazon!

I was looking up my book files on Amazon yesterday when I noticed a strange addition. At first I panicked thinking someone had hijacked my books. But in fact it was where I have one of my paperbacks in expanded distribution through CreateSpace. Seven wholesale book companies have picked up my book and have it on their sites. Needless to say I was dancing around the office. So, that inclined me to do this very shameless post. I haven’t posted my books lately, so here goes. Sorry for anyone who does not want to or care to know this. All of these are available on Smashwords, Amazon, Google Books, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Kobo, Apple, & Sony.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Ghost Lover

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Having a father who thought business came first and his daughter last had affected her. But when Jess turned 21 he gave her a gift that would change her life and add an unexpected love. What was behind such an extravagant and unexpected gift? Would her father’s business partner put a stop to any happiness that she could have or would the man of her dreams take her away from it all. Jess would soon find out her father’s sinister plan. When tragedy strikes will she find her Ghost Lover or will all be lost.

Tender Flames

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Sara has loved Wes all of her life, but she only sees sisterly love in his eyes. What happens when in a moment of anger she makes a hasty decision? Will it turn his head or turn him away? When tragedy strikes will the tables turn in her direction? Will love finally fan the tender flames of love?

Moonbeam & Roses

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Sara secretly had a crush on Wes and had most of her life. Then when Wes rejects her love and moves to Montana, she jumps into her work as an artist and into the arms of another man. It is not until a tragic accident happens that things start to turn around for Sara. Could she finally have true love with the cowboy in her dreams or will her blindness cause her to throw it all away.

With All My Heart…

Stephanie Payne Hurt

When Amanda moves to a small town to pursue her career as a Children’s Minister, she never expects to find the man God has sent for her. But just as she opens her heart up to him something terrible happens to her causing her to shut the world out, including the love of her life. Will he be able to help her find her faith or will she forever be lost?

A Love Never Lost

Stephanie Payne Hurt

Friends since early childhood, Lilly and Zane have always been inseparable. After four years apart, will their relationship change? Upon seeing Lilly again after such a long absence he realizes his heart belongs to her. When a wealthy ranch owner from Texas offers Lilly the job of a lifetime, will she leave knowing the effect it will have on Zane and their relationship? Will her new boss expect more than just an employer/employee relationship? Just how far will he go to win her over? Will Zane be able to pull her from the ties of the ranch or will it be A Love Never Lost?

Levels of Love…

As I write this I ponder the different levels of love I’ve had in my 43 years of life. I am by no means an expert. This is just my outtake on the subject, so take it as you may.

Here goes:

Baby Love: I feel like as a baby you feel love, not positive because I do not remember being a baby, but I do remember how my son was as a baby. He would brighten up when I would walk in the room, so I feel like he was feeling love for me. So…

Child’s love: As a child you have such a reserve for real love. You have not been challenged by the things of the real world so you can be open to love with your whole heart. Children love unconditionally, well most of the time.

First crush love: You know the love I am talking about. Usually you experience it in your early teens or earlier for some. It is that feeling when you look across the aisle in class and lock eyes with a cute boy. You instantly think you are in love and you will just die if he looks back. Yeah, you remember that don’t you. Ok, you can quit laughing now.

Idol love: Well as a teenager usually you develop huge love issues for movie stars, musicians or even someone older in your life. It is the kind of thing that causes you to post pictures all over your walls and spend your whole allowance on anything with their picture on it. Yeah, been there done that…

First young love: Well this is the one that usually hurts and makes you think you will never love again. You are usually dating by the time this one hits and you think that nobody else can ever take their place. Well, you have not quite got to the real love stage, so you soon learn there is more out there. (Was engaged for 4 years to my first young love. Boy am I glad that went away.)

First real love: This is the love that comes and your heart just is taken away. It no longer belongs to you. Sadly, sometimes this is the love that we mistake for some other feeling and we don’t act on it as our heart tells us to. This is usually the love that if you don’t keep, you end up keeping it with you forever in your dreams. If you don’t realize it is real and you let it go, you spend a lot of time later in life thinking about that lost love.

LOVE: Sometimes when we think we feel love we do things that are not in character for us. We may even marry someone thinking that it is love only to find out after the stars are out of our eyes that we were wrong. That is really sad, but it happens everyday. The divorce rate is prime example. A scary percentage of people are in marriages that started with misguided love.

Obsessive love: This is the sick kind of love where one person thinks that they can’t live without the other person who 9 out of ten times does not return their love. (I had a stalker that did that to me. I went out with him one time and Bam! he thought he was madly in love with me. He served 18 months for stalking me. I was only 17 and it was a scary time.)

Forever Love: This is the love we are strive for. It is the kind that when the person walks in the room, you almost swoon from the heart palpitations. Hopefully you all have felt this kind of love. Maybe it is with the person you are married to, hopefully. It is the kind of love that stops everything around you. When you lock eyes you know and it scares you sometimes the depths it can go. Now that is great love.

As I said before, this is just my take. There are so many more levels of love. It is endless. Hope you have Forever Love. It is always a great thing to have. Hopefully it is with your spouse or spouse to be, if you gave up on Forever Love and went in another direction, well try not to dwell on it too much, because it will drive you insane. Just my opinion.

As always, great writing and May God Bless!