Football Mania…Yes I watched.

Well I did something last night that I don’t normally do. I sat and watched most of the Super Bowl. I don’t have anything against football, I just got way too much football while I was in school. My brother, who is 15 months younger than me, played football from primary school all the way through to his senior year. I went to every game and most of the practices. I even dressed up in pads and practiced with him. Scary thought isn’t it? Not a pretty picture either.

I usually catch snippets of games while my son is watching it in his room. But that’s normally it. So last night we promised our son we’d watch the kick off. Well, that turned out to be a mistake because we became entangled somehow and watched until the timer went 0:00 at the end of the 4th quarter. Well, not all of us, my husband went to bed at timer 2:00. Really, he did that. How on earth can you go to bed when the game is that close and almost over? Caught him watching it in the bedroom. Knew he couldn’t stand it. 🙂

It was an exciting game. My adrenaline level was way too high when I finally crawled into bed. For those that did not watch the big game there was a brief power outage. During this 34 minute delay I almost went to bed with a good book, but something kept me there. So I sat and I watched. I guess you could say I enjoyed the game.

Since the 49er’s stopped the Atlanta Falcons from being in the Super Bowl, naturally I rooted for the Ravens. I am a Georgia girl, what can I say. Now if the Falcons had gone to the Super Bowl I would not have been shocked if I’d watched the game. But congrats to both teams for making it to the big game.

As always, good writing and May God bless you.

Today’s post is all about my wonderful friend Rosie Amber. We met through my writing and it’s been a wonderful friendship. It’s nice to be friends with fellow authors because you can share ideas, bounce things off them and just talk. I wanted to share her current book with you and I hope you’ll check it out. You will not be sorry. So here’s more about her:

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When the police have been seen at school on the second day of term, fighting breaks out amongst parents and gossip about individuals threatens to spiral out of control, can Mrs Hardy, the Headmistress at Moortulk Primary keep control for another school year?
Sophie Grey lands a self-made job where she is in a prime position to hunt out the inside story. Is this an idyllic English village school? Or is it on a par with St. Trinians?

 

ASIN No: B008HE75PO

 

 In the UK check out;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Talk-of-the-Playground-ebook/dp/B008HE75PO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1359794204&sr=1-1#_

 

In the USA check out;

http://www.amazon.com/Talk-of-the-Playground-ebook/dp/B008HE75PO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359795400&sr=8-1&keywords=talk+of+the+playground

 

Rosie Amber was brought up in a beautiful Hampshire village; she is married and has two children. She combined her love of writing with a desire to embrace social technology. Talk of the Playground evolved from a spark of an idea from her experiences as a parent in the school playground. Rosie had fun writing the book and hopes it makes you chuckle and brings laughter into your life.

 

X Rosie

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Let’s Talk Print On Demand

What’s been your experience with Print On Demand? It took me a few months to decide whether I wanted to go down this road. I weighed several options and found that CreateSpace offered the best bang for the buck. So I took a deep breath and jumped, hanging on to the edge for a moment then finally with the help of my editor/assistant I let go. (She would say I went kicking and screaming. It wasn’t all that bad. Really it wasn’t ;))

If you’ve never looked into CreateSpace I would suggest giving them a try. They make it so easy to submit your book and cover. But remember you have to have the back and spine completed also. Now that was a different monster in itself. We had to read the instructions about measuring the spine. Yep it’s a fine science and guess what, if you don’t do it right the spine design with wrap around to the front and back. Thank goodness the one it did that on with me actually turned out looking pretty cool.

With CreateSpace you can pay only $25 and go into their expanded distribution program. This sends your books to several wholesale distributors and big book franchises. I at first wondered if this was going to be a good thing, but when I googled one of my books it was amazing how many places my books have shown up. One day I found my books on someones blog that I had no idea who they were. That was so cool. Then it started happening pretty frequently. It’s like you’re paying $25 for advertising. 

Also your book goes on Amazon and you can connect it to your author page. When Amazon recognized book stores pick up your print book, Amazon posts it on your book page. Sometimes the other companies post a different price then you input but you still get what you’re supposed to. 

As for sales on the CreateSpace page, not many but you as the author can buy them really cheap from CreateSpace. All you pay is the print costs and shipping. At least you have your book in print without paying a huge printing  fee. Try it, you might be surprised. Hope this helps you out or gives you a little food for thought.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Priorities & Regrets

How do you rate your priorities? Do you have a good system of how you stack them? I’m feeling kind of philosophical about this issue. I found out this morning that an older gentleman that lived next door to my mom’s lake home passed away during the night. I’ve known him most of my life and he was a special person to our family.

It started me to thinking about the last time I saw him. He was riddled with sickness from cancer and he didn’t want me to see him like he was. It was really sad, but I made him talk to me regardless. I could tell it hurt him for me to see him so broken.

I feel like I didn’t do enough. I didn’t have time to go see him when he was hospitalized. I didn’t take the time to go see him when they brought him home to die. In one respect I was trying to respect his feelings, but should I have done more. My heart aches at the could haves and should haves. 

Do we take for granted that things will fix themselves? Do we take our friends and family for granted? Do we think they will be there tomorrow so go then? Do we have the Scarlett O’hara theory of “I’ll think about it tomorrow”? 

I just feel so depleted. I know he’s better off, but did he know that I cared. I hope he did. He was a sweet, precious man. So my thing is this, don’t wait until tomorrow the things that can be done today. Take that time. Make it work somehow.

As always, Good writing and May God bless you…

Horses and Romance Novels…

ImageSomeone asked me not too long ago why 95% of my novels have horses in them. I smiled and said well I love them. They just looked at me and laughed. I don’t know what was funny in that statement but I smiled and went on my way.

Have you ever just sat and watched a horse? Ok, so maybe that’s just a thing I do, but really have you? They are so graceful with everything they do. Even when they’re spooked they sidestep gracefully. The strength that emanates from them is extraordinary. I love to just stand beside a horse and feel the strength. I know it sounds strange, but try it sometimes.

Horses have been a part of our culture since forever. Before we had cars we depended on them to get us from point a to point b. They pulled our plows and did the hard stuff. If the horse was down, we were down. Most people owned a horse of some sort. When cars came along the horse was slowly pushed out of the way. 

They’re so useful in many ways. They can be used in therapy for many ailments or disabilities. A child can be brought out of depression just by rubbing the nose or coat of a gentle horse and interacting with them.  It’s really amazing, I’ve seen it. 

For me I use them in my novels to help with the story. Who doesn’t like a good cowboy romance? Well maybe not everyone, but I sure do. There’s something about a rugged, weathered cowboy falling for his love. A true cowboy almost always has good character and hard work ethic. Their hands are weathered from the reins and hard work. No soft male hands with a cowboy. Not a dime store cowboy, but a real cowboy.

Ok, well I’m off my horse and cowboy rant for the day. Just a look into my warped mind. Scary I know, but it’s me, take it or leave it. I’m a country girl and just keeping it real. No put on here. 

As always, good writing and May God bless you…

stephaniehurt's avatarStephanie Hurt - Romance Author

We start making choices the moment we wake until the moment we go to sleep.  Do we get up with the clock or hit the snooze? What do we eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? What do we wear? Do we go to work today or stay out and be lazy? 

Choices, have you ever sat down and thought about how many choices you make in a day? Do you make good choices? Do you think about your choices or just fly by the seat of your pants?

Sometimes we make choices that haunt us for the rest of our lives. The choice has been made so live with it or do something about it. Immortalize it in fiction is my recommendation. Usually makes for a good book…

As you start you day or for those of my friends that are ending your day, think about your choices you make…

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Choices!

We start making choices the moment we wake until the moment we go to sleep.  Do we get up with the clock or hit the snooze? What do we eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? What do we wear? Do we go to work today or stay out and be lazy? 

Choices, have you ever sat down and thought about how many choices you make in a day? Do you make good choices? Do you think about your choices or just fly by the seat of your pants?

Sometimes we make choices that haunt us for the rest of our lives. The choice has been made so live with it or do something about it. Immortalize it in fiction is my recommendation. Usually makes for a good book…

As you start you day or for those of my friends that are ending your day, think about your choices you make. Think about those that are affected by your choices. Those people could be family, spouses, friends, coworkers and the list goes on.

As always good writing and May God bless you and your choices 🙂

Monday, Monday, Monday.

Well it’s Monday again. Wasn’t it just Monday yesterday? Time really flies when you’re busy as little bee. Well that’s me, busy little bee. It’s tax time again and my desk is piling up with returns just staring at me waiting to be sent, but since the IRS has decided to put us off the returns just sit and wait.

As for my writing, I’m doing as much as I can at night. My manuscript that I’ve been trying to finish is almost ready. The editing has been fun. I love reading over my work. It gives me a chance to change and expand on different areas. Amazing how one change can turn into an extra paragraph.

Hope everyone is well. My son is home sick today with an ulcer on his throat so I’m back and forth from the office to the house. Good thing my office is beside my house. Have a great Monday and remember Monday is just another day in this to love one another, read another book and enjoy what God has given us.

As always good writing and May God Bless you…

Awesome post. So true. Many need to hear this.

Annie B's avatarEyes Wide Open

jesus1lights[1]

“In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”Proverbs 3:6

Our pastor once said that “Jesus didn’t have a cellphone” Those words were ringing and ringing through my head all morning! Although he shared that thought with us in church months and months ago, today, it suddenly popped into my head and I couldn’t get it out. And then I realized that it was because God wanted me to really think about that long and hard  today.

Although I appreciate the way that we can use technology and social media to proclaim the gospel of Christ, as well as to stay “connected” with one another, sometimes I have to listen to the Lord as He reminds me where true connectivity really comes from. It’s far too easy to start to rely only upon our cellphones and the trappings of this world for…

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