Starting a new series?

Well, my new series, Sky Ridge is off and running. I went to the dollar store and stocked up on these pretty composition books. Inside this notebook, you will find my character sketches, outlines, interesting facts that I’ll need while keeping true to the story line and so much more.

In order for your series to hold up, you need to keep the plotting new and exciting. Don’t do the same old thing all the way through, or the story will grow stale. Make several twists that take your reader by surprise and do a couple of turns that will have the reader wanting more.

I’ve played with this series for a while, but only when I have all three books in my head did I start the process of writing them. I wanted to make sure that the story could hold out for three books and keep the interest. This series is a historical romance that takes you on a journey filled with heartache, joy, happiness, love, suspense and yes, romance. I can’t wait to introduce you to the main characters, but I’ll keep that under wraps for a little bit longer. You’ll fall in love with them…

So, how do you plot your series?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Character Sketches…

It’s Friday! Yea! But I have some work to do. With two new series starting up this year, I have several things to do and one of those things is character sketches. If you’re asking what the heck is a character sketch, well, let me fill you in…

Alright, here goes… When you start a new book, there are several steps, but one of the most important during the writing process is the character information. Let me explain how I do my character information sheets.

1. I grab my notebook that will be for the series notes and I keep all my information in it. This notebook stays in my writing bag for quick retrieval. This is very important to have at your fingertips because if you’re halfway through book two and can’t remember what someone’s name is or what they do, you’ll need to be able to grab that without having to read book one to jog your memory.

2. First off, you need to name your characters, starting with the main ones. Then add the details. Let’s face it, when you’re writing that character, you know what they look like, but your reader doesn’t unless you show them. So, under the character sketch, you put every detail you can. I include A. Name

A. Name

B. Description: Hair color, eye color, height, build, disposition, age, birthdate, etc. You get the idea.

C. Family that might show up in the stories. Brothers, sisters, parents, etc.

D. Where are they from and where do they live now?

E. Now, this is where the fun starts, leave plenty of room for added notes. As a story unfolds, you’ll build the character sketch. If they get a new career, get married, have children. Add anything new to the character. This helps down the road and keeps you from having to keep looking back.

3. Make sure you have one for every character you add. Well, if they are only making a one time appearance, leave them out, but if it’s even just the store owner and your character occasionally goes to the store, then you need to add them.

So, do you prepare character sketches? I didn’t for a long time and it was so frustrating, but through writing studies, I’ve learned how to make life easier. Writing is a crazy world of names, places, plots, and so much more that you have to have a way to keep it straight.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

New year…New series…

With everything going on, I’ve not mentioned the fact that I have two new series coming out this year. Although one will spill over into 2018…

I’m excited about the possibilities of both series. The first one is Sky Ridge and it’s a three-book historical romance series. This series will take you back to the 1800’s old west. The covers are already completed and up on my website, so take a look if you get a chance. They’re gorgeous and give you the feeling of each one. I can’t wait for the first release which will happen in a short while…

The second series is a five book New England small town romance series. The series is called Wishful Harbor. It will be about a small New England town and the lives of five friends and the romance that they find. I’ll be working on these covers in the coming months, but for now, let’s just say, things are getting exciting…

Of course, I have a couple of stand-alone books coming too. Most of them are already featured on my website.

So, what are you working on this year? Any new series or finishing a series?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Here’s a peek at the first cover in the Sky Ridge series…

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Five Oaks Ranch…

Good Wednesday morning folk! I do hope all is well with you and yours. As for me, it’s the beginning of my busy season. Since I’m an accountant, and tax season is now up and running, well, that means I’m a busy lady. Not to mention I have a couple of book deadlines looming too…

Today I want to talk about my Five Oaks Ranch Series. Even though Ridge has been out for coming up on three years, it’s stayed in the top 100 Free books for almost a year. The rest of the series is doing well too…

A little back story into this series… When this series came to me, we were driving back from our Florida vacation. I’d been playing with ideas for a cowboy series, and I wanted it to be based around a family, but I didn’t have the exact specifics. As we drove into Georgia, I was sitting there, lost in thought when street signs started coming into my view. At once, I knew it would be based in Georgia. Then the names started flashing by, my mind whirling with ideas. At that moment, Five Oaks Ranch was born.

By the time we arrived home about one and a half hours later, I had the book names, the cover ideas and had started my character sketches. Of course, I can’t write and ride because I’d turn green, but I had my notepad beside me. I wrote on it without looking, as the words streamed in, almost at once.

When we arrived home, I had to unpack, but my mind was still on beginning Ridge. I have to say, Ridge’s popularity has surprised me. The outpouring of support for this book and the series has been humbling, to say the least. This series came straight from my heart and from the responses I’ve received by email and direct message, it’s touched others.

My writing style has changed a lot since I published Ridge. I’ve studied writing a lot, as most writers do. Some of the things I’ve learned have spilled out into my writing. The first book, Ridge and the second book, Oakley are different in the style of writing, but it still has my heart in it.

To say I’m excited about where the Five Oaks Ranch will go in the future is an understatement. I’ve received emails from readers that would love to see it on the big screen as one big movie or mini-series. Now wouldn’t that be awesome.

Ok, so with your writing, which work has made you a proud author?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Mountainside Bliss

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Daily Word Count – Real or Wishful?

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Good morning! As I sit here, typing my blog, making my Hootsuite schedule and surfing the social media world, I have to remember that I have a daily word count… Yeah, I’m supposed to meet it before I do all the above. Hope my assistant skips reading this post!!!

Anyhow… When I sat down and prepared my writing calendar for 2017, I decided to be realistic. In years past, I’ve given myself too high of a word count, then crashed and burned when I couldn’t keep up. This year, I took into account days that I’d be editing, redrafting and also had something on the calendar for that day. I also reined in my word count to make it more attainable, also lower than what I’m capable of.

As my assistant and I were working on this, I’d say a word count and she’d raise an eyebrow, then I’d lower until the eyebrow relaxed. What’s sad is that my writing calendar has room for me to post my daily progress, yikes that’s scary. SO far in 2017, I’m officially behind on my word count, which means I’ve got to up my game to catch up.

So, if you’re asking, how do I set my word count to be realistic, not wishful thinking, well, let me enlighten you. Over a couple of days, sit down and time yourself while you write. Also keep up with the number of words. If you have a day job, take into account the time you have available to write, which you need to try every day to make a little available time. Then, figure up what you can do.

For me, I write when my hubby goes to work and my son to school. I have two hours until I have to be in the office, so I try to write for at least an hour. During which time I’m boiling my morning egg, and eating said egg… yes, while I’m writing. Then I have time to shower and run across the driveway to open my accounting office. I also try to get in at least an hour in the evening. Of course, the weekends are my catch up time. I spend a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday filling in for the lost words from the busy week.

So, how do you schedule your word count? Is it realistic or wishful thinking?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Go by and check out my website which has been revamped for the new year! www.stephaniehurtauthor.com and if you want to keep up with me and get cool stuff, sign up for my street team…

Writing…A Resolution…

Happy New Year! Well, 2017 is up and running… New year, new you?

As I sit here writing this post, the Today show is talking about exercising for the new year. Many of you have made a vow to exercise more, but will you do it? I’ve made that same resolution, but have only stretched a couple of things. Now I’ve exercised my mind quite a bit, but not my body.

Another writer asked me if I had any writing resolutions… Don’t we all? I’ve seen several posts about writing resolutions. Some say they will write more this year… Some will publish the book they’ve been working on for a long while… Some say they will blog more… The list goes on…

The problem with this is that we still have the same amount of hours in the day. Yes, I’ve got my year of writing planned out and plotted on my calendar and schedule, but will I be able to see it through? Will I be able to squeeze out more hours in the day? Let’s just say that I’ve put my mind to staying more focused this year. We will see how that goes, but as of now, I’m behind…

Resolutions are a good thing because they make you think about your health, your relationships, and your career. Some people make drastic decisions just after the first of the year, vowing to make a change in their lives for the better. But, make sure that the changes you make are the best thing for you.

Will I write more this year? Will I publish more books this year? Will I make the New York Bestsellers list this year? Will I write full time before the end of the year? Will I write the novel of the year? These are questions I ask every year, but will they happen?

Have you made a resolution about life, relationships, or your writing? What are they?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday after Christmas…

Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. As for me, it was awesome. But I do have to confess that I’m glad it’s over. Now don’t get me wrong, I love being with friends and family, but I love when things get back to normal.

I’ve heard so many writers telling this weekend that their writing time suffered during the holidays and I know that for myself. I’m behind on my current work in progress, but hopefully somewhere in between IRS testing that has to be done by midnight the 31st and cleaning up Christmas decorations, I’ll get caught up! It may take a lot of coffee…

So, how was your Christmas holiday?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The Monday before Christmas…

It was the Monday before Christmas and all through my house… LOL, it’s too early to rhyme! There’s only 6 shopping days left and I’m so far behind. Wow! Normally I’m done by now, everything’s wrapped and life is good. Not this year! What happened to the month of December? I know something happened to at least a couple of days because it just started and now it’s almost Christmas. Oh well, if all else fells, gift cards 😉

Not sure if anyone noticed, but I released my Christmas book in the last four days! Falling Snow is now available, but only on Amazon. Yes, you heard me right, I’m doing a little experiment to see how Kindle Unlimited does. I used it when I first started to publish but decided to expand the distribution further. So far so good.

falling-snow-front-cover200

This book is an interesting mix of heartwarming romance and suspense. This romance is based at a bed and breakfast called Gingerbread House in the north Virginia mountains. If you like this one, then you’ll love the book that will follow it. It’s not called a series, but I’ve planned several books that go along the same type of heartwarming mixed with suspense type theme.

So, have you grabbed your copy of Falling Snow? If not, here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAK6V37. I want you to fall in love with Katie and Noah!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Saturday morning ramblings…

Good morning! First off, I need everyone’s help in voting for the Solstice Author of the Year! Here’s the link: http://solsticepublishing.com/vote-for-author-of-the-year/ so please go by and vote. Voting will make you eligible for goodies.

Now, on to my post for the day. As I’ve been talking about this week, I have designed a neat calendar that helps me somewhat stay on track. But as most writers know, things happen, things change.

I’ve tried several kinds of calendars and nothing really worked for me, so, I sat down and figured this out. I knew that having a whole month in front of me just stressed me out. I don’t need to be reminded that I have something releasing in two weeks or have 20,000 words to do before the end of the month.

The calendar I created is a weekly calendar. Yes, I know there are hundreds of those out there, but not like the one I created. I made it large enough to fit a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. each day has a large enough square that I can write the name of the book or books for each day, the word count I need to do to stay on schedule, and I can also put how far I am from finishing. Also, I have a side column for each day that gives me room for notes and thoughts that I can use for future projects or just character adjusts. Then I can mark those off as I go.

So, forgive the amateur photo, I’m not a photographer, just a writer…

As I said, it’s nothing fancy, but it works really good for me. I have enough room to be wordy if I need to be. Also, and I stress this heavily, use a pencil for your entries. That way when life comes in and wrecks your schedule, you can just erase and move on.

On release days, write those in colored pencil, that way they stand out. Yes, I need something to jog my memory or I’ll go right by the release day and forget all about it…

This is just the way I do things… Hope it helps. I’ve been playing with the idea of doing a book on being a Self-Published author, but we’ll see where that fits into my schedule. My assistant informed me that the books I now have scheduled go into 2018, but I may have to squeeze it in. At least I have the room to write it in…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…