Tag: Author

Halfway to the weekend!

It’s already halfway to the weekend and I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. Time flies when you’re having fun I guess. I’m getting excited about my upcoming release of “Her Wish For Christmas” which is scheduled on Amazon for Thursday night at midnight. Since I’m donating 1/2 of the preorder and 1st week of sales royalties to a domestic violence charity I hope you’ve gone over to Amazon and preorder or maybe you plan on getting it Friday. It’s for a great cause.

As for my week, well it’s been busy as usual. I’m working on Ridge which will be set up for release later in the year. This is the first book in the new Five Oaks Ranch series. It’s based on a ranch and the five siblings are funny, complicated and exciting. I hope you’ll check them out as they come into being. Ridge has been an interesting character to write. He’s a hard man with a heart of stone, but he wasn’t always this hard. Two tours of duty in Iraq have changed him. But the new vet might just change that.

I hope all of you are enjoying your hump day! Don’t forget, the weekend is right around the corner.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Catching up with the times…

Some of you may not know this, but I’m a ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ type person. Even when upgrades are needed or maybe new equipment, I keep purring along with what I’m currently comfortable with. I guess it goes along with my introvert ways or maybe it’s just that I’m in my own little world and happy there. Not sure, but I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and well, I kind of like it.

If you’re wondering what I’m blabbering about, well I finally upgraded to an iPhone this past week. You’re probably still tapping your head and saying ‘really’, but it’s just me. I was happy with my old phone and it was happy with me. But when I’d pull it out of my pocket or purse it would fall apart, so my hubby snatched my phone and upgraded me. It was like being separated from the womb, but I’m coping. As a very busy accountant, writer and children’s minister I was afraid of learning something new that would take time away from all of that, but it’s gone well.

After five days with the new fancy device, I’ve all but mastered ordering apps. I decided last night to grab the Instagram App. My son almost had a stroke. He was a little concerned about mama checking on him in his private world, but he got over it.

As I sat yesterday waiting on hubby to pump gas into the truck an idea for a new book came across my brain. If you’re a writer you know how critical it is to get that idea down on paper. Well, as I reached into my purse, I noticed my handy dandy notepad was not present and in a panic I looked around the truck for anything, even a napkin to write it down. Then I remembered the note app on my new phone. Smiling I quickly opened it and voila my idea was stored for future use. Now that’s a plus for the new phone. Not to mention I now have my Kindle on there too.

So, do you have areas of your life that are behind in the times?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Upcoming releases and other talk…

Good Tuesday morning everyone. I hope your week is great so far. The weather here in Georgia has gone up slightly, but looking forward to a cooler trend this weekend. I love Halloween and you definitely need it to be cool for the costumes. We have Trunk or Treat at our Church and it’s always a blast. We serve hot dogs and hot chocolate along with all the candy the kids can fit in their bags. I can hardly wait.

As for upcoming releases, my author friend V. Steele has a new release this Friday. V is from right here in Georgia and she loves a good romance. Her My Prodigy Trilogy is coming to a close this Friday with the release of Nadia’s Revenge. Since she uses my publishing service, Horseshoe Publishing, to create her covers and do edits, I was able to read it before the release. Since I do enjoy vampire romances, I enjoyed this one. But let me warn you, the this book has some violent elements, but in the end it’s really good.

V effectively ends the series. I look forward to some of the new things she has coming out. We have many things in common, the main thing being we both love a good romance. Since she’s a Georgia girl too, well it just makes it all the better. The book is on Pre order at Amazon until Friday and then it will be up for sale. So check it out!

Front CoverNadia

For the second release, I’m pleased to announce that the article I was asked to write for Southern Writer’s Magazine will be out soon. I approved the final draft yesterday and am really excited about it. If you don’t already subscribe to Southern Writer’s Magazine, then I suggest you check them out. They offer so much for authors and work closely with you. Also they support authors at every turn. I’m proud to be a subscriber of their magazine.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing in Sections

As a writer I’m constantly trying new ways to organize me thoughts for books. Some days my mind is riddled with different scenes and it’s hard to concentrate on just one part. So I’m trying a new way to do things that I’ve read other authors do.

Since my mind seems to want to go ahead of itself, I’m letting it. When I start a book now I also start another word document that I name Segments of “book name”. In this document I write the scenes that are later down the road, that way I don’t lose the thought process and also it helps with the current parts. I know where they’re headed and can keep everything flowing in the right direction.

I’ve noticed that my mind seems less tangled when I do this process. I guess getting the parts that are screaming at me on paper helps the words flow better without obstacles. Try this process out and see how it works for you. But don’t forget to label each section so that you can copy and paste it in when your writing gets to that point. It really helps!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday morning writing…

Good morning peeps! Hope all is well with everyone this morning. As for me, it’s the end of tax season and I’m trying to get out the last few returns that are still hanging out on my desk. But first things first, I’m working on my Christmas romance this morning early.

Oh, you haven’t heard about it, well let me fill you in. As some of you know I have a Christian Series “Lean On Him” that I’ve written two books in. Well this is the third installment. It’s called “Her Wish For Christmas”. This book has been working on me for a while, but I wasn’t sure just how to get the story across to my readers. Well, guess what, I’ve figured it out and hope it helps someone out.

The book is about domestic violence and how a couple finds their way through it. I’ve been researching many avenues of domestic violence and the statistics were scary. Did you know that many of us are friends with or work closely with someone that’s a victim of domestic abuse and we don’t even see the signs. In this book I’m only hitting the surface of the problem, but I just hope to add a little hope to someone that feels like they don’t have anyone to turn to. I’ll leave it at that for the moment.

Let’s just say I’ve shed many tears writing this one, even the outline tore my heart out as I imagined the woman’s pain and even the man’s pain as realization hits.

As for this weeks happenings I had an interesting call Friday. I’ve been chosen to be interviewed live on the radio tomorrow for my accounting business. It’s through the WRNW Radio network which is a Women’s Radio Network. They place women business leaders in the limelight for 8 minutes as they interview them and try to inspire other women with their story. I’m really excited and you know I’ll be mentioning my writing. Not sure what radio station it is, but I’ll let you know when I know. The interview is at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

As always, great writing and May God Bless you…

10,000 views, Wow!

In my two and a half years doing this blog, I can say it’s been wonderful. At first I was uncertain about it. I thought I’d become stumped and have problems coming up with the goods to make it happen. 😉 But I’m a writer at heart and that hasn’t been a problem. Usually I have to tamp down my need to post more than once a day.

The friends I’ve gained through this blog have been, well what can I say, heartwarming, true and just plain out great. I’ve met so many people from all over the world and gained personal relationships with many. We email each other, join together for blogs and so much more. It’s just phenomenal how it all works.

So, this is to all my friends from all over the world. Thanks for the comments, likes, and all the warm friendships that have made it worth while. I’ll see you on the other side of 10,000…

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

What if the words stop…

I’ve been asked many times where the words I write come from. Most people come up to me and just simply ask, ‘What if the words stop coming?’ For a writer that would be horrible, a nightmare come true. But the funny thing about a writer’s brain, it runs on overdrive most of the time. Sometimes we might have a hiccup in the process, but the words flow continuously.

Some have asked how I work on so many books at one time. How do I keep focused enough on each one to make the individual stories work? **Smiling broadly** Well it comes from too many stories going through that if I don’t get them on paper as they go through I’m afraid my brain will explode. If an idea comes through for a new story, well it has to be written out. I love to sit with a pad and pencil and just let the words flow through me. It’s exhilerating, but sometimes when you have a deadline working you have to push the others to the side. Of course that story still nags at you constantly.

But then I wonder if one day the words might stop. Of course for me they’ve been coming at me since I was a teenager and that’s been a long time. No, I’m not saying how long, but it’s been a while. If one day I develop some sort of problem where the words stop I don’t know what will happen. It’s been such a big part of me to put a story together in my mind that I think I might stumble some.

Then again I get a lot of my inspiration from music lyrics, people watching and life, so I guess in my mind, I’ll always have a story coming through. But if the music stops, the people disappear and I stop living, then the story would probably stop. Life has added so many stories in my head that I don’t think I’ll ever run out of material. I’ve experienced life through so many eyes and lives that I always have a new spin on a topic that I’ve touched on before.

What if the words stop… Let’s just say I hope they never do. I’ve come to love my characters that flow in and out of my head. They’re a part of who I am and that may sound crazy, but if you’re a writer you know where I’m coming from. After you spend hours with a character and their life, well it’s as if they’re your best friend. A couple of my books touched me so much that I was an emotional wreck during the process, but the words flowed even as the tears and the memories that spurred the story on came crashing through. Some memories never stop flowing through and they conjure up many stories that fill the books I write.

So, have you ever wondered what would happen to you if the words stopped? Scary thought…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Over worked? Over stressed? Write it out!

Some days are just hard to get through. You sit behind your desk and wonder if you’ll live through the stress of the day. You’ve gone far past your normal time to get off, but you keep going. Well, what are you doing about it?

For me I’ve worked really hard over the last twenty years building my accounting business. It’s been really hard and I’ve put in a lot of long hours. When I was younger it was nothing to put in 12 hours a day, then go home and put in a couple of hours cooking and doing laundry. No problem back then, but the older I get the less I want to spend long hours behind a desk. I guess that comes with age, not sure…

About 5 years ago my stress level was at the breaking point. I was spending a lot of time in my office making sure everyone was happy. I spent a lot of time making sure everyone in my life was happy, but I wasn’t happy. I was overworked and overstressed. One day I sat down and did a inventory of my life. Why was I miserable? Duh! I was the reason I was so unhappy. I was trying to please everyone but myself. Get real with yourself and realize you probably do the same thing yourself.

I took a couple of days and went through my office, clearing the backlogs that hindered my organization. As I was clearing it all out I ran up on some floppy disks, yes I said floppy disks, and they were filled with manuscripts that were unfinished. Also, my assistant found the printed copies and asked to take them home. She came back the next morning with so much excitement that it was contagious.

I picked up the manuscripts and read them that night. The excitement surged in me and I knew my new path to a happier me. I began going through the manuscripts and working out the details. Suddenly I had a purpose again. I could put all my stress into my writing. I wrote it out. It cleared my head. Every night after work I’d sit with my laptop and write. It was calming. 

So, if you’re overstressed, then let it go to writing. If you don’t write novels or have a desire to do so, just start a journal. Write your daily stress out and leave it in the journal. Believe me, my stress level is so much better and I know I’m easier to live with 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Discover the real you!

Do you know who you are? Do you really? Sometimes events in our lives shape the person we are. Maybe something happens that causes you to think about what you’re doing with your life. There are so many aspects of my life that have been shaped by fate. 

I sat Saturday afternoon writing and thinking. I was caught up in the storyline and suddenly I was in deep thought. The character was having a personal battle and it hit me. We’re all in a battle of wills. We wake up with a plan for the day, well sometimes we have a plan, but life steps in and those plans can change.

We go through life making plans, changing plans and seeing them through as best we can. We have a life plan, but do we really expect all of it to happen. Life changes constantly, whether it’s a death, marriage, birth, career change or just something as simple as traffic. We all have life changes that send our plans in a different direction.

For me things have changed many times. As a child I had it all planned out. I’d be a horse owner and have a huge ranch. Then as I became a teenager and was introduced to romance novels I wanted to be a writer. But then I went to college and changed my major from business to Accounting and became an Accountant. After losing my son’s twin before he was born my life changed drastically. I realized how fragile life is and my want for more children were dashed with one word from the doctors. So I became a Children’s Minister to help children find their destiny in life. 

Well, some of the aspects I mentioned above have come to life. I’m now a romance author with many published books and I realized my dream this weekend of appearing on the bestseller list at Amazon. I work with children two days a week by helping to shape them into good Christian adults and showing them how to live a positive life. But no, I’ve not yet achieved the goal of becoming a horse ranch owner, but I have written many novels about that and lived my dream through my work. For now that’s good for me.

So, have you discovered the real you or are you still searching?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…