5 steps to The Clear Picture…

Have you ever looked at your work in progress and seen this? For many writers this is where the lines blur and you want to hit your head on something because you can’t seem to clear them up. This is a common problem for writers, but there’s help, really, this too can be pushed aside.

Lately I’ve been working really hard on a surprise manuscript, but also on Chase. Of course that means that the two stories can get blurred together at times. In order to get from one manuscript to the other I have to clear my head. It’s the only way or I’ll have to make sure I don’t get my characters mixed up.

Here are a couple of steps I take to clear the picture:

1: Step away! When the blurs take over, then take a moment to step away. Sometimes I have to go for a walk or maybe even do housework, but I have to step away from the manuscript to get it cleared up.

2: When the lines blur, pick up a book. Amazingly enough this can help clear up the blurred lines. Read something to get your mind occupied.

3: If your current manuscript becomes overwhelming, try working on another one for a couple of hours. Recently I stepped away from a manuscript for several days and it helped. When I went back to it everything seemed clear.

4: What about those scenes that you just can’t seem to get right? Try moving forward with the manuscript and then go back to the glitchy scene. Believe me, sometimes this works really well. Once I did this and realized the reason the scene wouldn’t get straight was because it didn’t need to be there to begin with.

5: For the final way to clear the picture, well, this one can be tricky, no not really. Go grab some caffeine. If hot tea is your thing, then grab that, or maybe a coffee. It stimulates your thought process.

Hope that this helps you. This is just a couple of things that I do when I get stumped.

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

What, it’s July already!

I don’t know about you, but for me time is flying! It seems like just yesterday it was Christmas and now we’re halfway to Christmas again. Guess it’s like my grandmother always said, time flies when you’re having fun.

Today as I sit here working on my latest manuscript I have to say I’m excited. As you know I am working on Chase and my historical romance, but I also have a surprise coming. It’s something totally out of my usual realm so I’m keeping it hush hush for a little longer. Let’s just say you’ll be pleasantly surprised, I hope.

What are you planning for July? Me, well we’re putting hardwood throughout our house starting in the next week. Yep, I said we’re doing it. I’m actually excited because we’re doing this as a family project. Thank goodness it’s a inside project because of the summer heat. I can’t wait to get a hammer in my hand and get to work. Well, I guess I’ll be allowed to hammer, but more than likely I’ll be handing wood to my hubby and son. Sometimes me and tools don’t work out so well.

Do you have some exciting plans for the 4th? I’m lazing away the day at the lake with family and food.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and my website for continued updates on my surprise!

https://www.facebook.com/StephaniePayneHurt

www.stephaniehurtauthor.com

Summertime and feeling it!

Good morning! We’ve made it halfway through the week… It’s been a really crazy couple of weeks. For one the heatwave that we’re in here in the south is almost too much! With the high temps and really high humidity, you walk outside for just a minute and you’re soaked. Where’s the rain when you need it? Although my family says I’m crazy, I’ve been completing my 4 mile walks three evening a week and yes about one mile in I’m questioning myself. But I’m on a diet and exercise is part of it.

Another thing which is awesome, I’ve received two wonderful reviews of “Ridge”. One came from one of Rosie Amber’s review squad, which by the way is a great team to get to review your book. Here’s the wonderful review:

4 Star **** Is there a Dr in the house??

By Lynn F. on June 6, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

This is a love story that follows Ridge Cauthen. He is the eldest son of the Cauthen clan. Ridge fought in the war in Iraq. He is now back home and working on his family’s ranch. He by chance meets the new Veterinarian, Mallory. Ridge is dealing with PTSD from his military service. PTSD that includes nightmares, flashbacks and mood swings. Not an ideal time to try and make someone fall in love with you. My favorite part of this story was the amount of love, patience and forgiveness Ridge is shown by his family and friends. I would hope all Veterans would receive the same treatment. I’m not going to tell you if Boy gets Girl you just have to read it for yourself 🙂

Then two weeks later I received an email from Reader’s Favorite stating that I had a review posted and maybe it’s not a big deal to some, but to me it’s really cool to have that emblem to put on your book. Here’s this review:

	5 stars!
Reviewed By Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite In Ridge by Stephanie Hurt, meet an ex-soldier who is struggling through life with PTSD, until the day he meets ‘the One’ and his world turns upside down. Ridge is the oldest Cauthen boy. He grew up in a big, happy family. Ridge is kind and caring, always looking out for his younger siblings and others who need help. So when the time came, he enrolled in the army and served his country. But two years in Iraq broke him. There is so much a kind heart can take, and his heart has taken and seen enough. Now he is back home and working at the family ranch. Getting away from the war didn’t help much. He is still fighting off the enemies in his mind. Every night is a struggle with nightmares, but they never end. His family loves him and is kind to him, but how much longer are they going to stay that way? When luck brings Mallory (a new vet in town) to him, he is not sure he wants to have her in her life. Can she truly love him? Can she accept him with all his broken parts inside? Ridge by Stephanie Hurt is a novel that will fill your heart. You will feel so much compassion and kindness for Ridge that you will tear up. Ridge is such a nice guy; he is kind and very sweet. This novel showed how pointless wars have destroyed the lives of many men and how they are suffering because they pledged to protect their country. When you sit down to read the novel, keep a tissue box nearby because you will need it. A really good novel. And I got this nice label for my books: So, this made my month, but then it got even better! How could it get better you might ask, well, I received an email that a bookstore about an Hour & a half from me asked me to come do a book signing, which made me smile. We’re working on a date in September, but I’ll give more info as it comes. It’s just been an exciting couple of weeks which kept the really hot weather even hotter because with the excitement comes major hot flashes (Wink-Wink) don’t you just love those ladies! So, how’s your summer going so far? Is it hot where you are or for my friends across the globe how’s your winter? As always, good writing and May God Bless You… Check out all the great reviews on Rosie’s page: https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

Beach Sale!

It’s summer and the time to go to the beach. If your not headed to the beach, but maybe a staycation at home, then now’s the time to fill up your Kindle. We all know that summer is our time to give back to ourselves. For me that means getting in some reading while sitting in the shade, sipping cool, sweet tea.

With that thought in mind, I’m offering a huge Beach Sale on all of my standalone e-books through Amazon. For the summer they will be .99, yes that’s right, .99. What’s a little sacrifice among friends. So head over to my Amazon author page and grab a couple or all of them before the summer ends. I might extend the sale to other sites where my books are available, but for now it’s only Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Hurt

As for now, good writing, and May God Bless You…

By the way, try to stay cool!

Friday morning editing…

Good morning! Hope all is well. For me, well, all I can say is I’m pleasantly exhausted. This has been a crazy week with VBS, but it ended last night. By the way it was great!

As for my writing I’ve been reading a lot of articles about writing lately. It’s amazing the amount of information out there for authors. Some of it is really good and others not so good. We need to remember that in order to stay up to date and on our game it’s important to make sure our skills stay updated.

It’s a business just like any other. For instance, with my Accounting business I need to take courses yearly to stay on top of my game and to make sure that I am current with all the regulations and laws. Everyone can use a little nudge here and there. One of the articles I read this week was about the use of adverbs. It was an eye opener. I went back over one of my older manuscripts and well let’s just say I wasn’t happy. The article made me think about the words I used and why maybe they weren’t the best choices.

Have you been keeping your craft polished and publishing ready? If we keep our skills up to date then we will make a better manuscript on the first try. I’ve changed my writing style in the last three years due to studying the rules and using the information to make my writing better. It helps make your work stand out.

So, try reading some articles every week. Make your work the best it can be and you’ll see the results in better sales. it will also help with the editing process.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Tuesday morning glance at the past…

This morning I’m taking a look back at how things have changed in the self publishing world since I started in 2012. It’s amazing how it fluctuates. So many main stream traditionally published authors have gone back to self publishing and are enjoying the freedom that it provides.

Self publishing has come into it’s own in the last three years or at least in my opinion. There are more sites to place your books and they are more widely accepted. When I first put my books on Smashwords.com the distributors list was a lot shorter and now you can have your books spread out far and wide. Also, several traditional publishers are jumping on the bandwagon and looking at it differently.

The amount of self published books is phenomenal and the amount of best selling self published books has rose along with it. Now a self published book can actually go to the top without the hand of an agent or big publisher pushing it. Traditional publishing has it’s good points too. But for some of us starting out or maybe that have already been there, we’re venturing out and testing the waters first.

So, what’s your opinion on the growth of self publishing? Are you traditionally published or self published? Maybe you’re both…

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Mail Order Bride Research…

Well it’s raining and stormy here in Georgia this Monday afternoon. But that’s alright, we need the rain. Since I kind of let the news out slightly in a previous post, yes I’m working on a historical romance along with Chase, the 3rd book in the Five Oak Ranch series.

This book has been interesting to say the least. It’s based in the 1800’s just after the Civil War. The book is about a mail order bride from Georgia that goes to Montana to marry a man she’s never met. I don’t see how they did it. I’ve been researching the subject and it can be quite interesting to say the least.

Back in the 1800’s men went west in search of financial stability and adventure. Some left their wives home in the South and eventually sent for them, but the large bulk of them were single and when they finally settled in one of the western towns, guess what? Yep you guessed it, there were hardly any women. I can imagine these men were a little lonely and wondered if they’d done the right thing as they cooked their meals and washed their clothes.

It didn’t take them long to start sending advertisements to southern newspapers pouring out their hearts. Some would send romantic poems in order to lure in the ladies. It worked! Soon the mail order bride became a popular way for these men to finally have a wife. They’d write back and forth with the lady, then send a ticket for her to come west. Some of these correspondences were between the men and the father of the lady. In this case they don’t get acquainted until she steps off the stage coach in a dusty western town full of men. What a nerve wracking arrival to say the least…

It’s made for fun writing though. I’ve enjoyed delving into the history of the mail order bride as I make my story come alive. I’ll give a little hint soon of the title and then I’ll let you in on the cover. This book will probably come out in late summer. Since I love anything historical, this has been a thrill.

So what have you been up to lately?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

How do you like your eggs?

There are so many ways to have your morning egg. Boiled, scrambled, poached, sunny side up, the choices are endless. For me, well, I have one boiled egg just about every morning. I like scrambled eggs too sometimes with grated cheese. I’m an egg person.

If you think about it, eggs and romance novels go hand in hand. Yeah, I know, you’re saying ‘She’s finally lost it’, but you can’t lose what you didn’t have to begin with, LOL! Anyhow, as with eggs, romance novels come in many different genres. Everyone has a preference and when you start looking up romance on Amazon the choices are infinite. It’s amazing.

Some people like a laid back, relaxing romance that takes you away to faraway lands then others want that fast, racy romance that catapults you into another world and then drops you off somewhere you’re not expecting. Even with the different genres there’s sub genres. Yep, it get’s long when you hit that part of it.

When people ask me what romance genre I write in, well I have to think for a minute. I’ve written Christian romance, Historical Romance, Cowboy Romance, Contemporary Romance and the list goes on. Some of my books can fit into all of the above. It’s crazy how many are out there. It also drives a writer crazy when publishing because you need to make sure you put your book in the correct sub genre.

So, how do you like your eggs, ummm I mean romance 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t push that button!

It’s Friday people and it’s time to celebrate the weekend, well almost time. For me it’s already the weekend. I’m taking a couple of days off to get over the 12 hour days for the last three months. But of course I’m writing and working on publishing things that have been left out in the cold for too long.

Since I’m working on the finishing touches of Oakley, my mind goes to deciding when to publish. Well sometimes we get so excited about our finished manuscript that our need to get it out there for everyone overrides the fact that we’ve left off a couple of needed steps.

When you publish a manuscript you have a responsibility to your reader to make sure the work is polished and pretty… Have you read over the work. Have you read over it more than once? Are you feeling really good about the finished product? When I get my work completely finished and edited I have this feeling of “Yes it’s as it should be” and that’s when I hit the button. If I have any doubts I read over it again and usually I find something that I missed the other times. It’s worth the time.

So, make sure you feel good about the finished manuscript, not just excited that it’s finished. It’s your work, shouldn’t you want it to be the best it can be?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…