When the plot changes…

Well, it’s a foggy Saturday morning in Georgia. That sounds like the opening line of a story. Yes, I’m in a writing mood this morning, so watch out word count, here I come.

Speaking of writing, have you ever been in the middle of a manuscript and the plot changes. I mean, you’re headed in one direction, then the story takes a turn in a different direction. That’s what happened in the manuscript I just finished. You see, I had it all figured out. I thought I knew where the characters were headed and what the ending would be like, but guess what? The plot changed. (The plot is the direction the story is going, like directing the main events that lead to the ending, you know, the backbone of the storyline.)

Sometimes when you’re writing a story, the characters seem to have a mind of their own. In Highlander’s Son, I had it all in my mind, but something wasn’t working. Now, the outline looked good and when I sat and plotted it out months ago, it seemed to work well. But once I was deep into the manuscript, over halfway completed, I realized that the plot was changing. I had to make a change or the story would flop.

It’s scary to change the plot of a story when you’re almost done. But once I got it in my head where the characters had to go to complete the story, I was on a roll. It turned out that the plot change worked and the story was complete.

Highlander’s Son took a turn in the plot and headed in a totally different direction. It’s at that moment that you throw the outline out the window at 70 mph and never look back. I have to say that when the plot changes, sometimes you have to just follow it’s lead or you’ll end up with a manuscript that is cut up in the editor’s floor, never to see the light of day.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Here’s a look at the cover for Highlander’s Son, which is coming out very, very soon!

highlanders son front cover

Finding your voice…

Good morning! Life is good…I’m up and the sun is shining. Yes, it’s a good day!

As a writer, have you found your voice? I was told by an editor at Harlequin that I had a voice for romance. Do I mean the voice that comes from my mouth? No, I mean the one that comes from my head. That editor, although she was sending me a rejection letter, which by the news that came out this week, I’m glad I got that rejection in many ways, but she told me something that has stuck with me. She told me that they loved my voice as a writer.

There are writers that if you follow their work, you’d know it anywhere. I’ve been told that my writing is that way. What about you? Does your voice stay steady? Does your writing show the inner you?

In writing workshops, they always harp on finding your voice. I used to sit and think, my voice, I don’t have laryngitis. LOL! Now I know it’s the way I tell a story, or as the Harlequin editor said, the way I spin a tale.

So, have you found your voice?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Hashtags – Useful or not???

# 23173416364_e8f8ee489e_s Good morning! Hope all is well with all of you.

Hashtags, do you use them or not? Well, I’ve been in and out on this subject, so I did several posts on Instagram and Twitter, using popular hashtags and the response was surprising. I started gaining followers and the retweets, likes and even comments went up in numbers. Not to mention my sales did a nice run up the scale.

Now, is this coincidence? Could be, but I think not. The reasoning behind this comment is that I have over thirty published titles and I did the test on only a couple of them. One was a back stock title.

I used the promotional methods that I learned in one of my latest promotional studies. Everything pointed at using hashtags that were similar to your book. For example, I promoted Tuscany with #Italy #Tuscany #Oliveoil #amreading #truelove and I had several followers from the tourism industry and even some from the olive oil industry. (If you have read Tuscany, then you know why I hashtagged olive oil).

I even went one step further with the test, just to have a random selection. I used pictures from my personal everyday life and hashtagged the different things pertaining to the picture. Like our bbq chicken on the grill. My husband laughed at this one because, within minutes of posting it, I received several likes and comments from grillers, bbq restaurants and the like. It was great. Now I had my answer.

So, do hashtags work? Well, according to my little study they do. Have you had success with hashtags? Either way, let us know.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing changes your life…

Ok, so it’s Thursday and the weekend is right around the corner… With that being said, what’s changed in your life since becoming a writer? A lot if it’s anything like mine. So, without any further rambling, here are some of the things that have changed…

I now have a blog… The funny thing is, I used to just think of blogs as something other people did to pass the time. Now I blog almost daily and it’s so enlightening and helps promote my books, along with helping other writers.
I’ve met so many wonderful people from all over the world. So many new friends…
Now I have a major stress reliever. Writing helps to clear my head, literally. With all the stories and characters running through my head, I can let them out.
I now have an extra income coming in, which is helpful.
My writing has opened doors that had been closed before.

This is only a small number of ways my life has changed, but there are so many more.

What are some things that have changed for you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Finding your audience…

Good morning! How do you figure out your audience? What am I talking about? Well, who reads your books? What age group? What demographic? How do I know this stuff? LOL! It’s called search and figure out.

The reason I know this is that I’ve been looking into promoting books. This is one of the questions asked: “Who is your audience?” It makes sense. So here is what my new series ‘Wishful Harbor’ brought to mind.

Age group: 18 – 25 (This is just a start, but…)
Loves Small Town life
Loves sweet romance with a Happily Ever After
Hallmark movie lover (So far we’re describing me… except the age group ;))
Needs to get lost for a moment or two

Ok, so this is just a sampling, but you get the idea. The point is to steer the advertising in the direction of the above people. In other words, I’ll focus on hashtags that steer my tweets, promotions, and advertising toward this focus group.

Have you tried this concept? If so, how did it work?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… wishful harbor design

Monday Morning…Not Ready Yet!

Good morning… Wow, 6:15 came early this morning. I had a busy weekend and that makes for a groggy Monday morning. But, I still plan on getting in at least 2000 words before I go to my day job.

I worked on three of my manuscripts yesterday, getting ahead on one that I’d been stumped on. Thankfully I rounded the corner and the story opened up in my mind. So, Highlander’s Son will be out soon. Of course, it is a novella to finish out the series, but for those that have been asking, yes, it’s coming before the end of May!

As for my other works in progress, they’re coming soon also. Lacey’s Choice is coming along great, and Promises Forgotten is totally outlined and ready to get going. As for the others in process, I’ve put them on the back burner until these three are completed and in my editor’s hands.

So, what are you working on this morning?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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Series Emblem Reveal…

It’s Wednesday and I feel alive! What about you? Have you smiled this morning? As I write this, I can’t help but smile. Why you might ask? Well, I’m doing a small reveal today, which is exciting.

When you create a series, sometimes you create an emblem that represents that series. Well, when I created the Wishful Harbor Series, I wanted a special emblem and my awesome design team went to work to make sure that the dream I had for this series came to life. Of course, I’m not revealing the covers yet, just the emblem, for now…

So, I’d like to introduce you to the Wishful Harbor Series!

wishful harbor design

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing a book is easy!…

Hello, Sunday morning…. What happened to Saturday? It went by too fast and now the weekend is almost over. I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing, yet… Oh well, life goes on.

Here’s a question… How many times does someone come up to you and say, ‘Writing a book is easy, I can do that with my eyes closed.’? I’ve lost count of the people that have told me that when they found out that I’m an author. Usually. I just say, ‘Go ahead, give it a try.’ I know that they haven’t looked into what it entails and probably wouldn’t see it through.

If you’re a writer, you know what’s involved. It’s not the easy job that most think it is. There’s more to becoming a writer than just writing. Most people think that if you’re a writer, then all you do is sit and write. LOL! There’s more to it than that. So, here goes a short list of what goes into the writing of a book, and this is a short list, so it doesn’t get into everything.

1: A story comes to you… This could be the whole thing or just an idea.

2: You begin to outline or put together notes on the idea for the story. At this point, you’re setting up the characters, setting, and plot.

3: You start to write the story. This process could take you a week or couple of years according to how fast the story comes to you or the time you have to get this process completed. Sometimes the story doesn’t come as fast as you want it to.

4: As you write your story, you develop an idea for the cover and at that point or somewhere down the road, you design a cover that goes with the story. (This isn’t as easy as it sounds.)

5: Alright, you’ve written your story, designed your cover, now what? Edit, edit and edit some more. Then you read your story and possibly write more or change some of the story. At this point, I’ve deleted whole chapters that hurt the flow of the story, yes, I said whole chapters. It hurt but had to be done.

As you can see, this is just the start. There are so many other steps to writing a book. This is just a quick, condensed version, but you get the idea. It’s not the easy process that some think it is. But, it’s a rewarding process once it’s done and you’ve published your work.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday wonderings…

Good Monday morning! Yes, it’s Monday people. It’s a new week, so let’s make the best of it.

Have you ever wondered how much what you watch, listen to, or read affects your writing? For the last 35 years, I’ve written manuscripts, journals and such, but the surprising thing is that all of this affects my writing. It gets into our minds and hearts, strengthening us as writers. Should I say, beware of what you watch and listen to, LOL!

I watched several movies and shows on Highlanders, hence, a Highlander series. I watched the Love Comes Softly series, hence, a mail order bride series. Now I’m hooked on Grey’s Anatomy, but three seasons behind at the moment. Will I write a medical series? LOL! I don’t know so much about that, but it would be fun…

Oh, then music, yes, wonderful, stimulating music. There are so many country songs that fill my head with cowboys and romance, then there are classical pieces that inspire historical romance, oh and pop classics that inspire romance in general.

As writers, we’re artists, so everything around us inspires us. Even the blowing of leaves in the trees can inspire us. So, go outside, listen and be inspired. Watch, read and listen to things that inspire you.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

While I wasn’t writing…

Old Notebook Paper

What a wonderful day to write! It’s rainy and a little chilly. Yes, I’m back to writing and so glad.

But what happens to me when I don’t write… What happens when tax season takes all my time and leaves none for writing… Well here goes!

1: The characters in my head go nuts. Really… They go nuts. They run around screaming and yelling, constantly! Some days I wonder if I’ll lose my mind before I can write again.

2: The untold stories are filling the space around the crazy characters. Every moment of my day is filled with thoughts of where my characters can take their lives. I name characters while I depreciate assets. Yes, one character might turn up named Asset, just saying.

3: I wonder around feeling unwhole. Does that make sense? To writers, it should. As a writer, we fill the voids with our writing and when we can’t write, it just makes a hole.

4: I’m terminally stressed when I don’t write. Writing is my stress reliever… so what happens when I can’t write, well, my stress level goes up, up, up…

5: The most important thing that happens when I can’t write is I get behind and have to catch up.

Ok, so, you get the picture. Writing is my stress reliever and it helps keep me sane in this insane world. Maybe you don’t have this problem, but I do. As an Accountant, wife, mother, children’s minister, and writer, I need to keep the characters at bay or my mind will explode.

Yesterday was my first time to write over 500 words in over four weeks. It was as though my head cleared of the fog and I relaxed. My characters were walking around in my head, whistling and happy. It was a great day. Now, as I sit here, preparing to get in my daily word count, which sounds great… I’m smiling.

Just a little tidbit, I have a new series coming this summer and I’m uber excited. In the coming days and weeks, I’ll be revealing a few little things about it. But, you’ll have to be patient. Let’s just say it is big, real big, at least for me…

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Please help me get out of Twitter jail by going over to https://twitter.com/StephanieHurt4 and give me a follow. It’s hilarious that I finally get up to following 5000 and have over 4300 followers, but Twitter locks me down from following anyone until my followers go up. LOL! Yes, I just asked you to follow me on Twitter, I told you my mind has been compromised from lack of writing.