Character Interview…

Today I’m interviewing the main character from “Finding The Right Time”. She’s a journalist go getter that has a problem. I’ll be talking with her about the issues and how she plans to work through them.

SH: Good morning Lily!

LS: Good morning.

SH: Let’s get right to the problem at hand. The dreams you’ve had since childhood still haunt you. Have you had any luck finding out why those dreams are important?

LS: Actually, now that I’ve moved to Savannah the dreams have come to a head. The house in my dream is the house I’m renting now. Also, the man I’m renting from looks a lot like the man in my dream.

SH: That’s interesting. I heard you speak of time travel. How does that come into play?

LS: Well, that put me in a tailspin. I’ve been drawn to the cemetery on the land. When I went to the cemetery, something strange came over me. I was transported to 1865 and to the man in my dreams. Rafe is a good man and he loves me.

SH: But aren’t you in love with Anthony, his great great grandson?

LS: (She smiles) Well, that’s part of the problem. It’s as though they are the same man, but I know that can’t be. I’m having a difficult time with this problem. It’s hard when you love two men with all your heart.

SH: That is definitely a problem. Do they know that you love them both?

LS: I’ve made Anthony aware of it, but Rafe refuses to talk about it. How can I be in love with two men from different times?

SH: That’s quite a quandry that you’re in. What’s your plan?

LS: I’m not sure at this point. I love Rafe dearly and also I love Anthony. They’re both wonderful men. I’m drawn to Rafe by unknown forces and that keeps me going back. I pray that I make a decision really soon.

SH: Well, let’s hope the decision you make helps and you can make peace with it.

LS: Thanks. I do hope the same thing.

SH: Thanks for meeting with me today.

LS: Thanks for writing me into your novel. I do hope all of your readers enjoy reading about what I do next. It could be a surprise and a pleasant ending or maybe not 🙂

I do hope you enjoyed this little interview. The story of Lily’s time travel romance is a many faceted thing. It’s a wonderful love story that brings things that are important to us to the forefront. It’s on preorder now on Smashwords. Check it out.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Character lists, organizing them…

As a writer you learn many tricks of the trade. For me I outline almost every book from start to finish. Of course as the story develops so does the outline. One of the most important factors in the writing process is the character list. It helps keep you from renaming a character mid book. Yeah, I did this. *Grinning* Also helps you remember the different aspects of the characters that don’t take forefront in the story.

Of course I didn’t learn this nifty little practice until about 5 books in. It really stinks when you’re in the midst of writing and suddenly you can’t remember what one of the side characters does for a living. I always keep my character outline at the bottom of my screen. It sits there ready for action when I need it. I just pull it up and get the info and bam, I’m back to writing.

The book that I used this the most was ‘Victoria’. She had 5 brothers and they had wives and children too. All of the characters played a part in the story so I had to remember what wife went with what brother. Also, in this one I had a timeline beside me too. I’ll get into that in another blog. But if I didn’t have that list, it would have been a nightmare.

This outline started out on paper, handwritten, but after I lost it once I put it in my computer so that it was available at a moment’s notice. This also helps with series. That way you can pull from this all the way throughout. You can add new characters and new additions to old characters. It’s a wonderful tool and so easy to set up.

So, if you’re writing a book and don’t have a character list, then I suggest setting one up. It helps immensely to have a mini bio on your characters. List their likes, dislikes. If your character has blonde hair, put it down. If they are vegetarian’s thats important to make a note of. Also if they have a scar or disability, definitely worth a mention in the bio. This also helps if you decide to do a question answer session with your characters. These are really fun!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget that “Finding the Right Time” is available for Pre Order on Smashwords.com. It should be up this week on Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple iTunes. It’s only .99 while on Pre Order, but will go to $3.99 on March 31st when the official release date hits.

Throwback Thursday Post…

I am revisiting an old post from almost 2 years ago. Wow, it’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging this long. Anyhow, this was one of my more popular posts from my blog over at CreateSpace. If you’re a fan, try to figure out which book I was working on. It was one of my favs. Also do you notice a phrase missing from this post that is always on my posts?

Third Cup of Coffee!

Posted by SHurt on Sep 13, 2012 1:29:57 PM

Well, it’s Thursday morning. My son is at school and my hubby has gone to work. My mind in swirling with words to put into my current book. I am so excited about this new one.

I just can’t seem to type fast enough to get the words out of my head. I can see the whole ending and I am chomping at the bit or keys as it would be. I worked last night in between watching “The Voice”. My son kept looking at me like I was crazy. I was actually smiling and chewing my lip as I typed.

Have you ever been so into a manuscript that your every thought was focused on it? I had a new thought yesterday for a new spin that has totally rocked my manuscript. One of my characters is going totally on another direction from the original thought.

It is funny how your mind works when you are into a manuscript. You think you have the right answers, but as you type your mind goes ahead of your fingers and totally changes everything. It is so cool how the process just develops on the scope of the work. I can’t tell you where the idea is going, because that would be a “spoiler”. I can tell you that my editor/assistant read up to what I had finished yesterday and she is now not speaking to me. She said she could not believe that I let her read it to that point and left her hanging over a cliff with no reprieve. I just smiled and knew I had accomplished what I wanted.

I know I have said other books were my favorite, but I can honestly say this one has taken 1st prize in my heart. I have honed my writing skills and took into account different reviews of my other books. I have changed techniques and ways of describing characters and places. Just can’t wait to type the end, but then again it has been such a big part of my life for the past month or so that I will probably have withdrawals. LOL!!!?

Funny questions writer’s are asked…

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Ok, if you’re a writer you know the questions I’m talking about. Sometimes I just have to laugh and try my best to answer the question in the best way I can as I laugh. It’s funny the things that people think about writers. I had to post this picture because you know I love horses and these questions make them laugh too.

Here are some of the zingers that have been asked of me:

1: My favorite is “Did you write that book from an experience you had in your own life? That’s where most writers get their stories right?” Well, some of them have been from experiences but if my life was like a fairy tale, wow how would that be. Then I think of murder mystery writers and have to cringe. If all writing was strictly from personal experience the police would tail all writers obsessively!

2: Can you introduce me to your cover model? Really, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve never met any of my cover models. I did get a repin on Pinterest from one of them thanking me for using his picture on a couple of my covers. I was pleased, but I don’t know him personally so no, I can’t introduce you to my cover models.

3: You must be rich, huh? This one makes me laugh hard, really hard. Most published writers do it in their spare time and have a regular job. If not, we’d be really hungry artists. So, no, I’m not rich, not even close. I’m happy with my royalties and thankful to my wonderful fans, but I’m not quite ready to quit my day job.

4: So you can’t get published for real? This one ticked me off the first couple of times I heard it, but then I realized that there are so many people who don’t realize that a lot of authors do consider this a real business and take it seriously. This is a personal choice and I have been approached by publishers, but I am happy where I am for the time being. Then if it’s someone I’m close to I stick my tongue out at them in a very unladylike fashion and laugh. It’s become a really funny question as self publishing becomes the norm. So to me it’s a funny question.

5: Can I have your autograph? Now this one stunned me. Then I laughed because I’m not famous and this seems a little crazy, but I was humbled by it too. But I did laugh because I don’t think of it as being famous because I have several published books, but it’s really funny when someone comes up to me in a store and says, hey you’re that writer.

What funny questions have people asked you? Some people might not think some of them are funny, but to a writer you’ll find the humor in them.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday Morning Wake Up Post

If you haven’t realized it yet, yep it’s Monday folks. School started back today after a very long break due to the ice storm and then Winter Break. The alarm clock went off at 6:00 this morning and it was rough. I’m working on my second cup of coffee and contemplating my third.

Of course with Tax season in full swing my day is full of appointments for drop offs and pick ups. But for another hour I get to sit and enjoy my coffee, work on my upcoming book release and relax. This is my time when I can quietly work on things in the house. I already have a load of laundry and a load of dishes going. But more importantly I have a book to finish.

Since I’m working on my first time travel romance, I’m excited about the upcoming release. I’m doing this one a little differently than my other books. It’s going to have a pre-order available through Smashwords. The pre-order will be on Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes and Kobo. I will be running several giveaways and some free books to select people that win the drawings. The contest will be announced this week so keep watching. Several of my books will be up for grabs to those that pre-order my book and send me a picture of their pre-order confirmation, but I’ll announce the rules soon.

As for the book that’s coming out, I think my fans will be surprised. I’m hoping it will be a pleasant surprise. This is a little step away from my normal writing, but of course there is still a handsome cowboy and horses, I have to keep that going. But I’ve never delved into the time travel genre. It’s been a great experience and I think it’s a story that will make you think and wonder all the way to the end, which is an interesting ending.

So, how are you spending your Monday morning? How many cups of coffee does it take to get you going? Let me know I’m not the only coffee addict…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Strange Things That Writers Do…

Ok, admit it, writers are a different breed. We think different from other people. Our thought processes are strung out amongst several things and stories. It’s amazing how many things a writer has going on in their head. We’re constantly thinking of the story in the works or the story not yet written.

Here are some of the strange things writers do:

1: Sleep with a pad and pencil beside the bed. You wake in the middle of the night with a story or character idea and you just have to get it on paper.

2: Google strange topics. When you’re writing there’s always that one topic that you’re not that familiar with and you have to google it. Let’s just say some of the things you google could get you watched by the powers that be. Think about some of the things you’ve googled lately. Yeah, those are the one’s.

3: Someone tells you something that happened to them and you suddenly start taking notes.

4: You’re watching the evening news and get a sudden urge to start a new story. Yep the top story just inspired you to write.

5: You have notes written on anything that you can find. I’ve used napkins, envelopes, corners of newspapers, whatever is available.

6: Stare off into space. Yep, the story is taking over your brain and you get lost in the thought.

7: A story unfolds in your brain as you sleep, you wake up and struggle to go back to sleep to see how the story ends.

8: You talk about your characters as if they’re real people. To a writer they are real.

That’s only eight, send me more. The list could go on forever. Writers are different and we’re alright with this.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What’s your favorite romance genre?

Have you noticed the many varied genre’s in romance books lately? You can pretty much find a romance novel or novella that is about anything you want. Some of the categories are a little scary and some just go beyond your imagination or my imagination.

In writing romance I go with things I love or I’m passionate about. Some romance writers lean more toward the mystery genre, some toward the erotic genre and others toward the suspenseful. Most of my writing as you know lean heavily in the cowboy romance side of it, a couple of them are Christian romance and one that’s coming out soon is a Time Travel but of course it has a cowboy 😉

Did you ever start searching for a book and had to look up a genre because you had no idea what it was? I’m raising my hand because I’ve had several that needed some investigation.I wasn’t sure what they were about. Of course some of those I have to look up I really wish I hadn’t even went there. But that’s just me.

So, everybody should be able to find a romance that fits their style. The possibilities are endless if you search, but beware of what you search for. You might find something that gives you nightmares or in the very least the shivers.

What genre do you love the most?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Check out my new Christian Romance “Faith Through The Tears” the 2nd installment in the Lean On Him series.

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-faiththroughthetears-1425289-149.html

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/409456

Valentine’s Day – A Romance Author’s Favorite Day…

Today of all day’s is for romance. Maybe you don’t have a significant other, but you can still curl up with a good book of romance or a romantic movie. Romance is in the air as we start this day. Luckily here in Georgia the sun is shining and the ice is almost just a memory as it faded into the soaked ground.

As most of you know I love anything romance. I’m like an old soul with romance. I think it is needed in any relationship. I know, you’re saying that it’s not possible in some relationships, but it is. It could be the look in your eye for your lover, or maybe the little things you do to make things special. Maybe it’s a little note in their wallet or on their pillow that can just have your kiss on it to make them smile. Romance is such a simple thing that can so mystifying.

I was drawn to romance as a teenager with my first romance novel and it’s been all uphill since then. I’ve always pined for that moment in a book when their hands touch and you just know it’s the real thing. I get so excited that I’ll sit up half the night reading to get to the end, hopefully a happy ending.

Today is an important day to bring in some romance. Go all out. Everyone has candles in their house. Light a few. Even if you have children, make it a family thing. The kids have to go to bed eventually. Send him a look across the table that promises romance to come. You have to make time each week for each other. It’s important to keep the romance and surprises going. It doesn’t cost anything to leave a cute note for them. So try it and let me know how it goes.

If you need to find a great romance novel, go to avonromance.com and you’ll find anything you need in romance novels. It’s a great site to shop from.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Faith Through The Tears in final stages!

As you know I’ve had several works in progress. One in particular is “Faith Through The Tears” which is the 2nd book in the Lean On Him Christian Romance Series. I’m in the final stages of it and getting really excited. If things go well, I look to have it up and run this weekend. It still has a couple of nudges and tweaks, but it’s going smoothly.

It’s amazing when you get in the groove and everything just falls into place. Since the cover has been completed for months that makes the process much smoother. Now it’s down to those pesky little edits that plague every writer. But this one has been close to my heart so I look forward to the final read through before we hit publish.

Let me give you a little hint of what this book is all about. It’s a continuation of come of the characters from “With All My Heart”. It starts with Randy and Rachel’s love story and her battle with cancer. But it takes a sad turn and yes, it’s a box of tissues kind of book. I cried the whole time I wrote the first half of this book. It just tore at my heart.

A couple of months ago I posted the first chapter on Avon Romance’s blog site and I received responses ranging from ‘you made me cry’ to ‘I’ve got to know how this comes out’. It’s so exciting when you can grab the reader with just an excerpt.

This book has some surprises from the first book regarding Luke and Amanda. So many readers fell in love with their story of faith and love through the challenges. I’ve brought out some of their lives too. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with this one. It’s filled with tremendous faith and the challenges that life brings when you lose your soul mate.

So, I hope everyone is staying warm and safe from the world’s crazy weather patterns. But for now it’s time to pick up the ledgers and get back to accounting. At least I’m in a beautiful environment with the snow covered back ground behind me. But bring on Spring!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

As the fire crackles and the pines crack!

Here we go again, but this time it’s ice. I live in the south. For pity’s sake where did the southern weather go? As I sit at my dining room where I’ve set up my laptop so that I can work, I hear the crackling of the fire in the den. But behind me is a set of french doors that lead onto our back patio, from there you hear the snap, crackle, and pop of the pine trees that can’t hold the weight of the building ice.

I did venture out earlier to grab some paperwork from my office and I could actually smell fresh pine. It’s like I was walking into a room with a pine air freshener. I love snow, but not ice. Ice is dangerous and usually cause massive power outages. Luckily at the moment we have power, but it’s flickered a couple of times. Even northerners have to say ice is different than snow to deal with.

When we had snow a couple of weeks ago, people were still on the roads a little bit, but when you have ice it’s eerily quiet. Of course the cold has brought out the beautiful red birds. I love to watch them as they poke around for a bit of food. I’ve got to admit the ice on the trees is beautiful, but the danger still looms. I’m staying inside for now and hoping for the best.

As for my writing, I made some large headway last night on finishing up “Faith Through The Tears”. I actually powered through almost 5000 words as the story unfolded in my head. I’m so excited about this installment to the “Lean On Him” Christian Series. Of course I’m working steadily on my other works in progress. It’s fun to be a writer and get to live in so many different worlds with my characters. One moment I’m in a small town and the next I’m on a horse ranch or maybe I’m on a beach in Savannah. I get to experience so much diversity through my characters and they become a part of me. It’s an awe inspiring experience.

I do hope that all of you are warm and safe. Also a shout out to my friends across the pond as you’re experiencing really scary winds. I send my prayers for everyone to stay safe. Bundle up with a good book and ride out the storm in another world. As for me, as long as I have power I’ll be working on accounting, but if the power goes out I have several books and plenty of paper. The work will go on by candle light which could bring on a whole new inspiration.

As always, good writing and may God Bless You and keep you safe…