Writing Fun…

It’s finally Friday… hope you have an awesome weekend planned. My son is out of school for 10 days so I’m happy to spend time with him.

As for writing, do you have fun with it? Me, yes I love to write. It’s a big part of me that get’s to flow from my fingers daily. Some days I struggle when something is on my mind, but I still enjoy it. Writing is a stress reliever, which is great therapy for me.

I’ve heard writers say that writing isn’t fun, it’s just something they have to do. What? I just don’t understand that frame of mind at all. For me, writing is fun and I think it’s what helps me stay sane in this insane world we live in. After a busy day, I can sit down at my laptop and lose myself. Even if it’s just an hour or so, but it helps clear my head.

Don’t forget all the fun of meeting such wonderful people, other writers, bloggers and reviewers. Then you have the great fans that fill your inbox with wonderful words that make you want to write even more. It’s a wonderful life, the life of a writer.

Writing is fun, if you don’t think it’s fun, then maybe you need to get lost in it for a minute, then rethink it.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… Thanksgiving Cowboy

Stepping back …

Good Sunday morning! Here in Georgia it’s chilly but sunny. It will be a beautiful day. For me, I’m sitting by the fire, enjoying the early morning quiet.

This morning’s post is about the rough draft. I’ve had the rough draft completed and turned into my editor for a week. I haven’t looked at the rough draft since I handed it over. But it has work to be done. I want to embellish on the story, add several elements to help bring his story alive, but I had to step back.

What do I mean by step back? Well, it’s simple. During the writing process sometimes we get too close to a project, then get burnt out. For some reason, the story started slipping away. I still had the bare bones, but the flesh and all the other things that make it a whole story seemed to go out of my brain. I had to step away from it.

Now, I think I’m almost ready to step back into the story. Of course, I’m in the middle of Maggie’s story, but it helps to get into another story to get the one that slipped away back into your brain. It’s still a little foggy, but I think I’ll do fine.

Have you ever had to step back in order to get the story going?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Maggie’s taking over~

Good Friday everyone! Yes, it’s finally Friday!!! Sorry I haven’t been posting much, but I’m trying to finish Maggie so I can finish the Christmas companion book to the Five Oaks Ranch Series. But, I was sitting here working on Maggie this morning and it’s amazing the difference in writing her story. For one, the four brothers stories were of course written from the man’s point of view. I’m back to writing from the woman’s point of view and she’s sassy that’s for sure.

I’ve enjoyed this series so much and sadly all good things must come to an end. Maggie’s story is intriguing with the secrets she’s kept, the over protectiveness of her brothers and the great love she builds with the forbidden man in her life.

For those that have been inquiring about Luke, he’ll be out really soon. He’s with my editor right now and should surface soon. I think you’ll like his story.

Now, back to Maggie. Have a great Friday!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday morning!

It’s Monday morning and my weekend was way too short, but exciting. Saturday was my book signing in Zebulon. It turned out really well and I’m excited about the future events that could spin off of it.

Now to add to my excitement, today the article I wrote for Southern Writers Magazine’s Suite T blog is available on their website. Here’s the link for you to go by to read and share: http://southernwritersmagazine.blogspot.com/2015/11/lining-story-up.html. The article goes over the way I line up a story before I write it. I do hope it helps other writers.

My manuscript that is on Wattpad is still racking up the votes and reads. The comments are really good and I hope that helps with the stories success. It’s still in the hands of Harlequin, so fingers crossed that it does well.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday, Coffee, and Writing

It’s finally Friday. Wow, what a week! My submission to Harlequin has gone from a ‘Received’ status to a ‘In Progress’ status. Per the help screen, that means it’s on an Editor’s desk. Let’s just say I’ve check my email and status so many times that my laptop should automatically go on the site as soon as it’s opened.

As for the Five Oaks Ranch series, well I’m five chapters in on Maggie, which means the series is almost complete, sadly. I’ve come to know these siblings so well. They’ve been a part of my daily writing for over a year. The last book will be like a keepsake as the final story, the parents will be told. It will include recipes and Christmas goodies. I’m excited about it.

Tomorrow is my local book signing, which excites me. With every book signing, I gain more knowledge on ways to make them better. Since this one is in my hometown, I look forward to seeing old friends. The last one at this bookstore was great. So many friends and family came out to support me. This time I have a really cool gift basket to give away and possibly some books every thirty minutes.

So, enjoy today because the weekend is only hours away!

As always, good writing and May God Bless you..

Luke – on his way

I finished Luke yesterday, well the first draft. Now on to the read through and embellishment process. Oh the fun times of a writer. I have to admit that sometimes the embellishing can be quite fun.

Luke’s story was the toughest of all the Five oak Ranch books. Now to the one I’m really looking forward to, Maggie. I look forward to writing in the female perspective again. If you’ve read the first three, then you know they were from the man’s perspective. Writing a man’s perspective is interesting to say the least.

Maggie is almost two complete chapters in after only two hours work. Yeah, I’d say her story is going well. This will be an exciting story of secret love, family drama and romance flowing freely. This may be the best on yet. Can’t wait to get deeper in the story and yes I have it outlined so that’s why I’m so excited to fill in the blanks.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Staying in the top 100

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,889 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

#74 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Holidays
#157 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Holidays

Good Tuesday morning! It’s hard to believe that The Winner is Love has been out for three years… Time flies when you’re having fun is all I can say. This book has stayed in the top 100 of the Holidays General Fiction in the Kindle Store for over a year which is exciting. Yes it’s free and I know free books tend to do better.

This story is a step out of the box type of book. I enjoyed putting this one together. The cover itself was a crazy couple of days of pictures, photoshop and lots of coffee. Today I downloaded a revised edition of this book. The reason was the original manuscript wasn’t as polished as I’d like and since my writing has changed in three years, well, it needed a facelift, but I wasn’t touching this cover. It’s one of my favorites.

Hope all of you are having a great day!

As always, good writing and May God bless You…

What does writing mean to you?

What does writing mean to you? Is it just a way to pass the time, or do you consider it your job? Some writers struggle with this question. Maybe you haven’t sold anything or published anything, but when you sit down to write, is it from habit or need? Strange question, huh?

I’ve been asked these questions many times. When I was a young teenager, it was fun to write down the ideas in my head. I could sit for hours filling notebooks with stories, but it was more of a hobby to fill my time, or was it? I choose to think it was training for my future.

As I grew older, college, marriage, children, life, all of these took over, leaving my writing on the back burner, but not out of my head. Then it all came tumbling back in. At first when I started writing again, it was more of a hobby. I’d type in the words, print them, read them occasionally, but they didn’t speak to me.

Of course in 2012 it went beyond a hobby, it became a part of my life. Now I have a writing schedule, daily word count and street team. I’d say it means a lot to me. What about you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

As my finger hovered…

Well, it’s a little warmer this morning here in the south, but not by much. The trees outside are beginning to turn slightly, some a little more, which tells me my favorite time of year is upon us. I love the Fall.

But on to the post. Last night I did something that quite frankly scared me to death. No, I didn’t go to a haunted house, not one for those at all! I waited patiently, not exactly patiently, but somewhat, for the final notifications to stream in on the Top 25 for the SYTYCW15 contest. Deep down I knew my name wasn’t on the list, but I had to know for sure before I made a life changing decision. Let me just say this, I was so honored and totally humbled to have made the Top 55 among so many great authors, it was a little overwhelming if I’m to be totally honest.

So as I sat last night, playing with the decision at hand, I took a deep breath and jumped. Yes, I hit submit on Tuscany, meaning it’s in Harlequin’s hands now. To what end, I’m not sure, but we’ll just have to see. This book was totally different from my other ones, it was like a part of my soul went with it last night. Was this the right decision? I think so.

Recently I was on a discussion on Twitter with a couple of Harlequin editors and I asked about this type of book. Would it be something that they’d look at? Immediately a couple of them tagged other editors with Harlequin, stating it was what they were currently looking for. That intrigued me enough to hit the submit button last night.

As for Tuscany’s presence on Wattpad, I don’t know. I’ll probably pull it soon, but for now I’ll leave it there. I’ve received a couple of really great reviews. One said simply, but powerfully, “SWOON!”. This made me smile because I almost swooned as I typed the last paragraph of this book and if you have read it then you know why. Then this morning I received another review stating and I quote, “Wow! One of the best books I’ve ever read on Wattpad or anywhere else for that matter!!” With wonderful reviews like that, I just have this feeling. It’s the feeling I had the first time I hit the submit on Ghost Lover, my first published book. And I’ve never regretted that move, not even once 😉

So, with that said, I’ll keep you updated on what’s happening, but I know it will be a while before I hear anything, if I hear at all.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Let’s do a little Throwback Thursday!

Good morning! It’s Thursday, which means it’s almost Friday. Today is the final day for 2014 tax returns to be filed, so you know how my day will go, pants on fire, yep…

Let’s go back to May 2012! I published Tender Flames, a sweet romance. It actually met with reader approval and some disapproval. As I’ve done with some of my earlier publishings I’ve revised this book and made it better. My writing has changed drastically from the early days. With that said, let me give you a look at the new cover.

If you’ve read Tender Flames, then you totally get this cover, if not, then I hope you’ll grab a copy. This romance is a love triangle that pulls you in and takes you on a ride. I love this story for the unique quality of the romance that has grown from childhood for the main characters and yes I mean the three in the triangle. That’s what makes it special.

http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Flames-Revised-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B0084USOE2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

P.S. Still waiting on the results for the Harlequin SYTYCW15 contest. Keep those fingers crossed.