Insomnia – Not a writer’s best friend…

For the last two nights I’ve written until time for bed. Which you might be saying, that’s good, you’re getting in writing time. But there’s a problem. I have a couple of characters that are pulling at my sleep strings. As soon as I put my laptop down and head to bed my mind wonders to them.

Monday night I laid down and picked up my Kindle to read a little before bed. Of course my eyes got heavy and not from boredom with my reading selection, it’s really good, but I was tired. So I turned out the light and lay my head on the pillow with a contented sigh. The problem started at that moment of contentment. The characters in my pirate romance were telling me to get up.

I quickly tried to push them to the back of my brain. I do run a busy accounting business and sleep is something I need. But they were persistant. I rolled to my other side and tried again, but guess what, they were on that side too. Finally about an hour later and really wound up sheets I got up. You’d think I would pick up my laptop, but I refused to give in to the characters demands.

I carried my Kindle to the couch and turned on the lamp beside me. I situated myself comfortably in the corner of the couch and settled in to read until I could go to sleep. The characters kept up at the needling. I knew that if I gave in to them I’d be up the rest of the night writing.

Have you ever wondered if your characters haunt you? Well, I’m here to tell you they do. Every time I would get into my book a noise would happen in the room that I couldn’t explain. One time something shifted in the corner and I almost jumped off the couch. I turned toward said corner and frowned. I refused to answer their call.

Then it happened again last night, but this time I refused to give in. I tossed and turned. The good thing that came out of last night’s insomnia trip was I rewrote one of the scenes in my head. This morning I changed it and was pleasantly surprised with the results. The chapter flowed so much better with the changes. SO maybe the insomnia was worth it. But of course my tired, blood shot eyes this morning don’t think so. I so need a nap, but I’m not going to tell my characters, hopefully they’re tired from their constant nudging.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Lost in my characters

Have you ever lost yourself in your characters? I think all writers do at one time or another. What’s crazy is I was talking with someone the other day and started to tell them something that happened to a friend and then I realized it had happened to a character in my book. I just shut my mouth and decided to get my head on straight before I talked again. Maybe that’s why most writer’s choose the life of a recluse.

Sometimes when I’m writing I get so lost in my characters world that I have to readjust to my own life. It’s a fact that you have to get into your characters head in order to write a believeable character. If you don’t get involved with the character how can you even begin to tell their story. it would be like writing about someone you’ve never met or seen. It’s almost impossible.

For me I like to write a character bio on all the main characters. That way everytime they do something new, then I write it down so that my characters stay true to form. This helps when writing a series where the characters appear in several books. Oh and for goodness sakes make sure you note ages and names. That’s so embarassing when your editor asks who the new character is midway of the book and you realize you accidentally changed their name. Yep, been there done that.

Lately I’ve been lost in the 1800’s while writing Emma Rose. I’m really excited about this new installment in the Women Of Magnolia Hill Saga. But I do have to make sure I keep up with the times that I’m writing in. Emma Rose has taken over my brain, so I need to get back to her story. I’ll be revealing the cover really soon.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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…

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…

Revisiting an old friend…

As I wrote a couple of days ago, I’ll be revamping some of my first books. They’ll be longer and more descriptive. I’ve always gained more knowledge over the last couple of years regarding different wording and such. I’m excited about it. I started working some last night on the remake of Ghost Lover which is the first book I published in May 2012.

Don’t worry for those that are waiting on the release of two of my upcoming books, they’re still in the works. But as I opened the dusty file of Ghost Lover I had to smile. This was my baby. I read the first couple of words and it was like revisiting an old friend. When you write a book you get to know your characters personally. As you write each word and describe each character in detail you gain so much love for your characters. When the book is finished it’s like a sad moment.

But, when you revisit the book it’s exciting. I’ve been changing several aspects, but the feeling of the book stays the same. It’s even going to have new categories. I’ve playing with the idea of changing the cover a little to honor the newly polished work since it is changing slightly. But the cowboy on the cover will stay the same because I just simply love him.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. Yeah, it’s finally Friday. I hope to post some this weekend on my progress, but I’m going to be busy putting programs into a new office computer. Yep, my tax program was way too large for my laptop, so I had to purchase a new desktop to replace my other desktop. Didn’t see that one coming, but that’s life. Good thing it’s tax season and that will more than pay for the new computer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Getting to know your characters…

It’s funny how asa writer I become close to the characters in my books. I know they’re fictional people but when they’re in your head all the time they become real to you. I guess that’s what helps us as writers. They have to be real in order to tell their story.

Sometimes I get so into a story I’m working on that I feel like they’re not fictional. I’d really like to meet some of my characters. They would be fun to talk to and meet up with for lunch. Some of them I’d like to get to pop up side the head, but I guess that goes with the territory.

I’m currently working on the 2nd installment of The Winner Series. I love this story line. It’s a little reality mixed with fantasy. Who doesn’t want to win a trip with a handsome movie star? Then to get to spend the trip in a romantic snow covered chalet. It does sound like a great thing to do.

I sat last night getting in three chapters and almost 2000 words. It may not sound like much, but I kept having to go back to the 1st installment to get facts straight. Actually to tell the truth as I was looking up a part that would be mentioned I got lost in reading the 1st book. My son looked at me and I know he was wondering why I was reading my own book. If you can’t enjoy reading your own work then how can you expect anyone else to.

So my advice is this, make sure you know your characters. You need to know who they are, what color their hair is, their eyes, their likes and dislikes. It’s like a bio for them that you need to think of. Ask yourself questions and interview your character. If you know more about them then their story will unfold and you’ll fall in love with them.

Have you ever seen a live person somewhere and thought they looked like what you see in your character? I have done this so many times. It’s actually fun when you do this. All of my characters can be seen in my head. If only we had a program that could read our thoughts on our characters. Then we could put their picture on the cover. I think that’s what makes designing the covers so hard. I have a idea in my head of what they look like and I won’t settle for anything less. I drive my cover designer crazy…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Do you know how it will end?

When I sit down to start a new story, most of the time I have an idea of how it will end. Sometimes I can see the whole story and other times it comes to me as the story unfolds. It’s funny how a story comes to you suddenly and you just have to sit down and sketch it out.

I love it when the whole story comes into my head, but then sometimes that makes it difficult because you rush to the ending and leave out the filler. The filler is the heart of the story in most cases. It’s the descriptions, the character building, and the ins and outs of the story that make it build to the last page.

Have you ever knew how it ended, but not the filler? I have done this so many times. I know how it starts and I know how it ends, but not the filler. But the filler will come.

But what happens when you don’t know how it will end? I have written what I thought were stand alone books and then when I neared the end I couldn’t end it there. I had to continue the story. Sometimes it’s the end that is far away in my mind which causes a series to be born. I can see many angles of the first story or bringing out the side characters in a story of their own.

So we as writers don’t always know how it will end. I have so many people ask me how many books are going to be in a certain series and I really can’t tell them. They always ask why. Well it’s usually not something that comes readily. If the story is compelling enough it could go on for several books, or if I see the story starting to wane, then I put a The End on it. The story decides how it ends and sometimes I just don’t know how it will end or when.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Have you got a character you don’t like?

When you’re a writer you get the chance to meet many characters through your books. Sometimes the characters leave a lasting memory on you. I’ve fell in love with many of my characters. Wes in “Moonbeam and Roses”, Jared in “Ghost Lover, and Drake in “Open the Heart” just to name a couple of them. It’s amazing the way characters in your writing get in your heart.

But then there are the characters that you love to hate. Those are the characters fans tell you they don’t like which is exactly the point to their bad ways. Take for instance Thomas in “Ghost Lover”. He’s a real snake in the grass. He’s handsome and tries to make everyone including Jess think he’s a wonderful man. But his true colors start to show when Jared comes into the picture to still Jess’s heart. He does everything including attempted murder to get her to love him.

Oh, then there’s Ty in “A Love Never Lost”. He uses his wealth and horse ranch to woo Lilly. But he is obsessed, not in love. He resorts to kidnapping to try to get what he wants. That’s just not nice at all.

Then you have Brent in “Open The Heart”. He leaves Lacey at the altar and then tries to guilt her back. But he soon finds out that true love wins in the end.

Here are three traits that make a bad character:

1: Jealousy – It gets them everytime. Jealousy can cause a character to take drastic measures and make bad decisions.

2: Obsession – Sometimes an obsessed character can do some nasty things to get what they want and usually their wants are not the same wants as the one they’re obsessed about.

3: Evil – Now evil can really make a bad character. They will stop at nothing, even murder to get what they want.

Sometimes the bad characters have fans too. It’s amazing how some people only remember the bad characters in a book. Some of my fans write to me and ask how some of these nasty characters were started. Were they based on people I know? But usually the good ones are based on people I know, not the bad ones.

So as you write your characters, try to put in a couple of bad ones. It makes for an interesting read and can enhance a romance as they try to break it up. Some bad characters can even turn good. Wouldn’t that make a good twist?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Here’s some links to the books that have some nasty characters:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Never-Lost-Stephanie-Hurt-ebook/dp/B009IQ0LQ0

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Lover-Stephanie-Hurt-ebook/dp/B00COQZI5K

http://www.amazon.com/Open-Heart-Alpine-Christmas-Romance-ebook/dp/B00GW6T6AQ

Choose your words wisely…

Words can be powerful things. They can inspire anger, love, romance, tears, and even envy. As a writer that’s our chosen task is to inspire with our words. Whether it be a mere 5000 word short story novella or a 80,000 word novel, we strive to inspire every emotion in our words. Sometimes the words we choose don’t inspire at all, but encourage.

Words have many different meanings. They can have many facets that follow down a path of the story. Some words mean different things with just the change of scenery. It’s amazing the changes words can bring about in a story. One word can stop the breath of the character or bring about a gasp of love.

As writers we strive to craft a masterpiece just as a sculpture uses a chisel and stone, we use a thesaurus or dictionary to craft the perfect piece of artwork.We chisel at a story and shape it to our way of thinking. We work at it hard and steady shaping out every detail so that the reader is transported to another world. Our characters have to be given the same care as a fine piece of marble ready for the chisel of a master. In order for the reader to understand or know the character we have to choose the right words to describe the character just as a sculpter chisels the features of the face of his art.

It’s amazing how a well crafted story can give you a new outlook, a small sense of accomplishment and maybe even a new set of fans. As I craft my stories I try to put everything at my disposal. Using different words to mold the story into reality can give the reader a new outlook as well as yourself.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Rainy day in the South

Well, I woke this morning to the pitter patter of rain. A very cold rain. It’s dark and dreary outside, but inside it’s warm and cheery. My writer’s mind is writing it as a sunny, beautiful day. That’s the fun thing about being a writer. I can rewrite the day in my pretend world. You may be saying, Stephanie, honey, your writing is not life. I’m well aware of that, but writing is part of my life. You make your feelings the way you want to.

If it’s drab outside you can control how you feel about it. You either let it get you in a crabby mood or you smile and say it’s a beautiful day. It’s the same with writing. You are the one that chooses the feeling of it. It can be sad, happy, scary, or whatever you want it to be. As I sit and work on finishing a sad to happy book it’s a good day to write the happy part.

You’re in control of your life. Well most of the time. Don’t let emotions control your life. I used to struggle with this. I’d let the day control me. If it was raining I’d be down and out. But I realized one day that I could control that. No I can’t control the weather before you ask, but I can control how I react to it.

It’s the same with my writing. I control the destiny of the characters. If they’re happy or sad it’s up to me.So as I sip my warm coffee, laced with pumpkin spice creamer I smile and say rain, rain, go away, come back another day. But I smile. Live every day with a smile. Come on, you feel that smile coming, just let it out.

I hope every one of you stay safe in this rolling storm system because of the icy side of it.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…