The day after the feast…

The day after the feast and I sit here feeling like I’m still full. I don’t even think I can eat breakfast. Although I will make room for a cup of coffee. I always have room for that. It’s crazy the feeling I have on the day after Thanksgiving. The excitement of the Christmas season is stirring around in my mind. I feel the decorating bug coming on heavily and know that by the end of the day my house will look like as my hubby would say “Christmas threw up all over the place”.

I’m not a shopper like most on black Friday. Going out into the wilds of shopper frenzy is not the least enticing to me. Now cyber Monday is my day to shop. I can sit in my living room and shop til my fingers cramp. No hassles, no crowds, no fighting over the last sale item, just me and my laptop.

Now that the Christmas book is finished and the other books are in the works I feel a little better. But the stories dance in my head like sugar plums. I’m trying to finish the works I’ve got started, but the stories keep popping in and taking over. So as I sit here and enjoy a long leisurely morning of movies, coffee and Christmas decorations my mind is whirling with stories and covers and other bookish things.

Why is it a writer never takes a vacation or holiday? Since my accounting office is closed until Monday I don’t have figures dancing in my head, but the writer in me stays awake at night with thoughts and ideas. I watch movies and ideas pop in my head, I listen to music and ideas pop into my head, I see a picture and ideas pop into my head. yeah I’ve got it bad.

Someone asked me one day, ‘Don’t you ever run out of things to write?’ Well, sometimes I have writer’s block on a certain story line. That’s when I move on to the other work in progress and eventually I move back the one that was blocked for a little time. As a writer your mind is usually on overdrive. Crazy how it works.

The only bad thing about the stories whirling in your brain is the times you want them to stop they usually speed up. As I slipped into bed last night I thought I was sleepy, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I knew it was useless. I lay on one side and then the other, fighting with sleep, try desperately to win. Finally I sat up realizing it was futile. I grabbed my Kindle and headed to sit by the fire in the den. I needed to clear my head so I read for three hours, yeah three hours. When I looked up at the clock I was glad that I didn’t have to go into the office the next morning.

As I sit here this morning watching Sabrina and enjoying my coffee the stories are pushing past this post, wanting to escape. I know what all needs to be done to get ready to decorate, but the writer in me wants to just sit here all day with Christmas movies in the background and my laptop in my lap. Oh I love this life.

But alas, I do need to make my house look festive as this is my favorite time of year. So buckle yourself up and get ready for the ride because from now until Christmas I’ll be in high gear. Let’s get our Christmas on…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Living my dreams through writing

If you’re a writer you know where I’m going with this. As a young, starry eyed, very impressionable, soft hearted, dare I go on, teenager I started reading romance novels. As I picked up the first one I opened it with excitement. This was a new era for me. I could smell the new paperback smell, which of course is Heavenly. The book drew me in and pulled out the romantic in me. After that I was hooked on romance.

This started my desire to be a romance writer. I’d sit for hours writing, that’s handwritting for those that don’t remember that, many manuscripts. I kept most of my old manuscripts. Of course now they’re old and yellowed now, but I still pull them out and read them now and then. Actually a couple of my books started from those old teenage dreamy romance manuscripts. Of course I had to do some changes to get them a little more up to date.

Through my writing I can live out childhood dreams. I’ve always loved horses. If you’ve read any of my books you will usually read about a horse or two. I have to say it’s helped with my desire to own a horse. I get to own them in my writing, even have a horse ranch in my writing. Sound crazy, hardly, just writing from the heart.

Then there’s my dream of traveling to Switzerland. I’ve had that dream for as long as I can remember. When I was in school I actually did a report on Switzerland. I even went as far as writing to the Swiss travel center and they sent me a whole package of information. I still have that package. In my newest book, Open The Heart – A Alpine Christmas Romance, I travel to Switzerland. I’ve enjoyed researching every aspect of it. It’s been my Christmas present to myself to revisit my dream through my writing. It comes out this weekend and I hope you will check it out.

What are your dreams? Do you work on making them come true or do you write out your dreams? Sometimes your dreams can inspire you in many ways. Mine inspire me to write. Writing from the heart is the best kind. It shows your true colors and your true heart. So as the Christmas Season gets into full swing do something from your heart. Make a dream come true for either yourself or someone you love.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

I’m back, did you miss me?

Well, I’ve been with internet since Monday afternoon. It came back up yesterday long enough for me to pay bills and bloop there it went. It’s just come back up this afternoon so I’m quickly doing a post before it goes again. Hopefully it won’t because I have a Christmas book to get published.

Hope everyone has been doing well this week. I can say this that I was able to really knuckle down and finish my Christmas book and now to the edits for a 2nd run through. I’m so excited about this one. I can’t wait to share it with all my faithful readers.

As for writing I’ve been piddling with a couple of other stories as usual. Also working on my Valentines book which is the sequel to The WInner Is Love which was last years CHristmas Romance. I’ve had several people asking when it was coming out and now I can tell you that it should be out in January or early, early February, just in time for Valentines Day.

If you get a chance run over to Avonromance.com and check out the many Christmas romances they have to offer. I think you’ll be well satisfied.

I will do a longer post tomorrow, that is if my internet is behaving.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Writing Goals – How do you manage them?

Writing Goals! This can be a hard to figure out. Of course you don’t have to set a goal to be a writer, but it helps to make sure you meet deadlines. For me I try to be reasonable, well most of the time. It helps to manage your time with other tasks, this usually gives you that extra window of writing time. If you wash your dishes as you cook dinner, then after dinner you have that time to write. If you write as you wait for clothes to wash and dry then that gives you another segment of time. At work I try to set a few minutes here and there to fit in a couple of words. That also helps to relieve the stress of the work day.

I’ve talked to many writers about their goals. Some have daily goals, weekly goals and monthly goals. I guess it would depend on your deadline and your schedule. Like around the holidays I might have a lower goal than when I have less on my plate. Usually my weekend goals are higher than my weekday goals due to time restraints.

One writer had a goal of 5000 a day and another said she only tried to fit in 2000. As for me, I set maybe 1000 per day on weekdays if I’m not pressed on a deadline, but on the weekend I make up for it by going 5000 or more per day. Of course on weekdays sometimes I exceed the goal each day if the story is flowing really well. It’s hard to stop the inspiration at a certain spot, but sometimes if I exceed my goal one day, I might take a little time for myself to read the next day. It’s a win-win situation.

As I have a deadline on my newest book which I’ve set for the week before Thanksgiving, I have a pretty hefty goal. Hope you are all getting your goals completed.

As always good writing, and May God Bless You…

Cover Reveal for: Open The Heart – A Alpine Christmas Romance

As I’ve been telling you for a couple of weeks, I’ve got a Christmas Romance coming out really soon. So soon that today is the cover reveal. I’m really excited about this one. It actually follows one of my lifelong dreams and part of my bucket list.

The book starts in Atlanta and then crosses the Atlantic to Switzerland. Who wouldn’t want to spend Christmas in a cottage in Switzerland? But what about who you spend it with? Well, I’ll be giving you a few tidbits along until it is released.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. It’s really cold here in Georgia. Bring on the Christmas feeling. It’s my favorite time of the year so the posts will be getting really giddy in the next couple of weeks.

Here’s the cover for “Open The Heart – A Alpine Christmas Romance”

As always good writing and May God Bless You…

Following the crumbs…

I’m just going to say it. Yes, I started another work in progress. I readily admit I have a problem. It’s called writers overload. I have way too many stories spinning in whats left of my brain. The story is the Christmas story that should have been started over a month ago, but I was working out the pieces and how to’s. I’ll give you a little hint, it’s going to be part of a lifetime dream of mine. I’ll get to live out my dream in fiction.

As for writing, we have to follow the crumbs to get to the goal. Each chapter, each outline piece is a crumb. Sometimes the crumbs are more visible than others. When the crumbs are large and right in front of us we can write for hours without stopping. Then other times the crumbs are so small that we have to search for them. That’s when writer’s block comes in and our mind strays away from the task at hand.

When writer’s block hits you have to step back. The more you try to get it back, the further you’ll push it away. Maybe it’s another story that needs to be finished that’s taking over. Maybe it’s something in your personal life like a load of laundry that’s calling out to be put away. Go put it away and then sit back down.

Another problem I have is the inevitable sore neck from sitting over the laptop tapping out my thoughts. I’ve learned that when my neck gets tense I have to step away for a little bit. The tense feeling overwhelms the writing ability. It takes over the thoughts and ideas. Usually I do some neck rolls and stretch, then take a little walk to loosen up. If you’re not careful it will compound itself and the next day will be out completely.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday. Enjoy this day and remember, it’s only another day of the week, try not to think of it as Monday. Yeah… Right… Time for more coffee 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

When the words flow…

Have you ever had a moment when the words just flowed from your fingertips? As a writer this is wonderful. It’s the times when your fingertips seem to stop up that’s a problem.

Another problem is when too many stories flow from your fingertips. That’s my problem, again. It’s of course a good problem to have, but then your mind seems to be a web of stories. As you work on one story, the other lobe of your brain is working out the outline for another story. I actually dreamed about one of my stories last night. It’s filled my head so much that even my subconscious can’t get past it.

So, hopefully the five different stories I’m working on will come together quickly. My brain is on overload and with tax season over I have a little more time to finish and polish. I’m just giddy with the aspect of five stories before Christmas. One is a Christmas story so that’s a good thing.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Falling for Fall

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. This is the time of year that I feel like shedding my problems as the trees shed their leaves. I feel like it’s time to go dormant and rewaken refreshed in the Spring. I love the beauty of this time of the year. The many colors are the work of God’s hand and he really shows out this time of the year.

As the colors change I get inspired to write. As the air starts to get crisp I feel the need to express it. Soon a fire will crackle in the fireplace. I’ll curl up by the fire and type out my thoughts. As the days grow shorter and Christmas nears I get the excitement of a child. During Christmas I keep a smile on my face and a giggle in my throat.

Today I’m going to the Church to decorate with my fellow members for our annual Fall Festival. We will have games, food, a 64′ obstacle course and just plain out Christian fun. I get so excited. I’ve been getting my supplies together for a couple of weeks and as the time nears me heart swells with the excitement of the moment.

So go out today and enjoy the day. It’s a fleeting time we have on this earth, so enjoy every day…

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Friday morning Post – 2nd cup

As I start my second cup of coffee I smile. The day after the 4th of July celebration is always sad to me. It means summer is almost over. School will start in a little over four weeks and I need to start thinking about Christmas shopping. Wow time flies when you’re having fun 🙂

I spent my 4th of July at my mom’s lake house which was fun. Although it rained we had a great time with a fish fry and lots of conversation with friends and family. It was the first morning in a while that I didn’t get up and blog. No WiFi at the lake 😦

As for writing I’m busy working on two novels that are taking over my brain. The first one is a historical novel based on the time surrounding the Civil War called “Magnolia Hill” and the other is the 2nd book in the “Lean On Him” Christian series called “Faith Through the Tears”. Also just sent in a guest blog post to the Southern Writer’s Magazine and hope to hear soon when it will be posted. I’m still on a smiling high from being in that wonderful magazine this week.

I think I may need a 3rd cup of coffee before I head across the driveway to the office. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Testing and Undecorating…What a Saturday!

Well, I spent my morning taking the decorations down from every corner of the house. It was sad to see it all go. I love Christmas and every aspect of it. The Christmas tree just lights up the room. As I took each ornament off the tree I smiled. Especially the ones my son Hunter has made over his 13 years of life.

It was then that I looked at the mangled boxes littering my living room floor and I sighed. Well, it’s over and I’ve got to get this mess up before I go nuts. So I pushed forward and managed in a couple of hours to have everything packed in boxes and put into the attic. I looked at my clean house after much vacuuming and dusting. Amazing how dusty everything gets when it’s covered with Christmas things. Even the artificial tree had shed all over the carpet. Go figure…

Well on to other less exciting things. Since I’m an Accountant I have to meet my requirements set forth by the IRS. This year they set forth new testing deadlines late in the year. I have to complete 15 credit hours of testing before the end of 2012. I spent a good part of Friday and today finishing that up. Wow, I had forgot how much I hate taking tests. Especially tests on Tax law and regulations, many of which I will never have to deal with.

Needless to say I’ve had to push my writing aside for a couple of days, but no worry. I’m back in the groove and ready to finish the novel that was supposed to be finished over a week ago. Yeah I know, get with the program Stephanie. Well, hopefully everything will come together tonight and Monday morning my editor will have it out and ready to go. Fingers cross 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!