Getting to the Heart of Romance

As most of you know, I write romance. I also blog about romance and the need for more of it in our lives. As I’ve said many times, romance helps in so many ways.If you’re married, you need sprinkles of romance in every aspect of that marriage. If you’re in a relationship and it’s leaning toward love, well you need romance. It just helps out with even the most tense moment.

I’ve read hundreds, dare I say thousands of romance novels. Sometimes I have to laugh at the lengths a writer will go to when trying to tickle a readers ears. I know all about those lengths. I do it everyday in my writing. Are we giving people false hope? I don’t think so, but I recently read an article on just that. The writer talked about teen girls today expecting to find that one man that will give them the romance and life they’ve read about in novels. She talked about having a trend of romance novels that actually talked of real life interactions.

This made me think about my writing. Could a romance novel written from real life interactions make difference? Would the couple waking up with morning breath, totally avoiding one another until they’ve freshened said breath make a difference? What about those unglamorous moments when you have no make up on and your hair is scraggly? Do you write about that? Will it sell or will people laugh you right out of business?

If you take a long look at your own life, how many times have you had a muscled man rescue you and sweep you away to a beautiful location to propose and give you a huge diamond ring, then kiss you into oblivion? Really, how many times? What about a virile cowboy sweeping you off your feet and taking you away into the sunset on his horse? I know, I’m being a little far fetched, but let’s get to the heart of real romance.

In real life it’s the simple things. Maybe it’s a flower picked from the yard, a card to say I’m sorry, maybe it’s just a loaded dishwasher after a long day of work, but let’s get real about romance. For me it’s that look across the dinner table or simply a quick kiss as he passes me in the kitchen as I fix dinner. But in order to sell books, sometimes we have to go beyond the simple and blow the romance up to a higher level. But that’s what sells books, so we’ll continue to do it.

I can say that I haven’t heard of anyone being swept off their feet by a sexy vampire or shifter. But it makes for fascinating reading.

As always good writing, and May God Bless You…

Writing is like dead heading the mums…

I know, you’re say, what the heck? I was out dead heading my mums the other evening with a flashlight, yep I said with a flashlight. I had my time scheduled out so that I could get some things taken care of like dead heading my mums. This helps them to rebloom sooner and even better. Well I forgot to weigh in the time change, which made it dark at that time. So I got it done and felt a little better.

As for writing, here’s what I’m saying. When we first have the thoughts for a book it’s like the seedling of our little mum. It’s fresh and vulnerable. Then we water it and fertilize it so that it grows chapter by chapter into a mature, stabile plant. But once it’s mature and the blooms are in full blossom, that’s not the end of it. We have to keep it watered and the dead blooms pinched off. That essentially means in writing that we have to make sure we’ve edited it and eliminated all of the badly spelled words and terrible grammar that comes along in a frantic first draft.

I know, sometimes my analogies are a little strange, but some people like to have a for instance situation. I don’t like that part of writing. Of course it’s a very important part of the process. Nothing’s worse than finding a huge error and knowing that you just published it and will have to unpublish to correct. So get it dead headed to start with.

Hope all is well on this Veteran’s Day. I want to thank all of the Veteran’s out there for your huge sacrifice for our freedom. Also a salute out to your families as they also sacrificed while waiting for your return. Love you all. So take a moment today for a little silent time thanking those that fought and a prayer for those still fighting for the freedom we know today.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Revisiting old post – “Something as Simple as Watering Flowers!”

This was a post from last August that brought about a lot of discussion. I recently sent it to another blog for a blast from the past and it stirred a need to repost.

Have you ever thought about the comparison of watering flowers and life? If you don’t water the flowers, they will die

without any rain. Life is that way. We have to constantly add something in our life to entertain ourselves. We have to have food and water to live.

Just as our writing, if you don’t keep watering your audience, eventually, unless you grow really famous, your audience goes down and you die. You have to water by blogging daily, adding yourself to every site imaginable, and tweeting til your fingers ache.

I was watering the above flowers last night and thought about that. Even with my faith which I take very seriously, I have to keep read up and prayed up. If you don’t stay focused you lose some momentum.

As I tell my son all the time regarding his dogs, if you don’t feed them they will starve to death. He always comes back with they will find something to eat mom! (Kids you gotta love um!).

Thinking it’s dead doesn’t make it dead,,,

As I worked in my flower bed this evening I came upon a plant that I thought had died. It was all brown on top and just plain out looked horrible. I was getting ready to dig it up and throw it out, but under the dead, ugly top stems was beautiful lush green leaves. I sat back and grinned. I was glad because I loved that plant.

Writing can be the same way. Sometimes you start out really into a story and it just totally dies. I had a couple of stories that this has happened to. I’d have a really strong feeling about it and then after a couple of chapters the vibe would totally leave me.

But the other day I had one of the stories wonder into my head. The more I thought about it the more I had to sit down and work on it. Well I added several chapters and and working on a finishing touch. Of course my editor is going to strangle me because I have a couple of manuscripts that need to be finished and I’m polishing them up as we speak.

So, my point is this, if you have a manuscript that you’ve had to put down because of lack of interest, don’t throw it out. Just put it out of sight for a little while and it may come back to you. I feel that any story that comes to you is important and meant to be written. It just needs a little tender loving care. Maybe it only needs a little pruning 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

This is to all the Mother’s out there.

This is to all the Mother’s out there. Hope you have a wonderful day today as you deserve it. My son was quick to hug me this morning and tell me thank you. Of course it brought on the tears. Then at Church our wonderful Pastor talked about Mother’s and their role in our lives. It was quite eye opening and honest. My hubby put his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. Yep, I shed a tear or two. Bet you knew that already 🙂

It’s been a great day so far. My family met at a restaurant with a buffet and we ate until we were miserable then we went back to my mom’s to eat dessert. How you may ask? Well it’s Mother’s Day and I’m going to enjoy it.

My son asked what I was going to do on this beautiful Mother’s Day and I told him maybe a nap and then work on one of my manuscripts. Also I’m going to admire the beautiful pot of flowers my hubby and son gave me. I picked them out, but it’s the thought that counts.

If you’re mother is still living then make sure if you don’t see her today at least call her because you wouldn’t be here without her. She wiped your nose, changed your diapers, put bandaids on your cuts and nursed you when you were sick. She deserves some respect and show of love. SO if you haven’t called her or been to visit shame on you. It only takes a moment out of your busy schedule to make a call and just say ‘Mom I love you and thank you for everything.” It’s real simple. So just do it.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY…

As always good writing and May God Bless you…

Good Wednesday Morning!

It is a beautiful Georgia morning. The air has a slight crispness to it. As I sit here with the windows open, the cool breeze comes softly across me. I sip my coffee and have my laptop in my lap, just enjoying the morning. I can hear the birds chirping in the trees as if agreeing with me.

Of course I know that I need to get up and get ready for my day, but I just put it to the back of my mind. Life is so short and we run around all willy nilly not stopping to smell the roses or feel the breeze on our face. Why? If we miss life’s precious moments what have we accomplished?

I made a decision the first of the year to start stopping and smelling the roses. Sometimes it gets me behind on projects but I know the fact is I am getting older and missing out on many things. I have spent the last twenty odd years building my accounting practice and working constantly. I have missed out on so much that the sweet side of life has to offer. Well I have been doing more for myself.

One of the main things is publishing my books and writing in my spare time. It has been so refreshing and revealing to me. I did not realize how much I had missed. I actually feel better physically and mentally. It is as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Well, try it yourself. Just stop and take a deep, cleansing breath. See if you don’t feel a little better. As always good writing and May God Bless You!

Two weddings, two nights, Romance!

Ok, so those of you that follow my blogs or know me personally have a handle on my views on romance. You just can’t get enough of it. Well, when you want to get romance in the raw, go to a wedding. In the last two weeks I have had the privilege of going to two outdoor weddings. It has been bittersweet.

The first one was between two good friends that were meant for one another. The wedding was beside the grooms lake that is right beside his house. It was a country wedding complete with the girls wearing cowboy boots. My husband had to sing two songs, one for the unity ceremony and one for their first dance. The unity ceremony was so unique. They used two different colored sand and pour them into one vase to make them one. It was so sweet and romantic. And yes I cried as usual, that is until the grooms rooster started crowing during the vows. It was priceless.

The second one was my cousin’s wedding. They were married in the brides parents back yard. It was very pretty decked out in lanterns and fall colors. The back drop to the ceremony was hall bails with mums and pumpkins. So cute. They have a five month old daughter. She was brought into the ceremony in a wagon pulled by the ring bearer and flower girl. Yep, I cried again.

The only drawback to two weddings in two weeks was all the good food and cake. Definitely eating light this week. But the plus to the weddings was all the romance in the air. It really spurred my writing, since romance is my main genre. I was sitting at both weddings thinking how romance was still alive and well. Sometimes you have to wonder.

So, as always, keep the romance going and good writing. May God bless and keep you!

Something as simple as watering flowers!

Something as simple as watering flowers!.

Revisit of old post – Something as simple as watering flowers!

This was a post from last August that brought about a lot of discussion. I recently sent it to another blog for a blast from the past and it stirred a need to repost.

Have you ever thought about the comparison of watering flowers and life? If you don’t water the flowers, they will die

without any rain. Life is that way. We have to constantly add something in our life to entertain ourselves. We have to have food and water to live.

As I tell my son all the time regarding his dogs, if you don’t feed them they will starve to death. He always comes back with they will find something to eat mom! (Kids you gotta love um!).