Sunday Afternoon Coffee & Writing…

It’s turned into a beautiful day in Georgia, but my writing calls to me. As I sit here with a cup of coffee and my laptop, I’m in my happy place. Dinner is in the oven (roasted chicken with collard greens). I’m a southern girl, what can I say.

My current project is taking me to another realm of writing. I’m enjoying the nuances of these new characters. Both main characters have their own dark places and it’s fun seeing their developing characteristics. And it’s about to take a turn, driving them deeper into their dark feelings, but the fun part is, will they be able to stay above ground. The facts are somewhat skewed and up until the end, you won’t know who’s the bad guy or the good guy. It’s a team this or that, but I’ll let the readers figure that out.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Halloween fun…

It’s Halloween! I know this year has been a challenge, but let’s eat a little, well, maybe a lot of candy and drink hot chocolate. Don’t forget to carve that pumpkin and put it outside to ward off the spooks. Spooks? Yes, spooks.

Tonight I’ll be dressed as Princess Lollipop and will be participating in our annual Trunk or Treat at the church. It’s an amazingly fun time to let your hair down and just enjoy life. And to be silly.

In honor of the day, let’s get a little spooky… Have you ever walked through a graveyard at night? Or went to the old covered bridge to call out to the spooks that live inside? Maybe you’ve driven to the old train trestle and listened for the headless conductor. Yes, I’ve done all of these things. It’s that tingle that runs up your spine. The rush of adrenaline as every sound sets your spook-o-meter off. Sometimes you just have to give in to the child inside and go to the unknown.

And let’s not forget the ghosts that roam free on this night. Say hello to a few while you’re out and about. When the bump in the night begins to take form, just hold your breath and cover your head.

It’s just after midnight and you hear a sound. Is it the dog or is it something else? The door squeaks, the floor creaks, and the hair on the back of your neck rise. Don’t turn out the light…

Corny… Maybe… True… Most definitely.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The great debate – creamer or not!

Sunday is so sweet. After Church we always come in, eat lunch and take a nice nap. Then I get to writing and grab a cup of coffee. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t need an excuse to drink coffee.

With that said, there’s a huge debate out there and no, I’m not being political, far from it. I’m talking about the debate over creamer or no creamer.

Some avid coffee connoisseurs say that if you put creamer in your coffee, that it’s ruined. But others say that creamer makes the coffee. What do you say?

Me? Well, it’s up to my mood. For most of my life I’ve used creamer, but in the last couple of years I’ve grown to love coffee without creamer. But I still love creamer too. Of course, this time of year, I lean toward Pumpkin Spice of course. Then around Christmas, it’s Peppermint Mocha or Gingerbread Spice. My hubby and son love French Vanilla, as do I will a little sprinkle of cinnamon.

So, what’s the verdict? And just to sweeten the pot, per say, I’ll be giving away a prize to all of those that respond. It will include a paperback, some coffee and a little something special! When you comment, send your email address so that I can put all of you in a drawing.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget that Timeless Love – Marina’s Story is coming out Saturday.

https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Love-Marinas-Story-Journal-ebook/dp/B08DFGK8JB

Romance is like coffee…

Good Friday morning. Hope all is well with all of you. It’s Friday, so let’s have some fun and enjoy the day. Yes, there’s still several hours until the weekend, but it’s almost here.

With romance readers, there is always someone who wants something different. There are so many different genres to choose from. It’s sort of like coffee. Everybody likes it a different way. Some like it black, no sweetener or creamer, just straight from the pot. Some like it with a little sugar and a lot of cream, then others, a lot of sugar and a little cream. And don’t even get me started on the many flavors of creamer. As for me, I love mine with just french vanilla creamer.

So, here’s to hoping you find the romance genre you like and a good cup of coffee the way you like it. Whatever way you like your romance, I hope you enjoy it. Read a little romance and get lost for a couple of hours, it helps the mind and soul…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Mondays, Memories…Coffee!

Good Monday morning! Why are Monday’s so hard? I think somehow the weekends have grown shorter or is that just me?

Yesterday, I took a short walk outside. It was short due to the high pollen count outside. My allergies are not fans of pollen. But, anyhow, as I walked I saw the two things in the pictures above. As a country girl, these two items are part of my pleasant childhood memories. The dandelions were fun to blow on, sending the little fluffy white seeds floating into the sky, of course as children, we didn’t know we were spreading the flowers everywhere. Then, of course, there were mad searches in among the patches of clover for the elusive 4-leaf clover. I’ve found a couple in my lifetime, which usually ended in a wish. But the memories are heartwarming. It makes me sad that children today, for the most part, don’t take part in this kind of fun.

Several of you have emailed me, asking about my latest manuscript. Well, I can tell you that the first half is in the capable hands of my editor. I’m working on the second half, which is exciting. As you know, I outline, so I’m seeing the ending coming and all I can say is, it’s different from anything I’ve published thus far. So, keep watching for release dates and snippets, which are coming…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S.: It’s Monday, so grab an extra cup of coffee for the road.

Friday’s Ramblings…

Good Friday morning! Yay… It’s finally Friday!

So, we’ve worked all week to get to this day, but what are we planning? Why might I ask? Well, someone made a good point the other day and I’ve taken it to heart. They said that we look forward to the weekend, but why if we just do more work and don’t get in a little fun time? It made me think…

On Saturday morning, I spend the morning cleaning my house but wouldn’t it be nice if I incorporated the cleaning into my weekday mornings so that on Saturday morning I could, let’s say, write… So, with that in mind, I made a list of my cleaning duties and have separated them by the weekdays. With it separated it actually makes for less time each day. Then I can spend my Saturday mornings doing something fun. Oh, and don’t forget to spend some time with your family, it’s important for our mental health.

So, what about you? How can you make your weekends more fun and relaxing? Writing perhaps?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Snow Day Today…

Good afternoon! It’s a cold, but beautiful day here in Georgia. We’re enjoying the snow,

which isn’t something we get to enjoy very much. I love to watch it snow, but it snowed while we slept, so I get to enjoy looking out at it.

Now, with a huge pot of chili simmering on the stove and a warm fire crackling in the fireplace, I’m sitting with my laptop, enjoying a rare mid-week writing time. At this time I’m normally elbow deep in accounting, but not today. It’s a rare treat which I’m getting to take part in.

So, what are you up to on this beautifully cold day?

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Writing a book is easy!…

Hello, Sunday morning…. What happened to Saturday? It went by too fast and now the weekend is almost over. I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing, yet… Oh well, life goes on.

Here’s a question… How many times does someone come up to you and say, ‘Writing a book is easy, I can do that with my eyes closed.’? I’ve lost count of the people that have told me that when they found out that I’m an author. Usually. I just say, ‘Go ahead, give it a try.’ I know that they haven’t looked into what it entails and probably wouldn’t see it through.

If you’re a writer, you know what’s involved. It’s not the easy job that most think it is. There’s more to becoming a writer than just writing. Most people think that if you’re a writer, then all you do is sit and write. LOL! There’s more to it than that. So, here goes a short list of what goes into the writing of a book, and this is a short list, so it doesn’t get into everything.

1: A story comes to you… This could be the whole thing or just an idea.

2: You begin to outline or put together notes on the idea for the story. At this point, you’re setting up the characters, setting, and plot.

3: You start to write the story. This process could take you a week or couple of years according to how fast the story comes to you or the time you have to get this process completed. Sometimes the story doesn’t come as fast as you want it to.

4: As you write your story, you develop an idea for the cover and at that point or somewhere down the road, you design a cover that goes with the story. (This isn’t as easy as it sounds.)

5: Alright, you’ve written your story, designed your cover, now what? Edit, edit and edit some more. Then you read your story and possibly write more or change some of the story. At this point, I’ve deleted whole chapters that hurt the flow of the story, yes, I said whole chapters. It hurt but had to be done.

As you can see, this is just the start. There are so many other steps to writing a book. This is just a quick, condensed version, but you get the idea. It’s not the easy process that some think it is. But, it’s a rewarding process once it’s done and you’ve published your work.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Toes in the Sand Giveaway

Below are the ways to enter Stephanie’s latest giveaway. It starts now, and ends Wednesday, May 18^th at 10:00am. The winner will be given the option to pick any one of her many books as the prize! (this excludes collections) Make sure you are watching so you don’t miss any of the chances to get your name in the drawing.

On top of this over the next 9 days, if she reaches 200 likes on her author Facebook, and every 100 after that until the end of the giveaway, she will have a flash giveaway!

Answer the daily question: 2 entries
- Can be done daily
Share the giveaway on Facebook: 2 entries
- Can be done daily
Like any posts about the giveaway: 1 entry
- Can be done daily
Like any of the author’s pages: 1 entry
Tweet about it: 1 entry
- Use #toesinthesand
- Can be done daily
Follow on pinterest: 1 entry
- https://www.pinterest.com/hurt6862/
Follow on Instagram: 1 entry
- https://www.instagram.com/stephaniehurt4/
Follow on twitter: 1 entry
- @StephanieHurt4

Happy New Year!

Ok, so how many of you have made a New Year’s resolution? I’ve made a couple of the normal ones, better health, lose weight, better organization. We’ll see how that goes. Also, I’ve made a couple of writing resolutions. I have a list of books and release dates that I plan to keep to the date.

Tonight I’ll celebrate the New Year with my Church family. We always have finger foods around 9, then music until close to midnight. Then we’ll all join around the altar, holding hands and praying in the new year. It’s such a special way to bring in each new year.

How do you celebrate? What are your resolutions? Hope I bring more romance to the world, one book at a time 😉

Happy New Year to all my friends and family! Wish all of you a prosperous and healthy new year!

As always, great writing and May God Bless You… See you next year…