Friday night and smiling :)

Well I made it through another week. Thanks to all the well wishes I’ve received. I’m feeling much better, but still a little stuffy. I’m excited for the weekend. Not planning much of anything but some time for myself somehow among the tax returns, my son’s shot gun practice and house cleaning.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday night and remember to smile. It’s the weekend and God has given us in Georgia a beautiful weekend. Get out and enjoy the outdoors if you can.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday Morning Giggle:)

Good morning my wonderful friends. It’s so awesome to have so many people to share with. Between my family and friends I’ve been wonderfully blessed. Well, I guess you’re wondering what the giggle is all about.

Well, I was checking my sales stats this morning and I had to take a second look. My sales took a nice turn in December on major sales engines like Barnes & Nobles, Kobo, Apple and Sony. I did a little happy dance and did a lot of giggling. Thank goodness I was alone or my husband may have had me hospitalized. Nah! He’s used to me and my quirky ways. Good thing 🙂 He was the first one I called and he was ecstatic. The first comment was “Baby that’s awesome. You’ve done well.” I reminded him that we’ve done well. You can’t do this without a good support group. Especially from your family and family

The second was my assistant/editor. She was excited. “Finally people are noticing the books.” Then she reminded me that the manuscript I’m working on is not completed.

Well, I’m no where near ready to quit my day job… Just excited to get over that invisible mark I’d drawn in the sand where my writing was concerned. I just wanted to share with you guys my happiness. This has inspired me to try and push through the cobwebs in my brain. Yeah good luck with that one. LOL

Well, good thing I don’t write to get rich. (Although it would be nice to make enough to make writing my primary career and accounting a hobby.) Dreams are fun. Especially when you see them edge a little closer to reality. God has blessed me throughout this conquest. I owe Him the credit for my writers brain and heart.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Writer’s frame of mind

What’s up with my writer’s brain? The book “Rekindled Flame” that was supposed to be completed in December is still in the process. What started out to be a novella has turned out to be a novella on steroids. It’s funny how you think you know how the manuscript will go and then all of a sudden you’re going into a more advanced manuscript.

Got to rant for a moment on reviews. As I’ve said before reviews rarely make me upset, but I’ve received a couple that seem to be from the same person. It’s like a reviewer stalker. They’re appearing on all my books and say basically the same thing. What’s funny is the review does not fit the book. I’m not sure what the reviewer is trying to accomplish, but I do know that they need to actually read the book so that the review at least matches. I don’t get mad or upset about ugly, nasty reviews, but I don’t appreciate just downright vicious ones that come from a person that evidently never read the book to begin with. Oh, well, enough of that. Whew, got that off my chest. Now I feel lot’s better 🙂

Was pleasantly surprised when a delivery was made yesterday. It was my newest novel. I ordered copies for giveaways and family. It was “The Winner Is Love”. It’s so exciting to hold your work in your hand. Seeing them on the internet and computer screen is one thing, but to actually hold it in your hand is so rewarding. I was very pleased with the cover. My editor designs my covers and she’s awesome. She get’s exactly what I want and totally blows me away with the finished product.

Well, it’s Friday and school started back today for my son. It was a wonderful Christmas break. We spent some good mama-son time together. It was sad to put him on the bus this morning. The house is so quiet without him playing his drums (Santa had a brain issue). Well, it’s back to normal in the office and tax season has begun.

As usual, good writing and May God Bless You!

As I Ponder 2012…

I thought this picture would be a refreshing change. Everything here is starting to look drab and dull. Winter can do that you know. I can hear the birds chirping this morning as I make my post. I love it. Well, on to the new year.

As I ponder the past year I wonder, what did I accomplish? What did I want to accomplish but didn’t? Well, let’s see. When 2012 started I had only played with the idea of publishing some of my manuscripts. Now six of them are a reality. That’s exciting to me. Wow, I published six books in 2012, should’ve been seven, but that’s water under the perpetual bridge so to speak.

My ship didn’t come in, meaning I didn’t win the lottery or sell a million books, so today I have to come back to my accounting office and start the busiest time of the year for an accountant. I love this time of year. Weird, I know, but that’s just me. I love it when it’s busy and I don’t have time to think about the things I haven’t done.

I am thankful for a healthy, happy family. It’s wonderful to have friends that care, family that is close and all of you. That’s another thing that changed in 2012. I became a social media junkie. Yep, that’s right, me, ‘Ms I don’t do social media’. 🙂 Well you all know how that turned out. Here I am blogging, tweeting, facebooking, and any other site I can get on. Funny how publishing a book can change your life and publishing six in one year really changes things.

Well, I hope you all have a prosperous year.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you in 2013!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope all of you have a safe New Year’s Eve. Well, I will start the new year with a new book, since I was unable to complete it today. Oh well, life goes on. I will chat with all of you in 2013. That sounds so weird.

As always, good writing and God Bless!

Writing the right ending…

What do you do when you get down to the last chapters? At this point you need to building up for the end, but how?

As I work on the ending of my newest book, I ponder this question. Just as my last novel, “The Winner Is Love” I wonder, is this the end? Well with that one it wasn’t. I didn’t know it when I started writing it. I had plan a simple, sweet Christmas romance that would end at the words The End. But guess what, as with any writer I had to listen to my characters and my heart told me their story is not done.

My newest book is the 2nd book in a series and I don’t know whether I want it to continue. But if I don’t continue it, how do I end it? Do the lovers ride off in the sunset never to be heard from again? Do I kill them off in a lovers quarrel? What am I saying? I can’t kill them off, that would be murder.

The ending of a book can be as important, or even more important than the beginning. I’ve read books before that the ending left me baffled. Some have left me angry and others ready for more. If you are planning a next book, you have to leave the reader wanting more. You have to give just enough information to keep them hooked for the next book. If you’re ending it there, you need to make the ending mean something. If you end the book wrong, will the reader want to read anything else from you.

I have to admit that I’ve read some books that the ending made me so upset that I didn’t have the heart to read the authors list of other books written. I just couldn’t do that to myself. You know how it is when you’re watching a movie and the main character that you’ve fell in love with dies in the last scene and bam, that’s it. Finished, the end, done! Makes you want to throw something at the TV. Books can make you want to throw your Kindle.

What do you like in an ending? Do you like the explosive ending, where you are just floored? Do you like the sweet, tender ending where you just melt and have to sit quietly for a moment and reflect? (Maybe that’s just me 😉 ) Or do you like the nail biter ending where you get left hanging on the edge of the cliff? Let me know your thoughts. I love to hear what everyone thinks.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Decorating with Friends.

Today was really fun. It was the annual decorating of the Church. Several ladies got together to deck the halls so to speak. We always have a blast. As we all work so well together it makes it a joy. The only draw back is the Church is three stories and we decorate on all levels. Thank goodness we have several children to do most of the running up and down the stairs getting supplies for us.

It’s always so heartwarming to make His house sparkle with the spirit of Christmas. You never know if someone that visits one of the Sundays through the Christmas season knows about the real reason for Christmas. As we decorate the Church we try to fill it with reminders of His birth. Angels, stars, mangers, and love go into the decorating.

As the weekend progresses I hope to decorate my own house. Since my hubby is sick with what we think is the flu, it may have to wait a couple of days.

As always good writing and May God Bless you.

Laugh, it’s Friday!

Hello fellow bloggers. It’s Friday. Had you noticed? Did you forget? Well, I woke up and smiled. It’s Friday and the weekend officially starts in a couple of hours.

Have you laughed lately? I’m not talking about that snicker or pretend laugh when someone tells you a stupid joke. I’m talking about a outright, stomach clenching laugh. Well if you haven’t then try it. It helps you feel better. It clears the mind and makes way for positive thinking. Studies show that laughter helps people heal faster. I don’t know much about that, but I do know it helps you feel better.

As a children’s minister I laugh a lot. Children can just bring on laughter just being themselves. Sometimes I get to class on Wednesday or Sunday with a splitting headache and soon I’m feeling better. I contribute it to laughter.

Try to laugh today. Don’t take things so seriously. You only live once and you need to enjoy it. It also helps your writing and during November a lot of people are on a writing marathon. If you don’t have anything to laugh about, go to the internet and find a joke site or youtube video. See if you don’t feel better after you have that healthy side splitting laugh.

Well, as always, good writing, have a good laugh and May God always bless you!

For those in the north that are still having issues from Sandy, try to laugh. I know that you don’t have a lot to laugh about, but it couldn’t hurt to just laugh. It might give you some hope or extra energy. Not to mention it will warm your body against the cold. Praying for all of you!

The journey of a writer.

Have you ever wondered why you became a writer? Maybe you had an idea one day that was interesting and you decided to expand on it. Maybe you experience something in life that you felt others would like to hear about. Maybe you just simply love to write.

I started writing when I was a teenager and we won’t discuss how long ago that was. My grandfather wanted me to be a journalist. It got me to thinking about all the stories that ran around in my head. Sometimes I would spend most of the day in my room making notes or filling a notebook with words that came so easily. I just filed those away and went on to the next adventure.

My assistant was cleaning my old desk one day and found those old manuscripts. Some of them were written in pencil and had faded, but you could still see the words. Some were typed on an old typewriter. It actually brought back memories of sitting at a typewriter with the bottle of whiteout beside me. My typing skills came later.

Being a writer means different things to different people. For me it is a stress reliever. I get so relaxed when I’m emptying my brain on the screen. Sometimes, like yesterday, the words just flow from my fingers. Sometimes I get frustrated that I can’t type as fast as the words come. Sometimes I get way ahead of my fingers and I marvel at the fact that my fingers remember the words. It gives me pleasure when I finish a manuscript and look at it.

I know that some people may not like my style of writing, but that’s ok with me. Through reviews I’ve found that some people do like my writing. I’m not in it to become rich because I’ve done my research and I know that’s a one in a million chance. At least I can dream about it though.

My writing experiences have been fun. Sometimes it’s just fun to go back and read what I wrote years ago. My latest novel was started several years ago and all that was written was the first chapter. I don’t even remember why I stopped, but I’m glad I finished it. It was found by my assistant on a 3-1/2″ floppy. That tells you how old it was.

So, if you love writing keep it up. If you love experiencing the agony of marketing keep doing it. If you love the challenge of watching your sales numbers and not going nuts keep it up.

As always, good writing and may God bless you!

As Promised, The Ark!

As promised, a pic of me as “the ark” last night at “Trunk or Treat”. It was extremely cold so I had on three shirts and everybody laughed and said if I fell I would bounce I was so padded. I could hardly move my arms due to the thickness of the shirts.

It was a great night. We had a lot of Trick or Treaters. They were awesome and made me feel like a job well done. As you can tell in the background we served food. That was a popular area.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and Safe Halloween. Also still praying for those of our friends up north that are still dealing with “SANDY”. Our thoughts and prayers are with them in this awful time.