Stephanie Hurt – Romance Author
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As you start the first full week of 2021, make a difference…
Make a difference in your own life… Start each day with a happy thought!
Make a difference in someone else’s life… Give someone a smile and/or kind word!
Make a difference in your family… Show them love, compassion, and Faith!
Wow, the last Wednesday of 2020. That’s crazy. It’s hard to believe this year is almost over. So, what’s my tidbit of wisdom that I’d like to give to you before the year ends.
This one is for writer’s, but you can use it in anything you do. And it’s really simple…
JUST BE TRUE TO YOURSELF!
When writing, always write what makes you happy. If you are trying to please someone else, then your heart won’t be in it. It’s the same in life. If you’re just going about life trying to make someone else happy and never thinking of yourself, then you’re missing out of life.
So, be true to yourself. Write what makes you happy and you’ll see a big difference in your writing. Have fun, enjoy life, and love with all of your heart.
That’s my Wednesday Wisdom…
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
It’s mighty cold here in Georgia on this Tuesday morning. As I write this post, the fire is crackling and popping in the fireplace, keeping me toasty warm. Do you enjoy a good fire on a cold morning?
For me, sitting by a warm fire inspires me to write more. Why is that? I love to come down the hall on cold mornings and hear the crackling fire. As soon as I have a cup of coffee in my hands, I stand in front of the fire, letting it warm me to my soul. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Not to mention I’m finishing up the last of my Christmas romance, which comes through easier with a cozy fire. Now just to get up my Christmas tree and decorations. But that will have to wait until after the upcoming busy weekend.
Enjoy every moment… Listen to the crackle of a fire… Give yourself a moment every day to just be…
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
When I walked into my office yesterday morning, it seemed like any normal Wednesday morning, but it turned out to be an extraordinary day. Let me give you a little background on the reason it was spectacular. I’ve been publishing my work for a little over 4 years and it’s been such a wonderful time, but in the back of my mind, I wondered what it would be like to sign a publishing contract. Today I got the chance to see what it felt like and I have to say it felt wonderful!
I turned in Tuscany on Monday to Solstice Publishing and yesterday I received a sweet note with a contract attached. Let’s just say for a moment I sat there, reading the email about ten times, then pinching myself before I realized that yes, it was real. I screamed, totally alarming the three men outside that were working on my property. Then, of course, I sat back, trying to remember how to breathe.
The picture above was taken as I signed the contract and gave Solstice publishing rights to my manuscript. It was the scariest thing as a self-published author and the most gratifying thing knowing that all the late nights and long hours of tapping at the keys had finally paid off. To say I’m humbled is an understatement. Now, as I sit here in the after glow, I’m totally off the rocker excited about what the future will hold.
So, my advice is to do what I’ve been told over and over by successful authors, keep pushing, keep moving forward and one day, it will happen!
I’ll keep you up to date on the process as it goes. It’s a new, exciting adventure.
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
It’s Sunday morning and raining here in Georgia. At least the temperatures are warmer than freezing and we can partially thaw out. As I prepare for Church and get dinner precooked I’m thinking… always thinking. Maybe it’s a story to write, part of a work in progress or a life thought, but I’m always thinking. Guess what? Are you ready for this? You’re always thinking too…
Some people come up to me and ask how I write. Well it’s like life. I put one word in front of another and form a story. In life we live one moment at a time and in writing we do one page at a time. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but the concept is. Anyone can sit down and write something. It might not be publish worthy but they can write. Some days what I write isn’t worth anything but throwing in the trashcan.
The other day I sat reading a work in progress and it didn’t appeal to me. Unfortunately I was over 6000 words in when I decided I’d put it to the side and come back to it. Then a day or two later something happened during my travel through life and it was like a light bulb turned on. I sat down with my new iPhone app that dictates for me and I restructured the story and deleted the whole 6000 word manuscript and replaced it with the new one. Now I’m happy. Life stepped in and made the corrections.
Writer’s watch life go by and snag snippets here and there, putting them into their work. We experience life just as you do, but for some reason a writer sees things in a different light. We put a flourish on the simplest task and enhance it into something that could change someones life or maybe their way of thinking. Amazing what a day in the life of a writer holds.
I watched The Fault in the Stars last night for the first time. I’m speechless… Now reading the book is in my future. The story is full of life lessons, some hard earned. I’m not planning on giving anything away or spoiling it for you if you haven’t seen it, but I will say this. It’s a phenomenal story and as a writer I sat in awe. This is from a fellow writers words that came from life. Amazing.
So, I’m a writer some days, some days not so much, but I live life every day and so do you. Do you put one foot in front of the other as you walk? Sure you do, but do you live life for every moment. Grasp it and hold on to it and one day you might write it down and become a writer.
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
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…
How do you write emotion? To someone that doesn’t write you may think this is easy. Well, it’s not easy to put emotion on paper. In life we feel so many emotions. We feel happy, excited, angry, grief, depressed and the list goes on. But how do you put it on paper? How do you get the reader to feel the emotion themselves?
I’ve read books that made me laugh, cry and even get angry. But how do you relate that feeling in your own writing? It’s all in the way you describe it and put all you have in it. Make sure you put every detail in so that it brings the reader into the situation. If you leave out some of the details it could make the reader become detached.
The words you use to make the description more vivid is key. Go for the gusto, use a Thesaurus if you have to, but make every word count. When making someone cry over a sad part, tell how the tears streamed silently, or their lip trembled as they held back the sobs. Don’t just say they looked sad. To bring about the emotion, you need to describe the facial expressions, the feelings they have and how it’s affecting those around them.
I had a fan tell me that one of my books made her cry from sadness at one point and then from deep happiness by the end. In her review she put to have a box of tissues close by when reading it. I smiled broadly and realized that I’d done my job.
So, don’t forget to fill in the descriptions and if you laugh as you write or cry, you’ve probably achieved your goal.
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
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!
I did something yesterday I didn’t really want to do. I let my mom talk me into going to a couple of home improvement stores. At least half of Georgia was not at those stores. We were looking for a new Christmas tree for her.
As we walked through the Christmas decoration a small boy came running up to the counter and grabbed a stuffed Rudolph that was bigger than him. His eyes lit up with joy and he started singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I couldn’t help but smile. Before that I wasn’t in the smiling mood.
The little boy had so much joy in his heart that Christmas was near, you couldn’t help but get the Christmas spirit. He went from one decoration to the other smiling and eyes twinkling. When he got to the section with items for Christmas villages I thought he would literally explode his smile got so large. There was Santa’s toy shop with dancing elves, a pond with moving ice skaters, a Church with ringing bells, a windmill with a spinning mill, and a carnival carousel turning with bright blinking lights.
It was something to watch. I remember when I was that way. It was a wonderful time. I have to admit I still have those feelings in my heart at Christmas time. My son is 13 and he still loves Christmas time. He has mentioned putting up the tree several times in the last two days. My husband is not a fan. If it was left up to him we would put the tree up two days before Christmas. Bah Humbug… That’s what I tell him.
So, get into the spirit of Christmas and think as a child with innocence and wonder. It will make your Christmas a lot more enjoyable.
As always, good writing and May God Bless you.
Just a Christmas reminder, my Christmas novel is coming out this week. Finally!!!
Well, it was a very productive weekend. I was able to get a lot of my new book finished. I was able to get over a proverbial hump that I was a little perplexed about writing.
Have you ever knew that you had a part to write, but you were concerned how it would end up? My husband looked at me funny when I told him this. He said he just figured it was all complete in my head and all I needed to do was put it in the computer. I laughed and said I only wish it was that simple.
This was one of the turns this book takes that has been exciting, but I wanted to express it just right. I knew that if it was not just right, it would not work out right and it would mess up the whole story line up to that point. I was able to control my panic and type through it. When I had completed the part and reread it about fifty times, I was well pleased and feeling the internal pressure to get the manuscript finished.
Sometimes I am my worst critic, which can cause lots of rewrites, but I figure if I don’t like it how can I expect anyone else to. Right? My assistant said I was being way too hard on myself and her for that matter. (Smiling). Don’t know how she puts up with me. Writers can be really perplex people, especially when that aspect is mixed in with being an accountant too.
Well, hope everyone else had a productive weekend. Now on to the finish of “A Love Never Lost” which is beginning to be my favorite of all I have written, for now that is.◊
Stephanie Hurt - Romance Author 