What, it’s July already!

I don’t know about you, but for me time is flying! It seems like just yesterday it was Christmas and now we’re halfway to Christmas again. Guess it’s like my grandmother always said, time flies when you’re having fun.

Today as I sit here working on my latest manuscript I have to say I’m excited. As you know I am working on Chase and my historical romance, but I also have a surprise coming. It’s something totally out of my usual realm so I’m keeping it hush hush for a little longer. Let’s just say you’ll be pleasantly surprised, I hope.

What are you planning for July? Me, well we’re putting hardwood throughout our house starting in the next week. Yep, I said we’re doing it. I’m actually excited because we’re doing this as a family project. Thank goodness it’s a inside project because of the summer heat. I can’t wait to get a hammer in my hand and get to work. Well, I guess I’ll be allowed to hammer, but more than likely I’ll be handing wood to my hubby and son. Sometimes me and tools don’t work out so well.

Do you have some exciting plans for the 4th? I’m lazing away the day at the lake with family and food.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and my website for continued updates on my surprise!

https://www.facebook.com/StephaniePayneHurt

www.stephaniehurtauthor.com

Release Day for The Winner Takes All…

This is the much awaited 2nd book in the Winner Series. I’m so excited that this one is finally out. I’ve received so many emails and posts from readers wanting to know what happened to Slade and Stacy. Well it’s up and running. The cover went through several changes but the final product is better than we could have imagined. It evolved from one picture to two in this dreamy cover.

Will there be a book 3 in this series? Well, it’s a possibility but it will be down the road some. I have been playing with the possibilities but we’ll have to see if it comes about.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and hopefully all of you thought about the meaning of the holiday. As for me we spent Sunday and Monday at the lake. It was relaxing, but I only got in about 1000 words all weekend. It’s crazy how you plan to write over a holiday weekend and then life steps in and there it goes. The weekend is over and you’ve missed your word count. Well, I guess that just means extra work every night this week to get the word count back up.

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…

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…

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.

Locations. How do you decide?

One of my be issues when writing a book is location. Where does the story take place? Will it be a mythical place, a well known town, a town out of my head (That’s scary :)) or will it be a mega city? I try to incorporate Georgia in most of my work. I’m a Georgia girl so I’m proud of my state. My newest novel, The Winner is Love” is based in Atlanta, but the characters go to Colorado and discuss Beverly Hills and Montana.

How do you decide? Sometimes I just never name the town, but describe it in words, not names. Sometimes I even say for example the town is south of a big city. Some books I’ve read have designated towns that are well known. In reading their books I get to know the town and want to visit it. It’s funny how if a book or movie highlights a certain town how the visitors flock in to see where it was filmed or written about.

It is important to designate an area. Some may say why is that? Well you can’t write about heavy snow if the characters are based in the south. Also, beaches don’t exist in the middle of a landlocked state. If you want a snowy region, then stick with the plan. It makes it more realistic. I read a book once that I was so confused when I finished because the author had at the beginning mentioned the cold regional weather, then ended the book in a warm region. The characters stayed in the same town. Really!

So as you write you manuscript, think about the location. Make sure you stay true to the region in regards to weather, dialect and details. It can make all the difference in the way it works out.

As always good writing and May God Bless You!

By the way, if you haven’t looked at the calendar it’s Friday and the last day of November! Tomorrow we’re officially in the month of December and the holiday season. Yikes! Only 24 shopping days left. I’d better get busy shopping online.