Finding your audience…

Good morning! How do you figure out your audience? What am I talking about? Well, who reads your books? What age group? What demographic? How do I know this stuff? LOL! It’s called search and figure out.

The reason I know this is that I’ve been looking into promoting books. This is one of the questions asked: “Who is your audience?” It makes sense. So here is what my new series ‘Wishful Harbor’ brought to mind.

Age group: 18 – 25 (This is just a start, but…)
Loves Small Town life
Loves sweet romance with a Happily Ever After
Hallmark movie lover (So far we’re describing me… except the age group ;))
Needs to get lost for a moment or two

Ok, so this is just a sampling, but you get the idea. The point is to steer the advertising in the direction of the above people. In other words, I’ll focus on hashtags that steer my tweets, promotions, and advertising toward this focus group.

Have you tried this concept? If so, how did it work?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… wishful harbor design

Writing…A Resolution…

Happy New Year! Well, 2017 is up and running… New year, new you?

As I sit here writing this post, the Today show is talking about exercising for the new year. Many of you have made a vow to exercise more, but will you do it? I’ve made that same resolution, but have only stretched a couple of things. Now I’ve exercised my mind quite a bit, but not my body.

Another writer asked me if I had any writing resolutions… Don’t we all? I’ve seen several posts about writing resolutions. Some say they will write more this year… Some will publish the book they’ve been working on for a long while… Some say they will blog more… The list goes on…

The problem with this is that we still have the same amount of hours in the day. Yes, I’ve got my year of writing planned out and plotted on my calendar and schedule, but will I be able to see it through? Will I be able to squeeze out more hours in the day? Let’s just say that I’ve put my mind to staying more focused this year. We will see how that goes, but as of now, I’m behind…

Resolutions are a good thing because they make you think about your health, your relationships, and your career. Some people make drastic decisions just after the first of the year, vowing to make a change in their lives for the better. But, make sure that the changes you make are the best thing for you.

Will I write more this year? Will I publish more books this year? Will I make the New York Bestsellers list this year? Will I write full time before the end of the year? Will I write the novel of the year? These are questions I ask every year, but will they happen?

Have you made a resolution about life, relationships, or your writing? What are they?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Stories filling my head…Yikes!

Good Wednesday morning! It’s halfway to the weekend, so relax a little. You’ve got this.

As a writer, sometimes the stories fill my head and I can’t get them out fast enough. Some days it’s hard to focus on one story without the other stories trying to edge their way in. That’s my problem at the moment. I have so many stories running through my head that sometimes I think my head might explode.

The picture I have of my brain is a little hamster running on her wheel. Yep, that’s my brain for sure. So, how do I prioritize 12551866924_826fc1afef this craziness filling my head, I outline. I have so many stories pushing for first place in line, but only one or two can hold that spot at a time. To help with the breaking in line syndrome, I sit down and outline the fussiest, pushiest stories. At least that puts them at ease, for a time, but soon they are pushy again.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a problem exactly. As a writer, this is a good problem to have, you just have to learn how to keep your stories in line, which is the hard part.

So, how do you wrangle the stories running rampant through your brain?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Relaxing, yes!

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Does writing relax you? When you’re writing, do you feel better than you did before you started putting words to paper or laptop? For me, it’s a relaxing time spent. So many people don’t understand that point.

I have people that tell me, ‘you need to take some time off from writing and relax’, but they don’t understand, when I’m writing, total relaxation comes over me. It’s the moment that I can get totally lost in another world for just a little while. Even during the busiest part of tax season, I’d find a few minutes to write. That way I had a little relaxing time.

Do you relax while you’re writing? Now, I know that when you’re getting close to a deadline, things can get a little intense, but be honest, even in those moments you’re probably still enjoying yourself, or I hope you are. Becoming an author has been such a refreshing step away from the craziness that can envelop you.

So, does it relax you or stress you out? If it stresses you out, you need to figure out why.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

When writing Historical Romance…

Have you written historical romance yet or a historical thriller even? To me, writing historical romance is more difficult than contemporary. Why? Well, let me explain.

As I was working on ‘Lily’ yesterday, I got to a part where they were stepping off the train in a new town. That sounds simple, but then I thought about the towns description. Now this part is based in the late 1890’s, so what was around in that time period? Were there still wagons around, had the car been invented (no, I couldn’t remember when the car was invented), or did some towns have electricity then?

The funny thing was, in one part, and yes, it’s still a clean, Christian historical romance, but as the couple walked down the sidewalk they come across a ‘brothel’ and since my main character ‘Lily’ is from a small, Georgia town, she asked about what it was. So, I looked up words for a brothel from that time period, gee I hope nobody looks at my Google searches! Needless to say, the thesaurus was my friend, yet again.

There’s so much to writing historical literature that many don’t think about. Your character can’t simply walk into a room and flip the light switch. Yeah, I had my character walk into a dark room, then realized she needed to light her lantern, so I went back and wrote that in. I had a giggle about that one. Poor thing, I left her in the dark for 5 whole paragraphs before I realized my mistake.

Since I’m writing four historical romances this year, all from different time periods, Google will be my best friend. It’s a good thing that history was my favorite subject in school, but of course, that was …. many years ago, we won’t go into the number of years. As my son puts it, I am part of history, meaning old history. LOL!

So, have you tried writing historical romances? Did you have a hard time keeping it historical, without including more contemporary elements?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

By the way, Lily is now up for preorder!

Introvert, yes or no?

Good Monday morning everyone! Can you believe the weekend is over? Of course, today is a holiday for many, but sadly, if you’re an Accountant or Tax Preparer, well, you’re hard at work. Of course, I’m on holiday in my mind, which brings me to the point of this post.

Are you an introvert? The Huff Post did an interesting article recently with several points to think about. As I went over each one of them, I got the confirmation, I’m legit. I have almost all of the symptoms, but that’s alright. It’s not like I’m crazy or anything, well, let’s just say I’m not ready for the straight jacket, not yet.

I don’t go out a lot, which is alright with me. Actually, my husband is the same way, which works really well. I’m perfectly content, sitting at night by the fire, writing. I slip into the world of my characters and don’t need the world outside the house. Many worry about me, saying I need to get out, that it’s not normal to be content staying home. But, that’s me. Others have to have the outside world to feel normal or find happiness. I don’t and that confuses people.

As most writers can tell you, we see more of the world in our writing than most see in their lifetime. Just last Summer, I went to Tuscany in my writing world. It wasn’t crowded and had no lines to wait in. I got to experience it through the eyes of my characters and it was wonderful. Let’s just say, I had a craving for Italian food while writing this one.

Just because I enjoy the solitude of my home, doesn’t mean I’m antisocial. I’m with people a good bit of the time. I don’t avoid business meetings, Church, family get together’s or anything like that. I just don’t need to go out, just to go out. I’ve made my home a place where I’m completely content spending my free time. It’s beautiful and feels me with happiness to just sit and enjoy life. By the way, I do enjoy life to the fullest and don’t feel like I’mo missing out on anything, no matter what anyone says. I love my life!

So, are you an introvert? If you’re a writer, then 9 times out of 10 you are. Embrace it!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-real-reason-introverts-dread-small-talk_56854922e4b06fa688823798?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

What does writing mean to you?

What does writing mean to you? Is it just a way to pass the time, or do you consider it your job? Some writers struggle with this question. Maybe you haven’t sold anything or published anything, but when you sit down to write, is it from habit or need? Strange question, huh?

I’ve been asked these questions many times. When I was a young teenager, it was fun to write down the ideas in my head. I could sit for hours filling notebooks with stories, but it was more of a hobby to fill my time, or was it? I choose to think it was training for my future.

As I grew older, college, marriage, children, life, all of these took over, leaving my writing on the back burner, but not out of my head. Then it all came tumbling back in. At first when I started writing again, it was more of a hobby. I’d type in the words, print them, read them occasionally, but they didn’t speak to me.

Of course in 2012 it went beyond a hobby, it became a part of my life. Now I have a writing schedule, daily word count and street team. I’d say it means a lot to me. What about you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

A Writer…Maybe…Life…Definitely

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…

Live Life; Follow Your Dreams…

Today I turn 46! Wow, it’s hard to believe I’m almost half a century old. But I don’t feel 46 and I sure don’t act it. Actually most people say I act 10 but that’s another story for another day. I live life and enjoy it immensely. We’re only give one so live it. Many people tell me I don’t get out and do things enough, but the truth is I live my life the way I love to live it, by following my dreams. No I don’t go alot of places and do a lot of things outside of my job, my writing, the Church and my family, but that’s the way I like it. Am I a hermit? No, because the definition of a hermit is someone who lives their lives in complete seclusion from the outside world. I do leave my house occasionally.

How do I follow my dreams? Well for one thing I have a phenomenal life with a great family and wonderful friends. I follow my call to serve my Lord, Jesus Christ by ministering to children, I love Accounting and get to work everyday doing just that and then there’s my writing. I followed my dream and get to write romance novels which has been my dream for more years than I want to count. Do you live your dream? If not, get to it, because we’re not promised tomorrow and today is only 24 hours.

As far as acting my age, not a chance. I don’t feel my age so why act it. If you act your age you’ll get old before you need to. I love to giggle, cry, laugh out loud, share my joy, sit in the floor with the children and sing, cartoons, children’s movies, and so many more things, not to mention extra marshmallows in my hot chocolate. Oh and sprinkles on my cookies, doughnuts, and cake, did I mention I love sweets!

Do you live life to the fullest? It doesn’t take a lot of money to live life. All you need is a dream, a desire to follow it and a supportive family. I stop and smell the roses, do you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing in layers, like our lives…

As I sit and ponder writing, life and the many things we do, I see the layers of it all. Layers are all around us. We have the family layer, life layer, work layer, faith layer and so many more layers it’s crazy. As writers we have even more layers than most.

Some days my layers overlap and I have to push them apart so that I don’t get overloaded. Some layers are heavier than others but in the end they’re what makes us who we are. My writer layers come in multiples, sometimes when my writer layers overlap I get knocked to the wayside. That’s when my mind can’t stay on one story and the characters start running over one another.

Do my layers of life and writing run into one another? Yes they do. I’ve seen many days when I struggled with the writing layers, but that’s what makes a writer work harder. As the characters run around trying to get heard, I wrangle them into the stories that flow out of my fingers. The layers of a story unfold and then a new layer starts. Oh the life of a writer’s mind.

How many layers do you have? If you peel them back carefully can you find your true self. As for me, when I peeled back my writer layer I found myself. I hadn’t realized that I needed that layer peeled back. For many years I left that layer piled under so many life layers and once I revealed it I started a fresh start. My writer layer has brought me into a new world of wonder and other worlds.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…