“I Love You” How do you say it?

As a romance author I’ve studied a lot about romance. I’ve read different view points from very different types of people and cultures. It’s amazing how people say three simple words.

Do you just throw “I Love You” out there constantly?

Do you tell your loved ones when you see them coming or going or both?

Do you say ‘Ditto’ when they say they love you?

Do you put conditions on your love?

Do you feel like you have to buy love?

Does love feel your heart or just roll off your tongue without your heart being involved?

Does you love show in your actions or your eyes?

These are just a few questions to ponder on this day of love, which in my opinion should not be designated for one day but everyday. Love is such a wonderful feeling. Maybe you don’t have someone special in your life, but you still have the capacity to love.

True Love can be found in what Jesus did when He died on the cross for us. Some of you may not get into religion, but for those of us that have faith and believe it’s a love that fills your whole being. It gets you through the hard stuff and gives you pause when things are going great.

When you love, love with your whole heart, your mind and your soul. Give it your all and be ready to apologize when you let it slip. Let people know you love them. Sometimes simple actions mean more than three simple words. Show your love today and everyday.

As always good writing and May God Bless you…

Happy Valentine’s Day…

Only one day for romance?

Why do we have only one day to show our romantic side? We should show the one we love everyday, but some only show it on Valentine’s Day. Why? That’s my question.

We should start showing romance every day. I know some days you just don’t feel romantic, but don’t just save it for one day a year. It starts with a simple handwritten note that simply says ‘I Love You.” You don’t have to buy an expensive box of candy or roses or even jewelry to show romance. To me it’s the simple things like a look, a kiss, or maybe just a touch.

Sometimes my hubby laughs at the simple things I like. He says I’m too easy to please. I told him that should make him happy. Sometimes he just blows me a kiss from across the room.To me that’s romantic and it shows he still loves me. Our son just makes a choking noise and pretends to throw up 🙂

I know I constantly talk about romance, but guess what, I’m a romance author. That’s what I do. So get with the program and get on the wagon. Give your special someone a private note tonight. Surprise them with candles at dinner or even just a kiss for no reason at all. You might be surprised at the results…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Celebrating 19 years with my hubby…

You heard right. Yes in this world of divorce and short marriages, my husband and I are celebrating our 19th Anniversary today. We have kept the romance alive. It’s hard to believe we’ve been together for 19 years. Wow, overwhelming.

Too bad we both have to work today. It would’ve been nice to spend the day together, but life goes on. We’ll probably treat ourselves to a nice dinner out tonight.

We don’t take our marriage lightly. I talked with a friend yesterday that said her daughter was getting a divorce after only a little over a year. What’s up with people today? Don’t get me wrong, I know that some circumstances are hard to overcome and work through, but I’ve heard so many people say they just got tired of being married. Really! Marriage is work and you have to constantly work at it. It’s not a piece of cake and even the best of marriages have to be worked at.

So, hope everyone is finding romance and love today. Do the little things that just say ‘Hey I Love You’. It makes a difference.

As always, good writing, great romance and May God Bless You…

Monday, Monday, Monday.

Well it’s Monday again. Wasn’t it just Monday yesterday? Time really flies when you’re busy as little bee. Well that’s me, busy little bee. It’s tax time again and my desk is piling up with returns just staring at me waiting to be sent, but since the IRS has decided to put us off the returns just sit and wait.

As for my writing, I’m doing as much as I can at night. My manuscript that I’ve been trying to finish is almost ready. The editing has been fun. I love reading over my work. It gives me a chance to change and expand on different areas. Amazing how one change can turn into an extra paragraph.

Hope everyone is well. My son is home sick today with an ulcer on his throat so I’m back and forth from the office to the house. Good thing my office is beside my house. Have a great Monday and remember Monday is just another day in this to love one another, read another book and enjoy what God has given us.

As always good writing and May God Bless you…

Looking back, going forward…

I started a rather large project this weekend. I have a cabinet where I keep all of my photos. I have some in photo albums, but 100’s are not in albums yet. I decided Friday night to organize them and put in the remaining albums.

It’s been a long while since I’ve actually looked at the photos. Usually I only open the cabinet to put more in. Well, being the sentimental person I am, I have laughed, cried and become thankful for all I’ve seen and done. I sat with my son and we looked through his lifetime of pictures. When he was small I took pictures of everything he did. He actually looked at me a couple of times like ‘really mom’.

It’s funny what you take pictures of. I saw pictures of my dad, he’s been gone since June 2006. That brought tears to my eyes. It was nice to see him though. My son was quiet looking at his granddaddy. He was really close to him. I told him it is nice to have these memories printed for us to share. He only nodded and held the pictures closely.

Going through the emotional side of the pictures made me think about things for the future. We take so much for granted in out lives. There are so many from those photos not with us anymore. With my faith I know I will see them again some day, but at least I have their pictures to remind me of the love and happiness we shared.

As we go forward, let’s try to remember to live as though there is no tomorrow and love as though today is our last.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you.

While looking through the attic…

Saturday afternoon I ventured into my attic which is taking your life in your own hands. I’m, how would you say it, a pack rat. I confess, it’s a thing I inherited. When I was younger I had a book issue. I’d buy books everywhere I went. Needles to say I have a lot of books. Yes actual physical books. You remember those right?

I noticed that the pasteboard boxes that contained my books were looking a little worse for wear. So I had some extra plastic bins so I decided to take on the task of going through my books and putting them neatly in the bins. It was like a journey through my history. I laughed as I went through the different types of romance genres I’ve gone through in my 44 years. I love history, so I went through a rather lengthy historical romance stage. Everything I bought was a historical romance.

There are a couple of books that I hold close to my heart and have been known to reread several times. One of those was a book named “Violet Fire” by Jo Goodman that was published around 1987. It’s an awesome romance. It’s actually the second copy of that book I’ve owned. The first one I let an old family member borrow it. She passed away not long after that and the book never resurfaced. Not sure what happened there. I was lucky to find a copy a couple of years later in a second hand book store. You would have thought I’d found the Ark of the Covenant. I squealed and danced. Needless to say I was happy.

Well, I thought I’d lost it again as I couldn’t find it a couple years ago when I wanted to read it again. I thought I was just destined to not get to read it again. I picked up one of the boxes at the bottom of the stack and guess what, there it was with a couple of other books I thought I’d lost. I let out a whoop and my son came to the bottom of the attic steps. I assured him that I was fine and did a little silent dance. I’ve read every small moment I had. Funny how your hand cramps when trying to hold an actual book. I love it… My Kindle feels a little left out, but it will get some loving real soon.

It’s crazy how you find a book that you love and you just have to read it every once in a while. If you ever find this book on Amazon or in a book store I suggest reading it. It’s rather lengthy, but really good. I like Jo Goodman’s writing and this is one of my favorites.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Romance…

Romance is so elusive and sometimes hard to find unless you’re reading it in a novel. That’s the comment I hear so often. I don’t believe this state of mind that many people have. Romance can be found, lost, and revived. Still a skeptic?

Romance has been around since the first day of creation. Some people search for it as they would gold in the hills. Sometimes you have it and just don’t see it at all. It’s that simple touch from your lover that sends tiny tendrils of goosebumps up your spine. It’s that simple look of pleasure that you share across the table.

Have you ever wondered where romance hides? Everyone has a moment when you think romance has gone away. Maybe it’s when finances are bad, tragedy looms, or when a marriage fails. Romance is still there, we just as humans put it behind our heart and refuse at times to pull it out again.

As a romance writer I try to bring romance into everyone’s heart. It’s one of the biggest sellers today, romance. Everyone wants it, but what lengths will they go to? Some will spend a fortune buying gifts to show romance, but true romance can’t be bought. It’s a part of you. A kiss is free, a look is free and a touch is free. Give it a try. You might enjoy finding a little romance.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Where your writing takes you…

As I start this post I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was wonderful. Now on to the clean up and take down and enjoying time with my son. My husband says it looks like Christmas threw up in our house. So I like to decorate. What? On to the post…

Where does your writing take you? It can take you to different countries, different lives and let your dreams come true at your fingertips. When you are writing open up your heart and experience it.

As I write I usually try to throw in a fantasy or something I love. That way I get to live the fantasy and make it come true for my characters. I get to do the things I wouldn’t dare do in real life.

Through my characters and lots of research, I get to go to places that I have dreamed of going. It’s so much fun to experience the places through my characters. If you put enough descriptions you can carry your reader off to places beyond their Kindle, Nook or paperback. You can take them to exotic destinations with the sun dancing on the clear blue water or even take them to snow covered chalets with crackling romantic fires.

The sky’s the limit when writing. Give your reader and yourself an adventure, you both deserve it. So get writing and live your dream through your writing. Go to that place, or do that thing you want to do, live the dream.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Polishing it up!

When you start a new manuscript your mind is on the content. Which it should be, but there comes a time when you have to polish the writing. A time to create a cover that will represent your words.

A big polish is the editing. Is it important? Well, yes. If you just write the book and publish it without going back over it, that would be writers suicide. I’ve found throughout my short writing experience that the first read through after finishing a manuscript usually prompts changes, additional wording and even total chapter eliminations. It can really open your eyes for character changes and minor tweaks.

After the editing is done, are you happy? If you are like a lot of writer you may never be completely happy with your work. I know I’m my worst critic. I over analyse my work. Even after it is published I’m constantly saying “I wish I would have written that part differently.” My editor just shakes her head and laughs at me. I can’t help it, I can be a worrier.

Then you have the almost impossible task of writing a paragraph that will sum up the whole book. How on earth do you describe your book in just a couple of words? This is harder than writing the whole book. If you don’t say just the right thing will people even give it a second look? Will you be able to express the real feeling of the way the book should be perceived? The next time you read the back of a book, remember the author had only so many words to describe their whole piece of work, don’t judge a book by it’s description.

Also, sometimes don’t judge a book by it’s cover. When you select your cover art you have to put into one cover the whole feeling of the book. If you write romance you have to express a feeling pulled from the book into the cover. If you write horror you have to put some of the fear into the cover to pull in the reader. But you have to be careful not to show the end results of the book. You have to leave some mystery.

Well, that’s just a few of my writing ramblings. Maybe some of this helped you, maybe not. It’s just the opinions of one writer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Books are like Snowflakes!

You’re probably saying to yourself, what? I was going through my manuscripts that are in the works and was surprised at the varied topics. As I looked at them I thought about how different books can be. Just as with snowflakes, books can have so many different shapes, angles and looks.

You have so many genres. They include romance, children’s , christian, comedy, adult, science fiction, horror, and paranormal just to name a few. It’s amazing how many genres are out there now that weren’t available just a couple of years ago. If you have a certain thing you like, just Google and I bet you’ll find a book in that category.

Then you have the size. Books can be as short as 2500 words up to well the sky’s the limit. Books can be big in size or really small to where you can hold them in your palm. I’ve even seen different shaped books.

Well, then you get into the writing styles. Every writer has their own style. Some are more formal than others. Some have a dry style while others have a sweet style. It’s amazing when you pick up a book from a new author, whether it be a author that just jumped into the publishing world or one that is a veteran but you’ve never read from them, how different every author is. I’ve read some authors and been amazed at their descriptive abilities, but maybe read their second book and it was totally different. Some authors write many different genres. They jump from one to the other trying to make their mark in the publishing world.

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that books are like snowflakes. If everybody wrote the same way in the same genre it would be a boring world. In my opinion the world of reading and writing is changing everyday. Every day a new genre is born and a new style reader. So get reading and try a new genre. You might be surprised at how much you like it.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!