Stephanie Hurt – Romance Author

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Tag Archives: Morning


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National Pancake Day!

Pancake

Good morning! I do hope you’re having a great Tuesday so far. Me, so far so good.

It’s National Pancake Day! Who comes up with these special days? Of course, I love pancakes and it’s special at our house when I cook pancakes for breakfast or dinner.

For me, I love buttermilk pancakes with strawberry syrup. Yep, that’s a lot of calories, but it’s oh so good. When I was younger, I’d eat buttermilk smothered in strawberries and whipped cream. Yep, those were the days when I could eat things like that and not count those calories, but now, that would throw me over my daily count in one meal! LOL!

So, what’s your favorite pancake?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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Cloudy Morning Writing…

Good Tuesday morning! It’s one of those, ‘I want to stay in bed longer’ kind of mornings, but alas, I had to get up and fix breakfast then lunch for my son before school. Now, two cups of coffee later, my eyes are still heavy. Menopause, I blame that for my lack of sleep.

Now, the good side of not sleeping and lying awake; story ideas! As I lay there in the middle of night, refusing to get up and read, I worked on part of my pirate romance that was stumping me. In my mind, I had it figured out. The funny thing is, when I did drift off to sleep, well, I dreamed about pirates. That’s not a bad thing, I like pirates.

So, this morning as I start back on the manuscript, I’ll put the newly thought out part into words. I’m so loving my new pirate romance. It’s pulling me into the story. But of course, all of my books pull me in and envelope me. That’s how I keep my head in the work.

With the cloudy, dreary morning, I struggle with my sleepy eyes, but hopefully, the third cup of coffee will do the job. Especially since I have to get my act together and get to the office in a couple of hours!

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


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Outlines, good or bad…

I’ve been telling you about my surprise manuscript for a couple of weeks. As I sit here enjoying my coffee and the morning sun, I’m going over the outline for the new work. It’s a complete outline that goes to the words ‘The End’.

Some writers say they can’t work from an outline and others, well they can’t work without one. I’ve written several books using a outline draft, but it sometimes changed through the process. My new work is coming along well with the outline. This outline seems to flow with the way I see the story in my head. But I wonder if it will stay the same.

Here are some good points to using an outline…

1. The outline keeps you focused on the story and where it’s headed.

2. Outlines are not written in stone and can change.

3. If you have a detailed outline, all you need to do is make a chapter out of each line.

Since my outline goes to number 29, that means it’s looking to be a really long book. The details are there, all I need to do is pull each chapter from the lines I’ve written. With this outline I was able to pull the story that’s running around in my head out. When a story comes into my head, usually the whole thing comes in a rush and I can’t wait to get to the end. With my outline I was able to get the story on paper so that I’m free to fill it all out.

So, do you work with outlines? Have you ever tried? What was your experience?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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Coming out of the rain!

rose

Good Tuesday morning! It’s wonderful to look outside this morning. The sun is streaming in through the windows and everything looks great. We’ve had rain and dreary weather for over a week, so the sun shining this morning makes me smile. Although it’s a little cool this morning, I’m not complaining one bit.

As a writer I go through many phases of writing. Some days I feel like it’s raining in my brain and the floods of thoughts seem to overtake me. It can be overwhelming, but then the sun comes out and the writing begins. I’ve been coming out of the rain for the last couple of days. During the busiest part of tax season I had so much going on in my mind that I couldn’t get a hold on my writing.

Now that the sun has come out I can’t seem to write enough. Of course I still have to go into the office and do accounting, but my mind is still focusing on the stories that cross back and forth. I’m a major multi-tasker so usually I have a note pad handy for those moments when I can’t get them to stop screaming at me. Some days as I do data entries which usually I do this automatically after over twenty some odd years I can do these in my sleep, I use my dictation app on my phone and write as I work. Yep I’ve got it bad.

If you’ve been following my blog the last couple of days you know I’m doing a fun giveaway of Ridge. This is because Oakley is coming out really, really soon… So keep up with all the news and subscribe to my website at stephaniehurtauthor.com for updates. Also, watch out for the questions that help you rack up points for chances to win a copy of Ridge.

I hope you enjoy your day and make the best of it!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Here’s a little reminder of the giveaway rules and today’s question:

Do you prefer a moonlit stroll in the country or on the beach?

Ridge Giveaway


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Friday morning writing

Good Friday morning everyone! Yes, it’s finally Friday. As I sit here sipping my coffee I think about the work at hand. I have a couple of books in the works, but which one do I work on for the next hour before I get ready to go out to the office? 

Some days I can’t decide which book to work on. When you have several going and they all call out for attention, what do you do? This morning is one of those times. I’m almost completely done with one, but I just started another one that’s crying out too. Of course I have the outline ready for two more that have been running around in my head. I even dreamed of one of them last night.

Two of these books are 2nd books in various series and I really need to get them out soon. 

How do you figure out which one to work on when all of them are crying out for attention? 

I hope everyone has a great Friday. Now on to the manuscripts…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…


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Writer’s Insomnia…

Imagephoto credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristianagasparotto/10941256573/”>Cristiana Gasparotto</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

Good Monday morning. It’s definitely a 3 cup morning. I woke at 3:55 this morning and tossed and turned until after 5. When the alarm went off at 6 I groaned and slapped the clock groggy and grouchy. But if you know me well, you know the grouchy part left after a couple of sips of coffee, but the groggy stayed.

Writer’s Insomnia is real, that is if you’re a writer. Insomnia is bad enough, but writer’s insomnia makes you crazy. It causes you to sleep with a pad and pencil beside the bed. What’s even worse is you can write several chapters in your mind as you lay tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep, but the story keeps prodding your brain.

Most of the time you end up getting up and typing late into the night. Sometimes it’s the best time to write because it’s quiet, but deep down you know you need to get some sleep. As you type or write long hand the story that plagued you while you tried desperately to sleep, your brain tells you that you need to go back to bed. But unfortunately the story fills that sleep space.

Have you ever fought the bed while a story poked at you? What do you do to get past it? Does warm milk work or do you give in and get up to fill the need to write?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 


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Monday Morning Wake Up Post

If you haven’t realized it yet, yep it’s Monday folks. School started back today after a very long break due to the ice storm and then Winter Break. The alarm clock went off at 6:00 this morning and it was rough. I’m working on my second cup of coffee and contemplating my third. 

Of course with Tax season in full swing my day is full of appointments for drop offs and pick ups. But for another hour I get to sit and enjoy my coffee, work on my upcoming book release and relax. This is my time when I can quietly work on things in the house. I already have a load of laundry and a load of dishes going. But more importantly I have a book to finish.

Since I’m working on my first time travel romance, I’m excited about the upcoming release. I’m doing this one a little differently than my other books. It’s going to have a pre-order available through Smashwords. The pre-order will be on Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes and Kobo. I will be running several giveaways and some free books to select people that win the drawings. The contest will be announced this week so keep watching. Several of my books will be up for grabs to those that pre-order my book and send me a picture of their pre-order confirmation, but I’ll announce the rules soon.

As for the book that’s coming out, I think my fans will be surprised. I’m hoping it will be a pleasant surprise. This is a little step away from my normal writing, but of course there is still a handsome cowboy and horses, I have to keep that going. But I’ve never delved into the time travel genre. It’s been a great experience and I think it’s a story that will make you think and wonder all the way to the end, which is an interesting ending. 

So, how are you spending your Monday morning? How many cups of coffee does it take to get you going? Let me know I’m not the only coffee addict…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…