The delete button is painful…

Ok, how many of you have had to hit the delete button? If you’ve ever worked on a computer you’ve eventually hit the delete button. Some of you are probably wondering what I’m talking about. Well, for a writer, delete can be a dreaded, horribly painful button. Your finger hovers over it fighting with you not to do. Your finger screams “NOOOOO”, but eventually you force it to do what you’ve told it to do.

Now, let’s get past my dramatic description to the meaning of this post. I was working the other day on one of my books when I hit a brick wall. The unfortunate thing about this brick wall is it was very high and wide, no way around it. Suddenly the story just ended suddenly. What do you do when you hit that dreaded brick wall in a story? Is it too early to end the story, or do you just end it there?

Well, in some instances the story just ends there, but what happens when you know the story needs to go further in this book? If it’s a part of a series, well you just start the new book on the other side of the wall, but if it’s a stand alone, well, you’ve got to get past that wall. But how?

I sat staring at my screen, unable to think about the inevitable. After much thought and wondering what happened, I finally took a look at my outline. I was confused because it was going along so well and then I ran smack into a wall. Why? Then as I read down the many lines of my outline I realized what I’d done. Duh!!! Ok, so I’m blonde, I’m given at least one, maybe two blonde moments in a day. What I’d done was skip a couple of pivotal story line turns. For some reason I’d totally jumped over some very important happenings in the book. I’d actually skipped several chapters.

You may be saying, how on earth did you do that? Well, if you’re a writer you may be saying, yep, been there done that. That night I didn’t start writing until late in the evening after a long day of tax return preparation. I was exhausted and just wanted to get lost in my manuscript. That’s the problem, I got lost in my own manuscript. Sometimes when you’re really tired, you just need to step back and do something else. Maybe design a cover or work on some character descriptions, but beware if you step into a manuscript.

I had to delete three chapters, yes you read it right, three whole chapters. I’d totally skipped several chapters of important parts that would lead correctly up to the end of the book. My brain had literally skipped some of the main plot rendering parts of the manuscripts. As I read through what I’d typed it began to become obvious. All I could do was delete.

You may be asking why I didn’t copy the work and then paste into the end after I entered the needed work. Well, the ending I’d typed did not actually go along with the missing work. That’s another reason I map out the work that comes into my brain. If life steps in and walks all over my memory, well then I have some reminders written into the outline. It totally saved the manuscript. Needless to say, it will take a little longer to finish, but at least it will be complete as it should be, not just a quick ending to the story.

So, a little piece of advice. If you need some help with your manuscripts flow, sit back and take a deep breath. Then try out an outline, it really saved me this time and definitely saved the story.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

When the words flow…

Have you ever had a moment when the words just flowed from your fingertips? As a writer this is wonderful. It’s the times when your fingertips seem to stop up that’s a problem.

Another problem is when too many stories flow from your fingertips. That’s my problem, again. It’s of course a good problem to have, but then your mind seems to be a web of stories. As you work on one story, the other lobe of your brain is working out the outline for another story. I actually dreamed about one of my stories last night. It’s filled my head so much that even my subconscious can’t get past it.

So, hopefully the five different stories I’m working on will come together quickly. My brain is on overload and with tax season over I have a little more time to finish and polish. I’m just giddy with the aspect of five stories before Christmas. One is a Christmas story so that’s a good thing.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Behind the Books

As a reader you don’t know what goes into the books you read. You walk in a book store or browse through the lists of books on your computer, but have you ever thought about what happens behind the scenes to make that book that you hold in your hand possible. Well, let me enlighten you.

As a writer I can tell you there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make that book real. It’s a work in process, it’s the heart of the writer, and it’s the work of usually more than one person.

Steps to the birth of a book:

1: The inspiration – Without the idea or inspiration for the storyline, there’s no book. The author’s ideas, memories, or just inspirational thought puts the story together. If no idea comes about, how could you have a book.

2: Now for me, the next step is the outline. Some authors don’t outline their work, but I have to do an outline as soon as the inspiration hits. For me storylines comes in huges waves. Most of them I know the beginning and the ending, but have to fill in the middle. Some come in a rush of completeness.

3: Now is the time to put words to work. Fill in the outline. Make the story flow and ebb with the emotions, characters and time that it takes to make a story come alive. This process is the longest part to me. The inspiration can come in an instant, but to put it to play takes a little bit of time. Some writers could take years to put a story to paper and others on a mere week or two.

4: So your story is on it’s way to birth, but it needs something else. It needs a name. Wow, that’s a hard one sometimes. A couple of my books were named before the story was written, but most of the time the name comes well into the books pregnancy. But when it hits you, it’s automatic. You just know, yeah, that’s it. But at sometimes you struggle with the name. This is a big selling point of your book.

5: Ok, so you’ve got the story, the outline, the name, but what else is there. What about a cover? Every book needs a cover. Some covers are simple, yet expressive, some are extraordinarily elaborate. Your cover is what can stop a reader in their browse for a book. When I browse through a book store, more than anything, the first thing that grabs me is the cover. I’ll stop and check it out if the cover entices me, draws me in.

6: Well, the cover draws you in, but the description can make you say yes. This is the hardest step to me. How do you put a 300 page book into 400 words, give or take? It’s almost impossible. I have sat for hours working on this very thing. It impacts the sale of your work so you have to make it just right. I’ve actually published a book and then six months down the road went back in and rewrote the description. It actually started selling after the change. Amazing…

7: Well, now you think, you’re ready for publishing. No! A huge, wopping, No! It’s time for editing. Not just your read over, get someone else, maybe two or three others and preferrable people that are critical. This is very important. If the words don’t flow right, maybe you don’t see it, but someone not familiar with the story can. This is your baby, don’t you want it to be the best it can be. Don’t take constructive criticism to heart, but use it for good. It can make the difference between selling 5 or 500.

8: Well, it’s polished up and so shiny it gleams. What now? Well now it’s time to publish. Whether you go with a traditional publisher or you self publish, it’s a big step.

9: Here we go, it’s time to advertise. This is a hard thing to do when you have to keep your name active on social media and everywhere a reader could find you. But during this time you’re trying to write other books and most of us work a full time job, run a household and do everything else that comes with life. A writer’s life is very busy. Remember that when you send fanmail and don’t immediately get an answer. That author may be shoulder deep in edits, stories or advertising.

10: Final step, not hardly, but the final one for this blog. Sit back, drink a cup of coffee and enjoy the glow of having a finished novel.

Maybe you have a few more steps to add. Hope this helps if you’re new to writing or even a veteran. Just enjoy the process.

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

Saturday and deep in history!

Good afternoon friends. It’s been a crazy couple of days. Last week I told you about my assistant (Niece) leaving for college. Well, she left this morning 😦 We went to lunch together yesterday and it was sad, but I’m so proud of her. THis week in the office has been so lonely. I’m starting to get used to her not being there, but it’s hard.

Then Rosie Amber and I have started this blog tour for September. I’ve written a post on it also, but I’m going to remind you. If you’re a romance author then come on over and email me or Rosie to get in line. We are posting a new author every day of September. It’s called Romancing September Across the World. Rosie will post a interview with the author during her time zone and then I’ll follow when it’s daylight here with a blog post also. Rosie’s blog address is

http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/ and her email is rosieamber7@gmail.com. So get with us and get in line before it’s too late.

Also, yep, I’m still going. My newsletter is going along smoothly. If you’d like to receive it via email, just send me a message at hurtsbusiness@att.net.

On top of all of this I’m finishing up “Victoria” the first book in the Women of Magnolia Hill Saga. I’m really excited about this. It’s my first historical romance and I’m up to my elbows in outlines and historical timelines. I’ve learned more during the process of writing this one than with any of my other books.

So, how’s your Saturday going?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

It’s raining outlines…

Here in Georgia we’ve had a years worth of rain in just weeks. When we walk in our yard we have to slosh through puddles. The grass is spongy. A little sun would be a nice reprieve. I know I saw the animals pairing up this morning 🙂 (Just a little Noah humor). Yep, I need to see some sunshine and soon…

As I sit on the couch with the recliner out and my laptop in my lap, I watch the rain. The lightning moves in and out daily. It’s good writing weather as we can’t go out and lounge in the pool or sit in the sun. Even working the garden is a chore due to the Georgia red clay.

But the blog is about outlines and writing. I know I’ve talked about them before but this is a little different. As I hinted before I’m working on a historical romance and it’s based around the Civil War. Well, I had to do a outline of the timeline of the Civil War. But that’s just the start.

To keep up with the family tree which is going to get tricky, I’ve started a type of family tree outline. As this is going to be a Saga and go through to today’s time I’ve got to make sure to keep the mamas and papas and kids straight. Now as a writer this can get crazy if you’re writing and forget who belongs to who.

Well, then there’s the outline for the story itself. I definitely need this to keep me straight. I don’t need to kill anyone off that’s important for future parts to the Saga.

By the way, it will be named the “Women of Magnolia Hill Saga” and the first book is “Victoria”. I’m already almost 20,000 words in and only part of the way. This is going to be a long one, so get ready.

So far I’m up to 3 outlines for this story. Usually I only have one, so this is a record breaker for me. Do you use outlines? If so, have you ever had multiple outlines for one book?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Outlines and writing between the lines.

If you’ve read my blogs before you know I like to do an outline of my book ideas before I start writing. Most of the time that is. Sometimes when I get the inspiration for a book I can’t quite see the middle and end, but if I do I make sure to jot it down in the order I see it happening.

The problem is sometimes the filling in of the chapters between the outline sections. One of my reviewers wrote that they loved the book but wanted more descriptive matter. They wanted to know more about some of the characters. So, in my latest works I’ve been really working on more descriptive matter. But on that same note I’ve been careful not to just jumble up words for the sake of words on a page.

Have you ever read a book that had too much descriptive matter and not enough actual needed matter? Recently I read a book that was just such a creature. I ended up skipping parts of the book as I got bored with the long drawn out descriptions given. That’s what I’ve tried to keep from doing in my work.

So how much is too much or too little? I guess that’s up to the writer. Regarding the review of that one book, some of the places that I didn’t elaborate, I felt like it didn’t need any further explanation, but that was just the way it came into my heart. But when the reader reads it, they may not get the point that I’m trying to make with less words and more heart. It’s a double edged sword.

Oh well, we can’t please everyone. One article I read from a well known author said to just please yourself and make it your own. She said if you strive to please everybody all the time you’ll lose that part that makes your own work special. It makes sense.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…