Cowboys Everywhere

Have you noticed all the romance novels that involve cowboys? As a writer of cowboy romance it’s very invigorating. I was scanning a couple of book sites yesterday and it was amazing how many were cowboy related. The covers were mostly graced with sexy cowboys sporting Stetsons and boots.

So, what’s up with all the cowboys. For so long every other book was graced with a vampire or other type of rogue character, but I’ve noticed more cowboys. Could it be that everyone is getting into the cowboy craze. Could country themes be making a comeback?

Well, as for me, that’s a good thing. If a book has a cowboy or horse on front, usually that’s the one I’ll pick up to read. So, go pick up a cowboy romance if you haven’t read one and come on over to our side 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Do you like it long or short?

Well, do you like it long or short? You may be scratching your head and saying, well that’s it, she’s finally lost what’s left of her brain. What I mean is reading. Do you like a long novel or a short easy read?

I was reading a post yesterday about a study done on how many actually finish a long novel. It intrigued me. I started thinking about all the books that I’ve started and they were good up to a point, then about 100 or so pages in I lost track of where the book was going. But then later I pick it up and finish it on a rainy day.

I’ve written long and short books, but I get the better response from the short ones. Amazingly enough a lot of people prefer a short, easy read that get’s to the heart of the story quickly and keeps them enthralled for a couple of hours. Several publishing sites actually have a special segment of publishing call short reads or lunch time reads.

When I was younger the craze was the long novel and now it seems the shorter the better. I was going through some new books on Smashwords.com the other day and over half of them were less than 10000 words. Amazing.

I guess that’s why my shorter novels sell better. Funny isn’t it. We’ve gotten to such a busy way of life that we’ve even shortened our reading time. Oh, we still make time for reading, but we want to do it in record time so we can go out and get busy again. Oh well, I’ll just write what I feel like I need to get my stories across and hope it passes the test.

So, let me ask again, Do you like it long or short? See I told you it wasn’t a crazy question…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The lure of Romance…

In today’s world of divorce, affairs, depression, terrorism, disasters and just plain out life, we’re looking for a way to escape. A lot of people use reading to do this. A large percent of the books read are romance. Maybe it’s the thought of true love, untainted love or even that dream of another life.

When I sit down at my laptop I try to get lost in the moment. I want my reader to feel the same way. If you can’t get lost in the moment as a writer, then how can you get a reader lost in the moment? I want to get my reader into another world and away from the worries of life. Just for a moment to give them something to dream about…

Romance has always carried me away to another place. Sometimes it’s to another country, another time period or just to see life from someone else’s eyes. As I read a book, if it’s a good descriptive book, I try to immerse myself in the story. I try to get lost in the lure that’s romance.

Everyone needs a little romance in their life. Maybe it’s not your thing. I spoke with a friend not too long ago that said she can’t stand to read a romance. She reads only mystery and science fiction. She said she wanted to read my books but was afraid she’d be too critical. I talked her into reading one of them. Well, she’s now into the third one. I smiled as she told me how she liked the first one. “I thought it would be just oozing with silliness and lovey dovey stuff.” I laughed and told her that not all romance books are that way.

Some people do put a stigma on romance books. They think that only housewives and lonely people read them. They’re so wrong. Some of my best fans are business women, teachers, and even some men. The men are the funny ones. I have to say that I was surprised at the amount of men that read romance. So, as I say everyone needs a little romance added to their life.

So go out and pick up a romance novel today and add some spice to your life, your marriage or just to be taken away from the business of life for just a moment.

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…

Good Memory and Writing…

Do you have a good memory? Me, not hardly 🙂 Sometimes I really think I’m losing my memory skills. Our memory is an integral part of writing. Why? Well here are my top 5 reasons memory is important to writers:

1: You have to remember the main characters biography. If you have a woman with blonde hair for the main character and all of a sudden in the middle of the book you write they have dark hair, well you’ve just lost the character all together. I’ve actually read a book before that the main character changed all together. It’s a story breaker!

2: Book Setting – This is important to the story. If you’re story is based in the snowy mountains, then midway through the book it becomes the desert, then you’ve lost the objective completely.

3: Character backgrounds – When you start a book always keep a notebook beside you as you write. As you develop a character write down their characteristics. Keep up with amount of siblings, hometown, etc.

4: Love background – You may have to ask yourself what I mean. Well it’s quite simply this, if your main couple has a history, then keep it straight. Make sure that if they’ve been in a relationship before the book starts, then don’t make it sound like first love. Let the past lead you to the present.

5: Don’t forget the main objective of your book. Don’t let it stray far off the mark without a good reason or sub plot.

This is just my opinion and the way I write. It may not work for you, but it helps me to keep things straight.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Crying doesn’t show weakness, but strength…

I’ve talked several times about how I cry easily. It’s just a trait I have. A sweet love song, a romantic movie, a faith filled gospel song, or just a memory brought back to life.

In my opinion crying never shows weakness, but the strength to endure. When a song brings on a memory it’s the strength of heart to let your emotions open up. When a sweet romantic scene in a movie brings on emotions, it’s the strength of that emotion that brings on the tears.

Sometimes a sweet memory gets brought on by a smell, a song, a person, or just memories in general. This can bring on a silent tear that also comes from the strength of the memory.

Maybe you think differently, but I can tell you this, it’s the strength that we hide that brings on the tears. The strength of the memory that pours out as life’s sweet tears.

A good author can bring on tears in just a few words. I’ve cried reading before. A book that brings on tears usually get’s read several times and put to memory.

So let those tears flow and show your true strength.

As always, good writing 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…

Staying busy…

Well it’s Wednesday. The work week is half over. Since I’m an Accountant, this is the start of my busy season. With the Fiscal Cliff issue somewhat resolved the IRS has finally released a date that we can start filing some returns. Remember I said some, not all. That could mean a lot of things like angry clients, moody preparers and lots and lots of fun 🙂

As for me, I love this season. I love to be busy. Especially this year with adding published author into the mix. It’s been a real busy ride so far. What with publishing 6 books in 2012 and marketing said 6 books, but I’m not complaining. I met some awesome people along the way. People I would never have met had it not been for my writing. By the way that means you guys 🙂

Someone asked me the other day had being a published author changed me. I laughed hysterically and then said “NO”. Now if I was a bestselling author on the New York Best sellers list, maybe, but probably not then either. I’m just me, a down to earth, country girl, who loves what I do whether it be writing, accounting or ministering to children.

Now that’s the fun one. Have you ever ministered to children? Or even taught children? It’s is so rewarding and stressful at the same time. The rewarding times are watching their faces light up when they get what you’re saying, or in my case when they bring the Savior into their heart. Those smiling faces on Sunday and Wednesday can cheer you up or make you suspicious. Sometimes I can feel really under the weather and just their smiles can have a healing effect. The stressful times can be too much sugar (Yeah I’ve made that mistake, learned lesson), snotty noses, bad manners, and lack of discipline. But if you love working with children the plus far outweighs the minus.

So hope all of you are well in the middle of this week and finding happiness in all you do. Just try to be positive and make even the most tedious task fun. It really makes a difference. 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless you.

Reviews that cause you to pause!

Ok, so you’ve poured out your heart into your work. You love it, your editor loves it and even the dedicated friends that read it before it was published loved it. Then the dreaded reviews come in. Someone thinks it needs help. This post is dedicated to the feelings a review gives you.

1: A great review – Well the first great review you get makes your heart soar. You feel like nothing can hurt you at that moment. Your work has been approved by one person. Well, one person is not enough to make your book a best seller, but one good review could make it more popular than no reviews.

2: A good review – This is that review that says it was a fairly good book. But usually on a good review, there is a “But” in it. I always listen to that “But” because it is the suggestions of a complete stranger that usually makes more of a point than that of a friend who doesn’t necessarily tell you the truth about your writing.

3: A fair review – We’ve all had that review that really sat us back on our heels. I received one the other day. It was kind of half and half. What I mean by that is this. The reviewer started with “It was a great story line and I really liked it” which made me smile, but then they went into this “But, it was too rushed and didn’t get into enough of character building for me to really like it.” I sat back for a moment going, ok. That is the kind of review that can still sell books, but can also put off others.

4: A bad review – I’ve received some reviews that were pretty bad. It’s funny that you receive several raving reviews and then one of those nasty reviews come in and you go “WOW” where did that come from? I received one that said, “Sorry, but I couldn’t get past the first 4 pages”. Well, I’ve read some best sellers that I had a hard time reading them until I got past the first chapter, so I totally wrote off that review as someone who just didn’t like the story line, but then the very next review said they were pleasantly surprised how good it was as you got into the story. I think they were speaking to that other reviewer.

5: A questionable review – This is the kind of review where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they never read the book to begin with. I was reading a review the other day where someone wrote a paragraph about the good and bad points of one of my books. The problem with this is that the information provided from the book did not match my book. I even showed my editor and she said that is not from your book at all. They evidently read the description of the book and did their own version.

6: The follower review – This is the review that goes with the other persons review. Have you ever received a review whether good or bad and within a few hours you receive another review that says almost the same exact thing? It’s as if the other person just marked your book as read and then just copied the other review.

7: The “not my genre” review – I had someone write a rather nasty review of one of my books, but what was funny about the review was that at the end of the scathing review they stated that they hated romance novels. Why on earth would you purchase a romance novel and then decide to write a review on it if you didn’t like romance novels?

8: The nasty review – These are the reviews that are just down right nasty and they usually come from fellow authors. I received one that was a full paragraph totally tearing my book apart, then they went on to say that they would like to read more of my work. That was really weird to me. Especially the way they tore the book apart and told that the author (me) was not their kind of writer. Oh well, can’t please everyone. Made me feel good, because that is my best seller so not real concerned.

This post was just to state my feelings of the different types of reviews I’ve received. I have even posted some of the bad reviews on my selling sites. You may be saying “Are you nuts?” Well, yes I am, but that’s the life of a writer. Do you know that I started having more sales after posting the fair review. It’s funny how the review process works.

I think some people read the reviews and that makes their decisions on purchasing or not. Some people never even look at the reviews, but others just shrug and say, well it may not have been their kind of book.

So don’t take reviews too seriously. Not all reviews that look bad will hurt you. Don’t let a bad review cause you to put your writing on a shelf to never pick it up again. I’ve read a lot of best sellers that to me were horrible, but I knew it was not my style of book that I like, but I didn’t tear it apart in a review.

Also, when you do write a review, try to be as kind as you can. Offer some gentle suggestions and support the writer when you can.

As always, good writing/reviewing and May God bless you!

So I am soft hearted! What?

Well, last night my son and I were watching “Facing the Giants”. I started to shed a couple of tears (actually a flood). My son started to laugh at me. He said, “Mom, this is not sad, why are you crying?” I turned to him and tried to explain it. “Son, these are happy tears, not sad. I feel really good watching this film.” He just shook his head.

I have always been soft hearted. I shed tears while listening to music, watching TV, reading, and just in life. Nothing gets me more than a beautiful romance that unfolds and sees a happy ending. Weddings almost do me in. LOL!

So as I drink my 2nd cup of coffee this morning, I contemplate the issue of being soft hearted. Sometimes it can be embarrassing, but other times I look at people around me that are not reacting and I want to say, “Really. Don’t you feel anything?” So what’s wrong with a couple of tears while watching a good movie or reading a touching scene in a book. I consider it a compliment to the writer for evoking immense emotion. I could only hope to invoke that kind of emotion in my writing.

I recently was honored to have a fan write to me and tell me one of my books made her cry. She said it was in a good way. It made me feel like I had accomplished something. I had evoked emotion. So is it weird? I don’t think so, just maybe to some, but to the other softies out there, shed a tear and enjoy the moment!

“A Love Never Lost” Oh the turns it’s made!

“A Love Never Lost” My “New Book” as it was affectionately called until Tuesday is almost finished. The cover is ready and it now has an official name. Now I have to finish it.

When I started this book I had an idea of where the characters were headed. I knew what I wanted to be the premise of the story. Well, in the writing world, as many of you know, my characters have had a mind of their own. This week one of my characters took on a whole new mindset. It has been exciting seeing where they would go.

Those that are not writers are probably saying to yourself, this lady has truly lost her mind. Well that would be true (Smiling and nodding yes!), but in the case of my writing, I have to go with the flow. Let the river turn and churn where it needs to in order to make it interesting.

I have loved all my published books, whether anybody else did or not. This book seems to be taking center stage in my heart. I lay awake at night wondering what will happen next. It has been an awesome ride. This will be the longest manuscript of all my books yet.

The release of “A Love Never Lost” is scheduled for mid September, or no later than late September. It is so exciting to see your baby start to try to take small steps. Well that is where it is at.

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!