Romancing September Across The World Blog Tour

Join us for Romancing September Across the World. We are looking for romance authors who want to promote their work on both sides of the Atlantic during the month of September. Romance author Stephanie Hurt from Georgia (USA)

And Author Rosie Amber from Hampshire UK are joining forces in a double blogging event.

On each Romance Author’s selected day there will be a book specific interview about one of their chosen books and book promotion posted in the UK from Rosie, then a few hours later when the sun reaches Georgia the author will get to share their views on “Writing romance in today’s society” from Stephanie.

Authors will need to send in jpeg photos of themselves and the cover of the book being featured.

Rosie and Stephanie will allocate the promotional days and will contact the authors to agree on the material to be used in advance of their designated day. We encourage authors to re-blog, tweet, Facebook, etc. the posts for this free promotion of their work. If any of the authors in the tour are planning a price drop, competition or ‘free weekend’ during September for their work, we’ll gladly add that to the posts.

Hurry and message either Rosie at Rosie Amber rosieamber7@gmail.com or Stephanie Hurt at hurtsbusiness@att.net to get your name on the list. Remember there are only 30 days in September so time’s ticking away.

Go over and check out Rosie’s blog at

http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

What does a romance novel do for you?

This post is for all of you, me included, that lose yourself in a romance novel often or as often as you can. Have you ever wondered why it’s one of the largest genres? Well here is my take on this.

A romance novel can take the reader to another place. Maybe it’s another country, some exotic destination or just to another time in history. You may be saying, well so can science fiction, non fiction or any of the other genres out there. For some reason a romance novel just inspires you to want more.

Maybe the reader just needs to lose themselves in someone else’s world for a while. It’s a way to escape and what better way than to lose yourself in a romance novel. Most romance novels end with a happy ending and you’re pretty sure to have a better outlook when you finish.

Most romance novels just leave you wanting to read another one. Maybe you like the sexy characters that are described in the stories that unfold. Maybe it’s the feelings that a good romance brings about in you.

For me a good romance inspires me. I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a young teenager. There’s something about following someone else’s relationship and not having to worry whether you’ve said the right thing or done the right thing. You just leave it up to the character.

If it’s a good descriptive romance, you may even feel like you’re part of the story. Sometimes I’m reading and I get so immersed in the story that I forget everything around me. That’s what I try to achieve in the romance that I write. I want my readers to get lost in the story. I want it to make them feel better about themselves or at least feel better than they did when they started.

As I always say, this is just my thoughts on the subject. What are yours?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Handwritten or Typed, what’s your preference?

As long as I can remember I’ve been writing down my thoughts. Sometimes in journal form or just in story form. I’ll see something or someone and it’ll inspire a verse or maybe two, sometimes even a whole novel. But it’s where and when which determines the preference of my writing tools.

When I was younger we didn’t have a computer, obviously, let’s not go there. I’d get composition books and fill them with my thoughts and stories. The funny thing is I still have those notebooks. Some of the books I’ve written came from those pages. Of course I’ve changed them around to fit the times, but they’re still the basics that I wrote so long ago.

As I read over what I hand wrote all those years ago, I laugh at my innocence. I can tell when things were changing in my mind and when I started to think differently. I love reading over some of them. I’ll have to put some of them in my blog sometime.

Today I prefer my laptop as it keeps down the hand cramps and it’s quicker at times. I do keep a small pad with me for when I’m away from my laptop I can still catch the moment. I’ve even been know to take a notebook to the bubble bath to write. Those pages are usually smeared and crinkly from the humidity, but readable.

So what’s your preference?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Romance and Roses

Have you ever noticed the old adage that to make a romantic gesture, you need to include roses? Well, roses are the flower of romance, but do you need them to have a romantic setting.

Take for instance, writing romance, how many times to you read and he gave her a dozen roses? Well, some, but not every time. I’ve noticed it’s more the look and the setting.

When I’m writing my books I try to make it the non traditional romance scene. Give it a little flare. My writing is not heated romance, but rather romance with a slightly elevated temperature. But you get the picture when I write a romance scene.

I love romance and in any form. Sometimes just a look is romantic. Like maybe when a man gives you that look that says, “Hey you look good, let’s hook up.” Sometimes that look can be a danger signal and other times it’s the romantic look of the man you’re with.

What about the surprise note or just kiss in a public place? Now there’s something to be said for a brush of the hand in a very public place or the “I love you” note in your book. That’s always an indication that your significant other has been paying attention.

Well, if you’re a romance writer, bring on a new flare of romance that will inspire others. Maybe you’ll be the cause of a new romance genre. Never know…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Sunday morning shout out…

I’d like to give a special shout out to Avon Publishing for allowing me to be a contributor to their website. As I’ve been going on their site for a couple of months checking my blog post I’ve gotten to know some other romance lovers. I’ve been reading Avon Romance books for as long as I can remember. So it’s an honor for me to be part of their world if only in my blogs.

If you haven’t checked out avonromance.com then I suggest you do so. They’ve got some great authors and reviewers and bloggers. I’ve gained several new followers through this site.

I’ve also been post parts of my manuscripts on their site. They have this great place where you can share your work. It’d be great to be found by their editors on this site, but you know me, I’m patient. But I’m thinking about pitching one of my works in progress to them in the next week. We’ll just see.

So, go on over and check them out. As I’ve said, they’ve got some great authors on their site. I know you’ll be hooked just as I am.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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…

Time to Write

As a writer you have to make time to write. If not, you’re not writing. I sometimes struggle with this as I’m a busy person. As I’ve said before I’m an Accountant, Mother, Wife, Children’s Minister, Blogger, and Writer. My philosophy is you only live once so live everyday like it’s your last.

Some days I get frustrated because the characters of my books are running around screaming in my head, but it’s alright. I know that they’ll find their voice. Do you have a hard time finding time around life to write? Do you struggle with your characters being louder than everything?

Oh, and I forgot to add that I now have a small publishing service called Horseshoe Publishing. Yep, I’m a glutton for punishment. Not to mention my assistant is leaving me in two weeks to finish up college at the University of Georgia. I’m so proud of her, but that’s for another post as I’m already tearing up just saying it out loud. She’s also my niece, so I’m a proud aunt.

Let’s just say time is on short supply and I need at least 36 hours in a day. Go over and support my writing and maybe I can eliminate one of the jobs. Just kidding, I love what I do. Well, you can still go over and support my writing if you want to. I’m not a pushy person as you well know from my blogs.

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Brain faster than fingers

As a writer when an idea comes through your brain you either have to write it down or put in your computer almost immediately. I’ve learned as I get older, my memory can’t hold for very long. Sometimes I have to stop what I’m doing and write the thought down on anything available. My editor just loves my notes. Napkins work really well 🙂 That’s clean napkins!

Sometimes the way my brain works my fingers can’t keep up. I’ll be typing as fast as my fingers will let me, but my brain is ahead of me. That’s when it gets crazy. I get frustrated because my brain is spitting the story out like a battalion leader, but my fingers are still at start.

One day I got so frustrated that I actually sat down with a pen and paper and wrote the story. My editor just looked at me and laughed. When I didn’t say anything she was like you didn’t really hand write this did you? I smiled and said at least it got out of my head. She usually just shakes her head and starts typing. Sometimes I think she wants to throw things at me.

Is your brain faster than your fingers?

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…

In A Writer’s View…

Have you ever thought about what a writer was thinking when they wrote their books? Take for instance Romeo & Juliet which is a great, tragic romance, but what on earth was he thinking. I just wonder how popular he was at the time of his big debut. Did he get good reviews? Maybe he would have made it to the top of the New York Bestseller’s list if it would have been available then.

Then you have some of the more recent literature and you wonder where they learned about what they wrote about. Sometimes I wonder if horror writers sit around and try to figure out the grossest way to kill someone. Makes for good conversation over dinner with friends. “Hey, how would you like to kill someone?”. Good way to end up alone on Friday night.

Oh and don’t let me forget romance, my favorite genre. I’ve read some books that I wonder if the writer had experienced personally what happened in the book because it was so real. Then other times I wonder if they even know what romance is. I’ve read romance novels that don’t even show any romance and yet they’re supposed to be a romance.

I’ll tell you how I feel when I write. If it’s a sad part I usually cry. That’s when I know I’ve gotten to the core of the emotion. Then when I’m writing a really sweet, romantic part, well I usually cry again, but the point is I try to put as much emotion as I can. I was writing a part the other night where the main character was very angry and I laughed when my son asked why I was scowling so hard. I was actually angry with the other character. I guess that’s getting lost in the Writer’s view.

In my opinion God gave us emotions and we need to show them. Well sometimes we need to know when not to show them, but in writing the more emotion the better. Make the reader feel what you feel. I’ve had fans tell me they had to use a box of tissues reading one of my books. One even said they started really liking cowboy romance after reading on of them. I try to make my cowboys have feelings, but still be ruggedly handsome and able to take care of any situation.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…