Friday…almost the weekend!

It’s Friday! Yes, I’m ready for the weekend. It’s been a busy week and I need a little down time to process. Also, I need to do some word count catch-up.

If you’re a writer, have you focused on your work as you should? Hard question? Well, yes it is. Especially if you’re not a full-time writer. If you have another job, it’s hard to stay on your word count, but you push forward. Yes, it’s hard to do, but if you focus on the goal, you’ll achieve the word count.

My suggestion to help with this focus. Start a calendar and figure out how fast you can achieve 1000 words. Maybe you do it in an hour, maybe less, maybe more. Then set aside that time every day or at least a couple of times a week. If you need to complete a 50,000-word manuscript, then you need 50 days of writing. Makeup the days you miss. This is what i do on the weekend, I make up the days I miss and try to get where I should be.

Set goals too. If you do this, you’ll come closer to achieving your word count. Try it and let me know how it works.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Throwback Thursday! Tender Flames…

Tender Flames revised cover

It’s hard to believe this book came out in May 2012. Wow, times flies when you’re having fun. Since this release so much has happened in my writing career. I’ve been featured in Southern Writers Magazine multiple times, I’ve published over 20 books, I made it to the top 55 in the 2015 Harlequin So You Think You Can Write contest, and this year I signed a publishing contract with Solstice Publishing. It’s been such an amazing ride.

Tender Flames is the 2nd book I published and the first one to make me ugly cry while I was writing it. I actually had to stop and compose myself so that I could finish one part. This book will take you on a roller coaster of emotions, from laughter, grief, excitement, anger and so on. I revised it last year and reinvented the cover, which by the way I love. I’ve had a lot of response from this book, which makes me smile.

Get your copy of Tender Flames and start the journey of the love triangle that will leave you smiling… https://www.amazon.com/Tender-Flames-Revised-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B0084USOE2

Book Trailer:

Hope you enjoyed the trailer!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday Ramblings…

So, it’s Friday! It’s a three day weekend!!! Everybody is excited about three days off work, but as a writer, we get excited that it’s a three-day writing palooza. Yes, I said palooza!

I sat down at 5:30 this morning, yes, I was up that early. Menopause will be the death of me, but anyhoo, I was up looking at my writing schedule and figuring out my word count for the three day weekend. Well, let’s just say I’m behind on one and ahead on another. So what does that tell you? Yep, I got so into writing on one manuscript that I totally avoided the other one. That’s not good because that puts me behind schedule. Of course, after I thought about it, if I finish one of them early, I’ll have time to finish the one lacking in word count. Yea!!!

Ok, so I’m a little giddy about the thought of writing for three days straight. It’s a writer thing. When we get a chance to write without our day job getting in the way, it makes us writers smile.

And if you wonder if I have holiday plans, yes I do. I’m heading to my mom’s lake house for the 4th, but I’ll be home writing and outlining for two days!

What are you up to on this long weekend? Working on anything exciting?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

My Characters are fighting me!

Ok fellow writers, you know what I mean when I say, ‘My characters are fighting me!’ It’s the craziest thing. You’ve got the outline, it seems to flow pretty well. The middle and ending are completely figured out in my head, but my characters are not flowing well in the front.

What do I mean? Well, let me explain myself. I’ve worked on the first couple of chapters, but they don’t seem to work. My characters are very familiar to me because this is the 2nd book in a series, so it’s not that. It’s having all the characters together at one time. Which is crazy, right? Every time I start working on it, everything seems off.

So, what do I do? One thing I’ve done is put it out of my mind completely, well not completely but out of sight. I’m taking a little break from it, then will go back fresh and start in the middle where the story is the strongest for me. Let’s just hope the front part comes to me as I write the middle and ending. Thank goodness for Scrivener!

Do your characters give you problems? How do you handle them?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

But one good thing about this one, the cover is beautiful and completed! Here’s a sneak peak!

Lacey's Choice front cover

Excitement in the air!

Contract signing

When I walked into my office yesterday morning, it seemed like any normal Wednesday morning, but it turned out to be an extraordinary day. Let me give you a little background on the reason it was spectacular. I’ve been publishing my work for a little over 4 years and it’s been such a wonderful time, but in the back of my mind, I wondered what it would be like to sign a publishing contract. Today I got the chance to see what it felt like and I have to say it felt wonderful!

I turned in Tuscany on Monday to Solstice Publishing and yesterday I received a sweet note with a contract attached. Let’s just say for a moment I sat there, reading the email about ten times, then pinching myself before I realized that yes, it was real. I screamed, totally alarming the three men outside that were working on my property. Then, of course, I sat back, trying to remember how to breathe.

The picture above was taken as I signed the contract and gave Solstice publishing rights to my manuscript. It was the scariest thing as a self-published author and the most gratifying thing knowing that all the late nights and long hours of tapping at the keys had finally paid off. To say I’m humbled is an understatement. Now, as I sit here in the after glow, I’m totally off the rocker excited about what the future will hold.

So, my advice is to do what I’ve been told over and over by successful authors, keep pushing, keep moving forward and one day, it will happen!

I’ll keep you up to date on the process as it goes. It’s a new, exciting adventure.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

How many words?

Good Wednesday morning! It’s looking to be a warm one here in Georgia. Thank goodness I’m working inside.

As for my writing, one of the things I struggle with is how long should my manuscript be. When I set up my writing schedule, it was important to know what count I was shooting for. As I looked at the work in question and worked on the outline, my mind went to many questions and I’ll share them with you now.

Can my plot sustain itself into a 50k+ book or only a 25K novella?
Will my story hold together and is it long book worthy? (Some books are best left short and sweet)
Do I have enough of the book in my head to make the book work?

I know the questions sound similar, but they’re totally different. My plot has to be strong enough to sustain a book. If not, all I have is a couple of pages of short story. Then you have the story that goes into expanding the plot, is it strong enough to make a big book or a novella. I’ve had manuscripts before that I started out wanting a 50K+ book to come out of it, but soon I figured out that if I went past say 25K it would lose some of its strength. And who wants to read fluffy filler that is only used to expand the word count.

The biggie, and of course, if you’ve read my blogs long enough, then you’ve seen me talk about this before, is the story in my head strong? Most of my books come to me start, middle and finish style. If I can’t see the end of the book, most of the time I won’t schedule it until I do. If I can see the end, then I pretty much know the story has some merit, for one reason, then I know where it’s head and what it will take to get it there.

So, when you sit down to start a manuscript, do you have an idea on word count or is it a fly by the pants sort of thing? Since I’ve started scheduling my books and my writing time, I have to keep the status quo, but I was one of the pantser’s for several years.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Getting the word out!

Ok, it’s Monday, are you ready for the work week? Me, not so much, but got to get moving. I’ve been asked so much lately about my advertising strategy that I’m writing the post to get the word out. So here goes:

When I first started publishing my books, I had no clue about marketing my book. Four years later I’m starting to get the hang of it. I even have a website where authors can advertise their books for a minimal fee and I use what I’ve learned on that site.

This is what I’ve learned that works, it really works:

1: Use a service such as Hootsuite to make many posts, even while you’re sleeping. I especially like to use this service when I have a new release coming out soon. I usually set up several posts and have them go through my WordPress, Twitter, and Facebook pages. I do different posts for each time slot, that way I’m not overusing the same thing.

2: Twitter is a really cool marketing tool. I actually see a bump in sales when I do Tweets during the day. Make sure to be creative with the 140 characters. I use my buy link and a savvy, short piece from the book. It really works people, but you have to actually do it for it to work 😉

3: Facebook Ads: This I love and see lots of results. Facebook has made it easier to set up. One thing I love about this is you don’t inundate your friends and family with book ads. These ads go to where you want them too and go to people that aren’t friends on Facebook. I’ve gained many new fans from a simple Facebook ad. You can set up any price you want to and even the length of time you run the ad is up to you.

4: Website: Every author needs a website. There are so many places you can set up a website now, it’s amazing. but if you don’t want to go to all the trouble of setting up a professional author website, then get in touch with me, my company Horseshoe Publishing does this.

5: Blogs: This is very important to authors. It gives you the chance to talk about anything, but I suggest leaving off political topics, only for the reason of making someone angry. Blog about your life giving readers a look at what you do other than writing. It’s amazing the response you’ll get.

So, these are only a part of my marketing agenda, but I’m short on my word count this morning, so I have to get back to writing. My assistant gives me the evil eye if I get too far behind on my schedule.

One last reminder before I go, if you don’t have the time or drive to do any of these and want help, check out my new advertising site www.freshfromthebook.com and for a minimal fee, we’ll get the word out for you.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Patience & Writers!

Patience… Do you have good patience? For me, sometimes. I’ve been told many times that I have the patience of Job. Some days I’m not so sure about that. With some things, I do have a lot of patience. Tax work, I have the patience 92% of the time. Children’s Ministry, I have 95% patience. Writing… not such good numbers.

When a writer needs patience:

A writer needs the patience to see the manuscript to the end. I know with me, I can see the end, but sometimes it takes everything within me not to rush to the end. If I rush, I’ll miss the details that make the middle great, which helps that ending pop.
A writer needs patience when submitting to a big publisher. This one can be daunting. Sometimes I’m good with this. But some days I wear my email out.
A writer needs patience when entering a writing contest. I’m going through that right now. I’ve submitted a manuscript first chapter to the Harlequin HWBlitz. Yep, counting down the days.
A writer needs patience while waiting on a finished manuscript to be edited. My Editor knows how testy I get during this time, but she smoothes the ruffled feathers by reminding me that this is part of the process. As a writer, I want it out there the minute I type THE END>
A writer needs patience when waiting for the manuscript to be put out for all the world to read. Most of my books are put on preorder. They’re all on a certain publishing schedule, which means some of the things I’m working on now won’t be published until late Summer. That drives me crazy. I have so many that I’m so excited to get out there, but I have to wait. This is the part where I don’t do well. But I have to stay organized and on schedule, or so my Editor says anyway…

So, what makes you impatient?

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

TBT – Moonbeam & Roses

Moonbeam & Roses New Cover

Moonbeam & Roses came out in July 2012! So I’m throwing back four years… This book pulled at my heart strings. It includes romance, drama, and healing of the spirit all in one book. As I wrote this book, I wondered how I would take the traumatic injuries that the heroine had.

Here’s a little excerpt to give you an insight into Moonbeam & Roses:

As Wes came up behind her, she suddenly felt different. Her heart was suddenly fluttering wildly. It had to be the beauty of the night sky and the scent of the honeysuckle vines growing along the fence outside the barn. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. “What’s on your mind? You have been unusually quiet tonight.” She turned and smiled up at him. “I guess my mind is on this beautiful night. The stars are so bright.” She leaned her head against his chest, thinking how nice it was to be here with him. She looked up into his dark eyes. He was devastatingly handsome, with his dark hair and rugged face, not to mention the black Stetson. He was definitely a cowboy to the bone.

Wes was also studying her face. She was a beautiful young woman. Her blonde hair was just past her shoulders. The moonlight reflected off it like moonbeams. She had hazel eyes so gentle; a man could drown in their depths. For the first time he was focusing on her like a man for a woman, not just a friend. He looked deep into her eyes. Slowly he lowered his mouth to hers and gently kissed her lips, careful not to linger for fear of losing control. When he lifted his head, she was smiling. “That was nice, but what did I do to deserve that?”

He laughed and hugged her close. “That was for being my friend and listening to my problems. I need to talk to you. Let’s walk down to the house, I need a drink.” He took her hand and they walked to his house. What was up with him? Serious was not one of his common emotions. When they were settled on his couch with waters in hand, he turned to face her.

“I have some news.” He paused to take a drink before he continued. “I received a call last night regarding a job in Montana. It is a great opportunity for me. I will be training horses for a large ranch. They will supply me with a house and stables for my horses.” He watched for any emotion on her part. “Sara, I told them I would take the job. I will leave in two days.”

For those of you that read my current work, my writing style has changed some, but the feelings behind the words are the same. If you haven’t read this one, then check it out. It’s available on most ebook and paperback sites.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget about the fun giveaway I’m running…It’s in my posts…

Cowboys, Pirates, and other heroes…

Have you noticed a trend lately? Of course, as you know, I have no problem with the Cowboy or Pirate heroes, as I write mostly about Cowboys and Pirates. But it’s funny the interest in these types of leading men.

But with that being said, why is it so popular in the romance genre? I don’t see a lot of cowboy heroes on movies or pirate heroes for that matter. It’s as though romance readers need that masculine persona that follows a cowboy or pirate.

On the side of the cowboy, there’s the fact that they’re usually strong from working the ranch all day. So that’s a plus for a hero. Then, of course, they can ride in on their horse and save the day, or truck, whatever the scene might need. A fictional cowboy is usually honor bound and very protective which lends a good lead male character. Don’t forget that handy Stetson to keep the sun out.

Now we can’t leave out the Pirate, good or bad, they make a great male lead character. Of course, they command a ship, which means they are a take charge man. A good pirate can take care of his heroine and lead his ship through the worst storm without batting an eye. Then you have the bad pirate, but you can have them turn good pirate, which usually takes a strong heroine to take care of that task. Don’t forget the attire of a pirate. I always think of ‘Jack Sparrow’ or ‘Will Turner’, yes, I’m a Pirates of the Caribbean fan.

There are so many hero types that lead to a good romance. Don’t forget the law officer coming to the rescue, the firefighter saving the lady from the fire or even the country boy that’s not quite a cowboy, but has polite values and that protective gene.

So, who makes a good hero for you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…