Five Oaks Ranch…

Good Wednesday morning folk! I do hope all is well with you and yours. As for me, it’s the beginning of my busy season. Since I’m an accountant, and tax season is now up and running, well, that means I’m a busy lady. Not to mention I have a couple of book deadlines looming too…

Today I want to talk about my Five Oaks Ranch Series. Even though Ridge has been out for coming up on three years, it’s stayed in the top 100 Free books for almost a year. The rest of the series is doing well too…

A little back story into this series… When this series came to me, we were driving back from our Florida vacation. I’d been playing with ideas for a cowboy series, and I wanted it to be based around a family, but I didn’t have the exact specifics. As we drove into Georgia, I was sitting there, lost in thought when street signs started coming into my view. At once, I knew it would be based in Georgia. Then the names started flashing by, my mind whirling with ideas. At that moment, Five Oaks Ranch was born.

By the time we arrived home about one and a half hours later, I had the book names, the cover ideas and had started my character sketches. Of course, I can’t write and ride because I’d turn green, but I had my notepad beside me. I wrote on it without looking, as the words streamed in, almost at once.

When we arrived home, I had to unpack, but my mind was still on beginning Ridge. I have to say, Ridge’s popularity has surprised me. The outpouring of support for this book and the series has been humbling, to say the least. This series came straight from my heart and from the responses I’ve received by email and direct message, it’s touched others.

My writing style has changed a lot since I published Ridge. I’ve studied writing a lot, as most writers do. Some of the things I’ve learned have spilled out into my writing. The first book, Ridge and the second book, Oakley are different in the style of writing, but it still has my heart in it.

To say I’m excited about where the Five Oaks Ranch will go in the future is an understatement. I’ve received emails from readers that would love to see it on the big screen as one big movie or mini-series. Now wouldn’t that be awesome.

Ok, so with your writing, which work has made you a proud author?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Daily Word Count – Real or Wishful?

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Good morning! As I sit here, typing my blog, making my Hootsuite schedule and surfing the social media world, I have to remember that I have a daily word count… Yeah, I’m supposed to meet it before I do all the above. Hope my assistant skips reading this post!!!

Anyhow… When I sat down and prepared my writing calendar for 2017, I decided to be realistic. In years past, I’ve given myself too high of a word count, then crashed and burned when I couldn’t keep up. This year, I took into account days that I’d be editing, redrafting and also had something on the calendar for that day. I also reined in my word count to make it more attainable, also lower than what I’m capable of.

As my assistant and I were working on this, I’d say a word count and she’d raise an eyebrow, then I’d lower until the eyebrow relaxed. What’s sad is that my writing calendar has room for me to post my daily progress, yikes that’s scary. SO far in 2017, I’m officially behind on my word count, which means I’ve got to up my game to catch up.

So, if you’re asking, how do I set my word count to be realistic, not wishful thinking, well, let me enlighten you. Over a couple of days, sit down and time yourself while you write. Also keep up with the number of words. If you have a day job, take into account the time you have available to write, which you need to try every day to make a little available time. Then, figure up what you can do.

For me, I write when my hubby goes to work and my son to school. I have two hours until I have to be in the office, so I try to write for at least an hour. During which time I’m boiling my morning egg, and eating said egg… yes, while I’m writing. Then I have time to shower and run across the driveway to open my accounting office. I also try to get in at least an hour in the evening. Of course, the weekends are my catch up time. I spend a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday filling in for the lost words from the busy week.

So, how do you schedule your word count? Is it realistic or wishful thinking?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Go by and check out my website which has been revamped for the new year! www.stephaniehurtauthor.com and if you want to keep up with me and get cool stuff, sign up for my street team…

Writing on a schedule…LOL!

Good Tuesday morning!

I’ve been working on my 2017 writing project schedule and it’s so exciting thinking about the future works that will come from this crazy writer’s head. One of the problems with setting this up is as I think about the new works, my mind wants to write them, now!

But, I’m trying to be a disciplined writer… yeah, that just doesn’t work for me. Now, let’s just get this one thing straight, I do schedule the books release dates and make sure that I have enough time between now and the release date to write said book, edit and to revisions.

The funny thing about this writer’s brain is that stories are constantly coming into my head, so what do I do when that happens so that I don’t lose it. I have a handy dandy notebook that says in my writer bag. Writer bag? Yes, my writer bag. Tomorrow’s post will be all about my writer bag. It’s quite nifty even if I do say so myself.

But, back to scheduling, whew, I get so distracted. As for scheduling, as a writer, I do need some discipline or I’d never finish a single piece of work. It is fascinating to me when I sit down to work on my schedule for the next year. Of course, I always have works that spill over into the new year, but then I need to fill up the rest of the year. Right now I have works scheduled into 2018, which is amazing.

So, if you haven’t tried working out a schedule, I suggest you sit down and pull out a calendar or planner. All you need to do is make a list of your current work in progress, then a list of upcoming works. Figure out the word count that you desire, divide it by the word count that you want to complete on a daily basis. Now you’re ready to write them in your calendar and schedule it out. Believe me, the time and effort it takes will be well worth it. But remember, don’t over schedule yourself, which I have a tendency to do. Make a workable schedule and enjoy the moment you finish each work of art.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter at www.stephaniehurtauthor.com for all of my news and new releases coming up…

Without Internet! What I learned

Good morning! It’s good to be back with the rest of the world. If you’ve noticed I was absent for several days, which is due to the fact that I had no internet since last Wednesday. It was very eye-opening, to say the least, and here’s what I learned in those six days without connection to the world.

Let’s start with, I grew up in the age before the internet; so I’m aware of what it’s like not to have it, but when you run a business in today’s world, it’s detrimental to have it. I never realized until this past six days how many of my programs need the internet to run efficiently. Of course, I could do some things, but the bulk of the program wouldn’t work due to no connection to the main server, wow!

As a writer, it was a quiet time with no conversations with fans or fellow writers. Also, I finished a book and was set to release it, but guess what can’t do that without internet. And as a writer, I need to promote, promote, promote, that also can’t be done without the internet. I felt like I was out in a remote field somewhere without food or water, in regards to my writing. But as luck would have it, I was able to meet my daily word counts and expand on them without the interruption of social media, that was a plus!

In a whole, I felt disconnected with the world and I can say I’m happy to be back with the living. It’s not just the social media aspect, which is important when you are an author and also run a website/publishing company, but it’s the fact that in today’s world, the internet holds an important role in most everything we do.

With that said, it’s wonderful to be back with all of you wonderful people. Now, on with my life which is already in progress.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

No use crying over missed words…

Good Monday morning! I do hope everyone here in America had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And also my wonderful friends across the pond, I hope you had a wonderful weekend. As for me, well, I had a great one. But, with a holiday that’s busy, I missed my word count over the time off.

Word counts are important to a writer, right? The longer I write the more I realize that word counts can be pushed around a little. Yes, I know I’ve written about word counts being important and technically they are, but here’s my new philosophy.

Ok, I have deadlines, just as most writers do. I know what I need to get in every day, but when things happen, say life, for instance, stressing over a day or two of missed writing, well, it can make for a miserable time. So, I’ve devised a strategy. I have a writing journal where I keep up with my word count and where I need to be every day. Then I adjust as needed. Which of course means that I might need to double up on my word count for a couple of days.

If my book needs to be 30,000 words, then I’ll set my deadline to give me 35 days of writing. I try to write 2000 words a day usually, which means that I type 1000 words for two books a day. This way if I’m lagging behind a little, then I can add to one or more days to make up the lost time writing.

You may think that five extra days isn’t enough, but if you keep a journal and keep up with the words needed to get to the end and the daily count, then you’ll see that you actually could end up with days left, which is wonderful, you can start another book 😉

Now, back to the writing, as I said, I’m a couple of days behind… A little hint, I gave myself extra days for the holidays, so…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Just a little reminder, fall in love with Laird Ewan before the 2nd book comes out in just days from now! myBook.to/HighlandersHeart

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Seeing it clearly…

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Good morning! Hope all is well…

Have you ever looked at your work in process and your mind was more like the picture above? I’ve done this so much that sometimes I have to step away. But what can we do as writers to clear up the fog in our brain?

This weekend I spent most of the time laying around, trying to get over the cold that took over my body on Thursday. I’d planned on doing a major catch up on word counts, but every time I looked at my laptop, I groaned. My head was fuzzy, which is understandable with a cold, but the fuzziness I’m talking about is story line fuzzy…

As you know from my many posts, I try to outline all of my manuscripts, but even then, fuzziness can take over. Just this past week I had one of those, ‘where was I headed with this part of the story’ moments. I went back and forth between my outline and my manuscript, making notes and trying to regain the momentum. The best thing I did was to step back, take a breath, then go back to it.

Ok, so sometimes with deadlines we can’t do that, but I’m not talking about stepping back a week or more, just a couple of hours. Maybe take a long walk, going over the story in your head. And yes, the walk will help clear your head of the fuzzies. I’ve worked out more story problems while putting my tennis shoes on and walking up the road. Amazing how much it helps. If it is raining, then you can watch a movie, lay back and listen to music, or even plot out another story.

But what I’m getting at is when the story gets too much to handle, step back, clear your head and begin again. It helps. I actually scraped a whole manuscript doing this. Yes, it scared me to death, but I did it and was glad I did when I started over. For some reason, we go down a rabbit hole that there’s no way out of, and that can lead to a deeper hole, LOL!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Highlander’s Bride is coming soon… Keep watching for the cover reveal!

Romance… Enough said…

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Good Wednesday morning everyone! I’ve been a little out of pocket lately, but with several deadlines looming, I’ve had my head to the grind. Hope I haven’t missed too much…

Romance, such a simple word, but such a powerful word. We all need it in our lives. Maybe it’s through marriage, dating, or reading, we need that little spark that makes us smile. But how do you find it?

I’ve had people tell me, after they hear I’m a romance author, that romance is an empty hole that you fall into, hoping for something that’s just plain out a myth. Yep, I want to slap them. Romance isn’t mythical, the unicorn is, but not romance.

As a romance author, I delve into the many aspects of romance. It amazes me to see the depth of romance in our world. If you sit on a bench and watch people, which I love to do, you’ll see it in the smallest of movements or gestures. It’s there folks, you just have to look for it. So, pick up a romance novel and read about it. I know, it’s fiction, but guess what, it’s a real thing.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

myBook.to/HighlandersHeart

Book Promotions made easy!

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Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful day, so make sure to stop today and enjoy a moment of it. I know I will because I’ve found something that writers will want to hear… Are you ready for this?

Easy book promotion… I’ve spoken on this subject before and after a couple of tests, I’ve proven it on my own. As I sat, wondering through all my social media, trying to promote my books on my Twitter, Facebook and WordPress, I was getting a little frazzled, bouncing back and forth. Well, here’s the thing, why not do it all from one site…..

Some of you already use a program that posts your promotions on all your sites, but I’m going to talk about Hootsuite today. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

First, let’s talk prep:

I set up several under 140 characters promotions and put them on a spreadsheet for ease of use. Also, I use booklinker.net for my short links on Amazon and it actually promotes the book link to any country on Amazon.
Then I pulled up my Hootsuite account, looking at the spreadsheet on one side of the screen and Hootsuite on the other. This way I can do it on one screen, not bounce back and forth.
Now, on to the posts. I copy and paste each ad, then schedule them one hour apart. That way I’m not overloading my followers. It spreads the word gradually, but not as invasive.

It’s so easy, but I know, you’re wondering the results. Well, I found out that the retweets went up, my back stock sales went up and my new release sales went up. Now you may be saying, that was just a quirk, well, I did this on three separate occasions. It worked. Every time I had a Hootsuite campaign go out, the sales showed an increase.

So, if you’re looking for an easy way to promote your book and get some interest stirring, then try it out. I’m now scheduling several days of posts at a time, which leaves me time for writing, what more could an author ask for.

Let me know how it goes for you. Also, it doesn’t have to be all book posts. You can do cute kitty posts the same way, to change it up.

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Highlander’s Heart is out…#27

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Highlander’s Heart is out today! If you love historical romance, highlanders, Scottish men in kilts, well, check it out. Here’s the blurb:

The moment Laird Ewan Cowen looks into Evina McLeod’s emerald green eyes, the sparks fly. He needs a bride and she needs his protection from the evil Laird McKinney. When Ewan offers marriage in exchange for his protection, Evina has no choice, but the love that unfolds in the days before their wedding is unexpected. Neither of them knew that McKinney had a hidden agenda. Evina was the pawn in McKinney’s plan and after they were wed, he would see his plan accomplished, ending Ewan’s life in the process with the help of a spy within Ewan’s clan. Romance, adventure, and secrets fill this book set in 1725 Scotland.

Can you believe this is #27 in my publishing career? I can’t believe it. Someone asked me the other day, ‘how many books have you published’ and I sat there, naming them off. Wow, I was surprised. But, time flies when you’re having fun…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…