What’s in a cover…

Good morning! We’re halfway to the weekend… So smile!

How many times have you bought a book based on the cover? Not the blurb… Not the author… Not the title… But the cover… Me, I love to look at covers. If a cover looks interesting I’ve been known to pick a book because the cover enticed me.

So, with that in mind, how much time do you spend on your cover design? Me, some of my covers have taken weeks to make just right. When I write a book, I have in mind what I want the cover to look like, of course, in reality, it’s hard to make it exactly like my vision, but we try.

The picture says it all, means so much. When I choose the photos, they have to be exact. I want the people to have the same traits as the ones in the book. I’ve been using bigstock.com for a long time, but recently, I added romancenovelcovers.com for the pictures that have models. it’s important to buy the pictures you use and have a license so that you don’t infringe on copyright laws.

The cover below took the longest to design and made my designer want to pull her hair out, but I had an idea and this totally went my way. This one took three pictures to make it happen, but it says it all.

Finding the Right Time front cover

Some of my covers have one picture and are simple, like this one.

Faith Through The Tears cover

So, whether you use many pictures or one, make a statement that tells the reader, pick me up, I’m good. The cover is the first thing a reader sees and if you don’t catch their eye, you may not catch the reader.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

#amwriting…Beautiful morning!

What a beautiful morning in Georgia! It may be Monday, but it feels good. I’m coming off a new release weekend full of tweets, posts, interviews, etc, so I’m feeling pretty good.

This morning I’m working on the last book in the Women of Magnolia Hill Saga. It’s sad, but true. Since this historical romance saga is based in my beloved Georgia, I’ll be sad to see it finished. But it’s time to move forward.

Now that Tuscany is out and Highlander’s Heart is on the heels of releasing, it’s time to work on upcoming manuscripts. I have some exciting projects coming up, one for Autumn and one for Christmas, but I’ll keep you posted on the progress. Also, coming up will be a couple of cover releases and blurbs to give you just a tidbit of what’s up in my writing world.

Before I leave you to slip back into my own little world of #amwriting, I’ll leave you with a snippet from Tuscany: (This excerpt is from the journal that led Lana to Tuscany)

July 15, 1970

Last night Angel climbed the trellis to my balcony and woke me. He said we could be married by his uncle in town. So I made the decision to choose the man I love over my family. I’ll never look back but only forward as I start my life as Angel Tolino’s wife.

I love the journal entries that are featured in this book. They take you back in time. It’s a special part of Tuscany!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Feeling like Fall…Throwback Thursday!

Good Thursday morning! Here in Georgia it actually feels like fall finally. The temp here is in the high 50’s, so that’s a refreshing way to start the day.

Since it’s Thursday, let’s go back a ways and reacquaint you with one of my first books, Tender Flames. This book was one of the easiest to write out of the 25 I’ve published. It will take you on a journey of love that will leave you wanting more.

Tender Flames revised cover

Here’s a little tidbit from Tender Flames:

They walked hand in hand back to the party, both deep in thought. She was thinking about how her family would react, but mostly how Wes would. Zach knew his family would be happy, well almost his whole family. He knew it was mean of him to want to hurt his brother, but his brother was a fool for not snatching her up long ago.

They arrived back at the party. Randy ran over, “Hey sis, everyone wondered where you two had wondered off to. Judging by the look on your face I know what you were doing.” He grinned as he pulled his sister’s hair. She blushed.

Zach led her to the front of the dance floor. He whistled for the music to stop. Everyone turned to see what Zach had to say. “I have some wonderful news. I have asked Sara to be my wife, and she has accepted. We are to be wed before my leave is up.” There was a stunned silence then everyone whooped and yelled. There were a lot of handshakes and pats on the back for Zach and hugs for Sara. Her parents were stunned at first, then relieved. They had always hoped she would marry one of the Dawson boys. The same went for his parents, they were thrilled. His mother had even cried.

Wes walked up and leaned over Sara. He whispered in her ear. “I hope you know what you are doing?” He then gave her a hug that was tight enough to press the air from her lungs. The look he gave her was full of something she did not recognize. She knew then that he cared more for her than she realized. She was suddenly angry with him. It served him right. He should have let her know a long time ago. She did not plan on waiting on him the rest of her life.

He gave his brother a hug and said in his ear. “Brother, she had better not be pregnant. You had better make her happy.” He gave him a look that dared him to go against what he said. With that, he had left with his girlfriend.

You’ll fall in love with this love triangle…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

https://www.amazon.com/Tender-Flames-Revised-Love-Book-ebook/dp/B0084USOE2

Submit, reject, Submit again…

submit

As a writer, you write… you submit… rejection comes… you continue to write… you submit again… It’s just the way it goes. In some instances, you submit and it is accepted. This is a time to celebrate.

I’ve had many ask me how I take rejection, well, I tend to think of it as a chance to make things better, especially when the rejection includes well-written advice on what needs to be changed. Of course, there are those that simply don’t give advice, they just tell you they’re not in need of your work at this time. What that means could be several things…

My advice to all my fellow writers is to keep pushing forward because one day, your day will come and it will be all worth it. The rejections will have less of a sting if you push forward, never giving up on your dream.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Still holding on…

This morning it looks like fall outside, but by lunchtime it will feel like mid summer. The summer feeling is still holding on, even though fall is pushing hard, trying to slip in. By the end of the week, it’s looking like fall might win.

It’s the same with writing. We start out pushing our first story, then wait. How will it be received? Will it make it to a best sellers list or will it flop? Will I be able to push another story out?

I’ve spoken with authors that work on stories for years before they try to publish them, then others, like myself, push out several stories in one year. But how many of us make it to the next stage, full time writer. Surprisingly enough, not many make it to that status.

We push ourselves, and our work, sometimes to the point that we think it’s pointles, then that sliver of hope comes over the horizon, like the sliver of a moon that stays in the sky after dawn. Maybe it’s a contract with a publisher. Maybe it’s the bestseller list that you hit. Or maybe it’s a great review. Whatever it is, it helps you hold on.

For me it’s the pursuit of the story. My head is filled with them, sometimes to the brink of exploding. I have to get them out, and writing does it. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to write full time. So I push forward, I strive for my goal.

My advice to all my fellow author is to push forward, keep your goal in your sites and don’t give up. All it takes is one book to send you to the top, so keep writing and posting. You never know, the one you finish today could be the one that catapults you to a top ranking author.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What’s your favorite writing season?

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It’s the first day of Fall! Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The beauty is bountiful and then there’s pumpkin spice. Yeah, I know, I’m obsessed with pumpkin spice, but it’s so good…

Anyhoo, for some reason, my writing brain goes nuts in the Fall. Maybe it’s the cooler temperatures or the feeling in the air. I just know I write faster and more in the Fall, it’s crazy but true.

So, what’s your favorite writing season? Why?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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www.stephaniehurtauthor.com

Stories filling my head…Yikes!

Good Wednesday morning! It’s halfway to the weekend, so relax a little. You’ve got this.

As a writer, sometimes the stories fill my head and I can’t get them out fast enough. Some days it’s hard to focus on one story without the other stories trying to edge their way in. That’s my problem at the moment. I have so many stories running through my head that sometimes I think my head might explode.

The picture I have of my brain is a little hamster running on her wheel. Yep, that’s my brain for sure. So, how do I prioritize 12551866924_826fc1afef this craziness filling my head, I outline. I have so many stories pushing for first place in line, but only one or two can hold that spot at a time. To help with the breaking in line syndrome, I sit down and outline the fussiest, pushiest stories. At least that puts them at ease, for a time, but soon they are pushy again.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a problem exactly. As a writer, this is a good problem to have, you just have to learn how to keep your stories in line, which is the hard part.

So, how do you wrangle the stories running rampant through your brain?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Saturdays are for…

Hey, people, it’s Saturday! The day we’ve waited all week for. Here are some things I think Saturday ‘s are for:

Sleeping in!!!
Spending time with the family
Cleaning house
Writing
Social Media
Binge watching Netflix
Did I say writing?
No makeup
Good time for afternoon naps
Sitting outside, enjoying the day
Writing, Oh wait, I already said that twice…

So, what do you do on Saturday?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday morning coffee…

We made it to Friday… Some weeks it seems like Friday will never come, then other weeks it comes and goes in a flash.

I want to talk writing habits this morning. As I sit here writing and sipping my coffee, it occurred to me that I have funny habits when I write. Here are a couple of my writing habits:

When writing I always have coffee or tea beside me.
My most comfortable writing position is my laptop on my lap, while I’m curled up in the corner of the couch.
While writing, I either have inspirational music on or a romance playing on the television. At the moment, Outlander… helps when writing about highlanders…

These are only a few of my habits, but it seems I have more. What habits do you have when you write?

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

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It’s Monday…all day…

Good morning! Why are Monday’s so rough? It might take the whole pot of coffee this morning. But on the good side, it’s slightly cooler this morning, so, I’ll be doing a little writing outside this morning before I head to the office.

As I’ve been telling you, I’m working on a Scottish Highlander series. I was almost done with the first book when it happened. I know, you’re asking what ‘it’ is, well, let me explain. Ok, I was typing along, loving the storyline when all of a sudden the story took a detour. It went downhill from there, but I kept trudging through, thinking it would get better, but alas, it didn’t.

Needless to say, I pulled back, read it from word one and found where the story went wrong, then did the unimaginable, I pressed delete for two whole chapters, two! It hurt, but on the other hand, it felt liberating. When I started back up, the story took on new meaning and the story is now going well.

It’s funny when you know something isn’t working, but you keep going anyway, just hoping it will change. Now, I’m working on getting back the two chapters of work and finishing up. Since this one will be sent to the editor that wants highlander romances desperately, I’ll be working on the synopsis for the two books that come after it. Yep, I’m submitting for a trilogy. Fingers crossed!!!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… 2350462608_44a5fa8914