Romance and the writer…

Ok, so you know I’m a romance writer. I love romance. It’s a very important part of m life. I strive to bring as much romance as I can to the reader in every word I write. But sometimes writing romance and living romance are two different things.

When you live romance it’s ingrained in you and everything you look at you see a romantic element. Of course some people laugh at me when I say things like that. It’s important to bring romance about in everything. In today’s world of terrorism, crazy weather events, and financial woes romance is not easy to bring about.

One of the key elements is to be open to it. If you close your mind to it then that’s that. Whether you’re married or not romance can come along and surprise you. Maybe it’s as simple as a smile across the dinner table or a look in the car. But give it a little try. I know I’ve blogged several times about romance, but it’s an important element of our lives. Well, that’s my opinion.

As for romance in writing, people pick up a romance novel for several reasons. Sometimes it’s for the sexy cowboy on the cover and dreams it brings on, but a lot of times it’s to get a feel for romance. Romance can bring on a happy feeling, if just for the moment you’re reading it. So when I’m writing I try to bring a little romance into even the simplest chore. My characters have to have a romantic flare.

Maybe the reader has no romance in their lives and they need this to get through the day. You may be saying why. If you have a marriage with no romance, the spark’s gone, maybe for just a moment you can have hope. Maybe the story can inspire you to create a better environment for romance.

So, go home tonight and cook a romantic dinner or bring home take out and light a candle. Maybe after the kid’s go to bed. But bring about some romance and see where it leads. It could lead to some secret smiles over the breakfast table 😉

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Having the courage to jump!

I’ve read so much lately in blogs from want to be authors that are afraid to take the first step. I can tell you from experience it’s a huge step to take. I’ve enjoyed every step since then. It’s a lot to take in at first, but then you kind of get into the swing of things and it just happens.

I knew it had happened the first time I got a fan email. I giggled like a teenage girl. The thoughts running through my head were ‘do they know I’m just a normal person’ and ‘this is so cool.’ That fan has turned into a friend as have so many of my blog friends. It would never have happened without having the courage to jump…

Here are the steps I took to establishing myself as a writer and self publishing:

1: First and foremost you’ve got to finish your manuscript. Pray…

2: Make sure that you’ve read and reread it several times. Edit as much as possible.

3: Decide what genre your writing is. That means is it romance, sci-fi, horror, nonfiction, or one of the many genres available.

4: Design your cover. This is sometimes tricky, but exciting when it’s complete.

5. Write a short and long description of your work. This is for the book sales. Don’t get too wordy with this. The best way is to use descriptive words to describe the feeling of the book. By all means don’t give away the plot. Prayed a lot through this process…

6. Now where do you want to put your book. Amazon, Smashwords, B & N or the many other places. This is the fun part because each one wants something different. So read everything before hitting send.

7: Once you’ve set up your books on different sites, it’s time to market. I started with my blog and Twitter. Then I started finding other marketing places. I will do a blog this week on marketing.

8: Sit back and pat yourself on the shoulder. You’re an author! Just watch and see what happens. If it doesn’t do much for a while, don’t worry. It took a couple of months for my books to catch on. Pray again and give thanks 🙂

Of course everyone has a different approach, but this was mine. I’m available to any author that needs help. I design covers and help format/edit. If you need help with these, just send me a message and let’s talk. Authors have to stick together. It’s a crazy world out there and team work makes the dream work.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Writing for fun or money…

How do you see your writing? Is it a hobby or career? I’ve talked to several writer’s lately that say they write for fun, but they do enjoy the royalty payments. Most writers work a full time job and fit their writing in where ever they can.

I love my writing. It’s so soothing and spirit lifting. I do work a full time job. Actually I own a Accounting business so I stay pretty busy, along with being a Children’s Minister and parent. My writing carries me to another world. It’s in my writing that I can get lost and leave the worries and stress behind.

I have to admit that it’s fun when the sales reports update on the various sites where my books are. And I would be crazy if I didn’t say I’d love to get a huge publishing contract. But I’d be happy to see some nice sales reports. I’ve been really happy so far with my sales. My writing takes the forefront in this scheme of things. It’s the passion that spurs me on.

As we discuss sales, I’ve been telling you about the audio books. It’s been so fun going through the auditions. If any of you do voice overs for audio books, send me an audition. I’m trying to get those published this week if possible. I’ve got to make a decision. It’s funny how you know what you want it to sound like.

Don’t let slow sales or the need for more to conquer your passion for writing. Keep putting pen to paper or fingers to keys. If you let your dreams die, it will affect you in a bad way.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Saturday writing time…

I’ve been looking forward to Saturday since last Saturday 🙂 Saturday morning is house cleaning time at me house. I do laundry while mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing bathrooms and straightening our week long mess.

But Saturday is also a time for writing. As a writer you try to find time to write. Sometimes when you work a full time job and have other obligations and passions, it’s hard to find enough time to put words in your laptop. Well, I love to write on Saturday. After the house is clean and everyone is ready for a nap, I’m ready to write.

Today is no exception. I always start with checking my book sites and social sites. That way I’ve got everything behind me as I start work. As I sit in my swing on the front porch, a light breeze blows across lifting my spirits. It’s not too warm yet here in the south.

With this being a holiday weekend, I plan on doing a lot of writing.I have several works in progress. There’s one thing to know as a writer, the only way to sell it is to finish it and publish it. The more you publish the more you have to offer.

So, hope you have a great weekend and hope it’s very productive.

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing Emotion

How do you write emotion? To someone that doesn’t write you may think this is easy. Well, it’s not easy to put emotion on paper. In life we feel so many emotions. We feel happy, excited, angry, grief, depressed and the list goes on. But how do you put it on paper? How do you get the reader to feel the emotion themselves?

I’ve read books that made me laugh, cry and even get angry. But how do you relate that feeling in your own writing? It’s all in the way you describe it and put all you have in it. Make sure you put every detail in so that it brings the reader into the situation. If you leave out some of the details it could make the reader become detached.

The words you use to make the description more vivid is key. Go for the gusto, use a Thesaurus if you have to, but make every word count. When making someone cry over a sad part, tell how the tears streamed silently, or their lip trembled as they held back the sobs. Don’t just say they looked sad. To bring about the emotion, you need to describe the facial expressions, the feelings they have and how it’s affecting those around them.

I had a fan tell me that one of my books made her cry from sadness at one point and then from deep happiness by the end. In her review she put to have a box of tissues close by when reading it. I smiled broadly and realized that I’d done my job.

So, don’t forget to fill in the descriptions and if you laugh as you write or cry, you’ve probably achieved your goal.

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…

What does you character sound like?

You may be saying, what is she babbling about now 🙂 It’s simple really. What voice would you put with your main character if you had the chance? Well, I had to figure that out this week and let me tell you, it was a blast!

What I’m talking about is audio books. An author recently mentioned I ought to try it out, so I did. I went to ACX.com and set up an account. It’s really easy and may I say extremely fun and exasperating too.

After you give them your general information, then the fun starts. You have to put your book information in and an excerpt that you want someone to read for an audition. Yep, you heard me right, an audition. You actually have people sending you auditions on the account. But the fun starts when you have to put in the settings you want. Here are just a few of the things asked.

1. Style of voice: This was a huge list of things like soft, loud, funny, sad, gruff, gravelly, and the list goes on.

2. Gender: Male or female. This part was easy for me.

3. Region of Voice: In the site it has a different name but you get the idea. These included Southern, Northern American, Irish, English, Oriental, Cajun and the list goes on. This one was hard.

After you pick these out you need to tell the producer a little about the way you want it expressed. Then you put why you picked this excerpt.

Then the fun part begins. You can listen to the different styles of voice in the next screen. This is where you can change your choices which is a good thing. This was hilarious. I had to change most of the settings I’d picked. My editor would just looked at me and shake her head laughing.

The strange part is I’ve always known what my character would sound like if she could talk. I listened to a couple of people that had general auditions and found a voice I liked. Then I’ve started receiving auditions. This is going to be hard. I’ve received some that really sound right. A couple sounded like they were in pain, so no. But it was so invigorating to hear my book being spoken by someone other than myself.

So if you want to hear your book, go to ACX.com and try it out. They take royalty percentage or pay per hour. I went with royalty percentage. It’s a no brainer really. They distribute the finished audio book to Amazon, Itunes and a couple of other places.

As always, Good Writing and May God Bless You.

Reviews

Reviews can be fickle things. Some people pay big bucks to get reviews added to their books. Well there’s nothing wrong with that if they’re honest reviews. I’ve seen books that have several raving reviews but their sales ranking in terrible. Makes you think, was it worth the money?

I’ve searched out sites where you just send out your book to a reviewer and that’s all it costs is the book. Do you have some sites that you use? Right now I’m not in the position to really pay for reviews, but it would be nice if some of the people that have read my books would give a review.

I’ve been receiving several reviews on the Barnes & Noble site and Kobo, but not many on Amazon. Some advice on how to get more on Amazon would be great. I’ve gone in and changed my categories on Amazon to those that don’t have thousands of books already listed.

Are reviews that important? I think they are important to most readers. If you don’t have reviews on a book, then most people just scan right over it. I’ve noticed that some people now just give you a star rating and no comment. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but as for me, I love to hear what you liked or didn’t like. Just always be nice.

One of my books on Barnes & Noble has received several reviews. What’s funny is someone posted a nasty review and it was followed almost immediately by three really sweet reviews. Of course this reviewer has popped up on several of my books and it’s always the same. Unfortunately for that reviewer their review is not real credible as the review did not follow the book. It’s sad that some people get their kicks from downgrading us authors. Oh, well if you can live with yourself that’s up to you 🙂

Hope all is well with you and your writing. If you have comments on reviews and such, send a response. I love to hear from everyone.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

To press or not to press, that’s the question…

It’s really a hard question for an author. Do you publish your work or do you go back over it several times and then decide? Sometimes I think we over analyze our writing, trying to make it perfect. To be honest it may never be perfect.

I’ve caught myself doing just this with one of my works in progress. It’s funny how we’re more critical than the worst reviewer. Any work you do needs to be read at least twice, and one of those times needs to be out loud. When you read out loud it brings about another reality. Just make sure that you get someone else to read your work. That person needs to have a open mind.

As I work on my newest work I wonder, will someone really want to read this? What’s rewarding is when I hear from people asking when my next book in one of my series is going to be published. It makes things seem a lot better, but man does it make you stressed. Ok, now you have someone ready for that book that you’ve been working hard to finish, but it’s not quite there yet.

My question to you is this. Do you over analyze your writing? Have you not published a finished piece because you feel it’s lacking something? Well, maybe you need a second opinion. It may just be you, not the book. Try it and see what you think. One of my best selling books was held out for longer because I didn’t think it was ready, but my editor just laughed and hit send on the publish button. Good call on her part 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Friday, it’s finally here…

Anyone that works during the week look forward to Friday. It’s the final day of the work week for most people. It’s the day that you usually do a little less as your mind gets ready to shut down for the weekend.

Funny thing is as a writer your work is never done. You work when everyone else sleeps. You work in the evening, morning, lunch time, and anytime you can spare a moment. I sat last night half watching television and half working on a current work in progress. My family knows that when the laptop goes in my lap that it’s work time. My laptop stays on my desk in my office all day doing accounting and then to my lap at night.

Friday’s are laid back in my office. I have several payrolls to complete but usually I shut down early if possible to get my son from school. It’s a special time for us. We usually get groceries then come home to either relax for a moment or I go back to the office to finish up.

So enjoy your Friday and relish the knowledge that in a couple of hours you can go home and not go back for 2 days. It’s your day, so be inspired.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…