Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 2

A lot of Noise

Over the weekend, I was sorting through social media and some emails, and I started to get overwhelmed by all of the books that are out there. My eyes started to glaze over. While some graphics and book covers were pretty and made me pause, my eyes began to glaze over once the book descriptions, author interviews, etc came into view. Then I realized that none of these efforts that these authors have put into their marketing were sticking with me. I felt so overwhelmed by it all that I mentally checked out. I thought, “This is a lot of noise.” It’s like white noise. Noise that you can easily place in the back of your mind while you focus on other things. Since I am an author who also must promote so people know my books exist, I realized that what I am doing is creating noise as well.

This is an unfortunate side effect of a culture that’s inundated with the internet. There is so much out there. It’s hard to keep focused. It doesn’t help that we are accessible by phone even when we’re not home. I can’t tell you how many times I wished for the days of the rotary phone when I was grocery shopping but had to stop in order to speak to a teacher about something in the middle of a school day. And since we are in an instant gratification environment, we pretty much expect to get what we want quickly. We can order something online and usually have it delivered later that day or the next. Texting and chatting can be done instantly whatever you are. I remember taking one of my sons in to see a GI doctor (and running other errands with him that day), and someone started giving me a hard time about the way I handled a particular situation. (I’m not perfect. I do my best. Sometimes my best is not enough.) But this texting continued on and off from about 11am to 7pm. I only continued since that person would have gotten back to me in another day if I didn’t address it then and there, and quite frankly, I don’t like having things hanging over my head like that. So I dealt with it. But at the end of that day, I was so exhausted that I was unable to do anything but sit in front of the TV and watch movies the next day.

I am overwhelmed. There is so much to do. There’s never enough time to do it. I can’t be the only person who feels this way. I can’t be the only person who gets to the point where all of the promotional stuff authors do turns into noise. I feel guilty for feeling this way because I am an author. I understand why they need to do it. How else is an author going to be noticed except by word of mouth, and word of mouth only happens after someone finds your book and tells others about it?

Honestly, all I want to do is write the book. I do love picking out a cover and getting it out into the world. I even enjoy rambling on this blog because doing so clears the cobwebs in my head so I can think clearly in order to write. This blog is my online journal. I opened my story today to start writing but realized I couldn’t because I’m overwhelmed. So I came to this blog to write about how I’m overwhelmed, and already, I feel much better.

The world seems to be lost to people who just want to write. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do to get noticed. Well, I have ideas, but I have no magic bullet. Believe me, if I did, I would still be making a living with my writing income. I have some ideas, though, so why not jot them down. Maybe no one else will find it inspiring, but I need a pep talk. I’m feeling bummed out because it’s hard to sell books in an era where there is so much noise that I can’t even think straight. (The crazy inflation we’ve seen since Covid has not helped. I realize a lot of people are struggling like I am to pay bills, etc. If we could go back to pre-Covid prices, then this wouldn’t be hitting so hard, but that’s not going to happen, so we have to deal with what we have.)

So anyway, these are ideas that I hope will get me back on track, rather than being stuck in this land of overwhelm:

It’s okay to just want to write the book.

Obviously, this comes with the caveat that this is not the most effective way to get visible. Back in 2009-2012, you pretty much could, but times have changed. That doesn’t mean all authors have to want to market their work. Writing is the fun part for some of us. It’s where the magic happens. We want to play in our characters’ world more than we want to do anything else. So why should we feel guilty if we aren’t excited by the prospect of marketing?

Yes, money is important, but surely, there can be a way of managing the money so we aren’t so dependent on our writing income.

I need to work on this one. It’s actually my main goal right now. I’m sick of feeling like my finances are out of control. While the writing income isn’t the full equation to this dilemma (because there is the inflation rate that went nuts on us), it’s difficult to write when you’re stressed out about money. I can tell the quality in my work based on periods in the past where I was stressed about making money and based on periods in the past where I wasn’t stressed about it. I know the books that didn’t live up to their potential, and even now, I think if I had just taken more time to write them, they would be so much better. Money matters. I’d love to say it doesn’t, but it really does.

Side note: It doesn’t help when readers say they will only read your free books, even though you are their “favorite” author or that they just “love” your work. If someone loved my work, they would be willing to pay for it. I really think that the whole “I love your books so much but can’t afford to pay $0.99-$3.99 for them” is a ploy to guilt trip authors into giving everything away to someone for free. I’ve seen some of these people in the past go on to brag about their new car, their vacation, their tickets to a brand new movie they just saw, or their expensive dinner out. You can’t tell me that all of these places are giving these people those things for free. So if an author decides not to give this person free books, they will feel like the jerk, and no author should feel like a jerk for wanting to get paid for their work.

Back to the actual topic: If an author can’t make more money because sales suck, then what? How can an author alleviate the stress from not making it? Obviously, removing excess spending is an easy way to get on good financial footing. Pay off debt. Don’t spend more than you make. Etc, etc. We all know this. These are the basics. This is your financial foundation. So I have stopped eating out. I make everything at home. This does mean less time writing because I spend more time in the kitchen now. I have found eating out to be the biggest non-essential expense in my house. I don’t know what yours is. But if you can work on that area, at least you can put that extra money into getting into a better financial position.

The area I’m targeting is investing. With writing, I have to keep getting more books out, and I have to hope those books will sell more than before. For years, my sales have been going down. (Obviously, I suck when it comes to marketing. I have been told if I did X, Y, or Z to market, sales would just take off. I’m exhausted with marketing. It’s become a lot of noise to me. I think that’s why I suck at it. Plus, I would rather be writing.) But with investing, I can use the Always Be Buying approach and have the chance of seeing actual money growth for the long term. I pick something with a good track record to invest in and have the money grow for me while I sleep. Personally, I like the S&P 500 since it’s a collection of the largest 500 US companies. It’s a wide basket, and over the past century, it has an upward track record. (Some periods dip, but overall, it has been going up.) I am not able to contribute much, but I keep telling myself that something is better than nothing. For the record, I’m 50, and my husband is 52. I just opened a Roth for both of us last year. We are not going to be millionaires when we reach retirement age. We started late. I say this to offer hope to others in my situation. A part of me dies every time I hear someone say, “If you didn’t start investing in your 20s or early 30s, you’re screwed.” Don’t give into that mindset. Something is better than nothing. And not everyone needs to be a millionaire to make it in retirement. I believe it’s in how you manage the money you have. I’ll be honest, though, I am still trying to figure out how to be better at it.

Sadly, the paragraph above is easier said than done, and sometimes authors do run into unexpected expenses that deplete their emergency accounts or require them to go into debt. God help you when that kind of thing happens because it’s depressing. A year ago, I reached this point, and it’s why we had to sell the house. It was the only way to get back on track. All I can think of for that is to rebuild the financial foundation if you’re able to. I have very little, to be honest, and that’s because of the years we wasted money. When I made great money at writing, I blew through all of it like an irresponsible kid. My dad did warn me when I was in my 20s. I can’t say that I didn’t know better. I did. I just lacked discipline. So did my husband. Things were going to eventually implode. I’m just relieved we aren’t out on the streets.

And now for my final idea:

Being genuine matters.

When I was sorting through social media and emails, one thing I noticed was how “same” everything seemed. That’s why it was so easy to glaze over everything. Writers pretty much end up saying the same kind of things. I’m guilty of this, so I get it. We think the same way in a lot of areas. While I think that’s good in some respects, it does have the drawback of making authors blur together. I get why book covers need to look similar in a certain genre. You are targeting that group of readers. You need to look similar. For example, no one wanting a romance is going to pick up a book with an alien ship on the cover. There are things authors need to do in order to package their books correctly. Even book descriptions are going to have some similarities because you need to tell the readers what tropes and plots you’re covering.

When I say be genuine, I mean to be who you really are. Let people see you. Yes, your books are a part of you, but you are more than your books. The things you write/talk about matter. The things you care about matter. In a culture consumed with things and social media, I think we’ve lost a lot of human connection. AI is only making it worse. I don’t see AI going away. AI is too convenient. And AI isn’t all evil. There are some good things AI does, like helping you find a location while you’re driving or helping you research a topic you know nothing about. But AI has also done some damage. The obvious one is people using AI to write the actual book for them. That is wrong, and I worry about the consequences this kind of thing is going to have through the author community. It’s why I stay away from AI for anything to do with writing. I don’t want to get tangled up in it. I am speaking more than what AI is doing by writing books. I am speaking about how we are replacing real people with AI “people”. I saw a commercial about an app that has an AI “person” that you can have a conversation with. I even saw something about an AI girlfriend app. We are replacing people with AI.

There is something AI can never be, and that is genuine. AI can only be what you feed it to be. It will have no original thought. It will have no free will. People will probably befriend it. People will even probably fall in love with it. But it won’t be real. Real connections aren’t perfect. Real people aren’t perfect. AI might seem perfect, but it’s not real, and since it’s not real, it’s not meaningful. I realize that some of us are introverts who thrive more off of being alone. I’m an introvert and require a lot of alone time to build up my energy to deal with people. But even introverts require some level of meaningful human connection. Humans are social creatures. We need other humans. We need connections that are authentic.

So if you’re an author who doesn’t have the most exciting personality around, that’s okay. There is something you care about. There are people you care about. It’s okay to focus on that. You don’t have to impress everyone. (It’s impossible to do that anyway, so there’s no point in making that your life ambition.) But you will connect with some people. It doesn’t matter if that’s a large group of people (which is what extroverts thrive off of) or a small group (which is more manageable to introverts). What matters is that the connection is real. You care about the person, and that person cares about you. I’m not saying everyone needs to be a close and personal friend. I’m just saying that even people you connect with once in a while can be meaningful as long as the acquaintance is authentic.

Let me end this with a quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” That is by Maya Angelou.

***

That concludes my rambling. Now you can see why it was so difficult for me to write this morning. All of the above was swimming around in my mind. I feel a lot better now that I got it out of the way.

The Hero Least Likely is Now Available!

This is Book 2 in the Love Under Desert Skies Series.

Book 1: Tagalong Bride

Book 2: The Hero Least Likely

Book 3: Hearts of Passion (to be written)

Here is the description:

She’s a proper lady. He’s the lawman least likely to succeed. Tossed into the same adventure, can they find everlasting love?

Arizona, 1885. Bernadette Reid longs to be cherished. Delighted to meet a handsome and courageous rancher, the mail-order bride wants nothing more than to marry, settle down, and raise a family. But after her intended ropes her into joining the pursuit of two outlaws, she ends up having to spend time with an inept deputy who has the audacity to think he’s a rival for her affections. 

Zeke Ritter tires of all the snickering he’s endured his entire life. Determined to prove worthy of his badge, the young man joins the hunt for a pair of outlaws—only to be shocked at the beauty of a reluctant posse member. And when her rugged fiancé focuses more on wrangling bandits than her heart, he vows to help her find happiness even if it leaves him shattered. 

Discovering Zeke’s hidden charm, Bernadette struggles with the realization that her brother’s matched her to the wrong husband. And though Zeke knows the woman he craves deserves someone who truly appreciates her, he refuses to steal another’s fiancée. 

Will they defeat their fears and find strength in each other? 

In this book you’ll find a virgin hero and heroine, an underdog hero, one sex scene within marriage, an actual gunfight (which held me up for three whole weeks to get right), comedy, and the Red Ghost itself. (And, just for fun, I scared Lucas with another scorpion. You know, just because it’s fun to mess with your characters once you know their weakness.)

If this sounds like your kind of book, you can find it at these places:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Smashwords

Google Play (ebook)

Google Play (audiobook)

Radish

A Look Into My Personal Life

Just a note: I’m not going to do a video/audio to go with this post today since I am due to go walking in an hour. I will try to break things up so you can scroll to the topics that interest you.

The quest for better health (walking and eating)

Summer is here, and this is the time of year I spend a good deal of time outdoors. I am still writing, but I’m not doing as much sitting at home that I tend to do while it’s cooler outside. My goal last year was to work my body up to being able to walk 3-5 miles at least three days a week. I want to keep that up this summer. I want to take care of my health because I’ve watched my parents die young. My mom was 48. My dad was in his 60s. While they died from smoking-related causes, they weren’t exactly the kind of people who ate healthy or exercised. I’ve seen them go through enough with doctors that I decided I want to spend my time as far from doctors and hospitals as possible.

This has also affected the way I eat. I used to eat out a lot. I’m not a big fan of cooking, but I have finally come across some recipes that are healthy and do not require a lot of work. (If anyone is interested in these, let me know, and I’ll make some blog posts about them.) My dad had high blood pressure. My mom had diabetes. I don’t want to end up with these issues, either. As of my last physical in September or October, I have a clean bill of health, and I’d like to keep it that way. I am doing the Healthy Keto plan. I’ve been doing it for about two years now. I have lost 40 pounds, but I lose weight slowly. I’m like a turtle. But I also don’t put on the weight fast, either, so that’s the trade-off. I still have another 40 pounds to go before I’m at my pre-pregnancy weight. I would love to get there, but if I never do, I can be okay with that as long as I continue to be healthy. I follow Dr. Eric’s Berg program. (I’m linking to his YouTube channel if you want to check it out.)

I’ve tried other methods, but his is the one that works for me. (I think there is no one-size-fits-all eating plan for everyone. We have different body types.) I feel a lot better than I did even when I was in my 30s. I feel like I’m in my late 20s. That is a big deal for someone who felt like she was 60 when she was 38. I still remember writing at the park with little energy, brain fog, and back pain. I didn’t start Dr. Eric Berg back then, but I did cut out a lot of sugars at that point. (I hate Starbucks withdrawals like you wouldn’t believe. I used to live on those drinks.) That got me to feeling like I should have been at 38. But when I started Dr. Eric Berg’s thing, I felt even better. (But I did have to seriously cut out sugar, and I remember going to the kitchen and seeking out sweets, esp. the ice cream. I wasn’t even hungry. I just wanted my next “fix”. The ice cream was the hardest habit to break. It took a month before I stopped with those cravings.) When they say you can get addicted to sugar, they are not joking.

So anyway, I do enough walking and cooking from scratch that it takes up a significant part of my time. Because of this, I don’t do as much writing or engagement online as I used to. Once in a while, I will get a question about when a new book will be ready, and I am very happy people care enough to want to read more books. I want to write more books. The reason I went through all of this rambling is to first of all say thank you for still reading my books. Truly, it means a lot to me. I also want to explain why my writing has slowed way down. It’s more than having been through burnout. I have come to realize it’s also about taking time to take care of my health in order to have the capacity to keep on writing. My goal is to be doing this for another 30 or so years.

The family

I also want to make sure I spend time with my family. My husband and I still date, though he doesn’t get as excited about the walks as I do for these occasions. My kids are entering adulthood. The oldest is now 22. Then the others are stair steps. So it’s 22, 21, 20, 19. Now that they’re adults, I might as well give their names. I tried to protect them while they were minors just because you don’t know who is reading the blog posts. (My mom used to watch a lot of true stories about killers. That kind of thing makes you cautious about what you share, which is why I try not to give away anything personal.)

So anyway, Craig is the oldest. Eric is second. John (my deaf son who is just shy of autism) is 20. Adrian is the youngest. Craig loves video games, and I have discovered that some of these games are movies with a “choose your own adventure” angle to it. I really enjoy that, but my gaming skills suck. (We played one game together called “It Takes Two”, and he had to wait for me to finish my portion of the scene for 30 minutes or so. I remember he ended up scrolling on his phone for something to read while he waited for me to successfully pass my part of the game.) Also, if you want someone to die in some quick time event, I’m your girl for that because I have trouble remember where the correct button is for a certain action. I’ve gotten the hang of Mario Party (which I play with Craig and my husband, Tony), but the other games don’t come as easily to me. For the most part, I watch Craig play a game in order to watch the movie. That way, the characters end up alive. Anyway, he does have a full-time job, so when he is off, I try to do something with him.

Eric is the one I usually walk with. We do most of our walks in downtown Omaha. They have Gene Leahy Mall there, and it’s a nice part of the walk. We also go across the Bob Kerry Bridge. We did take a couple of walks through Dundee, and this is the area where the older homes are. I don’t know when they were constructed, but I like to imagine that Richard and Amanda Larson lived in one of them. (If you’ll recall, they were two characters from the Nebraska Series.) Richard was a construction worker who ended up with his own business, and he built a house specifically using her ideas. I like to play the “what kind of house did they live in” game. I also try to imagine what historic buildings in Omaha he might have done. This is all a part of the mind of a writer, and while it has no basis in reality, it is fun to imagine the characters doing something visible in real life. Anyway, I want to take advantage of this time with Eric. He’ll be going off to college in a couple of years, and then he wants to leave Nebraska. My father-in-law used to say stuff like, “I should have done this with my children when they were young.” I don’t want to look back and say that. Also, given the fact that my parents didn’t live that long, I want to get the most out of the days I do have. I had always wanted to spoil my nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that. I am hoping I can someday spoil my grandchildren. But in case I don’t get the chance, this is another reason why I put an emphasis on spending time with my children while they are still around.

John is the third child. He’s deaf. We had him tested for autism, and he’s right under on the threshold of being autistic. (Like a couple of points off.) I am limited in how much I can do with him. He mostly likes to be alone working on languages. He loves foreign languages and will devote hours a day to it. He does work at a shipping place, so he’s able to hold down a job. He can’t drive, though, so I am his taxi to and from work. That takes up 1.5 hours total of my time a day. I have tried to take him out to the zoo and other places, but the older he’s gotten, the less he’s able to do outside. So even though he doesn’t quality for being autistic, he does have stuff in common with autistic people. Like he is very rigid on a schedule, and he needs things done a specific way. I do what I can, but I have to do it within a limit.

Adrian is my youngest, and he’s usually gone most of the day. He has two jobs and is trying to get his own place with a roommate. Today he’s looking at appointments. I don’t see him much, but when he’s around, he talks a lot. And since he’s a talker, and I’m more of a listener, I get way more information than I want to know about him. Sometimes I have to tell him to censor himself a bit because as a mom, I don’t want to know EVERYTHING. (And if you’re a parent, I’m sure you can guess what “everything” is.) I do want my children to feel comfortable coming to me about whatever is on their minds, but there are even limits I have. So I just let him know that I get the idea, and I don’t need to know anything else. I mean, I’m not stupid. I realize how the culture is, but even I have my limits. He’s an adult. He has to make his own decisions. I respect that.

So anyway, I went on and on about the kids, and I didn’t say much about my husband, but I do make an effort to spend time with him and we date, as I mentioned earlier. He’s a good, stable guy. Kind of like the heroes I enjoy writing about. If you ever wondered why my romances are the way they are, it’s because my marriage has been stable. We don’t have extremes for ups or downs. It’s pretty much a day-in and day-out routine. I’m happy with it. I like stability. I like routine. I like predictability. I have read some romances where there’s a ton of drama, and that is not for me. I would have a heart attack on those crazy ups and downs. The soap opera life isn’t for me. We only knew each other for four months before getting married. Looking back, I realize that was pretty fast. It’s probably why my characters don’t take long to fall in love. I just knew he was the one early on, and I saw no reason to wait. I also didn’t want to live with him first. So we just got married with at the courthouse and have been together ever since. We’ll celebrate 25 years this July of being married. As an elderly woman told me when I was 24 years old, “Marriage lasts when you make a commitment to stick it out through good and bad times. You choose to make it last.” There’s a lot of truth in that. Marriage is not a romance novel. It’s a choice to stick it out. (Granted, there are times when you can’t, like in infidelity and abuse.) But for the most part, love is a choice you make. For better or worse. No matter what. A lot of those days will be mundane. There will be times you have to put effort into the romance. That’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with stability. Stability is security, and love thrives best when someone is secure.

Alright, that’s it. I will discuss books I’m working on in my next post. This one went on way too long.

Creativity Killers and How to Tackle Them

Here is the video to go with the blog post if you would rather listen to it. (The blog post will not involve the rambling the video did. WARNING: spoilers in the video.)

The movie that inspired this post is called The Menu. The premise is that these people have been invited to this elaborate dinner where things start out pretty light but quickly turn dark as the evening progresses. (It’s labeled as a horror, suspense, and dark comedy type of movie. So warning: it’s not for the faint of heart.) I enjoyed it a lot because there were elements I saw in this movie that applies well to the issue of “creativity” that authors face.

In the movie, the main chef used to love to cook. He started out flipping burgers, and he was very happy doing this. It was an art. (Likewise, our writing when we are enjoying our work stems from the simple act of telling the story that is in our hearts. But over time, we will probably come across some creativity killers that will rob us of that joy. In the movie, the chef lost his passion by catering to others who ultimately took all of the joy from him.

Each table in the movie represented a creativity killer that the chef faced. I’ll list these out below and apply them to the writer’s own creative life, so we can be aware of them (and protect ourselves from them).

Table 1: The Critic

This is the group of people who will nitpick and tear down your story. Usually, the stuff is minor, and the criticism often doesn’t offer anything of real value. It can be something as little as a typo or two in a 70,000-word novel. It can be the bickering over passive vs active voice. It can be someone telling you that you should use “better” language to tell a story, like using words other than “is” or “was” or “walk” or “said”. Little stuff that ultimately makes no difference to the story itself.

How do you tackle this? Ignore the critic. These people aren’t there to help you. They are simply there to pull out their red pens and criticize your work. They find enjoyment out of nitpicking things. Let them nitpick, but you do not have to listen to it. As long as you and your readers are happy with the book, that’s all that matters.

Table 2: It’s All About the Money

Often in writing groups, the focus is on the money. Writers will brag about how much they make. Some will even show charts. The bottom line for these people is that writing is a business. To write for any other reason is to be “less than” in the eyes of these people. They might say your passion books are just as valuable, but you know that they have this “you’re a hobby writer” mentality that makes them look down at you. To them, there is no reason to write and publish books unless you plan to make money. This can put pressure on you to write stuff you don’t enjoy but feel like you have to for the sake of the money.

How do you tackle this? Realize that it if VALID to write and publish a book for pleasure. Out of all the people in the world, your book does have an audience. Of course, the problem is finding the audience. Visibility is an issue. But your book is worth having in the world. Only you can tell the story you have in your heart to write. It’s okay to have fun. Also, keep in mind that money does not always equal happiness. I remember a time when I was in a writing group and there was an author who was crying because she was miserable. She was making good money, but she hated what she was writing. She felt trapped. She wanted to write something else but was too scared to take the leap. I don’t know about you, but if writing is going to be like that, then what’s the point?

Table 3: All Work and No Play

In the pursuit of making money, authors can get into the trap of working all the time. They spend as much time writing and marketing as they can. After a while, this will take a toll on you. Even if you enjoy what you’re writing and you have an assistant, the nonstop urgency to do more only snowballs until you burnout.

How do you tackle this? Take time to do other things. Give yourself a life outside of the writing world. Find people and/or hobbies that allow you to relax. The key is to do stuff you enjoy. (Don’t make yourself spend this time on people or things you hate. That will only make you more miserable.) When you give yourself time to decompress, you’ll fill up the creative well again. Also, to better learn the craft of storytelling, it can be nice to watch movies, TV show or to read books that you enjoy. So you are still “working”, but in a fun way. (Still I would allow for purely non-writing stuff in my life to give me a balance.)

Table 4: The Overzealous Fan

While it’s fun to have someone who loves our work around us, you don’t want someone who is crazy. I’m thinking specifically of the book/movie “Misery” by Stephen King. Now he took this to the extreme in showing this “overzealous fan” dynamic, but if you are aware of this, then you know what I mean. This is someone who goes overboard. They want to be too intimately involved in your life. This can make you uncomfortable. (For the record, I do NOT have anyone like this in my life, thank goodness. And I think most authors never face this.) But it is something that would kill your creativity if it happened to you. Also, if you have a reader who loves your stuff and tells you they want to see you write something a certain way, it can be hard to NOT write it because you want to please them. You might have to choose between writing the story in the direction you want to go vs. the way they want the story to go. That is probably a more realistic dilemma that you’re bound to face at some point in your writing career. If you write according to someone else’s vision, that will hinder your creativity.

How do you tackle this? If you have someone too involved in your life, set up boundaries that put some distance between you and that person immediately. You don’t need to answer emails right away. You don’t have to text anyone. You don’t have to call anyone. You can even block if things get too nuts. I don’t have experience with this personally, but that is the stuff I would do. Now, I have had to decide to write the story my way instead, and I have politely told the person that, and the person understood and was happy with my work. So it’s often a matter of just being honest (and nice) about things.

Going Slow at Writing (and as a result, Publishing)

This is the audio to go with the post, so you can listen to it instead, though I did ramble in the video. So it might be better to read. (You can edit stuff that you write better than stuff you say.)

The new process explained in more detail than anyone probably wants to know.

In the past, I had a tendency to rush things. I would set deadlines and do everything possible to reach them. I believe this led to my eventual burnout. It has been difficult to give myself permission to stop setting rigid deadlines so I can slow down, though it is probably necessary for the long-term survival of being able to keep writing. Unfortunately, you can’t have it all. (Or at least, I can’t.) I would love to be able to get six books out a year like I used to, but it’s looking like I will probably get 3-4 books out instead. I would rather get 4 books out instead of 3.

I was about to write that we might be looking more at 3 books because that’s what I said in the video. However, I just remembered that The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is at 52,000 words, and this puts it on a good track to be out this year. Masquerade Bride is set for a Halloween release, and since it’s April 29, I see no reason why I can’t get it out this year (unless I run into a major writer’s block or something serious happens in my personal life). So I do think 4 books could be realistic after all. That actually makes me feel a lot better. It’s frustrating to have so many story ideas but not be able to get them out into the world.

Right now, I am trying to figure out how my new process should work. The past method of writing 5 days a week (Monday through Friday) and writing 15,000 words a week as a result was too much. I didn’t realize it when I was doing it, but it was too much. I am experimenting with writing 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and writing about a total of 11,250 words a week (though 500 of that goes toward my fan fiction stuff; so really, only 10,750 goes to what I will actually publish). I am taking Tuesdays and Thursdays to do the non-writing part of being an author. Things like making videos, blog posts, audiobook chapters of my books, and Facebook will fit in these places. I have done emails on my writing days if I don’t run out of time, but I also try catching up on emails on the weekends when I have a little downtime. While weekends are mainly for the family, I’m not with them 100% of the time.

The curse of the mind (and surprising benefit) when it wants to write something purely for pleasure.

This is actually a good problem to have, though it doesn’t seem like it on the surface. I mean, on the surface, writers are led into this mindset where all writing must result in the potential to make money. It’s been this way since we realized that there is money in self-publishing/indie publishing. I believe that came around in 2011-2012. That mentality makes its way into the back of a writer’s mind, so then the writer ends up feeling some pressure to pick stories that have that money potential. This makes it hard (and unattractive) to select a story that will yield absolutely no financial reward at all. That is what fan fiction is. Or, it could be something a writer produces with no intention of publishing it.

I have to pursue this fan fiction. Originally, I wrote it so that I could finally write my other stuff because I could not write my historical romances until I started this fan fiction. When I got the ball rolling again on the historical romances, I stopped writing the fan fiction. About a week and a half later, I had dreams about this fan fiction for a few nights in straight. So I realized this fan fiction piece has to be written. I am not getting out of it. The creative part of the brain wants to play in that world. In some ways, this is a curse. The more time and attention devoted to this fan fiction means less time in the stuff that I can put my name on.

However, there is a hidden blessing in this “purely for pleasure” pursuit that I didn’t anticipate when I picked this fan fiction project back up. Ideas for other stories just exploded in my mind. When I was focused just on the historical romances, I’d say the creative well was 3/4 full, sometimes completely full. I had enough ideas to sustain me for a few books out from what I was working on. So while I was working on 3 books, I really had ideas for about 5 more. Now that I’m writing this fan fiction, I am getting ideas from all over the place. I’m getting them from TV shows, from conversations, from articles, and from videos. I can’t seem to stop them, nor do I really want to because after spending so much time in burnout, it’s nice to have the overflow of ideas. I’ll never be able to write them all. I simply do not have the time. But it’s still nice to have that much creativity to play with these days. So that is the unexpected benefit of the fan fiction piece, and maybe that’s why my brain needed to pull me in that direction.

I am sure this would not work for all writers. Some writers would probably get overwhelmed and unable to write anything if there were too many story ideas running through their minds at any one time.

Going slow has made the writing stronger.

I have always seen my stories playing out as a movie when I wrote, but these days, everything is more vibrant. The characters are more pronounced, the emotion is stronger, the scenes flow easier, etc. I have learned that I take more time to “think” over the story than some authors. Some authors write a lot of words at once. I remember one saying that everyone should write 5,000 words a day. That method does not work for me. I do better if I stick to a small word count goal, like 750 for one story and 500 for the others I’m writing. This takes time and experimenting to figure out. But it’s probably worth the time and experimenting to find the sweet spot. Not everyone is meant to write a book in a week. Some are meant to write a book in a few month. Some are even meant to write a book in a year, or even longer. It really depends on your mind and how it works.

I have always been in favor of word count goals because they work for me. I like to stop in the middle of a scene or start a new chapter before I quit writing for the day. That way I have an idea of where I’m doing. Some authors do a scene at a time. Some do a chapter. Some write for a certain amount of time. Some even go into the story with a fleshed out outline, go back to add dialogue, and then go back to add emotions. There are many ways to write the story. A couple even write 80% of the way into the book and then go back to flesh everything in before finishing it. Some write the main scenes and then connect them all together later. There is no wrong way to write a story. The important thing is getting it written.

Now for what I’m working on:

Masquerade Bride is on track. But…I’m pushing the Christmas and Valentine stories to next year. So we’re looking at November/December 2026 for The Wedding Carol and Feb 2027 for It’s a Wonderful Marriage.

Halloween book Christmas book Valentine book

I’m bummed about this. I was hoping to get these out sooner. I am excited about these books, but they are season specific. It’s close to May, and since I am going so slow with my writing, I need to give myself enough time to do justice to these books. I will be able to get Masquerade Bride out for Halloween. I’m 12,600 words into it, and that offers me enough “lead time” to get the first draft completed and then off to my editing team in plenty of time for a September/October release.

The Hero Least Likely is on track for a June release.

My last book came out in February. This is Book 2 of the year to be published, and it’ll be out in June. See what I mean about going slow? Believe me, no one is more frustrated than I am. But there’s not much I can do. If I have to slow down, I have to slow down.

The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is at 52,600 words

This is good, steady progress. I am not having to go rewrite or revise in this, but I did go back to tweak on some things. I think I have 10,000 to 15,000 more words to go before this one wraps up. Now that I write that out, it doesn’t sound like enough. I wonder if I’ll actually write 20,000 more words. There are some main points I want to cover before I’m ready to end it. I don’t want to rush it. I am building things up for Book 2 right now. I decided to change the title of Book 2 since the situation with the heroine has been modified a bit. The upside to going slow is that I have plenty of time to brainstorm a new title.

I am 19.000 words in The Preacher’s Wife

And I am still laying the foundation for this story. So I bet this is going to be a long one. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hits 80,000 words. I know a couple of key points in this story that I need to cover, but I haven’t gotten to those yet. I won’t get to them in a while. So the real struggle is HOW I am going to get to the start of this book to where I will end up. This has been like pulling teeth. Sometimes I don’t get anything written in this one. And I have done quite a bit of revising, which I hate to do but have no option since this story isn’t coming easily to me.

I have thought about writing the scenes that are going to come, but in the past when I’ve done that, something ends up happening on the way to those major scenes that make me either throw the scenes out or rewrite them. So I have learned it’s best to just leave the story alone until I can write in it. I’m happy to say that I am happy with where I am at the moment. So I don’t foresee having to go back and revise anything else. As long as I can give myself the time to think about what to do next, I should be okay.

Discovery Writing

I’m going to conclude this post by talking about discovery writing. I recently discovered this term. It’s kind of like writing by the seat of your pants but not exactly. Discovery writing is when you figure the story out as you’re writing it. Unlike the panster, these writers can also plot. They plot a little at a time (discovery) then write. Then they plot some more (with more discovery) and then continue writing.

Some discovery writers know the main characters’ personalities and build a story around that. Some discover writers will have a theme in mind and build their story around that. Some discovery writers will have a plot and start there.

I start with a plot idea. I usually have a 1-2 sentence story idea. Then I know the hero and heroine’s names. And I know how the first scene opens. That’s all I know when I start a story. I might have an idea of key points I’d like to cover in the story, but those are subject to change depending on the course the story takes. For example, I might think that a character is going to end up doing something. During the course of the story, however, the character’s personality might be something I didn’t expect. So I write the character acting in the way appropriate for that character, and most of the time, the character does not do the thing I expected because their personality does not fit that action. This is why I don’t know who my characters are until I’m writing in their point of view. The only way I figure them out is by writing them. That is a part of the discovery process.

Honestly, if I were to know everything in advance, I would lose interest in the story and be unable to write it. I would rather not know everything when I go into something. I want to be surprised. That’s the appeal of discovery writing. I have learned to trust my gut when it comes to writing. So maybe that’s the secret to discovery writing. You go with your gut. This is writing on a subconscious level.

***

My brain stopped working at the end, so I left the video on an awkward note. To be fair, I was interrupted twice while doing the video. Some kids were home. A mom’s life is never a quiet one.

Going Slow at Writing (and a result, Publishing)

This is the audio to go with the post, so you can listen to it instead, though I did ramble in the video. So it might be better to read. (You can edit stuff that you write better than stuff you say.)

The new process explained in more detail than anyone probably wants to know.

In the past, I had a tendency to rush things. I would set deadlines and do everything possible to reach them. I believe this led to my eventual burnout. It has been difficult to give myself permission to stop setting rigid deadlines so I can slow down, though it is probably necessary for the long-term survival of being able to keep writing. Unfortunately, you can’t have it all. (Or at least, I can’t.) I would love to be able to get six books out a year like I used to, but it’s looking like I will probably get 3-4 books out instead. I would rather get 4 books out instead of 3.

I was about to write that we might be looking more at 3 books because that’s what I said in the video. However, I just remembered that The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is at 52,000 words, and this puts it on a good track to be out this year. Masquerade Bride is set for a Halloween release, and since it’s April 29, I see no reason why I can’t get it out this year (unless I run into a major writer’s block or something serious happens in my personal life). So I do think 4 books could be realistic after all. That actually makes me feel a lot better. It’s frustrating to have so many story ideas but not be able to get them out into the world.

Right now, I am trying to figure out how my new process should work. The past method of writing 5 days a week (Monday through Friday) and writing 15,000 words a week as a result was too much. I didn’t realize it when I was doing it, but it was too much. I am experimenting with writing 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and writing about a total of 11,250 words a week (though 500 of that goes toward my fan fiction stuff; so really, only 10,750 goes to what I will actually publish). I am taking Tuesdays and Thursdays to do the non-writing part of being an author. Things like making videos, blog posts, audiobook chapters of my books, and Facebook will fit in these places. I have done emails on my writing days if I don’t run out of time, but I also try catching up on emails on the weekends when I have a little downtime. While weekends are mainly for the family, I’m not with them 100% of the time.

The curse of the mind (and surprising benefit) when it wants to write something purely for pleasure.

This is actually a good problem to have, though it doesn’t seem like it on the surface. I mean, on the surface, writers are led into this mindset where all writing must result in the potential to make money. It’s been this way since we realized that there is money in self-publishing/indie publishing. I believe that came around in 2011-2012. That mentality makes its way into the back of a writer’s mind, so then the writer ends up feeling some pressure to pick stories that have that money potential. This makes it hard (and unattractive) to select a story that will yield absolutely no financial reward at all. That is what fan fiction is. Or, it could be something a writer produces with no intention of publishing it.

I have to pursue this fan fiction. Originally, I wrote it so that I could finally write my other stuff because I could not write my historical romances until I started this fan fiction. When I got the ball rolling again on the historical romances, I stopped writing the fan fiction. About a week and a half later, I had dreams about this fan fiction for a few nights in straight. So I realized this fan fiction piece has to be written. I am not getting out of it. The creative part of the brain wants to play in that world. In some ways, this is a curse. The more time and attention devoted to this fan fiction means less time in the stuff that I can put my name on.

However, there is a hidden blessing in this “purely for pleasure” pursuit that I didn’t anticipate when I picked this fan fiction project back up. Ideas for other stories just exploded in my mind. When I was focused just on the historical romances, I’d say the creative well was 3/4 full, sometimes completely full. I had enough ideas to sustain me for a few books out from what I was working on. So while I was working on 3 books, I really had ideas for about 5 more. Now that I’m writing this fan fiction, I am getting ideas from all over the place. I’m getting them from TV shows, from conversations, from articles, and from videos. I can’t seem to stop them, nor do I really want to because after spending so much time in burnout, it’s nice to have the overflow of ideas. I’ll never be able to write them all. I simply do not have the time. But it’s still nice to have that much creativity to play with these days. So that is the unexpected benefit of the fan fiction piece, and maybe that’s why my brain needed to pull me in that direction.

I am sure this would not work for all writers. Some writers would probably get overwhelmed and unable to write anything if there were too many story ideas running through their minds at any one time.

Going slow has made the writing stronger.

I have always seen my stories playing out as a movie when I wrote, but these days, everything is more vibrant. The characters are more pronounced, the emotion is stronger, the scenes flow easier, etc. I have learned that I take more time to “think” over the story than some authors. Some authors write a lot of words at once. I remember one saying that everyone should write 5,000 words a day. That method does not work for me. I do better if I stick to a small word count goal, like 750 for one story and 500 for the others I’m writing. This takes time and experimenting to figure out. But it’s probably worth the time and experimenting to find the sweet spot. Not everyone is meant to write a book in a week. Some are meant to write a book in a few month. Some are even meant to write a book in a year, or even longer. It really depends on your mind and how it works.

I have always been in favor of word count goals because they work for me. I like to stop in the middle of a scene or start a new chapter before I quit writing for the day. That way I have an idea of where I’m doing. Some authors do a scene at a time. Some do a chapter. Some write for a certain amount of time. Some even go into the story with a fleshed out outline, go back to add dialogue, and then go back to add emotions. There are many ways to write the story. A couple even write 80% of the way into the book and then go back to flesh everything in before finishing it. Some write the main scenes and then connect them all together later. There is no wrong way to write a story. The important thing is getting it written.

Now for what I’m working on:

Masquerade Bride is on track. But…I’m pushing the Christmas and Valentine stories to next year. So we’re looking at November/December 2026 for The Wedding Carol and Feb 2027 for It’s a Wonderful Marriage.

Halloween book Christmas book Valentine book

I’m bummed about this. I was hoping to get these out sooner. I am excited about these books, but they are season specific. It’s close to May, and since I am going so slow with my writing, I need to give myself enough time to do justice to these books. I will be able to get Masquerade Bride out for Halloween. I’m 12,600 words into it, and that offers me enough “lead time” to get the first draft completed and then off to my editing team in plenty of time for a September/October release.

The Hero Least Likely is on track for a June release.

My last book came out in February. This is Book 2 of the year to be published, and it’ll be out in June. See what I mean about going slow? Believe me, no one is more frustrated than I am. But there’s not much I can do. If I have to slow down, I have to slow down.

The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is at 52,600 words

This is good, steady progress. I am not having to go rewrite or revise in this, but I did go back to tweak on some things. I think I have 10,000 to 15,000 more words to go before this one wraps up. Now that I write that out, it doesn’t sound like enough. I wonder if I’ll actually write 20,000 more words. There are some main points I want to cover before I’m ready to end it. I don’t want to rush it. I am building things up for Book 2 right now. I decided to change the title of Book 2 since the situation with the heroine has been modified a bit. The upside to going slow is that I have plenty of time to brainstorm a new title.

I am 19.000 words in The Preacher’s Wife

And I am still laying the foundation for this story. So I bet this is going to be a long one. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hits 80,000 words. I know a couple of key points in this story that I need to cover, but I haven’t gotten to those yet. I won’t get to them in a while. So the real struggle is HOW I am going to get to the start of this book to where I will end up. This has been like pulling teeth. Sometimes I don’t get anything written in this one. And I have done quite a bit of revising, which I hate to do but have no option since this story isn’t coming easily to me.

I have thought about writing the scenes that are going to come, but in the past when I’ve done that, something ends up happening on the way to those major scenes that make me either throw the scenes out or rewrite them. So I have learned it’s best to just leave the story alone until I can write in it. I’m happy to say that I am happy with where I am at the moment. So I don’t foresee having to go back and revise anything else. As long as I can give myself the time to think about what to do next, I should be okay.

Discovery Writing

I’m going to conclude this post by talking about discovery writing. I recently discovered this term. It’s kind of like writing by the seat of your pants but not exactly. Discovery writing is when you figure the story out as you’re writing it. Unlike the panster, these writers can also plot. They plot a little at a time (discovery) then write. Then they plot some more (with more discovery) and then continue writing.

Some discovery writers know the main characters’ personalities and build a story around that. Some discover writers will have a theme in mind and build their story around that. Some discovery writers will have a plot and start there.

I start with a plot idea. I usually have a 1-2 sentence story idea. Then I know the hero and heroine’s names. And I know how the first scene opens. That’s all I know when I start a story. I might have an idea of key points I’d like to cover in the story, but those are subject to change depending on the course the story takes. For example, I might think that a character is going to end up doing something. During the course of the story, however, the character’s personality might be something I didn’t expect. So I write the character acting in the way appropriate for that character, and most of the time, the character does not do the thing I expected because their personality does not fit that action. This is why I don’t know who my characters are until I’m writing in their point of view. The only way I figure them out is by writing them. That is a part of the discovery process.

Honestly, if I were to know everything in advance, I would lose interest in the story and be unable to write it. I would rather not know everything when I go into something. I want to be surprised. That’s the appeal of discovery writing. I have learned to trust my gut when it comes to writing. So maybe that’s the secret to discovery writing. You go with your gut. This is writing on a subconscious level.

***

My brain stopped working at the end, so I left the video on an awkward note. To be fair, I was interrupted twice while doing the video. Some kids were home. A mom’s life is never a quiet one.

Writing for Passion

Here is the video/audio to go with the post:

This is another discussion on writing for passion. I assume some people are just finding me, and since this is a topic I enjoy discussing, I thought I’d address it today.

When you’re writing to market, you are looking at what is selling. You’re looking at character types and plots that are popular. Your goal is to gather all of the stuff that has a high demand in the market place and then you build a story around them. For writers who successfully write to market, they can write a story without having to be interested in the story they are writing. I mean, I’m sure they are interested to a point, but the goal is to write FOR the reader first. So they are more concerned with what others want, rather than in what they want.

I used to do some writing to market, but I was unable to fully go “all market”. I had to blend some of the market with some passion. (I’m sure other writers do this, too, as a way to leverage both passion and market). Unfortunately, over time, even this approach led to me facing burnout. (Apparently, not all writers can do this long term. I’m one of them.)

These days, I will do everything I can to avoid burnout because burnout was so terrible. It’s essentially a place where you have no ideas left in your creativity well. I was so exhausted that trying to write anything was like puling teeth. Sure, it’s common to have days where you’re just not in the mood to write, but you manage to push through those and be fine. But in burnout, you actually hate to write. (And that is a scary place for someone who grew up daydreaming stories most of her life.) I have since learned to go slower when I’m writing and to pick stuff that fills my creative well by choosing stuff that I’m passionate about writing.

With that transition…

When you write for passion, you are free to write whatever you want.

No one else is calling the shots on this story. You don’t have to think about the market at all. The sky is the limit. You can go anywhere and do anything. Whatever characters and plots you want, you can use them.

Naturally, you will not please everybody. (But you won’t please everyone when you write to market, either, because taste is subjective.) The difference in writing for passion is that you are asking yourself, “What is the journey I want to go on? What do I want to read?” When you write to market, you are asking, “What is the journey THEY want to go on? What do THEY want to read?” The mindset is a lot different when you approach the story from a passion point of view.

My advice is not to stress the feedback you get. You will get more positive than negative feedback. (Or most of us will. I’m sure there are exceptions to any rule.) But mostly, I would say that you will hear about the stuff people like about your books. When you get negative feedback, it’s okay. Not everyone likes the same thing. I know this is easier said than felt. Back in 2010-2011 when I was getting hit hard with a lot of 1 and 2-star reviews and emails from people who didn’t like my stuff, I almost quit writing. It is not easy to hear the bad. I will say that as you go along this writing journey, you will develop thicker skin, and the negative gets a lot easier to brush off. My advice is to print out the positive stuff you receive so you can refer to that when you doubt yourself.

When you write, you might have to make a conscious decision to push out the critical voice inside your mind telling you what sucks about the stuff you’re writing. (I don’t know if everyone has this voice bugging them in the back of their minds. But I know I’m not the only one.) Sometimes I have to stop writing and remind myself that I am writing this story for myself first. This is a passion story. It’s okay if I put what I want in this story. This is not easy to do. You pretty much have to train yourself in this area, or at least I did. Over time, though, it gets easier. Looking back, I have always been happier with the stories where I pushed out the critical voice.

One big perk to writing the story your way is that you will find people who will love your stuff, and they will love it enough to stick with you over the years. It is rewarding to have a small group of people who have the same vision and enjoyment for my writing. This isn’t sexy or impressive in the writing community because the writing community values money. I’m just telling you that it’s okay if you are looking at writing through the prism of “I love writing for passion”. Your stories are just as valid as any writer who is focused on book sales.

It is possible to make money while writing for passion. I used to do it. I’m not the only author who’s ever done it. The gold rush of self-publishing is over, so I don’t make the money that I used to. Could I make more money if I wrote to market? Maybe. I know authors who write to market who aren’t making the money they want. So writing to market doesn’t guarantee sales. It probably increases your chances. (I have only assumptions on this. I offer no actual proof. I assume stuff that is popular will sell better than stuff that isn’t.) I guess you have to ask yourself, does the freedom to write what you want outweigh the prospective money you can receive? I’ve seen posts in writing forums from writers who were making a lot of money writing to market, but they were miserable because they hated what they were writing. After going through burnout, that’s just not worth it to me.

Writing for passion also allows you to develop your voice. I think our greatest defense against AI is to develop our writing voice. Your writing voice can be as unique as a fingerprint. Have you ever read a book by an author with such a compelling voice that you fell in love with their work? That’s what I’m talking about in developing voice. After some time of writing, you should settle into a style that best fits you. So if you blend your unique voice with a book you are passionate about writing, I think you buffer yourself against a future where AI is creating stories for people to read. (The future already seems to be here, but I have no way of knowing just far we are into this rabbit hole.) All I know is that if a person falls in love with your voice and your type of stories, then it helps to give you an edge that AI cannot duplicate. AI can imitate, but it can’t “create”.

So anyway, that’s why I believe there’s value in writing for passion. I modified this a bit from the video. (I sure can ramble. I’m more concise when I write things down.)

Updates on What I’m Doing

I made an attempt to do a video to go with this (twice), but both attempts sucked. Long story short, I either forgot stuff or rambled on way too much about stuff that didn’t even have anything to do with this post. So I’m skipping the video portion this time. Maybe I’ll do better in the future.

I’m finally done with the initial edits on this one:

This is Book 2 in the Love Under Desert Skies Series. (Book 1 is Tagalong Bride.)

It was SLOW going on those edits. Ever since my burnout, I find that I can’t edit as fast as I used to. I am also writing slower. But I have my enthusiasm back for this stuff… Okay, well, just the writing part. I have never enjoyed editing. But the writing part I absolutely love and am very pleased with how these books are turning out. Despite how slow I’m editing, I am enjoying the story a lot.

I just finished with my round of edits and handed it off to three people to go over for me. I give them a month to work on it because I want to make sure they have sufficient time to work on the book. Ever since burnout, I’ve realized that it’s just not worth rushing to get a book out. It’s best to relax and enjoy the process. (With edits, I can’t enjoy all of it, but at least going slower allows me to NOT go crazy.)

I am at Chapter 20 in this one.

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Chemistry Series.

This puts me at the 50,000-word mark. In the past, I used to be done when a book was between 50,000 to 60,000 words. But these last couple of books have been longer, and I still have a ways to go in this one before it’s time to wrap things up. The longer it takes to finish the first draft, the longer it takes to edit. The longer it takes to edit, the longer it takes to get the book out into the world. So I am thinking I might have to set my goal at getting four books out a year instead of six. This sucks in some ways because I have so many story ideas I want to write. But I have learned my lesson from burnout: do not rush the process. (This is not easy for a Type A personality, and I’m definitely Type A.)

Anyway…

We’re at the point where the hero is about to make a second attempt at getting the heroine to drink the love potion these guys have been working on in this series. (Hint: This is Book 1, and the entire series is about getting the love potion to work. So you can guess how things will go, right?)

I also wrote a scene last week where I show “why” the hero could not accept the heroine’s play at the very beginning of the story. Sometimes it takes a while before we get some questions answered that pop up early on in a story.

I’m at Chapter 4 (almost 5) in this one.

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Holiday Series.

The heroine is now in her “new” life. I decided to just plop her into a situation where she already has friends and men vying to court her because it would take too long (and bore me) to establish this angle. It’s quicker (and more fun) to just throw her into the action.

One thing I will say is that I didn’t know WHO the hero of this book was going to be when I started it. The hero could have been the one she was arranged to marry in the beginning OR someone she meets in her new life. I really didn’t know. I had to start writing the book to figure it out. I’m happy to say that I have now figured it out, and (as a bonus), I know how I’m going to convince her he’s “the one”. So that’s good. Maybe this one will flow easily for me.

I actually wrote a scene in this one last this week.

This is Book 2 in the Oregon Series.

I put this one on hold because of that fan fiction idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. It’s for the best, really, because I’m a bit blocked in this one. I know where to want to go. I just don’t know HOW to get there. This is coming to me slowly. I guess I’m working things out in the back of my mind. I probably just need the time to develop this more in my head. (I could try plotting, but that method has rarely ever worked for me. So I’ll let it just sit for the most part while I work on other stuff.)

However, that all being said, I had a wonderful breakthrough in the scene I did write earlier this week. It was during a dinner where the hero and heroine are visiting the family of the woman who will be featured in the next book in this series. I had originally assumed that this woman was a strict, uptight kind of person who made it difficult for men to like. After writing this scene, I realized she isn’t that way at all. It’s her parents who are controlling that is preventing her from the marriage and kids she most wanted. You know how Mary left Maine in Eye of the Beholder to seek out a new life despite her parents (specifically her mom)? Well, this woman didn’t choose to answer a mail-order bride ad to leave her home. She stayed put. So this is the “what if Mary hadn’t left Maine?” scenario, and it’s one I’m excited to write about.

Oh, also, Book 3 in this series will finally have the older than average hero and heroine that someone requested I write last year. So she’s in her 40s, and the hero will be either in his late 40s or 50. Yes, it is taking me this long to get to writing something that a person requested a year ago. I really wish I could write faster. I miss the days when I could get six books out in a year, but this is what I’m dealing with, so I just have to accept it.

Update on the YouTube and Rumble audiobook Stuff

I just finished narrating the last chapter of Eye of the Beholder. I believe it’s set to go out May 12. (I just uploaded the last chapter on Wednesday.) This week, I hope to start narrating Loving Eliza. Someone asked for Loving Eliza, so I’m doing that one next.

After I’m done with Loving Eliza, I’ve already decided I’ll narrate The Hero Least Likely.

I’m now getting audiobooks made through KDP

Amazon’s publishing arm for Indies (KDP) has opened the option for me to make audiobooks now with their digital narration option. I am slowly making my way through my backlist. I have a total of 101 romances now, so it’s taking some time. I have just finished with the Regencies and am working my way through the historical westerns.

I’m already on Google Play, and I have a few books on Apple (thanks to Draft2Digital’s arrangement to convert ebook to audio over there). I do have some on Kobo, but Kobo’s system is still clunky and slow, so I had to just leave it alone. Someday, I think they’ll come around to offering to convert ebooks to digital files like Google Play, Amazon, and Apple are doing.

I have someone helping me with the BookFunnel Promos now

I am telling you that time just flies, and I am struggling to keep up with BookFunnel promotions. Thankfully, I have a wonderful assistant who knows how to handle this for me. This stuff isn’t hard to do, but it’s time consuming, and it’s easy to forget about when I’m trying to narrate my books, work on videos, and write my books. (The writing is the most important part, of course.) But basically, I am learning that I need to start letting someone else do some of the stuff for me because I am just overwhelmed by all the stuff there is to do. I know some of you enjoy the BookFunnel promos, so I will continue running them. I’m just having help doing it.

I’m also going to have her help in cleaning up my email list. A lot of people sign up for author lists but then never open the emails. I think people just get busy. Who knows if the emails go to their spam folders? I have no way of knowing, but I do want to have her help me delete people who aren’t opening my emails because there’s no point in sending out emails to people who aren’t opening them. Earlier this year, I sent out emails to help figure out what type of books people are most interested in so I could help to segment in the list. That way people who want to read only the Regencies don’t have to see stuff about my historical westerns, and vice versa. I know not everyone wants both of those genres to read. I realize that some authors send out emails once a week, and that probably works great for them, but I don’t have that kind of time.

I write these emails myself. (I write emails directly to people, too, and I do struggle with how to respond to people, even if it’s to thank them. I feel so awkward because, unless I’m in a character’s point of view in a book, my mind often goes blank.) Anyway, I know I could automate emails in advance and come up with a list of topics to write about, but honestly, I don’t find that much exciting stuff to talk about outside of my books. My life is boring, and if we were sitting in person, I’d probably end up listening to you talk about your life instead of talking about mine. I don’t know if I’m “shy” per se, but I struggle with knowing what to say unless we’re dealing with topics like my books, writing, publishing, and marketing. If we’re talking books and the writing business stuff, I can talk your ear off.

Alright, that’s more than anyone ever wanted to know about me. Let me wrap things up.

Thinking of Characters as “Real People”

Here is a video to go with the post in case you want the audio version.

I’m quirky enough to think of my characters as real people. For me, this is part of the fun of writing. I don’t know how many other authors are like this. I’m going to assume at least some are. Today, I’m going to talk about how thinking of characters as “real people” can be beneficial. (If you aren’t wired this way, then you can ignore this. I realize that every writer has their unique way of viewing things in the storytelling process.)

Every character has a background.

I’m sure most (if not all?) writers can agree on this. Some writers know this background going into the story. I don’t. I have to write the story to figure it out, and sometimes I don’t even know the background until I’m in the middle of the story.

Background tells us important things about our characters. They tell us the characters’ strengths, weaknesses, and religious and political beliefs. They have a way of viewing the world around them, just as we do. While I was getting my Bachelors in Psychology, there was this debate. Are people formed by nature (basically, what genes they are born with) or are they formed by their environment (how they are raised. I’m sure most of you have heard of the nature vs nurture debate. Well, it’s pretty much both. Our genes do give us certain personality traits, and these lead to our strengths and weaknesses, but our environment does bring in stuff the compose our view of the world (religious, political, etc). This is what makes the human experience so complex and fascinating. We can bring this complexity and fascination into our stories by realizing our characters are not “us” (per se) but are their own unique individuals.

Characters within your story will interact with each other, and you can play around with how similar or different they are based on their backgrounds.

The beauty of characters being their own people is that they will see the exact same event but perceive it differently. This can be a useful tool in your storytelling process.

I’m going to give a ridiculous example. (It came to me in the middle of the night. I probably had a weird dream.) But bear with me because I am going somewhere with this.

The event: a clown is running down the street. He is running down the street, and his hands are in the air.

You have Character A on one side of the street. In his background, he’s seen clowns at parties and circuses, so he sees this clown and thinks it’s funny. To him, this clown is harmless and fun.

You have Character B on the other side of the street. He does not find the clown fun at all. In fact, he views this clown as being menacing due to all the horror movies he’s watched over the years.

Now as the author, you know the clown’s real motivation for running down the street. In this scenario, the clown is freaked out because a dog is chasing him. He has a fear of dogs. (His own background would apply here in some way.)

This scenario all boils down to this:

There are three sides to every story. What he said. What she said. And what really happened. (What really happened is what the author can choose to disclose to the reader if the author wishes.)

Why point of view matters in storytelling.

As the writer, you have decisions to make in this scene. You can present the point of view of Character A. You can present the point of view of Character B. You can also present the point of view of the clown. If you choose never to reveal the clown’s motive for running down the street, the reader will not know the truth here. The reader will only know which character’s point of view you are presenting. You can present all three viewpoints through narration or dialogue. It’s up to you.

This is what makes writing so much fun. You can play around with a variety of scenarios.

So let’s say with this example, Character A and Character B talk to the clown. After you present what Character A and/or Character B thought when they saw this clown, you can dive further into the characters’ perspectives with another angle. Now Characters A and B KNOW why the clown was running. They have a new frame of reference to work with. They know the clown was not having fun and he was not on a murderous rampage. The clown was just scared of the dog.

But they can still have a different perspective on how they interpret this event to the reader.

In this case, Character A remembers his past (background) and recalls being scared of a great big dog when he was a little kid. So he understands and is sympathetic toward this clown. Meanwhile Character B never came across a dog that was scary. His background led him to believe all dogs are friendly all the time. He thinks that it’s common knowledge that if you run, a dog will naturally chase you. Therefore, Character B is not sympathetic. He thinks the clown was overreacting to the dog.

You can show Characters A and B’s differences by giving their point of view in the narration, or you can have it done through dialogue. Perhaps the point of view character is the clown. The only way the reader will know what Characters A and B are thinking is if the clown talks to them.

The beauty of perspective.

At the end of the day, you get to choose which character presents the “facts” to the reader. Choosing the character(s) to do this can alter small things in the story that I find fascinating. The main thing is to be true to their perspective. It doesn’t matter what the truth is as you (the writer) know it. What matters is how this character (who is a “real person”) is viewing everything that is being said and done around them, and how does this affect how this character will feel and act in return. I think in doing this, we can make characters that come alive in our work.

Updates on What I’m Doing

Here is the video if you want to listen to this post instead of reading it. I cover a wider range of topics than originally planned. I discuss burnout, how I’m working to avoid burnout, why my books will take longer to write and publish, and the books themselves. You can tell I was in a talkative mood because I kept on rambling. If you read the post, you’ll avoid a lot of the crazy ramblings.

Note: I talk about the actual books at the 9 minute mark, if you want to skip ahead to that.

Tackling the Burnout Beast

This takes some experimenting to figure out, apparently. A few years ago, I thought all I had to do was forget “writing to market” and it would take care of the road to burnout. Looking back, I realized I was heading for burnout starting back in 2016. I just didn’t recognize the signs. I knew I was getting tired but didn’t know how to adjust for it. So I swapped to “writing for passion”, but I kept up with the 3,000 words a day Monday through Friday routine that I had established back in 2013 (I think). I swear, this stuff comes up so slowly on a person it’s hard to pinpoint these things, especially when you don’t keep a journal. Essentially, just writing for passion did not prevent me from burnout.

Recently I found Becca Syme’s book Dear Writer, Are You In Burnout? This led me to reading her other books and even checking out her YouTube channel.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays are for Writing. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for the “marketing/business” management stuff. Weekends are for the family. (This is why my books are taking longer to write and publish.)

Right now, I am limiting my writing days to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. (If I miss a day, I don’t try to make it up.) I have found that giving myself breaks like this, my words flow a lot easier. The stories are more vibrant and engaging to write. It’s like everything is just “popping off in my head”. I know that’s a lousy way of putting it, but I don’t know how to explain it. But I have learned I need to not overdo it on these writing days, or I can wear myself out to the point where I can’t get much done the next day, even though it’s not a writing day.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are dedicated to the business side of things. Except for record keeping (which is required if I’m to get my info correct to the accountant), I am choosing things I enjoy. Like blog posts, the videos to go with the blog posts, reading my books and uploading those chapters on YouTube and Rumble. I am trying to make the “marketing” aspect of my life fun so I don’t get worn out. I forgot to mention this in the video, but I try to keep my engagement on social media to a minimum because that does wear me out a lot. Same with emails. At my core, I’m an introvert. I love people but have trouble coming up with something to say, so I spend quite a bit of time commenting and emailing as I try to get the words right.

Weekends are mainly for grocery shopping and family time, though I do walk with one of my sons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have worked my way up to 3-5 miles at a time when I walk. I want to take care of my physical health so I can write better. This is not in the video, but when I was in my early 30s, I ate a lot of bad foods, I didn’t exercise, and I drank a lot of sugary drinks. I also put on some weight (as you can imagine). I have been slowly working better eating habits and lifestyle goals that have helped a lot. But it wasn’t until I discovered Dr. Eric Berg (here’s his YouTube channel) that I picked up on healthy Keto, and it has been a game changer. I don’t think this works for everyone, but it did for me. Thanks to this man, I lost 30 pounds, have a lot more energy, and feel like I’m 27-28. (And I’m 50.) Before I came across him, I was only able to lose 10 pounds. I couldn’t get past 200. I was stuck there for years. I think all of this has helped with my writing because I’m more focused than I used to be.

Okay. Apparently, I ramble even in the blog post. Back to the topic…

Currently talking to someone to handle a couple of jobs for me.

I have contacted someone about managing BookFunnel for me because I keep forgetting to use it. I also want her to clean up my MailChimp email list because there are people who haven’t opened anything in years. There’s no point in having them there if they don’t want to be. I’m giving her time to think over whether she wants to tackle these things for me. I am still writing my emails. They are like my blog posts. I enjoy that part of things.

The Hero Least Likely is in edits

I am only six chapters into my initial edits, and I’m very happy with the way this story turned out. In addition to writing slower, I’m choosing to edit slower than I used to. I was originally thinking this would come out in May. At the point, I’m thinking it won’t be ready until June. (I want to make sure I give other people time to look over this for me as well.)

The Earl’s Bluestocking Bride is at about 45,000 words

I don’t know how long this will be. As of late, all of my books have been more than 60,000 words. But I don’t see how much more there will be to this one.

The big blow up happened. The hero is scrambling to make amends after the heroine found out he thought her play was terrible. I know some people will think I’m being too hard on him. (That’s a common complaint I get. I’m so mean to my heroes, but as a writer myself, this heroine is going to be this upset because that is how upset writers get when faced with rejection.) I’ve decided I’m not going to tone down my work anymore. I’ve done that enough in the past, and to be honest, I think I did my best work when I went all out with my characters. This lady is upset. I’m going to let her be upset.

I figured out how the “What if…” scenario will work in the Marriage by Holiday Series.

This is Book 1 in the series. I was originally going to go in a more magical direction, but I kept running into dead ends on that idea. So after talking to one of my sons, I settled on going with a woman from the year 2500s coming into the Regency era to run three experiments. (Each experiment will be for each book.) Her goal is to be successful. If she succeeds, she will get a promotion at her job. The heroine in Masquerade Bride is her first experiment. This is going to be a lot of fun to write.

I’m happy to say I actually got some writing done in The Preacher’s Wife

It took me writing some fan fiction to finally get to the point where I could write in these three books again, but the method worked. Whew! As much as I enjoy thinking up fan fiction in bed while I’m drifting off to sleep, I really don’t want to have to write it all out. I think I was spared the 100,000+ words I would have had to tackle if my brain wasn’t going to give me some leniency on the fan fiction.

I would rather focus on The Preacher’s Wife because going deep into this more “gritty” emotions these characters will tackle is intriguing to me. I love comedy and fun. I also love drama and dark. As long as the couple ends up happy, I don’t care what is thrown at them. I have a wide range of interests.