Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 24

Working on An Earl In Time

This is turning out to be a lot of fun to write. I’ve never written anything like this before. Being able to work outside the world of “realism” has opened up an assortment of possible story ideas to work with that regular romances don’t allow.

I chose to open a scenario where the American heroine, in our contemporary time, inherits an English estate and intends to sell it. But she’s unable to sign the contract to sell it, and she’s unable to leave the property. In both cases, magic is behind it, though she doesn’t realize this until about 1/3 of the way into the book.

On the historical timeline, there’s the hero who got transported, by magic, to a parallel world when he arrived at the same estate to deal with his father’s funeral. So he’s in the same manor she is, except their worlds are distinct. While her world moves forward in time, his does not.

The hero is in June 17, 1817, and he’s stuck in an endless loop of the same day. The servants aren’t aware of this. The hero is the only one who knows everyone in the household has being stuck in June 17, 1817 for a little over two centuries.

So those are the two main things I had figured out when I began this story. I started writing to find out why they’re in the situation they are and how they’re going to get out of it. My creative brain doesn’t work by outlining, at least not for long stories. I went into this knowing nothing except that the heroine is going to find a way into the past so she and the hero are in the same world. It’s a romance, and I want these two to be in the same physical space in order to fall in love. I also know there’s a happy ending. How to get to that happy ending is still a mystery to me, and I’m almost 50,000 words into the story. I think I have about 30,000 more words to go, but we’ll see how things play out.

In addition to this being a romance, my goal is to write something that can truly be classified as a fairy tale. I originally thought this was going to take on a Grimm fairy tale feel to it because the story does start out pretty dark. But as the story has been progressing, it’s taken on a lighter tone. Certain elements of this story started to remind me of Disney fairy tales. I’ve inserted three animals that were magically turned into humans. There are going to be two fairies who will pop up later on. Growing up and watching Disney fairy tales, it’s common for the main characters to be able to communicate with animals, sometimes animals turn into people, and sometimes a fairy plays a role in the storyline. So, really, I think An Earl In Time is going to be midway on the spectrum between a Grimm fairy tale and a Disney fairy tale. Not too dark and not too light.

One thing I decided I’d do early on is give colors significance because, to me, that helps with the magical flavor of the plot. Good and evil has its colors. I based the colors for good from the cover. (The entire inspiration for this story came from the pre-made cover I bought on the Book Designer website.) So that’s why red and gold represent good. It took some time to decide the colors for evil, and those finally ended up being pink and purple. (I happened to be working on perlers at the time and loved the way the pink and purple beads looked together.) Green is about to come onto the scene, and I suspect blue will soon follow. Green and blue will be the neutral colors.

I spent days naming (and renaming) the main characters because I wanted their names to have significance. I got the name “Willow” from the gothic names online search I did. (In the heroine’s contemporary timeline, the story does have a dark tone to it. I’d say why but that would be a spoiler.) Her last name has no significance assigned to it, though. I just remember the name “Knudson” from when I was a senior in high school in the Florida panhandle. That name was pretty popular there. I liked the name but never had a reason to use it until now, so I figured, “Why not?”

The hero was harder to name. In the end, I settled for Julian Azazel. I changed his name a couple of times, but this one finally stuck. Julian means youthful, which is to represent him never aging for about two centuries because he’s frozen in time. Azazel means scapegoat. The curse the hero is under was placed on him because of something that happened before he was born. In essence, he is the object of the villain’s wrath. The villain was unable to go after the person who got in his/her way, so he/she is going directly after Julian and (by extension of the curse, Willow). I don’t want to give the villain’s gender because it would be a spoiler. I have a very limited cast of characters in this book, so even a hint would ruin things.

At the moment, I don’t know if the villain is justified in being upset or not because I’m still trying to figure out how the big conflict even began. All I know is that in the villain’s eyes, the “sins” of the grandfather have passed on to the grandson.

This is one book that I really don’t know what is going to happen beyond a chapter or two as I’m writing it. I feel like I’m writing in the dark with no roadmap. I only have a flashlight. So when a turn in the path comes up, I only know about it right as I reach it. This has taken me outside my normal comfort zone for writing because I’ve never written a book so dependent on “trusting the creative process” like this. The use of magic has widened my options. I think it’s good for writers to break free from the same old-same old and explore new methods. I think it revives the creative brain.

I only said something to a very few group of people, but before I saw that pre-made cover up above, I was giving serious consideration to not writing in 2021. I felt like my creativity had dried up, and while I had ideas, I had no motivation to write. It’s why all of my projects are behind schedule right now. I wasn’t able to write anything for about 2.5 months. Then I came across that pre-made cover one day because I like to browse pre-made covers from time to time just out of habit. I fell in love with that cover. I held off on buying it right away because I needed a story for it. In a week, I had the idea, and I purchased the cover. As soon as I started writing the story that went with that cover, the motivation and desire to write all came rushing back. And I was able to finish Perfectly Matched, start on A Perilous Marriage, and continue with what I had started in Interview for a Wife. That’s why I think it’s good for an author who gets into a rut to break free and do something different. That something different could be the spark needed to light the creative fires again.

You Don’t Need a “Six-Figure Income” to be Financially Successful (A Post for Writers)

ID 112598251 © Sibgat | Dreamstime.com

While homeschooling my youngest, I am having him go through the book titled Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan as part of his Personal Finance class. I came across a very interesting piece of information that I think will relieve a lot of writers of the stress of having to make that golden “six-figure income”.

Here it is: “One-third of millionaires never had a six-figure household income in a single working year. Only 31% of them averaged $100,000 household income in a single working year.” (That’s on page 73 of the book.)

That’s great news, everyone. Okay, yes, I realize that means two-thirds of the millionaires did earn “six-figures”. But NOT all of them did, and that is good news. Why? I’ll explain below.

Over and over, this is a theme that keeps popping up in the writing community. This push is in most writing groups, on podcasts, in blog posts, in online courses, and in books. Everything seems to revolve around the “six-figure income”. Everything. If making six figures isn’t your goal, you are not a “serious” writer. If you don’t make six-figures, you run the risk of feeling like a failure, and then you might conclude there’s no hope for you. And it is way harder to get the respect and approval of other writers if you aren’t making this kind of money.

Well, today I’m happy to say that it’s not how much you make, it’s what you do with the money you earn that matters most. It’s a lot easier to get ahead if you have no debt. That’s why I avoid debt like the plague now. When you’re in debt, you’re not only forfeiting your future income to someone else (most often a bank), but you’re also paying interest on that debt, which means you’re paying more for the item you purchased than what it’s really worth.

I get that we all need a place to live and a car to drive. But the key is to pick a house and car that you will keep long-term. That way, when you pay them off, you have the benefit of owning those things outright. Then you can take the money you used to hand over to the creditor and put that in savings or an investment account instead. This allows you to get ahead. The problem comes up when you are constantly trading your cars in for a newer model or swapping homes because you like moving around a lot. If you like to move around a lot, rent instead of buy. You’ll be much further ahead in the long run. (My husband and I use to get newer cars all the time, so I know what I’m talking about here. The dealerships and banks will love you, but you’re robbing your financial sanity. Also, we lost a lot of money when we sold our house in 2015 to move to Montana. We should have just kept renting until we were ready to settle down in one spot.)

Also, cutting back on expenses helps, but this is common sense stuff and I’m sure we all know the ways that are best to do that. I won’t weigh down the post with all of that.

I’m sure everyone is wondering, “Is there a point to all of this?”

Yes, and I’ll get there right now.

My point is that a happy writer is one who isn’t stressed out about how many books they need to sell in order to bring in a certain level of income each month. You don’t need a lot of things to make you happy. Real happiness comes from being content with what you already have. Sure, look for ways to improve your situation, but don’t let the “I don’t have this” mindset rob you of enjoying what you have in this moment. If you woke up this morning with a roof over your head, food on the table, and clothes on your back, you’re already doing better than some of the world’s population. That is something to be thankful for. I’m afraid that our culture has become so materialistic that we have lost sight of just how blessed we really are. And losing sight of this blessing has made a lot of people miserable because no matter how much they make, they still aren’t happy. You might end up making a six-figure income with your writing, but it’s not going to magically make all of your problems fade away.

You don’t need to be a millionaire to be happy. Personally, my goal isn’t to be a millionaire. My goal is to not have to worry about how many books I sell in a month in order to pay my bills. That requires a certain level of financial independence. The better you position yourself financially, the less reliant you are on sales to make ends meet. That removes a lot of stress from our lives and allows us the freedom to write more of what we want than writing what the market wants. I’ve come across authors who are making a lot of money, but they’re writing to market, and this is making them miserable. They hate what they’re doing, but this is the only way they can make money right now. A lot of people have lost their jobs over the past year because of Covid. Real life happens. That’s why it’s good to save what you can. The stuff you save helps to act as a buffer in case the unthinkable happens.

I believe in having some fun. You don’t want life to pass you by while you sit at home all the time. You need to live life. But the key is to find the balance between spending and saving. You do want to build up good memories with loved ones. The more well-rounded your life is, the happier you’ll be. And when you’re happy, you’ll get more enjoyment out of writing.

That’s all I have to contribute to this topic at the moment. I found it very encouraging to read about that millionaire myth since I saw how it can apply to writers. I hope this post will relieve the anxiety some writers feel about not making a six-figure income. People who made less than six-figures a year were able to become millionaires. If they can build up their wealth on less then six-figures, you can have a good writing career on less than that, too.

Native American Romance Series Trivia

Since these books are interconnected, I thought I’d address them in one post.

   

This series started with a book that isn’t in the series. That book was Meant To Be.

     Old cover on the left; new cover on the right

I actually wrote Meant To Be to help me get better acquainted with the historical western mindset. I believe I wrote this in 2008 but published it in 2009. Back then, I knew I needed serious help feeling like I could take myself to the historic old west. People who criticize the Virginia Series have a valid point. Those books do come off as “modern”. People suggested I just stick with contemporary romances, but I really wanted to write historical ones. I was determined to overcome this hiccup in my writing life. No amount of books or internet research was helping in this area. I needed to mentally and emotionally BE there. So I chose to write a story where I brought characters from the present to the past. In doing that, I was forced to see the past through their eyes. This method did the trick. Ever since then, I’ve had no trouble transporting myself back in time.

Anyway, Meant To Be primarily focused on Ted and Megan, but Cole was a secondary character. During the writing of this book, I realized Cole wasn’t that bad and wanted to redeem him. So I gave him his own romance, but it was brief and pretty much glossed over for the sake of the main story. Because of this, I decided to write a story that focused on Cole and Penelope. This was how A Chance In Time came into existence.

While writing A Chance In Time, I came across a surprise character who pretty much showed up out of nowhere. That was Woape, and she was from the Mandan tribe in North Dakota. Woape was close to giving birth, and Penelope took her home to give her a safe place to live. When Woape gave birth, Penelope realized the father was white, and she assumed the worst (that Woape had been raped by a white man). But, as the author, I knew that wasn’t what happened, and since I was never able to go down that rabbit hole in A Chance In Time, I decided to write Restoring Hope.

I began Restoring Hope with the idea that Woape ran away from marrying Citlali. She was going to marry a white man who was going to get her pregnant before dying. Gary was supposed to marry her to give her a safe place from Hothlepoya and his men who sought to harm her. They were supposed to have more of a marriage of convenience where neither was meant to fall in love with the other. That way when I killed him off, there wasn’t supposed to be any emotional attachment to him. Then she was supposed to return to Citlali and fall in love with him. So the original plan was to kill Gary off for real. The problem was that the scenes with Gary kept going on and on, and the more time I spent with him, the more I liked him and didn’t want to see him die. I was in a corner, though, because the events in A Chance In Time still had to take place. Woape was supposed to end up pregnant and at Penelope’s home. That’s how I decided to come up with the idea where everyone believes Gary died. That way, I was able to get Woape to leave town and meet up with Penelope.

In deciding to let Gary live, I could no longer pair her up with Citlali. So when she returned to her tribe, she rejected Citlali’s offer for marriage. Thankfully, Woape’s sister was there and happened to be secretly in love with him. I kind of felt sorry for the guy since he wasn’t as bad as Woape made him out to be. He was just reserved with his feelings.

Before I could write Citlali’s romance, though, I had to write about Gary’s sister. Julia was an unintentional heroine. I introduced her in Restoring Hope, and she was intended to be the villain. She, however, didn’t agree with me. She was just an older sister who felt as if she was unappreciated by her little brother. She had valid reasons for feeling the way she did, though her actions were wrong. The second part of Restoring Hope was basically about Julia rectifying her actions. It wasn’t my intention to pair her up with Chogan. But I needed to get a way for her to find Woape and Gary, and Chogan was the only character I had on hand who knew how to get to his tribe. That’s how Chogan got that role. Also, I couldn’t make their journey a quick one. I needed time for Woape to have the baby at Penelope’s and then return to her tribe. That’s why I added in those scenes where Chogan taught Julia how to hunt. During the course of that, I realized I enjoyed writing more about Julia and Chogan than I did about Woape or Gary, so I spent more time with them as the book went on. I was originally going to end the story with Julia agreeing to marry Chogan when he proposed, but I decided I’d rather spend more time with them. That’s how I decided to write a book that would focus on them. They are one of my all-time favorite couples in all of the stories I’ve done. So, in the end, I settled for Julia telling him no at the end of Restoring Hope. That way I could pave the way for Brave Beginnings.

When Brave Beginnings started, it was a year later (I believe), so some time had passed in the series. I needed to have Chogan and Julia cross paths. That’s how Julia and her aunt ended up in Bismarck. And since the Mandan tribe was close by, they could naturally encounter one another. Well, the subconscious part of my brain decided to bring in Ernest, another man from Julia’s past who had proposed to her (and she had said no to him, too). I had no idea where I was going with Ernest when I wrote the scene where Julia and Ernest come across each other at the bank where he worked, but I told myself to “trust the process” and went with it to see where things would go. I knew Julia couldn’t end up with Ernest. She loved Chogan, and quite frankly, I did, too. So Ernest never had a chance. But I did bring in Julia’s cousin with the intention of pairing Ernest up with her. This, however, didn’t happen because Ernest steered off course and became a bitter and spiteful character. It surprised me when I realized who he really was beneath his pleasant exterior. But I kept going to see where things would go. It led to Ernest doing everything he could to separate Julia from Chogan, and since I was enjoying writing about Julia and Chogan so much, I wasn’t in any hurry to wrap their story up. As a result, Brave Beginnings ended up being the longest book I’ve ever written. It turned out to be around 116,000 words long. (On average, my books tend to be 60,000 words long.)

While writing Brave Beginnings, I was able to lay the ground work for Citlali’s romance by showing that he did care about people but felt a responsibility to the tribe to be the future leader, and, as the leader, he had to rely more on logic than emotion in order to be objective in how he handled tensions that popped up among the people. What he needed was to find a balance between logic and emotion, and that was my goal for him in Bound by Honor Bound by Love. That book was more about him than it was about Onawa, but she was necessary in order to bring about this balance to his personality. My favorite part of this book was when he left the tribe to look for Onawa and then found her.

During the writing of this series, I ended up taking a trip to Bismarck to visit the Heritage Museum and a nearby old Mandan village. I also read a book published back in 1909. One thing that struck me the most in my research was how much the smallpox epidemic took its toll on the Mandan tribe. They struggled to increase the size of their tribe, but in the end, it didn’t work out. Because of this research, the background for Brave Beginnings and Bound by Honor Bound by Love dealt with the way the characters struggled with the fallout from the smallpox epidemic. Bound by Honor Bound by Love ends with Citlali and Onawa having a son, so there was a happy ending for them, but the book also ends on a very sad note because he takes items important to the tribe to show to the white men who want to write a book about his tribe and their customs. (The book I read from 1909 was what inspired this idea in my story.) There was only one way this series could have ended because it’s how history played out. I couldn’t give Citlali a complete happy ending. His people were dying out. It was only a matter of time before there were no more full-blooded Mandans left, and he knew it. So that’s why he shared everything he did with the white men who went on to publish a book based on what he told them. That was the only viable way he had of preserving the Mandan legacy. For the record, the last full-blooded Mandan died in 1971. I cry every time I think of the ending of this book. It was the hardest ending I’ve ever had to write.

I did make two videos from my trip to North Dakota. I’ll share that in this post. (The videos are older and not the least bit professional, so please don’t judge it on how it looks.)

These are models of what the earth lodges were like and how they lived in them…

This features items they owned (which are on display at the Heritage Museum) and pictures taken at the old Mandan village…

A Deceptive Wager is Available!

Click here to read the description.

This is the last book in the Marriage by Design Series.

   

I really enjoyed this series. I almost didn’t write Lilly Lowell’s romance because it was going to require me breaking into the Regency timeline and disrupting the list. Breaking the Rules, Nobody’s Fool, and A Deceptive Wager come between The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife (Marriage by Scandal: Book 1) and A Most Unsuitable Earl (Marriage by Scandal: Book 2) in the Regency timeline.

Most readers seem to prefer a set timeline that is easy to follow. This is why so many authors plan out their books before they bother even writing anything. Once the plan it set, they also don’t deviate from it. (I’m speaking mostly on behalf of romance authors. I understand why authors writing fantasy and science fiction need to write in order. The series won’t make sense if they don’t.) But in romance, each book can also serve as a standalone. I feature a different hero and heroine in each romance I write. Even so, most readers still like a neat chronological order to follow.

So the question was, “Should I insert a series that takes place between Book 1 and Book 2 of a series I’ve already completed?”

I almost didn’t do it, but then I saw the pre-made cover for Breaking the Rules and inspiration struck, so I decided to go through with it. Looking back, I’m glad I wrote this series. I understand how the timeline of events can get confusing. Lord Edon (Ethan) and Mr. Christopher Robinson are not married yet in these books, but Lord Roderick (Nate) is married. So it can be a bit complicated. I did the best I could to clear up the confusion by inserting an author’s note at the beginning of Chapter 1 of Breaking the Rules and Nobody’s Fool, and so far, I haven’t received any feedback saying it was confusing. *fingers crossed that continues*

Anyway, A Deceptive Wager is the final book in this series. I am going to miss the characters, but I will admit that my favorite parts of this whole series was bringing Ethan and Christopher back for cameo appearances. I don’t know what it is about those two characters, but I just love writing them whenever possible, and it was a blast to see them unmarried again since they were at their most caddish behavior during that time in their lives.

Now that I’m done with A Deceptive Wager, I’m moving back “later” down the timeline. A Perilous Marriage begins a new series which comes after the Marriage by Fairytale Series. so I’ll start going in order again.

If you’d like to get A Deceptive Wager, here is where you can find it:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Smashwords

Writers Focused on Making More Money Can Never Relax

So I find myself reading another book geared toward writers. The portion I just came to had to do with the hamster wheel syndrome. This syndrome is when you aim for a certain money goal, and once you reach it, you realize you’re stuck because no matter what marketing efforts you’re currently doing, you’re not making more money. All you’re doing is holding steady.

Since the goal is money, you’re in a panic because you want to make more. So what do you do? You run after a new shiny marketing tactic, and it works! Suddenly, you’re making more. Good. All things are set to go. So you run and run, and after a while, you reach another place where you’re stagnant. You’re not losing money, but you’re not gaining more, either. So you’re in the hamster wheel again, and you’re scrambling to find yet another marketing tactic that will earn you more money.

This is a cycle, and to sum it up, this is what it looks like:

ID 153106770 © Antonio Meza | Dreamstime.com

After reading through a couple of pages of the author describing this cycle, I had to put the book down and hop on here to do a blog post. I’ve been through this stupid cycle. This led to a burnout so major that I lost all enjoyment for writing. Only looking back on things can I see this hamster wheel clearly. At the time, I didn’t realize the hamster wheel was the problem. It was never the books themselves that dimmed my enthusiasm for writing; it was the pursuit of more money that wiped that enthusiasm out.

I’m going to level with everyone reading this. The sad truth is that no matter how much money you make, it will NEVER be enough. You will always want more because the end goal is money.

Now I believe the author of this book I’m reading loves writing. This author is fun to read, and this author sounds like someone who is fun to be around in real life. So I’m not speaking of the author personally in this post.

I’m speaking about the pursuit of “more money, more more, more money” that is strong in the writing community. This author just outlined why the hamster wheel is so incredibly crappy. I could feel the frustration and fear this author is harboring. I don’t know if the author realizes how transparent those emotions were on the page, but that’s what this author is facing on a daily basis. Despite the awesome sales and acclaim this author receives, there’s always that underlying pursuit of “more”.

This cycle, left unchecked, will kill anyone’s joy in writing. You can keep going as long as you figure out that new shiny marketing tactic that takes you to the next level. Getting to the next level of more money does give you a boost of excitement that propels you to keep writing. But just how many new shiny marketing tactics can there possibly be out there? How fast can you possibly move to keep up with them?

I just don’t see how this can last for a lifetime. I really can’t. This is a hectic pace. I can see how this can be doable for a few years. Maybe it can even last for a decade. But I don’t see how anyone can keep up with this level of angst to earn more money long term while maintaining your passion for writing. Honestly, I think the faster you’re rushing to get books out to make more money, the sooner you’ll hit burnout.

Writing is a creative process. You can’t just MAKE a story idea come to you. You have to get inspired. Yes, you can buy plots. This is big in writing circles. I had no idea just how big this was until last year when I saw several posts on Facebook from writers who were out of ideas and needed plots. There is a market out there for people who want to create plots for writers and sell them. Writers can’t keep coming up with ideas if they never give their brains time to rest. Rapid release + rushing to make more money = little time to come up with new ideas. So if you’re good at creating plots and don’t want to write them, you might want to look into selling plots. The more detailed you can make these plots, the more you can charge.

Back to the post….

At the end of the day, just how much money do you need in order to be happy? I get wanting to pay your bills and make a living. That makes perfect sense. But do you really need a “six-figure income” in order to be happy? I’m not knocking people who make $100K+ income. That’s awesome. What I’m talking about, though, is happiness. Happiness isn’t something you can put a dollar amount on. It’s the “love” of money that I think is the problem. We love money so much that we’ve made it an idol we worship.

I’m not insensitive. I understand the pull money has. I felt it back in 2014-2017 when I hopped up in the hamster wheel. I get how fun “more and more” is. Money didn’t make me happy, though. If anything, the constant pursuit of it ended up making me miserable. That’s why I say that no matter how much you make, it will never satisfy you. I don’t care if you make millions. That isn’t going to magically make you happy.

If you want to be happy, you need to be content with where things are right now. Sure, have goals. I’m all for goals. But I prefer goals that are grounded in things that I can control. No author has control over how many people buy their books. You can lead them to your books, but it’s out of your hands as to whether they buy them or even read them. When you make your goals revolve around things you can’t control, you’ll end up frustrated if other people don’t fulfill them for you. If your goals are things you can control, you’ll feel a deep sense of satisfaction when you accomplish them. It’s all about what you choose to focus on.

The good news is you can choose whether or not you want to be in the hamster wheel. For me, I’ll never go back there again. I’m making way less money today than I used to, but I am happy and I love writing again. To me, the trade-off is worth it. But if the other path is one you want to pursue, more power to you.

What I’m Doing on MeWe and Etsy

I’ve been doing some organization on MeWe and Etsy, and since this stuff is more like “cleaning up my little writer’s house”, I figured I’d lump the information about what I’ve been doing over on these sites into one post.

Author Page on MeWe

I decided to give a MeWe Author Page another try. I originally deleted the one I had because strange men I didn’t know were leaving comments about how interesting the books sounded, even though I knew they weren’t reading them. These are men who are probably looking for a naive woman to give them money. (I’m sure a lot of women have just rolled their eyes because these men are all over social media.) Well, this time, I’m going to stay on top of things. As soon as one of these men pop up, I’m blocking them. I’m hoping that by blocking these men, I can keep the page a pleasant place for people to be. I don’t want anyone associated with me getting bugged or followed by these men, either.

Things you can expect on this page:

I’ll be chiming in with a little tidbit that has to do with one of the books I’m working on. For example, I wrote this while writing Suitable for Marriage the other day: “Erin Larson hasn’t even picked a husband yet, but she and her sister have the details of Erin’s future wedding all planned out. This is right in Chapter One. I think it’s too funny that these sisters are so excited to get married.

My Thoughts On The Rapid Release Strategy

An author friend recommended I read a book on rapid releasing. For anyone who might not be aware of this process, it means that authors put out a new book as quickly as possible. The author of this particular book has experimented with publishing a new book a week for the first pen name, a book every other week for a second pen name, and yet another book every single month for a third pen name. I assume these books aren’t all full-length, though she never specified how long they were. All I know is that the one pen name that she shared have books that are full-length.

She never did address the questions I had while reading the book. Does she use ghostwriters to help accomplish this feat? I wonder how it’s possible to keep up with that kind of momentum for more than a year. It seems that getting out all of those books between three pen names every year would end up giving someone a serious case of burnout. I think this writer said she started back in 2016. Other questions I had about her process that she never addressed were, “When do you take time to edit? When do you take time to discuss covers with your cover artist? When do you balance the marketing aspect with writing? (She said she loves promoting her books more than writing them, so I assume she doesn’t hand this task to an assistant.) Do you answer emails? How do you have time for social media (since she’s on Facebook)? Or, does she have an assistant who does the bulk of the non-writing stuff for her? And if so, how much is the assistant doing?”

In the end, the questions are none of my business. If she doesn’t want to explain how she’s managed to keep up this hectic publishing schedule every year since 2016, that’s really up to her. The goal of the book was to tell authors why rapid release will sell more books and why authors should adopt this method if they want to make a living writing. I only read the book since an author friend wanted to know my thoughts on it.

Well, here are my thoughts on the rapid release strategy.



ID 177830495 © Photojogtom| Dreamstime.com

I think it sucks. I don’t like it.

Just reading about the woman’s hectic process wore me out. I walked away feeling like I needed a long nap.

What’s the point in writing books if you’re going to be working on them so fast that you don’t have any time to enjoy the process? You might as well just hire the work out to ghostwriters. Come up with outlines so you can make sure the story is your idea, but let them write them out. There’s nothing wrong with using ghostwriters. You don’t have to tell other people you use them. And ghostwriters get paid for writing books for you. Some of them are pretty cheap from what an author friend told me. If the only goal that matters to you is money, then why burn yourself out by writing at such a crazy pace?

I’ve chosen not to do the rapid release schedule because I want to write my own books AND I want to enjoy the process of creating the story. The journey of watching the story unfold (with all of its twists and turns) is what makes writing so much fun. When you get that “ah-ha” moment, it gives you a natural high. When you aren’t rushing through the story, you get to spend days enjoying that high. If you’re zooming right through the scenes, the high is going to be suppressed by your tight deadline. All that matters is finishing the book. It doesn’t matter what a character discovered about himself or how a conversation a character has will end up having significance later on in the story (or maybe even a series). In my opinion, writers who rush through books just to finish them are missing out. But, to play devil’s advocate, I’m not the one making $100,000+ a year writing books. So what do I know about the business, right?

All I’m doing is giving one writer’s opinion. I’m done with trying to come up with ways to make more money from writing and publishing books. It’s done nothing but drained me of all the joy in my writing. I almost quit writing because of the hamster wheel. You can make a ton of money at this and still be miserable. Money doesn’t make writing fun. I get that money puts food on the table and pays the bills, but it’s not going to be what makes writing FUN. You have to love the process of writing to have fun. You have to be passionate about what you’re working on to have fun. Your stories have to mean something deep inside of you. If you aren’t invested in what you’re writing, the books won’t have long-lasting meaning to you.

But maybe that’s not your aim. Maybe your aim is only money. In that case, I highly recommend ghostwriters because a rapid release schedule is going to end up draining you dry unless it’s a short-term strategy. Writing isn’t something that always earns you more and more money every year. Income can go down. There are no guarantees in this business. One book can be a good seller and then next can flop. You just don’t know what will happen. And not everyone who runs ads all the time sees a return on their investment. So don’t expect constant ad run to be your magic bullet. I’ve heard too many horror stories from writers who ended up in debt running ads all the time. Yes, the work out well for some, but not everyone benefits from them.

If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s how important it is to enjoy the time you have because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Writing is what keeps me sane. It gives me a foundation to stand on even when the rest of the world is descending into chaos. We live in a time when we’re lucky to have computers and internet because these inventions have made it easy to write and publish books. With self-publishing, you can write any story you want. No publisher is going to step in and stop you from getting your book into the world. That’s a tremendous blessing. In 2021, I’m going to enjoy this blessing to the max. I’m going to dive into the joy of meeting characters in my stories and finding out what fun journey they’re going to take me on. I will not rush any story just to get it out into the world.

If anyone out there feels the same way I do, I’m currently working on a book that is for writers who don’t want to rapid release but might want to find a comfortable publishing schedule that best fits their lifestyle. It’s meant to be motivational and instructional. I believe that finding a comfortable publishing schedule opens the door to being able to relax and enjoy the process of writing. If you would like to write more (and have the spare time to), this can help “up” your publishing schedule. But this only works if you have the time. It won’t do anything if you’re already pressed to your limits. If you’re pressed to your limits, I recommend slowing down. I don’t think we should stress ourselves out to publish more books.

I’ve been writing since I was in high school (early ’90s), but I didn’t get serious about it until 2008 when self-publishing became easy and affordable. In the past 12 years, I’ve experimented with different writing paces, and I’ve settled on a happy medium where I can balance writing and real life without feeling hectic. I wrote down my strategy and put it into a short book. (There’s really not much to it.) I already have the cover for it.

I have the first draft down and am currently working on the second. I’d like to have this out in the summer since my plan is to finish up with the current romances I’m writing first. I’ll make this free when it comes out. This is something I hope will help writers who are having trouble coming up with an annual publishing schedule. Maybe some will find they can get more books out. Or maybe it’ll just help with organizing your time so that there’s not so much “wasted” time that seems to go into a black hole somewhere. I believe a productive mind is a happy mind. Also, it’s nice when you can truly enjoy writing for the sake of writing.

Books I’m Planning to Get Out in 2021

I can only guarantee the release months for A Deceptive Wager and Perfectly Matched. I’m going to do my best to guess the order this still will be out.

A Deceptive Wager is due out January 17



Click here for pre-order links!

This is the final book in the Marriage by Design Series. It’s a Regency. It’s tone is similar to Breaking the Rules, which is book one in the series.

Perfectly Match is due out in March

This is Book 2 in the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series. It’s a historical western romance, and it features Tom and Jessica Larson’s second daughter, Patricia. This is a comedy in the spirit of A Bride for Tom.

Book 4 Will Go Here

***

With the books below, I’m not 100% sure of the months they’ll be out. I just know I’ll be getting them out in 2021.

An Earl In Time

This is a standalone time travel romance that goes from our contemporary time period to the Regency past. It is pretty much a fairy tale. Don’t expect realism in this one. I went with the route of magic and a curse, which is similar to what other fairy tales have.

A Perilous Marriage

This is Book 1 in a brand new Regency series that are similar to the Regencies I typically write. This is in the Marriage by Necessity Series.

Might have Book 4

Interview for a Wife

This is a historical western romance that should complete the Nebraska Prairie Series. It’s similar to Book 1 in the series, which is The Purchased Bride. It has a tender feel to it.

Suitable For Marriage

This is Book 3 in the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series. I have no idea if it’ll be a comedy or not. This is a book where Tom and Jessica’s third daughter, Erin, is going to try to match the hero up with another woman so he’ll finally leave her alone.

Making a Realistic Publishing Schedule

This one is for writers who struggle with coming up with a publishing schedule that best fits their lives.

***

This is a “maybe” book for 2021:

Heiress of Misfortune

This will be Book 2 in the Marriage by Necessity Series. It has the potential to be a comedy, but without writing it, it’s impossible to tell. If this doesn’t make it out in 2021, the plan is to get it out early 2022.

Deleting Facebook and Moving to MeWe

For reasons I don’t want to get into on this blog, I’m deleting my Facebook account. Fortunately, I was able to find a viable writing group on MeWe and can spend my efforts over there.

MeWe will be where I do my social media thing now for my book stuff. Here’s my timeline. https://mewe.com/i/ruthnordin

If you ask to friend me, I will only accept the friend request if I recognize you. Too many single/divorced/widowed men are over there, and I seriously doubt they really want to read romance novels. Also, if you don’t have a profile pic and some posts so I know you’re legit, it’s impossible for me to know if I can trust you. I need at least a message or comment in this blog post to know you’re safe to friend. Too many bad players are out there.

If you’re following this blog, you will still receive updates on when I have new books out, so you don’t have to join MeWe to know with what I’m doing. I’m also keeping my monthly newsletter blog.

MeWe is pretty much for anyone who isn’t a huge fan of reading blog posts but still wants to keep in contact with me.

Trivia for The Virginia Series

I figured I’d lump these all together.

       

The first book I wrote in this series was An Inconvenient Marriage. During the writing of that book, I came up with the short Christmas play titled, “The Path to Christmas”. I didn’t originally write the entire play out, but someone asked me if I had the whole play available to read in an ebook. Since there was interest in this project, I went ahead and wrote the complete play. I have had the honor of one of my readers presenting this to her church, and the church wanted to put this on for their children’s Christmas show. I was thrilled to give my reader the go-ahead to do this. That’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me as a Christian.

One more thing about “The Path to Christmas”… The final lines about Jesus Christ dying on the cross at Calvary at the age of 33 was inspired by a poem I heard on the Thru the Bible Radio program with J. Vernon McGee. I can’t remember the name of the poem McGee read on the air, but it compared Alexander the Great to Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned above, An Inconvenient Marriage was the first book in this series I wrote. The idea for it was inspired while I was writing Falling In Love With Her Husband. In Falling In Love With Her Husband, the hero was in love with the heroine, but she didn’t love him. She did, however, know he was going to be good to her, so she proposed the idea of marriage. During the course of the marriage, the hero waited to consummate the marriage until she came around to loving him. While writing this book, I thought, “What if I wrote a book where the hero and heroine couldn’t stand each other but had to marry for a short time? What if both of them never wanted to consummate the marriage?” That is how An Inconvenient Marriage was born.

An Inconvenient Marriage was meant to be a standalone romance, but I liked Justin Monroe a lot. He was Jake Mitchell’s best friend. I wanted to write Justin’s story. But before I could do that, I wanted to write the other book that had to come before it. I decided to write about Chad and Kate Walker. At the time, I was reading a few books where a woman had disguised herself as a man, and I thought this was a fun plot. So that is how An Unlikely Place for Love was born, and it’s why Kate disguised as a man to be Chad’s farmhand.

I picked North Dakota for An Unlikely Place for Love because I spent a couple of years in that state and had good memories of my time there. It was my way of going back there. (A quite note: I also picked Falling In Love With Her Husband, Meant To Be, A Chance In Time, and the entire Native American Romance Series in North Dakota for the same reason.)

The reason I made it a point to have Kate return to Virginia was because I had developed a crush (weird, I know) on Jake Mitchell while writing An Inconvenient Marriage, and I wanted to “see” him again. That was the ONLY reason she went to the bank. I did, however, make the trip fit into the plot so it wouldn’t be a waste of space.

The other characters thinking Chad loved his first wife in An Unlikely Place for Love was loosely based off of a book I read in the 8th grade called Rebecca. Rebecca is a gothic tale written by Daphne du Maurier. It was written back in 1938. The heroine of this book is never given a first name. The book is in first person point of view, so everything we are exposed to is from her perspective, and she was jealous of her husband’s first wife, Rebecca, because she assumed he loved Rebecca more than he loved her. (Spoiler alert: he hated Rebecca, and this was a huge relief to the heroine of this story since she was assured of his love for her.) So anyway, in honor of that book, I decided to have Chad secretly hate his first wife.

Early on when I was writing, I was making a serious effort to write Christian romances, and the ones I had read had a lot of references to God and a few quotes from Scripture. I found it difficult to write this way because it felt like I forcing God into the storylines. (The books where I wrote from this angle were An Unlikely Place for Love, Falling In Love With Her Husband, and An Inconvenient Marriage.) I was never comfortable writing this way because I felt like I had to keep hitting people over the head with a Christian message rather than letting the story just play out as it wanted to. After attending a Christian writing conference, I came across someone who gave a workshop where he explained that planting seeds is just as important as bringing in the harvest. In other words, a writer didn’t have to preach God to the reader. They could just write the book from a Christian worldview. That changed everything about about the way I approached writing, and I was finally comfortable in my writing skin. Sometimes it takes a writer time to figure out where they fit in with a world full of other writers.