Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 37

Updates on What I’m Writing

First and foremost, I do have one book on pre-order for March 2 (that is The Imperfect Husband), and two books in the editing stages (Shane’s Deal and Kidnapping the Viscount). I haven’t forgotten about these. I’m just pretty much done with them.

What I’m going to discuss today is what I’m currently writing. 

Something that surprised me is that I didn’t get really excited about any of these four current works in progress until I hit the 15,000 word mark. That’s really strange, and I don’t remember if that is how it used to be when I started writing romances back in 2007.

To put things in perspective on how long it’ll probably take me to finish these books, my average word count for a book is between 50,000 to 70,000 words.

Anyway, here’s my progress in each book:

The Wedding Pact (Marriage by Fairytale: Book 3) is at 26,000 words!

[image error]

This is loosely based off of Little Red Riding Hood, but I added a lot of other elements that makes this a unique story. So we have the heroine who wears red as she’s fleeing, you have a villain with the title Lord Wolfe (not very original but I wanted to do it, so I did), and the cottage in the middle of the nowhere. But that’s pretty much where the similarities between this story and the tale of Little Red Riding Hood end.

At the end of last week, I was struggling with which direction to transition it from the hero marrying the heroine to where the hero’s brothers start dying off. My original plan was to have him go to Mr. Stephen Bachman’s home since the hero is friends with him, but I realized that didn’t really excite me. So I decided instead to send the hero and heroine off to London where the hero (Vicar Julian Roskin) could face his older two brothers who hate him for something terrible he did. And that’s where things got really fun for me. I had no idea what terrible thing Julian had done in the past, but it was fun to write the scene and flesh things out so that the answer came to me. And then I got even greater ideas from there. I don’t want to spoil the book, but it’s going to be fun to weave in gothic-like elements that I’ve been itching to get at for a while now.

Nelly’s Mail Order Husband (Husbands for the Larson Sisters: Book 1) is at 27,000 words.

[image error]

This is turning into such a cute romantic comedy. Nelly is Tom and Jessica Larson’s oldest daughter. Nelly is determined to run a homestead without the help of a man because she’s afraid he’ll want to take over and run it for her, thereby confining her to the kitchen all day. Nelly’s three younger sisters can’t imagine how their sister will really be happy without a husband, so they take it upon themselves to answer an ad from a man back in Boston who’s looking for a wife.

I’m at the point where Nelly’s already found out about this, and she agrees to marry him only because there’s a neighboring homesteader who won’t leave her alone.  This neighbor is a guy who’s a lot an unredeemed Neil Craftsman. So yeah, he’s definitely not the kind of person our heroine should be marrying.

Anyway, I just got through writing a couple of scenes where our hero, Val, has had to milk a cow and muck out stalls, both things that are nothing like what he imagined his life was going to be like when he came out to Omaha. He had (wrongly) assumed that a landowner had lots of money and servants, so now he’s having to adjust to doing things he never once imagined he’d ever do. I’m laughing through most of the scenes as I’m writing them. The poor guy wasn’t prepared at all for this.

I have an idea of where I’m heading with this, and if all goes as I think they will, this will be one time where the heroine is going to save the hero, which would be a nice change of pace.

Fairest of Them All (Marriage by Fairytale: Book 4) is at 27,000 words.

[image error]

First off, this is not a retelling of Snow White. It’s inspiration did come from Snow White, but there are very little similarities between that fairy tale and this romance. The elements that it has in common is a step-mother, a mirror, and beauty. But that is where all similarities end. Because in this version, the step-mother is the heroine. The  hero is the step-father, and he’s alive, though he believes himself to be under a curse that kills every wife who looks at him. The heroine (Viola) and her step-daughter do have some friction because the step-daughter assumes the heroine is going to die because of the curse, but she has to let the heroine chaperone her since it’s her first Season.

This book is a lot of fun because I’m getting to work with gothic elements. It’s primarily a romance. The focus is on the main couple as they fall in love. But within that is the contrast of beauty vs darkness of the human soul. The townhouse does figure into the feeling of darkness that hovers over the hero’s life, though it’s just beneath the surface, and it’s something that must be overcome. This is not a supernatural book. All elements have a natural cause. My stories all take place in the real world, and I’ll keep them there. But I thought it’d be fun to have a townhouse that had the spooky feeling to it.

Anyway, I’m at the point where the heroine is aware of the heaviness that hangs in the air, and she’s just decided to fight against it. The hero has spent so much time in isolation from the rest of the world that he’d definitely weaker than most heroes. He longs for a meaningful human connection but has been afraid to take it because he feels like he dooms everyone around him. I haven’t gotten too far into his point of view. I had to deal with the heroine first since (at the moment) she’s more open to me than he is. We’ll get there with him, though. She’ll draw him out, and when she does, I’ll be able to dive more into who he is.

Okay, now for the fourth book…

Forever Yours (Dave and Mary’s third book) is at 15,000 words.

COVER COMING SOON

Today, I finally got my full-blown enthusiasm for this book. I’m excited about the other three, but I had an easier time getting into those than I did this one.

Something I never said (but always felt) is that Dave and Mary were meant to have a trilogy, each being a standalong novel. When I wrote Eye of the Beholder, I felt there were two more books I should write. I wrote To Have and To Hold, and then I got distracted with other books.

I want to do their third book justice. I’m happy with their other two books, and I want to be happy with this one, too. So I took longer to get into this one. I had to get back into the mindset of the characters. This is a book where the characters are already established, and I want to be true to who they are. I had to go through my timelines and figure out how old each of the children are, and that isn’t only for Dave and Mary but for all of the Larson family. I spent a couple of weeks getting re-acquainted with the entire family.

I’m finally into the groove of the story now, and I must say that it’s not turning out to be the way I expected. Dave did fall off a horse and break his leg, like I had planned. But I have to be honest. I’m chuckling through most of the scenes I’m writing. I didn’t chuckled through Eye of the Beholder or To Have and To Hold, but I’m laughing a lot in this one. So this might actually turn into a lighthearted story.

And maybe that’s what they need. Maybe after all the hard times they’ve faced, they need a lighthearted book. Maybe that’s the perfect way to tie up the three books dedicated specifically to this couple. I do think Dave will still have to face a bout of insecurity, but I don’t think it’s going to be as long or deep as I originally expected.

I’m going to let Dave and Mary take me where they want me to go. I’ve learned a long time ago to trust the characters to tell the best story possible.

Yes, It Is Possible To Fall In Love With Writing Again

[image error]

ID 136842390 © Rio Satriawan | Dreamstime.com

I don’t recall if I shared this, but there were a couple of times over the last year where I began to wonder if it was possible to ever fall in love with writing after I left the “writing to market” mindset. Though I enjoyed what I was working on, I didn’t fall in love with my stories like I had when I started writing romances back in late 2007.

Those initial years of getting my feet wet in indie publishing and figuring out what kind of romances I most wanted to write was like a courtship. Everything came so easy. I didn’t think about word count or money. I just sat down and wrote the story that came to mind. I joined the characters on the journey they took me on, and when each story was over, I felt this huge sense of sorrow that there was no more story to tell. I never thought that feeling would return, especially after being wrapped up in word counts, book promotion, sales, etc, etc…

I had brief periods last year where I would get a boost or two along the enthusiasm radar, but I’ll be honest, most days I had to force myself to sit in the chair and write. I enjoyed the story, but I had to make myself write it.  The reason for this is obvious now that I look back on it. I was detoxing from the “writing to market” mindset. Apparently, just making the decision to write for passion wasn’t like turning on a switch and making all of my dreams come true. It took time to re-train my brain to think the way I thought back in 2007.

Looking back, I realize this was bound to happen. No one acquires a habit overnight. It takes time and perseverance. I hadn’t adopted the writing to mindset philosophy right away, either. I’m not even sure when it slipped it, but I know it grew bigger and bigger the more I focused on podcasts, blog posts, and books aimed at selling more books. I also had conversations with other authors in forums and in emails where this was the dominant theme. Authors weren’t concerned much about the craft of storytelling. They were much more interested in maximizing the money they were making.

For example, today alone, I got an email with the headline, “How an author doubled her income on the first book in her series.” This is from a site that isn’t known for pushing the book promotion, so I was surprised to see that email. But it shows how prevalent this mindset is in the writing community. I continually have to delete and unsubscribe from this stuff because it only pulls me back in, and I don’t want to go back to that.

When I think on it, it’s sad that very few of the conversations I had over the past few years had anything to do with the love of writing. I remember starting out with publishing ebooks in 2009, and the conversations I had with most authors were focused on the love of writing. We were indie publishing because we didn’t want a publisher coming in and telling us to do with our stories. We wanted freedom to write what was in our hearts to write. Sink or swim, the focus was on creating the best book we were inspired to write. And it was so easy to write those kinds of books. Those books pretty much wrote themselves. All we did was record the movie that was playing out in our minds. And it was natural that falling in love with the story would happen. Ending the story was saying goodbye and moving on. It was hard to do.

I never felt sad when I finished a book that was written to market. I was relieved. Why? Because I could finally publish it, make money, and start the next book. And as I write that, I cringe. That shouldn’t be the driving focus of writing a book, especially not one that is fiction. I only confess this because if some other writer is struggling with trying to find their passion same way I was last year, they’ll know they’re not alone. Sometimes it’s nice to know you’re not the only person who’s struggled through something. I was relieved when I found out Dean Wesley Smith grew to hate the critical voice when writing. (That critical voice is what writing to market is all about. It’s always looking at what others want in the book instead of letting characters tell you what will be in it.) What he wrote about critical vs. creative voice in his book, Writing into the Dark, resonated with me, and it gave me hope that I could once again fall in love with writing.

Anyway, it took me almost an entire year before I finally shook off the last remnants of the writing to market philosophy. It is HARD to train the brain to think differently once an idea takes a root. But I finally did it. In December, for the first time in years, I finished three books that are 100% passion based. I was sad to see all of those books end, and I missed working in them for a full month. It was only when I got about 15,000 words into my current books that I began to fall in love with the new ones. Once you’ve had an amazing high while writing one book, it’s hard to think another book will ever be as wonderful. But it turns out that falling in love with the next book is possible. It might take some time while you get to know the characters and figure out the story they want to take you on, but it’s definitely possible.

Happiness Thrives off of Positivity

I should remember to limit my time on Facebook. There is so much negativity flying around on that site. Authors are told to keep their platforms alive by engaging on places like Facebook and Twitter, but when I go there, I get majorly drained. I went there today and, afterwards, when I sat down to write, I had a hard time getting into the stories that I was super excited about writing just last week.

One thing I’ve learned is that negative thinking drains a person’s energy. It doesn’t help writers make better stories. It actually hinders them. So I’m not going back on Facebook for a while. If a friend messages me, I’ll go to the message there, but I’m not checking the timeline. It’s counterproductive to what I need to be doing.

I understand there are terrible things going on in the world. I keep up with the news, though I prefer independent news sources since they are far more balanced than what I’ll find on TV. I find independent news sources to be a lot less “panic! panic!” in tone, too. To me, Facebook has became increasingly negative over the past couple of years. It used to be a place where people were civil. Sure, there were the hackers that caused us grief, but at least there was a sense of peace when scrolling down the timeline.

These days, I see a lot people arguing with each other. I really don’t like to watch the arguments that erupt over there. I also don’t like seeing people putting down other people for not believing the same way they do. None of this is productive. I don’t know how anyone can expect to change someone’s mind about something when they say, “You’re such an idiot if you believe that.” (And believe me, that is tame compared to some of the comments I’ve read over there.)

I realize we’re not all going to agree on everything. What saddens me is that some people don’t even take the time to listen to the other side. They’re too busy trying to convince someone they’re right that they refuse to acknowledge there might be something they can learn from an opposing person’s point of view. I’m not saying they have to agree with  that person. But whatever happened to listening to them? Whatever happened to sitting down and having an honest discussion where both sides feel safe to give their point of view?

I’ve met people who didn’t agree with me on many things, and yet, we were able to get along anyway. In high school, I used to have fun political debates with a friend who supported the other side. We joked around and had a good time. We weren’t calling each other names or treating each other like trash. I’ve also had good discussions with people of different faiths. I found it interesting to find out what they believe and why, and I felt the spirit of give and take was a positive one. It didn’t change my own faith, but it showed me a perspective in the other’s life that I never would have had otherwise, and in the end, my faith grew stronger as a result because I was better able to solidify why I believe the way I do.

Anyway, it’s just sad to see where social media is going. I’ve enjoyed Facebook because I met some wonderful people over there. It’s sad that going there isn’t a pleasant experience anymore. I have to get away from it in order to get back into the positive mindset. I really do believe that what we surround ourselves with impacts our attitude. Now, I don’t think we should put our heads in the sand. It is good to know what’s happening, but we also need to keep a positive perspective on things so we don’t lose our joy for doing things we love. Because what we put into our minds will come back through our words and actions.

I hope I didn’t bring anyone down by writing this post. That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to encourage people to focus on what is right with the world instead of what’s wrong with it. We might not be able to change things on a global scale, but we can be a source of encouragement to a person we know in our lives. Also, we have a purpose. There is a reason we’re here at this point in time. We have something we’re supposed to do, and you are the only person who can do what you’re called to do while I’m the only person who can do what I’m called to do. There are no two people exactly alike. We’re all unique. By being positive, I think we can best reach our purpose and help those around us.

It’s a Tie (So I’ll Work On Both Books)

Before I get into the post, I should mention that One Enchanted Evening is now available.

[image error]

Here are the links where you can find it:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple Books

Google Play

Smashwords

I have so much going on that I had to include that in this post because I probably won’t be doing another blog post for a week or two.

Help Me Decide My Next Book

I’m done with writing and the initial edits of the three books I was working on at the end of last year. The Imperfect Husband, Shane’s Deal, and Kidnapping the Viscount are all ready for my editing team.

This means that I have an opening now for three new books. I’ve already picked out two that I want to do.

The first one is The Wedding Pact.

[image error]

It’s a Regency, and it is Book 3 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. This follows One Enchanted Evening (which will be available this Sunday).

This one is very loosely based off of Little Red Riding Hood, and it will have a gothic undertone with the primary focus, of course, on the romance. Our heroine has been forced to live a secluded existence after her parents’ death. She has a guardian she’s never met, but this guardian has dictated every detail of her life. Through the servants, everything she’s been taught, what she’s been allowed to wear, and what she’s even been allowed to eat has been under his control. She’s never been to London, nor has she had a Season.

The day comes when she turns twenty-one, and this is the day he’s decided to pay her a visit. Long story short, he’s been keeping her under lock and key (so to speak) because he intends to marry her. I don’t know the details of who he is, and I won’t know them until I write the book. But suffice it to say, this guy’s a jerk. She ends up running away, and that’s when she comes across Vicar Julian Roskin. Julian has appeared in The Marriage Contract and One Enchanted Evening.

I don’t really know much more than this at this time except that her guardian will be tracking her down. I have a side plot that is happening during these events, but I don’t want to get bogged down into that in this post.

The second book is Nelly’s Mail-Order Husband.

(I have no cover yet)

This is going to start a new series that features the Larson family. In this case, we’re getting to Tom and Jessica’s daughters. Since they had all girls, I decided to name the series “The Husband List” since these girls all have a mission to find husbands. That is, except for Nelly, who is the oldest daughter.  She’s very independent, and she would rather stay single. I introduce her in The Imperfect Husband (which is coming out in March), and I set the stage for who she is. She’s pretty much a tomboy, and she loves working the land. She hates cooking and sewing. And by the time this story begins, she owns her own homestead.

Well, her sisters feel sorry for her because they can’t imagine how she can be happy without a husband. So they get a mail-order husband for her. The man they pick, however, has no idea that a landowner out west isn’t wealthy. He agrees to the marriage thinking that there will be money and servants. His family just lost their money, so he had gone out west to marry Nelly thinking his financial problems are over.

So really, both he and Nelly are going to be in for a surprise because of her scheming (but well-meaning) sisters. This book is going to be a comedy. I don’t know much more than what I just told you, but that’s how things are for me when I write. I only have enough to get a story started. The rest evolves as I write it.

Okay, so that brings me to a third opening, and this is where I need your help.

I have two options that I’m willing to write, but I don’t know which one to go with. I’m going to tally up the answers you leave in the comments, and the book that gets the most mentions will be the one I’ll write.

Option 1: Forever Yours

This will be Dave and Mary’s third and final book. Dave’s going to sustain an injury that will render him unable to do any farm work, and it’ll be up to Mary (and others) to get through the summer. Dave will be the one who’ll deal with insecurities for a change. Usually, it’s Mary, but I thought it’d be fun to switch things around.

Option 2: Not titled yet

This will be a Regency, and it would be Book 4 in the Marriage by Fairytale series. This will be loosely based off of Snow White, but in this case, the step-mother isn’t the villian. Our heroine is a lady who has given up on ever finding a husband. She’ll be in her earlier thirties at the beginning of the story. Her family (younger sisters, perhaps) will come into need for money, and they’ll need it fast. So our heroine agrees to marry a duke who keeps himself holed up from the world. No one has seen him in years. He has a stepdaughter, and he has gone through two wives. Both wives have mysteriously died, which makes our heroine’s venture into this marriage a risky venture and will offer wonderful gothic undertones that I’m eager to explore.

Which one do you want to read more? Option 1 or Option 2?

 

 

Why I Write What I Do (How to Tell If My Books Are A Good Fit For You)

I wasn’t going to address this topic, but I saw a video on You Tube this morning on the problem with Christian music, and it made it think of romances, specifically Christian ones. Back in 2007, I got back into reading romances after spending considerable time in fantasy and thriller.

My journey on finding out what I want to write:

Since I don’t like reading romances that have sex outside of marriage, I went to the Christian romance category first, thinking it would be a safe bet since so many non-Christian romances have sex outside of marriage in them. I hate to say it, but I quickly got bored with those Christian romances. The storylines were often simplistic. Most of the time, there was one thin plot line, and it was filled in with a lot of “God spoke to me…” and “The Bible says…” comments that it came off more like a sermon than a story.

Now, those of you who’ve read my books know that I have mentioned God in some of them. So I’m not opposed to bringing God or the Bible into a romance. When done right, it can be effective. The problem is the way those Christian romances used God didn’t add to the story. It only jarred a reader right out of the story so that the reader felt like they were getting info dumped with religion.

And quite frankly, when the characters did get married and when every single author closed the door on the bedroom scene (esp. in a book where a character had a sexual hangup of some kind like the hero losing his first wife to childbirth and being scared of having sex), I found it to be very disappointing. Over the years, people have told me that sex should never be included in a book by a Christian author. But God created sex, and since He did, I see no reason not to include it. I have prayed about this issue, and I’ve studied the Bible on it. I’ve received confirmation several times over the year from God saying what I’m doing is in His will.

Thinking over the purpose of writing fiction:

The purpose of fiction in any genre is to tell a story.  What is the purpose of a story? It’s primarily to entertain. It’s not to give a lecture on something. Nonfiction is for lectures. Now, I do believe we can teach things through fiction, but this is something that has to be done will skill. Info dumping pulls a reader out of the book. As a reader, I want to be swept up in the story, and the best way I do that is by immersing myself in the character I’m reading about. I want to join the character on his/her journey. I want to feel what they feel in every way. If I read horror, I want to be scared. If I read fantasy, I want to be awed by magic. If I’m reading romance, I want to fall in love. Story is all about emotion.

So, story is not about facts. Fiction taps into our emotions. And if there is something we learn from it, that learning takes place from within us (as a reader). It doesn’t come from the author. I think that’s what a lot of these Christian romances are missing when they harp on “God this” and “God that” to the point where the author is beating readers over the head with a sermon. I know why Christian romances do this. They’re trying to make sure they get across something about God in the story. But readers don’t need to be beat over the head with something. Readers are smart enough to figure out the subtle nuances in the story. Besides, if you layer in those nuances, then the reader will discover something new the second time they read the book. Layers are fun to write, and they should be fun for readers to discover if they want to search for them. The best books I’ve read are those that make me think about it well after I have finished them.

I do believe romances can be written through a Christian world view and be done in a way that sweeps the reader through an exciting storyline where they keep turning the page to find out what happens next. BUT… these romances have to take risks. They can’t be watered down stories with a slim plot line connecting scenes together. In other words, they can’t be written to market.

Writing to market is playing it safe. Writing to market is watering things down. Writing to market is about appeasing as many people as possible. After studying this whole “writing to market” thing for almost a year, I have come to the conclusion that writing to market makes books boring because writing to market eliminates the risk in telling the story.

The best books are those written from passion. Those authors take risks. They venture into territory that other writers don’t dare to go into. I have been slimming down my messages about God for the past couple of years because I knew that most Christian women reading my books would get upset with the sex scenes in them. So I was tailoring my books more for the non-Christian market. But I just got through writing four books from a place of passion where I have taken a lot of risks (and yes, mentioning God was one of them), and I am in love with those books. I haven’t been in love with my own books for a long time. These are books I’m 100% excited about. I will never write to market again.

Here is what I’m writing:

I’m writing books that are meant for a small niche of romance readers who like reading about imperfect people, storylines you wouldn’t expect in a typical Christian romance, a mention of God when it fits the plot, and sexual situations within marriage.

If that is what you want to read, stick around because that’s what I’m going to write from now on. If, however, those aren’t the kinds of books you want to read, then I’m giving you a warning because you might want to go somewhere else.

I know it’s not often an author will advise people to stay clear of their books, but I don’t want people to be disappointed because they expected my books to be something they’re not. Your time and money are best used on things you want to spend them on.

New Year’s Resolutions & What I’m Working On

This upcoming year is just about having fun.

[image error]

ID 49720070 © Ayse Ezgi Icmeli | Dreamstime.com

The resolutions:

1. I’m not going to think of writing as a business anymore.

Authors are told to market and market and market their books all day long. After all, no one knows you have a book unless you tell them about it. While I can see why conventional wisdom says this (and yes, it does work when done right), I’m not a good business person. I never have been, and trying to force myself into a box to be a good marketer has never worked. It’s not my personality style, and it’s been making me miserable. So I’m not doing to do it anymore.

I’ll still be on Facebook and MeWe once in a while, but I won’t be there often. I will, however, still blog on a regular basis since I love blogging. I’ll also keep up with the monthly newsletter blog posts, which I also enjoy doing.

2. I’m only writing books I’m passionate about.

I’ve been doing this since November 1, and I’ve been shocked by how much joy and enthusiasm I feel for writing again. Over the past three weeks, I have averaged between 3,000 – 4,000 words a day when I write. Last Friday, I didn’t want to stop writing. I tried, but the urge to get back to one of the stories I’m working on wouldn’t leave me alone. For the first time in years, I actually wrote 6,000 words. And I wasn’t exhausted. I was energized and ready for more. But I made myself quit because I had to go to bed. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this kind of enthusiasm for writing. For the past three years when I hit 3,000,  I was relieved to be done for the day.  It makes a huge difference when you WANT to write. I will never go back to writing for a market ever again.

3. I’m going to be six months ahead of my publishing schedule.

I never want to worry about rushing a book ever again. There were books I, unfortunately, cut short because I had to reach a deadline. I’m not going to tell you what they were because it’s embarrassing to admit I did that. Fortunately, I didn’t do this often. Most books played out the way they were meant to.

I only admit this publicly is to give anyone hope who might have done something similar. Maybe this isn’t with writing a book. Maybe it’s something else you did that you only did half-heartedly when you look back and wish you had done it with all of your heart instead. There’s no point in beating yourself up about the past. It’s done. I had a friend who used to say, “Let lying dogs lie.”

The best way to move forward is by letting things in the past stay in the past. I am not going back and rewriting books anymore. I’m done with that. What I’m going to do is work on new stories because that’s where my heart is. I can do that whole-heartedly. The best projects you can do are those you can give 100% of yourself to. A new year is a great time for embracing new starts. You can make this year anything you want.

Okay, now for what is coming out during the first half of this year.

One Enchanted Evening is done and uploaded for pre-order. The date it comes out is January 6.

[image error]

Click here for more information!

This is Book 2 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series.

Book 1: The Marriage Contract
Book 2: One Enchanted Evening
Book 3: The Wedding Pact (to be written)

After not having anything out for what feels like forever, I am happy to announce I got a new book coming out next month! It’s loosely based on Cinderella. This is my fun trip into the gothic romance genre. I had a blast with this. It’s in the Regency time period, so there are titled gentlemen and servants, etc. I just wanted to explore a level of deeper emotion than I have been in the Regency arena. In this case, I delve into the issue of unrelenting guilt and the need for redemption. It was a lot of fun to place the heroine who is struggling with this in a romance. Also, if you love super sweet virgin heroes, this book has one.

The Imperfect Husband is due out March 2

[image error]

Click here for more information. (Not on pre-order at Amazon or Google Play yet.)

This is the last book in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.

Book 1: The Bride Price
Book 2: The Rejected Groom
Book 3: The Perfect Wife
Book 4: The Imperfect Husband

For those of you who were upset I didn’t address the issue of Mark tricking Velma and Tony into marrying each other so far in this series, be assured I did it in this book. When you read this book, you’ll see why my subconscious mind had to wait until this book to address that lie.

But the unexpected fun I came across in this book was how insecure the hero was. I had fun working with a hero who gets to grow into someone who learns to be secure along the course of the story, and he needs the heroine in order to do it. I am a firm believer that the right person in our lives can bring out the best in us, and it was fun to show that happen in this book.

Shane’s Deal is going to be out in April

[image error]

Not on pre-order. This will go to my awesome publisher.

This is the last and final book in the Montana Collection.

Book 1: Mitch’s Win
Book 2: Boaz’s Wager
Book 3: Patty’s Gamble
Book 4: Shane’s Deal

I will admit when I started this book, I was afraid I couldn’t pull it off. I had been wanting to finish up the Montana Collection for years, but I had trouble finding a plot that excited me. Finally, I had the inkling of an idea that involved a heroine who carrying a lot of money and is on the run. Anyone remember Madeline Thompson the outlaws were looking for at the beginning of Boaz’s Wager? Well, that is the heroine in this book. I always knew she was going to be the heroine and the marshal (Shane) was going to be the hero, but that was all I knew for years.

I started this book with such a slim idea that I expected this to be a novella. It turned out to be a full-length novel, and I’m thrilled with how the storyline progressed. I brought up a subplot in Boaz’s Wager and Patty’s Gamble that will finally reach its conclusion in this book, but I can’t say what it is without spoiling the book. Suffice it to say that this book really does complete the series.

Kidnapping the Viscount will be out in May

[image error]

Not on pre-order at Amazon or Google Play yet.

This is the last and final book in the Marriage by Fate Series.

Book 1: The Reclusive Earl
Book 2: Married In Haste
Book 3: Make Believe Bride
Book 4: The Perfect Duke
Book 5: Kidnapping the Viscount

I keep hearing that it’s best to write series that go on and on for many books, but I have found my interest quits around the 3-4 book mark. I threw this in an attempt to make this series longer. When I started it, I had planned for the typical storyline of a heroine who forces the hero to do something, and he ends up spending half the story sulking because of it.

To be honest, that bored me. So when I decided to write stories for passion again, I decided to switch things around. I wanted a romantic comedy, so I opted to give the book a twist. I set it up so that the hero schemes to make the heroine think she’s kidnapping him against his will. The result is a lot of great humor that had me laughing through half of the book. I’m glad I took this route instead of the one that was much more marketable.

 

 

Money Management: How Do You Want to Pay Off Debt?

I’m in the middle of paying off debt. I’ve been married now for 18.5 years, and, unfortunately, debt is still a way of life around my house.  I had the head knowledge of why being debt free was a good idea, but the heart wasn’t interested in doing what my mind wanted. It’s only been in the past year that I finally got serious about being debt free. Today I wanted to make a blog post addressing the payment of debts.

[image error]

ID 53230815 © Jehsomwang | Dreamstime.com

Here are the two main strategies of paying off debt that seem to be the most popular:

1. Smallest to Largest:

This is mostly known as the Dave Ramsey way (aka the snowball method). For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, it involves saving $1000 in an emergency fund. Then you look at all of your debts, from smallest to largest. You pay off as much as you can on the smallest debt while paying minimum payments on the other debt. Then when the smallest is out of the way, you apply that amount to the new smallest debt on the list.

2. Highest Interest to Lowest Interest:

Then there’s the Suze Orman method. Other people since have mentioned it, but she’s the first one who introduced me to the concept, so I’m giving her credit for it. In this one, you pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first while making minimum payments off the others. When you knock out that specific debt, you tackle the debt with the next highest interest rate.

I’ve tried both of these over the years, and neither worked for my personality. I discovered I’m not motivated by either method.

In my last post, I talked about not taking advice from other people, and I think this is an area where this fits. Just because some people are motivated by the Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman method of paying off debt, it doesn’t mean all of us are.

When you are looking for a strategy that best fits your life, here are some things to consider:

1. How much of a financial risk can you afford to take?

The question that often pops up is, “Should we save first or pay off debt first?”

In my opinion: it depends on your situation. I know this isn’t helpful on the surface, but let me explain my reason for this answer.

I think we need to use the method that is tailored specifically for us and our comfort levels. Some people may not be comfortable with a $1000 emergency fund. They may want one that is $5000. Some people may even want more than that.

If you’re an author who is living off of your writing income, you’re self-employed. If you have no one to help pay the bills, you may want to have at least 3-6 months of living expenses in your savings account before taking care of debt. By the way, most self-employed people take on a much higher risk in general because if they don’t sell their product, they don’t get paid. On the other hand, people who work for someone else will get the paycheck as long as they don’t get fired.

Also, whether or not you live alone plays a factor into the level of risk you have. If you’re living alone, you are responsible for all of your financial bills. Or, if you aren’t living alone, you might be the only one bringing home any money. That puts additional pressure on you to make sure you can provide for everyone. If you have a spouse who is bringing in money, then you have some buffer in case you can’t make enough money to pay your bills anymore. In my opinion, the more sources of income you have coming into your home, the better off you are. So if you have multiple sources of income, you can afford to have a lower savings amount before you start paying off the debt.

So consider how much you want to risk before starting off with paying off debt (or continuing to pay off debt if you’re in the middle of doing this already).

2. What motivates you the most?

I think motivation is more important than anything else when it comes to paying off debt. If our hearts aren’t in it, then it’s going to be hard to commit.

If watching your debt list quickly grow smaller because you’re paying off the smallest ones first “wows” you, then you would probably like the Dave Ramsey plan. If you like knowing you’re getting rid of the highest interest rates, then you’ll probably like Suze Orman’s plan.

I actually fall into neither camp. I hate both of those plans. They never motivated me. I found out that I’m more motivated by knocking out the debt that takes out the biggest chunk of my income every month. The more cash flow I have each month, the easier it is for me to relax. I have discovered that I’m best motivated when I focus on paying off the debt that takes out the biggest chunk of my household income every month.

For example, years ago I had a truck payment that was $726 a month. That is insane! (We never paid off cars and kept trading them in on others, so a lot of our car debt just rolled into the new loan. Do NOT do this. I know I said don’t take advice, but seriously, this is a trap and it will bite you in the end.) I had about five credit cards, and another car loan  at the time. My husband was active duty military, and we were barely getting by because his income kept going into all of the debt. I had been trying to get through the Dave Ramsey plan, and I just couldn’t get into it because I was taking care of the smallest debt first. I realized if I paid off the truck, I would have $726 a month to buy good quality groceries with. Whereas if I only paid off the smallest debt, I’d only free my cash flow by $50. I was tired of peanut butter, ramen noodles, and other cheap stuff for me and my family. I wanted to eat well. So that’s what I did. And I didn’t roll the $726 into other debt. I used it for food. When you have six people in a family, food is a huge part of the monthly budget.

So, this is what I’ve been ever since. I’ve been paying off the debt that takes out the largest chunk of my household monthly budget first. I don’t know if anyone ever came up with my particular method, but I discovered this on my own after trial and error.

My point to all of the rambling is this:

If you find a way to pay off debt that excites you, you’re much better off than following someone else’s strategy. Don’t be afraid to try different techniques. Don’t be afraid if you end up failing while trying one strategy. It just means that strategy didn’t fit your personality. Don’t feel guilty just because someone else could do it a particular way and you can’t. I think we beat ourselves up too much over this kind of thing. Person A’s debt strategy plan was a good fit for Person A. It might not be a good fit for you. We don’t have to pigeon hole ourselves into someone else’s box. We are free to explore other ideas. As long as you’re paying off debt, that’s what matters, right?

What are your thoughts? Is there a different way you’re paying off debt that I didn’t mention?

Don’t Take Advice (Because You Already Know What You Want To Do and You Have to Live Your Life)

This post is loosely based off of the book I just finished titled The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything by Neil Pasricha. (I’ll give the link to it at the bottom of the post.)

Before I get into this post, I want to say that this book is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s definitely going on my “keeper shelf”, and I’m going to take it out and periodically re-read it. If you’re struggling with finding happiness, I highly encourage you to check it out.

Okay, now to the post…

[image error]

ID 36149699 © Iqoncept | Dreamstime.com

What? Don’t take advice? Isn’t that a terrible thing to do?

One of the things mentioned in the book is “Don’t take advice”. Upon first reading that, I thought, “That is crazy. Isn’t advice useful?” But then I thought over the portion of the book where the author mentions people often regretting not following their own path. They get so caught up in living other people’s dreams that they neglect their own. Also, they don’t want to upset others, and as a result, they go along in order to get along with them. At the end of their lives, a lot of people end up wishing they’d had the courage to do their own thing.

For example, I was stuck in this zone for some time. I get feedback on a regular basis from people telling me what I should or shouldn’t write. And up to now, I’ve been following it. This is what is called “writing to market”. I stopped asking myself what I wanted to write. Instead, I took advice on what I should write. What happened? I got to the point where I hated writing. This didn’t happen immediately. It took time. I think it took a total of three years. I was playing it safe. I was doing what would please the most people. And it slowly sucked the joy out of writing for me. The alarming thing is that the process was so slow that I didn’t realize what was going on. That’s the danger of taking advice.

People in our lives mean well. They are looking out for us. I get that. But there are four main problems I see with taking their advice.

1. They aren’t us. They don’t have our unique blend of personalities and experiences.
2. They don’t usually share our goals. What’s important to us might not be important to them.
3. They might be thinking primarily of themselves when giving out advice. A quick example is a parent who wants their kid to live close to home when the kid might be better off taking a job on the other side of the country. The parent is thinking of the convenience of having the kid nearby while the kid might need to be independent. Plus, the kid might love that new job in ways they could never love the job that is nearby.
4. They don’t have to live with the consequences of their advice. No matter what happens, they aren’t on the hook for living with what happens next. They remain observers. They don’t have to pay the price.

There will be critics.

Deep down inside, I think we know what we really want to do. Sometimes we ask for advice because we’re looking for someone to agree with us. This agreement leads to security. As long as you have someone backing up your thoughts, you can better justify what you want to do. It takes courage to go out alone and do something that is contrary to what others are saying. We risk failure. We risk the dreaded, “I told you so” from others. We risk disapproval. We risk ending a relationship that is important to us. There are many things we could lose. That’s why it’s not easy to travel our own path. That’s why it’s easier to follow someone else’s instructions for our lives.

But in the end, will that advice make us happy? If we’re not true to our own selves, can we really be content? Or will we just tell ourselves that we’re happy so that we can cope with the box we trapped ourselves in? Will we ultimately be slowly dying inside because we let fear hold us back?

Life is a series of choices. You have to decide if you’re going to let other people make those choices for you, or if you’re going to make those choices for yourself. Obviously, if you’re married, you will have to take your spouse into consideration with the choices you make. Single people have an advantage in this area. But even if you are married, there are areas of your life where you have freedom to make your own choices. There’s always something you can do to make yourself happier.

Going back to the example I gave above, early this year I made a decision to write my books the way I want to write them. But it’s only in this month (with the help of the material in The Happiness Equation book) that I started actually writing what I wanted. It has not been easy to dig my way out of the “writing to market” mindset. For every step I took forward, it felt like I ended up two steps back. It didn’t help that I suddenly got an onslaught of people expressing how unhappy they were with some aspect of my writing. It was weird how this feedback came all at once, but it did, and these people came from all over the place. I hadn’t ever heard from most of them before.

So when you decide to travel your own path, expect resistance. I think it’s to be expected when we change what we’re doing. I’m sure this will mean that some people will stop reading my books, and I’m okay with that. I see the reviews. I read the emails. I read the blog comments. I read the Facebook comments. I know what advice people are giving me. And I have decided to ignore all of that advice. It wasn’t easy. I’ve had to remove myself from social media quite a bit. I had to sit alone with the stories I’m currently working on. The more I focused on writing what I wanted, the easier it got. Last Friday, for the first time since 2014, I woke up excited about writing. I was having fun. I was happy. I didn’t even want to quit even though I’d been writing for five days straight. I made myself quit because I need to take care of non-writing things in my life. And to be honest, it felt good to quit writing because I HAD to. It’s a major difference from quitting the day’s writing because you finally got a certain word count in after “pulling teeth” all day.

Only we know what’s best for us..and doing that will make us better people to be around.

Sometimes you have to be selfish. I know that’s a hard concept to grasp because from an early age, we’re taught to put other people’s needs before our own. But I think sometimes we have to do what is best for us. Now, I do believe we should be nice to other people. That’s very important. I do believe in the “treat others as you’d have them treat you” motto. It’s just that you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time. You need to pick when to say yes and when to say no. It takes wisdom to figure out the balance. If we get away from the noise going on around us, it’s easier to get to that balance. In the end, if we’re doing what we want to do, we’ll be better people to be around. We’ll be empowering ourselves to reach our full potential. When we are fulfilled in what we’re doing, we’ll naturally be pleasant to be around. So really, we’ll be doing our loved ones a favor, even if they don’t realize it. It’s a win-win.

Here’s the book I mentioned above.

[image error]

Click the book to go the author’s website.

People Are People No Matter the Time Or the Place

[image error]

ID 90344449 © Lawkeeper | Dreamstime.com

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve studied various aspects of United States and English history is that human nature has not changed. Sure, the superficial stuff has changed. We drive cars instead of riding a horse to get from point A to point B. We use a toilet inside our home instead of chamber pots or outhouses. And so on.

Modern conveniences have changed the landscape in which we function in society, but the fact of the matter is this: modern conveniences doesn’t wipe out any aspect of human nature. Humans are the same. You can look at any time period and any country, and you’ll find this to be true.

Sure, the society would have its own set of rules. There are certain laws, customs, clothing, music, etc that separates one society (and its specific time period) from another. But if you remove all of those things, you are left with human nature.

And this is why I advise authors who are new to historical writing to embrace the fact that historical time periods are only wallpaper. (Rose Gordon was the first person I heard the term “wallpaper” from when describing how to write historical fiction. I want to give credit where credit is due. I don’t know if she heard it from another place or came up with the term herself.)

Most authors new to historical fiction get caught up in the wallpaper. They want to make sure they’re “historically authentic”. So they focus on what people wore, what type of transportation existed back then, furniture, etc. Now, there’s nothing wrong with doing research and finding out what things were like back then. I do that, and I think you should do it, too. But you don’t want to get stuck there. There’s a temptation to treat historical romance like a history lesson when it’s not supposed to be a lesson. The purpose of historical romance is to tell a good story about the characters. It’s not to impress people with your historical-know-how.

The characters should always be front and center stage of every scene. And I don’t care what we “think” life was like “back then”. The truth is, people were not different from how they are today. Thinking that everyone in the 1800s United States were all church going people who helped others out at a moment’s notice and told the truth at all times just isn’t true. Not everyone went to church, and those who did, didn’t always go to worship God. Thinking that all women waited until their wedding night to have sex isn’t true, either. There are records of men and women marrying in order to avoid out-of-wedlock births (we call these shotgun weddings), and there were women who raised children by themselves. Thinking that women never worked outside the home is also false. The idea that people stay married forever is another myth. Laura Ingalls Wilder had a sister who owned a homestead for a short period of time, and Laura’s daughter got a divorce. Laura also worked at a paper (after her marriage). Her daughter was also a journalist. I learned this when I took a tour of De Smet, South Dakota (which was one of the towns she grew up in). Laura was born in 1867, but people have told me, “No one did X, Y, and Z back then”.

I could go into more examples, but the post is already getting long. Suffice it to say that human nature is not restricted to a neat little box of “this NEVER happened back then” or “this ALWAYS happened back then”. Society might not have approved of certain thing, so those things weren’t common (or at least they weren’t discussed in public). But they did happen.

Regardless of your time period and your location, the human condition is complex. You have your heroes. You have your villains. And to be honest, picking out who the heroes and the villains are is subjective. You can’t be objective if you’re writing fiction because fiction demands you have a hero and a villain (even if that villain is nature, another person, or the hero himself). Every story must have conflict, and conflict depends on villains. Therefore, writers have to pinpoint a good guy and a bad guy.

So while it’s good to some research into the time period you’re doing, I wouldn’t suggest getting so wrapped up in it that you miss what really makes a story compelling, and that element is your main character (or main characters). While you will have an element of readers who obsess over historical details, most readers want an emotional connection with the hero. Therefore, it is my conclusion that the best thing you can do while writing historical fiction is to focus on the characters and the story they have to tell. If you can master the complexities of human nature, the wallpaper will fade away. The wallpaper won’t matter. What will matter is that the story resonated on an emotional level with the reader. And that is what good fiction is supposed to do.