Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 40

Updates On What I’m Doing

I’m hoping to have the first draft of The Perfect Duke done by May 28 or 29.

[image error]

This is one of those stories that will be closer to 70,000 words. The first draft might have me at 72,000, but once I edit, that will get trimmed back. I always lose about 2,000 words in edits.

I usually average 60,000 words. Since it is a longer book, it’s taken me longer to finish up. I’m in the home stretch (as it were). I know what’s going to happen and how things will play out at this point. I left a thread hanging that I plan to pick up in Book 5 of this series, which is Kidnapping the Viscount. This thread has to do with Ladies of Grace. This thread has been running through the entire series since the end of Book 2.

I’ll let you know when the book is due out once I get it all edited and ready.

The Perfect Wife’s release date has been pushed back.

[image error]

It couldn’t be helped. I held off on pushing it back for as long as I could, but given sick kids, car repairs, and house repairs, I lost about a week and a half of writing time. Now that I have to rush The Perfect Duke, this will make my timeline even more unstable. So in order to get things back on track, I moved the release date back to late August. (It was originally supposed to be out in July.)

This story is turning out to be longer than I expected, and I don’t want to rush the ending. I don’t want to ever rush the flow of any book I write. It’s not fair to you if I did that. I want to honor everyone who reads this by giving them my 100% effort. Originally, I was planning on 50,000 words. I’ll be closer to 60,000 words when all is said and done. Right now I’m at 46,000 words. So I’m making progress, but it’s slower than I had hoped. Also, I want to give my poor editing team more time on this one. I just sent out emails this morning asking them to give priority to The Perfect Duke. I don’t want to do that with this book, too.

I’m 1/4 of the way through One Enchanted Evening.

[image error]

Progress is slow on this because I’ve been focusing on the two books up above. I hit the 19K word mark yesterday, which is good considering how much I haven’t been able to write in this one. I’m enjoying this spin on Cinderella. It’s fun to work with a heroine who has a dark past that she needs to overcome.

I’m at the halfway point in The Outlaw’s Bride

[image error]

My goal is 250 words each writing day on this one, but I typically end up with around 400 words on average. At the beginning of May, I was at 25,164 words into this book. As of yesterday, I reached 29,322 words. This is slow going, but this one isn’t due out for a while anyway. So I have plenty of time on it.

I’m not going to publish this one until Book 2 is up on pre-order.

Now for a look ahead…

I like looking ahead to what’s coming because it helps me stay motivated to stick with my current works in progress. Around the halfway point in the story, I tend to lose steam. The beginning and ending are easy. The middle is harder because everything has to connect from the beginning to the end.

Kidnapping the Viscount will be the next book I’ll start.

[image error]

This is book 5 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’m not sure there will be a Book 6 or not.

This will be Miss Duff’s romance. Remember Lady Eloise telling Miss Duff not to accept a certain gentleman’s proposal because he was a viscount instead an earl, marquess, or duke? Well, Miss Duff has a lot of regret over letting a good man get away, so she’s going to take matters into her own hands and get him back through any means necessary.

(I told you guys I was going to go back to heroines who are stronger than what I’ve been doing, and this one qualifies. For those who liked the heroine in Patty’s Gamble, you’ll probably like this heroine, too. For those who don’t, this might be a book you’ll want to skip.)

Also, I need Miss Duff to help build up Ladies of Grace. The group only has three members at this point. So this will continue the subplot that’s been running through here for the past couple of books in this series. And yes, Lady Eloise will play a minor role.

The Imperfect Husband will be the last book in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.

[image error]

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

Annabelle Larson isn’t a mail-order bride, but when I created the series, I didn’t think I’d be doing her story. Since she pops up so much in Book 3, it made sense to have her book in #4. I’m not sure how I’m going to get her married to the hero yet. The details are being worked out in Book 3 as we speak. But I expect this to be a lot of fun since there’s going to be some great humor in it. I’d love for it to be a romantic comedy. We’ll see what happens once I’m writing it. The characters ultimately decide the tone of the book.

Frustrated Due to Lack of Time to Write

In my opinion, a writer’s greatest source of frustration is not being able to write. I’ve gone through burn-out and writer’s block several times over the past nine years I’ve been seriously writing books, and there is nothing more frustrating to me than wanting to write but not having the time to. I know they say writing is a priority. I’ve read that a real writer makes it a point to write, no matter what.

Well, I’m unable to do that. I do make writing a priority, but sometimes there are other priorities that are more important at the moment. Over the past week, I’ve had the school nurse call about my sick kid (twice), had to take sick kid to the clinic, had my truck almost breakdown in the high school parking lot when I went to get another kid (this truck is now at the repair shop), had to take care of an errand for my husband who was at work and couldn’t do it himself, and had to deal with a writer’s issue that took up a lot of time to research.

I have sat down for 15-20 minutes and have managed to get some stuff down, but it’s not enough to relax me. Writing relaxes me. When I don’t write enough in a week, I get tense. I feel like there’s a build up of pressure in my mind that won’t go away. That probably sounds ridiculous, but it’s the only way I can describe it. I’ve taken a walk and gone to bed early since those things are good for me regardless of what’s happening. This helps to minimize the pressure, but the pressure is still there because, in the back of my mind, I keep thinking, “Your characters are screaming at you to write.” And they are screaming loudly. I love these stories I’m working on. I’m excited about them. But I can’t get to them, and it makes me want to cry in frustration.

So why am I wasting time writing this post? I’m hoping by admitting my frustrations that I’ll clear my head to write tomorrow. Writing my feelings down is therapeutic for me. It helps me focus. And as I write this, some of the pressure is going away.

Today I started to write, but then one kid kept interrupting me and after two hours of this, I gave up. Instead, I’m trying to clear out my inbox. I have left a lot of messages alone because everything going on in my personal life has been so overwhelming. I’m hoping if I can get those answered, then maybe I will have a clear head to focus on writing tomorrow.

At this point, it’s 1:30pm, and the writing day is pretty much over for me. I get up at 4:30am to get the kids out and ready for the bus which comes at 6:40. We live outside of town, so the buses come early. I start writing around 8:30am. Around this time of the day, my brain starts winding down on ideas becuase I have to get ready for the kids to come home. Then I go to bed around 7pm to get a good night’s sleep. I need nine hours. If I get more or less, I’m tired through the next day. I heard some people can get by with six hours of sleep. Sometimes I admire that.

Anyway, for writers who also have a job outside the home, I have no idea how you even do it. You have my admiration and respect.

To those of you reading this, how do you cope when you’re trying to get something done but it seems like everything else keeps getting in the way? I’d love to hear other ways of dealing with this because there might be something I haven’t tried but should. Howver, I should add that I can’t binge on chocolate. I love the stuff and yes, it does help, but it’s not good for my waistline.

For Those on My Email List or Who Want to be on My Email List

You’ll need to sign up for my new list on MailChimp IF you want to be on my email list in the future.

This is why:

Recently, the EU passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While I am not in the EU, some of you on my email list are. Because of this, I have to delete my old email list and create a brand new one. (There was a way to keep the old list, but I failed twice to make that list work. I’m not tech savvy. I had to create a brand new list.)

The new list is GDPR compliant. I ran a couple of tests, and everything worked fine.

What the new form is about:

I have to notify you that your information is being stored in MailChimp on my behalf. That means I have access to your email and (optional) first and/or last name. The email is required. I can’t email you unless I have an email address.

I also have to notify you that the purpose of having this information is so that I can send you emails about my new books and the occasional special offer (which is super rare). I usually ONLY email when I have a new book out.

There are two boxes you’ll have to check in order to agree to be on the list. These are required by the new internet laws.

What’s the process for signing up again (or signing up for the first time):

Today I am sending out an email via MailChimp to everyone on my old list. The subject will read: “New Internet Laws Require You To Sign Up Again”.  This will tell you what to do.

Or, if you’d rather sign up through this blog, click on this link. On the page will be a big red circle with the words “Sign Up”. Click on that to get to the form.

What will happen when you click on the link to sign up:

1. You’ll go to a form to fill out. Once you submit the information, you will confirm you are not a robot. After that, an email will come into your email. (Check your spam folder. Usually, it takes a few minutes, but there might be a time delay.)

2. You will get an email saying “Ruth Ann Nordin’s New Books: Please Confirm Subscription” in your inbox. If you still want to be on it, then click the Yes, subscribe me to the list. If you don’t confirm the subscription, you won’t be on the list.

3. You will go to a screen that confirms your subscription.

4. But wait, there’s more. To make sure you really, really, really want to be on this list, another email will come to your inbox. The email confirms your subscription, along with the information you have allowed me (at my MailChimp account) to hold on file. It’s a confirmation of your consent, which is important for GDPR purposes. It helps to cover my bases.

What I do with this information:

All I do with it is send you an email when I have a new release or (rarely) a special offer. I won’t share it. I won’t give it away. I won’t sell it.  Your information is kept private. I don’t store it anywhere but on MailChimp.

I can’t sign up for you. 

You have to do this yourself so that MailChimp knows you really want to be on it. Otherwise, I can be accused of spamming. I don’t want to spam anyone. I only want you on the list IF you want to be on it. And when you do this yourself, you’re telling MailChimp that I have your permission to store your information and to send you emails.

If you still want to be on my email list, here’s the link to do so.

Updates on What I’m Doing

First off, the past couple of weeks of writing have been the most fun I’ve had in a long time, so getting back to the strong heroines has been a great decision. That doesn’t mean that all of my heroines are going to be the strong type. Sometimes the plot will call for the hero to be the stronger of the two, but it’s nice to have that flexibility back.

Alright, so I’m still in the process of getting boxed sets together for my older stuff. Before the Native American Romance Series is ready to be in a boxed set, I need to reformat all of those books. That will take about a month. Each time I format, it takes about half a day to do one book. This is a four-book set, and I prefer to work on formats over the weekend as time permits. I like to write during the week while the kids are in school.

Since I wanted another boxed set that would be ready before school let out for the summer, I went through my books and picked a collection of books that would require the least amount of work to put into a boxed set.

So…

I have put the original six Larsons together into a boxed set. It’s due out May 31.
[image error]

Click here to pre-order

This way, Richard, Sally, Tom, Dave, Jenny, and Joel can all be in one boxed set. I consider those six to be the original Larsons. In the future, I want to do a boxed set for each of the children. So I would do a boxed set for Richard’s children. Then another boxed set for Tom’s children, Etc. (After I’m finished with Richard’s children, I plan to go straight to Tom’s because those four daughters are going to be fun as they look for husbands.)

I created a pre-order for this only because pre-orders give me plenty of time to organize everything together. I don’t have an assistant who helps me out with this stuff, and I find it easier to do things in small pieces. So one day, I’ll get the Booklaunch page up, another day, I’ll get the links together, and another day, I’ll update my website, and so on. That way, by the time the book is out, I’ll have everything together.

As a side note, I also handle my own emails, Facebook messages, etc. That’s why it sometimes takes me a while to get to you guys. I am interested in engaging with you, but I hope you know that it might take me a while to respond to the correspondence I get.

Okay, onto the new stuff!

The Perfect Duke will probably be published next.

Books in the Marriage by Fate Series are…

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 (this will feature Miss Duff)
Not sure if there will be a book 6 or not

[image error]

Click here to pre-order!

I thought it was going to be The Perfect Wife, but I got stalled in that book, and this one just took off. (This is why I write more than one book at a time.)

The heroine in this story is strong. I’m just over the halfway point, and I have the feeling that it’s going to be up to her to save the hero in some way. I don’t expect there to be a dramatic life-threatening situation, but I have a suspicion her brother is going to pin him in a situation where he can’t win. It’s too early to tell for sure, though. I have no idea how things will really play out. I’m just guessing at this point. As I get closer to the end, I’ll find out for sure.

One thing that surprised me while writing this is how devoted the hero is to the heroine. I knew the two would get along well from the beginning and that he’d fall in love with her first, but I had no idea just how devoted he is to her. It’s nice to work with a hero like that.

The Perfect Wife is still anticipated out for July.

Books in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series are…

Book 1: The Bride Price (Sep’s romance)
Book 2: The Rejected Groom (Tony Larson’s romance)
Book 3: The Perfect Wife (Mark Larson’s romance)
Book 4: The Imperfect Husband (Annabelle Larson’s romance)

[image error]

Click here to pre-order!

Now, Natalie is a softer heroine. She has to be for the plot to work. I do think, however, she’ll be pushed to the point where she’ll have to take some kind of stand for herself against a certain adversary who popped up this week while I was writing in this story. I’m at the halfway point right now. I’m looking forward to bringing Velma in. I’ve already brought Annabelle in, and I’m currently setting the stage for her story in Book 4.

Today while writing, Mark made a reference to Joel and Tom, and that brought back a lot of the fun times I had writing Her Heart’s Desire, A Bride for Tom, Shotgun Groom, Wagon Trail Bride, and The Marriage Agreement. Those were the books where Tom and Joel were having their fun arguments. It’s little stuff like that which makes it fun to write books that take place in the same world, even if they are in different series.

One Enchanted Evening is still in the beginning stages.

Books in the Marriage by Fairytale Series are…

Book 1: The Marriage Contract
Book 2: One Enchanted Evening
Book 3: The Wedding Pact
Book 4: To Be Titled
not sure if there will be a book 5 or more at this point

[image error]

Click here to pre-order

I’m not sure when this one will be ready, but I finally got around the masquerade ball today while writing it. This is loosely based off of Cinderella. When I say “loosely”, I mean “loosely”. In Cinderella, that character was a pure and sweet character. Marcy (the heroine in this book) has a tainted past. She did something terrible, and as penance, she’s hiding out at Stephen Bachman’s manor as a maid.

I finally figured out a way to get her to the masquerade ball to spend some time with the hero (Stephen’s friend Lewis who needs a wife). It was hard to convince her to do it because she doesn’t feel worthy of a happy ending. But I did it. Now it’s up to Lewis to convince her to marry him, which will be interesting to see how he manages it since he’s surprisingly shy and uneasy with himself.

This probably drives plotters nuts, but I honestly don’t know what is going to happen until I’m writing the scene. At any time, the story could veer in another direction during the course of writing the book. This is why I’ve had to go back and revise my descriptions on occasion. But I do expect this book to have a step-sister angle, and this is going to be something the heroine is going to have to face head on toward the end.

The Outlaw’s Bride is slowly coming along.

This is the first book in the Wyoming Series.

[image error]

I’ve been aiming for 250 words each day I write. I typically write five days a week. I’m not in the “you must write every day” camp. I’m in the “you need a day or two off” camp. This is estimated for a November or December release, so I have plenty of time. I’d say I’m nearing the 1/3 mark at this point. The heroine here is very soft, but the hero is, too, so the two make a really good match. In this book, the heroine is pretty, but she grew up surrounded by people who told her she wasn’t. So she doesn’t believe she’s pretty. The hero, of course, will change all of that.

The Marriage Contract is Now Available

A note to those of you on my email list:

I sent out the email yesterday announcing this book is out, but I’m not sure everyone on my list got it because there have been some changes in the EU. These changes have trickled to MailChimp. MailChimp is what I use to send out the email when I have a new release. If you are in the EU and you didn’t get my email, please let me know by filling this out below*. I will unsubscribe you from the list, and then I’ll give you a link so you can sign back up:

[contact-form]

*Please Note: you don’t have to fill our your name or leave a comment. You do need to give me the email you use for my email list so that I can delete it. 

Now for The Marriage Contract…

[image error]

A little background on this book:

This book was actually a passion project. I wrote this because it was burning inside of me to write since 2012. I just hadn’t had the right characters to line up with the plot, so I had to set the idea aside for years. I have a lot of ideas that need waiting for before they’re ready to write. This happens to be one of them. It is loosely based off of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I also wanted to try my hand at gothic romance. I wanted to try some new things that I hadn’t done before. I even put in a sword fight and a horse chase into this story, something that’s new for me.

Just so everyone knows, it does still fall under the Regency series I’ve been working on. I decided to mix some other elements into it. And I’m going to be adding my own spin to the rest of the books in this particular series, and that spin will have gothic elements. It’s fun taking traditional fairy tales and making my own spin on them. Of course, these will all have happy endings. I love happy endings. I also love romance, and you can’t have a romance without a happy ending.

About this book: 

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. After Mr. Stephen Bachman was forced to marry Lady Eloise (which happened in Married In Haste, which was in the Marriage by Fate Series), he got disfigured and had to move outside of London. Eloise died about a year before The Marriage Contract starts, and Stephen is a different person by this time. He’s a hero in need of a second chance. So for those of you who like heroes that were once bad who turn their life around for the better, you’ll like Stephen’s role in this book.

The heroine is brand new. She’s been living under the shadow of a gypsy’s curse since she was a child. No matter how long or how far she runs, the gypsy ends up finding her and destroying everyone she comes close to. No one else believes her, including the friend who brings her to marry Stephen. It’s only because she is pregnant and wants her child to be safe that she agrees to the marriage, and she has to agree to it under his terms: hence the contract she signs promising to never look at Stephen’s face, never to ask him about his past, and never to remove the covers that hide the mirrors.

Where you can find this book:

I have this available on these retailers. If I didn’t get your country added in here for the Amazon store, let me know. So far, I’ve only had a request for the UK store. Barnes & Noble is only in the US. I think Kobo and iBooks links take everyone directly to the country they’re in. The Smashwords link is good for all countries.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks 

Smashwords

 

What is Romance?

I recently received a link to this You Tube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions that I enjoyed watching.

Thanks to Rami Ungar for sending this my way!

This video was hilarious. The person who made this has a great sense of humor. What made me laugh most of the way through the video is how many writers of movies and TV shows seem to think all you need is for the characters to give each other “the look” to know they’re in love, and as soon as they kiss/have sex, they are automatically set for life. That’s it. The end. Happily ever after.

Now, as most of you know, my books often feature couples who get married before they fall in love. I love the marriage of convenience, arranged marriage, and mail order bride plots. I’ve done other plots, of course, but I most enjoy watching a couple fall in love after they marry. So for me, the first kiss/having sex situation is often the beginning of the romance journey.

I’m sure there are a variety of ways to explore romance, but today, I’m going to talk about the way I approach romance. Each writer is different, so my approach isn’t for everyone. And I’m not sure if this post can even be considered a primer on writing romance. If it helps, great. If not, that’s fine. Just take what you can use and toss the rest out.

Romance ultimately boils down to service.

I know that sounds weird. But stay with me on this. Often in my culture (I live in the United States), the emphasis is on, “What can someone do for me?” The culture is pretty much a self-absorbed thing in which people want what they want as soon as they want it. Having to wait for anything often frustrates people, and I believe this is largely based on how fast technology has allowed us to get things. We have gotten spoiled. And yes, I have, too. I have been just as impatient as anyone else. So I’m not pointing any fingers here. If anything, I’m a good example of this.

But this has crossed over into how we look at romance. It’s affected how we look at marriage. I think the tendency is to ask ourselves, “What can this person do for me?” Why do we fall in love with someone? Is it to get something from them? Even if we aren’t thinking of being selfish, I think there’s a trap to end up that way. For example, “Why doesn’t my husband pick up his socks off the floor? Why doesn’t he treat me out to a nice, relaxing dinner?” Likewise, the husband might think, “Why doesn’t my wife make anything but sloppy joe sandwiches? Why doesn’t she wear a dress once in a while instead of those frumpy sweat pants?”

Of course, this isn’t limited to marriages. I just happened to give those examples because I’ve been married for almost 18 years now, and these are the kinds of things that have popped up during the course of my marriage. These are little, insignificant things. They’re not deal breakers. (A deal breaker is something like abuse and infidelity.) I’m not talking about a deal breaker. I’m talking about the tendency of people to get wrapped up in themselves to the point where they stop serving the significant other in their lives.

Romance, at its core, is doing what is best for the other person. (Yes, this can extend to friendships, too, but for this post, we’re looking specifically at romance.) Sometimes when you do what is best for the other person, you have to sacrifice something. For example, a wife might have to sacrifice watching TV to make her husband’s favorite dinner. Maybe the husband sacrifices watching TV so he can do a load of laundry. These are acts of service. These are little things, but they can add up to bigger things in the long run. Real life is not like a movie. We don’t have this great big climatic scene where it’s a life or death situation where the hero gives up everything to save the heroine. Most of the time, it’ll never come to that. But these little things are romantic.

Granted, if you’re writing a book, you want to do more than show the characters doing things for each other around the house. You want to think more like the movies where there are high stakes involved. So put the hero in a situation where he has to give up something important to him for the sake of the heroine. Or, have the heroine give up something important for the sake of the hero.

I’m reminded of a story my mom told me about love. It went something like this: There was a couple who was poor, but they wanted to give each other something for Christmas. The woman had long hair that was gorgeous. She decided to get it cut off and sold it to someone who wanted to make a wig. With that money, she bought her husband an easel and paints since he loved to paint. The man, meanwhile, sold his paint brush so he could buy his wife a comb because he knew she loved her hair. That is what real romance, the sacrificial kind, is all about.

Romance is also about friendship.

If you can’t be friends with the person you’re with, then why are you with them? Romance can’t survive alone on physical attraction. There has to be a heart connection, too. There has to be that emotional component. And at this core is friendship. You should enjoy being with the person. My husband is the funniest guy I know. When we were dating, I loved his sense of humor. To this day, he can still make me laugh. He likes the fact that I have a level head and can keep things organized around the house.

Friends balance each other out. I think people are often attracted to each other based on strengths and weaknesses. And I don’t mean this for only romantic relationships. I mean this for all relationship types. We naturally attract certain people. I think it has to do with our personalities. A good friend is one who knows all of your strengths and weaknesses and accepts you just the way you are. They don’t demand you go around changing something about yourself. They’re always there when you need someone to talk to.

Sometimes they’ll tell you the truth when it hurts, but when they do that, they do it in a kind way. You can tell they’re not trying to hurt you, but they want to protect you from something harmful you might be doing without realizing it. For example, there was a time when I was getting arrogant, and a good friend pointed out that I was letting pride get in my way. You see, that is a good friend. She helped me see what I was doing, and because of her, I changed my course. (That wasn’t easy for me to admit in a blog post, but I can’t think of a better example of when it is hard to tell a friend the truth. Just make sure you do it in a nice way.) Likewise, in romance, there should be honesty between the couple. The honesty is not to be used to criticize or put the other person down. It should be to help and encourage. It should have the end goal of lifting the other person up. It’s all in the motivation. A person can tell if you’re telling them something to be mean or if you’re trying to help.

Romance is also about gratitude. 

I think there’s a tendency to take the other person for granted. This is especially true in marriage.  It’s easy to look at what someone is NOT doing instead of what they ARE doing. When we look at what is not going right, we miss the things that are going right. When we focus on the negative, we end up complaining. When we complain, we aren’t able to experience gratitude. Gratitude is looking at the wonderful traits of the other person, looking at the sacrifices that person made for us, and looking at the ways that person is making our life better. Focusing on gratitude makes you love the person even more. It advances the romance.

Of course, in romance books, there has to be conflict. When I do conflict, I often do it from outside the relationship. But if there is conflict in the relationship, I try to keep in mind that it’s something that can be resolved pretty quickly and easily because in real life, people should be able to sit down and have a conversation that takes care of the issue they’re facing. If a hero is looking at the heroine and thinking of everything that’s wrong with her (or vice versa), that’s not romance.  Sure, people argue. But they shouldn’t be cutting each other down and calling each other names when they’re doing it. You can argue in a way that doesn’t attack the other person. And gratitude is where this comes in. When you are grateful for this other person, you’re more likely to focus on the actual issue.

Conclusion

In my opinion, romance books are best when three things are at work. And ultimately, it all comes down to putting the needs of the other person before yourself. It is treating the other person the way you’d want to be treated. If that is done, how can the couple not help but fall in love?

 

Scaling Back on Some Things

The process of dropping out of the rat race has turned out to involve much more than simply picking projects I’m most interested in. Originally, I thought that was all I had to do. But once I did that, then another thing popped up and then another. So I’m now having to sort through a lot of things I’ve been doing. I need to figure out what I’ll keep doing and what I’ll drop. If I’m going to truly embrace this notion of writing for passion, that changes the entire landscape for me as an author.

All I can say is that I never imagined 2018 would be the year I’d go back to square one and re-evalute everything I’m doing and why.

[image error]

ID 25636038 © Harishmarnad | Dreamstime.com

My first priority is to write what I’m passionate about.

I had to sit down and ask myself a hard question. The question was, “How do I want to spend my time?”

The answer, though relatively simple, turned out to be, “I want to spend my time writing books I’m passionate about.” That’s it. That’s all I wanted when I got started in this writing thing. I didn’t think about marketing. I didn’t think about writing stories others wanted to read (aka “writing to market”). I didn’t think about trying to please people who weren’t happy with my books. I hadn’t given thoughts to book reviews. All I did was write the story that was burning within me to get down on paper.

So that is where I need to start. And that has ended up with a surprising domino effect.

My second priority is to put aside any story ideas that I’m not most passionate about writing.

Time is a limited resource. As much as I’d like to be able to do more, I really can’t. I have to eat, sleep, spend time with family and friends, etc. I can’t be at the computer 24/7. I need to let my mind have breaks. I need days off. If I don’t do these things, I will seriously burnout, and if that happens, I’ll probably be unable to write for a very long time. I don’t want that to happen.

I know people have been after me to write Hugh and Vivian’s story and also Shane’s Deal, but those stories are not what I’m passionate about. At least not at this time. I wish I had never even mentioned them. Since my publisher has Patty’s Gamble, I can’t go back and take out that thing about Shane’s Gamble. It’s stuck there. So is every other project I talked about at one point or another in a blog post or in a Facebook/Twitter post somewhere.

At any one time, a lot of ideas are swimming in my head. But, due to time, I can’t pick them all. I have to choose. In this case, I have to ask myself, “If I were to die next year, what books would I want to get into the world?” And that is the basis of how I make the decision on what I’m most passionate about.

People have said there’s something missing in my stories that used to be there. Well, I suspect that’s the passion for the story. I’ve been writing to market. I haven’t been taking risks or going against the tide. I haven’t been delving into the deeper parts of the human experience like I used to. I’ve been staying on this safe little road that was well-lit. I could see where I was going. While that offered safety, it was slowly draining my creativity. It was robbing me of the risk. There’s a certain thrill in driving (aka writing) into the dark where you can’t see where you’re going. I used to do that all the time. So I’ve just taken all of my stories off the lit part of the road. Now I’m in uncharted territory again. And writing over the past week has been more fun than I’ve had in a while.

Will people like this change? I have no idea. But if I keep going down the safe road, my stories will end up sounding the same, and I really don’t want that. I want to write better than I did before. I want to go down roads I haven’t been down yet. And the only way I’ll do that is if I pick stories based on how passionate I am about writing them.

My third priority was to cut out things that hinder my writing time.

Since I am putting time in for better eating, more exercise, more time with family and friends, and days off, I need to be smarter about how I spend my time. Part of this is removing things that cause me unnecessary stress.

Wattpad was the thing I decided to let go (at least as a writer).  I might stick around to read the stuff my authors friends have over there. I do want to support them, and to do that, I need time to read their stuff.  Wattpad is high stress for me. I’m an introvert. I need lots of quiet time. In order to be successful on Wattpad, you need to engage with other Wattpad users. I mean, seriously engage with them. You have to leave comments on their comments, read their works, comment on their works, mention you have a book up, and on and on it goes. I couldn’t keep it all straight. And that drains me of my energy. I think other introverts get what I’m saying, but extroverts probably think I’m nuts. But for my sanity, I had to let it go even though I met some great people over there. That was a sad thing for me to do, but I know it had to be done.

I won’t be doing anything else on You Tube, at least for the time being. Not that I was uploading more videos on You Tube anyway, but I actually had made a list of future videos to make. I had even gotten some videos in and was planning to upload them. But after all this, I better not. I need to scale back and find my focus again. Maybe someday I might actually have the time and inclination to dive back in? But for now, it’s going to stay as static as it’s been for over a year.

I’m not reviewing any more books. Believe it or not, reviewing books stresses me out. I know, I know. It’s silly. It’s just a review. But I have a terrible time knowing what to say in reviews. It’s even worse than writing my own book descriptions. I can’t just say, “I like the book.” I have to say “why”.  And that takes me, on average, two to three days to figure out. Then I wonder if the review sounded stilted because when I write it, I feel like it is.

I’m sure there will be other decisions that will pop up, but so far, these are the main three things I’ve decided to cut from my life in an attempt to clear time out to do my best work.

End Note

If anyone thinks this is easy to do, it’s not. It’s easier to sound brave than it is to feel it. I worry that this is going to be the end of my writing career. I’m pretty much throwing away the advice of authors and marketers who make more in 2-3 months than I do in a year. There is a lot of apprehension in veering off into a different direction. But I’m reminded of a saying that was on the wall of my Psychology teacher’s classroom in high school that still inspires me to this day. “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” (This quote was by Eddie Rickenbacker.)

I’m just going to move on ahead and focus on my writing. I know if I do that, the fears I have will grow smaller because my joy for my work will get bigger.

 

Things I Notice That I’m Reverting Back To As I Focus on Writing for Passion

For the past couple of days, I’ve been retraining my mind to think the way I used to before I started writing to market. I made some surprising discoveries that I didn’t even realize about myself as a writer.

[image error]

ID 83562586 © Oleksandr Shpak | Dreamstime.com

Stressing word usage hinders my voice

For one, I like to start sentences with “And” and “But” a lot. This annoys some people, but I notice it’s something that helps me get into the story faster, and it helps my voice flow along easier. If I don’t have to stop and think about the way I’m wording sentences, I feel freer to concentrate on the actual story. I’m actually more relaxed when I’m writing. I didn’t realize that worrying over word usage during my writing made me feel so tense. I’m also allowing a little bit of “modern” language come back into the story. That’s been one of the biggest complaints I’ve gotten in my work. “Sounds too modern.” So I had started paying attention to that kind of word usage, too, and this also made it difficult for me to relax.

Now, I can hear someone say, “You write historicals, Ruth. Since you do that, you have to be mindful of your language usage.” Yes, that would be true if I was writing to market. But now I’m not doing that anymore, which means I can write the story however I want. I don’t have to write with the critique group in the background yelling at me to change the way I just worded a sentence. Does this mean, I’m going to intentionally put something in like, “This dress is off the hook!” No. Of course not. Most people would probably think someone just took the dress down from a literal hook instead of taking the sentence to mean, “This dress is gorgeous!” I’m just going to say, “This dress is gorgeous!”

However, if there’s a gray zone that something falls into where “maybe it is, maybe it isn’t”, I’m going to put it in and continue on my merry way because I’ve found that stopping and rewording things has been hurting the flow of my writing, and this might be way some of my work “seems” different. So I’m warning everyone ahead of time that if the way I wrote back in 2009-2013 with books like Eye of the Beholder, A Bride for Tom, or The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife bother you, you probably don’t want to read my future books.

For me, simple is better

I have read historically authentic romances from Regencies to historical westerns, and some of them have taken more work than it was worth to figure out what the heck the author was saying. I get that a lot of readers love that kind of thing, but I don’t. When I read something, I want it stated in simple English so I know exactly what is going on, when, where, and how. I don’t want to pull out a dictionary or pause every other paragraph to follow what the characters are thinking or doing. Maybe that makes me unsophisticated, but I’m not trying to impress people with my knowledge of the time period or with sophisticated words. I just want to tell a story that delves into the beauty that exists within marriage. That’s all.

When I read a book, I don’t mind simple language and few historical details as long as I get a story that keeps me turning the page to find out what happens next. So basically, I’m going to write my books for people like me. And yes, I realize this is not everyone’s cup of tea. But hey, there are more books out there than there will ever be time to read, and a lot of them already have the authenticity in them that will make readers who prefer those things happy.

I need to let heroines be who they really are in order to have fresh stories

Also, I’m not going to worry about whether something a character does or doesn’t do will make someone happy. In the past, I used to give free my characters complete control, and while they still make the big decisions (like on how the plot unfolds), I have toned down their reaction to things if I thought it might upset someone reading it. This is especially true for the heroines. When they started to get a little to “strong”, I would stop and find a way for them to tone it down so they didn’t come off as too “you know what”.

The reason I did think is because it’s one of the things I got the most complaints about (besides my word usage). For example, Harriett Larson didn’t fall right into Stan Craftsman’s lap right away when he started being sweet to her in His Convenient Wife. Some people thought she was being unusually mean by not letting him into her heart sooner. But seriously, it was too soon for her to trust him, which is why I wrote that book the way I did. But since I’d gotten complaints about it, I started toning my heroines down so that they pretty much “fell in love” with the hero as soon as he was sweet to her.  Most of the time, I avoided any plots where the heroine would fight the hero at all.

Also, if a heroine wants to pursue a hero, I’ll let her. I also get complaints about Rose Larson because she wouldn’t leave Kent Ashton alone. Catching Kent is one of my most unpopular books. But given Kent’s background, he wasn’t going to make it easy on any woman to get through to him. Only a heroine who was strong and determined was going to break through his wall. Now, I thought the book was funny, but a lot of people found it irritating.

I’m not toning my heroines down anymore. In fact, Annabelle Larson (Richard and Amanda’s daughter) is going to be very strong, and she’s going to give the hero a rough time time because he’s going to force her to marry him, which won’t make her happy. And just because he’s a sweet guy, it doesn’t mean he’s going to get an automatic pass on robbing her of her decision on who to marry. She’s going to make him earn the happy ending. Looking back, I think part of what boxed me in was limiting plots like this and heroines like this. Restricting what a character can’t or can’t do makes it extremely hard to come up with something fresh and exciting. I realize it’s not fresh and exciting to some people, but it is to me, which is how I’m going to be able to avoid writing carbon copy romances.

******

Conclusion

I know the changes I’m making aren’t going to please everyone, but I felt it was important to warned you about what’s coming so that you don’t pick up one of my upcoming books and get disappointed. I realize some writers think that everyone on the planet will enjoy their work, but I know that’s not true. Certain people like to read certain things. I just want you to know what I’m going to do so that you can make an informed decision.

If you’re on my email list and wish to get off of it, the next time it comes into your inbox, scroll to the bottom and “unsubscribe”. After that, MailChimp should make sure you don’t get another email from me. If you are currently following this blog and don’t want to anymore, there’s an option on the top right side of this blog that says, “You are following this blog”. Click on the “manage” link, and you can unfollow it that way. If you want to de-freind me on Twitter or Facebook, that’s fine.

The bottom line is that I’d rather have you spend your time and money on books that you really want to read. Life is too short to read books that aren’t interesting to you. I have a husband and four boys (and those boys are now getting into their teens). So I understand that life is busy, and people need to be selective when choosing what books to read. I really do hope you find the books that are the perfect fit for what you’re looking for.

I Think I Have a Game Plan

Over the past few days, I’ve been thinking over my current works in progress and where I want to take them. I’m not thinking in terms of what will appeal to the most people. I’m going to back to what I used to think, “What kind of book do I want to read in the future?” Because that’s what I used to do. I used to get frustrated going to the library and bookstore but being unable to find a specific plot and time period that I was looking for. So I was asking myself, “Why kind of books am I in the mood to read?”

And this is what I came up with…

The Outlaw’s Bride (Wyoming Series: Book 1)
[image error]

There will be no pre-order for this one because it’ll be free when it comes out.

I picked this one back up. This is the rewrite of the book Stephannie Beman (aka Anne Johanson) and I did together. Stephannie decided not to go with a pen name after all, so the cover will be modified later to reflect that. I bought the rights to take this book and the future books I plan to write for this series last year. I’ll address this in the author’s note when I publish it. Stephannie did create the hero’s family, so she deserves credit for some of the content in the book. I’ll have her read over it before I publish it. Since she did have a hand in creating most of the characters, she has a right to look this over.

I read back over the 17,000 words I did in the rewrite of this story, and I really like the direction I was going. So I’m going to keep on the track I was originally planning on. This book will yield no money because it will be free. The reason it’ll be free is because it’s a rewrite, and Stephannie and I decided it’s not fair to ask people to pay twice for a book that has the same plot. The overall plot will stay the same. The characters have been modified to fit the new version. I’m deleting some scenes, adding others, and rewriting the rest to fit my style.

The plan is to work on this about 250 words every writing day. (I still like word counts because I enjoy tracking my progress in my planner.) Anyway, according to my calculations, I should have this ready for December.

The Perfect Wife (Misled Mail Order Brides: Book 3)
[image error]

Click here to pre-order

This one actually will stay as I had planned because I love the “fish out of water” plot. The heroine has grown up on a farm, and now she’s married to a rich man who needs to impress his clients’ wives. In The Rejected Groom, Velma had pointed out Natalie wasn’t fit for this kind of life, and she’s right. But since this is a romance and I like happy endings, it’ll all work out in the end.

Now, the big source of change will take place in the next book in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.

I don’t have a title or cover for it yet because the plot just came to me two days ago. This is going to be Annabelle’s romance. Remember how she felt about the preacher (Ben) in The Rejected Groom? She thinks he’s boring and annoying. So that’s who I want to pair her up with. I’ve never done a man disguised as a woman story, and I know of very little romances that have this theme. But it’s one I’m going to do for this one. I’m hoping to make it a comedy because there’s plenty of room for humor. My humor is often one of the things most readers don’t like. I haven’t done much humor in a long time, but since I’m writing books that aren’t geared to the market, I’m want to put humor back into some of my books.

Anyway, Ben is going to find a way to marry Annabelle so she doesn’t end up with the wrong man, and since Annabelle can’t stand him, he’ll disguise himself as a woman and (with Natalie’s help) will join the lady’s group in an attempt of figuring out what Annabelle wants so he could go about wooing her.

By the way, the resistant heroine is another one of those unpopular things I’ve noticed over the years. From the feedback I’ve gotten, it seems like most romance readers do not like heroines who make things hard on the hero. The hero can make things hard on the heroine, and for some reason, that is okay. But my most popular heroines are those like Mary Larson, who are very soft. Heroines like Sue Lewis, who gave Jake a hard time in the beginning, however are not. I’ve gotten my fair share of complaints about the scene where she throws the new clothes he gave her down the stairs because they were too feminine. Sue was definitely a strong and independent woman. Those tend not to go over very well.

Anyway, Annabelle is going to be one of those strong and independent heroines (probably because her mother, Amanda Larson, felt helpless when she was raped and only Richard believed her). Amanda’s not about to have her daughter unable to stand up for herself, and I’m sure Annabelle will be able to defend herself in any situation. That opens up a wide world of possibilities, and Annabelle might have to end up saving Ben at some point.

So anyway, mix in humor with a very strong and independent heroine, and it’s pretty much not what the market wants. But I’m exited about it.

One Enchanted Evening (Marriage by Fairytale: Book 2)
[image error]

Click here to pre-order

I was originally going to make the heroine super sweet without any blemishes (because those heroines are usually favored), but I decided the heroine is going to have an unpleasant past–a past where she actually was the villain. This one is loosely based off of Cinderella, and in this story, the heroine was the evil step-daughter. She did something horrible, ran off, and has been hiding out.

Don’t worry. By the time we get to this story, she’s a different person and is trying to atone for her sins. She’s basically the Neil Craftsman of the Regency world. I never really showed the transition Neil went through from Eye of the Beholder to His Redeeming Bride. I’ve alluded to it, but I never showed the process he went through. I’m going to show the process of redemption in this heroine. (Side note: she didn’t have the same sins as Neil. Her sins are different. I won’t say more than that because I don’t want to spoil the book.)

But suffice it to say, this is going to dive into some dark issues (and light ones to counteract the darkness), but the heroine is by no means perfect. She seems like she’ll be when you meet her in The Marriage Contract (which is book 1), but as they say, “A smile can often mask pain.”

The Perfect Duke (Marriage by Fate: Book 4)
[image error]

Click here to pre-order!

This one, like The Bride Price, will stay as originally planned. Actually, I don’t have a lot prepared for this anyway, except that the heroine’s brother is a jerk. But for the most part, this one is wide open to how I navigate within the story, so I’m going to just let it takes me where it wants to go.

I have decided to try something different with Book 5 in this series. I don’t have a cover or a title for it yet, but this will be Miss Duff’s story, and she’s going to get her man (so to speak). With this book, I’ll be doing something else that isn’t made for the market. The heroine is going to take matters into her own hands and make the hero marry her. This happened in Patty’s Gamble, and some people didn’t like Patty because of it. Miss Duff’s motives will be good, but I’m sure the fact that she is more alpha than the hero will turn some people off. But in this case, I might give her the mother-in-law from you-know-where. I have a gut feeling the hero’s mother is controlling and manipulative. I could be wrong. I’ll see as I write the book.

I am going to continue on with the Larson family when I finish up with the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.

My next plan is to get into Tom and Jessica Larson’s four daughters. I love the Larsons. I’ve been putting their stuff aside in favor of other plots that better fit a different cast of characters, but I want to get back to the Larsons, and I want to see how Tom’s four daughters plan a way for each of them to get a husband. I think it will be a lot of fun and cute. And with Tom for a father, it’ll be fun to see how things play out.

Dropping Out of the Rat Race

Today I made the decision that I’m not longer going to run in the rat race that has become a part of the indie world of publishing.

[image error]

ID 77640367 © Stuart Miles | Dreamstime.com

Over the past year, I’ve been pushing myself hard to get books out, and I’ve only taken on projects that I believed would have the best time of selling (except for Taming The Viscountess which is one of my favorites AND The Bride Price and The Rejected Groom which features my favorite family, the Larsons). I know my books aren’t for everyone. I tried to make a couple of them for a wider audience, and those books did sell better.

There is something to be said for writing to market. Writing to market isn’t a dirty term. All it means is that the writer focuses on what readers when when they write books. It’s all about tailoring things specifically to the reader. When writers do this, it doesn’t mean the book is going to suck or that the writer is selling out. It means the writer is being business savvy in an ever-increasingly competitive market. So I’m not criticizing any writer who writes to market. It is a good business move that often comes with rewards.

But lately, it’s occured to me that I’m a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Who I am as a writer doesn’t fit the “write to market” paradigm. The books I’m most interested in writing aren’t ones that most readers want. So I had to decide: do I keep trying to write to market, or should I write what I most want?

The other day, I actually thought, “I want to give up writing. It’s not fun anymore.” And that scared me. And it’s why I’m going to have to stop writing to market.

Running in the rat race for the past two years has gotten me to the point where I’m exhausted. And quite frankly, I’m done with it.

I’m done worrying about writing at a breakneck speed just so I can get a new book out sooner, too. That’s another part of the rat race. I know some authors can get a book out every week, but I’m not one of them. If I started doing that, my books would start to come out as rushed, forced, and just like others I’ve already done. I know this because I started doing this last summer when I was pushing myself to do 5000 words a day every single day. I had to stop and finish up the books when the kids returned to school. And at that time, I had to slow it back down to 3000 words five days a week, which I have learned is my best pace.

So today, I asked myself, “Why did I get into writing in the first place?”

I got into writing because I couldn’t find the kind of romances that I wanted to read. I couldn’t find a single author (besides Carolyn Davidson) who wrote the three things I most wanted in a romance novel: sex inside of marriage, the value of family, and an appreciation for the Christian faith. Carolyn Davidson nailed all of those, but she was only one author. And I wanted to read more books. So I ended up writing them.

I’m writing what pubishers weren’t putting out because publishers already knew there wasn’t a big enough market for it. I write a niche type of romance. I need to go back to appreciating that. (For those who think I can do clean romances, I tried that, and I didn’t like the books until I put sex into them. It always seemed like something was missing if the sex wasn’t included.)

I guess in the end, I decided that I need to be true to myself, and doing that ultimately means I’m not going to please most people.

So anyway, I’m settling in for the reality that I’m on a limited time where I can afford to keep writing and publishing books. Eventually, I’ll probably get a job outside the home because running a business is very expensive, and when income drops, you have to scale things back. Well, there’s a point where everything bottoms out. I don’t consider myself a pessimist, but I do think of myself as a realist. I lost half my income since the beginning of the year. I don’t know why, but it’s just the way it is. And I have to adjust to that reality.

And who knows? Maybe God is telling me, it’s time to start thinking of doing other things in the future. Maybe there’s something else he has coming down the road for me to do. Maybe this writing thing is here for a season, and while it’s been a great season, maybe there’s something even better out there waiting for me.

I’m hoping I can pull through until my kids are all out of school. Then I can be free to work whatever hours my employer wants me to work. Right now, I’m tied to the school schedule. When the kids have dental or doctor appointments, it’s during school hours. When they’re sick, someone needs to watch them during the day. I’ve been fortunate to have been a stay-at-home mom since they were born. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything, and I’d like to be a stay-at-home mom until the youngest is out of the house.

So what does this mean for the immediate future?

I’m going to write the stuff I really want to get done. Time is short, and I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the right time to come along to get to a story I’m passionate about. I might be able to keep writing. I might not. I don’t know. But I’m committed to doing whatever God has planned for me. And since I still have the luxury of writing, I’m going to go through my writing list over the next few weeks to decide what books I most want to write. Then I’m going to focus on those.