Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 40
July 5, 2018
Updates
I figured I should do an updates post since a lot is going on. 
June 29, 2018
Some Books Now Up on Google Play
I’m slowly working my way through adding more books to Google Play. I decided to start with the newer books since those require less formatting and will be quicker to get up. If you happen to read books on Google, here are the books with the links!
The Reclusive Earl (Marriage by Fate: Book 1)
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Married In Haste (Marriage by Fate: Book 2)
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Make Believe Bride (Marriage by Fate: Book 3)
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The Perfect Duke (Marriage by Fate: Book 4) – on Pre-Order
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The Marriage Contract (Marriage by Fairytale: Book 1)
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The Bride Price (Misled Mail Order Brides Series: Book 1)
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The Rejected Groom (Misled Mail Order Brides Series: Book 2)
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Please Note: I will be getting The Perfect Wife (Book 3) up soon for pre-order.
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The Convenient Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love Series: Book 1)
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The Mistaken Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love Series: Book 2)
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The Accidental Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love Series: Book 3)
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The Bargain Mail Order Bride (Chance at Love Series: Book 4)
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His Convenient Wife
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Google Play link (mentioning this in case you didn’t see it in my last post)
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I’ve already had books up there via Parchment & Plume, LLC (a wonderful publisher I use from time to time). In case you haven’t seen these over there, I’m going to link to them while I’m thinking about it.
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Bride by Arrangement (anthology with Janet Syas Nitsick)
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A Groom’s Promise (anthology with Janet Syas Nitsick)
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Bride by Design (under pen name Barbara Joan Russell; an anthology with Catherine Lynn)
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Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1)
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The Marriage Agreement (Pioneer Series: Book 2)
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Groom For Hire (Pioneer Series: Book 3)
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Mitch’s Win (Montana Collection: Book 1)
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Boaz’s Wager (Montana Collection: Book 2)
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Patty’s Gamble (Montana Collection: Book 3)
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That’s all I have up right now. I’ll keep adding books over the next few weeks. My average is 1-2 books a day. When I get to my older stuff, I might end up doing 1 book every other day due to having to reformat them.
June 22, 2018
More Updates
I’m so excited! I have a lot of fun things I’m working on, and I’m having a hard time focusing on just one thing. You guys know me. I write more than one book at a time. Since finding my passion again, I found I needed to expand. I’m doing this by lowering my word count for each book on my writing days.
A quick tangent about how I write more than one book at a time:
People have asked me how I can do this. I don’t know. I guess it’s a byproduct of multi-tasking for years. I started seriously writing when my kids were still in diapers, and I have four kids all about a year or a year and a half apart. I could never sit down and write for any one long length of time. Writing has been broken up into 15-30 minute bulks. I still write this way even though my youngest is now going to be in the 7th grade and my oldest will be in the 10th grade. During the school year, I still stop every 15 or 30 minutes and do something else. It has become a way of life for me to work this way.
Anyway, because I take these kinds of breaks, I use those as transition periods from one book to another. I aim for 250 words for each 15 minute blocks of time I write. If my goal is 1000 words in one book, I’ll lump two of the 15 minute blocks together. So after 30 minutes, I’ll do something short like get more tea or go to the bathroom. After the second 30 minute block, I’ll do a longer chore, like laundry, dishes, the floors, etc. The longer break helps to transition my mind to another story.
And I just recycle this until I get between 3,000 to 3,500 words done for the day. Sometimes I get more done, sometimes less. But the average is in that range, and I do this five days a week.
It also helps that I work on different series at a time. I find doing so helps me stay creative and fresh. I could not work in only one genre at a time. I would get bored. Also, I can’t work on Book 1, 2, and 3 in one series at the same time. What happens in Book 1 will impact Book 2, etc. Being a panster, it’s impossible for me to tell what will happen from one chapter to the next. There’s no way I could tell what Book 2 is going to look like until I end Book 1.
As a side note: on my non-writing/editing days, I try to catch up on emails and such. I don’t write or edit anything.
Now, I don’t write on days I edit. If I edit, I only edit. And I do between 4-5 chapters on an editing day. I have found that editing breaks my creative flow.
Back to what I’m doing now:
I just finished the initial edits of The Perfect Wife!
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And I just sent it off to my wonderful editing team! I struggled a lot with how to end this one. The main story between the couple is resolved, but I had to get an “in” to the next book in this series. That was wrapped up within a subplot I had running through this book. I did add an epilogue to help tie things up nicely, but be warned this one ends with a heavy teaser for the next book (The Imperfect Husband). I don’t usually do something like that, but it’s what the characters finally settled on after a month of stalling out.
I’ve gotten most of the edits back from The Perfect Duke, so I’ll work on that this weekend.
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I’m waiting for the book description and remaining edits to come in before I upload it to Amazon. It’s already on places like Kobo, iBooks, and B&N in pre-order. I’ll set a definite release date at that time.
I’ll continue working on these books starting next week:
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and
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and (very loosely)
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If I run out of time, this is the book that gets dropped for the day.
Here’s what I’ll start this week:
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This is Annabelle Larson’s romance, and I expect this one to be a lot of fun since it’ll be a comedy. The last two chapters of The Perfect Wife was a blast. I expect this book will be just as funny.
I didn’t announce it earlier, but I have started Shane’s Deal.
(I’m currently revamping the covers in the Montana Collection, so the cover reveal will wait. I’m putting this one with my publisher.) I’m aiming for this to be a novella, but we’ll see. I’m also taking my time on this one. I have the first chapter done or almost done.
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Non-writing related news:
Google Play
I finally bit the bullet and got a Google Play account. My publisher already had one and was putting the books I had with them on there for me. But as for the books I’ve done myself, I haven’t put them up. I was hoping Smashwords or Draft 2 Digital would start offering distribution to them, but that hasn’t happened. So I finally got an account set up. I am waiting for some tax information to be verified. In the meantime, I have put up this book in order to test the waters over there:
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I picked an older book because if something goes wrong, it won’t be a heartache to anyone if I have to remove it.
I have a backlist of about sixty romances to put up there. If things go smoothly, I will put them up. But I’m not going to do this all at once. It’ll drive me crazy. I’m only one person. I don’t have an assistant. (Can’t afford one.) So it’s all up to me to get this stuff done. So be patient with me as I do this.
Also, if you are on Bookbub:
I have a profile over there if you want to follow me. They will send out an email when I have a new book out. If you don’t want to be on my email list and you want an easy way to know if I have a new book out, this would be a good place to follow me.
Here’s the link if you’re interested.
I think that’s all the updates I have for now. Have a great weekend, everyone! I’ll be answering comments from the pervious blog post in a day or two.
June 18, 2018
Updates on What I’m Doing
Books 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 (This will complete the series.)
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And to be honest, I hate editing. Editing is not fun at all. The fun is in the writing. It’s finding out what new twists and turns the characters take me on. Editing is necessary. I do believe it’s important, but it’s not the fun part. But what this means is I have finished the first draft of The Perfect Wife, so that’s good news!
Once I finish up with this edit, I can get back to writing, and one of the books I’ll be starting up is Book 4 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. I’ve been itching to do this one as soon as I finally decided on a plot. I’ve never done a book where the hero disguises himself as a woman in order to figure out what his wife likes so that he can set about wooing her. So this will be something fresh and exciting to delve into.
I spent the last two chapters of this book setting the stage for Book 4. I had to do that in order to resolve a plot point I had in The Perfect Wife. Don’t worry. I gave an epilogue to this book that let everyone know that things turned out okay for Annabelle and Ben. (I write romances. Things always work out. But Book 4 shows you “HOW” it worked out. And that’s the part I’m excited about getting into.)
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Annabelle might not be happy right away in this book, but she will be soon enough. The smile on her face doesn’t lie. 
June 10, 2018
True or False? (A Quiz Featuring a couple of my Regency Characters)
I got an idea the other night to do a post where you get to guess if something is true or false about some of my Regency characters. I thought it might be fun.
May 26, 2018
The Socially Awkward Author
The author I mention above is me.
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The other day, I was reading a book on book promotion, and while doing better covers, book descriptions, keywords, and such are doable on my end, I hit a brick wall when the author mentioned frequent emailing to people on my email list.
Unless I have a new book out, I honestly don’t know what to say. Even when I write a blog post or post something on Facebook, I have a terrible time coming up with something I think might be of interest to people. I personally know authors who write about their personal lives in a way that is so interesting I have to read each and every word. Also, there are authors that come up with great topics, and they make these topics sound much more interesting than I ever could. They have such a gift for these things, and I can see why they attract a lot of people.
Unless I’m writing a story, my mind goes blank on coming up with anything that sounds fresh and exciting. It’s like when I write Christmas letters. I hate doing them. In fact, I broke down and ended up just sending cards with a sentence or two because it didn’t seem like anything that interesting happened in my life. Things just seem to be business as usual. Probably the biggest news I had over the past few years was moving, and that didn’t take long to say. Other than that, not a lot has changed in my life.
This must be a personality thing. Some authors are great at social mingling. I’m not one of them. If we were all at a party, I would be the person sitting in the corner of the room talking to maybe one or two people. No one would notice me. I know this because in real life, I’ve never been the center of attention. I’m a socially awkward person. You know those people who try to tell a joke but no one thinks it’s funny? That’s me. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of humor. I manage to write some funny lines in my books, but in real life, I just can’t seem to do the same thing. I know because when I’ve tried to tell jokes, my family (even my kids) look at me in sympathy. They want to laugh, but they can’t manage to bring out a chuckle.
I think the “email and engage your list frequently” thing is great for people who have a natural charisma. They’re often the leaders. They go up to people and make them feel comfortable. I’m the type of person who follows. I’m much more comfortable responding to a thread or topic someone else started.
So, after doing some thinking over this, I realized something very important. Authors can’t all promote the same way. It’s impossible. Some just don’t have the personality for being entertaining in emails. The best way I can possibly entertain in an email to my email list is to say, “Here’s my book, and here’s a special scene or research I did to go with it.” Those things take me a week to come up with. I spend a lot of thought on them. So it’s not that I don’t care about the people on my email list. I do. I care about everyone who’s still with me, and I don’t take them for granted.
So even if I don’t email until I have a new book out, I hope you know it’s not because I’m not thinking of you or that I don’t care. I do think about you guys, and I do care. Whether you’re following this blog, on my email list, following my newsletter blog, friended me on Facebook, or are following my Tweets, in the back of my mind, I do think of you.
I know we’re told that we must break out of our comfort zones, but sometimes that’s not good advice. I don’t care how many lessons I take on public speaking. I am not going to be good at speaking in front of an audience, and I’m not about to go through it again after failing two times. Thankfully, Janet Syas Nitsick was there to save me from total embarrassment. I was so stressed out over those times that I was physically sick for a almost a week. I would much rather be in a group and participate than be the leader at the front of the room. So why would telling someone like me to do a speech be good advice? It wouldn’t be. Likewise, emailing every week or two weeks to engage people in a conversation wouldn’t work for me. It would stress me out because I don’t know what to say, and I sure couldn’t keep up the momentum long-term.
I think the most important thing for writers to do is to figure out who they are. What are their strengths and weaknesses? There’s no point in trying to work on a weakness (unless it’s for your physical health). I was weak on eating sugar, and I’ve been cutting it out. So sometimes, it makes sense to do something like that. But if you’re weak at public speaking, why torture yourself doing it? If you’re not good at making You Tube videos (like I am), why do it? If you’re not naturally inclined to engage people in frequent emails to your list, why do it? Also, if you’re not naturally good at writing by the seat of your pants, don’t do it; plot instead.
I think authors should find what they’re strong at and do that. My strength is in participation in a discussion. My strength is in setting down a routine to write and sticking with it. My strength is in sticking with a story I’m writing, even when I get to the middle where ideas start to slow down. I press through it. (I rarely stop writing a story. It’s happened, but not often.) I’m not a sprinter. I am the turtle. I check in almost every day to write, and though I might not write a lot that day, I usually get something done. I do take days off, and those days will be more frequent this summer when my kids are home all day, but I’ll probably still check in to do a few hundred or so words before they get up.
So anyway, after reading that part in the book on promotion about successful authors emailing frequently, I felt bummed out for a couple of days because I knew this was something I just can’t do, but I’ve since come to peace with that. We all have our limitations. Being aware of them can also help us realize we have some strengths that wouldn’t be possible without those limitations. Sometimes you just have to flip something around to see how a hinderance in one area is a strength in another.
I don’t know if this is inspiring for anyone else, but it took a huge weight off my shoulders to realize it’s okay to do things in the way that is most comfortable for us. It’s okay to not follow the crowd and do it their way. Sometimes you just have to be true to yourself.
May 22, 2018
Updates On What I’m Doing
I’m hoping to have the first draft of The Perfect Duke done by May 28 or 29.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
May 12, 2018
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.
May 1, 2018
For Those on My Email List or Who Want to be on My Email List
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.
April 27, 2018
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.
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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
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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)
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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
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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.
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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.
