Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 74
May 9, 2014
My Facebook Giveaway with Janet Syas Nitsick
All next week, Janet Syas Nitsick and I will be running a giveaway from May 12-19. That’s eight giveaways, one for each day.
Click here to go to the Facebook page!
We expect it to be a lot of fun. The main thing is that we’re going to hang out on Facebook and just have a good time. We want this to be very informal, so feel free to ask anything that’s been on your mind or share anything you’ve been wanting to tell us. :D
The center of the party will be on Facebook, but some of you aren’t on Facebook, and we want to give you a chance to enter the giveaways, too. So what we’ll do is announce the giveaway at 8pm central US time the night before the winner(s) will be announced. For example, the first giveaway winners will be announced on May 12 at 8pm central US time. We will announce the giveaway entry on May 11 at 8pm central US time. That gives everyone 24 hours to enter the giveaway. Hopefully, this will allow everyone enough time to enter.
Below is the schedule of planned giveaways for the week.
May 12: Special Guest Rose Gordon!
Rose Gordon will be having a Facebook party for her new release, Desires of a Baron. She will be joining us on this day to say hi and answer any questions you have. Also, Janet and I will share how we met her and answer any questions you’d like to ask us. I’m going to dig through my photos and see if I can find a picture I have with Rose.
On this day, Janet and I will be offering a giveaway of Rose’s books/ebooks. It’ll be winners’ choice.
May 13: Romantic Memories
On this day, we will share some of our most romantic memories. They can be real life ones or ones you read in a book or saw in a movie. The giveaway on this day will be a candle holder in the shape of a barrel. We’ll offer paperbacks or ebooks (winner’s choice) from our books.
May 14: Loving Those Heroes
On this day, we will share what we love most in our heroes. A $50 gift card and ebooks/paperbacks will be offered in the giveaway. Winner will choose what the gift card is for and whether to receive ebooks or paperbacks.
May 15: Small Treasures
On this day, we will share something small we own that means a lot to us. This can be a ring, a knickknack, etc. We’re giving away a small rectangular box with the western look to it that you can put small things in. We’ll also offer ebooks or paperbacks, winner’s choice.
May 16: A Hero’s Gift
On this day, we will share the best gift a hero in a book or movie has given the heroine. The giveaway will be another $50 gift card and ebooks or paperbacks. Both gift card and books will be winner’s choice.
May 17: Sweet Surprises
On this day, we will share some of the best surprises we’ve ever had. It could be anything from a surprise birthday party to a surprise gift or maybe even an unexpected compliment you received. We will be giving away a trunk about the size of a bread box that can hold a variety of items. In addition to this, we’ll give away paperbacks or ebooks (winner’s choice).
May 18: Pet Peeves
On this day, we’ll discuss pet peeves in books, particularly those things a hero or heroine does that kills the book for you. We will be giving away a $50 gift card and paperbacks/ebooks. The winner will pick the gift card and paperbacks/ebooks.
May 19: Romantic Getaways
On the last day, we’ll discuss any romantic getaways we’ve been on or read about in a book. The giveaway will include a $50 gift card and paperbacks/ebooks, both winner’s choice.
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At 8pm central US time on the day before the giveaway, we will post the information about the giveaway. Winners for the giveaways will be announced on the evening of the giveaway (8pm central US time) on each of the days the giveaway runs. The main hub of the party is at Facebook. But if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can enter on this blog. If you enter on the blog, I fill out the contact form in the post. The form will ensure your privacy so others won’t see your email address.
Hopefully, that all makes sense. But we will make a post every day through the Facebook Giveaway Party, so there’s no need to try to remember everything in this long post. :)
May 6, 2014
The Earl’s Scandalous Wife and The Mail Order Bride’s Deception are Now on Kobo
I try not to post too close back to back with these posts, but since people have asked me when these two books will be on Kobo, I’m going to post the information right away instead of waiting.
In the future, I will be publishing to Kobo directly, so I’ll add the Kobo links when I do the email new release list from MailChimp.
Since both books were up on the Apple iBooks store within a month of publication, I’ll continue to let Smashwords distribute that for me. However, if the time to go live on iBooks starts taking as long as B&N or Kobo ended up being (over two months), then I’ll have to learn how to publish to iBooks directly. I’ll see what the future brings. It’s important that these books get available in a timely manner. Some sites are beyond my control, but those that are, I will do what I can.
To sign up for my new release list:
In the meantime, if anyone would like to be added to my new release list, please fill out the form below and I’ll add you in. What’s neat about MailChimp (and why I use it) is because it allows you to unsubscribe at any time, and I believe this is automatically done for me, which makes it easier for everyone.
[contact-form]
If you want to unsubscribe but are having trouble doing it, I can manually do it, but I need to create a new form in another post since WordPress won’t let me do two forms in this post. I’ll try to remember to put the new form up in the next post.
May 5, 2014
Inspiration for the Book: Eye of the Beholder
Today I thought I’d jump back in time to the first book that got me hooked on writing historical western romances. Before I wrote it, I expected to go back to writing fantasy novels. But this book is why I never ended up doing fantasy. :) Once I wrote it, I knew my course had changed dramatically…and changed for the better. It was also the book that fully launched me into self-publishing my work because I want to blend the sweet romance feel with the spicy content I preferred to read in romance novels.
I wrote this book because I wanted to do a mail-order bride story. I thought the idea of a woman traveling West to marry a man she’d never met was a romantic notion. Granted, in real life, it probably was more about necessity, but in romance, happy endings are guaranteed (which is why I love romance).
The Hero
Originally, I was going to do have Neil be the hero. He was supposed to marry Mary and stand up for her when his brothers put her down because she was plain. But when I got to the train station scene, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be more dramatic if he rejected her?”
So I went back and wrote in the scene where Dave Larson was at the mercantile and happened to find out Neil was on the way to meet his intended at the train station.
The Heroine
Why a plain one? Because it seemed that every single heroine I’d been reading in romance novels were drop dead gorgeous, something I am definitely not. So why not write about a woman who wasn’t perfect? Everyone has a quality that makes them beautiful, even if they aren’t on the outside.
The Plot
I didn’t originally intend to include Cassie (who was beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside). My original point of conflict was between Dave and his brothers. But when I decided that Neil would reject Mary, I decided to give him the bride he wanted–super beautiful. As the story progressed, the plot became more of a “What defines beauty?” theme.
Part of the book was wish fulfillment. While I am happy in my marriage, there are some things I’m not crazy about, and I know my husband can say the same thing. Sometimes books allow a writer to take a part of their lives they’re not crazy about and dream up a scenario where things are different. In Dave was the ideal husband.
As a side note, I will add that no one is perfect. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. In July, I’ll be married for fourteen years, and I’m happy. But marriage has its ups and downs because people aren’t perfect. That’s why romance is a fun genre to write. You can have the perfect marriage with the happily ever after.
May 4, 2014
Updates on The Earl’s Scandalous Wife and Working on my Website
Last month, someone alerted me to the fact that The Earl’s Scandalous Wife wasn’t on Kobo. Long story short, I uploaded it myself to Kobo today. So that means it should be available in a couple days.
I also published The Mail Order Bride’s Deception directly to Kobo today as well.
I will be publishing all of my future books directly to Kobo from now on. There is no reason why it should take so long for books to go up on these book sites. From what I see, Apple iBooks has all of my books, including The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, up on their site at this link: 
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Regarding My Website
My apologies. I hit the publish button early. Those of you getting this in your inbox will wonder what the heck happened to the rest of the post. :)
Anyway, I am still updating my website at http://www.ruthannnordin.com. It looks like a lot of people like the idea of every book having an individual book page with a description, excerpt, and any extras. Since I now have 40 romances out, this is going to take some time. Up to this point, I have taken care of all the Regency books. I am now working on the historical westerns. That’s where most of my books are.
Over the course of this year, I will be going back and making posts about the inspiration for the book so I can add them to book pages that don’t have things like character interviews. This is the part that will take more time, especially since I write those posts as I’m inspired to. If I’m not in the mindset to write about the background to a book, it’s almost impossible to write it. I can spend four hours staring at the computer screen with only two or three sentences done. This is also why I don’t do character interviews for every book I write. Some books are easier to do these things for than others.
I hope to be done with the website by the end of this month. In the meantime, if anyone has any other suggestions on how I can improve my website, I’m all ears.
May 1, 2014
Revamping My Website (Anything You Want Me To Put On It?)
Website Stuff
At the moment, I have hired someone to help me revamp my website at http://www.ruthannnordin.com. I want to do something that looks more like this blog. I really like the header I have and always wanted it to be on my website. But since I was dealing with a template, I couldn’t. After having the website for six years, I finally decided it was time to let someone who knows what she’s doing work on it. Why did it take so long? I guess because I was so busy writing, it was easy to keep letting it go.
The sad truth is, if it’s not writing, I have a harder time of getting around to it. :D ButI finally am.
And my question to all of you is, what would you like to see on my website?
The only things I won’t put up is a contact form, my email address, or my physical address or phone number. The reason is because I’ve been on the receiving end of a couple harasses in the past and those four things make it easier for them to stalk me. Not fun stuff.
But I can look into putting up anything else. Let me know and I’ll see what I can do about it. You can leave a comment here or tell me through Facebook. Here’s my Facebook timeline. Just click on send a message and I’ll check to see if anything pops up over there: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ruth-A....
April 27, 2014
The Mail Order Bride is Now Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords
I published this book yesterday and thought for sure it’d take longer before it went live on the three places I uploaded it to, but it was up sooner than I expected. I am letting Smashwords send it to Apple iBooks, Kobo, Flipkart, Scribd, and other sites for me. I talked to several authors, and it sounds like letting Smashwords take care of it is just easier.
As a side note: I will be gifting ebook copies of this book in the May 12-19 Giveaway Party I’m having with Janet Syas Nitsick on Facebook. (I will make a post about this party on May 11 or 12 about it so you’ll get a reminder.) I’d like to be offering a couple paperbacks of this book, too, but that depends on whether or not the proof copy turns out right in time for the giveaway. I did get the “OK” on it today from CreateSpace and have ordered a proof copy which should arrive soon. *fingers crossed it does* I’d love to have a new release to offer. And yes, I will be offering other books I’ve done. It’s basically going to be winners’ choices.
Now for the book description, links on where you can find this book (at the moment), and one of my favorite scenes:
“A hardworking gentleman of 26 years old, 6 feet, owner of a small cabin who lives off the land desires marriage. Lady must be between 18-25 years, have a loving disposition, and be willing to mother a baby boy. Though comforts will be few, would like a happy marriage.” Mail Order Bride Ad Written by Allen Grover on March 20, 1878
It wasn’t until September that Al’s bride came to the Black Hills of the South Dakota Territory. He expected Hazel McPherson. But he got Sadie Miller.
Before Hazel died in Omaha, she told Sadie to take her place as Al’s mail-order bride. Under ordinary circumstances, Sadie would never pretend to be another woman. But in this case, it was her only chance of escaping the prison that had become her life.
And there was no way she could tell anyone the truth. No. Her secret would stay with her to the grave, especially from the one man she was beginning to love.
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Now for the excerpt. :)
Two weeks passed and Sadie finally finished the shirtwaist and skirt. Excited, she put the outfit on after she bathed and inspected her reflection in the mirror. The high neckline trimmed in lace and accented with a cameo Al had bought for her only enhanced the image standing before her. She pinned her hair back into an attractive style and stood back once more, making sure it was all real—that she wasn’t dreaming.
A smile crossed her face and she turned to make sure she looked as good from the back. And she did. She felt just like a princess in a fairytale. For the first time in her life, she believed she was a lady. An honest to goodness lady. So this was what it felt like to be a wife. No wonder the wives she used to pass in Nebraska were always smiling. Being a wife was an incredibly liberating experience. Dignified, virtuous, pure. Being Al’s wife had made this possible.
A flicker of guilt crossed her reflection, and she couldn’t bear to look at herself anymore. She was an imposter. She wasn’t really a lady. It was all a ruse. She was a prostitute. With a glance at her new clothes, she was tempted to rip it all to shreds. Gripping the edge of her skirt in her hands, she was ready to tear it along the seam when she heard the bedroom door open.
Jerking her head up, she turned and faced Al whose smile grew wide at the sight of her. “You’re absolutely stunning,” he said, motioning to her. “The men in Atlanta must have been falling all over themselves to get your attention.” Before she could answer, he closed the distance between them and kissed her hands. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
No, no he wasn’t. Perhaps if he’d been with Hazel, he would have been. But not with her. Clearing her throat, she released her hands from his and forced a smile. “You’re much too kind.”
As she turned back to the mirror, she made a pretense of lining up the comb, barrettes, and ribbons on the dresser.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he kissed her neck, an action which startled her. She returned her gaze to the mirror and was struck by how tender he was. But that was his way. Tender. Sweet. Always giving. Never expecting anything in return.
“Why are you so nice to me?” she whispered.
Glancing up at her reflection, he chuckled. “Pardon?”
“You have yet to insist on your right to consummate the marriage, and yet, you treat me as if I’m the most wonderful woman in the world.”
Settling his chin on her shoulder, he gave her waist a light squeeze. “We didn’t get a chance to know each other before we got married. I want to make sure when we do come together, the time will be right.”
Lowering her gaze, she let out a soft laugh. “I would have thought performing our vows would have been the right time.”
“Our vows did bring us together as husband and wife. But only time can bring our hearts into the same union.”
Quickly blinking her tears away, she turned around to face him. “You have a noble heart, Al. You should have been a knight.”
“No, I wouldn’t have wanted that.” He kissed the top of her nose. “If I had been born in that time, I wouldn’t have met you.” He patted the small of her back. “I better check on the eggs. I don’t want them to burn.”
He kissed her cheek then left the room.
She brushed away a tear as it trickled down her cheek. If he knew who she really was, he wouldn’t be so eager to compliment her.
April 26, 2014
Janet Syas Nitsick and I Will Be Doing a Book Signing on May 10 and then a Facebook Giveaway Party From May 12-19
This is an early announcement, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on what Janet and I are doing so you can plan your schedules. :D
Book Signing: May 10
On May 10, she and I are doing a book signing for Bride by Arrangement at the library in Springfield, Nebraska. This is south of Omaha. If anyone happens to live in the area, I’ll be more than happy to give you directions and time we’ll be there. And we can always bring other books along. I’m in the process of publishing The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, so I now have 40 books I can potentially bring or gift as ebooks. So if you can make it and always wanted a paperback copy of anything else I’ve ever written, I’d be thrilled to bring it along. And if you make the trip because you saw this blog post, I’ll give you the book for free. Same is true for ebooks. If you prefer ebooks and show up to say hi, I’ll gift you the books.
Facebook Giveaway Party: May 12-19
But if you aren’t in the Omaha area or close to it, we’re going to run a giveaway from May 12-19. If you aren’t on Facebook, we can work something out. Just let me know and I’ll make sure you can still enter.
More details will be coming in the future. For now, I’m getting postcards made up advertising the giveaway at the book signing, and I’ve set up the Facebook group page to get things so I’m not doing everything at the last minute. :)
Mostly though, I want the Facebook Giveaway Party to be an informal and fun time for everyone to ask questions about our books, our personal lives, or anything else that you might have wondered. Janet and I will see if we can come up with some fun topics. Any ideas would be awesome. I want it to be as if we’re all just sitting in my living room and chatting.
I’ll make a post on here the day the party starts. :D
April 22, 2014
Working Through a Tentative Writing and Publishing Schedule for 2014
My friend (and fellow writer) Stephannie Beman gave me an idea. She made a post where she listed out what her goals are for the year. I have heard that planning ahead saves hours of work in the long run, so I thought I’d try to plan out my writing and publishing schedule for the rest of the year.
This is a tentative schedule. I can never say for certain if something will actually happen because factors like kids, unexpected illnesses, etc. You just never know what the future will bring. :)
As a side note, this schedule is based off of estimated word counts for the entire book which I then divided up into months then broke down into weeks. I usually write an average of 1500 to 2000 words a day, but I don’t always write that every single day and on some days, I go over the 2000 mark. So it evens out in the long run.
I’ll be focusing on this book for the rest of April and hopefully finishing it by May 31, though I might end up finishing it during the first week of June since I am slightly behind schedule on this one. It’s not too bad, though.
I’d like to publish this at the end of June, but if that doesn’t happen (because I do need to work with my editing team and their schedules), then early July will be the latest it should be to get released.
I’ll be focusing on this book for the rest of April through early July. This is my next Regency and will start the Marriage by Arrangement Series. I already have plans for book 2 in the series but need to get other books done before I can start it.
I’m hoping to publish this at the end of July/early August.
For those of you who read Boaz’s Wager, you’ll remember the opening scene where the men were looking for Madeline Thompson when they found Eva Connealy and Rachel Larson in the stagecoach? I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why are they looking for Madeline?”
Well, now I get the chance to find out. :D This is not going to be a part of the Montana Collection. I found that series that last longer than 3-4 books tend to lose a lot of interest, so I aim to keep all my series in the 3-4 book range. This book might start a new series. I’m planning on it. But if it’s meant to be a standalone romance, then that’s what it’ll be.
It will be under my Mail Order Brides Romance Collection, though since it’s a mail-order bride story.
Okay, so I plan on writing this book in May through July. That gives me an estimate of August through September for a publishing month.
I work on this a little at a time throughout the week. Though I am not focusing on it, I am able to successfully write in it when I do get to it. That was not the case with Wagon Trail Bride. With Wagon Trail Bride, I kept freezing up and not knowing what to write next. I now think the reason that book kept stalling out was because I should have started the book on the trail, not in New York. So when I get to Wagon Trail Bride next year, that is what I’ll do.
But for now, I am working on His Convenient Wife. This will be an on-going project from now to September. I am hoping to finish this book in September or October. That gives me October or November as my hopeful publishing month, though I prefer October.
This is another book that is an ongoing (write it when I have extra time) book. I’m not in any hurry on this one because fantasy romance isn’t a hugely popular genre. It’s fun to write and all, but I also know this is not going to attract a lot of people. I have learned to scale back on books that aren’t likely to appeal to the most people. However, this book will be out before the year is up. I’m already at chapter seventeen (which is about 3/4 of the way into it). The question is only when will I finish the first draft.
At the moment, I’m estimating late summer for the first draft to be done. This fall (anywhere from September to November) will be when I’ll publish it.
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Co-Authored Books in the Works for 2014
Stephannie Beman and I are working on two books and plan to have the first drafts done in late summer.
It’s easier to write a book with her because she’ll tell me what her character says or does, and I’ll tell her what mine does. We write it together through an instant message program. We have certain days and hours when we’ll work on them, which makes it easier to write.
Book I’m Co-Authoring With Stephannie Beman
The current plan is to publish His Brother’s Wife in January 2015.
The current plan is to publish The Rancher’s Wife in February 2015. (There’s no cover for The Rancher’s Wife yet.)
Janet Syas Nitsick and I will work on another anthology this year.
We’ll do the same set up we did for Bride by Arrangement. Our main characters will get to be friends and we’ll work them into the plots of both novellas with a finish up epilogue showing a “happy ever after” for both of them. We will bring back characters from the first anthology. So you’ll get to see Pete & Ada and Alex and Opal again. We haven’t picked a title yet, and there is no book cover at this time.
Chances are that it’ll be published either very late this year or sometime early next year.
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A Look into 2015
While it’s too early to do too much with next year, I have already decided there are two books I will be writing in the August through December time frame, which puts them in the January time frame to publish.
This will be the second Regency book in the Marriage by Arrangement Series. I expect to publish it in January. *fingers crossed*
Book I’m Co-Authoring With Stephannie Beman
As I mentioned above, I’m planning to publish this book in January, too.
*
Not sure when, but Janet Nitsick and my second anthology should be published around this time frame.
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I think most of the people who read my books are interested in mail-order bride books and Regencies, so I will make those two genres my main focus for 2015, unless the trend changes and I see greater sales in other areas I write in. I judge what to write based on sales because sales are the best way for me to tell what most people want to read.
So the books below are not on the priority list, though I want to write them.
After I publish His Convenient Wife, I will give Wagon Trail Bride another shot. This tim I will start the book in another place and see if that does the trick for breaking through the huge writer’s block I’ve experienced with this one. If I am able to push through the writer’s block, my hope is to work on this on a “when I have time” basis.
So let’s plan on fall 2015 if I can figure out a way to get the story going.
I will work on this book. It’s the second fantasy romance, so (like A Royal Engagement) it will on a “as I find time to write it” basis, which puts this at a projection for later in 2015, much like Wagon Trail Bride. Unlike Wagon Trail Bride, I know what to do with this book so it will definitely get done. It’s easier to work with a book where the plot is already laid out.
I’m guessing this will be a summer release.
April 15, 2014
Greg Wilson Rebels And Patty Dixon Comes In With a Reply
Greg: There is no way Patty’s Gamble can be construed as a romance. Ruth Ann Nordin is warped in the head. What she’s done is created a horror novel and (lucky me), I’m in it. If I make it out of this alive, I’ll count my blessings. But as it is, I think my days are numbered. You see, I’m the very unfortunate male lead in this horror novel called Patty’s Gamble:
The Ebook Cover Greg Wilson Made
Ruth: Whoa, whoa, whoa! That isn’t the cover. The cover is this:
The Real Cover
Greg: Granted, Patty does have a glint of evil in her eye in that cover, but it doesn’t adequately portray how scared I am.
Patty: Scared? Oh please! You’re not scared.
Greg: Yes, I am. I’m in fear for my very life.
Ruth: Well, you do seem to be running away from her in the cover I made.
Greg: Your cover isn’t good enough. It doesn’t convey the sheer terror I have to deal with. I can’t go to sleep at night unless I lock my bedroom door.
Patty: Because you refuse to have sex with me.
Greg: I have to go without food.
Patty: Because you refuse to eat anything I make.
Greg: And she’s turning all my ranch hands against me.
Patty: Because they realize you marrying me is the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
Greg: You don’t get it, Patty. I do not want to be married to you. I don’t want to be married at all. Period.
Patty: Marriage is good for you, Greg. Didn’t you know that men who are married live longer than men who don’t?
Greg: Not when you’re walking around the house with a knife.
Patty: How else do you want me to cut into the pie I cook for you?
Greg: You can make it sound as innocent as you want, but the fact remains, I have to be subjected to the horrors you inflict in my once-peaceful home.
Patty: This is a complete misrepresentation of the book. If anything, this is what the cover should be:
Ebook Cover Patty Dixon Made
Greg: No way. That’s not how it is at all.
Patty: You’re right. Because in the book, I came to you without any clothes on. I figured for the sake of this post, I should PG 13 it.
Greg: You should have made it G or PG.
Patty: What’s the fun in that? G or PG isn’t going to get your attention. And quite frankly, it’d be boring.
Greg: I could have done a PG 13 cover too, but I was mindful of sensitive eyes and didn’t want to drag in all the blood.
Patty: Oh, good grief! There’s no blood in this book.
Greg: And there’s not going to be any sex either.
Patty: Yes, there will. Out of the 40 romances Ruth has written, 38 have sex in them. That means, there’s a 95% chance of you coming to bed with me.
Ruth: Actually, it’s a 100%, Patty. I don’t do “sweet” romances these days. Don’t worry. Greg will be yours before the end of the book. In fact, he’ll be yours halfway into it.
Greg: I want to be in a different book. One that’s not yours, Ruth. No offense, but you’re a terrible writer, putting your characters through all sorts of pain.
Ruth: *yawn* I’ve heard all this before from other characters, and yet they are always happy at the end of the book.
Greg: Well, you haven’t written me yet.
Ruth: The others gave me the same lame threat. I’m no longer discouraged by such words. If this was my 20th romance, I might be freaking out, but this is romance #41. I’ve seen it all and done it all with you characters. There’s nothing that surprises me anymore.
Greg: We’ll see.
Ruth: Yes, you will. Now stop wasting my time. I have your book to write.
*Greg leaves, swearing that he’ll be different from other notable characters who argued with Ruth in the past, like Dave and Joel Larson and Lord Roderick. But we all know that this is a romance and romances ALWAYS have a happy ending.*
April 13, 2014
Little Facts About Me (as a Writer)
Today, I tried to come up with an interesting sample from one of my works in progress but was afraid that I’d give away too much from The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, and I’m not close enough to finishing Patty’s Gamble or to publishing A Royal Engagement to give anything yet.
So I went through posts I had written up but hadn’t published and found this one. Not sure if this will interest anyone, but at least I’ll have one less post sitting in my “draft” file. :)
1. It’s hard for me to separate the non-author part of me from the author part of me.
I’m pretty much a writer 100% of the day, even on days when I’m not writing. This is why it’s hard for me to think in terms of what I do outside of writing. At my core, I live and breathe what I write, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Writing is my biggest passion. (And to think when I was a kid, I hated to write. LOL That just goes to show your childhood does not have to dictate how your adult life plays out.)
2. My goal is to write and publish 100 romances.
These are novellas and novels, not short stories. With The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, I’ll be 40 books into my goal. I hope to publish 7 books this year. Usually, I seem to be in the 6 books a year average. By the end of this month, I’ll have 3 out this year. I don’t know if I can make the 7 book goal or not. But I see no reason not to try. You know what they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. :D
3. I do spend time with my family.
But…I’m usually thinking about my books in the back of my mind. (I can’t get away from it completely.)
4. Sometimes I forget the names of my characters and book titles.
For example, while I was writing Patty’s Gamble, I had to pull up Mitch’s Win because I couldn’t remember the name of the character who gave Patty a hard time in that book. Turns out it was Evelyn. But… I had nicknamed her “Eve” in Mitch’s Win. Thankfully, I had referred her to Evelyn first so I can get away with calling her Evelyn in Patty’s Gamble. (Otherwise, I’d run into problems since the heroine in Boaz’s Wager was Eva. See how close those names are and how confusing that could get?) It’s the details that are tricky. ;)
I also refer to the timelines I have on this blog often, especially when it comes to the Nebraska romances or Regencies. As I continue weaving characters with one series into other series, I expect these timelines to become even more important.
5. I still love historical westerns the most.
I enjoy the Regencies I do because of the characters who are in them and how easy it is to create a scandal. Lots of neat story ideas come from those. I also like contemporaries because it’s nice to spend time in “today” once in a while, and I can use all the modern lingo I want.
But there’s something special about the historical western time period. That’s why I write more historical westerns than any other books. However, I need a break from the genre once in a while, which is why I write Regencies and contemporaries. The breaks keep the story ideas and characters fresh.
6. When I stop working on a book and work on something else, it doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned the book.
I’ve learned that if I stall in a story, it’s because I’m not going in a direction I should go and I need to put it aside. Most of the time, I know something is “off” but can’t figure out what. I ended up putting The Earl’s Secret Bargain on hold for the past few months because I need to get from the time Lord Davenport and Lord Pennella made for the hand of Miss Giles to the time when she finds out about the wager. I needed to establish the chemistry (if you will) between Lord Davenport and Miss Giles. Now that I finally know how I can do that, I was able to pick up on where I left off.
I was able to write ahead in The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, but that was only because I knew exactly where that book was going. The last chapters I wrote for that book were 12 and 13. Most of the time, I have to write the book in order because I’m not sure how things will end. I write by the seat of my pants, and most of the time, I don’t know what will happen with a scene until I’m writing it and the characters lead me.
I’ve tried plotting, but it doesn’t work until I only have 2-4 chapters left in the book.
