L.S. Young's Blog, page 2
September 30, 2017
Old Tomes & Teapots
Please welcome my second guest blogger for the month of September: Viola Russell. Viola blogged about writing her work in progress for her historical series The Jude Mooney Saga.The Jude Mooney Saga:When I wrote From Ice Wagon to Club House: The Life of Jude Mooney, I thought that I’d put the characters to rest when I typed the last sentence. A few months later, I was writing about those characters again. They wouldn’t let me sleep; they whispered to me in my dreams. Ice Wagon had left Jud...
September 29, 2017
Book Feature: A Groom for Mama
I'd like to welcome my first guest blogger, Catherine Castle! Her sweet romance A Groom for Mama was released by Soul Mate Publishing this week. Read on for a recipe and excerpt from the novel. Take it away, Catherine:My poor heroine, Allison Walters, has her fair share of bad dates in my sweet romantic comedy, A Groom for Mama, and dinner is often part of the outing. Fortunately for Allison, the food she gets to eat is nowhere as unpleasant the company she must endure.On one date, she goes t...
June 16, 2017
My Top 5 Literary Love Scenes
In honor of prepping my sensual historical western romance for querying, I wanted to write about one of my favorite things: LOVE SCENES. Specifically my favorite ones in books. As a romance writer, I like to consider myself a connoisseur of love scenes. Every writer knows how challenging it is to write both a good love scene and a good action scene! I am constantly honing the ones I write, partly because there's nothing more mortifying to me than an editor or agent saying that a love scene ma...
May 18, 2017
Baking
My mom didn't or couldn't cook anything but scrambled eggs, canned tuna with mustard and saltines, and grilled cheese. "Burn me some toast," was a frequent request made by her baby brother. She never bothered about it or let it bother her. She'd have scoffed at the mommy blogger idea that all good moms must be professional bakers, baristas, and culinary geniuses with everything from cupcakes to kale all rolled into one. I liked that about her and I still do, but I also like to bake. I learned...
May 8, 2017
Non-writing
"A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity." -Franz KafkaI'm not sure how this has become my life, being a writer who doesn't write. For a while it was depression, the changes in schedule and moving. I pretty steadily go a month between blog posts now."I didn't write today," used to be a rare phrase I uttered guiltily to myself on days when I let other distractions or priorities get in the way. The last several months it's been about everything else I "have" to get done. Cleaning th...
April 13, 2017
The Handmaid's Tale, Motherhood, and Waiting
I am not one of those people who believes everyone should have children. Quite the opposite, in fact. I fully support women who choose a different path, who know they are not suited to parenting, who do not want kids, who are infertile. I know people with kids who should not be parents. I've heard and seen some stupid and rude opinions about parenting, most of them from other women: "I'm going to have lots of energy to get up in the middle of the night with my kids and you won't." "I have to...
March 22, 2017
Maybe it is Me
“She’s depressed and I’m worried about her.”I overhear my mom say this to her brother who is visiting, the funny, soft-spoken one with the tall, charming son, and the brilliant daughter I never quite measure up to. It is the first time anyone has ever used the worddepressedto describe me. I’m ten years old and I’ve been going for long walks in the backyard, or spending hours hidden in the blanket fort I’ve built in my room, readingThe Hiding Place, a book about the Holocaust.“She isn’t doing...
March 20, 2017
Spring Blessings + A Brief History of Ostara
It's the first day of spring, also known as the vernal or spring equinox, or Ostara. I put on my comfiest yoga pants and spent the morning in the fresh air with a cup of coffee. I went for a walk to look at the flowers, watered a few plants, watched two white ibises and the mated Sandhill cranes pick their way along the pond shore with their chicks, and breastfed my daughter on the porch. I have a duckling book to give my daughter (she loves ducks!). Around this time two years ago I stood b...
February 17, 2017
Dragons are the Answer
Things have been different since November 8th. I honestly wanted everything to go back to normal asap after the election. I'm a writer. Of course I just want peace of mind and freedom to tap away at my keyboard. But as the first month of the presidency has simultaneously turned into a sham, a dumpster fire, and a train wreck, and I'm faced with scary headlines every time I log onto social media, I've found myself unable to return to normal. I am infinitely grateful to have already finished an...
November 5, 2016
12 Joys & Struggles of Being a Romance Author
Being a writer comes with its fair share of weirdness, fun, and despair. Sharing a few of my own joys and struggles as a romance author, in gif form.First, the struggles:1. When your editor emails you ten days before a deadline asking how the rewrite is going and you are a mess:
2. When it's been two months since your book was released and you're still waiting for a book site to give you a review:
3. When your writing comes up at a family dinner and there's nothing but crickets:
4. When people d...
2. When it's been two months since your book was released and you're still waiting for a book site to give you a review:3. When your writing comes up at a family dinner and there's nothing but crickets:4. When people d...
