Five Things I Have Learned While Writing Tempting Hymn

I write in layers. Some authors out there—damn you, Ernest Hemingway!—can just pound out a perfect draft, and it will have nuance, depth, and sophistication the first time around. This is not me. I write and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite in order to finally get something I am willing to let out into the world. My creativity rises slower that yeast.
I have come to accept that number #1 (see above) is okay. As Sarah MacLean quoted Susan Elizabeth Phillips: “Protect the work.” Don’t let the book go before it’s ready. This is why you do not yet have Tempting Hymn in your greedy little hands. Along the way, it has blossomed from a novella into a short novel. We’ll see if it stays that way by the time it gets through my editor.
The internet is evil. Facebook, Twitter, and Canva…oh, Canva, you are singularly responsible for weeks of lost time. But you’re pretty, so I’ll forgive you. Look at the last image I created at the bottom of this post.
I do not follow rules very well. I do things that you’re not supposed to do in romance because I cannot help myself. You’ll see.
I’m super impatient. But I plan to have this thing out by the holidays. There is even a lovely epilogue scene at a daigon holiday pageant. (You may remember this tradition from Under the Sugar Sun .) I had better get a move on, so see y’all later…

Featured image includes a cropped creative commons photo from Lord Allen Hernandez.