Let's do a Throwback Thursday

Today I'm getting ready to celebrate the two year mark of publishing my first novel, "Ghost Lover". That one book challenged me in so many ways. I wrote this book several months before I published it in May 2012, but I struggled with putting it out to the public. My editor and cover designer, Kaleigh, found the manuscript and loved it. She went about working on a cover and getting the information to publish this book on Amazon. I was thrilled, scared, excited, nervous and the list goes on regarding how I felt about putting my work out to the public. Then one day there it was. It was on Amazon and I was a published author. But a funny thing happened. Readers fell in love with Jess and Jared's love story. This book was a game changer for me. It catapulted me into a writing frenzy. This book still sells today and I've had several calls and emails about this book. But I do have some surprises coming in the near future concerning some of my first published books. As any writer will tell you, as you write every book you learn many things. You learn different techniques in writing and ways to make characters more vibrant. I'm working on some revisions to some of my first books. I might even do a couple of cover changes. So, as the weeks go on I'll be announcing some new releases and old made new releases. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...

Starting with a good foundation

Writing a book is not as easy as it looks. There are so many steps to making a readable novel. Of course you can just write a story and publish it without following the needed steps, but I don't recommend it. Make sure what you put out to the public is the best it can be. As I stated in my post about polishing it up, take the steps to make it the best it can be. This starts with a good foundation. You don't want to build your house on shifting sands, so why build your story on a whim. Writers are full of stories, it's the way we're made. A story line comes to us and we immediately start writing, but in many cases we need to sit down and make sure that the story line is strong enough to hold up a novel to the end. If you can't make the story line hold up the whole book then you might want to rethink the process. Sit down with the story idea. Think it out. See where the story goes in your mind. Most of the stories that come into my head actually keep poking at me until I do this. You all know how I am about outlines and yes, I know some of you are groaning, but they help keep the story in line or somewhat in line. Also, you need to make sure that the story idea will keep a reader involved and interested throughout the middle part and the ending. If the story does not have enough backbone to hold out to the end, you might want to rethink it. Sometimes when you sit down and really give it some thought you can make it work. A writer has a way of making the story come alive and evolve. That's what your story line idea has to do, evolve. Using an outline can help build the foundation of the story. You can sway some from the outline, but make sure that the story stays consistent so that it follows neatly behind the leader. Don't forget the reason for the story, the backbone of the story. That's what builds the foundation on a sturdy foundation, not a sinking sand foundation. Make your book the best it can be, so start off right. Do your homework. Writing a book takes work, so give it your all. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...

Easter Celebration Book Sale! by Stephanie Payne Hurt

Easter Celebration Book Sale! by Stephanie Payne Hurt

Monday, Monday, Monday

As I sit here sipping my 2nd cup of coffee trying to get my eyes to stay open, I notice the clouds moving in. Yep, we're expecting rain here in the south today. I had a busy but wonderful weekend. Saturday was the Easter Egg hunt at our Church. That was really fun, but lots of work. It was worth it. Then yesterday was my hubby's birthday. Also after Church several members (including my family) got the sanctuary ready for Easter and the Spring season. Considering our Church is three stories, yep I got my exercise. No need to work out today. For all my American friends tomorrow is the last day of non extension tax season. That means I'll be slammed with tax work today and tomorrow, but I'm taking the last three days of this week off. I plan to get some writing in that has been put to the wayside for the last couple of weeks. This is a reminder to all my writer friends. Make sure that you claimed your royalties and the expenses that you had. Don't forget all those advertising sites, production fees, programs purchased to help with your writing, computers and printers, website fees, dues and subscription fees for all those sites you joined, and the many more expenses we writers incur in a year. If you received a 1099 for your royalties, don't ignore them because the IRS won't. Hope everyone has a blessed Monday and don't forget to smile today, it's your day so make it over the moon! As always, good writing and May God Bless You...

Stephanie Hurt - The Independent Author Network

Stephanie Hurt - The Independent Author Network

The delete button is painful...

Ok, how many of you have had to hit the delete button? If you've ever worked on a computer you've eventually hit the delete button. Some of you are probably wondering what I'm talking about. Well, for a writer, delete can be a dreaded, horribly painful button. Your finger hovers over it fighting with you not to do. Your finger screams "NOOOOO", but eventually you force it to do what you've told it to do. Now, let's get past my dramatic description to the meaning of this post. I was working the other day on one of my books when I hit a brick wall. The unfortunate thing about this brick wall is it was very high and wide, no way around it. Suddenly the story just ended suddenly. What do you do when you hit that dreaded brick wall in a story? Is it too early to end the story, or do you just end it there? Well, in some instances the story just ends there, but what happens when you know the story needs to go further in this book? If it's a part of a series, well you just start the new book on the other side of the wall, but if it's a stand alone, well, you've got to get past that wall. But how? I sat staring at my screen, unable to think about the inevitable. After much thought and wondering what happened, I finally took a look at my outline. I was confused because it was going along so well and then I ran smack into a wall. Why? Then as I read down the many lines of my outline I realized what I'd done. Duh!!! Ok, so I'm blonde, I'm given at least one, maybe two blonde moments in a day. What I'd done was skip a couple of pivotal story line turns. For some reason I'd totally jumped over some very important happenings in the book. I'd actually skipped several chapters. You may be saying, how on earth did you do that? Well, if you're a writer you may be saying, yep, been there done that. That night I didn't start writing until late in the evening after a long day of tax return preparation. I was exhausted and just wanted to get lost in my manuscript. That's the problem, I got lost in my own manuscript. Sometimes when you're really tired, you just need to step back and do something else. Maybe design a cover or work on some character descriptions, but beware if you step into a manuscript. I had to delete three chapters, yes you read it right, three whole chapters. I'd totally skipped several chapters of important parts that would lead correctly up to the end of the book. My brain had literally skipped some of the main plot rendering parts of the manuscripts. As I read through what I'd typed it began to become obvious. All I could do was delete. You may be asking why I didn't copy the work and then paste into the end after I entered the needed work. Well, the ending I'd typed did not actually go along with the missing work. That's another reason I map out the work that comes into my brain. If life steps in and walks all over my memory, well then I have some reminders written into the outline. It totally saved the manuscript. Needless to say, it will take a little longer to finish, but at least it will be complete as it should be, not just a quick ending to the story. So, a little piece of advice. If you need some help with your manuscripts flow, sit back and take a deep breath. Then try out an outline, it really saved me this time and definitely saved the story. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...

What's in a review?

I've blogged about reviews before and each time I get a lot of response from fellow authors. Reviews can do a lot for an author. They can cause readers to flock to your book, run away from your book or make them unsure. I've been reading several posts from fellow authors regarding the trend in reviews and in some ways its not good. As I've said before, if you're thinking about reviewing a book, please read the book first. It's so evident to an author when a reviewer hasn't even read the book. Let's take a look at some of the things fellow authors have told me about some of their reviews that either made them laugh, cry or smile. Some may have caused all of these emotions. 1: I really enjoyed this book but I'm giving it a 2 star because I didn't like the characters name. (This author was shocked when she saw this review. What's funny is, even though it's a 2 star review, which should be bad for the sales, the reviewer told readers it's a good book.) 2: This book is horrible. Why did it have to be so unrealistic? People just can't do this in real life. (Ok, this one made me laugh out loud. The book being reviewed was a Paranormal book about mythical creatures. I do give the reviewer credit, people really can't do what the characters did in this book because they aren't real. This author's book sales actually escalated after this review.) 3: Why? Please stop this. I didn't like this book at all. (This reviewer went on to email the author directly and tell her to stop writing. The author smiled as she was telling me about this review because she actually has hit the bestseller list in several countries with the very book this reviewer slammed. Her response was "It takes all kinds to make up the world". By the way, this book is free and the reviewer did not pay for it to begin with.) 4: Great book. I can't wait for more from this author. Waiting impatiently for next installment. (This author was thrilled with this review. It was her first book and she was afraid it wouldn't do well.) 5: I loved the book, but could have been a little more descriptive. The writing was good and the character development was well received. (This was a constructive review that was helpful to the author. She said that actually she went back and edited a couple of areas of the book to correct these issues.) This was just 5 of the responses I received after my last post on reviews. We rely on reviewers to be honest about their reviews of our work. The sad thing is many people out there are not very nice when they review a book. They strive to make the author look bad. What's really sad is that a post I read a couple of months ago, several authors were slammed repeatedly on Amazon and the reviewers were not verified purchases. The wording went along the same line and did not mention anything from the book. The reviewer was slamming the author themselves. It's sad but true. My advice to new authors or even veteran authors that haven't developed a thick skin is this. Use the reviews wisely. If the review is structured and they explain the flaws they see, then maybe check the flaws out. It could help. But if they're nasty and scathing, just let them roll off your back. It's hard, but as a published writer, you've opened yourself up to the public and sometimes they aren't very nice. So, tell me your experiences with reviews. How do you react? Just remember, smile you're a published author. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...