This is something I’ve been wanting to work on for the past two years but haven’t been in the mood to write a contemporary. Now that I’m working on two contemporaries (Runaway Bride and His Abducted Bride), I think I might actually pull the story off this year. I’ve given up on the idea that I can transfer a story idea to a time period it wasn’t originally for. I was going to put the idea of Just Good Friends (two friends pretending to be more to appease some meddling family members) into a Regency, but honestly, the plot points I had fall apart. Same is true if I try to make a book that was supposed to be in one world and transfer it to another world. (Mitch’s Win is meant to be a Montana book, and no amount of manipulating the circumstances or characters worked to convert it into a Nebraska book.) So all I’ve learned is that you can’t modify a story from its original setting or with its original characters.
That all being said, I’m going to let Just Good Friends be the way it’s meant to be, a contemporary romance. This also means that it will be book 3 in the Omaha series. Book 1 is With This Ring, I Thee Dread and book 2 is What Nathan Wants. The main character of Just Good Friends is Ryan Jackson’s cousin and Nathan Rudolph’s friend/vice president. I’ll try to work in updates from those characters. I enjoy doing stuff like that so I can see how the characters from previous books are doing in their happily ever after. 😀
My hope is to have Just Good Friends out in late September/early October so it’s up on all the sites in December when people want to read romances spanning Thanksgiving to the New Year. I plan to go through my calendar and figure out my daily average word count in order to reach this goal.
Now that I know how to use GIMP, I decided to update the cover for this book.
The original cover:
The new cover:
I wish the cover to The Earl’s Scandalous Wife would come as easy as this one did. Working with covers is a hit and miss ordeal. Either I can get it the way I want it within a couple hours or it takes weeks.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
Love it Ruth! What a difference come color makes. Going to change it on my blog.
I’ve wanted to add a Christmas tree to that background but until about six months ago, I had no idea how to do it. GIMP took a year to learn, but it is so nice to be able to work with it now.
Like the new cover – the christmas tree background adds to it! I agree, I always like books that are in a series of sorts so you can get little guest appearances and such 😉
Thanks! I love series that are stand alones but also connect up for that reason. It’s like bringing in an old friend. I hate it when the book ends, but knowing I can see the characters again helps. We’re strange as writers, aren’t we? We get attached to our characters. 😀
I like the new cover… gives it a more joyful and friendly feeling. I’m glad you’re gonna start working on it. can’t wait to read it!
Thanks! I was never too crazy about the original cover, but back then I had no idea how to add the background I wanted. I find I’m more motivated to write a book if I can see the cover, and the better I like the cover, the more exciting writing the book becomes. For some reason, the book doesn’t seem real to me until the cover is made.
I’ve been waiting for this one. I read #1 and #2 and loved them. Don’t underestimate yourself. All your books are great. Your loyal fan and friend, DorothyPaula 🙂
I really enjoyed What Nathan Wants. That was a fun book to write. What I really enjoy is being able to do a variety under romances. Doing comedy, suspense, and drama under the layer of romance keeps the work fresh. I don’t think I could do just one particular type of romance. I’m finding the contemporaries an unexpected treat since I haven’t done them in so long. 😀
What a big change in the cover! It really makes a difference. Good look with the Christmas Romance!
It also makes a huge difference in my desire to write it. LOL The other one was cute but bare. I like this one a lot more.
So far, my biggest obstacle is sticking to the 15 minutes of writing blocks I set for myself. LOL I have to keep reminding myself to stick with it.