I’m done with the first draft of Runaway Bride!
It was hard to end the book because I didn’t want it to end. LOL I had so much fun with this one. It’s not a comedy, but it was just so easy to work with the characters, and I discovered why Caitlyn and Lexie’s mother was the way she was in Suddenly a Bride. It turns out, she wasn’t that bad after all. 🙂 And of course, I had a few scenes with Chris and Caitlyn to see how they were doing and even added a couple with Sandy to give her a proper lead in to her book (His Abducted Bride).
I might get this question, so I’m addressing it now. I do have plans to fix up Blake (Caitlyn and Lexie’s brother), but I want to put him in with the Florida Romance Collection. The first book in that series is Substitute Bride (featuring Kevin and Alexandra). So he’ll fit in somewhere with one of the characters in that series, and it will allow me to give an update on Caitlyn, Lexie, and Sandy at a later date in their lives. 😉 I don’t have any immediate plans to write his book, though, so I have no idea when that will be written.
His Abducted Bride is coming along nicely.
I’m really happy with the way this book is progressing. I’m currently at chapter ten, so I’m getting close to the halfway point.
Kent Ashton’s Backstory
I’m doing this as inspiration and time permits, but I have added a couple more scenes. On Monday, I posted a new scene I just wrote and plan to post another scene or two this upcoming weekend. But his story is far from done so more will be coming in the future on this blog.
His Reluctant Lady (original title is back)
I know I run the risk of confusing people by switching Blackmailing the Countess back to His Reluctant Lady, but it occurred to me I’m safer keeping the original title because I put the description and title for this book at the end of A Most Unsuitable Earl, and to be honest, I don’t feel like going back to the book to update the “Coming Soon” section. So the title His Reluctant Lady stays. 🙂
Other Books I’m Working On
I have started Patty’s Gamble but am not far into it. I plan to start up The Earl’s Scandalous Wife and Boaz’s Wager soon, too. I am using this week to get as much written for His Abducted Bride as I can. I’ll also need to do the initial edits of Runaway Bride now that I’ve finished the first draft. I am best focusing on three books (at max four) at one time. Once His Abducted Bride is done, I plan to give my full attention to The Earl’s Scandalous Wife, His Reluctant Lady, Patty’s Gamble, and Boaz’s Wager. At the moment since I am not finished with His Abducted Bride, I will need to focus on that book. While I am finishing His Abducted Bride, I do plan to make some word counts in a couple of those books as inspiration strikes.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
Dear Ruth, I’m glad you’re leaving title “His Reluctant Lady”. I have to admit I like that one better than “Blackmailing the Countess”. Here are my reasons: “His Reluctant Lady” is (to me) more romantic than “Blackmailing the Countess”. The latter sounds more like a title for a mystery novel. H R L has intriguing flavor, and hints at the hero having to capture the heroine’s heart.
By the way, yesterday I realized I had named the character in my upcoming novella with a similar name as one of your characters in the Runaway Bride and Suddenly Bride. “Lexie”. I had used that name basing it on my granddaughter’s name (Alessandra). I am on my first draft of “Driscoll’s Daughter”, and can easily change the character’s name. Let me know what you think.
Have a wonderful, Blessed and Holy Easter. And I hope the Easter bunny brings you lotsa chocolates. 🙂
Happy Easter to you, too! I can’t believe it’s coming up so fast. 😀
You’re right. The title His Reluctant Lady is softer, more along the lines of a romance. I think it better fits what I do, too.
Keep the name Lexie. I got the name from a friend’s kid. I was trying to think of something more modern and easy to spell. There’s no reason why we can’t both use the name. 😀
You still amaze me with how you can work on so many books at once. I’ve tried and I often get pulled to one or the other.
Also, I don’t know if I said this or not already, but I LOVE the lady on His Reluctant Lady.
Oh, and I totally understand your not wanting to update the back of an already published book. I HATE doing that. Hate it.
My secret is that I don’t always know what’s going to happen next in one book, so I need another to work on until inspiration strikes. 😉 So for me, I don’t get pulled into one story, though I do tend to focus on one book when I hit the last three chapters. But by then, I am closing up plot points so I already know what to write.
Thanks for the compliment regarding the lady on the cover. 😀 It was one of those first picks that actually turned out right. That rarely happens. Usually, I spent a couple weeks trying out different people. My husband (being a man) had to comment on her cleavage. I told him to check out the other Regencies out there. LOL
I had to scroll back up and take a look at her cleavage. Really, it’s not bad. That being said, I’m getting new covers made for one of my series and when I got the mock-ups back, Bob came in to look at them and said, “Where are the bosoms? Why are they covered with her hair?”
Men. All they seem to care about are breasts!
I know. Her cleavage isn’t bad at all. I think it’s tastefully done. LOL on Bob’s response. My husband thinks they need to be covered and yours doesn’t, but either way, they do point them out, don’t they?