Runaway Bride is right on Track for April 15

I’m happy to say that things are going along smoothly for this title.  I’ve scheduled a couple chapters to go through in the final reading phase.  At the moment, I’m ahead of schedule by a three chapters.  I might give it another read through.  I use my Kindle’s text-t0-speech feature for the final read through.  It’s amazing what you pick up when you listen to a book versus reading it.  😀  The “listen to” phase is the one I do after the everyone else is done going through my book.

His Abducted Bride is at the Halfway Point

Fortunately, the halfway point is where ideas start coming again.  Usually, I’ll start books off strong (meaning, I know exactly where I’m going with the story).  Then around the 20,000 word mark, I start to slow down because I’m not sure how to get from Point A (my beginning) to Point C (my middle).  Once I get to Point C, the rest is usually about finding a way to get to the climax of the book (which is where everything comes together so all plot points can be resolved).  I don’t know how else to explain it than that.  Now that I’ve hurdled the Point B phase (which is getting Sandy to fall in love with the hero), I can push forward more easily.  In this case, the two will soon find themselves against a villain neither one expected when the story started.  😀

Kent Ashton’s Backstory is Going to be Longer Than I Planned

At first, I expected Kent’s story to be a couple of scenes.  It was going to be a short story.  Then I knew I’d have to add more to it, given the way his parents are (wanting to use him to secure their financial future).  Then I realized Rebecca was the real villain in the story (more on this coming in future posts).  I’m close to 10,000 words and am just now approaching the scene where Rebecca makes her move.  I had my anticipated goal word count at 20,000 for this story, but today I upped the story to an anticipated 25,000 words (making it a novella).  I still have to explain how Kent finds out he’s been duped and why he goes after Ann.  I need to explain his actions in Falling In Love With Her Husband.  That’s why I started this story to begin with.

Kent has turned into one of the most intriguing (and emotionally hurt) characters I’ve ever written.  There are so many layers to him.  These are layers I’ll get to fully enjoy as I go more into Lassoing Her Groom.  Rose Larson (the heroine in Lassoing Her Groom) will have to fight hard to get him to open up to her, but having started Lassoing Her Groom, I already know she’s up to the challenge.  But anyway, all these layers begin in Kent Ashton’s Backstory, which is why I’m excited about writing it.

I am, however, conflicted on how I label this novella.  It’s not a romance.  There is romance in it.  The whole plot is Kent’s struggle to find happiness with the woman he loves, but he loses her.  This is a book where the hero loses the girl, and I’ve never done one of those.  So what in the order do I label it?

If I ended Kent’s story here, I’d be majorly depressed.  The ending is one where he cries.  I already know he’s going to cry.  It’s depressing, even though there’s a happy ending (in a way) for him.  He doesn’t get the girl, but he gets saved from the situation his parents bound him in.  But if I didn’t write Lassoing Her Groom to continue his story, I would be depressed.  LOL  I need to give this poor guy a happy ending.

So what Kent Ashton’s Backstory has become is a Prelude to Lassoing Her Groom, and I’ll make that clear in the description when I publish it.  I can’t make it part of Lassoing Her Groom because the focus of Lassoing Her Groom needs to be on Rose and Kent’s romance, not his past.

While I’m speaking of Lassoing Her Groom, I’m Only In Chapter Two

And Rose is already intrigued with Kent.  The time period of this book is 1907.  Dave and Mary Larson (Rose’s parents) are in their 50s (it’s hard to think of them in their 50s).  Rose and her twin sister Harriett are 18.  Kent is now 25.  (Kent was 17 when Kent Ashton’s Backstory begins.)  Neil Craftsman’s son, Stan, is in love with Rose.  Harriett is in love with Stan.  (And yes, I plan to pair up Stan and Harriett in another book.)

A thought just occurred to me.  I can’t remember for sure, but I think I said I wasn’t going to write a Nebraska series book this year.  I don’t remember where or when I said it.  But I was thinking of Richard and Amanda’s book and Dave and Mary’s third book when I said it.  Sorry for any confusion.  Rose Larson is part of the Nebraska series.  She’s just the second generation.

It gets more confusing as the series continues to evolve.  This is why I need timelines on this blog.  I refer to them a lot to figure out where I’m at and how old people are.

I’ll discuss Her Lassoing Groom in future posts.  (I’m at 900 words and want to wrap this up soon.)

His Reluctant Lady

I’m glad I’m doing this before The Earl’s Scandalous Wife because I realized that Lord Clement will be jilted at the altar in this book.  I know.  Poor Lord Clement.  The guy just can’t get a break.  My gut was telling me I needed to write more for Lord Clement before I wrote his book.  Now I know why.

I’ve just started chapter six in His Reluctant Lady and finally know where it’s going.  Mister Robinson (aka Christopher) from The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife is just as fun and willing to do whatever he wants (except he won’t push the limits to the point where he’ll have to clean out Lord Roderick’s stalls again).  😉  He does, however, use his connection to Lord Clement (his guardian) to his advantage, and yes, this ends up leading poor Lord Clement to being left without a bride, but to be fair, Christopher is going to sincerely try to marry off his guardian.  Not that Christopher is being ultra-nice or anything.  He just wants Lord Clement to be too busy to watch everything he’s doing.

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That’s it for today’s post.  Tomorrow and Monday, I’ll post up more scenes from Kent Ashton’s Backstory.