Today, I tried to come up with an interesting sample from one of my works in progress but was afraid that I’d give away too much from The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, and I’m not close enough to finishing Patty’s Gamble  or to publishing A Royal Engagement to give anything yet.

So I went through posts I had written up but hadn’t published and found this one.  Not sure if this will interest anyone, but at least I’ll have one less post sitting in my “draft” file. 🙂

1.  It’s hard for me to separate the non-author part of me from the author part of me.

I’m pretty much a writer 100% of the day, even on days when I’m not writing.  This is why it’s hard for me to think in terms of what I do outside of writing.  At my core, I live and breathe what I write, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Writing is my biggest passion.  (And to think when I was a kid, I hated to write.  LOL  That just goes to show your childhood does not have to dictate how your adult life plays out.)

2.  My goal is to write and publish 100 romances.

These are novellas and novels, not short stories.  With The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, I’ll be 40 books into my goal.  I hope to publish 7 books this year.  Usually, I seem to be in the 6 books a year average.  By the end of this month, I’ll have 3 out this year.  I don’t know if I can make the 7 book goal or not.  But I see no reason not to try.  You know what they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. 😀

3.  I do spend time with my family.

But…I’m usually thinking about my books in the back of my mind.  (I can’t get away from it completely.)

4.  Sometimes I forget the names of my characters and book titles.

For example, while I was writing Patty’s Gamble, I had to pull up Mitch’s Win because I couldn’t remember the name of the character who gave Patty a hard time in that book.  Turns out it was Evelyn.  But… I had nicknamed her “Eve” in Mitch’s Win.  Thankfully, I had referred her to Evelyn first so I can get away with calling her Evelyn in Patty’s Gamble.  (Otherwise, I’d run into problems since the heroine in Boaz’s Wager was Eva.  See how close those names are and how confusing that could get?)  It’s the details that are tricky.  😉

I also refer to the timelines I have on this blog often, especially when it comes to the Nebraska romances or Regencies.  As I continue weaving characters with one series into other series, I expect these timelines to become even more important.

5.  I still love historical westerns the most.

I enjoy the Regencies I do because of the characters who are in them and how easy it is to create a scandal.  Lots of neat story ideas come from those.  I also like contemporaries because it’s nice to spend time in “today” once in a while, and I can use all the modern lingo I want.

But there’s something special about the historical western time period.  That’s why I write more historical westerns than any other books.  However, I need a break from the genre once in a while, which is why I write Regencies and contemporaries.  The breaks keep the story ideas and characters fresh.

6.  When I stop working on a book and work on something else, it doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned the book.

I’ve learned that if I stall in a story, it’s because I’m not going in a direction I should go and I need to put it aside.  Most of the time, I know something is “off” but can’t figure out what.  I ended up putting The Earl’s Secret Bargain on hold for the past few months because I need to get from the time Lord Davenport and Lord Pennella made for the hand of Miss Giles to the time when she finds out about the wager.  I needed to establish the chemistry (if you will) between Lord Davenport and Miss Giles.  Now that I finally know how I can do that, I was able to pick up on where I left off.

I was able to write ahead in The Mail Order Bride’s Deception, but that was only because I knew exactly where that book was going.  The last chapters I wrote for that book were 12 and 13.  Most of the time, I have to write the book in order because I’m not sure how things will end.  I write by the seat of my pants, and most of the time, I don’t know what will happen with a scene until I’m writing it and the characters lead me.

I’ve tried plotting, but it doesn’t work until I only have 2-4 chapters left in the book.