Hope to Finish the First Draft By November 30
This is book 2 in the Marriage by Deceit series. (The Earl’s Secret Bargain is book 1.)
I was supposed to already be done with this book, but I’m still working on it. I reached 62,000 words today. The goal was 65,000 words, but there’s no way it’ll be done at that word count. I’m not sure how long it’ll be. At the moment, my estimate is 70,000 words.
I was hoping to finish the first draft at the beginning of October. However, I am getting there. The story is turning out to be longer than I expected, which is fine, but this is why I’m glad I pushed the release date back to February 14. The story would not be good if I rushed it.
A side benefit to going slower on this book that I didn’t expect is that I got the ideas for books 3 and 4 in this Regency series. Since I have ideas for these books and these books are ready to be written, I started those.
RUINED BY THE EARL
(Cover Coming Soon)
This is book 3.
I didn’t plan on this book, but while I was writing Love Lessons With the Duke, the idea came to me. The basic plot is that this self-centered earl (who will learn to care for others by the end of the book) creates a scandal so an unsuspecting young lady has to marry him. This is Lord Toplyn who made a brief appearance in The Earl’s Secret Bargain.
Ruing by the Earl begins 3/4 into the time line of Love Lessons With the Duke. There’s a reason for this, but since I don’t want to spoil Love Lessons, I won’t mention it here. I’m excited about this. The hero as fun to work with as Christopher Robinson (from His Reluctant Lady). I loved writing Christopher. He might have given poor Perry a lot of grief, he didn’t a flipping care about the Ton’s rules, and characters like that are fun to work with.
Since I just started this book, I’m still in chapter 1.
This is book 4. This should finish the series.
I’m only at the beginning of chapter 1, so I’m not sure if Lord Reddington (the best friend of the hero in The Earl’s Secret Bargain) will be a goofy character like Lord Toplyn or not. I’m guessing not. But he is willing to do whatever it takes to be with the lady he loves because after learning her husband just died, he makes it a point to whisk her away and marry her, even though she should be in mourning. Her family, needless to say, will not be happy.
This story happens a month or two after Love Lessons With the Duke ends.
A Groom’s Promise Will Go To My Publisher, Parchment & Plume.
As time permits, I work on my novella in this anthology that I finally decided to call “The Shy Groom”. I couldn’t come up with any other title. My hero is terribly shy in this story. He stutters when nervous, trips, drops things, bumps into people, etc. He does have a bit of Tom Larson in him, except he’s much worse because instead of seeking a wife, he’s actually going to hide from the heroine. I expect this book will be a lot of fun.
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Back to writing multiple books at a time.
I’m back to working on 3-4 books at a time, and it is so much better. I don’t write as much a day as I did with the sprinting method. However, I am allowing myself times to slow down in a book if I need to while I focus on others, and I think this way makes my books stronger because I’m more relaxed when writing. With the sprinting method, I was rushing to make the word count. Some people are just not meant to write as fast as others.
Future Plans on Pre-Orders….I Think I’ll Pass
I would like to get these four books out before the summer of next year.
In theory, pre-orders are nice, but when I run into problems with the story and have to slow down in writing it, it makes it hard to make a deadline. I already had to push deadlines back on three books.
Plus, when I’m done with a book, I want to focus on the next one. Part of being an author is that I’m expected to promote my book after it’s done, but once I finish the book, I want to focus on the next one. This is why I haven’t done characters interviews or anything with His Convenient Wife. I’m done with it and have moved on. This is sad because I love His Convenient Wife. It’s one of my top favorites. I should want to talk about it. But now I’m immersed in the Regencies and A Groom’s Promise, and that’s what I want to focus on. I don’t know if that makes sense. Some authors can go over past books, but I find I’m not one of them. Once a story is done, it’s done.
I’ll leave His Convenient Wife, Love Lessons With the Duke, and Royal Hearts up in pre-order since I already set them up. But for the rest of them, I’ll just publish them when they’re ready.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
I wondered how you were feeling about pre-orders. I just can’t seem to embrace them. I don’t want to be under the pressure to make that deadline. I have another author friend who’s loving it because it DOES push her to finish. BUT…she has no other job and no kids! I think I’ll pass on pre-orders, too. 🙂
I can’t wait to read these regencies!
Pre-orders are nice in theory. I can see the benefits to them. My biggest problem was being uninterested in promoting the books once I was done with them, and for pre-orders to be successful (from what I researched), you have to be willing to promote the book up to the time it’s released. That’s just not me. I’ve never been comfortable mentioning that my book is available once I send off the initial newsletter and blog post. After that, I feel like I’m bugging people with stuff they don’t want to see. Because of this, I probably didn’t see the benefits from it that some authors do. I don’t think pre-orders are for everyone, but at least now I know why it’s not a good fit for me. All I really want to do is write and have fun with it. The minute I start thinking “marketing”, I lose interest.
I’m having fun with these Regencies. The characters work so well together, especially when they don’t get along. I especially love Lord Toplyn (hero of book 3) because of his personality. On the surface he seems to think the world revolves around him, and this makes for some fun dialogue in books 2 and 3. I’ve paired him up with a lady who will wear black on her wedding day to prove a point. I know that was a big no in the Ton, but it’ll prove she’s his match and she won’t let him push her around, which is exactly the kind of lady he needs.
Oh, and I had to drop a subplot from Love Lessons With The Duke, which puts me closer to finishing it a week sooner as long as things go as smoothly as I hope. I outlined the last three chapters yesterday and things seem to work. I’m going to take the subplot and put it in book 3. When I have you look over Love Lessons, I’ll explain what it is so you can makes sure I nixed it from the manuscript. I’m hoping I don’t miss anything, but I had so many references to it, I’m afraid something will slip by me. 🙂
I think it is just as well that you don’t put books on pre order. The one time I preordered a book it was available to purchase for several days before it finally downloaded onto my Nook. Since then, no matter how much I am looking forward to a book I wait until it is actually available to order it.
I’ve had several problems with B&N in the past, so I’m not surprised to hear that. They took off a book I had on pre-order, and I had to resubmit it through Smashwords to get it back up. That one isn’t due out now until July, and it’s a contemporary fantasy romance, which isn’t a popular genre anyway. So I wasn’t upset about it. I would have been if it’d been His Convenient Wife or Love Lessons With the Duke. People seem to like my historical westerns and Regencies more than my contemporaries. But still, it is nice when the book is there when it should be. As a reader, it would annoy me if the book isn’t ready on the day it’s supposed to be. (And B&N isn’t the only store I’ve had trouble with in this area. Kobo has given me some problems, too.) I know glitches happen, but if I can minimize the chances of glitches occurring, I will. Publishing directly to the sites and not doing pre-orders seem to be the best way to make the process as smooth for the reader as possible. That’s what I’ll go back to starting with Ruined by the Earl, which I hope will be out in March or April.