I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve been in a writing routine. I did well this summer, and then in mid-August, I took a break. Since then, I’ve been struggling to get back into a solid writing routine. This is why I’m not a fan of long breaks. The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into the habit that’s already been established. Thankfully, I was still able to get some things accomplished over the last two months, which I’ll discuss below.

First of all, I’ve decided to keep writing stories at the length I’ve been doing all this time. I appreciate all of the comments people gave me on my last post. It means a lot to me that you took the time to let me know what you thought.

Second, I still prefer typing to dictation, but I do dictation when I have to. It’s easier for me to think a story out while I type. I guess it’s because my brain has been wired that way for years. Dictation is coming along easier, but I feel like I’m training my left hand to write when I’m right-hand dominant. It doesn’t come naturally.

Now, for the things I managed to get done over the past two months.

The Bride Price is due out October 28

(Some retailers haven’t updated the release date yet, but the update should be showing up in a week or two.)

If you want to, you can pre-order a copy now:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

I finally have a release date on this. The story has been uploaded to all retailers. This is Book 1 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. This story has some great suspense in it that I really enjoyed writing. The romance came very easily for this particular couple. They fell in love right away. I tried to get them to hold off on saying the “L” word (love) until later in the story, but they fought me and prevailed. So if you’re looking for angst between the main characters, you aren’t going to find it in this particular story.

I did an entire outline on this book from beginning to end. Halfway into the story, the characters said they weren’t going to follow the outline I did. I give up on plotting. I didn’t really enjoy the process of it. The logical part of my brain still bucks against the creative part of my brain on this story because I let the creative part take control as soon as the characters started veering off course. I know this is hard for some understand, but the subconscious mind does a magnificent job of creating stories. I say it’s the characters who are running the show, but the truth is, it’s the subconscious part that is really at play on this stuff. All I learned from the experience of plotting a book is that I have a lot more fun and enjoyment from writing when I let my subconscious mind run the show. From now on, that is what I’m going to do.

Anyway, I see this book as the springboard into books 2 and 3 in this series, and those books will have plenty of angst between the hero and heroine. Not all stories are created equal. I can’t do formula romances where X + Y = Z because my subconscious mind doesn’t work that way. Each story is going to be its own entity. (This is why I wasn’t a good fit for romance publishers and had to self-publish my books. I couldn’t write romances to fit what they wanted.)

Enough about all of that, though. Let’s continue with what else is new. 🙂

I’ve started The Rejected Groom

Click here to pre-order from B&N, Kobo, and iBooks

This is book 2 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. I’m really, really, really excited about this book. Yes, I love all of my books, but I admit there are some I love a little bit more than the others, and this is one of them. I am now getting to Richard and Amanda’s children. This will be Anthony (Tony) Larson’s story. I’ll go more into this as time goes on.

Even though I put June 2018 for a release date, I expect to have this out before then.

I changed the cover for The Perfect Wife

This is book 3 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series, and Mark Larson will be the hero. Mark and Tony are twins, so I got to use the same male model on both covers. Here’s the new cover:

I don’t usually make my own covers, but I did for this particular series.

Right now, this book is only on iBooks and Smashwords for pre-order.  Again, I expect to have this out earlier than what I have marked for a release date. Right now, I have it set to July 2018. I do that in case something like a family emergency comes up, and I’m forced to put off writing for some time.

Married In Haste is almost done

Click here to pre-order on B&N, Kobo, iBooks (coming soon to Amazon)

I am currently getting to the final part of Married In Haste. This is Book 2 in the Marriage by Fate Series. Since a couple of people have told me the heroine looks Spanish, I have updated the book to make her mother Spanish and her father English.

This book is the beginning of Lady Eloise’s fall. The hero in this book is Brad Bachman, Lord Youngtown, who is also Loretta’s older brother in The Rake’s Vow. I don’t know how many of you remember Brad from that book, but this is his romance. It’s actually fitting that he’s the one starts the sequence of events that lead to the dismantling of Ladies of Grace given what Lady Eloise did to Loretta and Tad in The Rake’s Vow. See? It’s stuff like this that compels me to make my stories longer. I love stuff that connects one book or series to another. To me, the books are a puzzle, and it’s fun to see how the pieces fit together.

Right now I’m orchestrating things so that it leads into Book 3. Lady Eloise’s group doesn’t officially fall apart until Book 3 (or possibly Book 4) in this series. I won’t know for sure until I’m writing those books.

I now have the title and plot for Book 3 in the Marriage by Fate Series.

The cover is by Yellow Prelude Design, LLC.  (Yellow Prelude Design, LLC also made the Married In Haste cover above, and redid the cover for The Reclusive Earl.)

This is not on pre-order yet. I haven’t gotten that far. But I picked the title Make Believe Bride. This will be Lady Stacey’s romance. She is one of the members in Lady Eloise’s group. In this book, I will get to continue playing around with dismantling Lady Eloise’s group from the point of view of someone who is actually in it. This is going to be fun. I’ve been looking forward to this since The Viscount’s Runaway Bride when I first introduced Lady Eloise and her group.

Anyway, in Married In Haste, Lord Whitney tells the gentlemen at White’s he’s engaged. I introduced Lord Whitney in The Reclusive Earl (book 1 in this series). He danced with Opal, and she found him to be extremely boring. Opal wasn’t the only one who thought that. Most of the people in London think that, too. So in order to help make up for that, he makes up a betrothal. The problem is that the gentlemen will start putting pressure on him to produce the lady so they can meet her. That’s where Lady Stacey will come in. I haven’t ironed out the details yet, but I’m looking forward to this set up.

I now have a cover for Wanted: Mail Order Husband

This one was done by Stephannie Beman.

This is Book 1 in the Fort Benton Series. I haven’t made much progress in it because I’m not really sure what to do next. I’m probably about 1/3 of the way into the book, and I want to do right by it, so I’m taking it slow. On some books, I have a harder time coming up with what happens next, and this is one of them. I have no pre-order on this, so I have no date set on its release.

I need to get back to The Outlaw’s Bride

This is Book 1 in the Wyoming Series, and Stephannie Beman is co-creator of the book under the pen name Anne Johanson. She also did the cover.

I haven’t touched this since July. I’m beginning to think I can only do three books at a time. Any more than that, and I get overwhelmed. But if I can make a goal of 1000 words a week in this one, then it should be doable. I’ll try that and see how things go.

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I think I covered everything in this very long post.  I didn’t mean to ramble, but sometimes it happens. 🙂