I’m happy to say I’m back to writing. While I have to admit that one of the reasons I did not get much written in March was due to all of the books I uploaded to Radish, I have been getting more help from the people around here.
A note about Radish:
I do enjoy the site, and it’s been fun making episodes from my books, but it’s turned into a lot more work than I anticipated. I was trying to get 1-2 books up a day. In March, I got 42 up. I bundled a couple of series into one “Story” since the books in that series were so interconnected that if you miss events in one book, some of the events in the other books won’t make as much sense.
Anyway, since uploading books to Radish do take more time than I anticipated, I have decided to upload 1-2 books a week instead of every day. If anyone here reads my stories on Radish, let me know the ones you are most interested in reading, and I’ll put those at the top of the list. Right now, I’m posting whatever books pique my interest at the moment.
The latest developments in my writing:
This book took a turn I didn’t expect this week. The original plan a friend helped me outline is getting tossed out. (When I say “outline”, I mean we chatted about how the story would play out. I didn’t do anything formal with it.) The hero and heroine will still marry, but it won’t be through some clumsy incident the heroine has in a public place. Also, the villain will not be targeting the person I thought he or she would target. I have to come up with a new motive for the villain and why the villain is targeting this other person. I figure I’m just about halfway into the book, if not a little under halfway. There’s still time to work through the snags, but I only discover that way out by writing. I can’t do it by plotting.
Regarding the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series, my original plan was to give Tom all grandsons, but at the end of Suitable for Marriage (which comes out in May), Jessica went through the hassle of painting all the cribs for her future grandchildren pink. Up to now, all of Daisy’s sisters have sons. I believe there are six grandsons at this point in the timeline. Daisy is the youngest of the four daughters Tom and Jessica had. I’m about to write a scene where Daisy takes a look at the pink crib that is left. (The other cribs went to the three daughters as they had children.) Otis and Daisy will be staying with Tom and Jessica so Tom can have help on the farm. Anyway, I think I might give Tom a granddaughter at this point because I feel sorry for Jessica who has her heart set on having a granddaughter. I figure, “Why not give her one or two?” I’d hate to see her have to paint another crib blue after she went through the trouble of painting four of them pink.
Remember my dilemma over what to do with the duke who was supposed to be the hero of this book? If not, I made a post about it. I decided to go with an option I’ve never used before: I’m going to kill him off. Now whether the death looks like a suicide or is a suicide, I don’t know. It’s too early in the Marriage by Obligation Series to tell. But this will make the story for the heroine who was supposed to marry him that much more interesting to me. Not only did she dread marrying him, but now she’ll wonder if the idea of marrying her made him kill himself. Pairing her up with a hero who had a bad first marriage which resulted in adultery will be the perfect combination. Two scarred characters who need someone to love them. I’m looking forward to writing it.
Will this kill the possibility of writing The Duke’s Return (since the intended hero for it is dead)? I don’t know yet. I do have a duke that I introduce in Book 1 of this series which is Secret Admirer. I’m currently writing Secret Admirer right now.
The duke in Secret Admirer is the heroine’s brother. I had no set story for him. I’ll have to keep writing this series to figure out if he fits in here. I don’t always write about characters I introduce because there is no intriguing plot for them. I need a plot that excites me in order to write it, and those plots have to go to the characters with the right personality traits.
So The Duke’s Return may or may not be written, but either way, the original hero slotted for the book will not be getting the role.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
Can’t wait, love your books
Thanks, Rhonda!
Glad to hear you’re writing again, Ruth. Hope things don’t get too hectic or stressful for you.
You know, I was doing good until a kid got sick. It is always something. LOL
Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
I’m thinking Murphy was the smartest person who ever lived. This guy nails it on the head every time.
As long as it’s the nail getting hit and not our fingers.
😀
Welcome back to writing. That is very good news for us fans. I’ll admit I had to go to and re-read some past blogs to get these new Regency books straight in my head. I find it very interesting the way the stories develop and change while writing. Sounds just like real life. Our stories are always changing and don’t always go in the direction we think they will. If it doesn’t feel right it doesn’t feel right.
I am looking forward to the last book in the Marriage by Necessity Series and beginning of the Marriage by Obligation Series. So Lord Quinton is Book 2 and Lord Wright, book 3? Rueben, book 4? Do I have this straight.
I have set up my account on Radish. I found your books, but am a little confused. Is the idea that chapters are uploaded a few at a time so people read a chapter or two then wait for the next? I will keep exploring.
So glad you are back to writing and I hope feeling much better. Happy Spring.
P.S. So glad Tom has his grandsons, but know he will love a girl. One of my favorite lines from the Larson series is when Tom is waiting for the birth of one of his children, is hoping for a boy, but when told it is a girl says “that’s just what I wanted”. Tom is one of my most favorite people.
You’re so right about life not going the way you think it will. Someone once told me that you have to be like a branch that sways with the wind because you never know what will pop up. I’m slowly getting better about bending. 😀
I’m not really sure what order the books will be in. I’m thinking about swapping out Book 2 and putting it somewhere else since Reuben’s already coughing, which is going to make his older brother panic and force him back to the country. The timing of events is what is tripping me up. The heroine in Reuben’s story is going to follow him to the country with her brother’s help. Her brother is Lord Wright. I haven’t decided if Lord Wright is going to be in his second marriage by this time or not. Either way will change his reason for taking his sister out to marry Reuben, and I’m not sure if the reason would impact his own story. The heroine in Book 2 can kidnap Lord Quinton any time. So I can always move that further down the series line if I need to.
I’m still learning how Radish works, but they give me a ton of choices. Episodes are supposed to be between 1500 to 2500 words long. Sometimes I go close to 3000, but they don’t like that, so I try to keep it within that 1500-2500 range. They make me choose a set time to release new episodes, and I’ve been experimenting. On some books, I’ll have it release each day. On some, I’ll do the wait 24-hour or 48-hour thing unless someone wants to pay for the episode right way. On some books, I’ll arrange for new episodes to be out every other day. I have no idea what serial readers like, so I’ve been watching to see which books get the most views to gauge the best strategy.
😀 I think Tom would have been lost without his girls.
This is why I don’t outline. Because it’s fun when books take a different turn. I do make notes on stuff I want to happen, but I never do anything strict. I love the surprises my characters give me!
It is fun when things pop up that you don’t expect. It makes writing an adventure.
I make notes, too. 😀