Happy Singles Awareness Day released

 It's always amazing to me how quickly time flies. Some days, the hours just drag on, but when I look back, so much time has passed! I wanted to introduce my 5th and latest release,  "Happy Singles Awareness Day," and am a little embarrassed to admit that it was published four months ago! 

I can't believe it's been so long! While writing "Lucky in Love," I realized that young adult romance is definitely my preferred genre, and I knew I needed another book in this series next before I could focus on a younger audience with more fun and less focus on romance. My favorite thing in the world is watching new relationships unfold, and that goes for the stories I write. As I've mentioned before, I'm not usually in control of the plot--my characters tend to have the final say. So, I'm usually a little surprised myself to see how these relationships end up working out.

"Happy Singles Awareness Day" had been in my head for quite some time, though not in the way you might think. I came up with the title long ago, and had been brainstorming how to form it into a viable book. Because I am a pantser and struggle with coming up successful outlines, I had to finally just take a leap of faith and write it and hope that it all came together. I was a little nervous to write it, because I didn't want Carlee's breakup with her long-term boyfriend to be too much of the focus. I tend to write on the lighter side of things, and was worried it might be too much drama. But of course, if you read it, you'll see that this book is full of drama, but mostly from Carlee's mom.

You see, the trouble with Carlee's mom is that while I was writing this book, my husband and I watched our favorite movie, "Pride and Prejudice," the BBC version, which ended up taking several nights. Why is being an adult sooo obnoxious sometimes? Anyway, as a result of being submerged into that movie for several days, Carlee's mother, who is a pushy control freak, accidentally became Mrs. Bennett. It took a lot of editing and work, and with the help of my beta readers and my editor, I was able to tame down her crazy. Mostly, haha. There is still lots of drama, but hopefully there's enough humor and swoony moments to tame it down a bit.

As an author, I typically am only able to work on one book at a time, publishing a new book every year. However, this year is different. I've got three books I am working on since I've been struggling keeping my focus. My first book is "Beans." This is a modern-day Jack and the Beanstalk twist that I started writing two years ago. I've had to completely rewrite the story and change some characters a bit, but I'm really excited for this one. This will be Book 2 of my Forest Hills High Magical Tales series. (Book 1 is Evan the Horrible). This series is mostly magical with just a touch of romance.

The second book I am working on is Book 3 of my Honeyville High Romance series. So far, the title is, "Boy Bands and Summer Kisses," but I'm not set on it. This is a fun one where my character gets to date the lead singer of her favorite band.

And lastly, the third book I'm working on is "Kissing the Prom Queen," Book 3 of my Magical Troubles series. This is a spinoff of the Princess and the Frog. I'm also excited about this one, but am stuck on how she's going to communicate as a frog. I'm hoping I can figure it out soon so I can get back to work on this.

With three books in the works, I'm still fairly certain I'll be publishing only one by the end of this year, but next year may possibly be the year I publish two. We'll see. It can be tough finding time and inspiration with a young child still at home. But in just a few months...he'll be going to Kindergarten! It's only half day, so I probably won't get tons of writing time, but maybe he'll start needing less of my time. 

So tell me, what's going on in your lives? What book are you hoping I'll finish first? Let me know!

Get your copy of Lucky in Love FREE March 17 and 18!

 

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year, I'm offering my book, "Lucky in Love," FREE today and tomorrow! 

This book was so much fun to write. Kat Ellison has had nothing but bad luck, and she's finally able to pin it down onto Sam Buxton. Every time he's around, something goes wrong. Terribly wrong. All she wants to do is get rid of him so she can get on with her life, but her eccentric grandmother has other ideas for her. 

This clean, fun romance is great for young teens and anyone else older. 

FREE BOOK!!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was wonderful and low-key. Because our home used to have part of the basement as a rental unit, that means that we have two kitchens, which of course means TWO OVENS! I woke up at at 7:15 am, got the turkey prepared in the upstairs kitchen, then had all of our pies baking in the downstairs oven. I felt so spoiled! We were able to eat by 1:30 pm--a new record! 

In lieu of expressing gratitude during this time, I am offering my book, "Evan the Horrible," for FREE as an expression of my gratitude for my readers! This freebie goes from now until December 1, 2020. This book is a contemporary teen coming-of-age story that has plenty of magic and humor, and a bit of fun sweet romance. Grab your copy today before it's gone!!

Exciting News!

Every time I begin working on a new book, it feels like I'm standing at the starting line of a marathon. I know that somewhere out there, way beyond my reach, is the finish line, and I wonder if I'll ever reach it. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, I am no planner. I get my characters, get a general plot idea, and then the book writes itself. Hopefully. 

I'd been working on writing another magical tale based off of Jack and the Beanstalk, but turning it to a YA version, instead. It was fun, but required a lot of hard work. And thinking. I have six kids (including a toddler who is basically three children in and of himself, haha!), and sometimes, writing my book required too much brain power. I finally put my book aside in February and began working on another book that I was really wanting to write.

My current YA romance is called, "Lucky in Love." It was fun, romantic, and it came easy.  The marathon suddenly got easier for me, each chapter a sprint with an obtainable goal. Now, seven months later, I am nearly at the finish line! My book is finished, has been through some beta readers, and is currently in the process of going through my editor. I am so excited to have this book in my hands! The plan is to have a box of books shipped to my house in time for Christmas, which means completing my edits and formats by early November. 

There is no medal for completing the marathon involved in writing a novel, but even better is holding the finished product. I'm so excited to get this book done! My characters were fun to write, and I hope my readers enjoy them as much as I have!
 

Coronavirus and writing

How's everyone out there doing? It's crazy how the world has shut down everywhere while we try to deal with the coronavirus. I know a lot of you are overwhelmed out there, trying to juggle home and school, but if you find yourself wanting an escape from the stress, fear, or uncertainties that life is throwing out at us, I am putting all three of my e-books on sale for $0.99 starting Thursday. Get your books here!

I don't know about the rest of you, but my writing has really suffered during this crazy time. With the stress of trying to keep our family sane during school at home, it's been rough trying to sit down and create. I've picked up my November NaNoWriMo project--a Jack and the Beanstalk retelling, but only manage a sentence or two here and there. When school comes to an end in 6 or so weeks, maybe I'll be able to pick it up again, but until then, I'm going to try to just take one day at a time and breathe.

I hope all of you are doing well, and can find bits of joy and happiness in your day!

FREE BOOK!

In anticipation of the release of my 3rd book later this year, I'm celebrating by offering "The Trouble with Prince Charming" for FREE for THREE DAYS ONLY!! Today (June 27) until Saturday (June 29). Grab your copy while you can here!

This is a clean, Young Adult (YA) urban fiction with just a splash of magic, a lot of romance, and lots of laughs.

"The Trouble with Prince Charming comes with a best-seller quality and an indie price tag!" --Kameo Monson (read the whole review here)

Pantsing vs. Plotting

There are two types of authors: plotters and pantsers. Plotters outline their whole book, chapter by chapter, before even writing their book. Pantsers, on the other hand, fly by the seat of their pants, writing and discovering their story as they go.

I happen to be a pantser. I didn't think I was, but the more I've written, the more I've learned that this style works best for me. My very first book took a LONG time to write. I hit a bunch of road blocks because I would get stuck, stop writing for sometimes months before figuring out how to solve the problem, and then continue on once I knew exactly what needed to happen. I kept a list of who was in what chapter, how often I felt they needed to appear, and used this map as my guideline. It got frustrating and messy, but I finally finished.

While I was writing its sequel, someone in one of my writer's groups mentioned that they never wrote the story in sequential order. They'd write the scenes they WANTED to write. I was blown away by that idea, because I'd push through the difficult parts with the hopes of rewarding myself with the fun scenes I was looking forward to. But the problem with that was that sometimes, I'd lose my inspiration, and the scene became something else I'd have to force. I decided to jump in and write the scenes I was most excited to write. My book was still mapped out, but looser this time. I just wanted to focus on the parts and conversations I was dying to write, and it was so much more fun and satisfying. Filling in the blanks from one scene to the next wasn't as difficult as I'd feared, and it made me excited to keep going back and writing instead of dreading that one scene I just couldn't get past.

For my most recent book, "Evan the Horrible," I took pantsing a step further. I really had no outline in mind, but rather characters whose story I wanted to tell. I knew I wanted a guy who came from a troubled background to transform, who had a good influence help him to see who he really was and help him reach his potential. I began writing my book without much idea of where it would go, except that he would befriend Cassie Reynolds (from my Magical Troubles series Books 1 & 2), and develop into a love interest. As I wrote the first scene, I gave Cassie a desk partner who had a dragon tattoo on her arm and short black hair with purple tips. And then I immediately took a step back. Why was some random girl more developed than my main character? This girl, Jazzy Allen, was WAY more interesting than Cassie ever was, and I knew I'd found my main character. So, I scrapped Cassie with the intent of bringing her back into the story to link it in as Book 3. It never happened.

Once I decided Jazzy was my main character, I knew she needed a backstory. Why would she have a dragon on her arm? Why the purple tips? What type of person was she? I spent a few days writing down who she was, and then as I began discovering more about the guy, I realized he was way too dull as well. I needed someone who'd be as fun and full of life as she was. And then it hit me. Why not use Evan Rice from Book 2? He was obnoxious and fun and hilarious to write, always ready with a quick comeback or snarky remark. And he could transform as my original character was supposed to do. Since I went with Evan, I needed to discover why HE acted the way he did. There had to be some explanation to his obnoxiousness.

Writing Evan and Jazzy's characters was an amazing experience. It was so much fun discovering who they were, what their parents did, what they liked, and what their future plans were (even though most of it never made it into the actual book). By creating character outlines, I came to really know these two better, and that was what made this book so easy to write. Instead of years, it took only four months. I'd write the scenes I wanted, and when I got stuck, I'd think, "What would Evan do to get out of this?" and then I'd let him tell the story.

Being a pantser means having the story ever evolving. There are many pages of cut paragraphs, conversations, and magical scenes that never made it into the book, moments I was so excited to develop, but other things happened and changed the outcome. What began as a story that was supposed to portray a growth through influential friendships became more of a transformation to the reader, seeing Evan for as he truly is. I'm so excited to have you guys read this!