What's In a Cover?

So I have mentioned before that I worked with a wonderful and talented lady for my cover for A Ransomed Heart, but I wanted to give her a little more credit.

Mel Fowle from Melchelle Designs was so great to work with! She was conciterate to my personal preferances, and worked hard to give me exactly what I wanted.  I have never had a cover desgined for me before, and I have to say there isn't anyone else I would go to after my experience with Mel.  I was so pleased with her quick responses and her frienedly personalty.  So, HUGE shout out to Melchelle Designs and exepcially Mel! 

I know there have been lots of times that a cover has caught my eye and I am a true believer now of great cover art.  A great story deserves a great cover.  When you are getting close to getting your book out there to the world, please consider getting the cover professionally done for it, I guarantee it will boost sales. 

Think of it this way. If your husband, boyfriend, significant other asked you to fly to Paris eat at Le Meurice and attend the Opera, your not going to ware jeans and a T-shirt, right!?! No your going to go get that smoken' hot red dress and strappie shoes you've been thinking about. Then you go get hair hair done and look your very best. Obviously a lot of time, preparation, and money has gone into his planning so you're going to look your best! When you work, and sweat, and cry over your manuscript, and hope that it touches the rest of the world, you want your book to call out to other people. There are very talented people out there who do cover art for a living, and they want to give you something perfect for your book!

So, because I can, here is a shameless plug for my friend Mel and Melchelle Designs. Take a look at her work, I promise you will be impressed! http://melchelledesigns.com/

Information Dump!

Just a quick reminder that A Ransomed Heart is now available at Amazon.  We are also running a special on Sweetwater Springs, you can download it for FREE March 22-24!  What a deal right! 

For those who want to know I am now working on A Runaway Heart the second book in the Heart Collection.  We first met Marcus Kittlinger, or Kit in our first book A Ransomed Heart. Well Kit has come back to Regency after leaving the US Marshals. Settling for a Sheriff job back home he finds himself escorting the Mayors daughter Macey Waters, back into town after their train crashes. An adventure awaits them both. I am really enjoying the writing process on this book because I know Kit so well from the first book. I feel like I am really pulling for him because he is such a likeable character.  I am also enjoying following some story lines throughout the collection and I am anxious to introduce you to some new characters that hopefully you will fall in love with, like US Marshal River Johnson, ladies man, mans man, and man about town. A super hot hunk who loves himself just as much as we do, but is a great sport about it. And Mayor Waters who wants the best for his head strong daughter Macey, and Sheriff Kit who he has grown very fond of. Sometimes love needs a push from a knowing father. I will keep you up to date on the progress of the manuscript in the coming months.

For now I hope you enjoy my two available stories, and when your done I would appreciate it if  you left an honest review so I know how to keep my readers happy!

Can't Keep this Secret!

A Ransomed Heart is now available!!! I was surprised when I got up this morning and saw it didn't take the 48 hours Amazon said it would to get it published.  I'm not going to complain!!! You can now find A Ransomed Heart at Amazon for $2.99.  Please download and enjoy, and when you're done with the book please leave a review, good, bad or otherwise. 

It's Here!

I got my edits last night from Raighne!

I was late getting home from choir and didn't get my email until after ten so I made myself go to bed so I wouldn't be tempted to work on it all night.

When I got up this morning I rushed the kids out the door and sat down to see what she had to say.  I was so impressed at some of the things she found. When you write the story it is part of you, so reading through it sometimes you don't see what is on the page, instead you see what you want on the page. It was so helpful to have her proof it, and I feel confident it is great.  There were a few small changes that needed to be made, but I pounded those out pretty fast. My sweet hubby is helping me get it formatted and adding all the fluff before we get it up on Kindle, but it is going smoothly so far.

On to the great news!  A Ransomed Heart will be available for purchase Monday, March 18th!!! Look for it on Amazon.  I would hope that after you read A Ransomed Heart, that you would choose to leave a review when you are done, or simply rate the book honestly.  I appreciate all reviews so please tell me what you think.

If you enjoy A Ransomed Heart you will be excited to know that I am currently working on a second book in The Heart Collection that follows our good friend Kit, and we get to meet the sweet girl who steals his heart. Look for A Runaway Heart.  Coming Soon!

You may also be interested in Sweetwater Springs, my first novel about Katie and Tyler and their struggle to overcome a past that could destroy them both. Also found at Amazon.

Again a great big thank you to all those who have supported and encouraged me over the years. Thanks for all you do, and happy reading.

Excitement and Reflection

There is a lot of excitement revolving around the upcoming release of A Ransomed Heart.  I remember when I was working towards the release of Sweetwater Springs it felt like it wasn't really happening; like it was a dream come true, but I wasn't really doing it, I was just watching it.  However, working on the cover for Ransomed and waiting on edits, is really putting things into perspective.  I have been writing for a long time and hoping to send my work out into the world and I am really doing that!

The other day I found some little books that I wrote in the fourth grade.  My sweet mother had the sense enough to keep them safe for me, for which I am eternally grateful! It was fun to look through them and see how my story telling has changed over the years, it also made me thankful for spell check!  But it has also shown me how far I have come as a writer. 

I really enjoy writing, I have a whole folder on my computer full of stories I have been working on, but for a long time it was hard for me to share them. Of course my family has always been supportive and my husband has been my biggest fan but I think I have started rooting for myself too, and that is a really neat feeling.  I know my stories aren't for everyone and that's just fine, I only hope that they can reach someone and bring them a little joy. 

I hope all of you out there who are striving to accomplish hard things can find the strength to go for it. I know it is really scary, and there are a lot of critics out there, but I hope you know that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.  Confidence is a great thing and success will follow if you just stick to it. Good luck with all your adventures and know that you always have a fan in me!

Coming Soon!!!

I am excited to announce that my next novel A Ransomed Heart will soon be released.  I want to thank Mel from Melchelle Designs for my beautiful cover, and my editor, Raighne Davidson for all her hard work with this book. Here is the cover and a quick peek at my new book.

Annabelle Casey hasn't met Robert Seiver yet, but their engagement saves her entire family from destitution.  This isn't the fairytale wedding she had dreamed of, but a marriage of convenience seems to be her only choice.  When her trip to the Seiver Ranch is interrupted by a band of outlaws, she may find that her overturned stagecoach in the barren Wyoming badlands is where her future really begins.

Logan Bailey has plans for revenge, but the fiery young redhead he kidnaps for ransom is changing them all. Years of anger have hardened him, but Robert Seiver's fiancé is giving him second thoughts, and not just about money.  Can he put away a lifetime of hate for a girl he hardly knows? Can Annabelle marry Mr. Seiver and save her family, or will she choose Logan, the man who holds her heart for ransom?

A Ransomed Heart is a stand alone novel in The Heart Collection. A clean Historical Romance that will make you fall in love with Romance all over again.

Sweetwater Springs is Free!

I've placed Sweetwater Springs free today.  A Great Clean Historical Romance on Amazon.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and for those of you who got (or gave) a kindle for Christmas, be sure to grab Sweetwater Springs for free today through this Saturday.

You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KYIZ76

I also have it listed at www.eBookLister.net where you can find lots and lots of free kindle books.

Back in the Saddle Again!

School has finally started and the kids are gone, giving me time to write. It is a bittersweet time, the kids heading off in the mornings on the bus, the baby going to pre-school and three blessed hours of time to myself. This morning when I dropped Jenna off I called my husband to tell him I was "Free" for a couple of hours. His reply, "Are you going to do spelling and grammar checks on Craig's Ridge?"

Well I should do that, and go in and put a little meat on the bones of the story. Work on character development and story flow. I should be rooting out those nasty "LY" words and amping up the dialogue. What I really wanted to do was go back to bed. :)  Instead, I bucked up and made myself a cup of Raspberry Hot Chocolate and settled down in front of my computer. The muse was with me and I wrote and wrote, edited and changed for those two hours before I picked up my baby at school, and low and behold, I got something done!!!

I guess I could have spent my morning in dream land, or doing laundry, or working in the yard, but instead I did something really fun, I worked on a story. I brought people to life, fell in love with them and hoped for their happy ending, and it was well worth the time!

So is my suggestion to you my sweet friends. Get back in the saddle yourself, whether it is writing or, painting, or working on that craft project, or the front garden you have wanted to do, just do it. Take an hour of so and enjoy yourself. Make something wonderful and have a good time doing it.

Blessings and Challenges

I have the incredibly lucky job of being a stay at home mom.  I love that I get to be here with the kids and spend time with them, or playing with them.  We love to read together and I enjoy the time I get to spend with them watching them grow up.  This opportunity also gives me the chance to write at home during the day.  Some days are better than others. Sometimes the kids are at friends houses, or with their grandparents, these days are easy to write on because I have no distractions. Page after page flows out without a single interruption. These are good writing days.

I have other good writing days though.  Those are the days that my eleven year old daughter gives me an idea and we talk things over and over until the story comes together. Or when I am watching my boys storm the swing set, sending all the neighborhood girls screaming, and I have the perfect scene in my head.  I love to rock my other daughter to sleep and night and think about how lucky I am to have all this inspiration running around my house.

Sometimes said inspiration gets a little to real.  One time about a year ago I was working hard to edit a story and my youngest needed a drink from the kitchen.  I was trying hard to get just this last paragraph done and she was standing next to me asking over and over again, "I a gink!" Finally with just a little irritation, I put the last punctuation on the sentence and hurried to the kitchen to get her a gink. A couple of days later when I was able to get back to the manuscript I was reading though the last edited paragraph and much to my amusement I read. "I need a drink!" Right at the end of my sentence.

Then again there are some days I get no writing done at all. There are so many other things to do such as laundry, dishes, homework, reading, running to and from activities. These are the hardest writing days of all because I usually have plot, or conversations going on in my head all the time.  Once I was at the grocery store by myself in front of the cereal thinking over a complicated scene for my book.  It wasn't until a lady walked by me, giving me a strange look that I realized I had been talking out loud, having a strange conversation with the people in my head. She probably wondered if I was insane.

Over all being a mother is my first choice, and because of that I am willing to have some not so great writing days.  It is never truly easy.  Life is hard all around.  Everyone struggles with getting it all done in a day.  I know some writers who work and have children and I appreciate their struggles.  I know compared to some my silly little life seems like nothing, but I sure enjoy every crazy minute of it!

Work on Writing or Work Outside?

Saturday we spent the day outside pulling weeds, mowing and trimming, and planting bushes and trees. The yard looks great but my manuscript is a little skimpy.  For months I have been slowly working on two WIP's, one called Craig's Ridge, a Historical Romance and the second is Silverberry, a Young Adult Fantasy.  I would love to work on both of them but Summer has completely taken over.  Now that things are slowly winding down I hope to be able to spend at least half an hour a day on both WIP's, I would really love to get one or both of them out by the time school starts.  Wish me luck!