Hope you'll stop by & visit me this week while I'm hanging out with @teresareasor on her #Blog!

Come join me today and the rest of this week while I visit with Teresa Reasor on her blog and answer some questions and sit a spell!

My Muse's Musings

Also swing by (link on pic below) and check out Teresa's Website-

#WIPlash Wednesdays- I Need a Break

I have been posting a lot more blogs for the past several months, almost every day of the week but Sundays and I have to say, it's draining me. I should have started off slow and simply added things as I came to them, but now I'm seeing that sometimes I just don't have it in me to write a blog for each day, so if you start to notice a slight decrease in my blog posts, it's due to the fact that I've become overwhelmed by trying to write so many blogs and honestly, my creative juices feel like they've been used up on blogs rather than actual writing,....

So....

I'm going to take a step back and reassess. I'll still have Tuesdays with Taryn, Fun Feature Friday and SCENTsational Saturdays up every week, but Memory Lane Mondays, WIPlash Wednesdays and my Free-for-All or Favorite Book Thursdays and when I'm visiting other blogs will appear only when I'm feeling up to posting or when I actually feel I have something to say that isn't stealing my creativity away from what I really need to be doing and that is writing.

Last week I only added just under 1,400 words to the WIP so I'm going to see if I can knock out more than that by allowing myself to be "okay" with not having a post daily unless I'm feeling up to writing and sharing more. All of life is a delicate balancing act and with my husband's work schedule changing recently as well, I'm finding it's time to figure out how to schedule around everything. I love blogging, but if I hope to publish more books, I need to actually write those manuscripts and concentrate on that whenever possible.

I hope you'll join me on the days I do post and chat with me, leave comments or just say hello. I'd love the company.

Now I need to so see what I can do about filling up my writer's creativity inkwell.

Happy Hump Day!

I can see the weekend from here.

#TuesdayswithTaryn Q&A with #mystery #Author @JudyAlter

Tuesdays with Taryn

Join me today in welcoming mystery author & fellow TMPer, Judy Alter to the blog-

What book(s) most influenced you as a writer? Oh, gosh. Nancy Drew, Francis Parkinson Keyes, and on up to today’s mystery writers—Sue Grafton, J. A. Jance, Julia-Spencer Fleming, Deborah Crombie, Diane Mott Davidson, Susan Wittig Albert. Yet my own writing is not, to my mind, as complex as any of theirs. Then there’s the whole other side of me that wrote about women of the American West, and there I’d say Owen Wister’s The Virginian intrigued me, and Elmer Kelton’s entire body of work taught me a lot about writing about the West.

What book do you read over and over again? Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose

Tuesday Trio-

1) Movie- not a moviegoer, but Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a big influence when I wrote Sundance, Butch, and Me, about Etta Place (now available on Kindle, Nook, and other sites).. That was, however a 1969 movie—you can tell it stuck in my head until the ‘90s when I wrote the book. And I really did like Julia and Julie. I keep meaning to see Midnight in Paris and The Help. Loved the book of the latter.

2) Music- Folk music—Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond; also some blues and jazz

3) Decadent Dessert- chocolate mousse; almost anything chocolate.

What’s the most interesting or bizarre bit of trivia you’ve learned from researching for a novel?

That Etta Place, the woman who rode with the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and was The Sundance Kid’s lover, probably ended up in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, running a respectable boarding house, and probably died in a house fire.

Novel on your Nightstand:

Who/what are you currently reading? Clobbered by Camembert by Avery Aames

Whom would you cast as your Hero & Heroine if your book became a movie?

I have no idea because I don’t keep up with current movies or stars. I don’t think Julia Roberts would be right as Kelly O’Connell, but I don’t know who would. One of my daughter’s friends suggests Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon or Ewan McGregor.

No Neighborhood for Old Women, the second Kelly O’Connell Mystery, following Skeleton in a Dead Space

When a serial killer begins targeting older women in Fort Worth’s Fairmount neighborhood, realtor/renovator Kelly Jones investigates, in spite of the pleas of her companion, policeman Mike Shandy, and her assistant, the colorful Keisha, that she stay out of it. Kelly knows a serial killer will hurt business, and she worries about the frightened old women in the neighborhood. And when Claire Guthrie, a friend and former client, shows up at Kelly’s front door announcing that she’s just shot her husband in the butt, Kelly becomes her champion. Kelly knows about bad marriages and bad husbands from her own experience. Then Kelly’s mom, the needy Cynthia O’Connell, decides to move to Fort Worth to be near her grandchildren. Kelly, a harried, hassled, and loving single mom of two young girls, unwittingly puts her children, her mom, and herself in danger and almost derails her love life.

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
Judy's Stew Blog
Potluck with Judy

#Journey to #Publication & #Spotlight on @DevonMatthews_ #Blog #Excerpt #Readers

My journey to publication has really been a long time coming, at least in my mind. I've known I wanted to write since I was a child, but it wasn't until 2006, with my stepson already in school and my daughter soon to be heading that way, I knew the time I spent as a stay-at-home-mom was going to open up and that besides housework, I would have time for other things.

Something I hadn't spent much time doing since I'd moved in 2001, gotten married and had my daughter, was write. I thought about it constantly but kept believing, with the self-doubt I'd carried most my life, that I probably couldn't accomplish it. I knew there was a partially finished novel tucked away in my closet or a drawer somewhere, and several other novel "ideas" scribbled and scratched out in notebooks and on scraps of paper, but there was no encouragement nearby to say, "You should definitely take your writing back up."

And then I got a friend request from an old schoolmate and therein came the encouragement, so I really started digging in to the unfinished manuscript and in a fit of frenzy, I finally put the finish on a nearly 10-year-old project. It had been hard to give birth to because some of the situations in the novel hit so close to home for me personally, but I did it. To that friend, and my mom, I'm forever grateful for your encouragement. You will NEVER know how much!

But just like getting my first tattoo, finishing that first manuscript was addictive. It bolstered me, lifted me up- I was hooked on that feeling of self-satisfaction of creating something and finishing it. Of course, that manuscript might never see the light of day- or I might someday polish it up and publish it, but it was with great enthusiasm and confidence from completing that 1st one, that I dove headfirst in and started writing with serious intentions and with a sense of pride I hadn't felt before. I'm working on my 11th manuscript at the moment and hoping I finally found my mojo again because for a while, I think I'd lost heart. The burnout nearly wiped out my desire to write, but I'm getting it back, bit by bit... (bird by bird)

Castaway Hearts is actually the 3rd novel I wrote, over the summer of 2007, between a computer crash and the relief when those files I hadn't backed up were recovered before the hard drive was trashed completely. So that gives me even more joy to be able to share this story with you, the public. It was saved from oblivion, once upon a time.

And so, today I'd love it if you would swing by and join me at
Western Historical Romance Author Devon Matthews' Blog
where she's honoring me with an author spotlight and I'm sharing another excerpt from the now available Castaway Hearts.

#WIPlash Wednesdays- #Advice for #Aspiring #Writers

What advice would you give an aspiring author who wants to be published?

1. WRITE- Get those words down, build those worlds up and bring your characters to life. Prove to yourself you can finish that first manuscript and give it wings to expand from there. Write more...
2. NEVER GIVE UP- No matter what anyone tells you, believe in yourself and keep moving forward. There will be bumps in the road no matter what your dreams or goals, it's up to you how you navigate those potholes.
3. BUILD YOUR BRAND- Know what you write and promote yourself. Whether you write romance, mystery, suspense, general fiction- find your niche and work it. Decide early if you're writing under your real name or a pen name. This helps build the brand.
4. BLOG- Talk about your writing, things that interest or inspire you- things that make your writing life YOURS. Do you write with music? Do you have sentimental writing totems? Special habits?
5. SOCIALIZE & NETWORK- Join online groups, follow other authors if you're on Twitter. Post your blog links where others will see them. Interact with authors and readers alike. Join writing associations where you can talk "shop" with other authors about the craft, the industry. Socializing and putting yourself out there is the only way to gain followers of your own & build your reader base. Guest blog and host other authors on your blog.
6. SUBMIT/GO INDIE- Work hard and get that manuscript or manuscripts polished and then submit to publishers who are looking for your kind of stories. Or, take the wheel of your own writing career and drive the self-pub highway. Investigate, talk to other Indie authors. Do you want to go Big House or Small Pub? Or would you rather strike out on your own? Ebook or print or both? Know what you want and go for it.
7. TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE- Most importantly- write for yourself- the stories of your heart. Yes, challenge yourself as a writer, but never try to "shape" yourself or your stories in a way you can't live with. If it makes you uncomfortable or makes you feel you are writing to suit someone else with something you're not proud of, don't do it. Some will tell you to pay attention to what's popular or sought after, but also be true to yourself and write what touches your heart. Paying attention to what's out there is important, but don't let the "popular today" handicap your writing or your confidence for your career future.

When it all boils down to it, do the thing you enjoy most- write. Then pursue this dream with all you have.

Have a great Wednesday! Write on-
I can see the weekend from here.

#MemoryLane Monday- Sexy #Excerpt #GuestBlogging at @MadisonJEdwards #Blog

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Memory Lane Monday because Madison J Edwards invited me to share a little something over on her blog, so flutter on by to read a sexy excerpt from Castaway Hearts!

Please stop by to enjoy this extra little snippet, only a week before Castaway Hearts is released!

Madison J Edwards Blog

#Updating #Blog- How Does it Look?

Got sidetracked instead of going on to bed...My "off-center" blog was bugging me for a little freshening up...

I'm just testing out the new layout of my blog- I decided to give it some balance and change the layout so that the blog posts are centered and I was able to divide all my sidebar items to the left and the right rather than just having it all on the right side of the screen.

I think I like it. It's more Feng Shui, more symmetrical and even.

Chugging Along and I'm A Winner!

I finally got all of my 1st novel moved to my new "rework" file. It still needs a lot more work though to pick up the pace at the beginning of the novel. No one wants to start a book that drags along at a snail's pace. It's hard to finish a book that is sluggish.

I've noticed the change in the story's strength in the end compared to the beginning as well. The ending holds up better than the beginning. I think I know the root of that though. When I first started writing it, I was in my early 20's and one of the main plot points that affects my character was something similar to an event that had recently occurred in my life.

Of course, what happened in my life wasn't nearly as severe as what I put my character through, but when I started writing this one, it was in the hope that I would find healing and strength through my character. She's close to my heart and always will be, even if this novel never makes it into print. She helped me discover my own strengths and grew as I grew, but I still need to strengthen her beginning so that the entire novel is strong in it's own right. All the way through.

So I'm going to open that file this morning and start again and see what else I can do to make this a powerful, moving novel.

Oh and I won a book! I have been going to Petticoats and Pistols reading the western romance writers' blogs and I commented on Pam Crooks' yesterday about strange foods. She was going to give away an autographed copy of her latest book Untamed Cowboy and a couple of cool sparkly Harlequin pens to a random poster. Well, she picked me! hehehe! I CANNOT wait to get it!

Well, I'm off and gone to immerse myself in Maplewood, Ky- the fictional town my novel is set in.