Light at the End of the Tunnel

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I know what it is!

I just dug in and tunneled my way through a mountain of work this winter. As you already know, the Authors of Main Street have another boxed set coming out this spring. My third Wedding Vow book will be in it, To Have &  To Hold. This time it’s Cody Montgomery’s second daughter, Melissa, who has found love.

Note to self: Must write blurbs for books before I announce they are coming soon. 🙂

So here’s the non-blurb version. Girl meet boy but boy has more secrets than the CIA, but she’s not lacking in secrets either. He thinks she’s an actuary at SunWest Oil, and she thinks he’s the groundskeeper for the Claxton estate. Neither one is lying about their jobs, but they are both much more than employees…but maybe it’s more about finding happiness, and being responsible.

To Have & To Hold should be available by March 1, 2015. (Cover coming soon!)

Note to self: Must think up titles for books before I announce they are coming soon. 🙂

So my other big project has been a western historical that will also be available in a boxed set with several other historical authors this spring. It doesn’t have a title. 😦 And yes, I dropped it right into Creed’s Crossing, Wyoming in about 1898.

She’s running for her life and she doesn’t know who is trustworthy, even the man who has captured her heart could be the enemy. No matter which way she turns, trouble follows her. So there’s a little suspense in this story. I’m almost at the end and so far there’s no resolution – trouble is still at her door. (Why do I do this to myself?)

So the light at the end of the tunnel, isn’t a sign of completion of these two books – it’s a freight train! What have I done? I opened my mouth and said, “Yes.”

When will I learn that there is an alternative to yes and it’s called NO! So if you are anywhere near the SE corner of Virginia, I will be holding workshops on novel writing for the novice via the City of Portsmouth, Virginia  library system. Starting in March for three Saturday afternoons, and there’s the option of a fourth Saturday, if the class wants it,  I will be holding workshops that will take a writer from start to finish and help them create a polished novel.

This is going to be a nitty-gritty, hands-on,  how to do it right, series of workshops. From finding the start of the story to unburying the dialog, I intend to cover as much of it as possible. The “rules” of writing do exist, knowing them and knowing how to break them is important. But good writing is good writing. If you are going to head hop, do it right. Don’t confuse the reader! Because readers are everything to the novelist, without them there’s nothing. And there is nothing worse than a poorly written story.

For any of you following this blog, you probably have a favorite author on Main Street or you wouldn’t be here. If you’ve bought any of our boxed sets you will notice that we’re different from each other, but we all know how to write! As one reviewer said about one of our boxed sets – There’s not a sinker in the bunch!

A good author probably could write a story about dumpster diving and make it a fascinating read. Why? Because a good author knows how to write! A good author knows how to engage the reader and keep them reading. I love reviews that say they couldn’t put the book down. That’s the indicator of a good book and it’s what I look for in reviews when selecting a book.

I recently read a book with the idea that I’d read for an hour before going to sleep. I read the whole thing in one sitting. My Kindle never left my hands. Why? The reader had me hooked. Was it a super terrific story? No. There were even editing errors in it. Not enough to make it a mess, just an oops here and there. (We all have them and they are in every book!) But the author had done her job in engaging the reader. The weird thing was it wasn’t a sub-genre I normally read.

A wonderful author friend writes sweet fluffy stories and sells a gazillion of them. I can usually read anything she writes in two – three hours and enjoy them. She’s a natural storyteller in her genre who leaves the reader with that ah-that-was-so-nice feeling. Maybe I need to learn to write fluffy stories…nope won’t happen. It’s not me. That would be the same as my attempting to write a zombie or werewolf story. But that doesn’t mean those stories are bad. It just means it’s not my preferred reading or writing material.

It’s not what you write – it’s how you write it. Not everyone who reads my books loves them. I don’t expect everyone to love them. Even the classic books get bad reviews. Really, someone wants to knock Shakespeare and say it was a lousy story and difficult to read? It’s old English – if you aren’t used to reading it…it can be very difficult. Never mind that he was a master at basic story plots.

And for those who want to read a historical romance about a gal in a flowing silk dress on the open range – don’t even bother to pick up a copy of A Rancher’s Woman or my yet to be named historical because you will be sorely disappointed. Because life was tough, running water wasn’t common, nor were baths. Heroes smelled of perspiration and horses, and all those disposable things females take for granted didn’t exist! Seriously can you imagine shaving your underarms with straight razor? Or plucking each hair out with tweezers? Shudder!

I admire the women who settled in our West and managed to live through it. They churned their own butter, and washed clothes on a board. Why pretend they were something else? Life was tough and they were tougher. So not everyone will love what I write, but it’s what I write. And the contemporary counterparts of those settlers have that same toughness to face today’s problems.

So one book is done and will spend time in edits this month. The historical is almost done and will go into edits this month. The freight train is that set of classes for which I must prepare. And maybe one day I will learn to say no. But I have a feeling that the Saturday workshops will be great fun for everyone!

Follow my blog for my covers and the blurbs for these two new books!  http://ayersbooks.wordpress.com  And follow our newsletter if you want a sneak peek at these new books! Click on that link in over here on the right! It says sign up for newsletter – that’s it right there above recent posts! The February newsletter will have a snippet from each book

Is there anything that you think needs to be taught to the novice writer or was there something that you found extremely helpful when you were starting out? Do you as a reader have a pet peeve when reading? Something you’ d like to tell every author? Let me know! I really want to cover as much as possible during the workshops.