First page, first sentence, the reader meets McCoy and is hooked. A broke-down, wounded, homeless handsome cowboy. Who can resist? This new book is part of the “Honey Creek” series.
The other characters in this story are equally empathetic and interesting. Jam, Tucson, Pecos, Pop Sadler, to name just a few. My only criticism (if you can call it that) is I would have liked more paper and ink dedicated to McCoy’s story.
This is a story of small town, USA; Honey Creek. Infused with colorful and interesting characters that only Jodi Thomas can serve up.
The writing is supurb…it is Jodi Thomas after all.
On Sale: April 26, 2022
Did you miss my Interview with Jodi?
My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Available NOW: How To Write a 10 Minute Play ~~ Journal and Handbook
Lots of great instruction about the art of writing a ten minute play. And over 250 blank, lined pages for your creative writing as you write your first or tenth 10 minute play.
Excerpt from back cover: ‘As you prepare to write your first 10-minute play, pretend that you have walked into a room and interrupted a conversation, mid-sentence. Or you have turned on the television and tuned into a sit-com, ten minutes into (late) a thirty-minute episode. That’s where your head space should be when you begin writing your play. Give yourself permission. Sit down and write.
This journal/workbook gives you not only the space to write down your ideas for a play but there are instructional sections to help you create your ten-minute play. Develop your story line. Create the characters. Try out different dialogue. 250+ blank, lined pages with famous quotes by actors, playwrights, and writers on each page to inspire the writer in you.’
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“Writing isn’t a calling; it’s a doing!” t. sugarek
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet, April: S. Brian Jones To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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This is one of those rare books where the reviewer wants to give it ten, no, a hundred, no, two thousand stars! The writing is stunning. Ruth Talbot has a delicate, beautiful usage of words that we mortal writers can only dream of for ourselves.
And her words craft a wonderful story. Griping, grim, tragic at times, nostalgic and loving. About friendship, perseverance, crushing hardship, with no real happy ending. Talbot takes us tramping across this great nation of ours during one of the bleakest times in our history. The Great Depression. I, for one, never imagined that children….yes, you heard me correctly….children were cast out into the world to join the thousands of ‘hoboes‘ who jumped on and off trains and used them as their only transportation. Following work and seasonal harvests in order to not starve to death.
Beautiful writing….a book you’ll want to take your time with. Mulling over a turn of phrase in the prose if you are a ‘English literature’ buff….or view, in your mind’s eye, the stunning visuals Talbot paints for her readers.
This appears to be Talbot’s debut novel and we can only hope that she is working on her next one.
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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JG. There is natural talent, of course. But I think what makes a writer great is being able to handle critique and to incorporate the good critiques into future works – to constantly learn and grow in the craft.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
JG. I get a rough idea and write a few chapters that I love. Then I crash and don’t know what to do next so I call my development editor and we talk through the ideas. I write a really skeletal first draft and hate it. Then read through and think it’s not quite so bad. I get my critique partners to have a look and take their advice. I edit again then send it to the developmental editor in completed form (or at least at 80%). I edit again on the computer then on paper and send it to the line editor. I edit again with her changes and do text to voice to catch repeats or strange wording. Then I read it on my kindle to see it as a reader would before sending it to the proof editor. In the final stages, I send it to early readers who catch all the typos and other mistakes no one else caught. Then it’s ready to go out.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
JG. I’ve lived in a lot of places. I’m curious about human nature. I observe. I’ve suffered from the darker things like grief and depression. I’ve known wild joy and adventure. I think my characters come to life from what I’ve experienced.
Q. What’s your down time look like?
JG. This is a weakness of mine. I do not have down time. I work all day on writing or the other aspects of the business (marketing, social media, production, translation, audio), then make dinner and listen to my teens talk about their day. On the weekend I’m doing ministry stuff. (We serve the teen ministry). I know this is just a phase, though – these teen years – so I’m okay with it. I really enjoy reading in bed at night. And we go away a few times a year, which is great. Sometimes I take a walk by the Seine river, or visit a friend, or go into Paris, but there is no regular downtime.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
JG. I’ve written contemporary romance. A Noble Affair was my first novel and it’s not the finest in terms of literature but it was good practice for a full-length fiction work. And A Sweetheart in Paris is a decent book, I think, but it hasn’t attracted much attention. I’ve written a memoir as well, Stars Upside Down. I think if I were to switch genres I wouldn’t stray far. Georgian or Victorian as opposed to Regency. But I really love what I write.
Q. Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)
A. Well, this won’t be relatable to everyone, but my main life’s lesson is that when I draw my last breath my books won’t matter. Only my relationship to God will. So I need to make sure that success doesn’t go to my head and that failure doesn’t destroy me. I am just God’s kid, and He’ll make sure I have all I need.
Did you miss Part 1 or Part 2?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Jennie Goutet is an American-born Anglophile who lives with her French husband and their three children in a small town outside of Paris. Her imagination resides in Regency England, where her best-selling proper Regency romances are set. She is also author of the award-winning memoir Stars Upside Down, two contemporary romances, and a smattering of other published works. A Christian, a cook, and an inveterate klutz, Jennie sometimes writes about faith, food, and life—even the clumsy moments—on her blog, aladyinfrance.com. You can learn more about Jennie and her books, and sign up for her newsletter, on her author website: jenniegoutet.com. Oh! Did I mention that she’s funny?
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.
JG. My main writing spots are the desk in my bedroom, my living room couch, or my bed if it’s one of those kinds of days. Work happens amidst the shouts of my boys as they wrestle or is sometimes interrupted by my daughter to tell of her character development. (She’s studying to be an illustrator / storyteller). My husband turned the outside studio into an office for me, but he ended up using it. I find I like to be where the action is, and someone needs to stir the soup for dinner.
Q. Do you have any special rituals or quirks when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
JG. Very often, for new content / first drafts, I record the story then translate it into text and rework it afterwards. In this case, my ritual is to pace back and forth trying to gear up enough courage to speak the story. I’m never in the mood. First drafts are my nemesis. However, later drafts and edits are done with music through my sound-canceling headphones. And if I’m lucky, it’s with a cup of coffee and gluten-free cake at my elbow. (But not too close to my elbow. Cue the panic: have I emailed the latest draft to myself in case I lose everything?)
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
At a retreat
JG. I’ve lived in four continents. In Asia, it was in Taiwan, and I used to speak Mandarin pretty fluently. I now live outside of Paris and have French citizenship through marriage. My husband and I spent a year in East Africa as newlyweds on a humanitarian mission. And the other continent, of course, is North America where I grew up. I’m from Upstate New York. My dad was a symphony musician before retiring, so we went to the symphony a lot, and I think that’s pretty interesting.
Q. What tools do you begin with? Legal pad, spiral notebook, pencils, fountain pen, or do you go right to your keyboard?
JG. As I said, I use a recorder for first drafts. Other than that, I have colored notebooks for each book to note details that are important to the story. But mainly I use my computer. Writing longhand seems like a colossal waste of time to me, although I know it’s an important step for some writers. But I’m a Type-A, ‘get-er-done’ type of person, so I generally just dive right in.
Q. Do you have a set time each day (or night) to write?
JG. My preference is always to write in the morning. That way it’s done and I can feel accomplished and free the rest of the day. But writing competes for the morning slot with quiet times (I like to start my day with reading the Bible and praying), working out, grocery shopping, organizing my paper clip collection … basically anything that distracts me until the deadline is looming too near and I have no choice but to get to work.
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
JG. Um. Given my answer above, I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer that question. But, all right, I’ll give it a stab. Although I know a few authors whose story ideas flow fast and furious so that their fingers can’t keep up, for many authors it’s just work. You show up and you get your word count in, whether or not you feel like it. Eventually something will tug at your heart and you’ll be glad you’re telling that particular story. And you can always make it all shiny later on in the subsequent drafts. You just have to get the first draft out before you can get anywhere.
Q. What does it feel like to be an American writer, living in France, writing in an English, historic romance genre. (Special challenges? Funny stories?)
Join us next week for Part II of this entertaining Interview!
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately. Another self-help book for my readers and fans. Trying to share the practical, no-nonsense tips that others forget or don’t think to share. My approach being down-to-earth, pragmatic, and helpful (I hope). That which has grown out of my years…no… decades of creating books. Starting from scratch, like you, not knowing the first thing.
So I find myself weary after putting the final touches on this book, just newly released on Amazon.
I frequently go to Charles Bukowski for renewal, for refilling my tanks. Strange but true. So thumbing through my much read copy of The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain I came across this:
Did you miss my Interview with Bukowski?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Goutet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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NEWLY RELEASED! I’ve just finished some final editing on my latest “How To…” book and it is now available on Amazon.com and all other book outlets.
I’ve tried to create a handbook that will lead the writer, step-by-step through the self-publishing world. Topics such as picking the right size for your book to advice on choosing a title. Manuscript formatting tips to recommending self-publishing programs. From royalties to creating a dynamic cover for your book. And much, much more.
This book is available at your favorite book store and on-line.
My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews, February: Jennie Gautet To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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A sweet little story ideal for an easy read during the holiday season. If you’re a fan (which I am) of the Irish Country series, you’ll love this novella.
The village of Ballybucklebo turns out strong for the Christmas season. All the characters that readers have grown to love return in this book. Including a few new ones that are a complete surprise. The prodigal son returns after decades of being banished in Australia. A new young family (temporarily) in trouble arrives to shelter for awhile. Engagements and new marriages abound.
Fans of Patrick Taylor will thoroughly enjoy this book.
Did you miss my Interview with Patrick Taylor?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! August: Veronica Henry, October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Catherine Ryan Hyde’s brilliance as a story teller knows no bounds. In Boy Underground she creates wonderful characters that the reader loves
and cheers for by page three. Secondary characters shine with believability. While the reader may hate some of them, Hyde gives the reader some insight to why they are such terrible parents, friends, and classmates. Dross and riffraff of a small town.
While weaving this wonderful story about four high school misfits, Hyde brings forth a time in America’s history that should drip with shame for all of us. Woven through this fiction is non-fiction history about social norms and the betrayal of US citizens, on so many levels.
(Note: This is as much as I am willing to say about the story to avoid, as I do, spoiler alerts.)
This book is a must for your library; to read and read again and then to keep on the shelf that holds your most treasured books.
Now available at your favorite book store.
Did you see my Interview with Catherine Ryan Hyde?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! August: Veronica Henry, October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Q. What comes first to you? The Characters or the Situation?
MM. Both. The ideas for my novels usually start with a single disconnected scene. I imagine the characters in a specific situation. That scene helps me to understand them and their motivations, but it also helps me to understand the goal of my story as a whole.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing?
MM. At the best of times, yes, when the words are flowing and the story is unfolding without too much mental anguish on my part. It’s one of the primary reasons I write. Because of my spine injury, I suffer a lot from pain. When I’m lost in a story, I can forget the pain, at least temporarily. For that reason alone, writing is incredibly therapeutic for me.
Q. Are you working on something now or have a new release coming up? If so tell us about it.
MM. I’m really excited about my upcoming January release, The Siren of Sussex. Set in Victorian London, it features Ahmad Malik, the half-Indian tailor from my Parish Orphans of Devon series, and Evelyn Maltravers, a bluestocking equestrienne who hires him to make her daring riding habits. Siren is the first in a new series I’m writing for Berkley/Penguin Random House. It will be out on January 11th.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
MM. I wrote my first novel at thirteen. At eighteen, that novel got me my first literary agent. That novel didn’t sell, nor did the next one I wrote. After that, I took a very long break from writing fiction while I went to college and law school, traveled a bit, and did some other exciting things. It was only my spine injury that brought me back to writing fiction again.
Jet trying to find the delete button
Q. Do you think we will see, in our lifetime, the total demise of paper books?
MM. Gosh, I hope not. I love the look, feel, and smell of books—both old books and new ones.
Q. What makes a writer great?
MM. I love an author who can tell a compelling story that grabs hold of you from the start and won’t let you go. Beautiful prose is a bonus.
Q. and the all-important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?
MM. For me, the process involves lots of work and lots of writerly angst. It usually starts with me loving my characters and ends with me being sick to death of them. Seriously, by the time a book is finished, I’ve reread it so many times I can’t take it anymore. Hopefully, all those rereads and revisions result in a polished story that my readers are going to love.
Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?
MM. My own experience with a life altering injury has a huge impact on the stories I tell. I write a lot about people who are experiencing similar life altering circumstances—a devastating loss, a debilitating physical injury, or a change in fortune. My characters have to work through these situations, to adapt and grow in order to ultimately find happiness again.
Stella
Q. What’s your down time look like?
MM. I’m terrible at down time. My laptop is often open on my lap, even when my family is watching a movie. Shutting off technology and learning to relax is something I’m struggling to get better at.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?
A. Yes! I recently indulged the urge to write a Victorian gothic vampire novel. I had so much fun. Not sure I’d do it again, but I loved that I could—and that some of my readers even enjoyed it.
Q. Note to Self: (a life lesson you’ve learned.)
MM. Be kind, both to other people and to yourself.
Did you miss Part I of our interview with Mimi Matthews?
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My weekly BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! August: Veronica Henry, October: Life Coach, shaman, author, Jennifer Monahan, November: Susanne O’Leary, December: Mimi Mathews To receive my weekly posts sign up for my
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Available NOW
