Ruth Ann Nordin's Monthly Newsletter

I finally finished the first draft of Midnight Wedding!

Midnight Wedding is Book 2 in the Marriage by Obligation Series.

I started this one on May 9, 2022, and there were times when I wondered if I’d ever finish it. This puts me on track for a July release. I don’t have a date yet but should by the time July rolls around. This book was a lot of fun to write. The characters had a wonderful dynamic. This book is one of my personal favorites.

I am currently working on the rest of the Marriage by Obligation Series. Here is the complete series:

Book 5 To Go Here

I believe I’m a little over halfway into The Earl’s Jilted Bride.

Progress with all of my books have been slow. I’ve finally admitted I have burnout and need to go slower than I have in the past. Last year wasn’t all that fast, but I was still in denial about the burnout so I assumed I was losing interest in writing. To a point, I was. Burnout does dampen enthusiasm for writing. But the denial aspect put a strange slant on things. Once I admitted I was in burnout and gave myself permission to write only when I felt like it, I started to get my enthusiasm back. Using a ghostwriter or AI to help write stories are options writers have if they need them, but I decided I wanted to keep writing everything myself. I’m selfish when it comes to my stories. I want them to be done only by me. This is why co-writing didn’t work out for me in the past. You have to be able to let things go when you co-write. I like having full control of the story. Otherwise, I feel like something is missing from it.

So anyway, I believe I got up to 37,000 words in this one earlier this week. Most of the time, I only get 1000 words in this story a week. I’m happy with it, though, and that’s what matters. I have no idea when I’ll finish the first draft. I have to finish the first draft to pinpoint a release date. I expect it to be out before the end of the year.

Worth the Risk is almost done.

This one is a shorter story than The Earl’s Jilted Bride. I’m either at 30,000 words or very close to it. A major scene just happened that is going to lead to the conclusion of the story, but I think I have about 10,000 words left to go. I don’t plot, so it’s hard to tell the exact number of scenes left. I pretty much go wherever the story takes me, and there’s not much else to do to tie things up. I think I’ll finish the first draft of this one before The Earl’s Jilted Bride. However, since this is Book 4 (and The Earl’s Jilted Bride is Book 3), I can’t get this out until after Book 3 is out. Given how slow I’m writing, I also need to give myself some time between releasing Book 3 and Book 4. I haven’t decided how much time yet. That all depends on the month that The Earl’s Jilted Bride will come out.

Anyone But You (Book 5)

I haven’t had time to make a cover for this yet, but this will be the next book in this series. I think it’ll wrap the series up. I got the idea for it while writing Midnight Wedding. While writing the end for Midnight Wedding, I realized the idea would be best placed in this series. (I was originally only going to have four books.)

Will I ever go back to writing historical western romances?

So this is a question I’ve gotten. I intend to write another historical western romance. The problem is that I don’t have a story idea that gets me all excited about writing it in this particular genre. I know that some authors can be told what to write and produce it, but I’m not one of them. Even if someone gave me a plot idea, that doesn’t mean I can write it. I have to want to write it. At the moment, the one idea I have outside of a Regency is for a contemporary romance (of all things), and I’m not sure I want to write contemporary anymore. That’s not my niche. I think this is a good sign, though. For the past year, I haven’t had any new ideas outside of the Marriage by Obligation Series. My mind has been a complete blank. I’m sure it’s because of the burnout I’ve been going through. In time, I’m sure something will grab attention in the historical western setting. Once I start getting ideas just coming to me without thinking about it, the creative well starts to fill up.

That’s all I can think of for now. I hope everyone has a great June!

I’m happy to say that I’m on time for getting this newsletter out. 😀 I wanted to wait until Secret Admirer was available before posting it so that the links are live and ready to go.

Here is the official description:

Lady Rachel, the sister of the very wealthy and highly esteemed Duke of Creighton, has entered her first Season with great anticipation. She loves wearing beautiful gowns. She loves talking to her friends. She loves going to balls and meeting gentlemen. This is going to be the most wonderful time of her life. When she starts receiving missives from a secret admirer, it turns out the Season is even better than she imagined. What lady, after all, can resist the appeal of a mysterious stranger expressing his deep and abiding love in her?

She sets out to enlist the help of an unlikely ally to find out who her secret admirer is. She knows it’s not appropriate to be discussing such personal information with the butler, but he is the only one she trusts to not tell anyone. Little does she realize the very one she’s confiding in is the very one she’s looking for. And there’s no way he’s telling her the truth since her brother, and the rest of London, would never approve the match.

If interested, here is where you can find it:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo (included in Plus)

Apple

Smashwords

Google Play (ebook)

Google Play (AI narrated audiobook)

***

Secret Admirer sets up the other books that will appear in the Marriage by Obligation Series. So the main characters that show up in Midnight Wedding (Book 2), The Earl’s Jilted Bride (Book 3), and Worth the Risk (Book 4) will show up in Secret Admirer.

***

Midnight Wedding is (finally) almost done!

I enjoy every book I write, but this is one I have had a lot of fun with. There is some serious subject matter in it. It has its dark, gothic moments. But it also has some humor, and it’s the humor that helps to balance out the darker tones so it doesn’t get too heavy.

What makes a book enjoyable to me are the characters’ personalities and how those personalities work together. This one has a wonderful character dynamic. You have your superstitious hero and a heroine’s brother who doesn’t give into superstitions and argues with the hero a lot. The heroine has a second brother, but he doesn’t argue with the hero like the other brother does. He does, however, keep after the hero to help fix things around the estate. The heroine is stuck in the middle of all of this. I’d say she’s the peacekeeper of the group. It’s the group dynamic that makes this one of my favorites. Ethan (Lord Edon) and Christopher (Mr. Robinson) are two of my favorite Regency characters because of their personalities, and I love it whenever they conflict with Lord Steinbeck or Lord Roderick. There’s something about bickering characters that make me chuckle. 😀

Anyway, I am at the point in Midnight Wedding where I’m coming up to the climax. I am not exactly sure how many chapters I have left. I already know what will happen and how things will be resolved. It’s just a matter of writing it down. My goal is to have the first draft done by the end of this month. I am hoping I can make it. I’d love to get this book out in July, but it might be August. It all depends on my real life schedule and when my editor can get the edits done.

***

I am over halfway done with The Earl’s Jilted Bride

But I am not sure how much I have left.

Something crucial needs to happen in this book. I don’t want to spoil it by saying what, but before I can get there, I need the hero to wonder if the heroine is having an affair. You see, the hero’s first wife had an affair, so the child she had wasn’t his. I decided to make this child a girl. I would rather have his heir be his real child. His first wife died, and he is raising this girl as his own. He has hidden this scandal from society so no one knows the truth. But he is mindful of the transgression, and he is worried that the heroine will have an affair, too. The heroine won’t, of course, but I have had to set it up so that he worries about it. The heroine is deeply in love with the hero. At the moment, I am writing through that part of the story because it establishes the foundation for their relationship, and you need that foundation for the second part of the story to matter. If I had to guess, I’d say that by the end of the May, I should be ready to move to the second part.

I am in the last 1/4 of Worth the Risk

Worth the Risk is shorter than Midnight Wedding and The Earl’s Jilted Bride, so I’m closer to the end of this story than I am in The Earl’s Jilted Bride. The hiccup is that this is Book 4, and when I write, I write Book 2 first, Book 3 second, and Book 4 third. Depending on how much writing time I have, I don’t always get to this book. But that’s okay because it’s Book 4. I have more time to work on it.

The hero of this story is sickly. He isn’t “deathly” sick, but his immune system is weaker than other people’s, so he’s had to pretty much live in a world of isolation his entire life. His older brother worries about him and has insisted he leave London to stay at the country estate. That way, his brother will know he’s safe. Well, while in London (during The Earl’s Jilted Bride), the hero and heroine fall in love. The heroine follows him out to the estate, and they marry. This is causing the hero’s brother to fear for the hero’s life. I won’t say more than that, but I’m at the point where the brother is at the estate, and he’s not happy. To be fair to the brother, he is sincerely worried about the hero. His motives are not to hurt the hero. He believes he is going to help him. I’m not exactly sure how things will be resolved yet. I’ll have to write my way through it.

***

A look into the future.

At the moment, I don’t have an idea for a historical western romance. I have inklings, but there’s nothing that excites me enough to write it. Maybe something will pop up between now and when I finish Midnight Wedding. I like to work on three books at a time. If I don’t have a historical western romance in mind by then, I will start on a new Regency series. I already have a plot for it and the characters I’ll put in place. The heroine in Midnight Wedding has two brothers. I have the plot ready for the oldest brother. He is the one who argues with the hero a lot. He’s more of a quirky character. For example, he’s very particular about his books and can remember the exact order he puts them in. Anyway, he ruined a lady’s reputation by gossiping about her, and to make things right, he’ll marry her. The lady won’t be thrilled with him, so that will make this a fun book to write. I don’t have a title for this one yet, and I don’t have a series title yet. If I can’t come up with a historical western romance idea, I’ll go with this one when I am done with Midnight Wedding.

I am not sure when The Earl’s Jilted Bride and Worth the Risk will be out, but my goal is to have them out this year.

I hope everyone has a great May!

First off, I didn’t realize I hadn’t made a post over here since January. I can’t believe it. I thought I did one in March. Seconds, I made a mistake and made the post intended for this blog on my other author blog. Instead of redoing the whole post, I’m just going to link to it here. Life has been so crazy around my place.

I’m sorry to do it this way. I hope next month that I’ll remember to make the post over here.

https://ruthannnordinauthorblog.com/2023/04/07/april-2023-newsletter/

I’m back! 😀

The good news is that I got my writing enthusiasm again. I didn’t realize it at the time, but being away from Omaha, Nebraska was slowly ruining my creative spirit. I didn’t think where you live can have an impact on your desire to write. Apparently, it does. Or, at least it does for me. I didn’t mention anything publicly, but I had been planning to make the Marriage by Obligation Series the last books I was going to publish. My desire to write had been slowly declining since I moved to Montana in 2015. Each year was harder than the last. Montana is a great place for some people, but it’s not great for me. I am in the process of moving back to Omaha, and I’ve already felt the desire to write returning. I’m looking forward to correcting the mistake I made in 2015. I hate to say it, but I just wasn’t happy in Montana. To be creative, you need to be in the right mindset. This was a real learning experience for me.

With that aside, here’s what I have going on…

Heiress of Misfortune is due out January 7!

This is the last book in the Marriage by Necessity Series.

I introduced Mr. Byron Tumilson in A Perilous Marriage. Heiress of Misfortune is his romance.

Here’s what it’s about:

When Mr. Byron Tumilson was hired to protect Lady Eleanor from the person who is trying to kill her, the last thing he expected was to play the role of her suitor. But, as it turns out, that’s exactly what her father, the Duke of Dormondton, requires him to do. Her father wants her to have a successful first Season, and no one has shown any interest in her. He is convinced that if Byron pretends to be in love with her, then she’ll attract real suitors.

So Byron is stuck attending boring balls and lavish dinner parties under the guise of being a wealthy gentleman. As if that isn’t painful enough, he needs to find a way to make this wallflower of a lady into someone gentlemen will actually desire. At least, that’s what he most wants until Lady Eleanor pretties herself up and learns how to flirt. Then he starts to realize he’s fallen in love with her, and that’s the worst thing a nobody like him could do with a fine noble lady.

It’s on pre-order. I’ll post the links below. (It’ll be live on January 7.)

I would make a post on the 7th, but I’ll be on the road to Omaha.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Smashwords

Google Play (ebook)

Google Play (AI narrated audiobook)

Radish (serialized episode form)

***

Secret Admirer starts the Marriage by Obligation Series!

I’m really excited by the books I have in this series. I am already done with Secret Admirer but can’t get to finishing up the edits and such until I settle into Omaha.

I don’t know if any of you have already pre-ordered this. If you haven’t, please don’t. Smashwords and Draft2Digital merged in 2022, and they are still working on the merger. I recently found out that authors are encouraged to go directly to Draft2Digital instead of using Smashwords’ dashboard to publish books. Since I expect Secret Admirer to be Book 1 in a 5 book series, I want to make sure it’s in the right place. I emailed them to ask if I should remove my pre-order of Secret Admirer from the Smashwords dashboard and then republish it over on the Draft2Digital dashboard. I want all of the books in this series to link up properly. I’ll update everyone about this book next month.

I plan to publish this in March.

***

Midnight Wedding (Marriage by Obligation Series: Book 2) is almost done!

I’m going to miss this book when it’s over. It’s been one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever written. (I enjoy all of my books, but this one has been one of my personal favorites.) It combines humor, gothic elements, and spice. All things I love in a Regency romance. This is Lord Quinton’s story. I introduced his character in The Cursed Earl, though I mentioned him in A Perilous Marriage. I’ll talk more about this in the future.

I plan to publish this in May. *fingers crossed*

***

I’m at least halfway done with The Earl’s Jilted Bride (Marriage by Obligation Series: Book 3)

This one features two emotionally scarred main characters who need each other. I don’t believe I’ve done a setup quite like this before. The hero is a widower who had a terrible first marriage. His wife was cold in, and out, of bed. Worse, the child she had wasn’t his. He is raising the child as his own to avoid bringing scandal to the girl. He needs to marry again to give the girl a mother. The heroine was betrothed to a gentleman who resented the betrothal–and her. Shortly before she was supposed to marry the duke, she received word he committed suicide. That frees her up to marry the hero of this story.

***

Worth the Risk (Marriage by Obligation Series: Book 4) is almost done!

This one turned out to be shorter than I expected. Typically, my stories are between 50,000 to 60,000 words, but this is going to be about 30,000 (more or less), but if a story is only meant to be about 30,000 words, I’ll make it 30,000 words. There’s no point in putting in a bunch of filler that ends up drawing a story out longer than it should be. That will make a book boring to read.

This story features Mr. Reuben St. George. I introduced Reuben in If It Takes a Scandal. He’s Lord Durrant’s younger brother. In this book, he is all grown up and ready for a wife.

***

I’ll end the post here. I hope everyone has a great 2023!

Heiress of Misfortune’s release has been moved to January

I was originally going to publish this in October, but honestly, I’d rather wait for January. Things are just too chaotic right now to get this pushed through with the editor, formatted, uploaded, etc. I’d rather take my time and get to this when things settle down around here.

I’m putting Secret Admirer on hold.

I don’t know if I’ll get back to this or not. It really depends on how things go. Due to personal circumstances, Heiress of Misfortune might be my last book.

***

Radish and Kobo

I don’t expect to do another monthly newsletter until January when Heiress of Misfortune is out. That doesn’t mean, however, that I won’t be busy. I still have a lot of things to catch up on that need to get done.

I’ll finish putting my stories on Radish, and I’ll be putting AI audiobooks on Kobo. These are things that are going to take a lot of time to do. These things have been hanging over my head for months, and I’m tired of not getting to them. I hate having unfinished tasks. So I’ll be focusing on those things. 😀

I hope everyone has a great rest of the year!

Daisy’s Prince Charming is Now Available!

I wanted to wait until I had Daisy’s Prince Charming up on audiobook in the Kobo store before making this post. I didn’t get around to uploading the audio files until the 4th. Now that everything has been uploaded, I can announce that this book is now available.

This book completes the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series.

Here is the description:

Daisy’s always envisioned marrying a tall, dark, handsome man with literary prowess who appreciates classical music. Fate, however, has other ideas when she meets Otis Mills while visiting a friend in Montana. Otis is nothing like she envisioned. He’s a blond, short ranch hand who never reads books or listens to fine music.

Aware that she must be polite with her mother nearby, Daisy gently rejects Otis’ courtship. Or, at least she thinks she does. To her horror, Otis follows her all the way back to Nebraska. Not only does he believe she wants to marry him, but her parents decide it’s a great idea if she marries him, too.

This is a romantic comedy where Daisy learns that behind every frog is a prince.

If interested, here is where you can find it:

For the Ebook version:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Google Play

Smashwords

Scribd

Radish

Payhip

For the Audiobook version:

(The audiobook is narrated by AI.)

Google Play

Kobo

***

I’m happy to announce that I have two books done. They still need an editor, and I’m not sure when the release dates will be. I am planning to get Heiress of Misfortune out before the end of the year. I am not sure about Secret Admirer yet.

Heiress of Misfortune wraps up the Marriage by Necessity Series.

***

Secret Admirer is the beginning of a new series. At the moment, I am planning on writing these as soon as I’m done sending Secret Admirer to the editor. The summer has been so hectic with a bunch of running around getting things done for the kids that I can’t guarantee anything. Also, depending on how things go in the US, I may decide not to publish this book and the following books in the series. I see no point in publishing a Book 1 if I can’t follow it up with the rest of the series.

***

I hope everyone is able to have a great August!

I figured since Suitable for Marriage came out in the middle of May, I’d make this a May and June Newsletter. 🙂

An update for Radish

Here are some more books I uploaded over there if you happen to be on Radish. (These are not in any particular order.)

Loving Eliza – Book 1 of South Dakota Series (historical western)

A Bride for Tom – Book 2 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

A Husband for Margaret – Book 3 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

Bid for a Bride – Book 2 of South Dakota Series (historical western)

Bride of Second Chances – Book 3 of South Dakota Series (historical western)

Her Heart’s Desire – Book 1 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

The Wrong Husband – Book 5 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

Married In Haste – Book 2 of Marriage by Fate Series (Regency)

Shotgun Groom – Book 6 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

The Marriage Contract – Book 1 of Marriage by Fairytale Series (Regency)

Suitable for Marriage – Book 3 of Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series (historical western)

***

Suitable for Marriage is Now Available!

Here are all of the books in the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series:

I finally came up with the book description. 🙂

Erin Larson has a problem that’s been following her since she was a child: Alex Matthews. For a reason she can’t explain, Alex has convinced himself that they will end up getting married. But she’d rather go through town in nothing but her chemise and petticoats before that happens.

With her two older sisters married, it’s her turn to find a husband. As long as Alex is lingering around, she’s not going to find the man of her dreams. What she needs is to find another young lady for Alex to turn his attention to. Then, and only then, will she be free.

Alex goes along with this little matchmaking scheme, knowing full well that if he plays his cards right, he’ll finally succeed in convincing Erin that they’re a perfect match.

*This is a cute romantic comedy.

If interested, here is where you can find this:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo (also in Kobo Plus)

Apple

Smashwords

Google Play

Scribd

Radish (comes out in episodes)

***

Daisy’s book is due out next!

I expect this out in July, but it’s still too early to tell. I have to give this to my editor who will work over it. Then I can format it up and upload it for pre-order. At that time, I’ll have a release date.

This is the last book in the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series.

***

I’m pushing this book’s release month back.

This book is turning out longer than I expected. I thought I was going to wrap this up at 60,000 words, but I’m almost there, and I have more to write. I don’t want to rush finishing it. If I rush it, it’ll feel forced, and the story will suffer for it. I decided to swap this book’s release month with Daisy’s Prince Charming since that book is almost done.

I’m not exactly sure when I’ll ready to publish this. Things are so hectic around my house that it’s hard to pin down any set dates. I should have a better idea of what the release month will be when I post my July newsletter.

***

At the moment, this is still set for a September release.

I have this set for a September release at the moment, but that could change. I’ll see how this story progresses. Like Heiress of Misfortune, I should have a better idea of when this will be out when I write my July newsletter.

***

Because my eyes are giving me problems, I’m going to wrap this post up. I hope everyone is going to have a good beginning of the summer!

An update about Radish

I don’t know if anyone reading this reads on the Radish app, but just in case, I’m going to link to each story I have posted there so far.

Marriage by Scandal Series (all 4 books: The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, A Most Unsuitable Earl, His Reluctant Lady, and The Earl’s Scandalous Wife) – Regency

The Mail Order Bride’s Deception (this is completed) – historical western; standalone

Wagon Trail Bride (this is completed) – Book 1 of Pioneer Series (historical western)

The Marriage Agreement (this is completed) – Book 2 of Pioneer Series (historical western)

Groom for Hire (this is completed) – Book 3 of Pioneer Series (historical western)

Forced Into Marriage (this is completed) – Book 4 of Pioneer Series (historical western)

Breaking the Rules (this is completed) – Book 1 of Marriage by Design Series (Regency)

Nobody’s Fool (this is completed) – Book 2 of Marriage by Design Series (Regency)

A Deceptive Wager (this is completed) – Book 3 of Marriage by Design Series (Regency)

The Outlaw’s Bride – Book 1 of Wyoming Series (historical western)

The Rancher’s Bride – Book 2 of Wyoming Series (historical western)

The Fugitive’s Bride – Book 3 of Wyoming Series (historical western)

The Loner’s Bride – Book 4 of Wyoming Series (historical western)

Marriage by Deceit Series (all 4 books: The Earl’s Secret Bargain, Love Lessons with the Duke, Ruined by the Earl, and The Earl’s Stolen Bride) – Regency

His Convenient Wife – standalone; historical western

Mitch’s Win – Book 1 of Montana Collection (historical western)

Boaz’s Wager – Book 2 of Montana Collection (historical western)

Patty’s Gamble – Book 3 of Montana Collection (historical western)

Shane’s Deal – Book 4 of Montana Collection (historical western)

Her Counterfeit Husband – standalone; Regency

His Wicked Lady – Book 1 of Marriage by Arrangement (Regency)

Her Devilish Marquess – Book 2 of Marriage by Arrangement (Regency)

The Earl’s Wallflower Bride – Book 3 of Marriage by Arrangement (Regency)

Marriage by Bargain Series (all 4 books; The Viscount’s Runaway Bride, The Rake’s Vow, Taming the Viscountess, and If It Takes a Scandal) – Regency

The Convenient Mail Order Bride – Book 1 of Chance at Love Series (historical western)

The Mistaken Mail Order Bride – Book 2 of Chance at Love Series (historical western)

The Accidental Mail Order Bride – Book 3 of Chance at Love Series (historical western)

The Bargain Mail Order Bride – Book 4 of Chance at Love Series (historical western)

Eye of the Beholder – Book 4 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

Catching Kent – standalone; historical western

The Reclusive Earl – Book 1 of Marriage by Fate Series (Regency)

His Redeeming Bride – Book 8 of Nebraska Series (historical western)

***

As I was linking to all of those books I spent putting up on Radish last month, I realized why I wasn’t able to get much written in March. I had assumed all of the errands I’d been stuck with were to blame, but now I’m thinking it was uploading all of those stories. It takes a lot more time to get books uploaded (esp. when you have to break them into episodes) than I thought. If nothing else, writing this blog post was an eye-opening experience. 🙂

Now to other things….

The Loner’s Bride is out

(This is Book 4 in the Wyoming Series)

I was supposed to announce it over here when it released, but due to being swamped with the Radish thing, I forgot to do it. I don’t know who has gotten this book or yet (or even if anyone reading this is interested), so I’ll give the description and links below.

Description:

Katie Jackson is all grown up, and it’s time for her to find a husband. Though the young men have been coming by the orphanage where she is working, none of them catches her fancy. They all seem like they need to do a lot more growing up before they’re ready for the responsibilities of a wife and children. They’re all more like little brothers than serious prospects for marriage.

If only they were more like Jeremiah Barlow who happens to be running the orphanage. He’s perfect. Mature, kind, and gentle. Best of all, she’s attracted to him in a way she’s never been attracted to anyone before.

It’s not long before Jeremiah becomes aware of Katie’s interest in him. And worse, he’s just as interested in her. But it would never work. He’s twice her age. His best days are behind him.

Katie, however, is not one to give up. When she wants something badly enough, she’ll move heaven and earth to get it. And Jeremiah is on her list.

Where you can find it:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Google Play

Smashwords

Scribd

Radish

Payhip

***

Suitable for Marriage is set for May

I’m done uploading the pre-order. It’s due out May 15. I’ll talk more about this next month. I already used up a lot of space in this blog with those Radish links.

A note to those of you who pre-order books on Amazon: there is currently a glitch in the Amazon system where Amazon is removing pre-ordered books. I don’t know why it’s happening, but I’ve come across a few authors who have been affected by this. Basically, Amazon is removing the books that they have up on pre-order. Not all authors are hit with this glitch, but some are. My recommendation is to hold off on pre-ordering Suitable for Marriage. If you want to pre-order it on Amazon, that’s fine. I just want you to be aware that the glitch might cause some issues. And these issues are outside of my control.

Books I’m currently writing:

I made very little progress in these due to uploading books to Radish. This month, I’m going to just work on getting 1-2 books a week up on Radish. That way I should have time to write. As it was, I was uploading 1-2 books a day over there, and that’s how I spent so much time over there.

But here we are with my current works-in-progress and where things stand right now:

I am about halfway into this one. (I hit the 30,000 word mark yesterday.) It looks like this book will be over the 60,000-word mark. I’m not sure how long it’ll be. I have figured out who the villain is. I wasn’t sure at first, but now I know. However, the original idea I had on how the hero and heroine end up getting married has changed, and since that has changed, the villain’s actions will end up changing as a result. So the villain will be targeting someone else instead of the person I originally slotted to be the target. I like it when things change on me like that. It makes the story more interesting. 😉

I’m at the 20,000 mark on this, which puts me probably in the 1/3 range, depending on how long this turns out to be. I suspect this will end up at about 50,000 words given how things are progressing so far. Daisy has been talked into marrying someone she deems “frog”, but in the end, she’ll realize he’s a “prince”. This story is cute and funny. I expect things to get even funnier once her sisters find out about the marriage.

I think I’m around the 1/3 part of this one, too. I’m currently at 17,500 words, which is basically where the stage is “set” to get ready for some really interesting stuff. The heroine doesn’t know her admirer is the butler yet. I’m not sure when she’ll find out, but I expect it to happen within the next couple of chapters.

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I hope everyone is able to have an enjoyable April!

Radish

I was accepted to be a writer on the serialized fiction app called Radish. Here is my page: https://radish.app.link/IjkVqGci3nb I think this link will allow you to follow me to get notifications when I have new episodes of my books out. I’m still learning how this thing works.

I’m in the process of posting my stories over there. As of today (March 1), I have a few romances already uploaded and queued to be released. Each episode (which is roughly 1 chapter) is set to be released every day.

The Regencies:

I had a hard time deciding how to handle the Story and Season part of this, but after some debate, I decided to make an entire Regency series a “story” and then break up the books into seasons. I did this because the Regency series are pretty much intertwined together. So this is how things will look on Radish for the Marriage by Scandal series.

     

Story: Marriage by Scandal

• Season 1: The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife
• Season 2: A Most Unsuitable Earl
• Season 3: His Reluctant Lady
• Season 4: The Earl’s Scandalous Wife

A new “episode” in the Marriage by Scandal story is set to publish every day. Right now there are two episodes of The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife up. Then when The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife is done, the next day will start with A Most Unsuitable Earl. And on it goes until the Marriage by Scandal is completed.

Here is the link for it: https://radish.app.link/7Ipk5qUg3nb. I hope that works, but you might need the app to access it. I got the app from Apple on my iPhone.

Additional note: All of my Regencies that are in a series will be handled this way. My two standalone Regencies (Her Counterfeit Husband and An Earl In Time) will be their own stories.

The historical westerns:

The Larson books (my main family that I love to spend time with) are spread out across multiple series, so I’m going to do these as standalone stories that will only have 1 Season. That is the best way I can think of to handle those since they aren’t a neat and tidy “fit” for multiple seasons.

Wagon Trail Bride is Richard Larson’s romance. I posted this as a free story, so you shouldn’t need any coins for this one. I scheduled a new episode to come out every day. Here’s the link: https://radish.app.link/dauJ1Z1g3nb

As for standalone historical westerns, I do have a few. I have The Mail Order Bride’s Deception in queue right now. Here’s the link: https://radish.app.link/BheXke0g3nb

Episodes for Wagon Trail Bride and The Mail Order Bride’s Deception will start coming out either later today or tomorrow.

Additional note: I am in the process of putting up more books. I have to break everything into episodes, so it takes some time. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

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The Loner’s Bride is due out March 13

Since I rambled on so much about Radish, I’ll do a special post when this book is out. 🙂 So I’ll be doing another post around the middle of this month. Note: if anyone wants a discount, I’ll be adding a link to Payhip in that post.

I’m still waiting to get these two books from the editor:

 

So there’s nothing to report here.

I’m 25,000 words into this one

The heroins in this one isn’t clumsy like I originally planned. I tried fitting that angle in somewhere into the book, but it’s not working out. So I had to go in another direction to explain why her father hired a Runner to see if someone is trying to kill her. I still have some things to work out, but I think it’s coming together as it’s supposed to.

The fun part was having the Duchess of Ashbourne (from Love Lessons with the Duke) changing her from a shy wallflower into an enticing lady. The hero is going to start to having trouble keeping things platonic. 😉 At the moment, she doesn’t like him all that much, so it’s easy for her to resist him.

I’m 17,000 words into Daisy’s book

This is turning into a really cute comedy. Otis (our hero) has arrived, unannounced, to Omaha with the intention of marrying Daisy. He sincerely assumes Daisy wants to marry him, so he left Montana to be with her. Daisy had NO idea that a simple compliment she made while visiting Eva Conneally (from Boaz’s Wager) led Otis to believe she was in love with him. So she is all flustered and doesn’t know what to do. Otis has already convinced her parents (Tom and Jessica Larson) that he would make Daisy a good husband, and they’re currently getting her ready for the wedding. This one has me chuckling while I’m writing.

I have a feeling Daisy’s three sisters (Nelly, Patricia, and Erin) will turn Otis from a scruffy rancher into the kind of prince Daisy can’t help but fall in love with. This is a makeover romance where the man (instead of the woman) needs to be more attractive in order to win the heart of the love interest.

I’m about 12,000 words in Secret Admirer

This one is a little slow going. I’m having to research the tasks a butler performs while writing this because the hero is a butler. This is a servant and noble lady romance. Lady Rachel has received a missive from a secret admirer (she doesn’t know it’s the butler) and has enlisted his help to find the admirer. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to finding out how events will unfold. At the moment, the butler is on “lookout” for this admirer at the ball her brother’s hosting. I have no idea what will happen, but I’m thinking he’ll need to come up with a potential gentleman to tell her is the admirer.

I hope everyone has a great March!

First, I have these three books in the finishing stages.

Making a Realistic Publishing Schedule is for writers. I don’t know if I mentioned if before on this blog or not, but if you’re a writer who has trouble with creating a publishing schedule, I hope this will help you. It’s about 7,000 words long. I’m not sure when this will be out. Maybe this month or the next.

The Loner’s Bride has just finished through the editing process. All I have to do now is format it and upload it. It’ll be out March 13.

Suitable for Marriage still needs the final edits. It’ll be out May 15.

The Meant to Be Audiobook is Slowly Going Up on You Tube, Rumble, and Bitchute

I narrated this one. This has been slow going in uploading each chapter because it takes a few hours to get one chapter up on You Tube, another few hours to get one chapter up on Rumble, and so on. That’s why I can’t do the whole entire book quickly. I am going to post all 18 chapters. I modified it to fit a PG 13 rating.

Making audio files takes a lot of time and work, so I can’t do this kind of thing often. I need to make sure I have time to write new books. But since I have this done, I decided to get it on social media.

You can check for this book on these places:

You Tube

Rumble

Bitchute (I’m a little behind on Bitchute)

I do have it for sale on various retailers, but I thought it would be fun to share it on social media, too.

I’ll Be Doing More on Booksprout

Here’s my Booksprout page.

I have put up a couple of ARCs there in the past, but I never really did much with it. They are making some exciting changes over there, so I’m going to be more engaged there.

For anyone who hasn’t gotten The Cursed Earl yet, I did recently post the ARC for it over there. You have to leave an honest review on one of these sites: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play/Books, Apple, Smashwords, Bookbub, OR Goodreads.

I already have 20 takers on the ARC, so I paid for a plan that will allow me to give 30 more ARCs. This is a “first come first serve” kind of thing.

Here is the link to the ARC on Booksprout!

I plan to put The Loner’s Bride and Suitable for Marriage up when it becomes available.

I’m working on a PDF of my entire book list.

I have been getting questions about which character shows up in which book. I have series that overlap, and I like bringing in past characters. During the course of this month, I plan to work on this list. I am hoping to have it ready in March. I’ll try to remember to post that here in this blog. If I forget, please remind me. I try to keep up with things, but with so much going on, I do forget stuff from time to time. 🙂

I’m still working on these three books:

Daisy Larson finally has a cover for her romance. That book will wrap up the Husbands for the Larson Sisters Series. I’m going to miss spending time with Tom and Jessica Larson’s four daughters. Each of their books have been so funny. I love the romantic comedies.

I’m not sure if Heiress of Misfortune will be funny or not. There is a potential for it to be funny, but only time will tell how things will play out. Secret Admirer is probably going to be more serious, but it will be fun to bring in a butler as the hero.

I hope everyone has a great February!