tagged with: romance novel

Ask any writer what is the hardest part about writing or what they least like about writing and, chances are, they will say editing. A Google search turned up this definition: Editing is a process that involves revising the content, organization, grammar, and presentation of a piece of writing. The purpose of editing is to ensure that your ideas are presented to your reader as clearly as possible. 

The last sentence of that paragraph really caught my attention. I have just completed the first draft of the sequel to Making Music Together and am about to embark on this most dreaded of the writing process — editing. But before I begin, I’m taking a few weeks off—maybe three or four— not just to R&R but to allow my brain to rewire itself so that when I go back to the script I will see it with fresh eyes. 

This will ensure that “my ideas are presented to my reader as clearly as possible.”  It will do me and my readers no good if I attempt to revise the book while my mind is still saturated with all the mistakes —not just grammatical errors, there is software to help with that—but consistency, timelines, plot holes, and the myriad of other cringe-worthy mistakes we authors make when the ideas are flowing too fast to process them properly. 

During these few weeks, I will read a book I have been meaning to read for a long time, I will do some ads for Making Music Together, just to keep it before my readers’ eyes, and prepare me for the task ahead. Then before I plunge into editing, I’m going to do something I learned about recently—

I’m going to write the book description. 

Isn’t that written last, you ask? That’s how I always did it, but a course I took recently showed me that writing the book description first serves as a broad outline or a guide to ensure that my plot follows it. Since I’m a panster and not a plotter, I found this lesson helpful. My next step will be (deep breath)

Read the entire book

While I’m reading, I’ll refer to my description and make notes on things that should be cut, added to, moved around or whatever.

With that done, I’ll make an outline of each chapter. 

While I’m not comfortable with outlining, I think an outline will help show up anything that’s out of place or is simply not working. 

Next step is to go back to my research notes and make sure my facts are accurate —medical, legal, musical, as well as timelines. 

When I’m satisfied, I’ll reread the book, fixing all the big issues—plot structure, setting, character development, and other elements that come to my notice. I didn’t mention grammar and the reason for that is I tend to have an eagle eye for grammatical errors and typos, but if I overlook any, these will be taken care of in the next step:

Send to my critique group

This group of fine, talented ladies has been an invaluable help to me over the years, and I never submit anything before having it pass the Sharpened Pencils test. I thank God for them every day. Notice I didn’t mention the title of book 2, as that, and my cover, will be vetted by my group.

So, there it is. The above is a broad outline of how I plan to edit the second draft of my book. I may not follow it slavishly. I may see the need to deviate in a few places, but by writing this post, I have a guide to follow that will ensure that “my ideas are presented to my reader as clearly as possible” and the thought of editing seems less daunting.

 

Angela is a blogger and author of Christian women’s fiction and Christian romance. Her latest release is Making Music Together.

I am pleased to present the cover of my soon-to-be-released novel Making Music Together. This book had a long gestation period. It started out as a novella and evolved into a full-length romance novel. Making Music Together is a Christian romance that focuses on a love triangle between Mark the protagonist, Trudy the love of his life, and Abigail, his boss’s daughter who will do anything to win his heart.

If you enjoy emotional, page-turning, clean romantic fiction, you must get your hands on a copy of Making Music Together while it’s still on preorder. It will burn your soul.

To learn more about my books and other special offers, please subscribe to this newsletter by filling in the form below.

I hope you enjoyed reading how my characters celebrate Christmas on the island of Trinidad. If you haven’t read the post yet, you can get it here.

Today’s post is a short one to inform you that In the Promised Land, book 3 of the Egypt trilogy goes on sale from tomorrow. This book, which I like to call a modern-day Sound of Music, will make a perfect gift for yourself or someone this Christmas.

Here’s a short description:

Marva and June are two sisters who have come out of an abusive childhood and are now on the way to achieving their dreams. Marva is a nun at a school for delinquent girls; June is a law student. All seems to be going well for them, until their adoptive father is killed in a Muslim coup. Marva, always the strong, dependable one struggles to help the family cope with this and other unexpected crises. But she finds herself weakening. When her childhood friend, who has always had a romantic interest in her, reaches out to her, Marva finds herself torn between her love for him and her commitment to God. Romance, faith and intrigue are all intertwined in this gripping novel.

If you love nun’s stories, you would want to get your copy of In the Promised Land now while it’s on sale.

You can also read In the Promised Land free on Kindle Unlimited. Whatever medium you choose, I, and other readers, would appreciate it if you would leave a review on Amazon. Thank you and Merry Christmas!


Today, my spotlight falls on Chance For Rain, a gripping women's fiction by an amazing author, Tricia Downing. Enter now to win a copy of this book and a gift card.

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Fiction—Romance, Women’s Fiction
Date Published: August 2018
Publisher: Front Street Press
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Elite athlete Rainey Abbott is an intense competitor on the outside, but inside, she feels a daunting apprehension about her chances of finding true love. Her life as a downhill skier and race car driver keeps her on the edge, but her love life is stuck in neutral. A tragedy from her past has left her feeling insecure and unlovable.
Now that she’s in her thirties, Rainey’s best friend Natalie insists she take a leap and try online dating. Rainey connects with brian85 and becomes cautiously hopeful as a natural attraction grows between them. Fearful a face to face meeting could ruin the magic, Rainey enlists Natalie to scheme up an encounter between the two where Brian is unaware he is meeting his online mystery woman. Rainey is left feeling both guilty about the deception and disappointed by something Brian says.
When they finally meet in earnest, Rainey’s insecurities threaten to derail the blossoming romance. As she struggles with self-acceptance, she reveals the risks we all must take to have a chance for love.
About the Author

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Tricia Downing is recognized as a pioneer in the sport of women’s paratriathlon, as the first female paraplegic to finish an Iron distance triathlon. She has competed in that sport both nationally and internationally, in addition to competing in road racing and other endurance events. She has represented the United States in international competition in five different sport disciplines—cycling (as a tandem pilot prior to her 2000 accident), triathlon, duathlon, rowing and Olympic style shooting, in which she was a member of Team USA at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
She was featured in the Warren Miller documentary Superior Beings and on the lifestyle TV magazine show Life Moments. She has been featured in Muscle and Fitness Hers, Mile High Sports and Rocky Mountain Sports magazines.
Additionally, she is founder of The Cycle of Hope (www.thecycleofhope.org), a non-profit organization designed for female wheelchair users to promote health and healing on all levels—mind, body and spirit.
Tricia studied Journalism as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland and holds Masters degrees in both Sports Management (Eastern Illinois University) and Disability Studies (Regis University).
She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband Steve and two cats, Jack and Charlie. Visit Tricia at triciadowning.com

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Here’s another cover reveal to help with your reading selections this summer. This offering is from Carolyn Anthony, author of the Shattered Boundaries series. It is written in the adult, contemporary romance genre and will be released on Jul. 3rd 2017.

Twenty-Four Hours
by Carolyn Anthony

Synopsis:

The second chance that might never happen…

Eve Luccio waited years for her first love, but somehow their lives were never quite in sync. Now, at thirty-six, her only focus is completing the final year of her PhD. The last thing on her mind is the honor-driven former Navy SEAL who stole her heart as a teen and left her unable to love any other man since.

When Jake Theron walks back into Eve’s life, his presence shatters her walls of self preservation. He unleashes a dark sexuality that Eve never imagined she would experience, much less come to crave. All he wants from her is a day of her trust—twenty-four uninterrupted hours before she crosses the country for her Post Doctorate position in New York. But letting down her guard for even twenty-four hours with Jake might just destroy her.

For Jake Theron, Eve was always “the oone that got away,” except even after two decades, she’s still under his skin. When Eve finally agrees to see him, Jake vows he won’t let her slip through his fingers again.

But nobody knows better than Jake what a vicious bitch fate can be. When his life gets in the way, he realizes he may have to let Eve go once again—this time for her own good.

All he has left are the next twenty-four hours. One day and night in a seaside hotel, after which he has no choice but to let her walk out of his life with no guarantee he’ll ever see her again. The problem is, now that he’s had a real taste of the woman who should have been his twenty years ago, he’s not sure he’ll have the strength to let her go.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35429365-twenty-four-hours

AUTHOR BIO:
Carolyn Anthony is a sucker for a dark romance with a dominant, tattooed, alpha badass man at the helm.

Her characters deal with real life issues: the painful, the tragic, the damaging sort of life events that leave both external and internal scars, because she’s been there.
Her heroines are strong women at the core who will always find what’s been lost, taken or exploited: their strength, their self-worth, their identity, their innocence or their love. She writes about women exploring their sexuality, owning that sexuality and enjoying it. Along for the ride, the hot-ass men who prove worthy enough to be on that journey with them.

Book one in the Shattered Boundaries Series, Twenty-Four Hours, will be available to buy on July, 3, 2017. Each book is a stand alone with a well earned HEA. Book two coming soon as well as Phoenix, the first book in a Contemporary second chances trilogy.

Feel free to stalk me everywhere!

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This week as promised, I’m bringing you the first blog post about my book Coming Out of Egypt. My protagonist, Cicely, is an attractive Christian young woman who has a lot of skeletons in her closet, which she has managed to keep hidden. Cicely thinks her life is well ordered, but when she meets the handsome detective, David, she instinctively knows that the carefully-woven threads of her life are about to become undone. Which they do, despite Cicely’s best efforts to keep them intact.

In the story, I make use of the extended metaphor, meaning that the metaphor appears throughout the story. In fact, the title Coming Out of Egypt is itself a metaphor for the tortuous journey of the major characters out of their separate places of bondage. However, Egypt is more than that. It is an actual place in the story where Cicely first meets one of her pupils whose life is similar to what Cicely once experienced. And even though Cicely literally leaves Egypt, her path and the girl’s converge once more in a startling and unexpected way that disrupts the harmony of Cicely’s life. She is still stuck in Egypt.

But why use metaphors? I believe metaphors are an excellent way to:

1. Enrich the language by providing imagery which may not be as vivid without them . For example, in my book I refer to Cicely’s Egypt closet, which is not a real closet, but a storehouse of memories relating to her troubled past. The title Coming Out of Egypt is based on the story of the Exodus of the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. It is a story I have loved ever since I was a child, and being a Christian, I’m still blown away by the way God delivered His people from the heavy hand of Pharaoh, the emperor of Egypt. This is the main theme that runs throughout the book.
2. Leave room for interpretation. Readers can explore which of the characters made a transition out of Egypt, i.e. which character(s) showed the most improvement by the end of the story, and which ones did not make it.
3. Express thoughts, feelings, experiences etc. When Cicely finally lets go of her inhibitions and allows herself to fall in love with David, she sees God parting the Red Sea so she can walk to freedom. Later, when her fears become a reality, she thinks that Pharaoh and his armies have won.
4. Prepare the reader for what is to come. In some parts of the story, I use metaphors as a foreshadowing. When Cicely suspects that David may find out about her past, she hears the pounding of Pharaoh’s armies drawing closer.

Metaphors, when correctly used, can add depth and meaning to your story, but according to the experts, writers should be careful not to use metaphors too extensively so that your work sounds like a huge cliché. Neither should you use metaphors employed by other writers, but use your own imagination to create metaphors that will flow seamlessly throughout your work. If you have used metaphors, or have an interest in them, please leave a comment and tell us about it.