FRIDAY PHOTO

 Good morning!

Courtesy of Pixabay

All my best!

~ Angela

WRITING MY WAY - Part 1

 Good morning, friends!

I'm trying to get back into sharing my process. In return, I'd love to hear yours in the comments.

I've always been a writer. When I first wrote An Ozarks Christmas, (almost 30 years ago), I raised our daughter, had an in-home daycare, was a leader to multiple Girl Scout troups, and managed our home. After closing the daycare I worked at our local Girl Scout council, helping to design the Talking With TJ (an anti-violence educational program) for National. For a side-hustle, I would enter up to one hundred categories in each of five county fairs. I also led a weekly writing group on AOL called The Writer's Zone. I networked with some amazing and talented authors. I kept busy. Maybe that's why I needed all of those years to write Book 1 in the Planned to Perfection series.

After we moved to south east Missouri, I found a yahoo group using writing sprints as our medium. The core group of six, met every day. I did okay with the on again, off again, sprint times as I was reworking the then titled Ozarks Angel. Then I found Sara Cannon and my whole writing process changed.

Through her series about the Pomodoro method and how to find your best writing time was a lightbulb moment for me. Here are links to the 5-part series in order.

DAY 1 - Pep Talk

DAY 2 -  Live Writing Sprints

DAY 3 - Night Owl Sprints with Sarra

DAY 4 - Your Choice

DAY 5 - Sprint Boss!

The idea is to take each day's challenge. By the end of Day 5 you should have a feel of when the words flow best for you.

Prior to taking Sarra's challenge, I dedicated an entire day to sprint with my group. What I discovered is that for long pieces, such as my novel, the word counts escalated after about 4 p.m. My word counts were much higher in the time frame of between 4-6 p.m I've sinced backed that up to begin writing around 3 p.m. That gives me a chance to settle in and the word count climbs from there.

So why, is this time frame best for me? We'll talk about that more next week. In the mean time, I suggest you check out Sarra's challenge. The workbook is available in her Google Docs. Signing up for her newsletter will give you access to everything including the workbook and so much more.

Until next week..

All my best!

~ Angela

REVIEW WEDNESDAY - The Cowboy's Second Chance

 Good morning!

Another hot day in the Ozarks. May I reinterate, I'm so ready for fall.

This week's novella is The Cowboy's Second chance. The title caught my attention immediately because 'second chance' stories are my favorite to read and what I write.

AMAZON

BLURB:

Will the billionaire philanthropist get a second chance to win the lady of his heart?

He's a billionaire that's supposed to be dead.

She's the woman who chose his best friend over him.

They've forged a strong online friendship over two decades as she's raised her eight kids alone, and he kept the promise he made to her husband.

She doesn't know who he really is - the entire town of Sweet Water attended his memorial service.

When they finally meet, will the friendship they've forged be strong enough to weather the deception and the explosive secrets he's hiding?

I was not a fan of the blurb. Did you notice we aren't introduced to the characters by name? The blurb reads more like a 'will they - won't they' than using basic etiquette to introduce us. I do get this from the point of we don't have the hero's actual name in the beginning... just Oilman. That lends an air of mystery. However, this isn't a mystery. It's a small-town, sweet, contemporary romance between a couple in their possibly mid-to-late fifties forging a path to their forever.

I loved how the couple find their way back to one another. After twenty years of emails, they know one another pretty well, though Oilman knows a lot more about the younger version of Bonnie than he can let on. 

There are other books in this series - the Sweet Water Ranch Western Cowboy Romance-  and I hope one will bring Bonnie's errant son back to the fold. I get the feeling he was young when her husband past and being angry is a valid feeling for someone young who's lost a parent.

You'll find out more about Jessie Gussman and her books by following any of the links below. For a direct link to this story, you'll find that below the cover.

WEBSITE   FACEBOOK   INSTAGRAM   YOUTUBE

GOODREADS   NEWSLETTER

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

I'm giving The Cowboy's Second Chance...

All my best!

~ Angela

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT - Jessie Gussman

 Good morning, friends!

Hot weather has returned to the Ozarks. I'm so over the heat. I'm not very productive, even with the AC unless I can crank the temp down to just above frigid. What about you?

This week's author is Jessie Gussman. If the name seems familiar, it is. I featured her back in June.

Jessie is a farm girl. I invite you to check out all of her links below, but especially her YouTube link.

Here's more about Jessie Gussman:

USA Today best-selling author Jessie Gussman writes sweet and inspirational romance from her farm in central Virginia. Having attended, but never graduating from the school of hard knocks, Jessie uses real life on the farm to inspire her cowboy, rural and blue-collar fiction. 

When she’s not chasing kids, cows and the occasional roll-away haybale, Jessie enjoys wading in Naked Creek and not cleaning her house. Most of the time her main goal is to keep from catching herself on fire…again. 

If you enjoy fun stories with vivid characters showcasing strong families with a ribbon of faith tying everything together, you might enjoy Jessie’s books.

As an additon, check out her voice actor.

Listen to Jay Dyess perform Jessie's books - for FREE - on YouTube HERE: https://www.youtube.com/SaywithJay

Subscribe to her newsletter and find out why readers say, "I eagerly look forward to Tuesday mornings" and "Jessie's newsletter is the only author newsletter that I read every word." https://dl.bookfunnel.com/97elto4gwl

You'll find out more about Jessie by clicking any of the links below.

WEBSITE   FACEBOOK   INSTAGRAM   YOUTUBE

GOODREADS   NEWSLETTER

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

 I'll be back tomorrow with a review of The Cowboy's Second Chance.

All my best!

~ Angela

THOUGHTFUL MONDAY

 Good morning, friends!

You'll see a 'friend' theme in this month's posts. 

All my best!

 ~ Angela

FRIDAY PHOTO

 Good morning, friends!

 As we roll towards fall, I thought we still needed a bit of summer inspiration.

Courtesy of Pixabay

All my best!

~ Angela

CONFERENCE INFORMATION- Ozark Creative Writers aka OCW

 Good morning, friends!

OZARK CREATIVE WRITERS - aka OCW

I wanted to remind you about the Ozark Creative Writers Conference coming up in October. We gather in Eureka Springs, Sarkansas the second full weekend of October - October 8-10th this year. Please click on the conference link below the image for a complete list of speakers.

This year marks the 60th consecutive year (except for that one year where no one went any where).

You get A LOT for your money at this intimate, multi-genre conference. Aside from great keynote speakers, breakout sessions, you get the opportunity to network with talented authors like yourself. Everyone is friendly and welcoming. That's just some of the reasons I will be marking my 30th year. 

For the price of your registration fee, you also have the opportunity to enter a myriad of contests - all with cash prices for First, Second, and Third Place. To enter those, you must register before the end of this month. You'll find that list HERE.

Aside from everything else, there is fabulous food provided by Best Western Inn of the Ozarks staff. There is a historic restaurant connected to the hotel. Myrtie May's is featured in all of my Eureak Springs series. 

Bring the family and let them do some shopping, enjoy the last visages of summer in the pool or the enclosed hot tub. There is also an outdoor game pagoda with lots of classic 'yard' games and a pool table. 

The conference hotel, Best Western Inn of the Ozarks rooms fill up fast. Even though there is a block of rooms for the conference, rooms fill up fast. However, there are several lovely hotels in town as well as possible AB&B on rental cottages. 

Eureka Springs is a quaint Victorian community with lots of history such as the Crescent Hotel and the Basin Park Hotel. 

I hope to see you there!

All  my best!

~Angela