Authors are a strange breed

If you've ever wondered what authors do all day, I'm about to tell you.

Sometimes we do nothing. Literally nothing. Well, okay, maybe we sit around and THINK a lot, but to the onlooker, it seems like a whole lot of nothing.

Sometimes we write zero words. Sometimes we write 10,000 words.

Sometimes we work ten minutes a day, sometimes twenty hours.

Sometimes we read books or watch TV to get inspired. Vacations are good for inspiration, too. I highly recommend those.

For those of us fortunate enough to call ourselves full-time writers, we far from have a regular schedule. We don't follow the normal workday 9-5 routine. And if we are lucky enough to have a husband who likes to cook, we don't even have to do that (yes, honey, I'm talking about you).

I'll tell you about my latest book that I'm about to publish, Stone Rules. It's about 100,000 words. (Romance novels are generally about 80,000 to 110,000)
I started writing this book in April. I got about 25,000 words written and then I hit a wall. I had major writer's block. I was also suffering from carpal tunnel so typing hurt.
I waited and waited and waited to be inspired. I took some aforementioned vacations. I watched a lot of TV (too much). I pouted a lot because I wasn't writing.
Then in August - WHAM! Inspiration struck and I finished the novel in three weeks. Whoa!

Morning, noon and night I was writing. I'd be up at 6AM and write for 6 hours and then edit it that night before bed. Rinse. Repeat. For three weeks and 75,000 words.

You may think, oh, cool, you took the summer off. Uh, no. Not cool. Do you know how hard it is to have a story in your head but you can't get it on paper? It's torture.

It's hard for us to 'get away' from work because we live in a fantasy world in our head. Our characters go on vacation with us. They don't stop talking to us just because we want to lay on the beach or go skiing.

We carry a notepad and a voice recorder EVERYWHERE. Because you just never know when a good idea will pop out of nowhere.

Then after all the writing, comes a month (or sometimes months) of editing. Some writers like this part. Me, not so much. Usually by the time I publish a book, I'm really sick of reading it.

And what do we do after that? You guessed it - we start all over again. Some authors have 2 or 3 books going at the same time. I can't do that, I can only have so many characters in my head before I actually become schizophrenic.

So there you have it.

To trigger warn or not?

A lot of stuff is going around lately about so-called 'trigger warnings.'

If you don't know what a trigger warning is, it is something authors may post on their book information page that will advise potential readers of sensitive material contained in a book. This could be anything from cheating to rape.

As an author, my stance is to not provide trigger warnings. Most of my books have a notation that state they contain adult material.

Let me tell you why I'm against trigger warnings. The plain and simple fact is that in most of my books, the trigger warning will spoil the plot. And for the 99.9% of readers who don't want to know the plot, this will ruin their experience.

My advice to readers is this: if you have a major issue with something, whether it be divorce, cheating, rape, molestation, cancer, death, adoption, abortion, guys that wear blue shirts, women who bake...., please either ask a friend or email the author. We would be happy to tell you individually anything about our books.

For the record, here is one blanket trigger warning: my books may (and do) contain sensitive subject matter. If you do not want to read books that deal with real-life situations or deeply emotional issues, you may want to pass mine on by.

I'm always happy to discuss my books with readers. So please e-mail or message me on Facebook if you have any questions. I certainly don't want anyone getting upset over a book I wrote. My books are for entertainment purposes only. And I hope to keep entertaining you all for many years to come.

Happy reading!!

Book Giveaways

Thank you to all who participated. If you didn't win this time, I will for sure have more giveaways in the near future.

If you are a winner or a paperback, please contact me at samanthachristy@comcast.net with your mailing address. Paperback books will be mailed out within three weeks. If you have an international address, please allow extra time.
If you are a winner of a kindle book, please email me your name and the email address to which you would like the book gifted. Kindle books will be gifted within a week.



Winners of the mailing list paperback giveaway of Stone Rules on 10/22/16

New subscriber - Danielle Fuselier
Past subscriber -  Joelle Yates

Winners of the 'Favorite Mitchell Sister' paperback giveaway on 10/14/16

Purple Orchids - Pauline Moore Dallas
White Lilies - Luna Lighthouse
Black Roses - Amy Korbel


Winners of the Abstract Love kindle anniversary giveaway on 8/3/16

Tracey Jacobi
Becky Takach Wise

Winners of the Be My Reason (original cover)  anniversary giveaway on 5/30/16

Betty Jo 'Wooton' Manint
Ashley Dalton



Here are the winners of my paperback giveaways on 4/25/2016

Michelle Tooke - 1st signed copy of Black Roses

Shawna Curtis - Imperfect cover (proof) of Black Roses

Nidhi Agarwal - Imperfect cover (proof) of Black Roses

Kim Lambert - Be My Reason (old cover)

Diana Sowada - Be My Reason (old cover)

Barbara Pitcher - Be My Reason (old cover)

Andrea Morgan - Abstract Love (old cover)

Amber Binion - Abstract Love (old cover)

Jessica Patterson - Abstract Love (old cover)

Sara Yarbrough - Abstract Love (old cover)