Poisoned Purple Pen

That would be mine

Prompt: Tell about a book you're currently reading (or have recently finished). Give us a brief synopsis and your thoughts on it.

Well I hope this counts because if it isn't my own novel, then I haven't read anything in over a good year. I have a four book series I've been working on for the longest time. Last year I got tired of it sitting around, collecting dust, going nowhere, and I loved my characters too much to do that. I decided it was time to finish ~ the entire series. No more 25k, half written sequels.

"A Perfect Fit"   by Purple Holiday Givings Was complete sitting at about 51k, but I paid for an editor from Writer's Digest a few years ago, and she told me the hero and heroine must meet asap in a romance novel. Well guess what? They didn't cross paths significantly until 10, 000 words in. There was only one thing for me to do. Cut the first 7 chapters. Use the rest as the beginning and middle, and write that ending. I can happily say I did that, and I love the book even more now. Anna is the fashionista who feels like a failure, and drags her butt back home after being gone for a decade. Nolan own a construction company and has been pining away for her since she ran off. I torture these two until neither can take it a second longer. And when they finally get together, I throw obstacles in their path to happiness. Nolan is my ideal man. I admit it. I wrote the man of my dreams when I tackled this book so long ago. And then I published it in paperback, which is so damn rewarding!

When A Perfect Fit was complete I needed to finish "Megan's Man"   by Purple Holiday Givings . The characters drove me. I couldn't stop until I had their story told. I read, edited, wrote, erased, wrote some more. Read it from the beginning in a desperate attempt to figure out how to wrap up Megan and Corey's story. These two married so quickly that even I was shocked. No grand wedding, nope. They snuck off in the middle of the night and woke the preacher just to say I do! So then I was like, okay, now what? They married in the middle of the book. Well Corey did have a dilemma, and a past. Corey is Anna's best friend, and Nolan's brother. The rancher still lived at home with the parents, so where were newlyweds to live? Certainly not in the barn! And you really can't outrun your past, can you? How that inspiration hit that tied in something big from book one to book two was my own personal miracle! I finished Megan's Man, and published that one too! 2016 was looking to be a good year. I was on track.

I was so excited to open "Bride 2 Be"   by Purple Holiday Givings and see where I left Calvin and Lisa hanging. And I was there. Until "Game of Thrones"   by Creeper Of The Realm started on WdC. You cannot do anything else that month. I know. I tried. GoT takes every ounce of extra energy you have. You read, review, write, race around the site making sure you did as much as humanly possible so you stay in the race. I kept telling myself it was only 31 days and then I'd be back to finishing book three and moving on to book 4.

It's weird when you are on this roll, accomplishing something you only dreamed of, and then watching the rest of the year pass you right on by. I'm working on Bride 2 Be again, hoping that if I can write the ending to that one, and then move on to "Endurance Bound"   by Purple Holiday Givings that I will have finally wrapped up my book series I started oh so long ago. I love my fictional town of Endurance, Michigan. I love how my characters connect and cross paths, interact, bring support and chaos to one another.

I just wish I had some direction for Bride 2 Be. I believe I know where to take them, but I cannot decide if it actually works or not. Lisa Green runs Green's Boutique. Anna starts working there and shows Lisa some of her clothing designs. They get into business with Grayburg Corporation and sell Anna's Originals. The Grayburg family are prominent in New York and their father doesn't like his offspring (5 kids) mixing business with pleasure. In Bride 2 Be, Lisa gets a letter from her sister Penny, stating she's run off to marry Edward Grayburg. Lisa contacts Calvin Grayburg, Edward's older brother and Lisa's contact and the pair set off to chase their siblings down and stop the wedding. But alas, it's a romance novel, and spending time with one another leads Lisa and Calvin to test that business motto.

So my muse is saying that Calvin thinks opening a warehouse in Endurance and a second office is a safe bet. But is it? I keep picturing Calvin talking to Nolan about remodeling an abandoned building and sticking around, mostly because he's fallen for Lisa. I think it's easier in my mind to see someone from small town moving to the big city, than vice versa. And that is where I'm stuck. I've read this book a dozen times and every time I get to Calvin being in Endurance, I sit staring at the screen. Sigh.

I'm open to feedback. Ideas. Yelling at me to get my butt in gear and let my muse play it out. Go on. You know you wanna!

"30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"   by Fivesixer