What We Are Writing

 By Margaret Daley

Author: Lorraine Beatty

Title: Beth and Noah’s story (working title)

Hero and Heroine: 

Hero: Noah Carlisle single dad whose moved back to his small home town of Dover Mississippi to start his own structural engineering company.

Heroine: Bethany Montgomery. A principal ballerina whose career has ended due to injury. She comes home to Dover and reunites with old boyfriend only to find he’s never forgiven her for choosing her career over him. 

Line: Love Inspired contemporary

Paragraph working on:

“I’m not finished. Beth loves you and if you don’t come to your senses you’re going to lose her again. You listen to me, I know you’re protecting your heart from being broken again. But that’s not your job. You’re not strong enough to do that alone. You’re supposed to give your heart, all of it, to the Lord so he can heal it and return it to you able to love again.”

Due Date:  December 1^st

Word count today: 2,244

Research unusual discovery: the term Balletomane. It means a ballet enthusiast. Are you a balletomane?

Also: If a building inspector examines and clears a building and a safety issue later develops, he or she could potentially be held liable, as could the government office which authorized the construction.

Author: Linda Goodnight

Title: Quinn's Redemption (working title)

Hero and Heroine: Quinn Buchanon and Gena Satterfield

Line: Love Inspired

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

He slumped to the floor and, head on his upraised knees, began to sob. “It’s not fair. It’s not right. Everyone has a dad but me.”

Due Date: Nov. 15

Word or page count goal today: 8 pages

Something cool learned from research:  Not cool but interesting: Nearly two million Americans are addicted to prescription opioid painkillers like Vicodin. Many such addictions began innocently from a medical issue.

Author: Danica Favorite   

Title: Shotgun Wedding

Hero and Heroine: Jasper Jackson and Emma Jane Logan

Line: Love Inspired Historical

One paragraph from the page you are currently on: Since I’m doing final edits, I’m going to cheat and send my favorite paragraph. Well, at least the favorite one that doesn’t need a lot of context. J


If he kept up such actions, Emma Jane might very well find herself one of the giggling girls fawning over their fans at him. Perhaps it was just as well Jasper was chasing after bandits rather than spending time getting to know her. It wouldn’t do to find herself attracted to a man who couldn’t possibly fall in love with her.

 Due Date: October 14^th

Word or page count goal today: None, just doing the final read-through before sending my final edits to my editor.

Something cool learned from research: Back in the 1880’s, they did have bottles for babies. In this story, an orphaned infant plays a large role in the story. It occurred to me about ¾ through that I had no idea how people fed a baby whose mother had died, other than using a wet nurse. Were there other options for feeding the baby? Fortunately, as I researched the topic, I found an ad for baby bottles! Yes!! It’s amazing how sometimes, looking at ads from the days gone by provide the exact information we’re looking for. I hadn’t seen anything about baby bottles in the books I use for research, but open up to an old newspaper, and the advertisements provide a lot of great clues about the time you’re researching.

Author: Jean C. Gordon

Title: Claiming His Best Friend's Heart (The Donnelly Brothers Book 3)

Hero and Heroine: Josh Donnelly and Tessa Hamilton

Line: Love Inspired Romance

One paragraph from the page you are currently on:

Tessa and his father sat across from each other at one of the café tables, his father’s back to the door. An open bottle of wine and a glass stood in the center of the table. They each had a hand around the bottle.

Rage consumed Josh. He stormed over and yanked his father’s chair around toward him. “How could you? Haven’t you ruined enough in my life?” he shouted in his father face before looking across the table at Tessa, who held fast to the wine bottle, an odd sheen in her eyes. “Didn’t I tell you he’d do this?”

Due Date: November 2

Word or page count goal today: Revising

Something cool learned from research: AA and Al-anon groups generally stand when they say the Serenity Prayer.

Author:  Pamela Tracy

Title:  The Bluebonnet Bride, a novella in an The Lone Star Brides anthology.

Hero:  Daniel Starr

Heroine:  Amy Benjamin

Line:  Redbud Press

Word Count today: 50 words

One Paragraph from the page you are currently working on:  No One’s Fool gave a hefty leap, not bad for a bull weighing almost two thousand pounds, and Daniel Starr felt his legs raise a good two inches from where they needed to be: securely pressed against the sides of No One’s Fool.

Secure might not be an apt description. 

Something cool learned recently from research:  Bull riders don't think much about keeping their seat once the bull is moving. They kinda stand and use their legs to stay on.