My writing process is a number of steps. Step 1 - I open a fresh word document to keep all the information all in one place for easy access while writing the actual book. Step 2 - I find popular tropes. I do this by checking out the best sellers in my genre on Amazon. Step 3 - With several tropes in hand, I begin to form a plot and write a short summary that tells the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Step 4 - If my story has elements that I'm not sure about, then I do research to educate myself. Step 5 - I decide how many words my story will be and divide that number by 2000 to get the number of chapters I will need. Step 6 - I develop your main characters. Using pictures from the internet, I find my character's likeness and copy and paste them into your Word document so I can use the images to make up their physical descriptions. Step 7 - Time to make up my characters' names. I use the internet often for this, looking up popular names for the year my character was born in. Or maybe I'll look up strong male or female names. Or just come up with my own names. Step 8 - Time to make the outline. If I want alternating points of view, I put the character name next to the chapter number so I know who's doing the talking in that chapter. Step 9 - After reading over the outline, I have a pretty good idea about what I want to title the book. I write a few title ideas at the top of the Word document. Step 10 - I write the book!

Mostly, I use my imagination. But sometimes, when the juices just aren't flowing, I will read books in my genre to inspire me.

I call is a slump and not writer's block. To get out of a slump, I will immerse myself in reading books and watching movies to motivate the natural story-teller that resides within me.

All criticism should be constructive. Not that all of it is though. The negative reviews that are helpful let me know what was missing for the reader or what they really didn't care for. I take their comments into consideration for future writing - if I feel it's within my style. I wish I could say that negative reviews didn't get to me. Unfortunately, this simply isn't true. I can read a hundred positive reviews then one negative and it will deflate me a bit, especially if the review holds no information that I can work with.

The most challenging part of my writing process is making time to write. The best thing I've ever done is develop time-management skills. I set aside time to write at least 5 days a week. Of course, just setting the time aside for writing doesn't mean I'll be in the mood to right. I have found coffee often gets me going and once I'm going, it's hard to stop.

I have been writing since 2010. I started writing after reading a set of books that everyone was swooning over. Working as a property manager at the time, I had a resident bring me the set of books that I read with wonder of how the author actually got anyone to publish the subpar books, let alone make movies out of them. After reading them, I said to myself that if that author could do it, then so could I. And I got right to work, writing and I have never stopped.

Keep at it! You can't stop. Even if you think it's not good, just keep writing. Like anything else, practice does make perfect. If you read some of your favorite author's early books, you will see what I'm talking about. No one starts out being great. It takes practice and the only way you can get that is by doing it. So keep on writing and you will succeed. I promise you that!

This might sound crazy, but I make up plots on the fly mostly. I'll just come up with a little idea and keep adding to that idea until it's a real story. While writing the idea, my characters begin to come to life inside my mind. I can see them. I give them voices, accents, real personalities. Using my imagination is really where it all begins.

I have written ten books for myself. As a freelance ghostwriter, I have written hundreds of books for clients and that number grows monthly. My favorite book by far is the story I grew up telling my mother. I had this memory of a family I had, and talked about it when I was about three-years-old. My mother, an avid reader, often prompted me to talk about this other life. The Irish Bride was the fourth book I wrote and I poured my heart and soul into it, letting my mind make up the story as it flowed out of me. I didn't outline that book, I just wrote what came to me. I love that book. I love the characters in the book. In a way, they feel very real to me.

Honestly, there were so many scenes in The Irish Bride that made me cry that it was hard to see through the tears to keep going at times. But the hardest part was writing about the main character's death and how her children dealt with losing her. I tear up even thinking about it.

I'd written three books before The Irish Bride and they weren't in the historical romance genre. I wasn't sure I should even write the book. But it nagged at me for so long that I finally told myself to just let it all out. I wasn't even sure I would ever let anyone else read it. I just had to write it. And it's turned out to be my most sold book in the U.S. and several other countries, so I'm glad I decided to share it.

The hardest scene for me to write was the one where the children find their mother has died. It was hard on me to think about all the pain and anguish the children felt. Like it actually hurt me to write that scene.

Quiet. Plain and simple, quiet. I cannot focus with noise around me.

Emily Bronte is who I would love to spend a day with. I have loved Wuthering Heights since I was a kid.

About a year ago, I Googled myself. I found my books that are all available on Amazon and all my social media links too. There are pictures of me and my book covers too. It's pretty surreal to see all that I've accomplished - and I'm not done yet!