Michelle Miles: How to become more productive in your daily life

I don’t often recommend products. When I do, it has to be something I truly, whole-heartedly believe in. I’m not a sales person (as evidenced by my own sucky book sales LOL) by any stretch. I’ve tried to sell jewelry and Avon but I’m…just…not cut out for that.

But there is one thing that has transformed me. Not just my writing life, but my life in general. I love to journal but sometimes those blank pages can be daunting. I love setting goals but I can never figure out how to achieve those goals. One of my big goals is to write full time, but I never really sat down to figure out what steps I had to do to make that happen. I mean, I know I need to write books. But how does that break down into achievable steps to get there?

One day I was skimming through my Facebook feed, as you do, and I kept seeing this sponsored ad over and over again. It hadn’t really stopped to look at it until one day, finally, I paused and really looked at the ad. It was for a journal, but a journal designed to help you reach you goals.

Huh. I was intrigued. I followed the link to the Facebook page here.

And then I ended up on their website.

Release Day! Bride, Texas

The Unlucky Bride!!!

What happens when seven authors get together and write a series about a town started by a jilted Bride. Come to Bride, Texas, where love cures broken hearts.

Flood waters and broken hearts…two jilted ex-lovers trapped in Bride, Texas

Laney Baxter’s ironic escape to Bride, Texas couldn’t be more fitting - considering she is a runaway bride! Unfortunately, her plans to hide out have her jumping from the frying pan into the fire when she discovers she is trapped with the one man who broke her heart years ago - Chase Hamilton! Now, she can only hope the rising waters recede just as fast before Chase uncovers the mystery of their past.

Chase returns to Bride, Texas to nurse a broken heart and re-evaluate his life. The family home along the river was supposed to offer him peace and quiet, not the last woman he ever expected to see again. When the river rises, trapping them together, Chase questions whether his heart was really broken or just his ego bruised.

Laney and Chase are forced to face some startling revelations - including the feelings they still have for each other. Can the two work through their tangled emotions before the river recedes, or will long hidden secrets tear them apart?

Available Everywhere! Click here!

Grounded in the Book World #setting #writingromance #amreading

Within the first few pages, readers want to know where the story is taking

place, what scholars call the setting. Setting draws a mental picture in the reader’s mind. It establishes whether the story is dark or light, small town,  big city, or country. What season of the year. What time of day.
One of my favorite romance authors is Emilie Loring who wrote stories back in the thirties and forward. While vacationing recently, I picked up Lighted Windows and written upon the first page is this:

Fifth Avenue. In that quiet hour before dawn when for a trifling interval the city dozes, it never sleeps. The gleaming asphalt, blanched to silvery whiteness by arc lights, stretched ahead illimitably between looming skyscrapers, phantoms of concrete and steel, brick and glass, shadowy and unread as the back drop in a pantomime.

Instantly, we know where the author is speaking of. The reader is transported to New York, and specifically, Fifth Avenue, a popular street, in the wee hours of morning when all is quiet.

Here are some sentences about setting:

Michelle Miles: Let's have some fun

Okay so. It's my day to blog and I got nothin'. It's been a whirlwind last month with the kid turning 16 (!!!) and marching band and everything else I have going on. So let's have some fun.

Here's a picture of my cat:

Caption it.

OR tell me a story about your favorite pet.

And go!

Yes, I'm Older, But I'm Not Dead Yet!!

This year when I attended the Romance Writers of America conference, I realized I have been attending these since 1991. Yes, for twenty six years I’ve been a member of RWA and attended their conference at least twenty times if not more in my lifetime.

But this time, when I looked at some of the same people who have attended year after year, I noticed how we are all aging. The only time I really feel old is when the body aches in a new joint or I’m short of breath or I can’t keep up. The rest of the time, I feel just like I did when I was sixteen. Hopefully a lot smarter than I was then, but the same age. 

That’s not to say that I don’t see the wrinkles around the eyes, the ones forming over my lip or that the girls don’t stand as high as they once were. But let’s face it, I’m not as young either. So that brings me to this month's post. 

Ten Things Not To Say to an Older Person

Finished the book. Want to read more? #lastlines #runtherace #memorablebooks

While the first line in a book...

hooks a reader into reading more, the last line determines how they will feel when they’ve finished. The protagonist has healed their wound, they’ve run their race and grown as a result. Mostly, we remember first lines and rarely, do we remember last lines. But we do remember how we feel when we finish. And sometimes, if the story is so compelling and we are overwhelmed by the emotions the story raised in us, we just might read that book again instantly.

Here's a famous one: “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” From Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

‘It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’ A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This month, the Princesses bring you last lines.

Michelle Miles: Never Tell Me The Odds

Whoa. It's August. Hard to believe July is in the rear view mirror!

It's been a hectic one. The kiddo started driving for reals and I have significantly more gray hair. I started a new job in June. Summer band camp started. School starts August 21! And so beginneth the crazy marching season. I'm gonna be a crazy person by the time football/marching season is all over but that is TOTALLY okay. You know why? Because I love it. I *love* marching season!!

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

And to prove it further, the IT folks over at the new day job know it's for sure because I have the Millennium Falcon on my desktop and Daenerys as my login picture. It's a great icebreaker. "You a Game of Thrones fan?" Well, duh. "AND a Star Wars fan?" Double, duh.

I have this really cool Medieval Star Wars art up on my wall in my cubicle and it garners all sorts of comments. It basically combines two of my very most favorite things: Star Wars and the Middle Ages.

I stare at it often.