Release Date for Sawyer's Rose!!!

Sawyer's Rose will be released on March 18th, 2016!!! I will be so excited to finally hold an actual book in my hand! I may be just like Ralphie on A Christmas Story when he gets his "Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock" and sleeps with it all night. In fact, I may not put it down for a week!
It's been a heck of a ride getting to this point. I was thinking back to when I first got the idea for this story. I had recently joined Georgia Romance Writers and even though I had completed three stories, I quickly learned I had not written them very well and so I set them aside determined to write a story in that magic little romance box that publishers wanted. And so I thought, I can write a mail-order-bride story. I had just finished reading a bit of history on such brides and I was learning a lot at writing meetings and with critique partners---but I still had a lot to learn.


What I learned first was that I couldn't write the story that would fit right into that box. I had to write the story inside my head and from my heart. That is not saying the story didn't need work. I think I rewrote Sawyer nine times before getting a contract and several more times with editing for publication, but I just knew I had something--and I did. Sawyer's Rose was a finalist in the 2014 Maggie Awards and a 2015 Golden Heart Finalist which is still mind-blowing to me and I do not take any of the ride with Sawyer for granted. After all, when I look at the road behind me, there was a lot of dust kicked up along the way and so my hope is that all the blood, sweat,  and tears means it will be the story a lot of you are waiting on!

(One commenter will win a silver horse bracelet, drawing to be held this Friday night!)


Aug. 2011-Started the book I've meant to write all my life.

May 2012-Completed a three book series in rough draft format, not knowing a thing about how I should be writing.

July 2012-Joined RWA (Romance Writers of America) and GRW (Georgia Romance Writers). The best advice a multi-published friend had for me.

Sept. 2012-Attended GRW: I didn't know I would have to introduce myself...what the heck do I write again? If I hadn't been sitting by Diana, who pushed me forward, I would have passed on this part without anyone knowing. The best thing was that Maggie grabbed me by the arm as I left the front and invited me to Southside Scribes. Seriously, there are people who want to write as bad as I do and they live nearby? Yes!

Sept. 2012- Attended Southside Scribes and discovered my critique partners who have been an invaluable wealth of knowledge. Thanks Maggie, Trish and Cheryl.

Oct. 2012-Attended Moonlight & Magnolias (M&M) GRW conference: I took the only two pitch sessions open...let's just say I was a naive in thinking one editor was as good as the next. It was Tracey who gave me a quick lesson on pitching, but I should have known there was something to the look on my guides face when she lead me to the editor no one else wanted. Six minutes later, I was all too aware that all editors were not the same and this one just about bit my head off, but she still asked for a partial.  I pitched again the next day, thinking I would rather vomit instead, but this editor was much nicer and asked for a partial also. I never sent those partials to either editor as my book was full of all the things new writers must learn...head-hopping, show vs. tell, filtering, not to mention just the regular requirements for what I call, "writing in the romance box". I prefer to think outside that box, thank you very much.

Nov. 2012-Started a new book with intentions of writing inside that darn box after all, but not could use a lot of what I was learning hanging around the Professionals.

Dec. 2012-First draft of SAWYER'S ROSE complete with help from critique partners and beta readers. Thanks to you all!

Jan. 2013-GRW: With less than twelve hours left, I decided to enter then Gin Ellis Critique Workshop....seriously, in less than a day I got the first three chapters of SAWYER'S ROSE ready, complete with writing the dreaded synopsis. Whew!

Mar. 2013-Gin Ellis Critique. I was so scared about the event I thought about not going, but Jennifer was great at explaining the issue in a positive light. I left determined to write even better.

Apr.-June 2013-Worked solely on the first three chapters of SAWYER'S ROSE for submission to the Maggie's. I didn't expect to place, but I got two good critiques.

July 2013-RWA-Nationals in ATL. Pitched three times and found I did much better by not rehearsing a word. I got three requests for partials.

Aug. 2013-First rejection. Bummer.

Sept. 2013-Got my PRO pin from RWA after submitting proof of my first rejection. What other group in the world helps you celebrate a rejection as a positive thing? I 'm loving this!

Oct. 2013-M&M 2013. Almost skipped the pitch coaching session, but found it invaluable with Hilde's coaching advice. Got requests for a full and a partial and again rehearsed nothing. I must be best under pressure when it comes to pitching.

Nov. 2013-Friends set me up and had me called to the front for my PRO pin. For those of you who don't know me, I would rather pull out my fingernails than go up in front for something like that.

Dec. 2013-When I look back, I sigh...it was a busy year full of a lot of firsts, a lot of writing, rewriting and learning. The best parts of it all, the wonderful writers I've met who celebrate the good and bad together. My critique partners who are a wealth of knowledge and support are always there with positive feedback and encouragement. I've reconnected with old friends who have become my beta readers, of which I could not do without. I am amazed that I've conquered my fears long enough to pitch, go up in front of the crowd and send my manuscript off to editors. Most of all, I love how it feels when I am so lost in my writing that it feels like I am right there with my characters. There is also no better compliment than when a reader tells me they loved my story or one of the characters.

Jan. 2014-Planning out this year feels a bit lighter than last year as I think I know more about what I am doing with each item. I will be entering the GIn Ellis Critique with GRW. I want to send out SAWYER'S ROSE anywhere and everywhere once I go through it again. Right now, it is in the best condition of any of my stories. I have joined GRW's most rejections and finish the book pools and I plan to enter the Maggie's in Historical and Contemporary this year. Oh yeah and I just got my second rejection on SAWYER'S ROSE...bummer,  but Sawyer is a good man and like I said he is going places. I also have a request for my newest contemporary story ALL BUT THE FALL when it's ready and this agent is willing to wait until I have it written at it's best. So things are moving along and I do feel good about all I have accomplished so far in this crazy business of writing for publication. Stay tuned...

August 5th, 2014-Got the phone call from Mary at GRW that Sawyer's Rose finaled in the Maggies. This is so what I needed to hear. Spending so much time writing and not really having anything at all happen can take a toll. I had been feeling pretty rock bottom for a few months, but this is a big lift for my ego and frankly I needed it. 

Oct. 11, 2014-Sawyer's Rose gets an honorable mention kind of like 4th place at the Maggie awards. It felt so good all weekend at M&M to be recognized for being one of the finalist although I was really nervous but excited. I was shaking so bad when I got back to my seat that it took me a few minutes before I could even look at the certificate I got! Now I can really start my writing scrapbook and have something wonderful to put in it! Sawyer's Rose has grown on me and it was nice to see it in big print and on the big screen being recognized, so I owe Sawyer a big thanks along with Rose, because they seemed to write their own story while I watched. Such a fun weekend with all my writing friends. It also helps that I sat in the pitch room seeing all the editors and agents I could get to for pitching Sawyer and now I have 7 requests--do I stress now or later about how to handle that many. But I did get them all submitted in one night of intense work.

Jan. 12, 2014-Sawyer's Rose submitted for the RWA Golden heart.

Jan. 13, 2014-The Wild Rose Press contacted me and offered me a contract on Sawyer's Rose. I was at lunch at work when I got the email and I hardly remember the rest of that day. Yes of course!!

Mar. 28, 2014-At work again when my cell phone rang. I knew that this was the Thursday the Golden Heart and Rita's would be calling, only I had never thought I would be the one answering. And so yes, Sawyer's Rose is a Golden Heart Finalist. I stood in my office in tears (happy tears) alone that first moment wondering just how the heck this had happened.

May 2013-Began first edits on Sawyer's Rose and completed in June. Did second round edits and then two galley's and Sawyer's Rose was ready.

July 2015-RWA Rita's and Golden Heart awards in New York City!

January 2015 Sawyer's Rose release date will be March 18, 2016.

And the Journey continues, but this time I am riding off with Wyatt McCade! I hope he can give his brother a run for the money!

Sawyer's Rose...

I finally got the final galley of Sawyer's Rose turned in and it looks like I should know a release date sometime in the next few weeks. It will be released in the spring of 2016. It has been a long road to this point. but it's very surreal to think one day in the near future I am going to actually hold this story as a book in my very own hands. When I was about twelve years old, I wrote in a journal that one day by the time I was fifty I wanted to be published--and that birthday is just right around the corner for me. I wonder how that will go, when the first book gets to me and I open the box it came in and can really hold it in my hands. I suspect I will just sit to the floor and begin reading once more. I will then show it off and of course like a kid on Christmas with a new toy, sleep with it cuddled in my arms for the first few nights. Don't laugh, I am being totally serious and I sure hope you guys out there will enjoy reading it as well!!!! Stay tuned!!!

On the trail with writing...

Second edits of Sawyer's Rose were turned in several weeks ago, even with a broken hand. So it appears that we are approaching the homestretch of getting this story out there. I haven't asked about release dates, mainly because things will happen when they happen. There is enough stress getting to this point, with working full time, two kids, a husband, three dogs, two guinea pigs, the wash, the dinners, the dishes, the homework and the list goes on. How was it I found the time to write in the first place? I spent last weekend at GRW's Moonlight and Magnolias event and the one thing I noticed was that I had made some kind of transformation along this journey since the previous times I have attended this event. I am usually a little tense at these type events as I am preparing to pitch my story or if I have been named a finalist I am definitely nervous. This time there was none of that to worry about. Because I had a contract on the story, Sawyer could not enter the unpublished Maggie's and since I didn't have a book in my hand, the story could not be put into the published Maggie's...so I was free of sorts. I took a look at the schedule of topics and tried to choose the ones most pertinent to an author with a first book coming out and it was fun. But the transformation came in the fact, instead of walking around not knowing too many people, I knew a lot of people. It didn't feel like such a foreign event. And the amazing thing? Here and there, other writers were asking me questions about my writing and how I am doing things. Some asked about Sawyer's Rose and others asked the details about editing and how it goes. I suddenly couldn't be the quiet girl at the table in the back of the room. I had to speak up and to my amazement people were listening. Maybe I have evolved a bit, not that I am going out on a limb. Speaking in front of people and to people I do not know is very hard. I am a total introvert, more exhausted by a room full of people than most, though I think I did well. But looking forward, Sawyer's Rose will be released soon and this time of year I tend to get more story written as the kids are in school, it will be getting cold outside and I've gotta get that second story written. I've been working on Wyatt's story for about a year now, but it needs some changes and editing and I've been working hard on that. This story has seemed harder as I have interrupted it each time Sawyer needed edits and every time I get back to it, I have had a hard time getting my head back into the story. I've got to wrap my head around being able to write one story while I get another out to the public, without losing a bit of the story or myself. But Wyatt has a story to tell, the same as Sawyer and it has been coming along. How some writers spit out more than four books a year...more power to them, as I will be doing good to get one a  year and maybe one day two. Whew...this had been a busy year of a lot of firsts with my writing. One writer mentioned to me to celebrate the little things along the way and I have tried to do that, but when Sawyer's Rose hits the public, I am planning to have a big party, open house type thing. At least for the first book and that will make it even more memorable. I've also been thinking of the things or contests I can do on Facebook to make it fun as well. So stay tuned, I am going to max the fun things related to a long time dream finally coming true. Stay tuned.

Afterglow...

I've been meaning to talk about the trip to New York and about being a Golden Heart Finalist. First and foremost, I never in my wildest dreams thought that would happen and I had not planned on the trip to the Big Apple. I had entered SAWYER'S ROSE on a whim and mostly for the feedback. The story was a Maggie Finalist and I had the submission ready and thought...why not? So I submitted it and forgot about it, at least until the week before the Rita and Golden Heart Finalists were announced and when at lunch after a GRW meeting Tanya Michaels reminded me that the announcement was the following Thursday. So I forgot about it again until my phone rang the next Thursday morning, while I was at work and I almost didn't answer it until I saw it was a Texas area code. I answered quickly, knowing RWA only calls for one reason. And after hearing the news, I stood in my office and cried all alone, the tears of joy that somehow justified all the hours alone with SAWYER'S ROSE. And then I called my husband and before the evening was over New York was booked. So I took the family to this one time special event...yep, because now that SAWYER'S ROSE is going to publication with The Wild Rose Press, I cannot be a Golden Heart Finalist again. And while being a finalist is truly golden, I bailed on a lot of the conference to see my daughters discover New York and I wouldn't trade that for the world. But what I did love was meeting the other finalists and was in awe to be considered among them all-truly a special group of writers with dragonfly hearts of gold themselves. And I realized just how many people were attending the conference given the number of place settings for breakfast the first morning--quite overwhelming to say the least. I was in awe of the sea of people where it took two days to find all my friends. And while I was a nervous wreck sitting at the awards ceremony, I took a look around at all the names and talents and just thought, wow! Someone asked me what I thought aspiring writers should know and as I look back on things, these are some of the things I have learned along this incredible journey with Sawyer and Rose.


1) Keep writing no matter what and then write it again. I wrote Sawyer's Rose at least 9 times before getting that contract.


2) Listen closely to your beta readers and even closer to your critique partners, but don't let too many readers muddle your work. Everyone has an opinion, but only change what your gut tells you to change.


3) Go to your local chapter meetings and learn and keep learning. Chat and look up writing blogs and writing sites to learn.


4) Enter the contests and learn from the feedback and rewrite that story again. It really is painless, lots of fun and very valuable.


5) Print the story and read it out loud and then read it again.


6) Set the story aside after each edit and go back to it later. Write something else in the meantime. It took me 1.5 years to work on Sawyer's Rose but in the process I wrote rough drafts of two other stories I can pull out later.

7) Finish the story before looking back to edit. Finish the book! Only forward...not backwards!!!


8) Keep track of the characters and happenings on a cheat sheet so they are easier to refer to in future writes of a series. (Or later chapters.)


9) Write everyday and it's OK to write the characters who are talking to you first. (Sometimes when I was working on Sawyer's Rose, it was Sawyer's brothers who were talking to me and so I wrote some parts of their stories because they wouldn't leave me alone.)


10) Believe in yourself and your story and never give up!

Sawyer's Rose Official Blurb is ready!!!

Sawyer's Rose


As if he doesn't have enough to handle between running outlaws out of Cheyenne, keeping his brothers out of trouble, and avenging his father's death, Sheriff Sawyer McCade's meddling mother just dumped a mysterious mail-order-bride on his doorstep. One woman can be more trouble than a band of renegades, and while this one has him all stirred up, he'd rather get to the bottom of the story she isn't telling.
Rose Parker had it all--until a web of danger and deceit sends her running to Cheyenne posing as a mail-order-bride. Escaping the evils of New York seems sensible until she meets the unsuspecting sheriff who didn't ask for her, has no intentions of marrying her, and won't rest until he uncovers her secret and send her back home.


kimturnerwrites.com
Coming soon from The Wild Rose Press! Stay tuned!

Sawyer's Rose-Catching up on the latest...

So about a week ago, I turned in my first edits on Sawyer's Rose. I spent 6 weeks working on the story as suggested by my editor and actually ended up going through it twice. I will have to say it is rather intense working on edits, while at the same time learning a new job after 18 years, but I did it and the new job is going well too. Never having had this experience, it was great that my editor taught me the reason for most of the changes I needed to make and I have to hand it to her, the story is so much better than it was and I am excited. From what I understand there are a couple of more rounds of edits and so this will continue when I get second edits back in August. It does seem lone in between, but the break from the story will give me time to step away from it and then back into it with a clear mind. And the good thing is that I won't be working on edits while I travel to NY or while my youngest daughter goes through surgery during the month of July. Thanks heavens (and my editor) for small favors! And this gives me a bit of time to gear up for going to New York with the family and for planning what I want to attend at Romance Writer's of America's conference there. I finally found a dress I can deal with for the Awards banquet where Sawyer's Rose is a finalist and I am still a bit overwhelmed with where Sawyer is taking me. Last fall I thought it was more than enough to simply final in the Maggies and get an honorable mention but finagling in the Golden Heart is almost more than I can comprehend. I never would have thought this would happen. Toss the ice cream on top with Sawyer's Rose getting published and I certainly have been riding along a cloud or riding along some mountainous range of trouble with Sawyer and his brothers and that cast of characters I have come to love. I still don't have a release date on Sawyer's Rose but I might know about that in the next few months I hope. And, until then or at least until Sawyer returns for second edits, I have been jumping back into his brother Wyatt's story which is coming along! So stay tuned and don't forget to check out my website: kimturnerwrites.com to keep up with the latest!

The Chuck Wagon: Old West Hot Wings

Old West Hot Wings






Wash Chicken wings and drum sticks
Dip in egg and water mixture and coat in flour
Cook in hot oil until crispy and cooked through
Toss in hot wing sauce of choice


Better homemade than out of a bag!




The Wagon Master