Category Archives: Twisted Love Series

Writing Timelines

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I’ll be honest, I hate timelines, they are a pain in the butt. Sadly, they are very necessary in books. How many times have you read a story and went, “What? Wait a second. That’s not right!” Sometimes it’s minor, and sometimes it is MAJOR! Enough to annoy a reader and turn them off from your books.

I work hard to make sure my timelines flow in my books. I track them through a spreadsheet in Excel, and one of my proofreaders loves to nit-pick them so intently that I believe she has an addiction. It’s a good addiction!!! One that I seriously appreciate!

Last week I wrote about 27,000 words on a new book. Riley is the fourth book in the Loving a Young Series, and it is coming out in February. I was rocking right along until I paused and went, Wait! I need to adjust the timing on this! Then I made changes. I ended up having to make more changes and add in two chapters, and then I needed more changes.

Then I realized I had screwed the timeline up so much that I didn’t even know what everyone was doing or when!! So I had to stop and find another way! I ended up using my regular calendar connected to my email.

Now I have it all down correctly! But man did that take a while to get it corrected! Now, when you click on those lines, there are notes about the chapters and details of what needs to happen when! Perfect!

I do have to add that while Riley is an intense timeline – it is now where as crazy and intense as The Twisted Love Series! This picture is the timeline that used to be on my wall – That is 11 feet of timeline!! Take about details to track on that series!

Roadtrips for Inspiration

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This past weekend my husband and I took a fun roadtrip so I could get a first hand perspective of a town for an upcoming book that I am co-writing with another author (Love Inked, The Twisted Love Series). It was a spur of the moment decision to head up and check it out and one I am so glad that I made!

Sunday morning, hubby and I jumped in my car and hit the PA Turnpike to go west and then north to the little town of Centralia. Now, it might sound that exciting to go visit a small town in the middle of no where, but this town has some serious history. If you search Centralia PA, you’ll see it listed as the Town that is No More. Google lists it as a Ghost Town.

Why is that? Well, it’s because Centralia was once an up and coming mining town, and in 1962 while burning some rubbish at the landfill, they started a fire in a mining shaft below ground. Today, the fire still burns underground (and is expected to burn at least another 200 years) and the entire town has been evacuated (expect about 7 residences who refuse to leave). The history is quite fascinating, and my visit there was awesome!

The series that I’m writing with Amy Manemann is a Romantic Suspense/Police Procedural series, and while the majority of it takes place in Philly, Centralia is going to play a big part in the upcoming books. Love Inked, Book 3 in the series will introduce the town, and Book 4 (Title not announced yet) the two female detectives will visit.

Now what’s in Centralia? Not much. A bunch of streets that have no signs, but navigation will tell you what their names used to be. A lot of plots of land overgrown between the roads, broken cement stairs that used to lead to homes, and lots of graffiti! There are a few homes left, and a municipal building along with a church and two cemetarys.

What I also found there was a whole lot of inspiration for our series. As I looked around, I could picture where things would happen, and I felt like Kali (the character) was ready to take on the investigation! That little creek in front of me here, well let’s say that you might see that again on the pages of a book.

All in all, my hubby and I had a great time. Not only doing the research, but just spending the day with each other. I’m blessed that I have a husband who is so encouraging and willing to help me out! Now I can’t wait to figure out my next location so we can visit that one too!

If you want to know more about my trip and the Twisted Love Series, join the Twisted Love Series Addicts Group on Facebook, and check out the first two books, Love Lorn by Amy Manemann and Love Torn, by me. Those two books give the back story on the upcoming Book Love Inked that releases on January 3rd.