Flourish Even Amongst Writing Deadlines
August 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M Colby, Word of the year, writers lifeMy 2025 word of the year is flourish. And when I started this blog post with a different topic, I realized I had not written anything about it this year on this blog. None. Zilch. Nadda. Except for one little mention in a blog post about my 2nd book’s birthday.
And then it hit me. I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about my word this year, because I’ve been so busy living it. Which is exactly where I want to be.
I will admit, that even though flourish is my 2025 word, there are some days I feel like I’m floundering. But then I look at all I have accomplished this year, and I have flourished. (This is why we need to keep track, and count all the steps we take, including those in between every year. I share some tips in a blog post titled Find Motivation to Accomplish Goals)
Flourishing in My Writing
My writing has improved. I’ve published my second book in 2025, successfully, I might add. And my first novella releases in November (I can do a cover reveal post next month). I’m currently busy writing my next full novel as well as putting together pitches for more stories.
Not bad for someone who was ready to quit two years ago.
Yes, you heard that correctly. I was ready to walk away from all of this and then my big break happened.
Thriving in My Marketing
I’m still figuring out how to juggle marketing my current books while continuing to write, but by writing down what I’ve done so far this year, I have done several things. (Launch windows are a whole other thing as well and I’m getting better at it).
January is when many other writers set their blog and review schedules, and I’ve been able to do a yearly planner for the first time this year. I’ve learned how to utilize BookFunnel and have added both my books to a different promotion every month.
For example, this month both my books are in a Christian and Clean Romance Books group. Click on the graphic to see what it’s all about. It will also help me get my numbers up 🙂
I’ve also participated in an author email swap and an author sponsored book club with eleven other authors. It’s been great getting to make new author friends and read their stories.
Health Matters, Too
As I grow older, health has been an area of focus for me and this year is no different. Figuring out which foods affect me has been one thing. Having hernia surgery in March was another. I had no idea that something I had felt for years was impacting me so much. Now I’m on a quest to get stronger, lifting weights every day and stretching to get myself in better shape. When we went camping last month, I could ride a bike longer and without pain in my leg. I call that a win, and another area I can flourish in.
Spiritual Flourishing
Definitely not last on the list is my walk with God. This one is the most important area for me, but something that can be the most challenging to make the time for. It must be a daily event for me to focus on and strive in order to flourish. Through my time with Him comes the stories he wants me to tell. But it’s more than that. It’s the compass of my life, all aspects of my life, and how I respond to the daily challenges thrown my way.
Again, I feel sometimes as if I’m floundering here, but the grace, mercy, and forgiveness I receive from the Lord, helps me in turn show others the same. That was something I stumbled on when choosing flourish this year. There is a thing such as spiritual flourishing, and even though there was not a specific Bible verse for this, this was exactly what I am striving for.
Spiritual flourishing involves regular prayer, studying the Bible, trusting in God’s promises and living out my faith in daily actions. The nature of true flourishing is a contentment in Christ regardless of circumstances.
And that we can help others flourish too. By encouraging others, share God’s love, serve those in need, and pray for one another. This is my daily prayer, that I can be an encouragement to others including my husband and my kids.
“In his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound, till the moon is no more.” Psalm 72:7
“May the LORD cause you to flourish, both you and your children” Psalms 115:14
Word of the Year Pages On My Website
I’ve dedicated a section on my website for my Word of the Year. I’ve already started building the flourish page. Take a peek. And come finish the year 2025 with a flourish!
0 1 Read moreWriting Research Trip of a Lifetime
July 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as London, writers life, writing researchIn May this year, I had the opportunity to take a writing research trip of a lifetime. Not only did I take so many notes in the genre I like to write in, I also was able to visit so many places I’ve read about.
Meaning, I stood in the spot many of my favorite literary characters have stood. I could even imagine favorite scenes of carriage rides in Hyde Park, a stroll across Grosvenor Square, or sitting at a show performed at the Royal Albert Hall with royalty in the box down the aisle.
I thought it would be fun to share some of these photos with all of you. Which also helps me preserve the memories from my writing research trip.
Visiting Places I’ve Read About
In London alone, we were able to visit Grosvener Square, where the elite once lived and is now home to several embassies. We got here on our last night and I was so happy. It was on my bucket list for this writing research trip.
Castles and Palaces
We also were able to drop by and see two Palaces, and go inside Windsor Castle (the state rooms are amazing. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, unfortunately. But I did take notes on some things I saw. Never know when those notes can be used for writing research.
Famous Streets
Several books have taken me to a variety of London neighborhoods including Bow Street, Drury Lane, and Trafalgar Square. I had hoped to get to 7 dials, and a few others, but boy is it all a lot of walking. Even Hyde Park is huge, we had to break it up into two days. But just walking around gave me such great insight into the lay of the land. Perfect information for my next read or writing project. I kept finding every thing we saw as a research opportunity.
Hyde Park
Hyde park was so fun to walk through. We walked one side on one day, and the other side another day. The main area where many carriages would parade to be seen was so big and open. The Serpentine was too. So many people were enjoying the park for the day having a picnic or renting paddleboats on the river. I could imagine scenes with the hero rowing a sweetheart and wooing her at the same time. I’ve read many scenes like this.
The London Zoo is where AA Milne would visit Winnipeg the bear that inspired the Winnie the Pooh Stories. This was a fun thing for me. Everything has a rich history in London. With many research points to capture.
Writing Research Outside of London – the trip continues
I was so excited to go Bath and see the Roman Baths. I’ve read many stories with this setting in it. To see it in person was amazing. So much history it was overwhelming. We also walked through several churches including Notre Dame in Paris. In Scotland, visiting Edinburgh Castle gave me several ideas for a new series, where I also could possibly include the history of golf at St. Andrews Golf Course. Again, I found myself continuously taking writing notes on my phone.
There’s so much more I haven’t shared, I think I need to do it in another post. Let me know in the comments if you are interested in more from my writing research trip.
All in all I feel beyond blessed to be able to have seen all that we did. And look forward to adding these pieces to future stories. I’m so thankful our son decided to study abroad. Which got us planning this trip in the first place!!
Last month I shared about how I managed my book launch while on this trip. Take a look at all the pics I took with my book cover at these historical sights.
Or visit my website to read more on my blog.
2 1 Read moreCelebrating Thirty Years of Romance
April 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as 30th anniversary, historical romance, writers lifeThis post is not really book related, but since I write historical romance, it is romance related. This month, on April 22nd to be exact, my husband and I are celebrating thirty years of romance. Okay the entire thirty years may not be all romance, but it is our 30th wedding anniversary.
Just like any romance story, ours is full of attraction, love, faith, hope, discord, arguments, difference of opinion, reconciliation, hope, fun, magic moments, hardships, love, faith, and so on. A lot can happen in thirty years. For our 25th year, I wrote a blog post for why he was the perfect hero for me.
If I were to be writing this as a book, our happily ever after began on April 22, 1995. But our story began on Feb. 2, 1992. I wrote about it this year in February post on denisemcolby.com.
We met at Disneyland. Our honeymoon was in Florida at DisneyWorld. And for our 30th anniversary, we are headed to Disneyland Paris in France. We are so excited.
Our wedding day, thirty years ago
It is so fun to reflect back to our special day thirty years ago. I definitely was influenced by the fairy tales I grew up with. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. Our engagement happened at the Snow White wishing well by the castle at Disneyland, and we had a replica made for our wedding, making it a central piece to our wedding theme.
It’s fun to be able to share some pics from that day, long ago.
As you can see by the cake topper and toasting glasses, we added Disney touches everywhere.
We hired an artist friend Dave Avanzino (who now creates beautiful artwork including custom work for Disney) to transform our drab brown carpet area into a lush garden complete with a wishing well replica.
It was magical! Looking back I’m sure family and friends thought we were over the top, but our young adult church group was having over ten weddings a year at the time and we wanted to do something different and make it our own.
We could barely imagine our life thirty years from then. But here we are.
And here I am, now a published author with my second Historical Romance launching this year. I like to think my relationship with God and with my husband has influenced my writing.
Since this is a writing blog, I would be remiss if I didn’t share my new cover of A Slight Change of Plans. It launches May 27, 2025. A pre-order link will be coming soon. Next month, I’ll be sharing all about it.
Thirty years of romance later
Never could we imagine what our life would be like thirty years later. But now that we are here, I’m thankful for the adventure we have had so far. Here’s to many more years of romance in the future. Both in real life and in my stories.
What Inspires And Influences My Writing?
February 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Influences, inspiration, writers lifeI recently presented on the topic of being a published author to a group of high-schoolers at a career day event. Asked where my inspiration for my writing comes from, I didn’t have a clear-cut answer. And that made me realize I needed to pay attention to what inspires and influences my writing.
What I did tell them was read. Read, read, read. And read in the genre that you want to write in.
And that part is true.
When I read a story that I absolutely love, I’m encouraged to write a story that I would love.
At least that is what I’m finding as I’m on deadline for book number three. Since I haven’t been reading as much, I believe that is impacting my motivation. And so I went back to one of my favorite authors and started her new series, which has been in my TBR pile for a while now. I’m finding it helping to give me inspiration as I write.
What am I reading? Karen Witemeyer’s Ever After Series
But back to the original question from the high-schoolers. What inspires and influences what I write? What else could I have said to pass on inspiration to this younger generation of writers?
I think it’s going to take some time to fully create a concise answer, but I have a clearer idea now.
What inspires me to write the genre I’ve chosen?
I write historical romance. I love to read this genre, too. But where did that love of this genre come from? Why did I decide to include a one-room schoolhouse (I do know this one – and I wrote a blog about it titled: It’s the One-Room Schoolhouse’s Fault).
But other than that I haven’t thought about this at all, really, it’s just what I enjoy.
And I’ve always been fascinated with history. I have a long, rich family history in my home town, that I love to research. My great, great, great grandfather was a mountain man (imagine finding a mention of him in Misty M. Beller’s book The Lady and the Mountain Man. Which I wrote about in another blog post called Finding Family Mentioned in A Novel.
Anyway, as you can see, many of these things have shaped my writing. And then I was in the check-out line at CVS this past weekend. And I bought this.
The influence of my childhood favorites in my writing
I had a review mention that my stories had a Little House on the Prairie vibe to it.
There was a good reason.
I grew up watching this show and reading the Little House books (I’ve read them all). Those and Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly and When Calls the Heart Series have inspired and influenced my writing even though I didn’t really realize it until recently. (interesting note: all had one-room schoolhouse’s in them).
So before I started writing this post, I brewed some tea and started to read through the magazine. I’m not even a few pages in and multiple thoughts are popping up in my brain. There’s a difference between real life and fiction. Actors and their experiences versus what their characters express in a story (move, tv, theater, book). Which is sort of what reading a book does. Escape into a different reality.
As a young girl, I had no idea about what an actor was. And it didn’t matter to me. I grew up watching Melissa Gilbert play Laura. I grew up seeing Laura as a girl near the same age as me experiencing all the emotions life brings out of us. And watching her pa encourage her, and have faith in her. Which encouraged me.
Isn’t this what our stories are about? Writing worlds and characters our readers can relate to and enjoy and want to be friends with. A chance to be encouraged, inspired, and loved on when taking a break from the real world with a good book.
It’s a good reminder as I finish this post and jump back to the next scene in my manuscript.
A few final thoughts on characters from stories we love
One of the things I have learned about myself is that I like to immense myself into my storyworld and feel all the feels, and write as if I’m the character I’m writing. I think this is why I love to have my characters write their own story a bit. They are real to me. Just like the characters in the books from Laura Ingalls Wilder inspire and influence my writing as well.
I’m glad I bought the magazine. I normally don’t. But I was looking for some extra encouragement and motivation. What I found was a reminder of what’s inside of me and where that came from. Now I need to figure out how to channel it to finish my story.
Do you know what inspires you and your writing?
Is there a specific book or show that resonated with you or that you pull from when you write?
Is there a genre of shows that influenced what you read and write?
0 0 Read moreLoads of Writing Fun at ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference
November 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M Colby, writers life, Writers' ConferenceI just came home from the ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference that was held in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is the first official large scale conference by Scrivenings Press, who happens to be my publisher. I loved being able to meet my publisher in person and be able to meet fellow authors and build a camaraderie with them. I also thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions.
Great Speakers At ScrivCon Writers Conference Means Active Learning
Angela Hunt gave the keynote, as well as our early-bird session. She shared many of her tips and experiences through her forty years of publishing. I especially liked her Plot Skeleton. It’s a simple way to figure out your basic plot and outline of your new novel. She also discussed her different drafts and what she accomplishes during each one. Now that I’ve published a novel, I feel like this content hits differently for me and is something I can relate to and apply to future manuscripts.
She’s produced several small booklets including one on the Plot Skeleton for writers. Others include Creating ExtraOrdinary Characters, and Evoking Emotion. Take a look. There are others. They may be a great new resource for you. It was super cool for me to connect the dots that she wrote the Tale of Three Trees. One of my kids favorite books we would read at Christmas and Easter.
Other topics at the ScrivCon 2024 Writers Conference included dialogue, productivity, setting, software, book marketing, and so much more. My brain is overflowing.
Fellowship At ScrivCon Writers Conference Builds Connection
Scrivenings Press holds monthly zoom meetings, which has been a great way to meet and learn about other authors and their projects. But meeting them in person has something zoom can’t provide. It was fun to meet face to face, share about our writing, discuss struggles, and brainstorm during the genre breakout one night.
A banquet was held on the last night, where awards for editor of the year, best book of the year, as well as the GetPubbed and Novel Starts contest winners. A fabulous way to celebrate a year of hard work.
Explore and Learn About History
I love National Parks and Hot Springs has one of the smallest national parks in it. It’s related to bath houses and the natural springs that bubble up hot water. It was fun to walk on the promenade, explore the museum, and have a root beer float made with the natural spring water. There is also a gangster museum since Hot Springs is where Al Capone would go to hide out sometimes. Hot Springs apparantly has some baseball history as well, with several signs marking the spots for a walking tour related to the sport.
I can’t wait to jump in and utilize all that I’ve learned from this conference. And I look forward to staying in touch with all my new writer friends as well.
Denise loves to share about her writing journey (see all her posts here), including her word of the year (this year it is GROW), her debut novel When Plans Go Awry, and all the things in between. You can visit her at her website and blog at www.denisemcolby.com or on her facebook or instagram. Please note: some links include Amazon Associate links where Denise can earn from qualifying purchases.
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