Adventures of a Romance Author: The Hearts of Gold Books | Esther Elias, Romance Author

Hello, lovely readers! Today is the day my cover reveal form is officially closed. I am not accepting any more applications. 

I think it is only right that I talk about the HEARTS OF GOLD books, seeing as Trusting in Faith is one of many novels/novellas in this very large interconnected series. I haven't really talked about this in a while, so I think I will now.

I currently have 5 of the *too many to count* stories. And I just keep labeling some of my other stories as "A Hearts of Gold" story because it just fits into the world I'm conjuring. 

Let's see... TRUSTING IN FAITH is not the first book I wrote in this series. SCARRED HEARTS is the first book. However, because the books are stand-alone and can be enjoyed on their own, there is no reading order.

SCARRED HEARTS was the first book I actually sat down and extended beyond the original word count. It was originally around 45-50,000 words, but I brought it to over 70,000 - this was because I entered it into a publisher contest and the word count was a requirement. Luckily, I had readers who were very enthusiastic about the story continuing.

Michael and Leyda (LavaGirl, as Mike calls his love interest), opened the door to romance. Yes, I'd written other romance short stories before this one, but it was the first story I realized I liked writing it. Mike's brother does have a story planned, but I actually have not done anything to get it started yet.

The story I wrote after was PICTURES OF YOU. If you're a Millenial, you know the song. I did finish it and I do love the concept, but the plot has too many holes in it and I need a full year to figure them out. But I do love Mer(r)ick's character [I can't remember if it's 1 R or 2, because it's an inconsistency that needs fixing]. I've had people comment on his name. I guess they didn't understand the unique quality the name gives the character. (This book is currently unavailable as I have unpublished it to work on revisions.

TRUSTING IN FAITH was written next. And as many of my readers know, this book was originally titled: "Escaping Reality". It was really rough to write because 1) I was writing about some topics I hadn't experienced (same as S.H.) and 2) I was including a character in the foster system. I was in the foster system and including the emotions I experienced during that era was very hard. But worth it.

This book is connected with 3 novellas, and the titles are in the series GIF. These 3 novellas follow Kari/Jake's two children, their love interests, and the sister one of those love interests. I have been calling this group of stories the Harpers & the Lees (last names). TIF is labeled "Harpers #1" in my collection notes.

Harpers #2-slash-Lees #1 does have an outline but I don't know

"Breaking Chains" was a working title for the next book I actually sat down to write. It was not a Hearts of Gold book until 2016 because I did write half of this book prior to starting TIF. I do not have a new title for this one yet, but it is 80% finished. Which is major for me. I have the lined pages with the final chapters still in my old school backpack. Really, the only thing I need to do is type it up.

It does need some work, but if I make the time to read it over (I hope it's not written in pencil...) I still have a chance to get it finished. I thought about calling it "RISKY DECISIONS" but that title became useful for a different novella. But I won't be talking about that one in today's post.

In addition, I have a novella titled SEEKING SHELTER, but this particular story is a little... touchy for me because I thought I was being clever when I decided to write someone into the book as my love interest and now I am no longer acquainted with that person. The whole situation is touchy, but I am sure that if I do push myself to work on it, the story will be amazing.

Finally, the Zack Matthews Trilogy. This is a set of three... episodes that follow a dashing young man thru 3 stages of his life. Before my Millenial readers jump at me, yes; I was inspired by Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell (I still love that sitcom!). Only he's not an outrageous flirt and doesn't pull school-wide pranks, and he is loyal like a Golden Retriever.

I have an outline for the entire trilogy, I know what I want to happen in Zack's high school years, his college years, and some of his adult years. I think the main reason I outlined this story is to practice my character arcs and the change one goes through as one grows. I do have individual titles for the episodes, but I'll share those another time.

I am currently redesigning all of my cover art for the HEARTS OF GOLD series, so a lot of them don't have characters or anything, just a cute placeholder.

There are many more novels and novellas that I've got on my mind for this series, but the ones mentioned are the ones at the forefront. I've actually "unpublished" some of my half-written stories from my Wattpad account. They are still in drafts and I read through them now and then. But I took them down to minimize the number of books I have on there. It's a little tricky to sort through the drafts I'm not working on and the ones I am working on.

Anyway, thank you for dropping by. I hope this post finds you in good health, mentally and physically. Stay safe, stay awesome. See you in the funny papers!