https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-c52d4-1a9a131
I finally catch up on what I wrote over the last while, which is fitting because these chapters wrap up the story elements and sides of the character Penelope that serve as introductions for the reader. I got stuck here, mainly because this is where I really need to start delving into the meat of the story. Reviewing and talking out this section helped me pin down a few ways to move forward, which I’ll talk about next time.
I recently started revising Date Shark as part of my plan to overhaul my previous books before republishing under my married name (DelSheree Spinner) and my new publishing company (DelSheree Press LLC).
Date Shark seemed like a good place to start because it’s romance, which I have a better sense of how to market, it’s a complete series, and it’s had good response over the years so I thought it would probably need the least amount of work.
I’m about halfway through the first book, Date Shark (which will be getting a title update once I figure out what exactly that will be), and it did not take more than a page for me to realize I was way wrong on the whole “least amount of work” idea. The story structure is there and won’t require any major changes, but the characters are a different story.
They are not who I thought they were.
Let’s start with Leila, who has some issues but less so than Eli. I remember writing Leila to be sweet, naive, lacking in confidence, and talented and hardworking.
Some of that remains true looking back at her about 10 years later. What reads completely differently to me now is that she seeks out people who tell her who to be and how to live and she takes their advice with too little thought.
This creates stark inconsistencies in her character over the first half of the book. She’s eager to improve herself but doesn’t think through the suggestions she gets and allows herself to be bossed around and manipulated. It painted those as positive characteristics without meaning to. She’s supposed to be the heroine of her story, but others are driving the plot.
My main revisions with her character so far are to make her more thoughtful, even with her early naivete and low self-image. I know from the beginning that her character arc needs to involved recognizing when others are pushing her to bend to their will and plans and develop strength to stand up for her needs and desires. The area where she bends and wobbles in the early chapters are intentional now, allow Leila to learn from mistakes, not me mistaking gaslighting for compromise.
Who I remembered Eli being was charming, caring, a bit obsessive thanks to some personal demons, but a near-perfect best friend with the potential for more.
Upon this most recent reading, I realized he was basically none of those things. He was manipulative from just about page one, controlling, demanding, sneaky, and intrusive. I was genuinely shocked to realize I had written a character that was so unlike what I was trying to accomplish. My view of relationships was so skewed at that time that I didn’t see how un-Prince Charming Eli was behaving.
There was a scene early in the book when they meet to discuss their initial “fake” date where Eli basically diagnosis her dating life troubles. She is understandably anxious and demoralized in this scene after he’s laid out everything she did that could set off warning bells for a date. It’s forgivable that she doesn’t speak the thoughts in her head that explain her intentions or contradict the man she hired to provide advice for improvement. That’s part of her growth arc.
What’s not forgivable is how Eli attempts to manipulate the situation more than once through touch and by telling her what to do even after he has admitted to himself that he doesn’t understand why she came to him. He wants to manufacture ways to spend more time with her, claims it’s to help her grow under his tutelage, yet almost withholds an invitation from a friend that would give her an opportunity to test out his advice purely out of jealousy.
I was so unhappy with this scene that I had to step away to think about it before I could begin revising. I narrowed down what was bothering me most about the scene to Eli’s manipulative behavior. I despise manipulation. I know exactly how detrimental it is to self-worth and relationships. If I wanted readers to believe this relationship could last, it couldn’t be based on manipulation.
So, I cut the touching. I’ve cut quite a bit of touching so far. That may seem weird for a romance novel, but it wasn’t the right kind of touching. It crossed professional boundaries in ways I hadn’t recognized before and now created an icky feeling when I read it. Yes, Eli is struggling to balance his attraction to Leila and his desires to touch her with his role as a mentor of sorts, so his internal struggle remains at the forefront of his thoughts. That’s where it needs to stay, though.
I also went line-by-line reevaluating his dialogue and Leila’s responses. I change what came off now as commands to suggestions or recommendations, things she might consider trying. I made him more honest about the limitations of his advice and had him ask more questions to increase his understanding. This helped develop the scene into more of a conversation than a patriarchal talking down session.
Eli still doesn’t come off as perfect in the scene, but that’s now on purpose. I highlight his internal flaws elsewhere to show the reader where his improvement path leads. He doesn’t know how to manage the emotions he feels for Leila, particularly in light of his history with his mother. He has to battle the desire to maintain control over his life while being dragged toward opening up to someone he cares about. He’s terrified of the pain that might bring.
I’d originally used the tagline “When it comes to choosing between obsession and passion, some lines should be crossed.” This completely missed the point of Eli’s growth arc. He’s not obsessive in his personal life nor his pursuit of Leila.
His life once spun completely out of control because of someone else’s choices and he coped by taking control of everything he could. It makes him successful in his professional life, but has kept him from having any meaningful romantic relationships. He sees a possibility of breaking out of that pattern with Leila, but it’s terrifying and selfish to put his needs before hers.
Revising the first half of this book has really helped me solidify who these characters are, what growth is needed to achieve the right ending, and how I can more accurately portray them to the reader.
A little relevant history with this book: it was the first non-paranormal book I wrote and I wasn’t sure if it was any good. It was meant to be a standalone and I didn’t send it to beta readers or friends before submitting it to a publisher that was interested in my work. The publisher offered a contract and then I didn’t hear from them for months. When I asked about editing, they said it was so clean it didn’t need anything and had already been moved on to formatting. They were way wrong on that, even before I realized how off-base the characters were. Reviews frequently mentioned poor editing. Even when I got my rights back and re-edited it, the character problems were still lurking. This book really never went through a full editing process, and it clearly needed it.
I started revisions knowing I wanted to touch up the characters and relationship arc. I seriously underestimated what that would require, but having that focus has been very helpful in guiding me. If I find typos, I of course fix them, but I really like the idea of editing for something specific and not just “editing.” I’m finding that I am much more productive and zeroed in on specific goals with this style of editing. I’ll take this approach into revisions on my other books as well.
I’ll wrap up with a note about the series, which I’m sure I’ll revisit in the future as I continue working on this series. A problem with read-through on this series I noticed when analyze sales data for the last 15 years was that of my main series, this one had the lowest read-through rate. Individual books had good reviews, so this puzzled me at first. What I realize now is that across the series there is inconsistency in the spice level, the tone, and the focus of the romances.
As I work on the series as a whole, another editing goal is to improve consistency across all five books so reader get a good sense of what the series is in this first book and that is delivered across the full series. This wasn’t something I really thought about while writing them, but I’m taking a more business-minded approach to my series while still making sure the books stay true to the characters and story overall. It will be an interesting balance to strike.
Because so much of my identity has shifted over the past few years, I need and want a fresh start with my writing career. I’m willing to lose a boatload of reviews and ranking to achieve this, because I feel confident that dismantling and reassembling my author platform will be truer to who I am and what I write in the long run.
Part of the fresh start I’m making is changing my author name and opening a small publishing company. The publishing company will not only serve as a platform for republishing my books, but I will also take on one writer at a time to help them develop their writing in a mentor-based publishing process (more on that later).
There are tax-based reasons for republishing my books under my new company (DelSheree Press LLC), but more than anything it’s about treating my writing as a professional career and consolidating everything I do with books, writing, coaching, teaching, etc. into one space where I can represent myself and authors I work with in a professional manner.
My plan for my own books is to go back through all 34 of them, series by series to reevaluate the stories and characters for structure and craft issues, ideas and values that don’t sit right with me, relationships that need revisions, and cover art that needs updated.
Here’s a look at what I have planned (in order) and issues I know I need to work on:
Ideally, I would like to have this done by the end of 2026, but I know that is probably unrealistic. It will depend on how much rewriting I end up needing to do on individual books. Then there’s time to actually do all of that and funds to pay for various services I’ll need along the way.
Most likely, it will take me two years to get through all of these. Even though I look at writing much more seriously than I used to, I have many other aspects of life that also need my attention. My two children are now in college, but I have learned that adult children still need you just as much as they did when they were little. I also have three wonderful and busy step children and I try my best to be there to support them in their interests and activities as much as possible. I’m married to a wonderful man who has his own goals and interests that I want to support those however I can as well.
I teach also high school full time, host a weekly radio show called Write On Four Corners (which I love but takes quite a bit of time), coordinate a monthly lecture series called Write to Publish, and will be adding the new adventure of opening DelSheree Press in 2026. Time is at a premium for me right now, and my goal is to use it wisely to balance time with family, work, and, my writing/publishing pursuits. This has never been an easy thing for me, but I’m getting better at it the more I make balance a priority.
I am working on several fiction projects right now, but the first book I plan to publish in 2026 is a nonfiction book based on a workshop I have taught several times. I don’t have enough time to teach extra class right now, but I want to continue to help authors. This book will help me do that. The working (maybe final?) title is “Start Here: An Introduction to Indie Publishing.”
After this post, I’ll return to posting monthly-ish or when I have something interesting to share.
I’ll share more in the future about my current fiction projects, which started as one book and has split into two. That’s also a long story of reassembling a deconstructed idea.
What have you had to reassemble in your own life?
The first leaving I mentioned in the last post was leaving the faith community I had been raised in and had committed to raising my children in as well. Faith can be a wonderful thing that brings comfort and community, but it can also constrict and hold hostage. I experienced both sides of that and everything in between as I participated in the Mormon faith as best I could.
There were always questions, things that didn’t make sense, confusing parts that contradicted each other. I trusted that these would all be worked out later—much later, as in the afterlife. As a very young wife (18) and mother (19, then again at 21), I had a lot of other things on my mind. Trusting that religion would pull it all together someday in the future was what I could handle.
My husband, at the time, struggled much more with faith. That is his story to tell, but I will share that over time it affected me because I was desperate to do something to help him. He had spent a lot more time studying and researching than I had—which was part of the problem—but I thought that if I connected more with what he was struggling with, I could help him figure it out.
That led me down a rabbit hole that I won’t get into here, because it isn’t the point of this post and I have no desire to disrupt anyone else’s beliefs, but the end result was that I did not find the answers I was looking for and the concepts I had always struggled with before became amplified. My search also led me to question what I had believed about relationships, duty to stay in a relationship, and what it meant to be happy.
I wasn’t happy, in my faith or in my life. When it came to faith, I realized I could no longer participate because I no longer believed in its tenants, promises, or demands.
My faith had been a major factor in my decision-making my entire life up to that point. Getting married young to someone I barely knew, having kids right away, not prioritizing my education in favor of supporting my husband’s education, not believing I could have a career either at all or until my kids were grown, not challenging decisions or standing up for myself, and so on.
My mantra always seemed to be that I just had to find a way to endure and to make it work.
My writing was also affected, and not just that I shied away from certain topics because of what family or church members might think. Writing was a hobby and that was all it could ever be. It took time away from my family, kept me from keeping a cleaner house or having dinner ready on time, cost money that should have gone to the family’s needs, distracted me, etc. None of these things were actually true, but I believed them. Humans tend to do that when the message is repeated often enough.
I did the best I could to make writing into something both fulfilling and income-producing during those years. I grew a decent following. I wrote a lot and I wrote fast. Spending money on editing was not going to fly at that time, so many of my early books especially are underdeveloped and timid in their approach to tough topics. They were basically first drafts with proofreading by friends and family. These are the ones that will see some significant changes when republished, if not full rewrites.
My faith and marriage also heavily influenced my worldview, which skewed my understanding and view of relationships—what was normal and healthy and okay and what wasn’t. It took my current husband (another life change—this time for the positive) reading some of my books and kindly but directly questioning the way I had portrayed healthy or good relationships in my writing to show me how much my mindset had shifted. I’ll get more into the relationship part of that in the next post.
When your understanding of humanity and existence in general completely collapses and has to be rebuilt, you look at things differently. When I reread some of my books, I no longer connect with certain aspects of what I wrote, relationships and otherwise. Another area for revisions when I republish.
Some might ask, why bother? Why not let those previous books remain as a time capsule and move on to new projects?
I am moving on to new projects, which I’m excited about and will talk about later, but I don’t like the idea of fifteen years of my writing career (and yes, I consider it a career worth investing in fully now) being set aside because I don’t connect with them anymore. It’s really hard for me to promote something I don’t fully believe in.
I also know this will be a great learning experience for me, both as a writer and as a human. I will get to look back at what I thought and believed at different stages of my life and see how much they’ve changed. It’s encouraging, in a weird way, to know that I have grown so much and opened myself up to new ideas and new ways of seeing the world.
So, as I revise and republish, if you are curious about the changes and want to reread a book you read previously, let me know. I’ll be back at zero with reviews on most of my books and I’d be happy to send review copies for those who might want to share their honest thoughts.
What is something you’ve had to reevaluate in your life?
It’s been a while, I know. There’s a reason (or several). But it’s a long story.
I will be spending 2026 (and probably beyond) shifting everything I’ve built over the last 15 years of publishing from DelSheree Gladden to DelSheree Spinner, even though I know this is a somewhat crazy thing to do.
Advice writers are constantly given—and which I have given to many writers as well—is to build your brand early and be consistent about maintaining it. So, why am I essentially demolishing my brand when I know it goes against advice almost everyone would probably give me?
I will attempt to explain over the next few posts. There are layers to this story, of course, two of which need to be mentioned right off the bat.
I was raised is the Mormon/LDS faith. I got engaged at 17, to someone I had only known a few months and who was 4 years older than me. I got married 6 months later at age 18. This was considered very normal in the culture I grew up in. My parents did not counsel me to get to know this person better, wait until I was older, focus on my education, etc.
I also grew up with a very manipulative and emotionally abusive mother who made it clear that she didn’t like me. Although I recognized that she treated me differently than my siblings, it was still all I knew and I thought it was normal behavior for a mother to have such obvious favorites and to pit her children against each other.
You’ve probably all heard the adage that you’re drawn to what’s familiar when it comes to relationships. I think that’s particularly true when a person believes the negative behaviors they’ve experienced are what everyone deals with as well. Add to this the belief that marriages are eternal and divorce is a sin that will likely ostracize you from your religious community.
I married someone who was very similar to my mother, and I believed I had no other option than to stay and make it work even when I started to see the signs that our relationship was not healthy. My mindset started to shift in 2015 when I made the incredibly hard decision to leave the church I had spent my whole life up to that point trying to believe and live. Leaving opened me up to redefining who I was, what a healthy relationship looked like, what I wanted for myself and my kids, and what it meant to be happy.
The next few years of learning, growing, and seeking help through therapy opened my eyes and led to another leaving. This time my marriage.
I’ll spoil the ending and say that I have no regrets and I am so happy in my life now, but two major life changes in the course of only a few years will undoubtedly come with complications, one of which was having to put writing on the back burner.
The rest of those life changes and complications I’ll talk about over the next few posts.
In the meantime, please be patient as my website and book catalog are a mishmash of Gladden/Spinner and some of my books may be temporarily unavailable or mixed up on retailers. As I begin the process of republishing, some books will stay largely the same, others will not (I’ll explain why later), and there may be shifts in how and what I write as I get back into it.
What won’t change is that I believe so much that storytelling is important. It connects us. It engenders empathy. It turns strangers into friends and supports. Even if my books and writing look a little different moving forward, my commitment to telling stories that say something true and meaningful won’t.
What do you love most about storytelling?
While the hook is critical to a great blurb, the body of the blurb deserves equal attention. Consider it’s effectiveness as a whole as well as it’s individual parts.
Choosing the right words can make all the different in a blurb. Be certain to make sure your word choice communicates the tone of the story by using words that fit the genre and situation. A dark thriller will use more intense wording while a rom-com will use light, fun words.
Word choice should also match the time period and regional setting. If you’re writing historical fiction that should be apparent within a few sentences through carefully selected words and phrases. Maintain regional accuracy without overloading the blurb with slang or colloquialisms.
It’s also all right to use hyperbole when appropriate, such as “unimaginable” for a shocking crime or “intoxicating” for a sudden and passionate romance, but don’t overdo it. Stuffing the blurb with hyperbole will exhaust the reader.
Avoid clichés, superfluous words, description, unnecessary adverbs, and “chatter” as much as possible. The blurb should be too the point and directly communicate the basics of the story to the reader.
Blurbs should run 100-150 words in most cases. Blurbs placed on the back cover of a book may be longer depending on space available during formatting. Blurbs for online retailers should be on the shorter end of the range since people browsing often skim.
Don’t try to tell the reader everything you think might interest them in a blurb. Stick to the important highlights and leave backstory, secondary characters, subplots, and similar information to be discovered when reading the full book.
It may be helpful to start writing a blurb with bullet points to sift out what should and shouldn’t be mentioned. Expand on the bullet points with 1-2 sentences about each point.
This isn’t a must in a hook, but for many stories a cliffhanger ending in a blurb will be a good nudge for readers toward purchasing.
Cliffhangers can also help you avoid giving away too much in a blurb. Cliffhangers focus on the main conflict the characters face but only hint at a possible resolution. It’s important to present the problem and leave readers wondering how the character will overcome it.
The answer to how the story will resolve shouldn’t be too obvious.
Even with books that are more formulaic, it’s important to make the reader curious about how this particular story will unfold. While most romances end in a happily-ever-after scenario, they don’t (or shouldn’t) all reach it the same way. Hint at the uniqueness and leave it at that.
Once you’ve finished crafting the blurb, the work isn’t quite done. It’s important to format blurbs according to genre conventions. Each main genre has it’s own nuances when it comes to formatting. Fore example:
Contemporary romance tends to use short, 1-2 sentence paragraphs that highlight main points of the storyline.
Historical romance tends to use longer paragraphs with a more in-depth summary of each point of interest.
Study blurbs on Amazon in your genre to make sure you’re formatting correctly. Of course, sometimes you need to break out of conventions to highlight a unique aspect of your story, but make sure there’s a reason for using a unique format and that it conveys the tone or action of the story.
I’m generally a big fan of carving your own path and ditching conventions that don’t work for you, but when it comes to blurbs, that may make you lose your mind. Blurbs are so challenging for most writers there’s no point reinventing the wheel and doubling the work. Start with what is time tested and reliable, then adjust and adapt to make it suit your work.
Below is a general formula that will get you started with writing a well-structured blurb. Once you have the basic elements, change it up in whatever way best portrays your novel and compels a reader’s interest.
The first 1-2 sentences should state the purpose or central theme of the story or character journey. These few words should also briefly introduce the characters and initial situation. It is critical that the reader finds the characters interesting and likable, or they will not want to spend hours with them reading the book. Lastly, the first few lines should introduce the main problem or source of conflict.
The first paragraph should indicate the twist without giving too much away. Don’t spoil the ending in the blurb or give away important details that will take away from the story’s suspense when reading. Limit yourself to establishing the stakes of failure or of the relationship not working out.
The last paragraph should wrap up the story introduction and entice readers to find out more. The desire to know more relies heavily on a connection with the characters. If the reader doesn’t care about the character, he or she will not care about what happens to the character, either. End the blurb with a question or with a sentence that sets the overall mood of the story. Again, do NOT give away the ending!
A blurb is not a synopsis. It’s a tease meant to make the reader need to buy the book in order to know how the characters’ story will end.
Convincing the reader they need to know the ending starts with developing a connect between the story and/or characters and the reader, but it’s also important to realize the blurb is a sales pitch and needs to be written like one.
The first sentence must grab the reader’s attention. Readers have very short attention spans and tend to skim when browsing online. You have minimal time to hook them and make them ask what will happen next?
Think of this first sentence (two at the most) as an elevator pitch. It should capture the most interesting part of the story. That may be the conflict, mystery, romance, etc. When writing this sentence, consider what element of the story will have the biggest draw for readers and focus on that aspect.
Whatever will most make readers want to check out your book, mention it in the first line. This first sentence often sits by itself on retailer sites before the bulk of the blurb, giving it a better chance to catch the reader’s attention.
The preview on most ebook retailer sites barely gives you more than a sentence or two before readers have to click “read more,” so make that first sentence count!
Book 3 (Wicked Glory) was supposed to be the last book. There was too much to fit everything in, wrap up all the questions, and not give readers whiplash.
So, a book 4 was needed. Unfortunately, so was the time to write it. Not only was 2015 super busy, I overloaded my writing schedule and got behind on just about everything. Add it the fact that I always go into panic mode about finishing a series, and there’s a reason this book is coming out more than a year and a half after book 3.
SORRY!
Wicked Revenge is going into editing mode, but I’ll have it up for pre-order while that’s happening…which will be soon. But just in case you’re having Ketchup withdrawals, here’s a peek a what’s coming up in the fourth and FINAL (for real this time) installment of this wicked series.
And in advance, yes I know I’m so mean for sharing this excerpt, but I had to…
~*~
“Van,” he says slowly, “we need to go, now.”
“What?” I ask a split second before the glass of both passenger side windows explodes.
Lunging for Ketchup, I drag him down to the wheel wells and throw my body on top of him. Bullets continue to slam into the car, jerking it back and forth as I bite back a terrified scream. Heat sears across my shoulder, and at least one bullet is lodged in my left thigh. It’s only seconds, maybe five, but it feels like a lifetime before the report of gunfire stops and squealing tires replaces it.
As soon as it does, I lift myself off Ketchup and ask, “Are you okay? Ketchup?”
I’m stuck trying to get out from under the steering wheel when a strange choking noise freezes me. Warm fluid bursts against my forearm and suddenly I can’t breathe. “Ketchup? Ketchup? Answer me!” Panicked scrambling gets me out from under the steering wheel and I reach for his half-turned body. Terror and my own pain kept me from recognizing anything else until I saw the blood seeping from his chest.
Tears blur my vision as I start babbling, “No, no, no, no,” over and over again. His pains overwhelms me and my hunger screams at me to lap it up, but I can’t. This is my fault. My doing. I knew how dangerous it was to leave without protection. I didn’t care when I sped away from the house, didn’t put his safety above my own delusional self-importance.
Find the rest of the series HERE
Originally, I intended to get my bachelor’s degree in English, but there were some issues with that plan and now I’m working on a degree in Communication-Media Studies with a minor in English. Getting my degree will allow me to teach more classes at our local community college, so here I go!
This summer I’m taking a Technical Writing class that is way more intense than I was expecting, and a Travel Writing class which is awesome.
Why am I sharing this?
Both classes understandably have homework, and since it’s writing related and I like sharing things I learn about writing with my readers, I’ll be posting some of my homework pieces here on my blog. Some for feedback, some for fun. So when you see posts about how to sew a French seam or why the Spruce Tree House is closed at Mesa Verde National Park, that’s why.
If you feel prompted to offer feedback, please do! There’s always room to learn more, and comments from readers are just as valuable to me as comments from classmates and instructors.
This is why my hubby and I couldn’t watch that TV show Numb3rs together. Or that lousy movie with Jenna Fischer as a dental hygienist.
Sometimes, reading is like this for me. It’s not always easy to turn off the writer part of my brain and just read to enjoy. All my writing pet peeves poke at me while I read, and make the experience less fun. Then I have to remind myself that some other writer is reading my books having the same thoughts!
So, instead of critiquing as I read, I try to learn from it instead. I just finished reading “Beautiful Burn” by Jamie McGuire and loved all the work she put into researching how the Hotshot firefighting teams in Colorado live and work. Having lived near or in Colorado for most of my life, I appreciated the level of detail she put into her writing, and it pushed me to dig a little deeper into some of the research I’ve been working on for “Wicked Revenge.”
I’ve also been reading JM Barrie’s “Peter Pan” (the original book) which, let me tell you, is far removed from the Disney version, or any other version I’ve ever seen. It’s bizarre and really not something a kid would understand or probably be interested by. I have a pretty good vocabulary and love British fiction, but I’m still looking up words and trying to figure out what Barrie is trying to get at half the time.
BUT, I love the honesty of his characters. Peter has this moment of intense jealousy as Wendy decides to go home to her mother and the Lost Boys say they’ll go with her because they want a mother too, and Peter mentions a saying in The Neverland that every time you breathe, a grownup dies, so he starts breathing really hard and fast. It’s dark, but completely honest for a young boy who’s losing his only family and is too proud to admit he wants them to stay. I want to be able to write that sort of frank honesty in my characters, even if I’ll leave the archaic words and style to Barrie.
