Ellen Hartman

One thing writers love to talk about is process . What’s your process? Do you use charts or worksheets? Outlines? Do you wing it or do you have a plan? What kind of highlighters? Do you edit on screen or on paper? Do you collage or fill out character sheets or let it come to you during the book? I can answer all of those questions about my process. I like to think I’m a fairly orderly, organized, and prepared writer. Except, once I hit a certain point in a book, the entire process goes out the window and the one word left to describe what I’m doing is desperation . Will I ever be able to finish? Will this pile of nothing turn into something someone wants to read? Will my editor ask for the advance back? How many times can the word “just” possibly appear in a manuscript? Who typed this thing? Who thought this was a good idea for a book? How is this ever going to end? Am I really out of M&M’s again? Etc. I thought it might be fun to share some pictures of what my “process” looked lik...

I like to post an excerpt of upcoming books here, but this time I'm torn. The opening scene is all the heroine's. It's a good scene (I think), and makes a fine excerpt. The issue is that I love the hero, Charlie McNulty. He's why I wrote the book. So...I'm posting the opening scene here, but there's a link at the bottom to my website where there is a second excerpt that's all Charlie. :-) Sarah Finley examined herself carefully in the mirror on the back of the closet door in her front hall. The gleaming walnut woodwork surrounding the mirror provided a dark counterpoint to her “hip, yet involved and respectable mother” outfit—a knee-length charcoal skirt with a slight flare at the hem to soften it, crisp, white shirt patterned with pale pink circles from the newest Talbot’s catalog, and a cropped black knit jacket with chunky, artistic buttons. She was debating about the abstract print scarf. If she wore the scarf would it say “I’m taking this issue serious...

I’m a technical writer. That means I write Frequently Asked Question pages (FAQs) on a regular basis. Did you know that most FAQs are made up by technical writers and have nothing to do with actual questions anyone has ever asked? Yep. It’s like writing fiction, except about bytes and bandwidth and secure passwords. And also the FAQs are usually nonfiction. Usually. Anyway, I wrote an FAQ for His Secret Past and the comments were a ton of fun so I thought I’d do one for The Boyfriend’s Back. 1. The title is The Boyfriend’s Back, but the cover shows his front. What’s up with that? Um. Good observation? But the title refers to the fact that The Boyfriend was gone and has now returned. He came back. Get it? 2. See that part on the cover where it says “Going Back?” Is that because her hair is blowing back in the wind? Is it, like, a caption? Because I didn’t think her hair needed a caption. Well, no. Sorry. You’re 0 for 2 here. Going Back means this book is part of the Superromance themed ...

Thought I'd post an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Boyfriend's Back . It's available from Harlequin Superromance in May 2009. Here we go: Church, bar, church, bar. Statlerville was exactly the same as the last time JT had been here. But he was lost. How did a person get lost in their own hometown? Move away and stay away for fifteen years. That’s how he’d done it, anyway. Now he was late which was just perfect. He was only coming because his brother, Charlie, said he couldn’t do this without him and now he wasn’t going to make it in time. He glared at the empty expanse of dashboard. Of course his rental didn’t have a GPS—why use technology when you can keep right on making the same stupid mistakes forever? He should never have agreed to this. But Charlie had asked him. JT rolled down his window and took a good look at the streets of Statlerville. Something would ring a bell—show him the way. There . St. Pete’s, his high school. His mom’s funeral was being held at the S...

I’m a technical writer. That means I write FAQs. Did you know that FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions? I bet you did. Did you also know that most FAQs are made up by technical writers and have nothing to do with actual questions anyone has ever asked? Yep. It’s like writing fiction, except about bytes and bandwidth and passwords. And also the FAQs are nonfiction. Usually. Anyway, I’ve decided to do an FAQ for His Secret Past . The lead character’s name is Mason Star and he’s a rock star. Weren’t you trying too hard with the name? Excellent question. Yes. Of course, I was trying too hard. My sister told me it was cheap. My editor told me it was cheap. My critique group told me it was cheap. But I am a sucker for a cheap name. So pulling from my bag of tricks, I wrote fictional backstory for the name, blaming it all on the parents. (Because in fiction, as in real life, it’s the parents’ fault.) Mason’s mom was a stripper who changed her name legally to Sierra Star. So he can’t he...

My friend, Diana Holquist , makes funny book trailers. A book trailer is like a movie trailer, except with a really, really, really low budget and no actors. The exception to this is the trailer for a book written by Dennis Hopper's daughter. Watching it I learned that industry connections go a long way toward improving the look and feel of the trailer. Where are my movie star relatives when I need them? Note: Because I'm petty that way I'm not posting the title of that book or the author's name because who wants to advertise the competition? But if you did happen to go to Amazon and search for "celebutantes" you might find it. Anyway. If you'd like to see MY no budget, cheesy music, cut and paste 'cause we can't afford actors trailer, click here. What we lack in funding, we make up for in wit. Or in hot, hot men. Take your pick. P.S. Okay. Fine. Whatever. I'm not that petty. Here's the link to the other trailer. It's not that great,...