Breaking the Block by Laura Hunsaker

Back to school time is in the air, and in my area we're on week 3. The past month of my life has been back to school everything, not just for my children, but also because I work in a school. Things are slowly settling down now, and as that happens, my off-time is becoming mine once again. 

Lately I've been dealing with writer's block; more than likely from the stress of work. But to combat it, I've been just writing anything. Stream of consciousness, journaling, or even a story I've been toying with. I do this to push past writer's block, because ignoring it doesn't help, and forcing the words never works. If I just write stuff without the pressure of anyone ever seeing it, that's what helps me.

I have a story right now that's been simmering for about a month. I'm beginning to think I might be able to do something with it. Maybe not the whole thing, but parts of it for sure. I have one scene that just doesn't want to leave my brain, so this one will definitely wind up in a story. 

I think writer's block is such a fascinating thing because not too many other jobs have that. Can you think of any? Maybe artists? Songwriters? 

I've been listening to a lot of new music as well, hoping to help push past this block, and so often lyrics will speak to me as the vibe to a scene I'm writing. If you follow me on Twitter/Threads/BlueSky, you'll see me posting a nightly writing playlist, with lyrics that stuck with me. I feel like this helps me a lot. It sets the scene for me, and gives me the whole feel for a scene.

So writers, how do you combat writer's block?

Readers, feel free to chime in with pushing past some form of burnout or block in your own jobs!

And if you want to read my latest, it's a short story about a wedding with so many mishaps and shenanigans, that you'd think something like that could never happen, except that it did! To me ;)

Dreams of the Future

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  Google Play  |  D2D  |  Goodreads

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up…


Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. How can she pull off the wedding of their dreams when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess? There’s a lot to do, and so little time to do it. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.

Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to get back to the church…

Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding. This should be a happy event, yet It seems everything is going haywire. A caravan of wedding guests breaks down on their way to the venue, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the wedding has to be moved inside. Yet the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. While the striking brunette walking down the aisle ahead of him wants nothing to do with him, even she can’t deny the sparks that fly between them.

With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?

In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

New Book Drop! by Laura Hunsaker

 This week I had a surprise book release! It's a short story set in my Fatal Instincts series, and it's the wedding of our first two characters Kate and Kyle. It's a 10,000 word short story and it is fantastic!

I decided to drop this story the week of my own wedding anniversary, since that was the inspiration for this story. At my wedding, a lot of things went wrong. I don't think I realized too much of it in the moment, but as I was writing this story, and it all came back, I realized how many things went haywire!

I don't want to spoil such a fun book, but there are some shenanigans and there's a crabby DJ who only plays Celine Dion. (He did do this at my wedding. He literally played the Titanic song. At a wedding).

So grab your copy of Dreams of the Future and enjoy!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo  |  Google Play  |  D2D  |  Goodreads

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up…


Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. How can she pull off the wedding of their dreams when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess? There’s a lot to do, and so little time to do it. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.

Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to get back to the church…

Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding. This should be a happy event, yet It seems everything is going haywire. A caravan of wedding guests breaks down on their way to the venue, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the wedding has to be moved inside. Yet the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. While the striking brunette walking down the aisle ahead of him wants nothing to do with him, even she can’t deny the sparks that fly between them.

With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?

In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

Scent of a Memory by Laura Hunsaker

 It's no secret I work in a school, and right now, it's science fair time! One of the students made a project had to do with scent and how it can help hold memories. They were trying to see if you smelled the same scent every time you studied, would it help you remember the facts when you took the test? 

This felt like the perfect topic to talk about! Scent plays a role in so many books. How often do we read about what our hero or heroine smells like? Literally every romance novel talks about how the heroine smells of lavender, or peaches and cream, or strawberries. The hero smells of sunshine and leather, or of pine and man...and I love all of the descriptions!

Scent is tied to so many things, that of course we'd mirror that in literature. And I'm guilty of it too! Most recently I've used vanilla, coffee, caramel, or maybe I'm just hungry when I write ;) 

But the idea that scent is tied to memory is so true! My dad lived in Germany for years and he said that one time when he came home, his whole house smelled different. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the scent really made him homesick. A bit later when he opened the mail, he'd found a letter from his mom and she'd included orange blossoms from their trees. He didn't expect to smell California in his German home, so it hadn't occurred to him that it might be orange blossoms!

I've had instances where I smelled a certain perfume that reminded me of my grandmother, or a food that reminded me of the county fair, but nothing as cool as the one my dad had. But how about you? Do you have any instances where a scent unexpectedly triggered a memory?

And here, for your reading pleasure, my heroine who smells of vanilla, and my hero who smells of sandalwood:

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The Plots and Perils of Penning a Blog Post by Laura Hunsaker

 What do you call a writer without a computer? 

A doctor, call her a doctor because her hand has cramped from writing longhand for the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, I had finished my writing for the night and was putting my laptop on the charger... When my charger popped, caught fire, and smoldered out before I could even fall out of bed to grab the fire extinguisher (married to a firefighter, we do have one in my bathroom). So, that whole thing was very scary. My room smelled like smoke for a while, the dog was not happy, it was a whole thing.

That being said, my poor old 10 year old Chromebook was held together with a binder clip, and hadn't accepted updates in at least 3 years, and now the charger had caught fire...I figured it was time for a new one. Do you know how hard it is to be a writer when your laptop is dead and you don't have a charger? It's awkward to write on your phone, to say the least. In the meantime, I did order a new charger, but I was looking for a new computer off and on. I have to say, it's overwhelming when you really love a Chromebook but all of your writer friends are telling you to get a grown up computer.

Binder clip literally holding the computer together.

I think I found some great deals, but nothing really fit what I wanted. I do eventually want a different set-up, but I don't have the luxury of writing full time so I need something fast and that fits my needs now. So I kind of stalled. Besides, the new charger came and I was back in business...sort of. It was still slow and out of date. Even Google Docs would remind me of that with a big banner telling me every time I opened up my manuscripts.

And I was surprised with a beautiful, slim, streamlined, brand new Chromebook! 

New, slim, pretty Chromebook with Smart Girls up, because of course ;)

My husband and children picked one out for me, and can I tell you, as I type on it, this baby is the nicest thing ever! It's exactly what I like, so I'll probably still look for something else, but in I'm not in any hurry to do so, and in the meantime I have what I love, and the coolest thing is that I can use the other one when editing so I can have two screens up! I mean it's not perfect, but it's what I like, so I'm happy.

And there's one really cool thing I get to do, and that's order new stickers since this one doesn't have any! Woohoo!

And since I've got a week off work,  and a new Chromebook, I'm going to finish edits for Dreams of the Future for you all, and if you sign up for my newsletter, you'll get it for free! 

Newsletter sign up link

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up.

Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. It’s hard to do when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.

Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to help some stranded guests…

Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding, when he is immediately tasked to help. A caravan of wedding guests break down on their way to the venue, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. But the striking brunette he’s walking down the aisle wants nothing to do with him. 

With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?

In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

Fall Vibes Only by Laura Hunsaker

 Today at work we changed out the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations for Winter/Holiday decorations, and I have to admit, it made me sad. Even my neighbors have put their decorations up earlier this year.

I don't think I'm ready for winter yet! In fact where I am, we've barely had our autumn, let alone winter weather. So I decided to keep up my fall decorations. At least for the next few days.

It made me wonder why I love fall so much when I'm really a summer girl at heart. I really think it's less that I love fall (although pumpkin spice everything is my jam), and more that I love the break in weather, and the last slow days before the crazy busyness of the holiday season starts. I'm enjoying the nice weather, I'm enjoying not having to be everything everywhere all at once. I'm enjoying the last of this year. I'm not quite ready for the end of the year yet. 

So for now, today, it's still fall for me, and my desk. At least until Fall becomes Fall-la-la-la time.

What is your view? Are you ready for the Winter holidays? Or are you dragging your feet and in denial like I am?

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter! I have a small bonus short story going out to newsletter subscribers first.  Sign Up Here

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up.


Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. It’s hard to do when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.


Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to help some stranded guests…


Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding, when he is immediately tasked to help. A caravan of wedding guests break down on their way, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. But the striking brunette he’s walking down the aisle wants nothing to do with him.


With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?


In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

Small Progress Is Still Progress by Laura Hunsaker

 I work in school for my day job, and we are going into our third week back. One of my coworkers asked me if I had gotten any writing done over the break (I get 4 weeks off during the summer). I did, but I didn't feel like it was all that much. Normally I get much more done. But lemme tell ya, my kids are living their best lives and I'm their ride. We were so busy.

But my coworker told me that I was a writing machine. My reply was that oh I'm definitely not. Two books a year is not a writing machine. I know authors who do 6 or more per year! It's wild how many words they can get done in a day! 

Why couldn't I have just said thank you and left it at that? 

It really changed the way I think about how I write though. I mean, I wrote two books in one year! That's fantastic! I may not get a book a month out, but I'm okay with that. I like what I do, and I'm proud of what I write.

So I hereby declare that if you wrote any words, you are a writing machine! And that's amazing! I'll shake my internet pom poms for you!

Right now I'm working on three projects:

1. The short story DREAMS OF THE FUTURE that is done, but in edits 

2. A Kenzie MacLir paranormal romance I'm co-writing 

3. The next book in the Fatal Instincts series that follows DREAMS OF THE FUTURE. It's getting good ;)

I think when I finish DREAMS I'm going to toast to all of us fellow "writing machines" and I'm going to remember that small progress is still progress.

Coming Soon...

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up.

Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. It’s hard to do when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.

Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to help some stranded guests…

Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding, when he is immediately tasked to help. A caravan of wedding guests break down on their way to the venue, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. But the striking brunette he’s walking down the aisle wants nothing to do with him. 

With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?

In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?

 

Did I Write Non-Fiction? by Laura Hunsaker

I've kept a small secret that isn't a secret. If you've read DANGEROUS PAST, you'll have seen a page with the Fatal Instincts book titles. One of them said "Coming Soon..."

I'm thrilled to share that I'm almost done with edits on a surprise(ish) short story called DREAMS OF THE FUTURE!

This is a wedding story for Kate and Kyle from DARK PAST. And I have a beautiful cover to share. I've included the blurb,

This story is based on my own wedding, and all the things that didn't go to plan. I actually cut some things since I was worried readers would say it was too unbelievable! I would like to call this my first non-fiction story! LOL My wedding anniversary is this month, so it feels like I should release it as soon as possible, but I'm realistic. It's easily going to be summer, but I can't give a firm date.

The way to get this story for free is to sign up for my newsletter but it will be available for everyone after that for just $.99 after the first week.

That being said...here is the beautiful, gorgeous, amazing cover:

Kate Landry is soon to be Kate Donovan, if only the groom would show up.


Maid of honor Cara Nguyen wants everything to go smoothly for her best friend's wedding, yet almost immediately, the wedding turns into a fiasco. Kate and Kyle deserve to have the wedding of their dreams, and Cara wants to make it happen. It’s hard to do when the flowers are delivered to the wrong location, the groom is missing, and the lovely sunny day has become a sweltering hot mess. She definitely doesn’t have time to get distracted by a sexy groomsman in a kilt.


Kyle Donovan is ready to marry the love of his life, but first he has to help some stranded guests…


Dash Helms is in the small town of Chester, California for his friend Kyle’s wedding, when he is immediately tasked to help. A caravan of wedding guests break down on their way, one of the groomsmen misses his flight, and the beautiful maid of honor is the only thing he can concentrate on. When Dash is asked to step in at the last minute as a replacement groomsman, of course he says yes. But the striking brunette he’s walking down the aisle wants nothing to do with him.


With everything seeming to go wrong, what can go right?


In this wedding short story written for Kate and Kyle from Dark Past, the cast of the Fatal Instincts series comes together to celebrate their friends. With everyone in the same place at once, and romance in the air, can this small town handle them?