The Fitzpatrick Family Series Archives - View from the Front Porch

16 01, 2023

The Fitzpatrick Series is finished so why am I sad?

By judythemorgan|2023-01-08T12:10:00-06:00January 16th, 2023|A Writer's Life, Book Release Announcement|0 Comments

When Love Comes Home, the last of the Fitzpatrick Family Series, released in December 2022. I should be excited and anxious to plunge into a new manuscript, only I’m not.

I do have a sense of relief along with exhaustion considering the amount of energy and focus it took to “birth” Sammy and Tiffany’s story.

But there’s also this lonely feeling that keeps creeping in. I found comfort in knowing I had a Fitzpatrick sibling romance to work on every morning and dream about at night.

I miss the arguments where the siblings tried to persuade me to change my outline. I must admit, sometimes what they came up with was better and more interesting than what I’d planned.

After sharing my feelings with writer friends, I’ve discovered I’m not alone. Sluggishness, a lack of motivation, and energy are common when a writer finishes a book. When an author finishes a series that has taken years to complete the feelings are stronger.

It will subside they assure me. Time for me to move on and do the next thing they advise, reminding me all the Fitzpatrick siblings – Andy and Darcy, Becca and Ethan, Sarah and Nick, Josh and Mara, Faith and Blake, Sammy and Tiffany – have found their soulmate.

And that’s true.

So I’ve started a new manuscript. The new characters and I are doing that first 50- or 60-page dance of discovery. Soon they’ll begin to talk to me, and argue, then I’m sure I’ll be able to bid Sammy and Tiffany and the others farewell.

Want to meet the Fitzpatrick Family? Click the links below. Each novel can be read as a standalone story.

If you have an Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can read all the books for FREE.

Digging Ditches and Writing Novels

By judythemorgan|2020-10-19T08:29:12-05:00October 19th, 2020|A Writer's Life, Writer's Life, Writing Craft|1 Comment

I’m working away — in fits and starts — on the next novella in my Fitzpatrick Family series. But something’s bothering me about the story. The words aren’t flowing.

I attributed my lack of word flow to pandemic brain fog and put the manuscript aside to watch the drainage ditch being dug in our front yard.

Distraction comes easy when you’re stuck.

The ditch work on the main road in our subdivision had finally been completed. We live on a side street and, after three years, it was our turn.

I stood watching like an awe-struck kindergartner listening to his teacher read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel named Mary Ann. Written by Virginia Burton, it was my son’s favorite story book.

The shovel bucket started at the top of our rise then went down the slope adjusting the depth with each shovel load.

One scoop after the other. Not one scoop on our side of the street and another scoop across the street.

But one after the other down our side of the road. Scoop – dump, scoop dump. Inching slowly down the slope.

Scoop – dump, scoop dump. One after the other.

Kinda like a timeline when plotting a story.

As that thought flowed through my head, I realized what was wrong in my Fitzpatrick Family story. My timeline was out of kilter. I’d gone from one side of the street to the other.

Scenes were happening sequentially, but the reader would quickly figure out the passage of time I’d written didn’t allow enough time for what needed to happen.

Like the steam shovel ditch digging, I had to proceed one shovel width at a time to get a properly sloped ditch. Or, in my case, a story timeline that didn’t confuse the reader.

From contest entry to book series

By judythemorgan|2015-08-22T15:20:48-05:00August 24th, 2015|Book Release Announcement|0 Comments

I’m skipping my regular Make Me Think Monday blog for some important book release news. The second book in the Fitzpatrick Family Series is now available.

The Fitzpatrick family came to life from an entry in a contest sponsored by The White Rose Press back in 2009. I didn’t win that contest. However, in the process of revising my entry, now titled When Love Blooms, for publication last year, the hero’s seven brothers and sisters kept chattering in my head wanting their stories told. Eight preacher kids, each with a sweet romance story of his or her own to share and more story ideas were born.

Read the full account of how my contest entry became a book series here.

When Love Returns tells of Becca Fitzpatrick’s journey to happily ever after. Here’s the back cover copy:

Becca Fitzpatrick fell in love with Ethan Wells at age five. At eight, he proposed. At seventeen, he disappeared and broke her heart. Twelve years later, he returns with a new name – Ethan LaMotte – and a new life in Paris. He claims he’s never stopped loving her.

Once upon a time, Becca believed him. Not anymore. Now family, friends, and adoring students fill her life. Plus, she has an opportunity for the job of her dreams in her small Texas hometown.

Although their lives and work are an ocean apart, Ethan won’t lose Becca another time. But, will she risk her heart again and accept this new Ethan’s proposal?

Get your copy of When Love Returns from any of these bookstores:

AMAZON US

AMAZON UK

NOOK

iBooks

KOBO

I hope you have as much fun reading Becca and Ethan’s story as I did creating it.