Betsy Horvath

Everybody has a story.

Category: Writing

  • HOLD ME is live! Again!

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    Well, I am both happy and relieved to let you know that, in between shoveling the massive amounts of snow falling on the Palatial Horvath Estate over the last week or two, I was able to set up everything I needed to re-release my first book, Hold Me.

    That’s right – the book that launched me on my author journey lives again! I actually got the rights for it back at the beginning of 2020, but then, well… 2020.

    But now it’s finally out again as an ebook and a paperback.  The ebook should be available on most stores as I write this post. The paperback takes longer to get into the system so it’s still percolating through. But soon it will be available for purchase, download, or order pretty much everywhere. (more…)

  • Writing Catch Up

     

    Hello, friends!  This is just going to be a quick-like-a-bunny post about my writing and where things stand at the moment. Because, you know, I actually do write. I just haven’t proven it much lately. (more…)

  • Taking Breaks

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    I’ve been concentrating a lot on productivity in my writing lately.  I am intent on working more effectively, efficiently, and consistently.  Getting things done more quickly.  Not lallygagging around.  Focused.  Feet to the fire.  That’s good because these are issues I’ve been needing to address. (more…)

  • New Release!

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    Hello, my friends!  I’m pleased and proud to tell you that I have a NEW book out!  A NEW one!  I KNOW!  I’m as shocked as you are!

    Choosing Love is finally out in the wild, and available now wherever fine ebooks are sold!  Paperback version coming shortly.

    Here’s the information – (more…)

  • Running Uphill

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    Betsy is climbing the mountain of her aspirations, again, struggling to reach the summit.  Again.  Except this time, unlike in the past, she isn’t carrying just ONE boulder that is her work in progress, she is carrying TWO of them!  TWO works in progress!  What the heck! (more…)

  • Order and Planning and Schedules

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    One of the most jarring things about losing an established routine is having to come up with a new one to fit completely different circumstances.  I’ve found it to be very challenging to move from an extremely regimented life, where schedules were imposed on me from the outside, to one that is a lot more self-generated, self-motivated, and self-sustained. (more…)

  • Finding the Beginning

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    When we last left Betsy, she was actually doing pretty okay.  Well, she was doing something anyway and that alone is a step in the right direction.  There was much rejoicing in the land.

    But Betsy would like this streak to continue, which means she not only has to finish what she’s currently working on, she has to figure out what to do next. (more…)

  • Find Your Own Way

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    In today’s information age, there is advice every freaking where.  Heck, sometimes it seems like you can’t walk across a room without tripping over advice.  Bullet points of the “correct” way to do things.  Top 10 lists.  YouTubers and bloggers and Instagrammers. (more…)

  • Practice and Confidence

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    It’s come to my attention over the past few weeks that having confidence in what you think you know or have learned requires practicing those things.  Otherwise, you forget that you know or have learned them. (more…)

  • A Quick Status Update

     

    Hello everyone!  It’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post that you might not even remember who I am!! (Although if you don’t, I’m not quite sure why you’re taking the time to read this.  But thanks!)

    Anyway, as a way of getting back into the groove of blogging more regularly, I thought I’d share a brief status update on what’s been happening around here for the last couple of weeks…er…months. (more…)

  • My Current State

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    Hello, friends!  This is just a quick blog post to let you know what’s been going on around here at the Palatial Horvath Estate over the past few months, lest you think the answer to that is “nothing,” which has sometimes been the case in the past. (more…)

  • Unknotting The Knots

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    You may be interested to know that one reason there hasn’t been a blog post for a few weeks is because, amazingly enough, Betsy actually IS working.  But it turned out that the work she was doing had gotten all tangled and snarled, like a ball of thread that had become hopelessly knotted.  (more…)

  • Stuck and Unstuck

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    When we last left Betsy, she was shouting the plans she had for her writing business from the rooftops.  But then…nothing.  (more…)

  • Confidence

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    I’ve been writing a lot of “Quest” blog posts recently, so I thought I’d change it up a little bit this week and chat about something that’s been much on my mind.

    Confidence. (more…)

  • Over The Edge

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    When we last left Betsy, she was pushing the boulder of her work in progress up the mountain of her aspirations.  She’d been doing that for quite a while.  Quite a while.  But the last time we all got together, we found that Betsy had almost made it to the top!  In fact, she was on the verge of pushing her boulder over the edge!  The end was in sight! (more…)

  • Almost There

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    When we last left Betsy, she was busy facing her doubts and fears, pushing the boulder of her work in progress up the mountain of her ambitions.  Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, is nowhere to be seen.  The Muse is absent, too.  It’s just Betsy and Boulder, mano a mano, as it were. (more…)

  • Fear at the Finish Line

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    When we last left Betsy, she had fallen while trying to climb the hill of her aspirations, tripped by an unexpected mundane world disruption.  This was a disruption she should have seen coming—in fact, she DID see it coming—but she tripped on it anyway.  And when Betsy face-planted on the hill, she dropped the boulder of her work in progress which she had been carrying to the top.  The boulder flew into the air, landed on Betsy’s back, and broke into a hundred pieces.  (more…)

  • Disrupted

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    When we last left Betsy, she had climbed the first mountain—well, hill—on her road to regaining her lost momentum. Not only that, but the Muse had returned! Everything was coming up roses! Hoorah!

    But then the blog went silent for a few weeks, and you know as well as I do THAT’S not a good sign. So now let us rejoin Betsy, struggling writer, Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, and the Muse, who needs no introduction, to find out what’s been going on. Has it been good? Bad? Indifferent? None of the above? (more…)

  • Top Of The Hill

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    When we last left Betsy, she was pushing a boulder up a hill, struggling to gain some of the momentum she’d lost over the last few difficult and stressful months. Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, was pointing out yet again that she would not be doing herself any favors if she decided to stop, no matter how hard it was to keep going. (more…)

  • Moving Forward In Spite Of Fear

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    When last we left Betsy she was with Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide for her Quest to become a successful independent author. Because being a successful independent author means, well, writing, Betsy was trying to regain her momentum, trying to get moving again, trying to push a boulder up a very steep mountain. Harry was watching her.

    But now, while Harry hopped off to get a salad, it seems that Betsy has frozen in mid-push. She is part way up the mountain, still, not moving forward, balancing the boulder on her head. (more…)

  • Pushing Boulders

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    When we last left Betsy, she was ready to start again after a particularly difficult year. But it doesn’t bode well that the blog was silent last week, does it?

    As we join her and Harry, the white rabbit who is her Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, we find them standing at the foot of a tall mountain gazing up at an extremely heavy boulder. What is going on? (more…)

  • Starting to Wake Up Again

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    When we last left Betsy, she was actually moving forward in her Quest. She was medicated and motivated.

    But then March happened, and everything changed.

    Now things are quiet. But is this just a healing sleep? Or is it a sleep that will last for a lot longer? Will Betsy ever wake up again? The Muse has decided to take matters into her own hands.

    Let’s see what’s going on… (more…)

  • Planning The Trip

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    The Muse and Betsy are sitting cross-legged in a meadow on the top of a mountain looking off into the distance. It’s foggy all around them, with only the occasional mountain peak showing through the gray clouds. There are no paths, no cities, no evidence of anyone other than themselves. In every direction Betsy looks, there is only fog and a mountain peak or two. (more…)

  • Stay The Course

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    Although it’s been a little while since we’ve checked in on Betsy’s Quest to be a successful independent author, rest assured her wheels have continued to spin and, indeed, run off the rails. You may remember that Harry, the Guide for Betsy’s Quest, was recently upgraded from a white gerbil to the more traditional white rabbit, and he is desperately trying to live up to his new status. Thus, he made the mistake of pointing out to Betsy the fact that, as she now actually has several books published and available, she needs to start finding more people who’d like to read said books. This includes…advertising.

    As you might expect, Betsy took this idea, ran with it, and drove her train right off a cliff. (more…)

  • Like Pulling Teeth

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    I love writing.  If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t keep doing it.  But as you know in your own lives, sometimes love isn’t all fairy sparkles and pixie dust—sometimes it’s something a lot more jagged.

    It’s the same way with writing.  People often expect that writing is easy.  Most of us know how to write somewhat competently, we all tell stories, so writing a novel has to be like sunshine and moonbeams.  Especially something as “simple” as a romance novel. You think of a story, and you write it down.  Boom! (more…)