Friday, February 28, 2014

Guest post: Alex Laybourne


What are your greatest challenges in your writing career?

In my mind there are two ways to view this question, so I will offer my perspective on both. The first is the challenge in actually getting the words down on the page. I work a busy office job, normally between the 50-60 hour mark, with phone calls and emails being exchanged between 4.30 am and midnight most days. I travel at times for my job also. I have four young children, aged 7, 5, 3, and 18 months, and often finding a few peaceful moments to get some substantial writing done can be tricky to say the lease. Normally I get up at 4.30 and write before they all wake up, but still sometimes that can be hard to do.

The other perspective is the challenge after you have written the book. The art of promotion, especially for an indie / small-press writer is something that must be mastered if we hope to make a success of ourselves. This has been the single biggest challenge. I live in Holland, it is an expensive country, very expensive, and with gas at nearly $9 a gallon and a car that seems to drink it, financially investing in writing promotion is not possible, which certainly makes the climb a lot steeper. I don’t let it deter me at all, but it has been the biggest hurdle to overcome. Mastering it will be fun though!

When did you find out that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to put pen to paper?

For as long as I can recall, I have always loved words. I read at an early age, and wrote stories from the moment I could hold and pen, and constructively do so. I can even remember the first story I wrote. I cannot remember how old, but my years were still in the single digits. It was about a pilot in the war, whose plane crashed. He was rescued and left severely injured and disfigured as a result. I even illustrated it with crayon.

I was on holiday in Spain when the idea first dawned on me. I had been writing more and more, just fun things. Scenes rather than anything else, one I kept repeating was of someone watching other people. Sometimes it was sinister, other times vaguely comic, and often tragic. We were sitting in the rental property in Spain, my friend’s parents were out getting some bits, and the park where we were would always shut down for a ‘siesta’. I hated doing nothing, so I grabbed a pen and wrote a 60k novel. I guess you could say it was YA, more an homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer with its main characters, but the theme was nice. People living underground, the populace above it had been imprisoned, and all had microchips underneath their skin, their every move and thought controlled by those in command. It was dark, it was dystopian, and the end product was shite, but I had done it. I had written a novel. The bug had bitten me and I have written like a demon ever since.

Of your published works, do you have a favorite? Why?

That is a tough one. I have five published titles, six now with Diaries of the Damned, and each one is special in their own way. My short story collections, The Musings of a Hideous Mind have some tales in them that I just loved writing. The Creature in Volume III was a fun one, and A Love Story will always stand out in my mind. My two novels Highway to Hell and its sequel Trials and Tribulations are both also very dear to me. They started off as a small concept and have developed into a trilogy, the third part of which I am writing now, and the story that I stand on the brink of embracing is vast, it is delightful in its enormity, and that alone should make me say that Part III is my favorite. Alas, that is not yet published, so I will have to sit on the fence, and say, just like children, I love each of my books dearly, and equally.

What are your biggest pet peeves for other people’s grammar? Are there any mistakes that you find yourself making regularly?

If I started listing my common grammar mistakes we would be here all night. Suffice to say, I have a very patient editor. The kind of person who speaks to me slowly, and doesn’t mind repeating things, over, and over, and over.

As for my own pet peeves for grammar, I cannot really say that I have any. I know how bad mine is, or rather, can be, so it would be mildly hypocritical of me to bring up anything else. I guess, if push came to shove it would be the standard thing; then and than, and those other comment misspellings. I am not such a Nazi on that, even when reading a book, the mistakes would have to severely disrupt the reading for me to mention it.

Do you ever want to go back and edit an older story?

I have often wondered about re-writing my debut novel, Highway to Hell, making it longer, going into even more detail, but I resist, because that removes my progression.

It is an old title, my first every in fact, it should not be as good as what I produce now, because I am continually learning. We all are. We cannot master this craft, all we can do is get better with each release, and the evidence of this should be there for all to see.

How do you decide on character names?

Normally I just grab a name and start using it. After a while I know if it fits the character or not, so am liable to go back and change it. Picking a name is not something I agonize over. I have, at times researched names, and the meaning of them, to try and pick one that summarizes the character completely, but in a lot of my writing, the characters are everyday people, so they have an everyday name.

In my upcoming vampire novel I called the main character (a female) Alex, and it wasn’t until my editor pointed it out that I realized I had used my own name.

Tell me about your first publication. Who was it with? How did you feel when you got that acceptance?

My first acceptance was with May December Publications. I had already self-published Highway to Hell, and they came along offering to do it for me. I was over the moon, but had nobody to tell. My wife was out for the night, the kids were in bed, and well, besides social media, there is nobody else around me. So I took to Facebook, shouted with delight, then went and made a coffee, and got back to writing.

It was a great feeling to have a publisher willing to publish my writing, something that will never go away. The memory of that moment will never die, but neither will that excitement. Every time I have had a piece of work accepted, be it an anthology piece, or a novel / collection with a publisher, I get that same rush.

What’s the worst thing that ever happened to you that you’ve incorporated into a story?

I can honestly say that until now nothing sufficiently tragic has ever happened to me to warrant a place in my books. I have had bad things happen, and have survived some very tough times, especially when I lost my job at the start of the recession, but nothing that warrants places in the stories I have written. Not to say that it won’t – as I have just now had an interesting idea. Two themes that do seem to recur are police officers and writers. My characters are often one of the two. I always wanted to join the police and was a member of the ‘Special Constabulary’ when I still called England my home.

How much of your life and the people you know end up in your work?

I guess I ran ahead a bit in my previous answer. I think the biggest part of my life that comes into my writing is the police. It was always my goal to join the police force, and for three and a bit years I did just that. I joined the Specials, which is the volunteer police in the UK. We had the same training, and the same powers as the regular officers, but we did it in our free time. I dealt with bodies, crazy people with knives, even got an award! A lot of my writing therefore has a police officer in it. While I am sure I use pieces of all manner of people that I have seen or known over the years to craft my characters, I cannot think of anybody that I expressly captured in words. Locations however, are a different story. I have a few locations, houses and areas that I always fall back on. One example is my old school, which appears in Diaries of the Damned.

What projects are you currently working on? Are you willing to share a small excerpt from a work in progress?

I am currently working on a hardcore horror vampire tale. No lovesick vampires or brooding romantics within those pages. Below are the opening paragraphs

The clock struck nine and the mist that had gathered on the outskirts of Dermouth began to spread, and on it sailed death.
Erica Roberts tugged on Harvey’s lead. The Golden Retriever stood staring down the road in uncharacteristic stubbornness. “Come on, now. We’ll just go round the block and then back home.” She tugged again in an attempt to get the dog moving. It was early spring and the air was crisp and cold. Erica was happy to keep the walk short. She had survived a long day at work, and the last thing she wanted was an hour long fight with the dog just for the sake of giving it the daily quota of exercise. “Good boy,” she remarked as the dog sped ahead of her, tugging on the lead with an urgency that was at the other end of the character scale. “What’s gotten in to you tonight?” Erica asked as she quickened her step to keep pace with the animal.

At the same moment, a blast of artic wind ran down the street, ushering with it a wailing cry and made the temperature drop even further. Erica felt the cold wrap around her, chilling her to the bone. It cut through her clothes making her feel as though she was nude. As the gust died away, Erica was sure she heard someone calling her name; a whisper on the wind. Erica spun around, her skin two sizes too small. The street was empty. Beside her, Harvey sat and gave a whine; a lonely sound that echoed through the street. Movement in the corner of her eye caught Erica’s attention. Squinting, she stared into the distance. The mist floated over the ground like a ghost consuming everything in its knee deep path. It flooded down the street, tendrils rising and licking at the air like albino flames.


What's your writing routine?

My routine is I get up at 4.20 every morning and write until the kids wake up. I get them ready, go to work, write during my lunch break, come home, play with the kids, put them to bed and then write for an hour or so. Of course, writing includes PR, blogging and all those other wonderful things.

Is there a character or story that's stuck in your head and won't leave, from either your work or someone else's?

If we start talking about other people’s work, then there are too many to even start mentioning. In my own writing, there is one demon in the Highway to Hell series, Luther is his name. I loved that character. He comes back in the third book and I cannot wait to let him stretch his legs.

What writers or novels do you consider “must reads”?

For horror fans, Clive Barker is a must read. His Books of Blood influenced my own writing no end, and I am constantly returning to them when I need a literary pick me up. They should be a standard addition to any bookcase.

Tell us three things about you that are interesting.

Interesting…. Um…. I have a crawl space… no, wait, that’s incriminating. Let me try it again.
I don’t like this question. It would appear that I am uninteresting.
  1. I was the first Horror writer in space. It was boring as heck because I couldn’t hear my character scream.
  2. I always drive my car on the right hand side of the road, luckily living in Holland means that is ok.
  3. I have a pet husky called Zombie, and all of the kids in the Neighborhood call his name when they see him coming. It’s a really cool sound.

If you want to see even more of me… no, not like that you dirty minded folk, I mean more of my random musings, brain overflows, or cool images I nab from Google, then come on over to either my blog (http://alexlaybourne.com/) or come stalk me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/alaybourneauthor) or (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Laybourne/212049612180183). I am on Twitter, but loathe it with a passion. However, if you feel so inclined, you can find me there too (https://twitter.com/Vanplank).


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

So excited!

Let's just start today out with some blood-pumping music




Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way...

My novel is available on Torquere's site... Amazon links will come up later today, and the paperback will (probably) be available for purchase "real soon." 

(Complete aside: I am soooo glad that I've always been pretty lazy with my hair, because I never, ever did the big hair look. Not even for "special occasions" like prom. Admittedly, my hair's rarely looked fabulous, but it's always been in a fairly classic style. French twist, braids, loose curls. I had a spiral perm back in the early 90s that was pretty awful, but only because it was so hard to keep it de-tangled.)

I'm going out to dinner with a dozen of my closest friends at one of my favorite restaurants. (Naysayers and last minute cancellations aside, I think I'll have fun)

I've got a few games planned out for my online release party. I'll post live from my phone for about half of it... (I'll also be taking my first ever trip through the downtown tunnel now that the Elizabeth River Crossing tolls are in place and that's not something to celebrate... grrrr! But at least I got my EZ Pass, so it's not like a major inconvenience or anything. Just stupidly expensive.)

I spent most of yesterday in talks and getting arranged new and exciting things! I'm going to be heading up a science fiction erotica collection for Coming Together. More details as I get them. Because you know, I can't have anything resembling an uncrazy schedule. But if you're an erotica writer, you like sci-fi, and you want to help a good cause, keep your eye on this space.

This is happening!


  


Monday, February 24, 2014

Blog Touring and Prize Packs

locket / keychain
I have some cool prizes and stuff that I want to give out to celebrate my first full length novel. A couple of lockets / keyfobs (I'll set them up whichever way you want, if you're my winner!) and some stickers, and a custom-made candle scent from Raven Hollow - Cognac and Cigar, which is a very masculine smell.

So, if you want to be entered in the drawings, there are a number of ways to go about it; you can go to any (or all!) of the blogs on my tour and leave a comment...

Starting today, go see what Beau has to say for himself in an interview. V.L. Locey was kind enough to let him ramble along on her blog... (there's going to be a follow up interview with Vin on Elizabeth Brook's page on Thursday! They were really fun to write up, you should decidedly check them out!)

I also have some stickers that I'll be sending out with every prize pack, so if you get a prize pack, I'll ask you if you're Team Vin or Team Beau.

Which means you'll really want to go check out the interviews so you can get to know my leading men a little better...

Another way you can be entered for the prize packs (I'll also be giving away two paperback copies of the book, signed and stickered!) is to go join my Facebook release party - you don't even need to be there for the main event. Just sign up that you're "attending" and you'll be entered to win.


That being said, there are also a few prizes that will be rewarded specifically for commenting, liking, or participating during the night of the actual party. I'll have a few silly things to do - and I'll be live-posting from the BierGarden where I'm having a locals' party to celebrate.

And lastly, if you haven't liked my Facebook Page or are not following me on Twitter, I'll give out extra entries for doing that. (Just "like" or "follow" and then say #TeamVin or #TeamBeau) If you are already liking or following, don't worry, I have something for Previous Fans as well, watch this space for more details!




Monday, February 17, 2014

Right time to Roll to me...

I have this calendar, you all know that, where I keep my writing / editing / blogging / real life / count down til submissions stuff...

Anyway, my timing's been all thrown off recently because of a number of different things, most of which involve my having to talk on the phone!

Let me tell you, I'm great with emails and facebook, semi-okay at Twitter, but usually not because Twitter seriously limits my word count, and I'm pretty fantastic in person, if you can get me to shut up once in a while because I sort of talk the way I write, on and on and on and on... you get the idea...

But I HATE being on the phone.

Like, I'd rather have my eyes poked with sporks.

So, in the last two weeks, of course, we have had - home issues that involved my having to talk to a plumber. Problems with the MMO I play that involved my having to talk to tech support not once, but twice, and I might further add that my problem was eventually solved by... someone on the forums giving me the solution. (Way to live up to your "worst company ever!" title, EA Games...)

I've also had to go to the bank and talk to a real person to make some changes to my bank account (no, thank you, I don't want to open a line of credit based on my home equity, isn't that how the housing bubble collapsed in the first place? I mean, it's all great and stuff that we HAVE all this money we could borrow... but no, thank you. Can we just make the changes I asked for??)

I've had to buy a television, buy another television (one of these days I'm seriously just going to tell my husband to FUCK OFF, NO! when he asks me stupid questions like "is it too late to cancel that order?") take back the first television when it arrived, deal with some extremely incompetent and even more extremely hostile returns-staff. (after dealing with the logistics of actually MOVING a 55" television around... because I drive a Toyota...) We eventually had to take said TV to a different location of the same store to get customer support / returns to work with us. Thank you Charlotte and Travis for being wonderful and helpful and NICE.....

My mother may or may not be coming to visit us, and we're not really sure when, but when is a bad time for you, honey, and I will probably fly in and need a ride and... look, really, just tell me when you're going to be here. But I won't believe you until you actually give me a flight number.

And in the middle of all this, I have been invited to participate in an exclusive anthology (meaning that I have been specifically invited to write a story, and the call won't be open to the "general public." More on that when I have contract in hand and official details and whatnot.) I have done edits for a short story. I have written and submitted another short story, and I have half-written a steampunk story that's due in 2 weeks. I still need to finish it if I'm going to submit in time, but at present, I may not be able to do so because I am getting buried under work.

I got finalFINAL edits back for Roll yesterday, noticed 5 typos in my final read through, and felt sort of bad about poking my editor for it, but.... ug. She assures me that I will find at least 2 more on release day.

Which brings me 'round to the topic at hand...

RELEASE DAY!

OMG OMG OMG!

I'm having one of those where the FUCK did February go? Snow days and kids and husbands home and doing taxes and getting the tax return back amazingly quickly, and plumbers and televisions and...

HOLY SHIT! It's the 17th???

So, yeah.

Nine days left.

Wow!

So if you haven't signed up for my Facebook Release Party! please feel free to do so; there will be a prize package given randomly for everyone who signs up to go.

I'll also be having a real life dinner celebration with local friends and family...

look! swag!



And, of course, there's a blog tour and there will be more swag for people who go and comment on their blog posts...

February 24th V.L. Locey
February 25th Malin James
February 26th Lisabet Sarai
February 27th Elizabeth L. Brooks
February 28th Sommer Marsden
March 1st Iyana Jenna
March 3rd Mychael Black
March 4th Torquere Live Journal

So, that's fun, right? (yes, that means I have to start writing guest bloggie post thingies. Immediately!)





Sunday, February 16, 2014

Whetting the Appetite blurb and cover art

So, this exists...





Romance and erotica authors Lynn Townsend and Elizabeth L. Brooks have joined forces to assemble this collection of "flash-fiction" ultra-shorts (most under 2000 words), generated in response to prompts offered by our fans and friends and touching on dozens of aspects of lust, love, and desire.

Subgenres in the collection span contemporary, historial, steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, taking you from a modern living room, to the high seas, to Victorian London, to planets and times at the edge of imagination. These stories explore relationships all along the romantic and erotic spectrums, including the thrill of a one-night stand, the fierce burn of rivalry, the heady flush of new romance, the intense trust of BDSM, and all the pros and cons of long-term partnerships. The characters defy conventional gender boundaries, including a preoperative transmale, several aliens, and a few characters whose genders are left open to reader interpretation. Sexual orientations on display vary nearly as widely, with groupings that include m/f, m/m, f/f, and f/f/m -- not to mention those aliens!

With forty-six stories to choose from, there's something here for every moment and mood, something to whet any appetite.


Monday, February 10, 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour - Get Out the Map

Last week, in a wee bit of a panic, Victoria Blisse asked me to participate in this blog tour about writing and the writing process...


1)     What am I working on?

The other day, my husband asked me if I ever intended to take another day off in my life. I didn't really know what to say to that.

Okay... ready for the list?


  • Just finished the first draft of Blues, sequel to Roll, in the Rainbow Connection novels
  • Working on the outline for Classic, the third in the Rainbow Connection series
  • Expecting edits back for Blood Sight, book one in my Demoniac Codex series - once I get those, I'll do those edits and then I can begin writing Howling Bitch, which is book 2 in that series (I really need to change moods from New Adult novels to Urban Supernatural novels and I'm hoping that working on edits for Blood Sight will make Howling Bitch a little easier to write.) I intend to finish Howling Bitch by July. Ish.
  • In the meanwhile, I have two short stories I want to write for a March 1st deadline, Hold the Dirigible! for Valves and Vixens, and Dreaming the Hardest, a fem fantasy piece. (Finally nailed an idea down for that, I had several that kept getting out of hand)


Right now, I'm technically in that wibbly wobbly timey wimey stage where I'm not quite certain WHAT I want to work on. I imagine I'll snap out of it in a day or so.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I'm very conscious of gender dynamics and the inequality inherent in relationships. Every time my characters have sex, there's a reason for why they're doing the specific act. Beau, in my novel Roll, for instance, is a topper, very dominant. Outside the bedroom, he's feels that he's lost control of his entire life, and this is somewhere that he thinks he can gain back some of that power. In Golden Moment - my story in the Steamlust anthology - my characters have sex in front of a mirror. In Garden Variety - in Lustfully ever After - the male character never has an orgasm. All these things are deliberate, reflecting the emotional state of my characters in other connotations. The sex is, therefore, an expression of the rest of their lives...

3)     Why do I write what I do?

Funny story; my best friend and I wrote sex scenes back and forth to each other for years before we had any idea that there was a market for it. (we are now both published erotica writers... and we have a book of short stories coming out in March!)

I've always said that I engage in writing love stories because I miss that feeling of falling in love. I've been with my husband for ish 18 years now. I love him, but there's something eager and crazy and fun about falling in love that honestly you just don't get anymore in a long term relationship. There are times when you look over at your long-term partner who's being wonderful and you get that dip and glide in your belly - THATs what I fell in love with! - but a lot of times it's also paying the mortgage and fussing at each other about who's turn it is to do the dishes.

Writing a love story, getting deep into a character's head and heart, gives me that feeling again, the rush of new love, the passion and the absolute need for each other Right Now.

One of my favorite web comics, A Softer World, sums it up pretty well for me in this strip... writing romance gives me that rush without doing something utterly stupid with my real life.

4)     How does your writing process work?

I'm really process-oriented... I hate writing myself into a corner. I've tried pantsing before, and all that does for me is end up with me crying about edits, trying to figure out how to get this scene to match up with THAT scene.

So, I usually start with an outline. I jot each scene down and lay them out in front of me, okay, this happens and then that happens, and here's some questions about the ramifications of that event. Usually, the first draft of my outline goes something like this.

MC has a vampire ex boyfriend.
This sucks
flashback, dead parents. why? angel rescues her, best friends with vampire
the head of the magic counsel puts a warrant on her death
vampire has to protect her
goes back to being in love
this seriously sucks
complication with brother? what the hell? how did we have a brother?
vampire <censored for spoilers>
Ow. oops. looks <censored for spoilers>
fight off the magic guy
smack brother in head
the end.

I go back and expand on this sort of jot-down, making scenes and collecting them into chapters. (this is the original outline from Blood Sight that I grabbed from my notebook. The outline has undergone significant revision since I wrote this down, back in 2011...

Once I have a polished draft of my outline, I'll write a chapter or two, see how the story's going. Add stuff to the outline that should be added (including physical descriptions when I remember, because I have a horrible tendency to change people's eye colors - this boils down to my husband having weird mood eyes. He has hazel eyes that range in shade from brilliant blue to almost brown, but are usually a middling shade of yellow-brown with green flecks. I was dating him for like 3 months before I realized his eyes weren't actually brown.)

I write in order, from beginning to end. I tried jumping around a few times, and I've discovered that all that does for me is leave me at the end of the novel with a shit ton of scenes that I don't actually WANT to write.

During the entire process, I'll tweak my outline to make sure I'm keeping on track, to add in scenes that become necessary as I write. Sometimes a scene is written out really vaguely. "Do some summer stuff here." or "Conversation with Ann-Marie." and sometimes it's very, very specific.

After I finish a piece, I'll send it out to my beta readers and then I poke my email repeatedly until it cries about inappropriate touching.

A few words about my schedule:

I write a lot of things for submission calls. And, in general, I write between 500 - 1,000 words a day (sometimes more, sometimes less, but that's about my average... when I get closer to the end, my word count often skyrockets). So when I plan things out in my calendar, I count backward from the due date. If this 1,400 - 4k short story is due on March 1st, writing 500 words per day, it's going to take me between 3 and 8 days to write it. I back up 8 days, then I add about 25% more time - so 10 days for this particular piece... and add a few days for revisions... which means if I'm going to do this piece, I need to start NO later than Feb 11th. (I don't write on weekends)

I can frequently write more than one piece at a time, if I need to. When I do that, I'll write 500 words in the morning on one piece, take a break, and then churn out 500 words on the other piece.

My calendar is color coded, blue is for writing fresh stuff, orange for real life commitments, pink for revisions or marketing stuff, yellow for household chores.... I spend a lot of time with highlighter on my fingertips.

So, to continue this trend, next week, I have

Elizabeth L. Brooks

Masquerading by day as an uptight corporate cog, Elizabeth spends her nights concocting gleefully smutty stories. She writes erotic romances for a wide span of worlds, genres, and orientations, and is also a senior editor for Torquere Press. When she's not writing or editing, she loves a wide range of generally nerdy hobbies, including reading, photography, tabletop games, geeky yarncraft, and silly smartphone games. Her safeword is "Oxford comma." You can find her online at http://EveryWorldNeedsLove.blogspot.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/EveryWorldNeedsLove.

V.L. Locey

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, belly laughs, anything romantic, Greek mythology, New York Rangers hockey,  comic books and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a steer named after a famous N.H.L. goalie, and a flock of assorted domestic fowl.

Linkage- http://thoughtsfromayodelinggoatherder.blogspot.com/

A.R. Moler


A.R. Moler is a chemistry professor at a community college, a homeschooling mom and an avid science fiction fan. She is a devotee of first hand research for her writing whenever possible and to this end has - learned to fire a handgun, been rappelling, ridden with both ems and the police, flown a helicopter, bought a motorcycle and learned to ride it. She has traveled to nearly all the places where her stories are set and taken hundreds of photos for documentation. She has been writing since her high school years, but only recently has become published. Her fiction can be be found at torquere press and cobblestone and mlr. Her blog is www.playdohstoichiometry.blogspot.com and is entitled playdoh, legos and stoichiometry. When asked why such a name for her blog, she commented that it reflects 3 of the many phases of her life. Her daughter is 10 years old and was an avid playdoh artist, her son is 14 and owns enough legos is fill a 55-gallon drum and the stoichiometry--one of the most challenging topics to many chemistry students. Her husband's only contribution to chemistry is building rockets.

http://www.armoler.com/Blog.html






Monday, February 3, 2014

Blog Tour: Sara Brookes


Thanks so much for having me here today!

You're welcome... with such a lovely cover, how could I not? Wow!

What are your greatest challenges in your writing career?

Wanting to write everything in my head at once. It is one crowded place in there. *g* They just have to learn they’ll each get their turn, they just have to be patient. I can only type so fast.

When did you find out that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to put pen to paper?

I’ve always been telling stories as far back as I can remember. I used to write silly little stories about my friends and I when I was younger. That obviously evolved through time. Writing as always been something that I felt compelled to do. Not writing would be…odd.

Of your published works, do you have a favorite? Why?

I’ve always heard its best not to play favorites with our own books, but, to date, Break Me In is probably the one closest to me. I’ve wanted to tell Alex and Elena’s story for a very long time. Since I wrote the original version of the first book of the series, Taking Over Me, in fact. Alex was clearly in pain then and I didn’t realize just how broken he was, and how deeply his problems ran, until I got into the meat of his story.

How do you decide on character names?

Most of the time, they’ll let me know when they’re ready to tell me. I’ve started books before with no idea what the names of the characters are. Usually it isn’t long before they say, but it certainly makes it easier knowing than inserting a bunch of brackets as placeholders until their name is known.

Tell me about your first publication. Who was it with? How did you feel when you got that acceptance?

Flash of Dark, a super-hot urban fantasy that pitted vampires against the Fae, was accepted by Liquid Silver Books in August of 2009. (They say you always remember your first. *g*) At first, I thought the Acquisitions Director had made a mistake. In fact, all the way up until the book was published in January of 2010, I kept waiting for the “We’re sorry, we meant someone else. Not you.” Even today, four years later, it’s surreal to me that I’m published.

What projects are you currently working on? Are you willing to share a small excerpt from a work in progress?

I’m polishing up the next book in the Geek Kink series, Glad You Came, which is the last book in the series and will be release in late Spring this year. As sad as I am to bring a close to stories about this small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I’m excited about wrapping up a storyline which I’ve been dropping hints about since book one. How about a peek at an unedited snip?

“Don’t leave me.”
“Hadn’t planned on it. We’re gonna be right here beside you.”
She reached for them, snagging their hands as they tried to move away. “I need you both with me. In Me. Please.”
“That may not be the best thing right now. You need some rest.”
“No. I need to forget. I need to feel something other than this excruciating pain. Please.”
Lips pressed against her fingers. “Anything for you, sweetheart.” Two pairs of hands moved over her, peeling her slowly out of the festive dress she’d been so happy to put on this morning. Before her family’s disgust with their relationship had slashed a black, ugly scar across her heart.
“Hurts. So bad. Make it stop.” She closed her eyes again, the tears threatening to fall.
Warm, gentle lips pressed against her instep while another pair grazed over the inside of her wrist. A whimper tore from her throat as hushed whispers caressed her skin, pushing back on the darkness threatening to take her. Opening her eyes, she found them hovering over her, their gazes searching her face. She raised her hands, fitting her palms against their jawlines. Worry swam in both of their eyes. They were worried. These two men.
Her men.
“I love you both so much. So very, very much.”

What's your writing routine?

I don’t have much of one. Because of family commitments and the fact I still work a desk job during the week, I’ve had to train myself to be able to write anywhere at any time. I carry a Steno pad with me at all times in case inspiration strikes when a computer is not readily available. I also have an app on my phone and computer that syncs together so I can jot short notes on my phone and the next time I log onto my computer, there they are. Love technology!

Excerpt:

The movie began and they both dug into the meal Alex had prepared. The noodles were rubbery, the meat dry and overdone. He’d never claimed to be a world-class cook, but the food he’d prepared before had always been above sub-par. What he’d served tonight was barely even edible.
Appetite diminished, she curled her legs under her as she turned her body slightly to face him. Though she kept her eyes on the screen, she kept up the running commentary with him about the movie they’d watched together countless times. They’d always found sick pleasure in dissecting a few inconsistencies with the plot and characters.
“Refill?” She held out her wine glass as he gestured toward her. His hand closed around hers to hold the glass steady and Elena tried not to notice the fact her nerves jumped at the contact of their skin.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Alex’s eyes flashed in the glow of the television set and before she knew it, his hand slid under her hair as he reached around and cupped her nape. The contact made her eye flutter close even as warning bells went off in her mind.
She couldn’t do this. They couldn’t do this. Whatever this was.
But his touch felt so damn good. Especially because she’d been waiting for it for what seemed like eternity. She may not be able to give him the lessons he’d asked her for, but this was something entirely different.
This sort of simple contact was something she could surrender to.
Even though it was so, so wrong.
“Alex.”
His mouth brushed gently against hers, stealing his name from her lips. Butterflies erupted in her stomach, fluttering as if they’d been suddenly released after years of captivity. In essence, they had.
His fingertips pulled at her neck and she automatically lifted her face as he kissed her with more persistence. She didn’t even care he tasted of alcohol. It had been so long since she’d let someone else kiss her instead of the other way around.
Kissing was normally too intimate and not something she involved in her play at the club. Or even at Sanctuary. Those places were for sex, but this, two people mouth to mouth, was tender, soft and full of meaning.
One little kiss couldn’t hurt, right?
A quiet moan escaped her throat as Alex shifted and her body responded in kind, feeling the luxurious stroke of his tongue against her lips. She gave into him and opened without thought to consequence.

Blurb:

Elena avoids relationships by using her flogger as a shield. Alex is struggling with substance abuse and Elena will do nearly anything to help him conquer his demons, even risk losing him forever. When he comes home, whole and healthy, he raises the stakes by requesting their friendship turn to a D/s bond. His submission will change their dynamic forever. She convinces herself it’s just sex. Love and desire aren’t part of the equation.

Under Elena’s reverent command, Alex finds a comfort he’s always yearned for. He’s happier than ever as he spends his days slinging coffee and his nights bound and collared. Submitting to Elena exposes more than his strengths—it reveals a powerful attraction. Most of all, it uncovers their passionate love. He’s ready to convince her there’s no reason to mask her feelings, but his efforts are derailed when his toxic past resurfaces to annihilate their future.

Warning: A hunky, tortured barista. A seductive, stubborn Domme. Desire that can’t be tamed by cuffs, ropes and chains. And angst. So much drama and angst, John Hughes would be proud. Being bad never felt so good.

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Ellora's Cave

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