SWIRLING THE BIG EASY!!!

I'm not sure why I waited this long to announce that I was invited to participate in a wonderful event taking place in New Orleans, LA this September called Swirling the Big Easy?! Maybe I just wanted to wait and make sure that I wasn't dreaming. And of course that I could swing the cost as well. But I'll be there if I have to beg, borrow or steal! Okay maybe not steal.

So any who, this event/conference/convention (not exactly sure what to call it), will host about 20 Interracial Romance Authors (including ME!). Basically, it's the Ulimate Interracial Romance Author & Fan Gathering!

It will take place over the course of three days, September 9th-11th at the beautiful Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans' famed French Quarter. There will be breakfast, meeting the authors, several different sessions to discuss our novels, a cocktail party Thursday night and a much anticipated Night Club Crawl on Bourbon Street to end the event on Friday night.

So if you're interested and you want more information on registering for the event and booking a hotel room, go to the event page and have a look! https://www.facebook.com/events/593946187378168/

This is my first major event as an author and I couldn't be more pleased or honored to be a part of it! So for anyone who is a fan of my work, I would love to meet you!!! Come and join in the festivities!

'Til next time...

It's Feels Like Losing a Loved One...

To explain my dilemma I have to go back to when I began to write my first novel. At first, I only wrote about a chapter and a half and then forgot about it. Now my main genre is Erotica. And when I started reading when I was a young girl, my first love was historical romances. Later, I started reading contemporary romances. But after reading Fifty Shades of Grey, I fell head over heels for erotica. I can't even tell you how many of them I bought on my Nook. I seriously binge read as much as I could. I've always been a sexually open person. Sharing and discussing experiences with the people I'm around. So a genre that caters to women that are or want to be open and honest about their sexuality and basking in it, was right up my alley.

So right in the middle of reading an erotic novel, my characters that I had started writing months before, literally starting shouting at me to finish their story. It got to the point that I couldn't even concentrate on what I was reading. I would read a whole page and had no idea what I'd just read. So I put down my Nook and picked up my laptop and haven't looked back since.

But there's only one problem with this path to self-discovery and finding that I love writing...I can no longer read the genre that I love! Oh the horror!!!

Either I start reading something and my own characters won't get out of my head. Or I start comparing my writing to that author's technique. Or fear of their ideas planting themselves subconsciously into my brain, scares me to death. And the last thing I want is for someone to claim that I plagiarized their work. Trust me, I've seen that kind of drama and accusations flying on social media and I want no part of it.

I mean, I can't even read the sequels to series that I started to read before I even began writing. Ugh! Maybe one day...

The only books that I've been able to read since I started this journey is the Outlander series. So it looks like if I want to absorb myself in a book, which isn't all that often anymore (sigh...), I have to go back to my first love...historical romances.

For all you authors out there that can still read and write at the same time...Kudos to you!!!

'Til next time...

Writing Schedule...Do What's Right For You.

So when I was working 40 hours a week and writing every chance I could get in between, I woke up at 6 am everyday and wrote for as long as I could before I had to start getting ready for work. By the time I got home from work, trying to write was next to impossible. My brain was fried by the end of the day. And when weekends came, I would binge write during that free time.

But now that I'm trying to work on writing as my full-time gig, it seems as if there are plenty of hours in the day, which makes procrastination a real problem. At least with working a regular job, I knew I only had so many hours to get some writing done, so it put a fire under my ass. Writing, when you have no supervisor takes a lot of discipline.

Also, at the start of the year I went back to the gym. Being an author is a very sedentary career. And I didn't want to get in the habit of sitting all day and not getting in any exercise. So I started going to the gym in the mornings with my parents, because everyone says working out in the morning is the best time. They even said on the news that working out helps blood flow to the brain, which helps brain activity. But trying to fit in my workout schedule and my writing schedule together in the mornings, turned out to be counterproductive for me.

Working out like most people do, during those early hours ruined my writing schedule. Because miraculously, my brain seems to work better coming up with ideas, first thing in the morning. But for weeks I was going to the gym during that golden time frame. And by the time I was done, I had nothing left for my story. And the evening hours have never worked for me, whether I'm free all day or not. My brain can't create a simple damn sentence in those hours, unless I'm on a roll right at the end of a novel. So for a while there, I thought it was me. I thought, "That's it. That's all I have to give. I have no more ideas left in this brain of mine."

So yesterday I decided to test the theory. Instead of doing what everyone else does, I woke up and went back to writing instead of working out and....Voila!!! Just like that, ideas, storyline and dialogue came to me! And I got a nice little chunk of writing done for the first time in over a month. And when I was ready for a writing break, I went to the gym. And I had energy for my workout, perky and happy as a bug under a rug.

So the moral of the story is, don't let anyone or societal norms dictate what works best for you and your writing schedule. Play around with your time. Test it out to see what time frame(s) you strike gold the most and then work around it. Everyone is different. Never in a million years did I think I'd be a morning person...but here I am. So just do you and you'll be happier for it!

'Til next time...

Cupid Did Me Wrong

Hello Followers,

I don't normally talk about things that are too personal here. But as a way to promote the anthology Cupid's Secrets I'm apart of and spread the word about the authors of Kinklectic, we're doing a little blog hop. And the subject is Valentine's Day and a time when Cupid did you wrong or right. So here goes nothing...

It has been rare that Cupid has done me right. Cupid and I have been at war for many years. But that's okay, because it makes for a much better story. So quite a few years back, my boyfriend at the time and I took a quick 3 day road trip to St. Louis for the Valentine's weekend, as a way to reconnect after a lot of drama with his ex.

The weekend started out great. We were having fun and enjoying each other. The movies, fun bars, even a fun little trip to Larry Flint's Penthouse strip club and toy story. But things started to go down hill when we were at this cool little bar/club. A lady that was selling flowers walked into the bar and my boyfriend turned to me and asked, "Should I buy you a rose?" Okay, now I'm not a huge flower person, but the sentiment behind them is still nice. So men...never ever ask a woman if she would like a flower! Either you don't give it to her at all or you just buy it, but PLEASE don't ask. That's just dumb...what do you think the question is going to be?

And then to wrap up the weekend, he completely ruined the whole thing by telling me the night before we were supposed to leave that he missed his ex and then left the hotel room to go call her on a nearby payphone (yes, it was that long ago). I was left in the room dumbfounded, especially considering the fact that his ex was pregnant with his best friend's baby. Yep, you read that right! But go ahead and reread it if you must. Yes, she broke up with him for his best friend, got pregnant by the guy and then wanted my boyfriend back because she didn't want him to be happy with me. And he was stupid enough to fall for it and put me smack dab in the middle of a Jerry Springer episode. So you can imagine the awkward drive back to our Chicago suburb about 2-3 hours away from St. Louie. Awful!

I'm glad that I got out of that unhealthy situation, but I don't regret a minute of it, because it makes for great possibilities in future novels. I swear you can't make this sh*t up!

My story in Cupid's Secrets titled 'Love in the Wild', is about a woman named Love, and she too has some difficulty with the Holiday, but her's ends much better than mine. Here's a little synopsis and snippet of the story:

Love is a beautiful curvy insecure woman. She’s been alone her entire life, being abandoned by her parents when she was born. Gunnar and Ryker are two men that have loved her from afar for months. But the men aren’t exactly what they seem. Stuck at work on Valentine’s Day, Love is depressed and truly feeling the deep pang of loneliness that only the Hallmark holiday can bring. Little does she know, she’s about to have the best Valentine’s Day of her life!

Excerpt:

   As she tried to get up the nerve to fire the dart gun, the cats started to blur before her eyes. Love blinked rapidly several times to clear her vision. But it didn’t work. The cats’ bodies were vibrating violently, their fur seemed to be disappearing, their hind legs started to take on the shape of human legs and their front legs began to morph into human arms.
   Love started to hyperventilate, as she watched the cats in mid-stride stand upright and continue walking towards her as they took the shape of two very real and very naked men. Their faces, the last to transform, altered into the most stunning men she had ever seen.
   Blood rushed to Love’s head and drummed in her ears. Not only were they gorgeous and completely naked, but they were also extremely aroused. No longer able to catch her breath, Love lost all oxygen to her brain and she promptly passed out before they could reach her.

'Til next time...

Cupid's Secrets can be found on Amazon for only $0.99 or FREE with Kindle Unlimited!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Cupids-Secrets-KINKLECTIC-Thirteen-Valentines-ebook/dp/B00TA971OU/

Love, Peace and Hair Grease!

Connecting with Readers & Promoting

So last month in a constant effort to find ways to connect with readers and promote without spending a fortune, I came up with a contest. I asked my readers to create a meme for any of my novels that they've read, for a free signed paperback of their choice. Though there weren't a ton of participants, I had a great time talking to them about ideas and concepts. And hopefully the memes they've created will go viral and help spread the word about my books. But at the very least they had fun, as did I. Here are the winning memes:

And then I made a few of my own as examples for the contestants. If you're feeling charitable, feel free to share any of these on your own social media sites. :)