What Comes Next?

By Jaime Samms (Guest Blogger)

Today was the day. The first day of life after the day job. It comes every year. As a contract worker, I know the end of the contract will come. I know there will be months and months of empty days ahead. I should feel excited and enthusiastic for the endless hours stretching ahead of me in which to write.

I am intimidated. Enormously so.

I would love nothing better than to curl up in bed with a good book or ten and just do nothing. No deadlines, no reviews to write, no responsibilities of any kind. Just me, my book and my beer.

What do I do with all that unstructured time? Organize it, I know. Slot it all into compartments for blog posting (sorry, Lisabet, for not organizing sooner), for answering emails and promoting, for spending time with the family, enjoying the summer I haven't had in about five years, and of course, writing.

It seems like a simple, straightforward answer.

And yet I can procrastinate like nobody's business. Why is that? And in asking myself this question every year, I have to wonder, do other writers get this feeling? When a day, or a stretch of days comes along with nothing but the time to write, do you? Or do you fill it up with other meaningless drudgery until suddenly the day is mostly over and your word count has barely begun?

Coming in print on 11 July! Fix This, Sir by Jaime Samms

It's always easier to run and hide than to face your problems. So what happens when you get your legs cut out from under you and running is impossible?

Jimmy's been hiding from his troubled past for a long time—in drugs, drink and dangerous sex. It's always been easy to find oblivion in the restraints of men who don't really care who he is or where he's come from. When tragedy puts him in a wheelchair and forces him to fix his legs—and his life—he's not so sure he has it in him to even try. Belligerence is the only weapon he has left.

Cliff is a physiotherapist with a big heart...and a dominant streak a mile wide. The instant Jimmy Phillips rolls into his clinic, he sees a submissive headed straight for self-destruction and every protective instinct kicks in. Ignoring the dangers of getting intimately involved with a client, Cliff takes Jimmy under his wing and pries under the broken man's guard. Getting behind the anger is a challenge the Dom in him just can't ignore.

What he finds is so much more than he bargained for. Now that he's reopened all of Jimmy's old wounds, he's not so sure he has what it takes to help his new submissive heal. All the control Cliff can muster can't hold Jimmy's crumbling world together, and now Cliff faces not just the loss of a sub, but his own fears that he was never worthy of Jimmy in the first place.

About Jaime: Jaime writes, romance, fantasy, urban fantasy, shifter stories about men, about life, about love. Her work is populated with mostly men, most of whom are into each other, and yes, we do mean into each other. You can find plenty of free reading on her website, http://www.jaime-samms.net. She also reviews for Dark Diva Reviews, mostly the same types of stories, and will happily spout her opinion on the books she reads to her kids, who she home schools. Finally, she's occasionally gainfully employed. She writes for the love it, and hopes to pass on that love to her readers, her kids, and anyone else who comes along.