Writing from a Man's Point of View

By Minnette Meador (Guest Blogger)

Here is what this amazing blog asked me to write about:

“It sounds from the blurb like GHOST OF A CHANCE is a M/F story told primarily from the point of view of the hero. If this is true, it's unusual in the romance world (I applaud that!). So what made you choose this point of view? Are you at all worried that romance readers will find it strange or be put off by it?”

I LOVE this question, mostly because it addresses something near and dear to my heart; how point of view changes the timbre of a book and introduces a whole new element into a story.

I come into romance from a very different platform; I began my career writing epic fantasy. In that genre I had to write from several different POVs (point of views), including men, women, mythical creatures, and powerful gods. I sharpened my writing chops by imagining what it would be like to be a non-human creature. It was very difficult, but very educational as well.

Here’s the interesting thing: The first time I wrote my fantasy book twenty years ago, I put in a gnarly old wizard, with long white hair and beard; you know, your stereotypical Gandalf character. When I came back twenty years later to re-write the book for publication, I did something outrageous; I turned the wizard into a wickedly cantankerous, wonderfully alive, beautiful older woman. It changed the book completely, gave it heart and warmth, opened up amazing angles from a romantic side, from a compassionate side, and made my other characters react completely differently. The book turned from a meager copy-cat fantasy into something really special. That’s what I hope I’ve done with A Ghost of a Chance.

I have five boys and one husband and most of my young life I had men friends instead of women friends. It’s given me a unique perspective, I think. That coupled with the fact that I like to write a bit outside the box, it just seemed natural to have this first book in the series from Keenan’s POV. During long conversations with my husband and a dear friend who happens to be a very good male romance writer, I struggled with the concept of the male mind. But after long cups of coffee at Starbucks, I think I finally got it; men are every bit as complicated as women, they just don’t show it as quickly. Add an elevated libido (compared to women) and it made it much easier to write from Keenan’s POV. Of course, I had to run everything through my male critique partners, but the experience was amazing. For you writers out there, try writing a scene with two or three males at a bar just talking about anything, then take it to your husband, your male friends, your grown up boys and ask them to read it, then ask these questions: Would you say something like that? What would you say instead? What goes through your mind when he say this? And so on. Your eyes will pop wide open.

So, to all my men friends out there that may be reading this, I thank the whole lot of you for making this woman’s life a little more interesting. I hope you will read A Ghost of a Chance; even those of you who do not read “romance.” This might surprise you.

I hope my lady readers won’t be put off by this departure from the norm; for me personally, I love stories that push the envelope and experiment with new ideas. But if you love your tried and true books, I respect that; I have stayed myself with a certain formula in mystery books that I deeply love, only because those books are like coming home to an old friend. Because of that, it is difficult for me to take up new mystery writers.

I do hope you’ll at least try A Ghost of a Chance. There should be enough tickles and tears for everyone. :o)

Blurb

Keenan Swanson is your typical, everyday graphic designer. Well, except for the hundreds of pesky, prank-loving poltergeists that make his life interesting (in a Chinese curse sort of way). He finds his situation precarious yet manageable—until witty, smoking-hot coworker Isabella enters the scene and Keenan decides he wants her all for himself. With a horny succubus who has other ideas, a burly city cop determined to lock Keenan away, and an evil entity who’s hell-bent on using Keenan’s seed to create a living demon, the reluctant psychic realizes he just might not come out of this alive—or with heart intact.

CHAPTER ONE – LIVING WITH STRANGERS

“Isabella, isn’t it?” Keenan hadn’t seen a ring on her finger, around her neck, or a Love John Forever tattoo any place noticeable, so he assumed she was available.

“Right. You’re Keenan. We met the other day.”

“Right.”

Usually he didn’t have problems talking to girls, but now it was harder than it had ever been. A hundred witty comebacks crowded his brain for attention, but not one of them could make it past the lump in his throat. His growing cock wasn’t going to be much help either; all it wanted him to do was blurt out, “Ya wanna?”

Bracing himself against possible rejection, and telling his cock to shut the fuck up, Keenan gathered his courage and charged into the fray. “Say listen, if you’re not…”

The elevator jarred to a halt and the doors burst open in front of them. At least fifteen people piled into the box, disregarding the “maximum occupancy” sign.

Keenan hit his back hard against the railing and suddenly found his arms full of warm, healthy girl.

The sounds around him came to a crashing halt when he fixated on those gorgeous almond eyes and full red lips. The urge to devour that mouth was irresistible. He felt like he was home. Her balmy scent marinated his brain, clouding out everything else. The velvet skin of her naked arms made his palms tingle.

A sudden terror seized him when he realized his rod stood at full attention, shouting, “Yippee!” Since the crowd had crushed Isabella against him, she must have felt it jumping like an excited dog against her stomach. To Keenan’s amazement, she didn’t say a word and smiled sweetly up at him. Her expression was almost pleased. It boggled his mind.

“Sorry,” he managed after a few precious seconds.

He let go and fully expected her to scrunch as far away from him as possible, a murmured “pervert” escaping her lips. Instead, she slid up next to him and stayed attached to his shoulder, turning her lovely breasts to the doors.

Keenan had a hard time keeping his eyes off them, noting with interest that both nipples were little rocks against the black fabric. He forced himself to focus on the bald spot on the head of the guy in front of him. He hoped to God the man wasn’t pushed back; in Keenan’s current state, it might be difficult to explain what rested against the man’s ass.

**********

Come hang out with Minette at www.minnettemeador.com and http://minnettemeador.blogspot.com

Get your own copy of A Ghost of a Chance at Respendence Publishing or Amazon.

NOTE FROM LISABET: Minnette will be giving away a Kindle at the end of her promotions campaign and anyone who comments on her tour, or on her blog, will be entered into that drawing. One randomly drawn commenter from the tour itself, as well as the tour host with the most comments, will-- in addition-- win a $100 Amazon gift certificate. So please, please, please - leave your comments, not only here but at each stop on Minnette's tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning! The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/05/virtual-book-tour-ghost-of-chance-by.html.

The Last Flight

A few days ago the space shuttle blasted off for what would be its final flight. From now on, we'll rely on the Russians to get us to the International Space Station. There's no new project on the horizon - no trips to the Moon or Mars. To be honest, I'm in a state of mourning. What will happen to us, now that our dreams of space have been allowed to die?

The space age and I were born almost at the same time. I was four when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. I was eight when Alan Shepard piloted his Freedom-7 capsule into the stratosphere, becoming the first American, and the second human, in space. I vividly recall sitting on the floor in our crowded school cafeteria, watching the flight on the black and white television hung up near the ceiling. I couldn't take my eyes off the grainy images. It was the one of the most exciting moments of my young life.

That was the moment when I decided that I wanted to be an astronaut. I was already reading science fiction; I knew the path I'd chosen would require intelligence, courage, determination and a spirit of adventure. Certainly I could offer all those qualities. What I didn't have, I later learned, was the perfect eyesight needed for a career in space flight. (My uncorrected vision is so bad that in some states I'd be legally blind.) I decided to become a scientist instead, but I never lost my fascination with the stars.

A month or so ago, I finally published my first science fiction work, an erotic romance novella entitled "Bodies of Light". I poured a lot of my self into this story. I was there with my heroine Christine when she awakened in deep space, to discover that she alone, of all the crew of her interstellar ship, had survived. I sucked in my breath along with her as she opened the viewport on the bridge and was confronted for the first time with the vast emptiness of space. When she donned her pressure suit and exited the air lock to repair a breach in the hull, I floated weightless by her side, tethered to the ship and to life by a single fragile cable. I gave to Christine's grandmother my own memories of Alan Shepard's triumphant ride into the unknown.

Yes, "Bodies of Light" is a highly personal story, in a different sense than much of my other work. It's pretty common for me to use some erotic experience or relationship of my own as a starting point in my romances. Not this story. The romantic aspects are completely fantasy, though I hope they're convincing. The setting, though - the billions of miles of near-vacuum stretching between the stars - the claustrophobic confines of a starship - these are places I've visited many times in my imagination.

I'm fifty eight now. Space tourism is on the horizon, but I realize that I may never the opportunity to fulfill my childhood dreams of the stars. That's okay. Now that I'm a writer, I have the ability to make them real in a different way - for myself and for my readers.

Still I feel a sense of grief as the shuttle program winds down - or sputters out. We've lost something important, I believe. A sense of adventure, of possibility. Is it just me? Am I being silly, impractical? Politicians these days we tell us we can't afford to have a space program. Personally, I think we can't afford not to.

Soundtrack to Sensuality

By Tanith Davenport (Guest Blogger)

Even before I wrote erotica, I had always been inspired by music.

Music has passion. Music can express complex emotions in a way that words sometimes struggle to replicate. I have hardly ever cried while reading a book, but show me Adele’s live performance of “Someone Like You” and I’m a mess.

More often than not, I will name stories after songs, or possibly lyrics, if one particular song happened to fit the writing perfectly. In the case of “The Hand He Dealt”, I originally christened it “Shiver” while listening to a Natalie Imbruglia track, but soon realised it didn’t suit the plot that was developing, and never managed to find another song that fit.

But music shaped the story.

The three primary characters each had their own theme tune. Astra, the party girl who I describe early on as walking to an inaudible beat, always entered to Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok”. Self-centred Ash had two: when he first appeared it was to Calvin Harris’ “The Girls”, while later on it became David Guetta’s “Sexy Bitch”, the chorus of which seemed to suit Ash’s inarticulate jock persona nicely.

And Harry, bless him, had “With or Without You”.

Music also brings emotion to scenes when played in the background. In the case of erotica, it invokes desire and lets us show how we intend the scene to feel – is it fun? Exciting? Romantic? Dangerous?

I have two sex scenes scored with music. One involves Astra dancing with Ash at a party to “Chain Reaction” – I’ll leave the mechanics of that one to your imaginations. The second, my very first ménage scene, is set to Basement Jaxx’s “Get Me Off”. There’s a certain savagery to the bassline on that track that I think works well with that scene – I can see my two heroines stalking their prey and reducing him to jelly at a touch. Plus, of course, with a title like that it was just crying out to be used for a sex scene.

Does anyone else do this? Am I alone in giving my novels a personal soundtrack?

Here's a bit more about my new release, available now from Total-E-Bound.

Nobody can beat Astra Scott in playing the hand she’s dealt.

Astra Scott likes to live life to the full. A sorority girl and Gaming Management student, she spends her days studying and practising guitar, and her nights partying or working at the Fountain Casino, where she has an internship as part of her final semester. The only blot on her landscape is Ash Drake, her best friend Sasha’s boyfriend. Arrogant, physical and blond, Ash has never forgiven Astra for her rejection months earlier and enjoys annoying her at every turn.

But when Astra’s boyfriend Harry reveals a shocking secret, Astra responds in the only way she can think of: by finding a way to take on a more attractive, masculine role in the relationship. Her experimentation with sex toys finds a surprising outlet in Sasha, but when Ash discovers their secret and wants to get involved, Astra finds herself torn between dislike and desire…and as their undercover relationship grows, Astra finds herself falling in love, a path she feels can only end in heartbreak. For Ash may be the only man whose own fantasies are a match for hers, but can she knowingly steal his affections from her best friend?

Bio: Tanith Davenport has been writing for ten years and first got into erotic romance through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writer’s Scheme. Besides writing, her first loves are rock music and travel. She lives in Yorkshire with her long-suffering husband and cat.

Five Years of Erotic Romance

I'm a relative newcomer to romance. I started my publishing career twelve years ago writing erotica. It's only for the past five years that I've also been working in the romance genre. I know that because today is Total-E-Bound's fifth birthday - and it was Claire at TEB who lured me into the lush, sticky world of erotic happily ever afters!

I've been with TEB since they first opened their doors five years ago. Roughly six months before that happened, I got an email from Claire Siemaszkiewicz, founder of TEB, inviting me to submit something. I was flattered to receive a solicitation, but romance? I really didn't have a clue what that meant. I tried sending her several of my stories, all of which she rejected. Either they didn't have enough of a happy ending, or they focused too much on the relationships between secondary characters. Basically, they didn't fit her concept of what she wanted for TEB. Finally, I sent her Raw Silk, my first novel, which had gone out of print. I wrote it originally as erotica, but since the book concerns itself exclusively with Kate's search (among several lovers!) for her true soul mate, it sneaked by in terms of romance requirements.

Since then I've been learning how to write romance. I've tried my hand at practically every sub-genre: contemporary, paranormal, M/M, ménage, vampire, BDSM, scifi, even short historicals. I think I'm improving at giving romance readers what they're looking for. My last novella got a five cherry review and was voted Best Book of the Week at Whipped Cream. At the same time, I think my work still doesn't fit into the mold of "typical" romance.

That's partly deliberate. I work hard to come up with a different approach than what I read elsewhere. My weird twists on the traditions of romance may lose me readers. However, as I wrote earlier this week, when my work is described as "original", that's the highest praise I could hope for.

Anyway, today, Friday, marks five years since TEB opened its virtual doors. They're going great guns. They release six titles every week! They're constantly adding new features for readers ad authors. For example, they just unveiled their very cool Booty Box, where readers and authors can get everything from notepads and mugs to underwear, decorated with their favorite covers, icons for their favorite genres, or just an assertion that their favorite authors rock!

And today, Friday the 8th of July, they're giving readers a special birthday gift. Today only, TEB is offering a 25% discount on all ebooks! So what are you waiting for? Head over to Total-E-Bound and shop until you fill your ereader! The more you buy, the more you save.

As for me, I want to say Thank You! to Claire and the rest of the TEB team. They're absolutely sensational to work with. They produce top-quality books and make every author feel special and valued. Happy Birthday - and many happy returns!

Writing from the Middle: Getting Your Swirl On!

By Xakara (Guest Blogger)

Greetings, Kittens! First, I’d like to congratulate Lisabet on her win at Whipped Cream with BODIES OF LIGHT. I can’t wait to read it and spend time with Christine, Alyn and Zed, (hint, hint). Thank you for having me here today!

It’s been a whirlwind of interviews and guest blogs recently as I prepared for my July 4th release of DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT (PsiCorps Book 2). Having to approached the same subject several times over a short period, left me with a wonderful opportunity to cover so many of the themes explored in my PsiCorps Chronicles and My Therian World series. When I looked at the options before me, I decided on an ongoing feature discussing what it means to write Bisexual fiction in an industry specifically geared towards MF and MM romance. It opened up a stream of consciousness on everything from the marketing aspects, to the erotic components in MMF romance and “Writing From the Middle” was born. Much to my delight, with only two entries out in the world, Writing From the Middle will become a regular feature at Queer Magazine Online the third Saturday of each month as part of the weekly, Masters of Passion series.

The idea worked so well for my rambling mind, I knew it would make a perfect vehicle for discussing the new book as well, or more accurately, the series of books. In a general post, I covered the issue of marketing MMF when you don’t want to be quiet about the bisexual content. In the context of my PsiCorps Chronicles, on Monday, I discussed what it means when I say I write Bi/Pan/Poly fiction. Today, I’d like to get into the idea of adding a little chocolate to the otherwise vanilla landscape of romance. Yes, Kittens, today we’re getting our swirl on and talking the perception of kink in my PsiCorps series.

The most interesting thing about kink in romance from an author’s perspective, is that it’s less about what you thought you wrote and more about what the reader sat down and read. I write ménage exclusively and it wasn’t until I began to publish that I learned that ménage is considered kink all on it’s own. If you had been asked me to list the kinks I explore in my work, I would have never listed ménage as one of them. I accepted that it wasn’t mainstream vanilla, but I considered it French Vanilla at most—covered in caramel sauce, if the boy parts touched. Imagine my surprise to learn it was shelved with the hottest of erotic romance and considered daring and explicit. Heterosexual, monogamous bondage is less outside the lines than putting three characters in bed and having them all enjoy each other equally. Who knew? Suddenly my French Vanilla was revealed as someone else’s Rocky Road.

Nothing to do but to embrace it.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST (PsiCorps #1), was my first foursome. It wasn’t intentional, the third guy just snuck up on me and I was too in love to turn him away. Because it deals with psychics, it opened up an entire network of paths that I don’t think I would have otherwise explored. The Riley character has a deep affinity for the mingled taste of arousal and fear, of pleasure riding shotgun with pain and the conflict of someone wanting more, even as the hind-brain says to flee. It’s a very sensual experience and very primal because it can all take place without any physical exchange. It’s mental and therefore immediately intimate and all encompassing. I don’t ever label this in book one. In book two, DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT, it’s referred to as an “alleged pain kink”, which is corrected to “a dominance kink”. But in the end, it’s all summed up with the term "vampire", the nickname for Riley’s type of Psi. One that comes to have a much deeper meaning than anyone had given credit.

Later on, in Dawn’s Early Light, there’s a glimpse of Ajay’s submissive side, but again this is never labeled or carved in stone, and his moment is born of a persistent seduction on his part. He’s coy and receptive, but he’s clearly guiding the situation to the outcome he wants. He’s offered up the illusion of power, but firmly kept the reigns of control. This too, is part of his Psi-Vamp goodness.

In the opening chapter of Ghost of Christmas Past, Torrin and Quintus have a similar encounter. Torrin has very clear control in the situation, but it’s Quintus who uses power to bring things to bear when the moment comes up. Later in Dawn’s Early Light, Torrin again takes clear control in a sexual situation, but freely admits he has no power over the ultimate outcome. He can only maneuver that moment to become what he needs it to be, to make peace with whatever comes next.

Despite the sensation play and subtle flow between dominant and submissive dynamics, these are in no way BDSM books. The flavor, the tone, the actions, and the story simply don’t qualify. In fact, the first examples of Riley and Ajay are changed by the use of the term vampire and fall firmly under that particular subset of kinks. Although I didn’t actually catch that to be honest. Yes, I freely admit that I use the term vampire liberally throughout Dawn’s Early Light and there’s a good deal of biting threats and oral fixation explanations, and it’s even used in my content warming. But with the complete lack of blood, I didn’t realize it was a vampire book until it was tweeted as such by someone else. Honest to blog!

And this is what we’re talking about! The book I thought I wrote and the book actually being read, are not entirely the same entity, so I’m left to take everyone’s word on it. You tell me the foursome in Ghost of Christmas Past is kinky, or that Dawn’s Early Light is a D/s tinted vampire book, I’m good with it. I think we all need a little chocolate in our vanilla from time to time and my subconscious obviously agrees. And if the all-male threesome with all the biting and marking, or the pregnant cunnilingus scene mean I’ve passed soft serve chocolate-vanilla swirl and gone into cookies and cream. I’m good with that too. In fact, if contemporary heterosexual monogamous romances are the vanilla standard, and say multi-partner gay sado-masochism is Death by Chocolate, I think Cookies and Cream might be just the place for me. Although I admit, the third PsiCorps book...Coffee Toffee Crunch, definitely!

When do you decide an element in a book in kinky? Is it anything unfamiliar? Something your recognize from being told? Something that mirrors your own kinks? Any time there’s more than two? Or if it’s not on the BDSM shelf, is it automatically vanilla no matter how many people are involved? Let me know. This will be the last giveaway until the end of the month, so leave a comment and an email or alternate contact option. Good luck and thanks for reading.

Ghost of Christmas Past

Available from Liquid Silver Books

Blurb: Four years after being gunned down by the city's most infamous crime boss, Empath and PsiCorps Agent Torrin St. James wakes from a coma to find that he's seemingly lost everything. Entered into the WitSecPsi program, as part of his cover Torrin is believed dead by the members of his psychic Triad, Resonance Partner Riley Valin and Psi Anchor Sky Roarke--his fiancé. Faced with nothing but the cold comfort of justice in testifying against the crime boss, Torrin convinces his Handler Quintus to help him barter his cooperation for a chance to break protocol and see Sky and Riley before the trial.

Two days before Christmas, in a secure safe house hours outside the city, PsiCorps makes arrangements for Torrin to see the two people he loves the most. It's everything Torrin's wanted from the moment he opened his eyes, but when the time finally comes he's left to face a multitude of truths and a symphony of sorrows. After four years the loves of his life have moved on, his Handler Quintus has been keeping secrets, and there's a high-level leak in the agency he's given his life to. The entire world has turned upside down and Torrin doesn't know if he has the right to fix it, but he's about to find out. Isolated in a safe house, under the worst storm of the season and no way to turn back, he'll learn if their feelings for each other are still passion incarnate or if he's just a ghost from Christmas past.

Contains: Psychic sensation play, same-gender making out, differing-gender making out, M/M/M/F foursome, polyamorous HEA

Dawn's Early Light

Available from Liquid Silver Books

Blurb: U.S. Marshal Mackenzie Matthews has spent the last six months on the most important witness protection assignment of his career--protecting PsiCorps’ own. The four agents under his care in the program have always had his admiration, but now, under such close quarters, they’ve earned his affections as well. Bonds formed after a dramatic showdown on Christmas Eve, and the concerted efforts in its wake to build a sense of normalcy around his pregnant charge, has Mackenzie the happiest he’s been in years and the most frightened.

To push for more not only questions his integrity as the lead marshal on the case, but it threatens the surrogate family that has engulfed him in a sense of home. Mackenzie is the only one that can see the danger in every step he takes--so he stands in place. He soon learns that he’s the only one not willing to move forward. In a whirlwind of revelation as the country celebrates the stars and stripes, Mackenzie is faced with what it means to truly be free. He’ll learn that sometimes no amount of caution can save you from what’s meant to be. Sometimes, no matter how deeply you bury secret desires in the darkness, it takes but a single kiss to reveal it all by the dawn’s early light.

Contains: Psychic Vampire seduction, all male ménage, M/F oral fixation and bloodless biting to spare.

Bio: Xakara is an openly Bisexual author of erotic poly paranormal fiction, with an emphasis on bisexual and sexually fluid characters and cultures within her work. Real life culture clash is at the forefront as she’s left the Midwest and is a new transplant to beautiful New Mexico. She lives overlooking the Sandia mountains with her long time sweetie and a handful of friends that are like family.

Equally splitting her time between the worlds in her head and the world around her, she manages to find her way through life with a smile and zen-vibe that carries her and her heroines through the tough times. She smiles every time she tells someone she knows that she writes erotic paranormal fiction, and they reply, "I always knew you would".

Becoming a paranormal romance author was a happy accident when she chose to write a short novella to clear her mind of edits on her first urban fantasy novel. Now she finds she enjoys the focus on the relationships and loves traversing the two genres, and finding new ways to define both.

She always loves to talk to fans and new friends and can be found several places, waiting to catch up.

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Xakara.com

Email: Xakara [at] Xakara.com

I Won!

I can hardly believe it. I never win anything. Especially not for my writing, which is normally too unconventional, too distant from general readers' tastes, to attract a large following.

And yet - and yet - I somehow managed to win the Whipped Cream Book of the Week contest. I'm still in shock.

It works like this. Every week, Whipped Cream, a popular erotic romance review site, collects all the books that have been reviewed during the past seven days. Any review that received a rating of 4.5 Cherries or better gets thrown into the poll. Over the weekend, readers can vote for the book they'd most like to read, based on the reviews.

When I learned that I'd gotten a 5 Cherry review for Bodies of Light, I was ecstatic - especially after I read Clematis' review. She called my book "original" - not once but twice. For me, it's hard to imagine higher praise. It's so difficult to come up with anything new in erotic romance. Evidence that I seem to have succeeded in doing so is incredibly satisfying.

Anyway, my book got thrown into the poll, but I didn't have much hope of winning that sort of popularity contest. After all, even the reviewer said she'd never heard of me before reading this book! I didn't want to beg for votes but I did send out the review and poll links to my lists, just in case anyone really felt like giving me their vote. (I admit, I also emailed my sister and a couple of friends who know I what I write.)

I promised myself I wouldn't keep checking back to see how I was doing, and I kept that promise. For one thing, it was a bit awkward since I was competing against two other authors from my main publisher, Total-E-Bound.

Anyway, I finally allowed myself to look at the results today, July 4th, after the polls had closed. I was floored to see my name at the top of the list.

I want to thank everyone who did vote for me. Now my review will be on the front page of the site for a week, hopefully a boost to sales. If you want to read the review for yourself, just click here

Now, I think I'll go pour myself another glass of champagne...!

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.