Goodbye 2023, Hello 2024!

So I swore that for 2023, I would get my "year in review" post done by the end of December...and then it didn't happen. Oops. Sorry. But, to be fair, a LOT happened and even more new and exciting things are in the works for 2024!

First, the recap:

2023 was the year of eight books. It was fun and I'm so happy the Searching the Skies series is complete and out there for the world to see...but I'm not sure if I ever want to do that again. I also finished and released Sonata for Springtime, which was an achievement considering how long the first third of that manuscript sat on the time-out shelf, along with two spicy novellas, Train Hard, Rest Harder and Tangled In His Possession.

2023 also brought about a new logo and an Etsy shop for physical products (focusing on personalized signed paperbacks, but there are some stickers and bookmarks in there too!). 

A lot of what I started working on in 2023 was in preparation for my big plans for 2024. In no particular order:

The rerelease of The Edge of the Sphere is now available for pre-order! This is the last of my earlier books where the rights reverted back to me when the publisher shut down. Obviously it has some gorgeous new cover art, and I edited the hell out of it to bring it up to my current standards. Part of me can't believe I wrote this book twelve -- yes, twelve -- years ago, but I still love the characters and their story. Paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited will be available on January 19th!

Next, people keep asking me about audiobooks, and I've finally decided this is the year. At some point, I'd love to have the majority of my publications where I own the publishing rights available in audiobook, but since this is a brand new adventure for me, I'm trying to take things slow. (But let's just say one may already be in the works...)

Lastly, remember the logo rebrand and the physical merchandise I mentioned? Much of that is due to me booking my first in-person appearances at signings and conventions, starting this year. As of right this second, I'm booked for two in 2024 and two in 2025, but I have some applications and feelers out for a few more. I'll post a schedule soon!

Here's to a happy and productive 2024! Cheers!

Train Hard, Rest Harder - Available Now!

 

So, I finally did it. I finally wrote some gym-themed smut! And I had such a good time writing it, the whole process went FAST, and I didn't have an opportunity to blog about it. Whoops.

It's funny - while I originally set out to write something on the lighter side, something interesting happened. While the “wild weekend with the young, hot trainer” plot is fun enough on its own, it became a framework for something a little deeper and more poignant. For a lot of stressed-out, overworked women—myself included—the real fantasy is the idea of having a few days free of all responsibility and letting someone else handle everything. (Okay, fine, having that “someone else” be an attractive man waiting to fulfil your every need does sweeten the deal a bit.) 

Shall we have a blurb and excerpt for Train Hard, Rest Harder? (Yes, we shall.)

Blurb:

Between her fast-paced career and managing her household for her family, Julia is always on the go. Her busy schedule leaves little time for her to pursue her own interests and hobbies, save for one activity: the gym she attends with her husband, Rob. The high-intensity classes they take allow her to destress, yet, as with every other aspect of her life, she constantly pushes herself to achieve her fitness goals.

Afraid his wife is at risk of burning out, Rob conspires with Tristan, one of the trainers at the gym, and forms a plan in order to encourage Julia to take a break from all her obligations. They present her with their scheme, informing her how she and Tristan will be staying at his family’s secluded lake house for a long weekend, during which she is under strict orders not to cook, clean, or answer any messages from work. As she processes everything they’ve plotted behind her back, Rob privately tells her he’s noticed her attraction to their trainer. To her surprise, he grants her permission to do anything she wants with Tristan during their weekend together…anything.

They embark on their trip, and Julia wonders if she’ll be able to disconnect from her responsibilities and relax for a few days. She also contemplates whether she can be intimate with another man, despite Rob’s reassurances. Will this weekend with her trainer fulfill all her fantasies? 

Excerpt:

Once I stood, I let him coach me through weighted lunges in all directions and a few rounds of deadlifts. “Almost done.” His gaze flicked back and forth between me and the stack of weights. “Sorry there’s no squat rack here, but I think, as we established last night, we need to make sure you’re keeping up with your squats.”

His words, combined with the memory of his hands on my body, increased the heat simmering inside me. “I’ll make do with what we have. Front squats or goblet squats?”

“I’ll let you choose.”

I bent down to retrieve the dumbbells I’d used for the lunges. “Uh-uh. Try again,” he said from behind me.

“What?”

“We both know you can go heavier than that.”

I glanced back at him over my shoulder. “Yeah, but it’s different without the rack. I have to be able to actually pick these up.”

Tristan inched closer and rested one hand at the small of my back. “I know how strong you are.” His breath fanned across my neck as he spoke. “Give me ten good squats and we’ll call it a day.”

He let his hand drop and gave my ass a quick squeeze before stepping away. I didn’t realize how much I craved more of his touch until he let go of me, but there was only one way to earn it. I went to the rack against the wall and returned with the heaviest weights I thought I could get up to my chest. Blowing out a puff of air, I hoisted them into position and steadied myself for the first squat.

“Slow and controlled,” he said. “And get nice and low with good form, or else I’m going to make you start from the beginning.”

My legs already ached from the run followed by the lunges, but I kept my knees pressed out to the sides as I dipped down and back up. One, I counted to myself. I repeated the movement, fighting to keep the tremble out of my arms as I held the dumbbells up in front of me.

“Almost there.” His raspy whisper sent a different kind of shiver through my tensed muscles. “You got this.”

How the weights didn’t slip out of my hands, I had no idea. I maintained my grip and sank down into my heels yet again. Every time I rose presented more of a struggle, but I was determined to complete the set. Once I finished the tenth squat, I exhaled a long sigh of relief and set the dumbbells down.

Tristan was on me in a flash. He grabbed me by the waist and yanked me backward, sending me crashing into his bare chest. “I love watching you move,” he growled in my ear. “Your powerful body, your flawless form…do you know how long I’ve been dreaming of a moment like this?”

Train Hard, Rest Harder is available in paperback and on Kindle Unlimited!

Write, Write, Write Some More...and then Keep Writing

This past Wednesday was the 11-year anniversary of this blog/site, which is kind of crazy to think about. I definitely had no idea what I was doing back then (not that I have much of a better idea now), and while there have been times when I was only posting here sporadically, I do love having this record of my writing journey. I've met so many great people along the way, which I'm thankful for, but these anniversaries also remind me how some of my fellow writers who I respected and admired decided this wasn't for them and decided to leave writing with the goal of publication behind. It's tough. It really is.

Despite me doing this for over a decade now (which, like I said: CRAZY), I wouldn't say I started gaining much traction until about late 2019 or so. That was when I started reaching my pre-childrearing levels of momentum and had a slightly better idea of how to market my books to readers who were looking for the specific genres I was writing in. In a weird way, I think the lockdown of 2020 helped a bit, as people were reading more and I also had the time to dedicate to building more of an online presence. (Okay, Twitter. I'm talking about Twitter.)

After all this time, I'm finally coming to terms with something I've known deep down for many years: to be more successful, I have to produce more. Now, we can have the "quality vs. quantity" argument until we're blue in the face, but while my backlog is pretty big at this point, I know I need to write and release faster to keep building my audience. Part of finally accepting this is how, at this stage in my life, I WANT to do it. Some of my hobbies have fallen by the wayside (I haven't watched much TV or even touched my knitting in well over a year now), but writing is becoming my priority in my down time and I'm okay with it.

I don't have a firm release schedule for the rest of the year yet, but I have a lot—a LOT—planned. It's almost to the point where I'm so excited, I'm getting impatient and I have to resist the urge to publish a lot of books and stories all at once, but I've been doing this long enough that I can make myself be methodical about it. As always, make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter and following me on social media for the latest details!

No Rest for the Wicked

Sometimes I wonder if I've started repeating blog post titles. Then I remember I'm coming up on the 11-year anniversary (!!!) of this site and I've decided not to let it bother me.

Okay, so! As of my last post about a month ago, I'd finished writing a book that had taken me on quite the journey. Whenever I finish a writing project, I always say I'm going to take a little break, maybe read some books that have been on my list for a while, play some video games, etc. Aside from my usual August vacation, though, I've noticed that break getting shorter and shorter. My "to-write" list never seems to get any smaller, and I guess I've gotten used to my routine, even if I'm not as fast as some other authors out there. There's probably also something to be said about how with the current state of indie publishing, especially for romance/erotica, the faster you produce, the more successful you are, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to tackle that topic.

All that is to say...yeah, I've started a new project. I'm not going to say "book," nor am I going to say "short story," as I don't know yet exactly where I'm going to land word count-wise. Originally, I thought it was going to be a short story, but as I started writing, the words started coming out FAST. Like, really fast. I'm as shocked as you are right now. I started it almost three weeks ago, and I'm already creeping up on 10K words. For me, that is fast.

By my estimations, which have actually been getting worse over the years as my writing has become more detailed, I think I'm around the halfway point. So much for a short story. Either way, I'm having a lot of fun, and that's the important part, right?

(I'm not 100% sure about the title yet, so no tag for now!)

Disintegration Updates, Part the Next

If you haven't seen the full cover for Disintegration yet (which means you may not be a newsletter subscriber or a Twitter buddy, which means you're missing out!), here it is in all its glory:

Everything's still on track for an official release day of August 30th, though I may make the paperback live earlier. I'm happy to report that everything went smoothly with setting up the paperback on Amazon when I uploaded the file. I'd heard horror stories of tiny little things going wrong and authors ripping their hair out when trying to find the needle in the haystack and figure out why it wasn't being accepted, which is why I was considering outsourcing the formatting. I actually got it right on the first try, which I was pretty damn excited about, though I did make a couple tweaks once I saw it in the previewer. Then I ordered a proof, which was also pretty damn exciting:

To get ready for the release, I've been sending out ARCs/review requests, setting up promo spots, and so on. I intentionally planned the release for the end of the summer since we'll be up at the Cape for much of August, so now I'm a little restless as I'm in the "sit around and wait" phase. I know once I actually get to the beach, I'll be glad I scheduled everything the way I did; I just have to slog through that "I want to do this thing NOW" feeling for the next few days.

The blurb hasn't changed since the original release, but I'll include it below, anyway. The next newsletter is going to have a link to the first two chapters in their entirety, so make sure you're signed up!

Blurb:

Dutiful soldier and devoted family man Callum Renwick fights to defend his country from the two opposing nations sharing its border. Following a brutal attack on his unit, he wakes up in the underground laboratory of a well-known mercenary organization. The leader of the Midnight Scorpions, Dr. Dane Zedek, informs him he was the sole survivor of the attack, and his hometown and loved ones were obliterated by enemy forces. As he processes the news of his loss, he learns he has been badly injured, and Zedek and his assistant have supplanted half his body with artificial skin and cybernetic parts.

Zedek intends to train Callum to become a lethal assassin for him, designating the woman who coordinated the attack as his first target. While he prepares to exact his revenge, he is assigned to the care of another agent in the Scorpions’ base. Ro is brash and outspoken, yet aspects of her character remain enigmatic. Despite declaring personal relationships useless in the cold, cruel world in which they live, she invites herself into Callum’s bedroom more nights than not. In her coaching, she pushes him physically, emotionally, and sexually to mold him into the killer the organization desires.

During his quest to hunt down his nemesis, more and more of Callum’s biological body parts fail and must be replaced. In addition to dealing with his grief, he struggles to come to terms with his new appearance, functions, and responsibilities. Will he be able to transform himself into what Ro and the Midnight Scorpions need, yet still retain his humanity?