Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Mark December 17th!
Mark December 17th in your calendar to be the first to download and read this hot novella.
This story has been previously released as part of the Bound to the Billionaire anthology by Total-E-Bound.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Excerpt: Bared To Him
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Cover Reveal: Bound To The Billionaire
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Beyond Mommy Porn
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Get In The Zone Today!
The lovely Alani Dane, professional submissive has a thing or two to learn, and Master Nathaniel absolutely will be the one to teach her.
When he catches Alani yawning during a scene with one of Zones’ more prestigious members, club owner Master Nathaniel Stratton takes her bad behavior as a personal affront.
Although he’s seldom in the country, the club’s success matters to Nathaniel and his partners.Nathaniel vows to personally deal with Alani, fraternization be damned.
The dangerous enigma that is Master Nathaniel alternately thrills and terrifies Alani. At heart, she’s no man’s submissive, she’s a masochist who craves beatings that will send her into subspace, make her forget.
And she swoons under the bite of this dom’s punishing leather belt. Nathaniel is determined to make her the perfect sub and shatter the emotional barriers she’s erected to keep her safe. But in a battle of wills, dominance, and submission, there can only be one victor, and Nathaniel will win, as soon as he puts Alani in the zone.
After you read this one, let me know whose story I should write next!
Happy reading, and always walk on the wild side....
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tennis, Anyone?
I have a real passion for world-class sports, whether it be the Olympics (and I was fortunate enough to attend the Winter Olympics earlier this year), World Cup soccer (or football, depending where you live!), and, most recently, US Open tennis.
There is something spectacular about watching people, athletes, who are the best in the world at what they do. And it’s fascinating to see the different approaches, the different strategies these talented men and women use.
But they all have something in common, something that inspires me…dedication.
An athlete doesn’t show up on game day and hope for the best. They train, they practice, they learn, they change their approach. When things are going wrong, they still have to hang in there, even if the world is watching.
It’s easy to say that someone has natural talent, as if that explains success. Tennis legend Andre Agassi’s father had him hit 2,500 tennis balls per day, equaling nearly one million balls per year. His father believed that if Agassi hit a million balls a year, he’d be unbeatable.
Did Agassi have talent? No doubt. But what lessons did he learn from hitting one million tennis balls a year?
All of us can learn from this.
We, too, have to train, practice, learn, change our approach, hang in there when the going gets tough.
It took me over ten years to sell my first book. There were moments of horrendous disappointment. There were small victories, like awards for contest wins. But the biggest factor in finally publishing was in showing up every day, day in, day out, and doing the work necessary to succeed.
As writers, we can train by reading other great books, by reading how-to books, by doing the exercises recommended by other writers. We can practice and stay sharp by showing up at the computer, even when we don’t want to, when we’re tired, “don’t feel like it,” even when it’s more enticing to watch television or “chill.”
It we want to stay relevant, we have to be responsive to the marketplace and write the kinds of stories that readers want. It may be necessary, published or not, to change our approach, write better, faster, stronger, deeper, with humor, with emotion. What worked in yesterday’s competition may not work in today’s.
Does raw talent help? You bet it does. I’ve seen authors with amazing talent sell the first thing they write.
But I also mentioned that part about when the whole world is watching. If you get a bad review as a writer, you can’t hide. It’s out there on the Internet for the whole world to see, forever.
No matter how much talent we have, no matter how much success we enjoy, we still need strategies to regroup and move forward. Some tennis players will put a towel on their head to block out the crowd and regain focus. For my writing, I use a “whining buddy.” When I have bad news, I’m allowed to whine for twenty-four hours, but only to my buddy. I don’t put it on Twitter or a blog. I then go back to what works…writing, rewriting, revising, learning from the experience, practicing my craft, changing my approach.
I appreciate watching the best of the best. I admire their dedication to do what it take, living it, breathing it, thinking about it, dreaming about it. And I am inspired.
Time to write…
Monday, July 26, 2010
On Being A Writer

I grew up wanting to be a writer.
I had all these cool ideas of what that meant. Endless pots of coffee, maybe smoking and pacing. It certainly meant living in the Florida Keys. It meant being rich, successful, agonizingly creative. I’d probably be reclusive unless I had to meet my amazing fans at book signings. I’d certainly dress artisticly, maybe even wear tons of jewelry. I considered I might need to also have mood swings in order to be considered “great.”
For the record, I don’t live anywhere near the ocean, let alone the Keys. I wrote ten books in ten years before finally selling my first one. (Talk about the starving artist cliché. Only it isn’t a cliché!) Then, I had this picture that the publisher would want me to open the box under my bed that had all my rejected manuscripts! I’d be an overnight success. Imagine, all those books and my adoring fans! Palm trees and margaritas, look out!
Okay, so all those books were rejected a second time. (It wasn’t painful enough the first time!)
The thrill of signing with a New York agent and that first contract was amazing. The pain of subsequent rejection and iffy cover art brought me back down to earth. Factor in an unfavorable review of my debut novel from a national magazine and I was devastated.
In the amount of time I’ve been a professional writer, I’ve heard a lot of writers (okay, including myself), wondering why we continue to put in the time and the effort, especially when we get knocked off balance by a story that just won’t come together, characters who won’t behave, rejections, or an editorial request for more revisions. Even worse, a book we believe in might see mediocre sales or punishingly bad reviews.
I once heard a multi-published, New York Times bestselling author say, if you can quit, do. Another author who is also now a Times extended list bestseller has packed up her office several times over the years, given away her trusted copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, sold her computer equipment, quit, quit, quit the business.
I’ve had friends walk away for years after painful critiques, after being
unable to deliver manuscripts their editors were satisfied with. Some authors I know refuse to accept multi-book contracts because of fear, of jinxing the next book, of not being able to go to the creativity well and pull out yet one more compelling storyline, for fear that next book might not be good enough.
Some writers wonder why they bother at all.
After all, it’s easier to smile through an eight hour shift and say, “Would you like fries with that?” I waited tabled for five years while I was getting my writing legs on solid ground. Waitressing was difficult, with screaming children and masses of crackers smashed into the carpeting beneath a high chair. But at times, it was easier than being a writer. At least, with a day job, I didn’t stay up all night tossing and turning as an idea remained elusive. I didn’t take a walk on the beach and hear voices in my head. I could turn off a waitressing job. I cannot turn off writing.
So, why do we do it?
Maybe because no one else on planet earth has that story to tell. No one else comes up with those characters, those conflicts, that plot line.
We have almost all experienced someone developing a similar plot line or an identical title. But no one puts together the same characters, same conflict, same plot at the same time in the same way.
We have stories to tell that no one else can.
I remember being in a hospital waiting room with a book. The book took me away from the pain of waiting, of not knowing. It made the hours somewhat more bearable. And more than anything, maybe that’s why some of us continue to do it, despite the lack of benefits, uncertain income, long hours, potentially bad reviews.
Our stories can take people away. We can make them laugh, make them cry, make them care, even if only for a little while. Each story will continue to be unique because we are.
We write not only because we can, but because we have to.

.jpg)
