Until this past summer, my heroines had all been young, twenty-somethings dealing with love and sex. Then, in June, in the middle of writing my latest novel featuring another ingénue, I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. It was a huge wake-up call to me on many levels, and one of those was creative: I realized that while it’s fun to write about very young women discovering passion for the first time, I am a woman in my 40s who experiences love and sex from a very different perspective. And I knew I had to write about it. The problem was timing: I was in the middle of writing a New Adult novel for St. Martin’s, an upcoming release called RUIN ME. But the call to write my story of an older woman was too loud to ignore. And I remembered, in this moment of creative crisis, advice I’d gotten a few years ago from Sylvia Day when I emailed her and asked her how she managed her deadlines. (This was when she had just self-published Bared to You -before it was published by Berkley, before she was SYLVIA DAY.) She emailed back right away, and told me that…

Hey Fresh Fiction people! In my latest release, SWEET SOUTHERN BETRAYAL, my hero and heroine follow in the footsteps of Joan Collins, Britney Spears, and Bruce and Demithey get hitched. Complete with Elvis and the “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” wedding package the knot is tied and the fun begins. Now, the Main Man and I have been married twice – to each other. The first was the lavish, cast of thousands Southern wedding that every girl dreams about. The second was a small intimate affair in a small church in Cornwall, England surrounded by kind strangers who threw us a sweet little party to celebrate our vow renewal. Well, this year is our twentieth year and I want to renew our vows again and I want to do it in Vegas. After ups and downs, we know that it is laughter that keeps us going so we want to have fun. But, so far he isn’t convinced about Vegas but I’ve still got a few more months to work on him. Here are my top choices so far 1. Camelot Themed Wedding: Complete with costumes for the Bride and Groom, Knights and Merlin or King Arthur as the…

Port Calypso Daily News As we reported last week in the Society pages, Dane Martin of the popular men’s dating advice website virile.com and author of soon to be released self-help book, Coming On Strong, was seen in a compromising position with another local celebrity, Holly Winters. Ms. Winters, whose popular blog girlnextdoor.com gives relationship advice to women struggling to find commitment among the monogamy-shy Virile sycophants, seems like the last woman Martin would dally with as both bloggers’ philosophies are in direct opposition with the other. Winters’ own self-help book, as yet untitled, is to be released next year. Though neither would comment on the romantic nature of their relationship to PC Daily, stating they were “just friends”, they agreed to a joint column this week answering reader questions from their unique perspectives. Each day, we’ll be posting a new question with the He said/She said response. Port Calypso will certainly be watching these local experts as they navigate their “friendship.” We can’t help but wonder if the Girl Next Door has tamed the most Virile man alive…or is she just another notch on the bedpost? Dear Mr. Virile and The Girl Next Door, I’m a twenty-five year-old virgin….