Thanks to Fresh Fiction for inviting me back to talk about my upcoming release, PLEASURE ME. It’s a story about an older woman/younger man story where the hero happens to be a virgin. When trying to come up with a title for the book, my editor and I bounced several ideas back and forth until we settled on PLEASURE ME. One of the really interesting things about my books and titles is that they often prove to have meanings that I don’t see at the time of their creation. I’ll be three-quarters through a book when I’ll write a scene which capitalizes on a minor plot point I’d written at the beginning of the book. It can be something as insignificant as a ring someone wears, something someone says or the actions of a minor character. Then later in the book that insignificant piece of information proves to be a critical component in the storyline. It’s not something that’s planned on my part. It just happens, and I love when it does that. I love how my characters or plots put twists in front of me that enrich the book through character development or surprise plot directions. It’s such a…

My January release, KISS AT YOUR OWN RISK, is my first paranormal romance release in three years, and it is a very special book to me. It’s my triumph, my golden award, the moment of raising that trophy over my head and feeling the true joy of accomplishment fill me. Why? Because KISS AT YOUR OWN RISK is the most beautiful, magical book I’ve ever written, a book that would never have been born had I not been forced by life to dig deep and find beauty within me that I’d never before access. This book is my phoenix, my rise from the ashes, and it is my salute to the power of each of us to triumph, to prevail, to become who we are meant to be. Sometimes life derails us. Sometimes life comes crashing down on us so mercilessly that we feel like we’ll never get out from under it. Sometimes, all we can do is get down on her knees and cry, shouting to the world that it’s TOO DAMN HARD. I’ve been there. Two and a half years ago, my world was rocked. Every foundation of my life was ripped out from under me in one…

So we writers are generally a normal lot. No really! Yes, we talk to the voices in our heads. They’re characters, I swear! And yes, we spend hours staring into space and then claim we’re working. Imagination needs to be exercised! That takes time and chocolate. And last but not least, we envision in gruesome detail all sorts of murders, mayhem, and ugly things. But we also spend lots of time on the color and shape of fairy wings. And whether to spell that fairy or faery. (Or at least I do). That is the writer in her normal balanced state. But sad to say, there is an alternate state, one my friend Eileen Dryer coined as DEADLINE PSYCHOSIS! That is when a deadline approaches and we have half the book to write in a month. Or less. Like a weekend. Yes, I actually knew an author who had one weekend to write half her book. She got it in and it was great, though it took her another few days to come off her caffeine high. So what characterizes this dread disease? It begins with subtle symptoms. Any email that comes in is ignored or dealt with in the…

I have a theory about historical romance. Think about my conclusions to see if you agree. When we were little girls, we loved pretending we were a princess. Disney animation instilled in us that we were princesses, and fairy tales kept us entertained for hours. We dreamed about our prince, and we dressed in long flowing gowns complete with crowns and magic wands. When we were able to read, we imagined ourselves as the princess in distress or even the princess who saved the day. So what does our girlhood pastimes have to do with historical romance? We grew into our teen years and attempted to put the princess syndrome to rest. Some of you succeeded. Others of us couldn’t put aside the fantasy world. The color pink and the cute guy with dreamy eyes held our attention. We devoured romance novels. After all, the heroine always fell in love with the perfect hero, and we knew their love would last forever. We grew older and married our prince, or I hope you did. Then we began to expand our reading horizons. And this is when historical romance moved into our reading pleasure. Stepping back into time lifts the reader…

Writing about the darker aspects of human nature doesn’t come easily to me. Not because my life is fluffy bunnies and rainbow sprinkles, but when I head down that twisted path, my personality changes. While creatively rewarding to craft a hard-edged, take no prisoners character like Mercy Gunderson, it’s all too easy for me to fall into that worse case scenario mindset. Yet, in some respects, delving into dark, gritty scenes are my favorite part of the writing process because it challenges me to step out of my comfort zone. Although I strive to make each book different, I refuse to write anything for pure shock value. It’s tricky finding that balance between describing the act of violence and later explaining the reason for it, without lessening the emotional impact of it. The horror of death should be real in every circumstance, to every character. Detailing the cast of character’s reaction to the death, be it the heroine’s, or the victim’s family, or even the murderer’s, has always been far more gut-wrenching for me to write than another gory scene with blood spatters and empty shell casings. The finality of death is something no one wants to deal with, but…

NIGHT PROMISES is available now Kelly O’Keefe first met a vampire when she was twelve. Now the pair are best friends and have opened Night Pleasures, an underground club that caters to vampires and their needs. When Kelly’s sister is murdered, she finds herself working with Connor, a vampire she’s been in love with for months. Unable to trust men, let alone a vampire, can she let him help her solve her sister’s murder? Connor has been watching after Kelly for seven months with the help of his sire and best friend Micah. Connor has kept himself at a distance even though he knows they are life mates. He’s afraid of losing control and turning Kelly against her will. When he learns Kelly plans on investigating her sister’s death, he steps in and allows himself to get close to her. But how close is too close? About Tonya Residing in Morehead, Kentucky, Tonya Renee Callihan is currently a 24-year-old college student seeking a degree in Nursing. She loves helping others and putting a smile on your face. Tonya has been writing all of her life. At the age of 13, on Christmas break, she snuck one of her mom’s romances…

Music is one of the keys I use to unlock the heart of a character. I don’t listen to music when I write, but when I’m driving or cooking the tunes are always cranked. There are times when the melody and the song’s emotions strike a cord that reminds me of one of my characters. I can’t explain why a song works, but I know when it does. Eva Rayburn, my heroine in SENSELESS was a tough character to get to know. In SENSELESS she is closed and guarded and only reveals herself to the hero and others in the book very carefully. Without even realizing it, I started to notice songs that were “hers.” Songs and playlists are so personal and so I decided to create a playlist for Eva. After I bought the songs, I made my own CD and when I was having trouble with an Eva scene, I’d listen to the CD. The songs unlocked emotions I couldn’t articulate at first. But once I felt the emotions through the songs, I could create the right scene for Eva. So what were the songs that caught my attention while I was writing SENSELESS? Eva’s Playlist Second Chance…

Thank you so much for having me today to discuss FATAL JUSTICE, book 2 in my new Fatal Series. I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the ups and downs of writing a series featuring the same hero and heroine in every book. Each time I come up against how really difficult it can be to write the same characters book after book, I remind myself I only have one person to blame for these challenges: ME! After all, it was my big idea to write a romantic suspense series featuring the same couple in every book. Luckily, with three books written, a novella under way and a fourth full-length book contracted, I still love Sam and Nick, my D.C. homicide detective and U.S. Senator who are trying to make it work in the Washington fishbowl. After I finished the third book in November, it became clear to me that I need a series “bible” with a list of all the characters, what book they appeared in, etc. In addition, I needed to create “character sheets” for each recurring character that include everything I know about them. To give you an idea of how involved this…

One of the hardest things about writing a story about magic is to have a story. See, when you have magic, it can do anything. Magic can make all your problems literally disappear. So how do you have something threaten your characters when one blink of her eyes (or flick of her wrists) can make it all go away? That was what I was faced with when I sold my genie series to my editor. I pretty much sold the idea on, “I have this idea of a story along the lines of I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones.” That was it; that was all I had. I knew the genie, Eden, had been sentenced to her bottle for 3,000 years, got out early, and then I heard the Indiana Jones’ theme music. That was it. So, yay! I sold a trilogy. Now I had to write it. And I quickly found out that like genie wishes, magic is not all it’s cracked up to be. Sure, it sounds good, but if the bad guy is after you, poof! make yourself invisible or take a long vacation to the other side of the world. If the guy you’re in…

One of the challenges of writing paranormal romance is finding a way to build a really different fantasy, yet get the readers to buy into it. After all, everybody’s doing handsome leather-clad vampires and cheeky monster-slaying tough girls. Readers love that kind of thing, but they’ve also seen it before. Repeatedly. It’s a lot more fun if you can find a way to turn the concept on its head, surprising readers and creating a whole new world for them to play in. Besides, I’ve got ADD, and I’m easily bored. I love leather clad vampires, but I have no interest in doing the same thing everybody else is doing. That’s no fun at all. Here’s one of the secrets of writing you don’t hear about: it’s fun. Shocking, I know. Everybody always talks about how much work it is being a writer, and how we get paid peanuts, and how the publishing industry is imploding. All of that is true, but it’s also true that creating a universe and moving into it for 400 pages is the best fun you can have with your clothes on. I love coming up with weird ideas and playing with them, like: What if…