#WriteTip - Free Your Creativity by @MerrynDexter, spotlighting her @DecadentPub #1NS #Romance

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I’m delighted to add fellow 1Night Stand author Merryn Dexter back to my blog today. She’s got a smoking hot new release out, and I’m experiencing some serious cover envy. Find out all about it after this short writing tip break.

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“Know when to push hard to hit your word count target and when to give yourself permission to slack-off. If you stifle your creativity with too rigid a regime, you risk losing your voice." – Merryn Dexter

The Boss of Me

1Night Stand Series

by Merryn Dexter

Dear Madame Evangeline…
Lou Jones loves her job, but she can’t ignore the attraction she feels for her boss, Daniel Smith. She contacts the 1Night Stand dating service hoping a little fantasy role play will help her get over her crush.

I want to see you in my office…
Daniel can’t believe his eyes, or his luck, when a misplaced letter gives him a shocking insight into the erotic thoughts of his personal assistant. The chance to satisfy her fantasies and make his own dreams come true is too tempting to resist.

This is fantasy, nothing more…
As they explore their every desire, Lou and Daniel find keeping reality at bay is harder than they thought. Will their 1Night Stand deliver the satisfaction Madame Eve prides herself upon, or are they just too close for comfort?

Amazon US | UK | CA | AU
Smashwords | iTunes | Bookstrand | GoodReads

Excerpt

“Bring the file here and place it on my desk.” He settled more comfortably into his chair, steepled his fingers beneath his chin, and admired the sway of her lush hips. She placed the file down as instructed then folded her hands in front of her, eyes still averted. Schooling his need with an iron control, Daniel waited.

Her chest rose and fell, the slight hitch in her breath pressing her breasts against the thin silk of her blouse. The tip of her tongue peeked out, dampening her coral-pink lips, and a bolt of lust drove him from the chair. Ignoring Lou, he strode to the door and locked it. He doubted there were many people left in the building at that time of day on a Friday, but he wouldn’t risk anyone interrupting them.

Pacing back to the center of the room, he stopped to admire the hourglass lines of her figure. The heels looked even better from the back. Balancing on their slender points gave extra definition to her calf muscles.

“Do you know why I summoned you, Ms. Jones?”

Her breath seemed to catch in her throat. Her voice barely above a whisper, she said, “No, Mr. Smith.”

“You will call me Daniel.” The visceral need for her to know who was about to touch her surprised him. He wanted to hear his name on her lips as she sighed, moaned, and fell apart at his command. Her head bobbed in acquiescence, and he spoke again. “I summoned you because you canceled our appointment this evening.”

She half-turned, seemed to catch herself, and straightened to face the front again. A thrill of satisfaction curled in his gut. Each little act of submission from her proved sexy as hell. “Did you do as I requested?” he asked. Her skirt clung to her hips and ass with no hint of a panty line, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Yes,” she murmured.

A bolt of lust rocked him on his heels. He wanted to crawl on his hands and knees and fawn at her feet, but she had been very specific in her email—her fantasy required him to be the boss, to take control and dictate his desires upon her.

“Show me.” The rasp in his voice couldn’t be helped; his body tingled with anticipation. Her hands gripped the hem of her skirt and began to raise it, inch by tantalizing inch. The material cleared the back of her knees, gliding higher to reveal the lacy tops of her thigh-high stockings, the soft expanse of her tanned thighs.

About Merryn Dexter

Merryn Dexter is a military spouse who, after a varied employment career (from selling sandals to old ladies with bunions to being a health and safety coordinator for a construction company), is thrilled to be pursuing her dream career as a romance writer. She likes The Winchesters, Spike, Hotch, Loki and watching complicated European Noir. Her hobbies include crying at books, crying at movies, crying at tv serials (there’s a theme!) and believes all stories should have a Happy Ending. 

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#WriteTip - 5 Places to Find Story Ideas by @MSKosciuszko, spotlighting her #Sweet #Romance ONCE AND FOREVER

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I'm delighted to welcome M.S. Kaye back to my blog today. We've checked out the first two books in her series, and she's back with number 3. Find out all about it after this brief writing tip break. 

5 Places to Find Story Ideas

by M.S. Kaye

The first question most people ask me when they find out I write is “How do you come up with your ideas?” I think part of the trick is just to be constantly tuned into that part of your brain. Where other people might think, “Wow, I need to Facebook that,” writers are thinking, “Ooh, that’s a great story idea!” Other than everyday life, here are some places where I find ideas and inspiration:

  1. History—Some crazy things have happened in our world throughout the ages. Why not use it? I either pick an event or circumstance and modify it to fit my purposes, or create a link to some major event in history.
  2. Mythology and Fairy Tales—Even crazier things happen in mythology, which makes it a ripe playing ground for writers. One of my YA novels is about teenagers who have been reincarnated as Sumerian Gods. The book recreates a mythological story in a modern way.
  3. Movies—No, I don’t mean steal ideas, but you can pull bits and pieces about the story or characters and then twist it around in your mind and come up with something completely different.
  4. Dreams—I know it sounds corny, but some of my favorite stories come to me from the flashes I see in my dreams. My first novel was a story I’d dreamed clearly. It took me years to realize it wasn’t going to go away and I needed to write it down. Now it’s one of my favorite stories.
  5. Literature—I love referencing famous works to hint at the theme or plot points to come. Or maybe take an O. Henry story and expand it in a modern way. Maybe find out what happened to Tom Sawyer when he grew up.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Once & Forever

Book 3

by M.S. Kaye

Who is the mysterious Santa who leaves toys on the convent steps?

After a twelve-year separation, Eden is finally reunited with her brother, Thomas, but why hadn’t she reached out to him in all those years? Eden, a nun, is constantly struggling against her dark past of living on the streets, and her attraction to Trace, an ex-convict farm worker. As Eden and Trace confess their pasts to each other and grow closer, will they be able to resist getting too close?

Amazon |  Kobo  |  iBooks  |  Goodreads

 

Excerpt

“You know what he did to git sent to prison?” one of the convenience store clerks murmured to the other.

Trace could just hear them over the horrible rendition of “Jingle Bells” playin’ through the speakers. He ignored them, like he always did. He tried to come into town late in the evening to avoid people as much as possible, but that also meant it was quiet enough that he could often hear what people murmured about him. Once he’d grabbed some protein bars and a can of beer, he headed up to the counter to pay.

The clerk with a buzz-cut told him the total, and Trace handed him some cash.

Neither of the clerks made eye contact with him, but they both hovered over the cash register as if he might snatch it and run.

Buzz-cut closed the cash drawer right quick and handed Trace’s change back.

“Thank you.” Trace stuffed the change in his pocket, took the bag of protein bars in one hand and his beer in the other, and walked out of the store.

He headed for the back lot toward the alley. He could get through most of downtown by way of the alley. This late at night it was almost too dark to see where he was goin’, but that was part of what he liked about it.

“Bitch,” someone growled. And then the sound of something—or someone—smacking into the brick wall of the back of the convenience store.

Trace moved more quickly and turned the corner, and he caught sight of a skinny, young woman punching a man in the face. His head snapped back. But then another man slammed his fist across her jaw. She looked so frail that the punch seemed like shooting a cannon ball at a piece of notebook paper.

“Hey!” Trace roared and ran at them. “Git away from her.”

About M.S. Kaye

M.S. Kaye has several published books under her black belt. A transplant from Ohio, she resides with her husband Corey in Jacksonville, Florida, where she tries not to melt in the sun. Find suspense and the unusual at www.BooksByMSK.com.

To receive news on upcoming releases, sign up for email updates on her website.

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#WriteTip - Don't Fight Your Characters by @SiobhanSWrites, spotlighting her @DecadentPub #LesFic #FFRomance

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I'm delighted to welcome fellow Decadent Publishing author Siobhan Shannon to my blog today. She has a brand new lesbian romance out, and we'll get to learn more about it after this short writing tip break.

If the characters want to take a left turn where I planned to turn right, I let them. Fighting them is the fastest way to writer's block. - Siobhan Shannon, author of Dressing Lily

Dressing Lily

Sans Soucis House

by Siobhan Shannon

 A lesbian romance....

If life is a game, Olivia Lyons wishes someone would let her in on the rules. From picking the wrong sweetheart to telling the wrong secrets, she just can’t seem to win. But then she falls in love, and her world seems brighter. However, when her romance is discovered, her father sends Olivia to live with her mother in New Orleans.

Broken hearted, Olivia starts her life over, working for Claude DeCloux, who owns a jazz club. There, she meets the infamous Lily LaRue, Queen of Burlesque and learns more about herself and the world she lives in than she believes possible. Lily, however, is very possessive, tangling Olivia in a web of exhibition and money that seems impossible to escape. Can she break free and find her way back to the only woman who’s ever truly owned her heart?

AllRomance | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Bookstrand | Google Play | iTunes | Smashwords

Excerpt

I didn’t set out to deliberately ruin my life. I don’t guess anyone does, and then when the walls come crashing down, it’s just so . . . surprising. One day you wake up and nothing looks the same anymore and the next, people are asking you why you’re destroying their lives. I don’t know. I woke up on one of those desperately close mornings in July when the air feels like a blanket and nothing was the same any more. I didn’t even like my coffee the same way anymore. It might have been meeting Daisy Bledsoe. Or it could have been a virus, God only knows. All I can tell you is that on that morning, everything changed.

She wasn’t the prettiest girl I ever saw. She was tall and weathered and snaggle-toothed, but when she smiled her face lit up and you couldn’t resist smiling too. She certainly wasn’t the smartest girl I ever met, either. There were times I wanted to pull my hair out over the things she did. But on that July morning, she mesmerized me, and before I knew it I was making decisions that snowballed into a freight train that could have ruined my life. Strange but true, I think I’d do it all over again.

I must have been about twenty when Pa sent me to Tom Harmon’s place to see if he had a fuel pump for our old tractor. I had never been out to Harmon’s before and missed my turn. I came down a road that just kept getting narrower until I had no choice but to go forward. I found myself on a grass track that petered out among dead machines and rusting farm implements in front of her house. I finally found a place where I could turn around, but that was when I met Daisy.

It was hot and I had the windows down. I came round a bend and a big black dog decided I didn’t belong there. He jumped up at the window of Pa’s truck raising hell. All I could do is hit the brakes and lean away.

“Max!” I heard a voice like a sack of gravel shout, “Come heah.” Max shut up and left the side of my truck, making me happy. One look at her, and I knew I was lost.

“Can I help you?”

“I believe you already have.”

About Siobhan Shannon

Siobhan Shannon lives in Texas with her husband and a very well behaved dog. She writes, makes lace, dances, sings and plays fiddle every chance she gets. She loves everything about having grown-up children and hopes to live at the seashore one day. She frequently misses appointments because she is writing and fails to heed the time. She has written Dressing Lily and two speculative fiction novels. You can contact her at siobhan@siobhanshannon.com

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