K.L. Conlon's Blog

One Year Later

So the second book is finished, but needs an editor. I had someone lined up, but she pulled out at the last minute.

Any suggestions on possible inexpensive editors would be greatly appreciated.

Censorship??? I'm not sure.

Back in April, I had to sign a Code of Ethics at my child's private religious school for losing my temper and saying a few unlady like words in lieu of real descriptive word choices to relay my frustration over being (in my opinion) delayed in dealing with a school incident. They made me sign it in order to be allowed to go with my child on remaining field trips. I could sit hear all day and explain the situation; however, I was admittedly wrong for losing my temper.

The Code of Ethics basically states that I must uphold the Catholic doctrine at all times in order to be a volunteer that works with children.

So, my question is will the second book I am set to publish within the end of the year, be a violation of that doctrine? They knew I had previously written a romance novel because they wanted to read it and I told them they should take a pass on it being one of the ladies was a nun.

If I publish the book, will I have caused a storm? Is it worth the fall out?

Progress

I can't believe that it is August. I have learned so much this year. Number one lesson learned: never announce when a book is coming out until you actually have it sent to the editor. Writer's block can kill you and you never know when it will attack. Number two lesson learned: characters write the book. Forcing things to happen only make writing the book harder because you have to go back and rewrite it.

A friend told me this year that writing is about quality of work produced not the quantity of work produced. Three good paragraphs are worth more than three poorly written pages that you have to end up cutting or rewriting.

Number three lesson learned: Reading for me is like a drug addiction. I have to learn to walk away.

I'm getting closer to completing this "masterpiece."

Memorial Day Celebration

I can not believe it has been so long since I last wrote anything. I feel bad about that. I've been a little busy. I've become slightly addicted to Pinterest and something called Endomondo.

Summer is just around the corner and I have an awesome trip planned to see friends and family in Dallas. In celebration of this trip, The Way Back to Me will be free May 26 - May 27.

Happy Memorial Day!

An Apology of Sorts

I would like to apologize for the delay in getting Layla's story out and I would like to apologize for putting out a product that was not 100% edited.

Thankfully, a new friend with professional editing experience took pity on us and edited the book. Everyone who purchased the book on Kindle should have received a notice of an update for The Way Back To Me.

During the time TWBTM was being edited, it received a scathing review from a reader. After reading the review over several times, I did take away some helpful information. We did use a lot of exclamation points and perhaps we did move too fast or tried too hard at times during the story. We were first time writers.

With that in mind, we slowed down the writing of Layla's story. Hopefully, we will have it completed by the summer.

While that reviewer was one of three or four readers that did not enjoy it, there were several people who got the humor and understood the relationship of Lexi and Layla. And those people were always the real audience the book was intended for.

Exhausted!

Juggling writing, parenting, marriage and individual time is overwhelming and exhausting. Something is always bound to fall to the wayside. This month it was my writing that was dropped which has caused TWBTM2 to be delayed.

However, during a recent retreat, I did meet some interesting characters and was involved in several hilarious situations that will most definitely influence my writing. This stuff is so good it has me laughing out loud.

I do know that in TWBTM2, Layla and Lexi do head for Vegas for the weekend and encounter a very special kind of guy. I wonder what kind of mischief they will encounter.

Spoiler TWBTM #2

The following excerpt is copyrighted material and is protected under copyright law. Please remember that edits may occur to the following excerpt.

I calmly walk towards the guard and with a shaky voice, I indicate that I am Layla Karsten. I leave out the part that I don’t know how I ended up here or why I’m in an orange jumper that says Dallas County Jail. “You have a visitor.” Quietly, I follow her towards the “visitor” section of the jail. She motions me towards stall number one where I can see Eric through the glass window. I nervously sit down and try to talk to him right away. Shaking his head in irritation, he motions me to pick up the phone next to me. I begin to speak again, but he cuts me off before I can even get a word in edgewise. “Layla, don’t even start. I don’t want to hear any bullshit from you right now. Enough is enough. Do you even remember how you ended up in Lew Sterret?” Oh shit! Lew Sterret? That’s the worse jail in Dallas. I am more than majorly f@#!*d. I don’t even know what to call what I am. Maybe dead?

Happy Thoughts

I've read all the reviews that have been posted about The Way Back to Me and I have to admit that I feel a little like Sally Fields when she won that Oscar.

The reviews revealed to me that there are more people than I thought out there that share the same sense of humor that my sister and I do. The reviews also revealed areas that we could have done a little better on (the ending).

The relationship of my sister and I were the foundation of Lexi and Layla. So it was very easy to write the banter between them as well as their exploits. Not that we ever have experienced those things. I've never found my sister with her whispering eye flashing me nor have I shat myself. Butt cramp - yes that really did happen at a high school track meet and was witnessed by my sister.

It was fun to write that book with her as we imagined what it would be like if I were to find myself devastated like that. I can tell you straight up that my sister would kick my ass into high gear.

Now as we write Layla's story, we get to imagine what it would be like to fix her. It's something I have never had to do for her. So it has been pretty interesting and fun to write.

I think tomorrow that I will post a spoiler for the next book.

Writer's Block

I should be writing right now about Layla Karsten. I should also be a lot further along than 9500 words. Instead, I'm sitting here singing like a hungover rock star to the tunes on my Iphone thinking about Matt Domer and how hot he is. I don't even watch his show. I just saw a picture of him on TVGuide and thought to myself "Damn, he would make a great Christian Grey! The man is fine." I then took a little time to research him and found out that someone actually said he shouldn't be considered for the part because Matt is gay in real life. All I have to say is he is an actor. I'm sure his acting skills will make me believe he is a straight, hot, sexy, bdsm billionaire and if he is not able to do that with his acting skills, then his looks alone will make me believe it.

Now, if I could just focus on how Layla is going to recover from being arrested at a strip club, then I will be on my way towards finishing this book by the end of January or early February.

The "Why" Behind The Way Back To Me

I read a ton of romance books over the summer for "research" purposes (according to my children, my "research" turned into an addiction along the way). What did my "research" show? It showed that they are mostly about women between the ages of 21 and 28. After about reading thirty or so romances about 21 year old women, I started to become irritated as I began to reflect on my own 20's. The irritation set in because the stuff in those books never ever happened to me. Nothing remotely similar. The only guys that tried to pick me up in a smoky bar were the unattractive ones that I couldn't understand. Sure, I shouldn't have been in the club at Hotel Intercontinental; however, I was hoping to bump into a nice Irish or English guy. And I still cringe when I think about the man that took my "V" card. I say man because he was 25 and should have known what he was doing. He talked the talk, but couldn't walk the walk and I was sadly disappointed.

I don't want to read books that make me reminisce about my past. I want to read books about women in their late thirties, pushing forty or have passed it. However, those books are hard to find. And when you do find them, they seem to sugar coat life.

With that in mind, the characters of Lexi Reynolds and Layla Karsten were born. Two sisters facing two different crossroads. The Way Back to Me (TWBTM) picks up as Lexi is struggling to get out of her depression brought on by her divorce combined with the sacrifices she made for her family through the years. After she finds a way to jump back into life, she begins to test the limits of her sexuality. Does she drop the fbomb a lot? Yes, because sometimes, that's real life.

Layla's story (TWBTM 2)is currently being written. As a secondary character in the first book, Layla was constantly pushing the envelope sexually. TWBTM 2 is about Layla's journey to find out why she is doing this and how the consequences of her actions play havoc on her marriage and her career. She has to learn the hard way about what happens when you're given a "free pass" after being with someone for 22 years.

Both stories are filled with "did that just happen" situations that might seem farfetched; however, so does losing your "V" card to a hot guy that happens to be a billionaire that is into BDSM and wants to marry you within 3 months.