Julie Kenner's Blog, page 86

Snag a First Chapter Skype Critique with J. Kenner & Help Fight Diabetes!

Writing a book and would like some feedback?

I have another item up for you guys on Brenda Novak’s auction to fight diabetes! I’m donating a First Chapter SKYPE Critique and Discussion to the lucky winner. Get the chance to discuss  your first chapter with me while donating to a great cause!  (And I swear I don’t do “fluff” critiques!  We’ll talk nitty-gritty, folks!)

This auction also closes on May 31, so head on over there and make your bid! I’m also auctioning off a complete set of the Stark Trilogy and MORE!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - debuted at number 2 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is now entering its fourth week on the  USA Today bestseller list! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  

(And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 12th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Ever Tried Writing a Book with Another Person? Marla Hayes and Angela Falkowska talk about Their Collaborative Writing!

Collaborative writing is both really enticing to many of us, but also quite nerve-wracking! How do you go about writing a story when there’s another brain involved? Marla Hayes and Angela Falkowska join the blog today to tell us how!

What does it take to make a collaboration successful?

Like any good partnership, it comes down to one little letter — it’s “we”, not “I”. In a collaboration egos must be thrown out into the cold — some would say this should be easily accomplished for us since my collaborator Angela Falkowska and I both live in Canada where it’s cold half the year. But we don’t just compliment each other (although this IS important to do), but more importantly we complement each other, in many ways.

How did this creative union occur? We met on the web, completely by chance, when an interview with a famous screenwriter was cancelled.  We Canucks were somehow left out of the notification process, so once the only other attendee signed off the site, we waited on, e-chatting and discovering that we lived in the same province. The natural connection progression was exchanging e-mails. Next time we reached out, we learned that we had many, many things in common, some of which had nothing to do with screenwriting. We decided to test the proverbial creative waters and collaborated. Ten years later, here we are, co-authors of A TASTE OF REALITY.

We have written four feature-length scripts together, three different ways — never let it be said that our methods are conventional or boring:

1) One of us writes the first half while the other writes the last half. Then we switch and switch and switch again, until neither of us knows which word or turn of phrase was written by whom.

2) We write alternate scenes and switch back and forth, again creating the blurring of authorship.

3) Since I had some raw gems shoved to the back of my filing drawers, Angela wielded her magic editing wand over them to polish them to diamond status. And with each collaboration the writing skills we feel are our weakest are pumped up as if we had worked through an intensive, lengthy screenwriting course.

It’s stressful to allow one’s “baby” to be molded and reworked into what can sometimes be a totally different entity. That’s where the other essential quality of a partnership like ours comes into play: TRUST. Trust not just in the other person’s integrity, opinion and character, but in their talent.

Now with the publication of our first novel, A TASTE OF REALITY, we have added a new dimension to our collaboration — the novelization of a screenplay.

At first glance, that might sound like a task as easy as changing all the present tense verbs into past tense. Yes, we did have to do that, but there were more changes needed to accomplish the reformatting of the story.

Screenplays are written to keep movie-goers’ attention from many points of view. The plot unravels from many characters’ perspectives. Novels, especially those for Tweens or even younger readers, usually have one main character. Two at the most. To reformat the script, you may have to eliminate scenes, a secondary character or even change the order in which events happen. That can mean cutting down on the number of words or it can cause you to write a new scene or chapter to smooth out the story.

Too, scripts always, always use as few descriptive words as possible. Dialogue reveals the story and moves the plot along. When changing that same story into a book, it is descriptive words that must be used to paint a movie in the novel reader’s head. But paragraph after paragraph of description will bore even the most dedicated book reader — finding the right balance between description and dialogue is truly one element screenwriters and writers of books have in common.

Write on! Read on!

Marla Hayes (& Angela Falkowska)

For A TASTE OF REALITY on Amazon, click here!

See both Marla and Angela on Goodreads!

Thanks to Marla and Angela for sharing their experiences as collaborative writers! What kinds of things have you written with one or more people?

Pamper yourself with a Stark Trilogy gift basket and help fight juvenile diabetes!

Hey y’all!  I’m participating in Brenda Novak’s auction to fight diabetes, and I’m donating an entire set of the Stark Trilogy (Release Me, Claim Me and Complete Me) included in a “pamper yourself” basket filled with all sorts of awesome spa-type products and other pamper-y goodies!

The auction closes May 31, so hop on over!  Even if you don’t want to bid on the basket and trilogy, there are a TON of great things being offered!  (Including a Skype critique from moi … that I’ll link to in tomorrow’s blog post)

 

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - debuted at number 2 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is now entering its fourth week on the  USA Today bestseller list! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  

(And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 12th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Stark Trilogy: 1, 2, and 3 in Erotic Romance on Amazon!

Just got this heads-up from my editor!  How incredibly cool is it that the entire Stark Trilogy of Release Me, Claim Me, and Complete Me are 1, 2, and 3 in the books/romance/erotica category on Amazon!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - debuted at number 2 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is now entering its fourth week on the  USA Today bestseller list! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  

(And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 12th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Hump Day Books from Jenna Bennett, Karla Brandenburg, Terri Brisbin, Molly Harper, Joanna Campbell Slan, Marla Hayes, Angela Falcowska, Nancy Gideon, and Kelly McClymer

Need a fun read to get through the rest of the week? Check out this week’s Hump Day Reads!

Change of Heart (Savannah Martin mystery)

New Release

Learn more at Jenna’s website!

Mist on the Meadow (Kundigerin) (Volume 1)

The perfect blend of romance and mystery

Learn more at Karla’s website!

At the Highlander’s Mercy (The MacLerie Clan)

Check out this new release from my fellow Whine Sister!

Learn more at Terri’s website!

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses

Another great read from a fellow Whine Sister!

Learn more at Molly’s website!

The Death of a Dowager (The Jane Eyre Chronicles)

Charlotte Bronte’s love story continues with Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth!

Learn more at Joanna’s website!

A Taste of Reality

Check out Marla and Angela’s blog post coming Friday!

Learn more at Marla’s or Angela’s Goodreads

Prince of Shadows

Available on 5/27 as an e-exclusive from Pocket Star!

Learn more at Nancy’s website!

The Unintended Bride (Once Upon a Wedding)

I’m excited to promote my friend’s book, which came out this spring, this week!

Learn more at Kelly’s website!

If you would like to submit a book for the Hump Day feature, click here!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Author event! Join Me, Sophie Jordan, Donna Grant, Tracy Wolff, Tessa Adams and Tracy Deebs for dinner and a signing!

Looking for something fun to do this summer? Why not come down to the Houston area for dinner with me, Sophie Jordan, Donna Grant, Tracy Wolff, Tessa Adams and Tracy Deebs!

Just one day after Complete Me hits shelves, too, so the timing is perfect to get a signed copy!

Details will be up soon at the event site, along with a PayPal button to reserve your seat!  Hope to see some of you there!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Stark on Saturday is back! – A Complete Me excerpt (Stark Trilogy book 3) … and Matt Bomer eye candy!

We’re baaaaaaack! #StarkOnSaturday is starting up again as we count-down to the release of Complete Me!

And thanks so much to everyone who has put Release Me back on the USA Today bestseller list (it’s in its 11th week!) and has kept Claim Me on both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists for the three weeks that it’s been on shelves.  Y’all rock!

I recently discovered White Collar (really fun show!), so to add a little flair to this week’s excerpt, I’m including some Matt Bomer eye candy. (He could totally play Damien.)

And now, without further ado, here’s a snippet from the upcoming Complete Me, book three in the Stark Trilogy that began with with Release Me, continued with Claim Me, and will conclude with Complete Me!

 

 

I squeeze my eyes shut, and fresh tears spill out over my lashes.

The pad of his thumb brushes my cheek.

“You understand?”

“No,” I say, but I mean yes, and when I open my eyes I can see that he knows it. He moves closer to me, and my breath hitches. I hiccup a little, tasting tears as his mouth closes over mine. The kiss is soft at first, gentle and sweet. Then his hand cups the back of my head even as his other arm snakes around my waist and tugs me onto his lap.

I gasp with surprise at the movement, and he takes advantage, his mouth hardening, his tongue finding mine, his kiss becoming deeper and  more demanding. I twine my fingers through his silky hair and lose myself in the sensual firmness of his mouth. In the wildness of this kiss. Our tongues meeting, our teeth clashing. My mouth will be bruised in the morning, but I cannot resist this kiss that is setting us both on fire.

I am breathing hard when he finally pulls away. My lips feel swollen and used and spectacular. I wonder if I’ve ever truly been kissed before, even by Damien. And right then, all I want is more.

I lean toward him in silent demand, but he catches me with a firm hand under my chin. I stay there, my position awkward, my eyes lifted to his.

“You are my everything, Nikki. You have to know that. You have to believe it.”

“I do,” I whisper. I see the tremor run through his body, then the way his muscles tighten as he pulls me tight against him and holds me close. I melt into his arms, so in love with this man that it almost hurts.

 

Want more? You can pre-order Complete Me from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble!  On-sale July 30!

And if you missed Release Me, you can snag your copy from your favorite retailers here:

Random House

Amazon (print)

Amazon (kindle)

Amazon United Kingdom

Barnes and Noble (print or Nook)

Books-A-Million

Kobo

iBooks

Indie BoundAnd, of course, you can get Book 2, Claim Me, from these great retailers:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

Random House

your favorite independent bookseller

in the U.K. from Amazon

 in the U.K. from Waterstones

 in the U.K. from WH Smith

More soon,

XXOO

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Complete Me (Stark Trilogy Book 2) – Chapter 1 (part B)

Yesterday, I posted the first chunk of the first chapter of Complete Me, book 3 of the Stark Trilogy (which follows Release Me and Claim Me). Today, I’m giving you the rest of the chapter … along with the UK cover of Complete Me (I love it!)

Again, keep in mind that it’s impossible to post the first chapter of book 3 in a trilogy without inherent spoilers.  So keep that in mind if you keep reading!

Enjoy!!!  And be sure to pop in on Saturday for the renewal of #StarkOnSaturday leading up to the release of Complete Me.

Note that this chunk has not yet been copyedited.  It may change slightly in wording, punctuation, etc. between now and publication:

If you missed the beginning, read the first chunk here!

“Damien,” I whisper, because I can’t wait any longer to feel his name against my lips.

That wide, spectacular mouth curves into a slow smile. He tugs my hand, pulling me onto his lap. His thighs are firm and athletic, and I settle there eagerly, but I don’t lean against him. I want to sit back enough that I can see his face.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I know what his answer will be, and yet I hold my breath, praying that I am wrong.

“No,” he says. “I just want to hold you.”

I smile as if his words are sweetly romantic, refusing to let him see how much they chill me. I need his touch, yes. But I need the man more.

I stroke his cheek. He hasn’t shaved since yesterday, and the stubble of his beard is rough against my palm. The shock of our connection rumbles through me, and my chest feels tight, my breath uneven. Will there ever come a time when I can be near him without yearning for him?  Without craving the touch of his skin against my own?

It’s not even a sexual longing—not entirely, anyway. Instead, it’s a craving. As if my very survival depends on him. As if we are two halves of a whole and neither can survive without the other.

With Damien, I am happier than I have ever been. But at the same time, I’m more miserable, too. Because now I truly understand fear.

I force a smile, because the one thing I will not do is let Damien see how terrified I am of losing him. It doesn’t matter; Damien knows me too well.

“You’re scared,” he says, and the sadness that colors his voice is enough to melt me. “You’re the one person in all the world I cannot bear to hurt, and yet I’m the one who put fear in your eyes.”

“No,” I say. “I’m not scared at all.”

“Liar,” he says gently.

“You forget that I’ve seen you in action, Damien Stark. You’re a goddamn force of nature. They can’t possibly hold you. Maybe they don’t know it yet, but I do. You’re going to walk away from this. You’re going home a free man. There’s no other way that this can end.” I say the words because I need to believe them. But he is right. I am desperately afraid.

Damien, of course, sees through my bullshit. Gently, he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “You should be scared. This is the kind of case that has prosecutors salivating.”

“But you were only fourteen,” I say. “And you didn’t kill Merle Richter.” I still don’t understand why the court decided to try Damien as an adult. All I know is that it was a battle that Damien’s defense team lost.

His expression darkens. “Truth is a malleable thing, and once I walk into that courtroom, the truth is what the court says it is.”

“Then you need to make sure the judges know the real truth. Dammit, Damien, you didn’t kill him. But even if you did, there were mitigating circumstances.” Only recently had Damien told me what happened. He and Richter fought, and when Richter fell, Damien held back, refusing to step forward to help the coach who’d abused him for so many years.

“Oh, Nikki.”  He pulls me against him, his arm swooping around my waist and shifting me on his lap so quickly that I gasp. “You know I can’t do what you’re asking.”

“I’m not asking anything,” I say, but the words sound brittle, because of course I’m asking. Hell, I’m begging. Damien damn well knows it, too. And yet he is denying me.

Anger flares within me, but before it explodes, his mouth crushes against mine. The kiss is deep and raw and all-consuming, and warm desire blooms within me. It doesn’t erase my anger or my fear, but it does soothe it, and I shift closer to him, wishing I never had to leave the safety of his arms.

His body tightens beneath mine, the bulge of his erection under his jeans teasing my rear as I shift my weight and lean closer, deepening this kiss and wishing like hell we were in our suite instead of in a very public bar.

After a moment, I pull back, breathless. “I love you,” I say.

“I know,” he says, and though I wait for the reciprocal words to come, he doesn’t say them back to me.

My heart twists a little, and I force a smile. A pageant-quality All I Want Is World Peace kind of smile. The kind of smile I show the public, but not Damien.

I tell myself that he’s just tired, but I don’t believe it. Damien Stark does nothing without a purpose. And though it is impossible to truly get inside that head of his, I know him well enough to guess at his motivations, and I want to jump to my feet and scream at him. I want to beg him not to push me away. I want to shout that I get it; that he’s trying to protect me because he knows that he might lose the trial. That he might be ripped from me. But goddammit all, doesn’t he know that all he’s doing is hurting me?

I believe with all my heart that Damien loves me. What I fear is that love isn’t enough. Not when he’s determined to push me away in some misguided attempt to protect me.

So I don’t lash out. That’s not a fight I can win, but I can play the game my own way.

With renewed resolve, I kick the wattage up on my smile and slide off his lap, my hand extended to him. “You have to be in court at ten, Mr. Stark. I think you’d better come with me.”

He stands, his expression wary. “Are you going to tell me I have to get some sleep?”

“No.”

His gaze slides over me, and my body quivers in response as if he had physically touched me. “Good,” he says, and that one simple word not only conveys a world of promises but takes the edge off the chilly fear that has filled me.

I allow the corner of my mouth to quirk up into a hint of a smile. “Not that, either. Not yet, anyway.”

The confusion on his face brings a genuine smile to my lips, but he doesn’t have the chance to ask, as the concierge has approached. “Everything is ready, Ms. Fairchild.”

My smile broadens. “Thank you. Your timing is perfect.”

I take the hand of the very confused man that I love and lead him through the lobby, following the concierge to the front of the hotel. There, parked on the street beside a very giddy valet, is a cherry red Lamborghini.

Damien turns to look at me. “What’s this?”

“A rental. I thought you could use a little fun tonight, and the A9’s just a few miles away. Fast car. German autobahn. It seemed like a no-brainer to me.”

“Boys and their toys?”

I lower my voice so that the concierge can’t overhear. “Since we already have some interesting toys in the room, I thought you might enjoy a change of pace.”  I lead him closer to where the valet stands by the open passenger door. “I understand she’s very responsive, and I know you’ll enjoy having all that power at your command.”

“Is she?”  He looks me up and down, and this time the inspection is tinged with fire. “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what I like. Responsiveness. Power. Control.”

“I know,” I say, and then slide into the passenger seat, letting more than a little thigh show as I do.

An instant later, Damien is behind the wheel and he’s fired the powerful engine.

“Drive fast enough, and it’s almost like sex,” I tease. And then, because I can’t resist, I add, “At the very least, it makes for exceptional foreplay.”

“In that case, Ms. Fairchild,” he says, with a boyish grin that makes this all worthwhile, “I suggest you hold on tight.”

 

Want more? Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of the chapter.  And  you can pre-order Complete Me from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble!  On-sale July 30!

 Claim Me – which is now in it’s third week on the New York Times bestseller list — is already available! Get your copy here:

Claim Me from Amazon!

Claim Me from Barnes & Noble!

Claim Me from Books-a-Million

Claim Me from Random House

Claim Me from your favorite independent bookseller

 Claim Me in the U.K. from Amazon

 Claim Me in the U.K. from Waterstones

Claim Me in the U.K. from WH Smith

And if you missed book 1, Release Me (now in its 11th week on the USA Today bestseller list!) you can snag your copy from your favorite retailers here:

Random House

Amazon (print)

Amazon (kindle)

Amazon United Kingdom

Barnes and Noble (print or Nook)

Books-A-Million

Kobo

iBooks

Indie Bound 

Complete Me (Stark Trilogy Book 2) – Chapter 1 (part A)

Some of you have read the first chapter of Complete Me, book 3 of the Stark Trilogy, following Release Me and Claim Me (which is still hot off the presses!) in the back of the digital version of Claim Me — but editing being what editing is, that chapter has changed a bit!

So for the benefit of those digital readers–not to mention the paper and audio readers who didn’t even have access to the first chapter — I thought I’d post Chapter 1 of Complete Me in its entirety (split up into two days — but spoiler alert! It’s impossible to post the first chapter of book 3 in a trilogy without inherent spoilers.  So keep that in mind if you keep reading!).

Enjoy!!!  And be sure to pop in on Saturday for the renewal of #StarkOnSaturday leading up to the release of Complete Me.

Note that this chunk has not yet been copyedited.  It may change slightly in wording, punctuation, etc. between now and publication:

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

Fear yanks me from a deep sleep, and I sit bolt upright in a room shrouded with gray, the muted green light from a digital alarm clock announcing that it is just after midnight. My breath comes in gasps, and my eyes are wide but unseeing. The last remnant of an already forgotten nightmare brushes against me like the tattered hem of a specter’s cloak, powerful enough to fill me with terror, and yet so insubstantial that it evaporates like mist when I try to grasp it.

I do not know what frightened me. I only know that I am alone, and that I am scared.

Alone?

I turn swiftly in bed, shifting my body as I reach out to my right. But even before my fingers brush the cool, expensive sheets, I know that he is not there.

I may have fallen asleep in Damien’s arms, but once again, I have awakened alone.

At least now I know the source of the nightmare. It is the same fear I have faced every day and every night for weeks. The fear I try to hide beneath a plastic smile as I sit beside Damien day in and day out as his attorneys go over his defense in meticulous detail. As they explain the procedural ins-and-outs of a murder trial under German law. As they practically beg him to shine a light into the dark corners of his childhood because they know, as I do, that those secrets are his salvation.

But Damien remains stubbornly mute, and I am left huddled against this pervasive fear that I will lose him. That he will be taken from me.

And not just fear. I’m also fighting the damnable, overwhelming, panic-inducing knowledge that there isn’t a goddamn thing in the world I can do. Nothing except wait and watch and hope.

But I do not like waiting, and I have never put my faith in hope. It is a cousin of fate, and both are too mercurial for my taste. What I crave is action, but the only one who can act is Damien, and he has steadfastly refused.

And that, I think, is the worst cut of all. Because while I understand the reason for his silence, I can’t quell the selfish spark of anger. Because at the core of it all, it’s not just himself that Damien is sacrificing. It’s me. Hell, it’s us.

We are running out of time. His trial will begin only a few hours from now, and unless he changes his mind about his defense, it is very likely that I will lose this man.

I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing the tears to remain at bay. I can push the fear back, but my anger is like a living thing, and I am afraid that it will explode no matter how hard I try to quell it. For that matter, I’m afraid that suppressing it will make the ultimate explosion all the more brutal.

When the indictment came through, Damien had tried to push me away, believing that he was protecting me. But he’d been wrong—and I’d flown all the way to Germany to tell him so. I’ve been here for over three weeks now, and there has not been a day when I have regretted coming, and I do not doubt that what he said when I arrived on his doorstep is true—he loves me.

But that knowledge doesn’t soothe the sense of foreboding that has been rising within me. A trepidation that is especially potent at night when I wake alone and know that he has turned to solitude and scotch when I want him in my arms. He loves me, yes. But at the same time I’m afraid that he is pushing me away again. Not in big steps, but in little ones.

Well, screw that.

I peel myself away from the cool comfort of our bed and stand up. I’m naked, and I bend to retrieve the white, lush robe provided by the Hotel Kempinski. Damien brushed it back off my shoulders after our shower last night, and I left it where it fell, a soft pile of cotton beside the bed.

The sash is a different story, and I have to dig in the rumpled sheets to find it. Sex with Damien is always intense, but as the trial comes closer, it has been wilder, more potent, as if by controlling me Damien can control the outcome.

Idly, I rub my wrists. They bear no marks, but that is only because Damien is careful. I can’t say the same about my ass, which still tingles from the feel of his palm against my skin. I like it—both this lingering sting and the knowledge that he needs my submission as much as I need to give myself to him.

I find the sash shoved down near the foot of the bed. Last night, it had bound my wrists behind my back. Now, I tie it around my waist and tug it tight, relishing the luxurious comfort after waking so violently. The room itself is equally soothing, every detail done to perfection. Every piece of wood polished, every tiny knickknack or artistic addition thoughtfully arranged. Right now, however, I am oblivious to the room’s charms. I only want to find Damien.

The bedroom connects to an oversized dressing area and a stunning bathroom. I check briefly in both, though I do not expect to find him, then continue through to the living area. The space is large and also well-appointed with comfortable seating and a round worktable that is now covered with sheaths of papers and folders representing both the business that Damien continues to run despite the world collapsing around our ears, and the various legal documents that his attorney, Charles Maynard, has ordered Damien to study.

I let the robe drop where I stand and pull on the stunning trompe l’oeil patterned sheath that Damien cavalierly tossed over the arm of chair after peeling it off me last night. We’ve spent a few hours escaping reality by shopping on Munich’s famous Maximilianstrasse, and I have acquired so many shoes and dresses I could open my own boutique.

I run my fingers through my hair as I cross the room to the phone by the bar. I force myself not to go into the bathroom to primp and freshen the make-up that has surely rubbed off. It’s more challenging than it sounds; the mantra that a lady doesn’t go out unfinished has been beaten into my head since birth. But with Damien at my side I have thumbed my nose at many of the tribulations of my youth, and right now I am more concerned with finding him than with applying fresh lipstick.

I pick up the receiver and dial zero. Almost immediately there is an accented voice on the other end. “Good evening, Ms. Fairchild.”

“He’s in the bar?” I do not need to explain who the “he” is.

“He is. Shall I have a phone brought to his table?”

“No, that’s all right. I’ll come down.”

“Sehr gut. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, thank you.”  I’m about to hang up when I realize there is something. “Wait!”  I catch him before he clicks off,  then inveigle his help with my plan to distract Damien from his demons.

Despite the age of the building and the elegance of the interior, the hotel boasts a modern ambiance, and I have come to feel at home within these walls. I wait impatiently for the elevator, and then even more impatiently once I’m in the car. The descent seems to take forever, and when the doors finally open to reveal the opulent lobby, I aim myself straight for the Old English style bar.

Despite the late hour on a Sunday, the Jahreszeiten Bar is bustling. A woman stands by the piano softly singing to the gathered crowd. I barely pay her any heed. I don’t expect to find Damien among the listeners.

Instead, I wander through the wood and red leather interior, shaking off the help of a waiter who wants to seat me. I pause for a moment, standing idly beside a blonde woman about my age who is sipping champagne and laughing with a man who might be her father, but I’m betting is not.

I turn slowly, taking in the room around me. Damien is not with the group at the piano, nor is he sitting at the bar. And he does not occupy any of the red leather chairs that are evenly spaced around the tables.

I’m starting to worry that perhaps he was leaving as I was coming. Then I take a step to the left and realize that what I thought was a solid wall is actually an optical illusion created by a pillar. Now I can see the rest of the room, including the flames leaping in the fireplace set into the opposite wall. There is a small loveseat and two chairs surrounding the hearth. And, yes, there is Damien.

I immediately exhale, my relief so intense I almost use the blonde’s shoulder to steady myself. Damien is seated in one of the chairs, his back to the room as he faces the flames. His shoulders are broad and straight, and more than capable of bearing the weight of the world upon them. I wish, however, that they didn’t have to.

I move toward him, the sound of my approach muffled by both the thick carpet and the din of conversation. I pause a few feet behind him, already feeling the familiar pull I experience whenever I am near Damien. The singer is now crooning Since I Fell For You, her voice cutting sharp and clear across the room. Her voice is so mournful that I’m afraid it is going to unleash a flood of tears along with all of the stress of the last few weeks.

No. I’m here to comfort Damien, not the other way around, and I continue toward him with renewed resolve. When I finally reach him, I press my hand to his shoulder and bend down, my lips brushing his ear. “Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?”

I hear rather than see his answering smile. “That depends on who’s asking.” He doesn’t turn to face me, but he lifts his arm so that his hand is held up in a silent invitation. I close my hand in his, and he guides me gently around the chair until I am standing in front of him. I know every line of this man’s face. Every angle, every curve. I know his lips, his expressions. I can close my own eyes and picture his, dark with desire, bright with laughter. I have only to look at his midnight-colored hair to imagine the soft, thick locks between my fingers. There is nothing about him that is not intimately familiar to me, and yet every glance at him hits me like a shock, reverberating through me with enough power to knock me to my knees.

Empirically, he is gorgeous. But it is not simply his looks that overwhelm. It is the whole package. The power, the confidence, the bone-deep sensuality that he couldn’t shake even if he tried.

Want more? Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of the chapter.  And  you can pre-order Complete Me from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble!  On-sale July 30!

 Claim Me – which is now in it’s third week on the New York Times bestseller list — is already available! Get your copy here:

Claim Me from Amazon!

Claim Me from Barnes & Noble!

Claim Me from Books-a-Million

Claim Me from Random House

Claim Me from your favorite independent bookseller

 Claim Me in the U.K. from Amazon

 Claim Me in the U.K. from Waterstones

Claim Me in the U.K. from WH Smith

And if you missed book 1, Release Me (now in its 11th week on the USA Today bestseller list!) you can snag your copy from your favorite retailers here:

Random House

Amazon (print)

Amazon (kindle)

Amazon United Kingdom

Barnes and Noble (print or Nook)

Books-A-Million

Kobo

iBooks

Indie Bound 

Worried about Writers’ Block? Janis Patterson writes on the Struggles and the Successes (plus a Giveaway!)

Writers’ Block bringing you down? Janis Patterson joins me today to talk about the struggles and the best ways to overcome. Read on for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Writers’ Block and Other Hazards – The Joys of Being A Writer

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

It’s happened to everyone.

You’re speeding along, words are flowing easily, the plot is advancing, your characters are doing exactly what they’re supposed to…and suddenly BOOM! Everything stops as suddenly (and sometimes as messily) as if you’d hit a brick wall.

Suddenly your characters stop cooperating and start sulking while without warning your Muse takes it into her head to dash off to parts unknown.

Suddenly your story becomes a tangled mess of coincidences and author intrusions that not even a Deus Ex Machina could sort out.

Suddenly you become a tongue-tied idiot with a vocabulary of six words and no idea of how to construct a sentence. To add insult to injury, every word you put down only makes it worse.

You have writers’ block.

It’s a horrible disease that strikes without warning and, according to some who have been afflicted, deserves its own telethon. Unfortunately, there are lots of cures – it’s just that none of them work consistently.

I know. I’ve been there.

The most obvious is just to take a break – get up and fix another cup of coffee, or walk around the block, or (my particular favorite) take a good long soak in the hot tub. Sometimes, when those don’t work, The Husband will take me out for dinner. Either he is terribly kind, or he doesn’t want to risk eating anything I prepare when I’m in such a mood.

Usually these stalls, combined with an evening of mindless television and a good night’s sleep, do the trick. By the morning my mind is rested and everything starts to work again.

If it doesn’t, I grit my teeth and go after it the old fashioned way. I write a word. Then another. Then another. And so on. Most of what I write in this way is pure rubbish, but after a while it does prime the pump and the story starts to come again – usually first a dribble and then (hopefully!) a good flow.

Sometimes, if the block is stubborn, I simply switch to another work in progress. That’s why I seldom have fewer than three or four projects going in varying states of completion.

Then occasionally you’re writing at full speed your story twists and turns and metamorphosises before your eyes. Sometimes several times. I know when I was writing THE HOLLOW HOUSE (cozy murder mystery set in 1919 written as Janis Patterson – Carina Press) I ended up changing the murderer three times in the last three chapters of the story. Then, when the killer was finally revealed it was so right! Of course, I groused that I had to go back and put in all the clues leading to this killer, but what was spooky was when I started, all the clues were already there. Hmmm…

Another kind of problem plagued me while writing EXERCISE IS MURDER (contemporary cozy mystery written as Janis Patterson – 5Star/Gale/Cengage). I knew exactly who did it, and where, and how, and why, but what drove me nuts was getting everyone in place for the reveal. My characters simply wanted to go their own way. It took some doing, but finally it was done (though not in the way I originally envisioned) and justice served.

Another problem is being true to the world you have created. In INHERITANCE OF SHADOWS (traditional gothic written as Janis Susan May – Carina Press) I had two worlds – one the everyday, reasonably normal one, the other a perhaps fictional world created by the heroine’s late author father. Okay, the everyday one was pretty easy – I just had to remember to keep everyone’s names straight. The other…

When I teach writing, I urge everyone to keep a bible (small ‘b’) on each book. Nothing fancy, just when you put something in the manuscript, also put it in the bible. I don’t organize or section it – just put whatever it is on the next line. It saves time. If ten chapters later I need to find out the name of Lady Whatsis’ butler, it’s easy to glance over the one or two pages of the bible instead of searching through the entire manuscript.

With INHERITANCE OF SHADOWS, though, the bible ran to eight single-spaced pages. The world the heroine’s father had invented had six or seven separate sentient species, each of whom had their own appearance, language, history, mythology and norms of behavior. The spellings alone were enough to drive one batty. When I submitted the book, I sent the bible along with the manuscript to my editor, who in time handed it over to the copy editor. I got nice letters of thanks from both of them for saving them a lot of time and trouble, but I originally did it just for me.

I think that we can all accept that writers are different, but we do have to live in the real world, however reluctantly. The words dry up on us, our characters stubbornly go their own way, sometimes we invent worlds too complex for our puny little brains to handle, yet we always manage to come out on top. It really isn’t writers’ block or a hazard – it’s a challenge, and real writers will always come up with real solutions.

Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson is a 7th-generation Texan and a 3rd-generation wordsmith who writes in mystery, romance, horror and non-fiction/scholarly. Once an actress and a singer, Janis has also been editor-in-chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups as well as many other things, including an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist. Janis’ husband even proposed in a moonlit garden near the Pyramids of Giza. Janis and her husband live in Texas with an assortment of rescued furbabies.

For more information on her books, check out both Janis Susan May‘s and Janis Patterson‘s websites!

Many thanks to Janis Susan for coming on the blog! Ready to tackle your next writing project? Leave a comment to be considered for the $5 Amazon gift card!

P.S. - Book two of my Stark Trilogy -  Claim Me - is in it's third week on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! And Complete Me comes out July 30.  WOOT!  (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!  I'm thrilled that it's now in it's 11th week as a USA Today bestseller!)

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.