Kaylene Winter's Blog, page 15

TRUE STORIES

As many of you get to know the LTZ family, some of my favorite comments in the reviews of ENDLESS have been about how realistic the depiction of the concert scenes are.

That is because I lived it, my friends!

Throughout my late teens and early twenties, I was knee-deep in the Seattle music scene promoting shows, working with some of the bands you probably all know and love, and booking one of the biggest venues in Seattle (which is sadly a Silver Cloud Inn now).

This week, I thought I’d share a couple of funny but true stories.

BOOTED OFF THE TOUR BUS

One of the bands who everyone knows was just getting started. Their album was out and beginning to get some traction. They were booked to play in a theater in Spokane, which is about 5 hours away from Seattle. The entire management office decided to go except for our boss, who had business to take care of with a different band you all know. Anyway, we piled on the tour bus with the band and crew and off we went.

The show was phenomenal, everyone was in high spirits. After load out, we went to board the bus and the driver wouldn’t let us on. Why? Well, the band had other plans and other guests. They didn’t want a couple of gals from the management office riding back to Seattle with them.

We weren’t left stranded. Our ride back was in a U-Haul squished together with the one of the roadies. A decidedly less than “rock-star” ride home.

KICKED IN THE FACE

The club I booked in Seattle held about 1000 people (not legally) but it was where so many 90’s band played. Everyone from the Goo-Goo Dolls to Ice Cube to The Breeders to Bush graced the stage. Every major Seattle musician also played there from Soundgarden to Candlebox to Sir Mix-a-Lot.

But I digress.

Often, big promotors would rent out the venue for tours that didn’t quite sell out the smaller theaters. One time, a shredding metal guitar god was touring solo and every long-haired dude within a thousand-mile radius descended upon the club to see him play.

I should mention that the club was 21+ and the liquor control laws in Washington State are notoriously strict. When guitar god demanded that he bring in his CLEARLY underage “girlfriend” and was rejected, he lost his mind. Raging around the place, he and his tour manager cursed us, threatened not to play, and generally behaved like entitled assholes. Which made us more determined to keep the girl out. We held our ground.

When he got on stage (yeah, empty threat), he tore into his set. He was an amazing guitar player, I’ll give him that. But in the world of 90’s Seattle, it was so dated. Like an 80’s hair metal band on steroids (side note, he was pretty jacked…)

The crowd began to taunt him a little. His stage banter wasn’t helping anything. Most performers know that insulting your audience isn’t super endearing. You should also know that this was the age of stage diving, it was something that happened every, single night at the club. When the first guy tried to climb up next to guitar god, he took his high-heeled, pointed cowboy boot and kicked him squarely in the face.

Needless to say the set ended early. We took off the deposit to cover our insurance (the kicked guy never sued), the tour manager didn’t even argue. The young girl was waiting for her man outside.

I never heard about that guitar god again…

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IT’S HERE! LIMITLESS COVER REVEAL!

Can you believe it? Limitless is only a month (and a few days) away! I’m thrilled to reveal the cover today, which features the next LTZ heartthrob Jace Deveraux. So, without further ado. I present the cover:

FINDING JACE

I’ve always had a special kind of love for drummers, and Jace is no exception. He’s the only dude in a family of sisters, and they hold him accountable for his Rockstar tendencies. Jace is also a headstrong guy, who is used to being the one handling things as they come up. He’s not only a great percussionist but he’s responsible for LTZ’s social media accounts which help propel their worldwide domination.

He’s also gorgeous if you like a tattooed long-haired Viking (and I know that you do).

WHO IS BEHIND THE COVER

Just like ENDLESS, Regina Wamba designed the cover for LIMITLESS. She also took the cover photo of Mr. McModel himself, Garret McCall – follow him on IG at @mr.mcmodel. Follow Regina on IG @reginawamba.

OTHER NEWS IN THE LTZ WORLD

First and foremost, I really want to thank everyone for their support of ENDLESS. I had no idea how fun this journey would be and how many cool people I’ve met along the way. The reviews continue to make me want to weep with joy. Now that both ENDLESS and LIMITLESS are charting on Amazon – it makes me so happy that the stories are resonating.

SHOUT OUT TO AUTHOR FRIENDS:

I wanted to give a special shout out to my new friend (but someone who I’ve worshipped as an author for years) Mari Carr. To have one of my idols be so completely engaged in my journey has been life-changing. Please visit her website at https://maricarr.com/ and I know you’ll find some hot, sexy romances that will captivate you.

SOCIAL MEDIA/ENDLESS PAPERBACK GIVEAWAY

As always, I’d love it if you could follow me on social media that is where you’ll get all sorts of daily updates about LTZ. Here’s the deal: if you follow me one new platform by September 15 and send me PM on that platform, consider yourself “entered” into the giveaway. I will choose five people to send an autographed paperback of ENDLESS after the 15th.

Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Bookbub
Goodreads
Amazon

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LIMITLESS – COVER REVEAL

LTZ Fans, it’s time for Limitless! Limitless will be released on October 9, 2020 on Amazon exclusively for now, and I’m really, really excited for you to read Jace & Alex’s love story. You’ll see a ton of new graphics going up here on the website, on social media and by this time next week, you’ll get to see the gorgeous Jace Deveraux.

WHO ARE JACE AND ALEX?

For me, Alex was the most organic character I’ve written so far. Why? Because she was inspired by my very best friend, adventurer, lover of live, beacon of light and one of the strongest women I know. She is gorgeous and funny and kind. Out of nearly everyone I’ve ever known in my life, she’s always had a sense of who she is (and who she isn’t) even at a young age. She’s a world traveller and— wait, she IS ALEX!

Jace is a really good looking dude. Committed to his band and eager to contribute, he is one of the main reasons for LTZ’s success. He’s a social media wizard who manages to capture a trend and capitalize on it. He’s also a guy who isn’t looking for a serious relationship, and hides behind friends-with-benefits so he doesn’t have to open up. Mainly because, as a guy with a bunch of sisters, he knows if he falls in love it will be for good.

HOW THEY FIT INTO THE STORY

In many ways, Limitless is the other side of the coin to Ty & Zoey’s story. Zoey and Alex are best friends, they met the band at the same time – but their path to a HEA is drastically different. Without giving anything away (and trust me – you don’t want me to) you will go on a worldwide adventure with this jet-setting couple, and the ending will hopefully not only surprise but delight you—

Enough teasing, Limitless is up for preorder now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F9KJRMB?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks

I will be sending out ARC copies on September 18, 2020 so if you haven’t signed up to be an ARC reader do that here: https://rockerromance.com/backstage-pass/#arc-form

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EASTER EGGS

Someone asked me the other day if Endless was about me and my husband. No, not really. If you have read Endless and any of my blogs, you’ll know that the story was concocted for the first time when I was in high school.

While the book isn’t about me, I thought I’d give you a few “easter eggs” of things that are actually true and/or where the references have come from:

BE FONZIE

In my “day” job, I’m the owner of my own legal practice. Just because we work mostly with tech and media companies doesn’t mean there isn’t drama. We’re negotiating deals, helping strategize, etc. My “go-to” catch phrase – and I know this dates me – is “Be Fonzie” – which means stay cool. My office manager actually got me a picture of the Fonz and taped the words “Be Fonzie” to it – it hangs in my office. Zoey’s dad coins the phrase in the book, and you’ll see how it migrates to the rest of the folks—

PRIMPING ROUTINE

While the books are fiction, one scene (although it has been updated) from the original book is Alex and Zoey getting ready to go to the club. When my cousin read ENDLESS she called me immediately and said that she knew that she could picture me and my best friend as teenagers going through the same process.

MCCLAREN

Ty’s Amethyst Black McClaren is one of his few over-the-top indulgences. The story behind that particular car is: my husband is a HUGE car guy. He loves them. He likes looking at them. Test driving them. Owning them. He’s always trying to convince me that he needs a Ferrari. When I saw this particular car on the McClaren Dealership in Palm Springs, I told him “that is the car I’d be on board with.” It is baaaaad-ass. So we are saving our pennies, LOL.

WEST SEATTLE

Ty purchases his first house in West Seattle. Little known fact: most of the real Seattle rock stars used to live in West Seattle. It is where I live and it is an amazing community. We get the most beautiful sunsets, have the only sandy beach in Seattle, and everything you need is here. Where else would Ty live?

I’ll try to share some easter eggs on occasion. Have a great week. Next week – some exciting news—.

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SUMMER OF LOVE

Before any author takes the step of putting pen to paper (or in my case, writing on my laptop at night after a full day of work), there has to be inspiration.

Today I want to give some special thanks to people who have been there throughout my journey.

MY BFF INSPIRATIONS

Two of my very best friends are the inspirations for Alex and Ronni. I won’t name names because what would be the fun in that. They know who they are.

Alex inspiration has been my best friend since I was three and she was four, we grew up together and are still as close now as we were then. When we were teenagers we went to concerts together and yes – the scene in ENDLESS where Alex and Zoey get ready to go to the concert could have been taken from my own life. She has read every iteration of the book, provided encouragement and feedback, and basically is the best friend a girl could ever have.

Ronni inspiration (this is FEARLESS, which I hope to release in March) has also been my friend since I was young. We got into a ton of trouble together in high school, which in retrospect was pretty tame. There may have been a joyride in an MG… I can’t express how supportive she and her family have been to me over these months. And there’s more to come on this, so stay tuned.

MY PROFESSIONAL INSPIRATIONS

I thought I’d give a huge shout out to three women who really have been the pillars behind making me a “real” author.

First is the incredible Grace Bradley. She is my editor extraordinaire and gives me critical feedback on my writing. I can’t tell you how important the editing process is, and if you ever decide to write a book – do not skimp on this. I would laugh my ass off at some of her comments – but she was always right and always kind.

Second is the phenomenal Regina Wamba. She is my cover artist and also photographer. Her artistic eye is spectacular, and she’s super cool too. As I mentioned before, we were all set to have big, huge photo shoot with all of LTZ in May. But COVID. She’s adapted with me and I bombard her with Instagram photos of gorgeous long-haired men that will serve as inspiration for future books. And yes, we will be doing a new photo shoot soon – with all the guys.

Finally, the reason you are getting this newsletter is because of my website and newsletter designer, Sherri Kiarsis. I love working with Sherri so much – she gets my vision, is fast and efficient and always is positive. We have some fun and big plans for getting more content out to you – and it will look AMAZING because she rocks that much.

Thank you so much amazing women – the world is a better place with all of you in it. I adore each and every one of you.

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HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD

This week has been glorious in Seattle, the weather is hot and the sunsets are extraordinary. Very inspirational. So inspirational that I’m in the thick of it writing Connor & Ronni’s story – and making excellent progress.

If you have read my newsletter (the first one went out this week!) you will know that LIMITLESS – Alex and Jace’s story is coming out in October. I’m getting ready to start all of the fun pre-release madness soon—and I can tell you it is a fun book, with plenty of the drama you love in a Rockstar romance.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: I’m really proud of my Instagram – it is so fun for me to create graphics and pull quotes from the amazing 5-star reviews ENDLESS is getting, make art and graphics and create the entire world of LTZ. If you haven’t followed me on Instagram yet – Please do!! Here’s an easy link:

@kaylenewinterauthor 

Facebook: If Instagram isn’t your bag, I have two ways to get a hold of me on Facebook. You can follow Rocker Romance Page for all things LTZ here: https://www.facebook.com/rockerromance/

Or, if you’re already a superfan – and I know that you are, I have a private Facebook Group where I interact and discuss all sorts of cool stuff about LTZ – it is the Rocker Romance Reading Group: Request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rockromance/

If Pinterest is more your scene, I’m getting my feet wet there too – follow me here: https://www.pinterest.com/kaylenewinterauthor/

WEBSITE

This blog gets posted not only on my website, but on Good Reads and my Amazon Author page too. So if you’re reading this there, please visit https://rockerromance.com/ and sign up for my mailing list – you’ll be the first to hear about all things LTZ.

BOOK NERDS

If you are a book nerd like me, then you are probably on Good Reads and BookBub – please follow me on both platforms because as a new author, I’m just getting started and LOVE to talk with other book lovers and authors there.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kaylenewinter

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kaylene-winter

AMAZON

Finally if you haven’t already – please follow me on Amazon – it really helps build up my presence on this mammoth platform: amazon.com/author/kaylenewinter

SPREADING THE WORD

I’m so grateful if you can spread the word and tell your friends about ENDLESS and the LTZ series – We are at the beginning of our journey together my fellow Rockstar romance fans, and I’m so happy you are with me.

As a special thank you – every time you like one of my pages or post and then post a screenshot in the comments to one of my posts, I will keep track and randomly award TWO SIGNED PAPERBACK copies of ENDLESS!  Let’s get viral!

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NEW AUTHOR IN THE AGE OF COVID

A lot of my friends have asked me how COVID has affected my writing and the series in general. In many ways, it has been a “blessing” in disguise and in other ways it’s this never-ending state of uncertainty that actually did affect some of the things I had planned.

Photoshoot

The first casualty of the series isn’t really what I consider a tragedy, but it definitely has postponed some of the interactive stuff I had planned.

For one, I was supposed to have a photo shoot with the amazing @reginaWamba (https://www.reginawamba.com/) and the gorgeous cover model for Tyson, Brandon Katz.

We planned on having the entire band (yes, Jace, Connor and Zane too!) with the ladies, Zoey, Alex, Ronni and Fiona. Plus, amazing video content. Super fun.

But it all got postponed.

So we are making lemonade out of lemons, and luckily as soon as it is humanly possible we will be getting that scheduled – which means we just get to see how all of these stories play out for a longer period of time.

LTZ Release Schedule

Originally, I planned on launching Limitless sometime around the holidays. You’re hearing it here first – Limitless will be out on October 9, 2020! Which means that Connor and Ronni will be ready sometime in March—. So, the benefit of being sequestered is that the LTZ world is coming at you fast and furious!

Endless Promotions

My first newsletter is out this week, so if you haven’t signed up please make sure to get on my mailing list. I’ll be putting really fun stuff that you can only get in the newsletter, including the recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake that, well, if you’ve finished Endless – you know the deal.

If you haven’t downloaded the Kindle version or you want to recommend it to a friend, I’ll be running a special week-long promotion in honor of the paperback being released. For one week starting on August 3, you can get your own copy of Endless on Kindle for $1.99.

That’s all for this week folks!

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JOURNEY TO ENDLESS

Not my first Rodeo.

A lot of the comments I’m getting (which are amazing, by the way) express surprise that I’m a first-time author. As I’ve mentioned in my bio here, on Amazon, Good Reads and BookBub, I’ve always been a writer. My first book was when I was 15, and this was the “inspiration” for the Less Than Zero Series that we have begun with Ty & Zoey in Endless.

In my “real” life (yes, I still have my day job) I write hundreds of pages of material a week – just not fiction writing.

One of the reasons I decided to start this journey is because I work with so many creative people in my day-to-day life that my own creativity has been bubbling up and dying to get out.

With my husband’s encouragement and two of my friends who have been with me since the first book – well— that’s how we have Endless.

Writing Process

As an avid romance reader myself, I didn’t take any formal classes or workshops before I started writing. I relied upon my observation of story structure and followed the lead of authors I like. 

My first draft of Endless took about 8 months and countless rewrites as I went. I had no idea how to keep track of everything that I’d written because most of my writing was done for a couple of hours each night and sometimes longer on the weekend. I wasted a lot of time going back and re-reading what I wrote to make sure I had consistency.

Then, once I was “finished” I would re-read everything again in context, make notes and then tweak. This process repeated many times. 

Finishing the Book

I remember writing the end, which is pretty much unchanged from the original version, and feeling this HUGE sense of accomplishment.

Before I can take all of the accolades, I have to give shoutouts to Grace and Jen, my two editors. For those of you not familiar, there are two processes. The first is when you get a very substantive edit – this can include typos and grammar but it also goes into consistency and story-telling. That edit is possibly the single most important reason why I’m getting such great reviews. 

You need someone to check you – to push you to be a better writer. Grace did that for me – she took what was a good story and made suggestions that made it better. I ended up revamping about 100 pages – and most of those rewrites involved really taking the reader on a journey.

The proofreading edit is equally as important because by the time you’ve written and then re-read your book about a million times, you really do not see any typos. So you need someone new to point them out to you. 

I hope hearing about the process was interesting – feel free to leave me a comment below or shoot me an email at kaylenewinterauthor@gmail.com.

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AWESOME REVIEWS & AMAZON BEST SELLER

After a whirlwind two weeks, Endless charted on the Rock Music Book chart over the weekend.

I can’t tell you how thrilling it to know that readers are enjoying Endless. The reviews are really making my day. After over a year of writing, editing, proofing, beta-reading and finally releasing my “baby” into the world, to know that it is resonating is mind-blowing.

Book Bloggers

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet some new people both in the blogging community and fellow author community – and I couldn’t have had such a great start without help and encouragement. I’d like to provide two shoutouts to women I didn’t know until Endless was released into the world.

Mari Carr

First is New York Times and USA Today Best-Selling Author Mari Carr. I’ve been such a huge fan of Mari for years, devouring each book the minute it’s released. My favorite series of hers is the Wild/Wilder Irish collection of stories set in an Irish pub in New England. I reached out via email to a few of my favorite authors, and Mari responded and basically took me under her wing – even allowing me to post to her fans on her own release day to promote Endless. Wow. Please follow her on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Mari-Carr/e/B002BMGUUO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1594744189&sr=8-1 and here is her website where you can find all of her books: https://maricarr.com/

Awesome Review

The second is a wonderful woman I met on GoodReads who is also a huge rockstar romance fan. She really “got” Endless, and so for the rest of this blog I want to just share her review:

BC Booklover

5.0 out of 5 stars

LONG-HAIRED GENTLEMEN

I’ve always loved dudes with long hair, even from an early age it was my thing. When I started writing Endless, I kept a “look board” for all of the characters in the book, which helped me really immerse myself in the story. Ty is dreamy, right???

I’ll be rolling out “sneak peeks” at all of the other characters to my VIP members – so if you haven’t signed up, make sure you get on my mailing list. Or, better yet – if you want to become an ARC Reader and member of my Street Team – get the All Access pass. If you are a super-fan of Ty & Zoey, you won’t want to miss out on some of the things I have planned—

Back to the long-haired gentlemen discussion. To me, there’s something already inherently romantic about a gorgeous man with flowing hair. There’s the sexy, dangerous factor, but also the underlying sensitivity. A man with long hair is a poet, he’s independent. Perhaps even a scoundrel.

Then he meets the girl that “tames” him – the most exquisite mix of beauty and strength. The one woman he can’t live without, but she makes him work for it. And he does so with honor and respect, even if he has to learn a few things on the road to true love.

Writing Ty was complicated. I feel that any great romance novel has a strong, alpha male. In some romance novels, I find “alpha” males are very one-dimensional, and I wanted to show how Ty always had it in him – but also how he evolved into the man Zoey deserved him to be.

When musicians are on the road and become more and more famous, suddenly there is an entire ecosystem that is required. In the beginning, the entire focus is on how to get their music to the masses. If they are successful, at some point, roadies and maybe a manager are brought onto the team. And gradually, more and more people hop on the bus.

In the fictional world of Endless, with the explosive worldwide success of LTZ, you see how over time more and more people are needed to keep the machine running.

Another thing that happens when a musician becomes famous is they literally can’t do anything for themselves without attracting attention. Have you ever seen someone famous eating with their family? It’s hard to resist taking a selfie or maybe even asking for an autograph. Imagine that times ten.

The thing is, most times musicians are humble and have a hard time adjusting to being recognized everywhere they go. In recent years, with social media, it’s even more daunting. It’s a weird dichotomy of chasing fame and then trying to recapture your life outside of it.

In other words, it can take years to settle into the “new normal” that Ty comes to terms with in the book.

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