Kelly Jamieson's Blog, page 38

WIPs and Chains

After struggling with the spin off story I'd been working on, I set it aside and tried to figure out something else to work on. I have so many ideas, and some of them are spin off stories of books I've written but which haven't sold yet and I have to admit that I wonder if I should bother working on them until the first story sells. What if it never does sell? Spending all that time working on a spin off story would then be a total waste.

Of course I shouldn't have the idea in my head that my stories will never sell. But realistically that is a possibility.

So I started working on some ideas for completely new stories. I got a couple of flashes of inspriation, like for one example, I have the basic story idea but I needed careers for my hero and heroine, and they had to be just the right career - and then the idea hit me! It's going to take some research, and I have 3 books at the library to pick up to get started on that, but that's okay, I really love this idea!

Then as I was sitting on my deck in the sun Friday afternoon drinking a glass of wine, the idea hit me for the spin off story I'd been struggling with - the perfect solution! Why didn't I see that sooner! So now I have a few projects I'm excited about and want to work on and I have to narrow it down to one to focus on...which one will it be?

WIPs and Chains

Hello Monday, and time to blog about my progress on my "work in progress" or rather, this week, LACK of progress. Actually I don't even have a WIP, unless you count the two manuscripts I started months ago and haven't gone back to.

I started working on a story idea for a spin-off story of a recently completed manuscript. I really want to write this story, I do, but...it's giving me a hard time. The funny thing is, I tried to do this once before - write a spin off story for a character who appeared in one of my books. The last time I did this, it was the story of Gabe, who appears in Power Struggle - the Master Dom who helps Tori and Dev figure things out. Many readers asked for his story, and I did plan to write it, but when I sat down to actually do it, it was really hard.

I wonder if it was hard because I had some parts of the story already predetermined, and also the character, so I may have felt a little constrained by the things already in place. For example, with Gabe - I knew he was a Master Dom who belonged to the club Le Chateau. I knew he had developed feelings for his play partner there, Tori, but he had to let her go when she fell in love with another man. I knew that Gabe had a difficult past and had tried to live a lie...but I didn't know exactly what that difficult past was.

I also had a hard time finding the right woman for Gabe. I went through several characters, developing them and then rejecting them as they weren't right for him. At one point, I envisioned him becoming involved with another couple and the story being a menage story...but that didn't work out either. I finally had to put Gabe's story aside for several months while I worked on other things, and then when I went back to it, I think I at last got it right.

Now I'm having the same problems with this story - I know some things about my character (his name is Dylan). I know he's been hurt by a woman and feels betrayed by his best friend. I know he's recently had an experience that threatens his career, which is all important to him. But as with Gabe's story, I can't seem to find quite the right woman for Dylan. And I can't seem to find the right reason to bring him home again after leaving, hurt and in pain.

So, as with Gabe's story, I may have to put this one aside for a while and work on something else. But this time I feel more confident that the perfect woman for Dylan will come to me, and so will Dylan's story.

Sharing a review for Breakaway

Just saw this today! Thank you to Marika from Night Owl Reviews for reading and reviewing Breakaway!



4 3/4 STARS

"I love hockey and I really felt like I was there, experiencing everything that Remi and Jason were experiencing."
"The chemistry between Jason and Remi is off the charts. I was expecting the sex to be numerous and graphic, well, it's more loving, touching and real. You can feel the emotions, feel the touches, taste the kisses and see the tears...I highly recommend Breakaway to any reader that wants a loving, touching and emotional rich story between two opposites that realize what they want and need in their lives is the complete opposite of what they thought they wanted or needed."

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I finished Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis - loved this story, as I do all hers.

Now I'm reading Saddled and Spurred by Lorelei James - hot! I wanted a smokin' hot book and her always work for me!

WIPs and Chains

Before I talk about my WIP I just want to note that I'm blogging at Long and Short Reviews today  - find out one of my favourite things about spring!

Nobody told me that it was going to take me a week to recover from RT!

I haven't exactly done a lot of writing this week, and in fact have been in a fog all week, falling asleep in meetings at work, in my chair at my computer, on my couch. All I've really been able to do is some editing and polishing on the manuscript I finished just before RT. I also did write a blurb for that story and am now working on the synopsis, which isn't so much fun but unfortunately must be done. So I am accomplishing something!

Also worked on a trailer for the next Nine Naughty Novelists serial story. It will be unveiled later this week, so be sure to keep an eye out for it! It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself (and I  can't take all the credit for it, it's certainly a group effort, with the text written by the amazing PG Forte, who also helped located many of the images we used).

Sneak Peek Friday

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm so glad it's the weekend because seriously, I'm still in a fog after RT last week. I had no idea a few nights of sleep deprivation could mess with my mind so badly!

Here's a little peek at a recently completed manuscript of which I will soon have news to share!! This is an unedited excerpt from Power Shift:

She scraped her fingernails across his scalp, eliciting a groan, and then she lifted her mouth from his, kissed her way over his scratchy cheek and jaw and bent her head to his shoulder. She opened her mouth on the fleshy part, sucked a little and then gently bit down.


His body twitched hard. "Christ," he gasped, his hands tightening on her. "Reagan."

She smiled, licked the spot and moved her mouth, using her teeth again, a little harder, driven by some unknown force, some unknown need to do this to him. He jerked and shivered and then his hand fisted in her hair and he yanked her head back. The sharp bite of pain on her scalp sent thrilling sensations right to her core. Another secret trigger.

She gazed back at him, their eyes meeting in the dim light, meeting and holding...and holding. She smiled a little, almost challenging him. His eyes flickered, his lips parted...she couldn't read the expression on his face but a tiny frisson of alarm worked its way through her. He was big and strong and dominant, and she was playing a risky game with a man she barely knew. And yet...she felt safe.

Sort of.

It wasn't Gabe she was afraid of but rather the intensity of the feelings he'd excited in her, a sharp arousal like she'd never experienced, a fierce lust, an almost protective tenderness. It was all kind of...confusing.

His eyelids lowered, so sexy, his mouth softened. "I'm not sure if I like that," he said.

"What are you going to do about it?" God, where did that come from?

His eyes darkened, the long dark lashes sweeping back up. "Behave, Reagan. You don't know what you're getting into."

He was right. But whatever it was, she wanted it. Her mouth softened and pouted a little, wanting more kissing. "I'm a big girl," she said. "I can handle whatever you dish out."

He studied her, assessing her, and she held his gaze as long as she could before she had to drop her eyes, just briefly, blinking at his chest.

What I'm Reading Wednesday

As I said on Monday, do you really think I got any reading done while I was at RT? Really? I started a new book on my flight home - Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis. I always love Jill Shalvis. Brought home a few new books to read, several historicals by authors I haven't read before, just to add to my TBR pile.

WIPs and Chains

Do you really think I got any writing done while I was at RT Booklovers Convention? Not a chance. I had thought I might do some editing/polishing on the manuscript I just finished but, not a chance of that either! Those five days at RT were a crazy whirlwind of activity!

It was SO much fun meeting people in person - the six other Naughty Novelists who were there, Meg Benjamin, PG Forte, Erin Nicholas (my roomie!), Juniper Bell, Kinsey Holley, and Skylar Kade. We were all wondering if the others were going to be the same in person as they are on line. Check out the Nine Naughty Novelists blog this week to find out!

I also met so many other great authors and we had tons of fun at the parties and workshops and, okay, I'll admit it, I spent a little time in the bar. I also met lots of people from my publishers Ellora's Cave and Samhain. I met my agent, the fabulous Laura Bradford, for the first time in person as well as some of the other incredible Bradford Bunch authors. And I met readers who love to read, which is always so awesome. I also did my first book signings, the e-book Expo and the print book fair.

I'm writing this from the airport in Calgary on my way home. I'm REALLY tired and I have no voice left, and I'm missing my Naughty Nine friends already but we had a great time and have great memories that will make me laugh every time I think about  them.

What I'm Reading Wednesday

Hey, I'm posting this from the airport in Calgary! I'm about halfway on my journey to Los Angeles for the RT Booklovers Convention. So excited!

On the plan I was reading A Lot Like Love by Julie James. It totally distracted me from my fear of flying.

I also finished this week Yours, Mine and Howls by Kinsey W. Holley. A great story!  Kinsey writes awesome dialogue. I loved Becca.

WIPs and Chains

Before I talk about my WIP I'm thrilled to announce that my book LOST AND FOUND is a finalist in the Passionate Plume!  Yay! Congrats to all the other awesome finalists!

I'm feeling great about my WIP this week because IT'S FINISHED! Well, first draft anyway. Although my first drafts are lot less rough (is that good grammar?) than they used to be, I do a lot more editing as I go than I did when I first started writing. Not sure if that's good or bad. Anyway, it's a 40,000 word novella and it was fun to write something short again and get that quicker gratification. But as with most of my recent projects, I felt this one could have been a lot longer. I could have taken more time to explore different facets of my characters' personalities and their problems. But I planned this to be a novella for a specific call for submissions, so it had to be short.

Now I'm off to Los Angeles early Wednesday morning for the RT Booklovers Convention and I can feel relaxed with a completed manuscript just finished. If I have time to do a little work, I can edit and revise and polish, which is much easiser to do when I just have a few minutes here and there than actual writing.