Megan Erickson's Blog, page 3
February 15, 2016
Strong Signal is out… and I’m grateful
I’m an emotional writer. When I get an idea in my head, or a character, I usually have to jot something down or the characters scream so loud I can’t think of anything else. That’s when I do stupid distracted things like lock myself out of my house (I’ve done this about five times). Or forget to take my kids’ lunch to school. Or whatever.
That’s the way it was with Strong Signal. And from talking to my co-writer, Santino Hassell, that’s how he felt too. We’d been friends and fans of each others’ work for a while. We never intended to write a book together. We didn’t say, “let’s write a book together, what do you want to write about?” The idea and characters came first. That’s why I call Strong Signal a passion project.
While drafting, we loved it. Unconditionally. When we finished, we took step back and worried it was maybe a little niche. Not mainstream. Wouldn’t appeal to a broad audience. Was Kai to neurotic? Was Garrett too grumpy? Were there too many gaming references?
And then we said, fuck it. Because we loved it, and we thought it was an important story to tell. We sent out advanced reader copies with lots of trepidation, biting our nails, worried readers wouldn’t get it. It wasn’t that we thought readers weren’t intelligent. But we were worried that maybe we didn’t do our jobs in a way they would root for the characters.
We planned to release it quietly on Amazon only.
And then the reviews began coming in. And we were floored. Not only did readers get Strong Signal, but they LOVED it. They gushed and emailed us heartfelt emails about how much Kai and Garrett’s journey meant to them. And we both kinda sat back, like, “Whoa.” We underestimated our readers, clearly.
We scrambled to revise our plan. We wanted to make sure it got in the hands of more readers – so we decided to upload to more retailers. We rushed to get up a preorder because readers were asking.
And every day, we’re still surprised. The tweets, emails, messages… I think we both felt like this collaboration was a victory before one book was sold.
And now it’s release day, and I don’t know what to do with myself. Other than say THANK YOU. A million times over. Thank you. For loving G&K and for rooting for them and for telling Santino and I that writing this book mattered. Because of you, we’re going to write more. And we can’t wait to start.
Much love. I’d hug and kiss each one of you all awkward-like if I could.
Buy now!
xoxo ~ Megan
January 15, 2016
Surprise! A new series with Santino Hassell!
Man, this is one of the hardest secrets I’ve ever kept. I spent most of the end of 2015 hunched over my laptop, Gchatting with the incredibly talented Santino Hassell, writing at book that was addicting.
I loved writing this book. Co-writing was a blast. Seriously, so much fun. Santino and I are both laid back, yet passionate about our books and characters. It was an easy fit and the end product is one of my favorite books. This is a book I’d pick up in a heartbeat. This is a book I’d devour from first to last page. And I’m proud that my name is on the cover.
Thanks to Santino for putting up with me, making me laugh, and writing a damn good book. You rock, dude.
Also, a huge thanks to Natasha Snow for making this cover. I’m still a little speechless when I look at it. I can’t wait for you all to have it in your hands! And guess what? That’s in one month! Yep, we’re releasing this in ebook on 2/15. It will be available in paperback too, although that might take us longer to get up. Here are the details!
I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.
That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel.
I never expected to become fixated on someone who’d initially been a rival. And I’d never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn’t planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.
But it did. And now I can’t stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it’s love at first sight.
Except, like most things in my life, it doesn’t go as planned.
*Strong Signal is a full-length, standalone novel. No cliffhangers!*
And for a super special sneak peek, go here.
Thanks for all your support! We are excited and we hope you are too. 
January 4, 2016
Tied to Trouble is out now!
I’m so so excited for TIED TO TROUBLE to be out. This was a book that was written because fans of the Gamers series asked for it. And I’m so happy to finally bring it out into the light of day! This was such an enjoyable experience for me, writing this book. I loved the characters and the story and just everything about it.
FYI – when you read this, make sure you page all the way to the end of a special surprise! Thanks everyone for your support and I hope you love #Chowen.
Buy Now!
December 28, 2015
Farewell 2015
*Missing is PLAYING FOR HER HEART because I’m a slacker and haven’t ordered my copies yet.
I wasn’t going to do a blog post to wrap up the year. Mainly because I wasn’t sure I had a lot to say. And I think these kind of posts tend to be really LOOK AT ME. Then I realized, uh, this was my blog dammit, and I could write what I want. Or whatever. So here it is. Some thoughts on 2015, i.e. The Year Megan Wrote a Lot of Books.
Some stats:
Released books: 8
Written books: 7 novels, 1 short story, started several WIPs (Honestly, I don’t know how many words. Adding that up would hurt my head because I don’t like numbers.)
Sold my first foreign deal: DIRTY THOUGHTS and DIRTY TALK to Germany
Sold my first audio deals: All four books in the In Focus series, as well as CHANGING HIS GAME
This year was insane for me. I finished my first series (MAKE IT LAST released end of January) and I started three new series (In Focus, Mechanics of Love, and Gamers). I’m still astounded when I look back at my year and think holy shit. I did that. I wrote those books and put those words out in the world. I get a lot of, “how do you write so fast?” And I’m not sure I actually write that fast, but here’s the deal — I don’t do well without deadlines. It’s why traditional contracts will probably always be a large part of my career because I do well signing on a dotted line, telling someone I will have 65-75K words to them by a certain date. And I write well when I immerse myself in a story/characters/world for, say, several weeks and not think of much else.
There are many times in my life where my husband will talk to me and I’ll have no idea what he just said because I’ve been in my character’s world in my head, thinking of the next scene. That’s what it’s like to live with me. If I take too long to write a book, I lose interest or drop out of the world and have a hard time getting back.
Also, the real world sucks sometimes. And in my book world, I get to write my own endings. And they are happy.
I’ve been asked by a couple of people — authors mainly — what I’ve learned from my crazy schedule this year. I’m going to be brutally honest. Here it is:
1) I’d prefer 2 months to draft and two weeks to edit before I turn in a book. There were several times this year I wrote a book a month. It’s doable, but it’s not ideal for me. That might seem fast to some people. But hey, it works for me. Half the battle in this business is figuring out what works for you, whether it takes you a month to write a book or two years. No way is wrong.
2) If I go to long without writing, I lose my goddamn mind. So, I’ve been open about the fact that I have anxiety, which was exacerbated by my messed up hormones after I had kids. Once I got on medication and was regulated a little more, I began to write fiction. And I haven’t stopped. I fully believe that a combination of my medications, working out, and WRITING is the thing that keeps me happy and sane. I need the writing in there to balance it all out. I start to get itchy and twitchy when I haven’t gotten some words down a couple of days. So even if I write something random, I gotta do it. Or I go a little nuts.
3) I want to loosen up my schedule going forward. In 2015, I basically booked myself solid with traditional contracts with publishers, so if some idea hit me, or I was asked to participate in a side project, I didn’t have time in my schedule. I didn’t like that. I want to be able to fit in side projects, potentially to self-publish. Moving forward into 2016, I have one more book contractually scheduled to write (the fourth book in my In Focus series)… and I’m so happy about that. A year ago, I was all OMG THIS COULD GO AWAY, I NEED TO SIGN ALL THE CONTRACTS. And now I’m like, yo, Megan, Netflix and chill. I have readers who, for some reason, like my books. They’ll be there. Which leads me to…
4) I love you all. My readers have followed me from New Adult, to Adult Contemporary, to male/male, to erotic romance. Which tells me, MY READERS ARE AMAZING. Y’all just… accept that I’m a little scattered and I like to write a variety, and you read what I put in front of you. And even if one of my series/books isn’t your favorite, you move on and try something else I write, or still talk to me on Twitter. And I appreciate every one of you. Every review (good and bad), every word of mouth, every damn thing you’ve done has made it possible for me to do this. The emails and messages I have received have blown my mind. And I never take them for granted. And meeting my readers in person, drinking with them, having a blast, as been the highlight of my career.
I got to meet so many readers this year in person. Traveling really stresses me out — I’ll be honest. Ask my critique partners and friends how much I lose it before I have to travel. I went to New York City in July and even though I love New York, I was seriously convinced I was going to get lost and end up in New Jersey and I’d never get home. Seriously. I don’t travel a lot for this reason. I limit my trips because it causes me so much anxiety to leave my cocoon. I don’t even like driving across town. LOL.
However, every time I *do* travel, I’m reminded how much it’s worth it. This year. I got to go to Apollycon in Philly with Jennifer L. Armentrout and crew. I visited Dallas and took pictures of the place JFK was shot (I know, morbid, sorry). I drank on NYC rooftops with my agent, editors, and fellow authors, ate appetizers with my friend AJ Pine in Bryant Park for the Berkley party, and I walked around Times Square at midnight eating a Junior’s red velvet cheesecake.
So, I’m reminded all the time how grateful I am to do this.
What can you expect from me in 2016?
1) My Gamers series continues. TIED TO TROUBLE is the first male/male romance on Entangled’s Brazen line. YAY! And that’s out 1/4. It’s nerdy and has bow ties. The last book in that series is out in the spring and that’s Ethan’s book.
The last two books in my In Focus series release. OUT OF FRAME is out 3/21. And OVEREXPOSED is out in the fall.
That’s four books scheduled to be released in 2016. Is that all? NOOOOOOO. I have some tricks up my sleeve and I think you will be WAY EXCITED. More news to come in January. For now, I’m gearing up for TIED TO TROUBLE’s release so that’s what I’m focused on. But trust when I say there will be news soon.
2) I will be in Vegas in April for the RT Booklover’s Convention, as well as San Diego in July for the RWA convention. I’m excited!
3) My plan is to do more fan recognition-type things. Whether that’s extra scenes or more giveaways. And I really encourage you to join my reader group on Facebook. I like the format for interaction there, and it’s always easy to tag me and ask questions. Join ussssss!
4) I plan to continue to put out books you all enjoy and have come to expect for me. Honestly, I’m giddy looking at my books I’ve already started and at my idea list for future projects. I have so many things in my head so wontstopcantstop until I get them in my readers’ hands.
Aaaannnndd that’s a wrap. Of 2015. I’m super optimistic and excited to head into 2016, and I hope you all are too. Thanks again, for every last one of you!
December 8, 2015
Dirty Deeds release day!
So I’m ridiculously excited for you all to read Dirty Deeds. It’s the third in my Mechanics of Love series. I’ve had questions on whether this will be the final in the series. And I’ll say that as of now, there are no more books contracted but I never say never!
So Posh and Sprite were really fun to write. I enjoyed writing Alex, my brash female mechanic. She’s overcome a lot but still has some growing to do. And Spencer… well I’m not sure he’s ever really let himself live. He’s been searching for something his whole life – even if he didn’t realize it – and he finds it in the small town of Tory, Maryland.
As always, thanks for your support of this series. I love it so so much. And if you leave a review on any retail site, you get bonus points. Or something.
Buy Now!
October 3, 2015
Queer Romance Month – My short story
Hey everyone! So it’s October which means it’s also Queer Romance Month in my little section of Internet land. This was such a wonderful event last year, and I’m thrilled that our fearless leader Alexis Hall has somehow banded together a bunch of scatter-brained authors like me again to help out.
So, I’m not very good at writing blog posts, especially on call. I really suck at it unless there’s a very specific idea I want to get across, and even then, I’m kind of rambly about it.
This year’s theme was, “We all Need Stores.” And I was very inspired by that, so I wrote a short story rather than a rambly blog post. My story is called GOOD BONES. And I’m really proud of it. I’d be honored if you read it (it’s free) and to do that, you can go here. Please feel free to leave me a comment over on the Queer Romance Month site and let me know what you think. And do please check out the many posts we’ll be featuring throughout the month. Thanks!
September 15, 2015
Dirty Talk release day!
Where do I start with this book? WHERE DO I START? Because DIRTY TALK really stole my heart. It was one of the easiest books I’ve ever written, which doesn’t necessarily mean good or bad things. One of my hardest books to write (FOCUS ON ME) ended up being one of my favorites. But DIRTY TALK wrote smooth because Brent is smooth. Because Ivy was strong. Because the bond between her and her sister was a delight to write. Because the Paytons are a tight-knit family with flaws but they all have good hearts.
Because I wrote a drunk girl’s night out which is one of my all-time favorite scenes I’ve ever written. You have to read the book to find out why Delilah’s boobs ruined prom.
Because I don’t even really like dogs but Honeybear is a pretty awesome dog.
Because kids are honestly not my favorite thing to write/read in a romance but Violet was such a delight to write.
Because I love this family. I’ve now “known” the Paytons for about a year and a half, back when I introduced them while writing MAKE IT RIGHT.
And now the final brother gets his happily-ever-after and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. If you haven’t read any books from me, and want to give me a try, consider checking out DIRTY TALK. I think it’s a great primer into what books by me are like.
And it’s out now for only $1.99.
Next up, is DIRTY DEEDS. And I’m excited about that too. Ivy’s sister, Alex, is a mechanic at Payton and Sons. She’s had a rough past, but she meets her match in a hot British businessman who rolls into her shop. That’s out in December.
Thanks for all of your support and happy reading.
August 11, 2015
Playing For Her Heart release day!
Grant and Chloe are finally here! It’s the release day for PLAYING FOR HER HEART, which is the second book in my Gamers series with Entangled Brazen.
This book was a challenge for me to write. Chloe was the first truly shy/introverted character I’ve ever written, but really adore her and miss writing her!
Grant, my nerdy, charming single-dad, has such a huge heart. He’s just a great guy, even if it takes him a while to figure Chloe out.
I hope you take a chance on them! And if you want to catch up, you can read the first in the series, CHANGING HIS GAME and see where it all began.
Next up is TIED TO TROUBLE, which is Chad and Owen’s story. Yes, it’s an male/male romance! I ridiculously nerdy and fun m/m. The fourth book in the series will be Ethan Talley’s story.
About PLAYING FOR HER HEART:
She wanted fantasy. He’s about to make it a reality…
Grant Osprey just had the hottest sex of his life. Sure, they were both in costume, and yes, it was anonymous, but he never expected her to bolt in the middle of the night without so much as a good bye, let alone exchanging numbers. Or names. All he’s left with are her panties and some seriously X-rated memories…until he meets his business partner’s little sister.
Only Chloe Talley isn’t the bold, sexy vixen he remembers. And she wants nothing to do with him.
Cosplay is Chloe’s only chance to leave her boring, socially awkward world behind. To forget that she’s failing at life and can’t be with anyone, let alone a single-father like Grant. But the raw hunger between them is undeniable. With him, she can be a misbehaving maid. A sexy call girl for hire. Each scene pushes Chloe beyond her strict boundaries, until Grant demands the one character she can’t play.
Herself.
To buy:
July 21, 2015
Focus On Me release day!
So, FOCUS ON ME, the book that nearly broke me to write and caused many tears/much angst, is out in the world today. For everyone to read. And I’m feeling a mix of emotions from excitement to extreme nerves. This book deals with some heavy topics and even though early reviews have loved this book and how I dealt with the themes, I’m still scared shitless.
I wrote this book from my heart, as someone who struggles with anxiety, who knows what it’s like to feel like your mind is battling you and knows what it’s like to call your doctor crying because you can’t take it anymore.
I have a good life. A happy life. But mental illness doesn’t give a shit. Not one shit. It’s the honey badger of honey badgers.
So this book is about that, about how mental illness affects all people, even those who on the outside look like they have it all.
Sorry to get all deep. I should be throwing confetti because this book is no longer mine. It’s yours. Colin and Riley are now in your hands, in your hearts. Keep them safe.
Here is what some people are saying about FOCUS ON ME:
“Erickson’s second road-trip romance (after Trust the Focus) is a tender treat… Erickson imbues handsome Riley with near-debilitating emotional issues, which refreshingly having nothing to do with being gay. Credible characterizations and a sensitive ear for the ways men talk about love and sex make this a delectable summer read.” – Publishers Weekly
“Heartbreaking, beautiful, haunting…” – Give me Books
“Focus On Me has it all – sweet, tender moments; super sexy ones; a few laughs, and a lot of heartache, but it’s worth it in the end.” – TBQ’s Book Palace
“I think this is a message that all readers will be able to relate to. We all struggle with self-acceptance, and not feeling worthy of love at times.” – A Bookish Escape
Buy Links:
June 16, 2015
Dirty Thoughts Release Day!
*Flails*
DIRTY THOUGHTS is finally on sale!! It’s so weird to me because I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for this book to be out, but OMG FINALLY. The Paytons were first introduced back in September (in MAKE IT RIGHT) and ever since, I’ve been dying to write their stories!
The Mechanics of Love series is adult romance, and while the series is sexy, it’s also full of heart. This series feels like home to me. It’s what I love about life – families and friendships and laughing and working to live, not living to work. The Paytons, despite a rough childhood, love each other. Writing the brotherly banter is some of the best things I love to write. These guys make me laugh and swoon and fan myself.
And guys, if you’re familiar with Jack Payton, hold on to your seats, because he’ll surprise you.
Friendships mean a lot to me too, particularly female friendships. I adore Delilah and Jenna and I can’t wait for you to read more of them in DIRTY TALK, which is out in September. That’s Brent’s book, and man, he’s a wild one.
I hope you take a chance on this series, and meet the Paytons, and I hope you fall in love with them like I did. I can’t wait to write more of these series and dive back into the world of Tory, Maryland.
Happy Reading!
DIRTY THOUGHTS, only $1.99 in ebook (Paperback can be preordered now, release date is 7/21):
