Jenna Sutton's Blog, page 5

Music Monday – Sexy Songs

It’s Music Monday, and today I have a question for everyone out there: What do you think is the sexiest song – a song that sets the scene for sexy times?

According to several surveys, Mazzy Star’s “Fade into You” is the best makeout song. I think Meg Myers’ “Desire” is one of the sexiest songs (although the music video is just weird, IMO).

I’m writing a scene in one of my books, and I need a sexy song. I’m counting on you guys! Chime in with your suggestions.

No Such Thing as Perfection

A lot of people describe themselves as “perfectionists”. I’m not one of them. I don’t pursue perfection, and—gasp!—I’m happy with less than perfection. More often than not, I’m happy with “good enough”.

Does this mean I have low standards? That I don’t expect quality? No, not at all.

To me, perfection means that one never completes a task, whether it’s baking a cake, vacuuming the floor, or painting a room. There’s always something that can be tweaked or improved. You have to decide whether that imperfection merits more of your time and energy.

The icing isn’t as smooth as it should be.

There’s a speck of dust near the baseboards.

The paint bled around the window trim.

Does it really matter that the icing isn’t perfectly smooth? It still tastes good.

Does it matter that there’s a speck of dust near the baseboard? Only if you plan to lick the baseboard.

Does it matter if the paint bled around the window trim? Depends on how much it bled, and who’s going to notice.

I don’t think it’s possible to be an author and be a perfectionist. I truly believe they’re mutually exclusive. You can be an author or you can be a perfectionist. But you can’t be both at the same time.

You can rewrite a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, over and over. You can tweak and rework until your eyes are blurry and your fingers are numb. And it’s still not perfect. It can still be better.

As an author, I have to resist the urge to make little changes here and there. I have to just let it be.

To clarify, I’m not talking about grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors. Those obviously need to be fixed. In fact, it kind of drives me nuts when I see errors in a book. To me, that’s just sloppy.

I’m talking about something else entirely—the essence of a book. The way the words and sentences come together to tell a story.

When it comes right down to it, writing is like art. It’s subjective. What one person likes, another may hate. And therein lies the challenge of achieving perfection.

What’s In a Nickname?

Let me tell you a funny story, or at least one that I think is funny.

My nickname for my husband is Lovey. And I don’t just use it when we’re home alone. I call him Lovey when we’re out in about, in front of family, friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers.

Many years ago, back when we were living in Austin, we occupied a unit on the second floor of a three-story apartment building. The man and woman who lived below us also rented the floor above us as an office so we saw them all the time.

We were friendly, but only in passing. Though we had never introduced ourselves, the woman, Liz, always greeted us by name, calling me Jenna and my husband Larry. But Mr. Sutton’s first name is actually Mike. We had no idea why she called him Larry, but we never corrected her.

One day, as Mr. Sutton and I were leaving for ballroom dancing lessons, I walked out ahead of him. Liz was in the corridor, and she heard me call out, reminding hubs not to forget to bring the trash with him so we could dump it on our way out of the apartment complex.

Liz stopped next to me in the corridor. “Why did you just call Larry Mike?” she asked, a bewildered frown on her face.

“Because that’s his name,” I replied.

“But you call him Larry all the time,” she insisted.

I shook my head, baffled by her assertion. “No, I don’t.”

Mr. Sutton joined us, and Liz turned her attention to him. “Is your name Mike or Larry?” she demanded.

Hubs looked at me, one eyebrow arched, and then turned back to Liz. “Mike.”

“But I hear Jenna call you Larry all the time,” Liz argued. “Larry, don’t forget the trash. Larry, can you help me with the groceries? Larry, do you want to drive?”

And all of a sudden I realized the problem, and I started to laugh. “Lovey,” I said around my giggles. “I call him Lovey. L-O-V-E-Y.”

“Oh,” Liz replied. “Lovey, not Larry.”

“Exactly,” Mike replied.

Then we said our goodbyes to Liz and continued on our way. The next time she saw us, she waved and said, “Hi, Jenna. Hi, Lovey.”

Lovey, aka Mr. Sutton, has a lot of nicknames for me. I never know what he’s going to come up with next. His most creative (and insulting) nickname? Mastodon.

Yes, you read that correctly. Mastodon.

I have no idea why he came up with that nickname, and neither does he. But he stopped calling me Mastodon after my dad said, “You know that’s a big, hairy prehistoric elephant, right? I don’t like that much… you calling my daughter a big, hairy prehistoric elephant.”

I love nicknames in romance novels. I recently read a New Adult romance by Sophie Jordan called Wild. It’s the third in a trilogy about college roommates who find their happily ever after.

First let me just say that I loved this book. The heroine, Georgia, was great, but the hero, Logan, OMG. He’s delicious. Beyond delicious.

Part of his hotness, in my opinion, is that he calls Georgia by the nickname “Pearls” because she’s kind of this uptight, princess-y type.

I adored his nickname for her. Every time he called her Pearls, I swear my toes curled inside my shoes.

My appreciation for nicknames isn’t just limited to Logan either. I love it when heroes assign nicknames to heroines. And I’m not talking about endearments like “Honey” or “Sweetheart”. I’m talking about a nickname that has a special meaning.

In All the Right Places, Quinn gives Amelia a nickname. I’m not going to tell you what it is… you’re going to have to wait and read the book!

So, here’s what I want to know: Do you have a nickname? Do you call your significant other by a nickname? And finally, what do you think of nicknames in romance novels?

I’ve Got This Idea…

People always want to know where I get the ideas for my books, and the truth is that I see ideas for potential a romance novel almost everywhere. It all starts with a spark of curiosity. Something piques my interest, which leads to a bunch of questions floating around in my head.

I’ll give you an example: Mr. Sutton and I were attending our city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show, and as the pyrotechnics exploded above us in a rainbow of colors, I started to wonder about the show and how it came to be. Were there companies that specialized in putting on fireworks shows? Were they busy year-round or only on occasions like the 4th of July or New Year’s Eve?

Then I started thinking about the person (or people) who were setting off the fireworks – the people who weren’t watching the sky because they were too busy on the ground. And that led me to a romance novel idea – a woman who, along with her siblings, owns a fireworks company. And the company does huge events, like the fireworks show in Boston for the 4th of July along the Charles River.

I had a heroine. I didn’t know much about her yet, but I knew she loved fireworks. Now I needed a hero… a guy who needed fireworks (in every sense of the word). Maybe this guy wants to put on a fireworks show for a product launch, a piece of technology or… I’ve got it! A video game developer who wants to make a big splash with his newest game.

Now I’ve got a heroine and a hero. And a lot of options for a fun title that have to do with fireworks – probably something with the word spark.

So now you’re probably wondering about how I came up with the idea for All the Right Places. It came from a bumper sticker. Mr. Sutton and I were coming back from a shopping trip to Target (which receives at least 10 percent of our annual household income, no kidding), and as we sat at a stop light, I noticed the bumper sticker on the car in front of us. It advocated breast cancer awareness, and it said: Save the Tatas.

In case you didn’t know, tatas is another word for breasts.

Laughing, I pointed out the bumper sticker to my husband. And he pointed out that there are a lot of words for breasts. And then he proceeded to name them all: boobs, hooters, jugs, melons, rack, tits… oh, the list just goes on and on.

And then I started thinking that there were a lot of words for butt, too: ass, backporch, badonkadonk, booty, caboose, derrière… again, so many words, so little time.

That thought led me to another – listing the words for butt would be a fun and eye-catching beginning to a romance novel. But who would be thinking about butts all the time? And then it came to me – someone who was involved in the clothing business.

And that was the genesis of the Riley O’Brien & Co. series, and the first book, All the Right Places.

I encourage you to look around, let your gaze settle on something – anything – and then let your mind wander and wonder. I’m sure you could come up with a great idea for a romance novel.

Chime in with questions and comments below.

My Love Affair with the Romance Genre

I’m an avid reader, and I have been since I learned my ABCs. I remember going to the book fair at my elementary school and begging my mom to let me add “just one more” to the stack of books she already held. My parents had to watch their budget, yet she always said “yes” to more books.

I spent hours devouring books like Ramona and Beezus and The Babysitter’s Club series. In the summer, when my friends were listening to their boom boxes, I was curled up with a book.

As I got older, I remember wandering through the used book store in my neighborhood, my arms loaded down with paperbacks. It was there that I discovered Sunfire books. Do you remember them? They were young adult historical romances, and the book titles were the names of the heroines.

I still remember most of the Sunfire books, even 20 years later. I remember the heroines, the plots, the romances. I remember the way I held my breath when the heroines had to choose the life she wanted including the man she wanted to be with. Would she make the right choice?

Oh, how I loved those books!

Sunfire introduced me to romance, and from there I started reading category romances from Harlequin and Silhouette. I was way too young to be reading those kinds of books, no question about it, but my mom didn’t stop me. She did however prevent me from watching R-rated movies.

One of the first adult romances I ever remember reading was Leigh Michaels’ Strictly Business, a book about best friends who had grown up together and now were partners in the family business. I’m still partial to a good friends-to-lovers romance. And I love romances set in the workplace.

When I reached my teens I started reading full-length novels, both historical and contemporary. While my friends hung out at the mall, I stayed home with a book.

I was never without a book. I even carried one in my purse just in case I got bored or had some extra time to read. Nowadays, I don’t get to read as much as I’d like because I’m busy writing.

I’d love to hear how you got started reading romances. How long have you been reading? What was the first romance novel you read?