I did this last time I had a readalong — I absolutely devoured the book.

On the one hand, this is good. I’m picking good stuff right now (although the streak’s got to end at some point. Hopefully not soon, though).

On the other, are you guys able to get the book? Are you really reading along? Or am I totally outpacing you?

Go here for my review.

Susan Taylor came to me for editing help. Before we could blink, she had the book under contract!

The only sad part about this story is that I didn’t get to work with her more.

Read on, MacDuff!

Song: Snow Patrol, Lifeboats – A Hundred Million Suns

I actually found this song after Secret Desire was contracted but it couldn’t be more perfect. From the super lyrical quality of writing and sensual feel of the melody, it’s almost like having warm caramel poured over…well you pick a body part.

Lifeboats speaks about dreams and waking to take action, between singer and lover. “Flashed up in my wildest dreams, like red blood streams, stretch out like vast cracked ice.” Claire’s imagination, thoughts, and dreams are bombarded by images of her lost love, Dustin Murray. Images she can’t control. She and Dustin were in love since childhood. Their veins are like great forest trees. Those types of roots forge personalities and life choices.

Secret Desire opens with Claire writing an erotic story alone inside her apartment in Seattle. The kitchen setting is cold, damp, angular. The line from Lifeboats: “Silence eats us from the inside” is pinnacle to the Claire’s Elizabeth Kubler Ross avoidance to conflict. She ran away from love that keeps her pinned, spinning, and fantasizing, and she can’t move forward or back. Her parents are killed, forcing her to deal with her life.

“Wake up wake up dreaming only leads to more and more nightmares” is a great line that frames Claire’s life. It’s exactly what she does as a writer and lover. She succumbs to a man who is the exact opposite of the hero in her stories only making her feel more lost and alone. The proverbial nail in the coffin scene.

“I meant no harm but I only get to say these words too late” speaks the lie existing between Claire and her lost love, Dustin. Backstory or the past inciting incident, occurs when Dustin was tricked by Fran, Claire’s identical twin sister. Fran is competitive to the ninth degree. Dustin tried to enlist her help in gaining Claire’s affection in high school. Unwittingly he threw down a gauntlet, provoking Fran into proving her twin sister was nothing special. This wedge became the reason why Claire left for California to get away from life back home in Mill Spring, NC. But as we know, fleeing trouble never works. Our luggage just becomes heavier as we travel.

“Snap out of it you said it in a way that showed you really cared.” This line speaks to the point when Dustin decides since Fran is coming back to assist Claire with the estate of their parents, he’d better tell Claire the truth of what happened. And he does without sugar coating what type of sister Fran actually is to Claire. This becomes the moment when Claire and Dustin reconnect emotionally and physically.

“Send your lifeboats out for me” is the action required to rescue Claire. Dustin reaches out to her, finally divulging the truth about what happened before she left home. With the truth, Claire is freed from feeling lost in love and in life. She gains the strength to take hold of her life, letting go false expectations, and is ready to say, in essence, “I write erotica…” Her moment of reckoning on her character arc: this is who I am…take me or not.

Be sure you give this a listen, if you haven’t yet. It’s melodic and haunting, all at once.

And look! Susan made a playlist and video, just for the book. She loves music as much as I do, it seems.

Ready for the blurb? I am!

IF YOU PUBLISHED AN EROTIC NOVEL, WOULD YOU USE A PEN NAME OR NOT?
Claire Robertson is a journalist living a vanilla life. Except when she’s alone at night where she wields her writer whip and stilettos within her erotic writing and fantasies. Tragedy blindly strikes when her parents are killed, forcing Claire to return to her hometown, and confront her past. And that past includes Dustin Murray, an old flame she ran away from when things became complicated.

Her life comes apart and she sends her editor the “wrong” story by mistake. One of her hot novels.

Amidst chaos, Claire must decide between returning to her safe life back in Seattle or risk an adventure, ensuring her smoxy fantasies come to life. Dustin has his own plans and isn’t about to let Claire go. Not when he proves he can handle her life and ALL her bedroom fantasies.

Love sparks, igniting the flame within Claire’s heart
forcing her to choose a life stuck on slow-bake or one that SIZZLES

WOW! Having been on the receiving end of the wrong manuscript, I can say it does happen, folks. This isn’t as far-fetched as you’d think.

Buy a copy!
AMAZON
ALL ROMANCE E-BOOKS
KOBO
BARNES & NOBLE

Whenever I edit a book, I make a point of telling my client they are welcome to stop in and do a Featured New Book spotlight. It’s the least I can do to support my authors, since they are, without exception, the greatest group of authors on the planet.

Today’s author isn’t merely a client. She’s also an online bud, one I’ve known for a couple of years now, and one who has so many similar interests to my own that it’s scary. We could be soul sisters. And when you read The Rock Star in the Mirror (and you should!), you’ll see what I mean.

So… Sharon, what song makes you think of your book?

Answer this question: What song makes you think of your book? Wow. Just one? I’d have to go with “Station to Station,” which is part of what inspired me to write the story. It’s this wild allegory, based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” that kind of implies a psychotic break on the part of the singer.

(For the record, Sharon herself picked that version of the video, as there doesn’t seem to be an official one. She says she loves this one. It’s from a German film called “Christiane F.” Let me know what you think!)

Ready for the blurb? Sure, you are!

Joe is a small-town Oregon guy. He’s madly in love with Lynnie … who has a huge crush on David Bowie. Joe will do almost anything to get Lynnie’s attention, but there are always consequences.

Buy your copy today! Smashwords is the preferred retailer of the day. That works for me; this link is an affiliate link, which means I’ll make a few pennies from your purchase.

Sharon’s website
Sharon’s Facebook

I’m blogging over at Animal Friends again, this time telling a tale of one mischevious little boy.

There was no way I ever would have guessed this guy is the scamp he is. It took him a good three or four weeks of living with me before he started to show this side of himself.

I hope his forever family loves it as much as I do!

Well, sure. You guys knew King Trevor arrived back in April.

That’s because you’re the cool kids.

My good friend, Darcia Helle, is helping spread the word. She’s interviewed both me AND Trevor over at her blog.

Stop in and see what’s up.

Many of us hate the holidays for a variety of reasons. Family. Travel. Football. Too much food. Food you don’t like. Weather. Not enough Rock Fiction to drown out the drunken ramblings of Crazy Uncle Sal, who’s up in arms this year over the whole Penn State Scandal, and who’s not sick of hearing about THAT already?

Whatever the reason, it’s most likely not MY reason.

My reason is that I’m not online. Not working. Probably not reading and most definitely not writing. This year, it was partly due to a migraine that hit the day before Thanksgiving and lasted until… this morning. Yeah. Almost eight days. Whee. Fun.

That’s why I’m late letting you guys know of a fun interview I did with author Jess C. Scott.

It’s short, too, which is always the best kind (given that I do one-question interviews, don’t you think I agree?). Stop in, check it out, and be sure to say hi to Jess, will ya?

After all, this isn’t just networking for me. It’s for you guys, too. Meet another cool author. Maybe you’ll host her at your site. Maybe she’ll host you. You get how these things work.

It all begins with hello.

I was washing dishes Saturday night and had the toonz on. Not an atypical event around these parts, but that doesn’t surprise you. Your favorite Rock Fiction Writer usually has the toonz blaring. And yes, I do like to do dishes. It’s a great time to let your mind wander through your characters’ lives. (WAIT until you meet the new gang!)

I knew the song currently playing was some old Stone Temple Pilots. I knew that. I did. I was even humming along, a little bit, in my own tone-deaf way.

And suddenly, I paused. The warm water kept flowing over my hands, the scrubby side of the sponge froze, poised over the roasting pan’s rack, and I told myself to breathe.

All of a sudden, the song (and don’t ask which it was. I couldn’t tell you) sounded like 1980s Whitesnake. Still of the Night, in fact. (Holy smoke, I’d forgotten Adrian Vandenberg was in the band back then)

For a second there, I wasn’t sure who had hacked my iPod.

And then the second passed, and Stone Temple Pilots sounded like Stone Temple Pilots again.

But I feel an odd desire to put on a push-up bra and go dance in front of my car. After I turn the headlights on. I’m not sure why.

I’m over at the Indie Writers Association today, giving you a sneak peak of what comes after Trevor Wolff. Can anything come after him?

Time will tell…

Come on by and join me, won’t you?

Amy wanted corn. It was her turn to make dinner. Mitchell had volunteered to buy corn. “It’s summertime,” he’d said, then promised he would throw it on the grill. Mitchell liked grilled corn and Amy hated cooking. It worked all around.

Problem was, it was still early in the summer. The corn wasn’t ripe. And Amy wasn’t telling what else she was making, which made it hard to guess what else to buy.

There were packages of corn in the freezer, already shucked. That seemed wrong; everyone knew corn was better fresh.

But Amy wanted corn. She’d better appreciate this.

I wish I had a relationship with my sisters like Mitchell has with Amy. For more of their antics, see The Time Before Dinner, Naked, and Baking Cookies.

More food: Soy Sauce 1, Soy Sauce 2, and Val’s Cake.

If you haven’t had enough of me today — and how could you have? — then head on over to JM’s place. Yep, I’m guest blogging at The Fiction Scribe today.

But read the outtake first ’cause it continues tomorrow.