Stepping In The Blind with @SJMaylee

Ya’ll already know that I love when my author friends come to hang out. I feel as though my pal S.J. Maylee and I have a pretty close bond since we were working on our first books at the same time. She’s sweet, kind, and working her craft hard. I’m so very proud of her!

So, to talk about how she came to write the sexy, sassy stuff she does, without further ado….. My pal, S.J. Maylee! (Did I mention she’s also generously giving stuff away? Read on to find out how to WIN!)

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I am so happy to be back here with Kitt. She always makes me feel comfortable to be myself. Thank you, Kitt. (((hugs)))

Awww! Thanks my friend. *hugs back* You know you’re always welcome here. Can’t wait to hear your story!

The other day I was talking with my husband’s drum student. She was telling me about her new band and how much fun she’s been having making music with them, a change from her last band. Lyrics and melody are now freely flowing for her. I could hear her love of music in her voice, in her conviction.

I’m quite familiar with this type of change. There was a time in my life when I struggled to find books I enjoyed reading. I knew it shouldn’t be that easy to put a book down. Then I found SEP, Nora and I become ravenous for reading. I couldn’t read enough. The day I found Cherise Sinclair was like a homecoming. She changed everything for me. Her books had all the romance I’d come to love so deeply, but there was also this edge, this level of risk and trust, that pushed the passion to a whole new level.

I can see now how that search for the right book sent me hurdling down a path that would lead me to my personal destiny. It’s the place where everything clicks. I’m in love with love and I don’t hide from that truth. I can’t and I don’t want to.

Almost two years ago, I started on a mission to find out something new about love and the passion we’re capable of setting free. My muse told me that love at first touch existed. The words started to flow freely. My new series, Club Blind, is about finding out what the heart can see when the eyes are blind. I write what I want to read. I love it and there’s no place I’d rather be.

Girl! I definitely feel ya. Cherise is a big reason I fell in love with the BDSM subgenre, too. Go figure we enjoy the same fabulous artists. 😉 Guess it’s time to share the new book, eh? 

In the Blind by S.J. Maylee (Club Blind #1)

Genre: Erotic Romance with D/s

Length: Novella

Published: October 15, 2014

Publisher: Evernight Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-77233-066-3

Goodreads

 

Blurb:

Jane thinks she’s ready to take the risks her business and love life desperately need. Rob’s still punishing himself for a broken relationship that wasn’t meant to last. When the pair let an opportunity pass them by, fate steps in and throws them back together.

An evening of pitch black unrestrained passion at Club Blind opens her eyes to life’s possibilities. Now, if they don’t fight past their personal demons, they might never truly discover what they need most. If they can open their hearts, it might lead them directly to each other where they can discover their truth. If not, they may forever stay in the blind.

 

Where you can find IN THE BLIND:

Evernight Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

All Romance eBooks | BookStrand | Smashwords | iTunes

 

S.J. MAYLEE Bio:

S.J. Maylee fell in love with storytelling at a young age and with it came a deep-seated desire for everyone to find their happily ever after. She’s finding the happy endings for her characters one steamy story at a time.

When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her caring for her garden, laughing with her two young sons, or dancing to her husband’s music. She’s a PMP (Project Management Professional), Nia instructor, and coffee addict.

As a writer she has a tendency to break hearts, but she always glues them back together.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook Page | Google+ | Goodreads | Pinterest | Amazon Author Page

GIVEAWAY:

SJ’s giving away one $20 Amazon gift card and two swag packs (book covers, bookmark, pen, zipper pull, and handmade beaded keychain or purse charm with book cover charm). TO ENTER: answer the question on this blog post and then click on the rafflecopter. QUESTION: Many believe blindness can increase your other senses. What do you think it would be like to be in a pitch black club like Club Blind?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Have A Writing Process?

I was recently tagged to join a Writing Process Blog Hop by my new friend, Maris Soule. It’s been a while since I’ve played this particular brand of “Tag,” but Maris was generous enough to ask, and this particular one intrigued me. Believe it or not, there are even rules to this!

The Rules: Like I said, it’s sort of like tag. You’re asked to participate, and if you agree, you’re assigned a date to answer 4 questions and asked to find 3 writers to follow you. Not too complicated, right?

Right now I bet you’re wondering…who did Kitt tag? Well, rest easy, it wasn’t you. Just kidding. 😉 Actually, I tagged my awesome long time friend and fellow writer, KerryAnn. I also hit up one of my first blog buddies, author and Mythical Monday extraordinaire, Mae Clair. And last, but definitely not least, one of my favorite Scottish time travel authors, blog friends, and incredible beta reader, Jessi Gage. Don’t worry, their deets will be shared in more depth later…and ya’ll better check them out!

So, before I answer the questions, here’s a little history on the lovely lady who tagged me: Maris Soule was born and raised in California. She was working on a masters in art history when she met a red-head with blue eyes who talked her into moving to Michigan–for just a couple of years. She’s still married to that man and still lives in Michigan (though she migrates to Florida in the winter). Soule has had 25 romances published by Harlequin, Silhouette, and Bantam (she’s a 2 time RITA finalists) and 2 mysteries published by Five Star. (Her P.J. Benson mysteries or “Crows” series.) In addition to writing mysteries, Soule has been putting some of her early romances out as e-books, and she recently signed a contract with Robert Hale Ltd. for a suspense about a woman in her 70s with a deadly past. Every Wednesday Soule writes a blog that generally deals with writing.

Check out her blog or Follow her on Twitter!

She’s a very cool lady who I’m fortunate enough to know personally thanks to Florida Writers Association and our Sarasota Writers Group.

Now, on to the questions for yours truly….

1)  What am I working on?

Currently, I’m working on 2 projects.

My primary piece is the third part of my Wild Side erotica series. I tentatively named it Happily Unmarried After, and so far it’s stuck. Those of you who’ve read Three For All and Four One Night will be thrilled to see their beloved wild woman, Danielle Monroe, up to her uninhibited ways (and all the fun that goes with it).  Yes, if you click the above links, excerpts will follow. 😉

The other piece is an erotic romance novel, yet to be named. So far it’s just some character sketches and a couple of scenes, but we’ve all got to start somewhere, right?

2)  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Hmm. Well, I guess I’d have to say it’s the way my characters are portrayed in my books. There are no billionaires or zillionaires in my books, first. Second? The setting is fairly common, and easy to imagine. Finally, my characters are fun and likeable with a playful, bantering dialogue. They don’t take themselves or each other too seriously, which makes them immediately likeable and relatable. I like to think that most people could read my characters and easily insert themselves into one of the characters and their very doable fantasies.

3)  Why do I write what I do?

My initial instinct to this question was to say, “Why not?”

The truth is, I write it because I enjoy it. Yup! For me, writing sex is fun! For as long as I can remember, I’ve been accused of having a gutter brain. I’ve also been gifted with a knack for understanding people and a talent for writing. I figured this was an opportunity to combine all my passions, then share it with others.

The other reason is because I feel very strongly that my books contribute to my belief that a sex positive lifestyle and approach is highly doable. If I can help someone open themselves up to the possibility of embracing their inner sexual goddess, then it’s worth it. It’s meant the world to me when someone’s come to me and told me that something I wrote on my blog or my book helped spice up their marriage/love life…or better yet, reminded them of the joy and sense of adventure that comes from acting out a fantasy. One is never too old for that!

4)  How does my writing process work?

One time recently, I tried to go by the way of plotters. It was a huge mistake. I talked to a fellow writer, planned the story with her over the phone, then headed off to write it. Yeah, that was the first time I sat down at the computer and the words refused to find a natural flow. Everything was a battle. Worse, once I was done, the characters were stiff, the action ‘flat’ and the story, awkward. It also lacked believability. That particular method didn’t work well at all for me.

Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to get back to what’s worked for me in the past….I write what comes to me. Usually in chronological order, and definitely by the seat of my pants. I follow the story as it paints itself in my mind. My first draft is always rough, and by my second and third, the original is nearly unrecognizable through the growth of my characters, the dialogue, and the drama. I also usually give myself a week or so off from that particular work in progress between drafts so that I can look at my piece with a fresh set of eyes and a little distance. I find my clarity of vision for the WIP is best during those moments.

Introducing my fabulous writer friends:

KerryAnn

KerryAnn writes from her home in New England which she shares with her husband, daughter, and her two American Eskimo dogs who alternate between being her writing companions and writing distractions.  She prefers to write compelling characters in a variety of genres, but mainly contemporary and young adult fiction.  When she’s not writing KerryAnn usually has her nose in a book – family stories that cross generations, romance, paranormal, historical fiction, as long as it has unforgettable characters, she’s all in. Check out her blog or ‘Like’ her Facebook page!

 

Mae Clair

Mae Clair opened a Pandora’s Box of characters when she was a child and never looked back.  Her father, an artist who tinkered with writing, encouraged her to create make-believe worlds by spinning tales of far-off places on summer nights beneath the stars. She snagged the tail of a comet, hitched a ride, and discovered her writer’s Muse on the journey.

Mae loves creating character-driven fiction in settings that vary from contemporary to mythical. Wherever her pen takes her, she flavors her stories with conflict, romance and elements of mystery. Married to her high school sweetheart, she lives in Pennsylvania and is passionate about writing, old photographs, a good Maine lobster tail and cats.

Discover more about Mae on her website and blog at http://maeclair.net/

You can also ‘Like’ her Facebook page, Follow her on Twitter, or on Google+.

 

Jessi Gage

Jessi lives with her husband and children in the Seattle area. She’s a passionate reader of all genres of romance, especially anything involving the paranormal. Ghosts, demons, vampires, witches, weres, faeries…you name it, she’ll read it. As for writing, she’s sticking to Highlanders and contemporaries with a paranormal twist (for now).

Check out her website, visit her blog, ‘Like’ her Facebook page, Follow her on Twitter, or on Google+.

Please check out these ladies and follow their blogs. Next week will be their turns to share their writing processes. I know that I can’t wait to see what they share. What do you think? Does peoples’ writing process intrigue you? Bore you? What genre do you most enjoy reading?

Yes. What that really means is that I’m asking you to be an active participant on my blog. Say whatever you’d like to say. I’m not exactly easily hurt or offended…and you know how I love good dialogue. 😉

Heroes, Mentors and Making Things Happen

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” ~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer

I’m not sure exactly when the realization dawned; that heroes and mentors were different entities. Not that they can’t co-exist. They can. But they can also be entirely separate of one another.

Me and my hero

For example, if you were to ask me who my hero was growing up, my answer would have been my mom. In fact, if you were to ask me today, my answer would still be the same. But do I consider her a mentor? No. I look up to her. I love the values she believes in. I hope to be as firm in my faith as she has always been. She’s been through some of the toughest things you can imagine and kept her belief, her joy, and her family together. I hope I inherited her strength.

Of course, being who I am, I looked up the definitions and here’s what Merriam-Webster had to say:

Hero-

: a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities

: a person who is greatly admired

: the chief male character in a story, play, movie, etc.

Mentor-

: someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person

Strange as it sounds, despite the definition, my teachers were never people I considered to be mentors, either. Although they taught me and I respected them, it was more clinical. Not bone deep…pushing me to grow, encouraging me, and driving me to be more.

Maybe it’s because I was a girl with whom knowledge came easily, but it wasn’t until my late 20’s that I’d ever truly felt challenged…in a good way. I skated my way through most things based on natural ability, charm, a lot of common sense and my own driven nature. Then things changed and I discovered my first mentor.

No longer happy with the career path I’d had for the first 10 years of my working life, I decided to shift from medically related to retail sales. As a sales rep and eventually supervisor, my natural love of and ability to read people made me highly effective. I was quickly promoted up through the ranks into a single location manager role.

Then I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. I had a specialty, you see. I was great at networking and being able to build mutually beneficial relationships in a shared partnership environment. So when my company decided to create a manager position that encompassed 4-5 smaller scale locations (much like a mini-district manager), my boss considered the position designed for me, and a no-brainer. The problem was that there were no guidelines, boundaries or examples because the role was literally just created. It would be a trial and error situation where we figured things out along the way. In commissioned sales, this was definitely not the norm. For the first time, I struggled. My results were inconsistent.

Strangely, through this struggle, I discovered my first mentor. I already knew her. She was my boss. Her name was Ashley. When we sat down for my first performance appraisal I received my first less than stellar score. Frustrated, feeling like I was doing everything I possibly could, I asked her what I could do. She looked me in the eye and said, “I’d like you to work on one thing this year. Hold your team accountable. Don’t let them get away with excuses.” In fact, she took it one step further, and it’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten. She said, “I don’t accept excuses from you, so why are you allowing it from them? When you allow your team to get away with excuses you’re sending them a message. You’re letting them know you don’t believe they’re capable of anything more.”

She didn’t micro-manage me. She didn’t coddle me. She told me the biggest thing she thought would improve my business and let me sink or swim, but she was there to listen and give advice whenever I chose to reach out. In the past it was easy to sway my team to my point of view. I was beside them all day. In this role, my staff only saw me one day a week as I rotated locations. She was right. I couldn’t simply talk to them and be done with it. They needed to know that if they didn’t follow the action plans I rolled out, there would be consequences. I got very good at accountability. My team developed into her “go to” group whenever she needed strong business results regardless of where our company shifted their areas of importance. To this day I look up to her and hold her up as an example of an incredible leader.

Fast forward to today and why I’m telling you this story…..

As many of you know, a little over a year ago I decided to pursue writing seriously. Honestly, when I toyed with the idea in my mind, I had no idea if I had what it took to do this. For all I knew, publishing a book was a pipe dream. Shoot, I’d been writing most of my life but never pursued it because when I was growing up, the only option was New York and, for the most part, you had to know someone/have an ‘in’ to even be considered.

It meant the world to me that my sister and my best friend both told me, “I always thought you should’ve been a writer anyway.” But let’s face it. They loved me. They were biased.

But…a mutual friend was not. When I told her my dreams of writing, she asked what I wanted to write. I honestly don’t think she expected me to say erotica/erotic romance. She surprised me, though. She asked if I had a sample she could read… somewhere around 10,000 words. Suddenly I was terrified. Why? Because she’d already been successful in this field. She’d actually won the Maggie Award. Her name is Kaye Chambers.

Instead of laughing, she took me under her wing and taught me. Sure, sometimes it was the little things like how to properly format Word while writing. Other times it was to tell me that I needed to add more dialogue or that I could be awfully heavy handed when hammering a point home, and that I needed to use the subtlety techniques I used when writing poetry to allude to an idea rather than beat my readers over the head with a mallet.

Here I was, this random person who she barely knew when she reached out a helping hand…but that’s exactly what she did! The thing is, I’ve read her stuff. In fact, I LOVE the way she writes. She’s got savvy, sassy heroines and she writes these amazing opens (something I still struggle with). She creates these entire shifter universes that I think are beyond cool. It blows my mind! If you’ve never read her stuff…check out her girl Sasha, a cat shifter, in Tiger By the Tail. Or read Blood and Destiny. Her book that won the Maggie was Angelic Avenger…also awesome, but very different from the other two. It’s amazing how, sometimes, what you’re looking for is much closer than you realize if you only have the courage to ask.

I reached out with a few questions and she gave me so much more than I ever imagined. She chose to mentor me. She held my hand through my fears. She pushed me to be better. She challenged me to give more than I ever thought I was capable of…

And when I finally pushed that button to publish my first piece, she cheered me on! Her words? “You did all the work. I just gave you a bit of direction and support. You should be very proud of yourself.” With the help and belief of my mentor and the folks who love me, I was able to make my own dream come true.

One day I hope that I can do justice to the faith that Kaye has shown in me, much the way I did for Ashley. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be strong enough, knowledgeable enough and with enough experience to be able to mentor someone else in this new, exciting world.

What about you? Do you think there’s a difference between a hero and mentor? Who have yours been?

Thank You For Inspiring Me

The 16th of this month marked my 2 two month anniversary with WordPress. I’ve blogged elsewhere before (Livejournal, Blogger), but I’ve never been a part of such a welcoming community as I have since joining here.  Truly, I’ve enjoyed the diversity of people I’ve been following.

I’d like to give special shout outs to people who have really gone out of their way to include and encourage me.

Mae Clair has been wonderful. I stumbled on her purely by accident when she was talking about writing in general and her passion for it in particular. This month her book was published and she’s been busy “blog touring”. I’m so happy for her and the success she’s finding. It couldn’t happen to a nicer lady!

It was through Mae that Sheri DeGrom and I were introduced to one another. With her passion for books and her amazing reviews, not to mention her unique perspectives on things, I became a big fan. Any author should be flattered if Sheri takes the time to write a review on them. She really knows how to intrigue and attract readers. Not only does she write fabulous reviews, but her advocacy for Veterans is heart warming.

Then there’s LJ Kentowski. She recently moved her blog over to the dark side…;-) She was introduced to me when Mae reached out and asked if I’d heard of Triberr. We’ve been fast friends…and sisters of the dirty mind. If you haven’t met her, or you lost track of her with her blog move, you should check her out. She’s warm and friendly, with a sideways sense of humor.  LOL!

When it comes to TV shows, Girl Crushes and music interests, I feel like I found a soul sister in Emma Meade. Then I found out she has a racy side.  Definitely a sister of the heart. Next week I’ll be featuring her “naughty side”. She’s one cool chick! Check her out.

Phil Lanoue and his photography has an amazing way of telling a story through pictures…and really showcasing the beauty of nature. He’s also a very nice guy who always welcomes new people and comments. He always takes the time to respond.

Since then I’ve made some really awesome new friend along the way… Some really cool poets like “V” and “Ye Pirate Gunn” and some inspirational people like Katie who boldly blogs about her weight loss journey with fun and humor.

Anyway, these last two months have been awesome, so I just wanted to thank everyone…for welcoming me and for the encouragement. Hopefully I’ll be able to return the favor and pay it forward. I’m also always looking for new, interesting blogs…so if there is someone you think I should be following…share! I’d love to see who inspires you…to write, to laugh, to get healthy…whatever! Let me know who they are and why they inspire you.  Thanks again for the warm welcome!