New Cover

I published my erotic romance Protecting Their Heart quite a while ago now, and I'm working on the second book of the Lunar Falls series right now. 

However, the cover for Protecting Their Heart is a stand-alone cover, and I would like the series to tie together, so for my next paranormal romance book, the second, I'm changing the covers. 

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

I'm a romance writer and I write erotic romance novels. They're sexy and they show it. I mean, they're menage romances. There's no way they're not going to go into detail for the love scenes. 

I recently saw a post online, and they made a good point. If you're reading an erotic romance, maybe you don't want everyone on the train or bus or coffee shop or break room to know. It's nothing to be ashamed of. After all, as stated in Protecting Their Heart, it's about the relationships, not the number of partners, but there is such a thing as discretion, so I've kept that in mind with the new cover.

There are no half-naked men on the cover, though I do miss that. There's no sexy woman. Its a simple cover that doesn't announce to the world what you're reading. 

Budget

It's no secret that I'm a struggling writer. I have a day job, and I live on a strict budget. I don't have money to spare, so while I love being a romance writer, I just don't have hundreds of pounds to spend on the covers, so this one, I've made myself. 

It's not perfect. It might not appeal to everyone, but I'm never going to stop writing erotic romance so until I have money to spare, I'm making do. 

The Reveal

So, without further delay, here is the new cover. Flowers, hearts and inside: a story with two sexy wolf shifters and the woman who is theirs. 

Like I said, it might not be to everyone's taste, but it's mine, and it's part of the story now—part of Lunar Falls. 

If you enjoyed reading this post, please take a look at some of my other posts or visit my website for book extras. 

 

Protecting Their Heart Release

 Release day is coming!

Protecting Their Heart is the first instalment of the Lunar Falls series. It's a menage love story between Penny, Adam and Ethan.

In this paranormal romance, Adam and Ethan are wolf shifters, part of the Accalia Pack, and they're out running when their mate is literally chased into their arms. Their new mission is to keep her safe from the stalker determined to have her and to make her fall for them at the same time. 

The Lunar Falls series will be a collection of romance books that follow the shifters and their future mates who live in the small town, as their lives are transformed by love. 

It's a sexy story with lots of passion and lots of romance, and as a romance author, I love writing feisty females who don't let their alpha mates get away with being bossy. 

If you're interested in reading anything else I've written, then River's Heart is a paranormal romance about a witch coven who have their curse lifted and are now free to find love. You can even take a look around my website and get some book extras. 

Protecting Their Heart is out now and you can buy it from Amazon here if you're in the US, or here in the UK. You can also get it from Smashwords here. 

 

Writer with a Day Job

As the earnings from writing can be temperamental – sometimes I can go months without making any money – and call me crazy, I like to be able to afford food, it meant the first task in my forage outside of my writing cave was to find a day job.

Constant, reliable earnings work well as a buffer, and it’s taken the pressure off the desperation that comes with writing for money. Don’t get me wrong, writer is still my chosen career, but I found that when money was my focus, my imagination was blocked, and writing became impossible. The same with having limited time. It gives me a schedule to work to, rather than endless minutes of staring at a blank, white screen, wondering what to put on down followed by hours of procrastination and extra walks for the dog.

Now, I work in the mornings and then I go home in the afternoons and I view it like going to a second job. When I get home, I have some lunch and then I pull out my schedule of deadlines and promotion, and I’m free to work for the rest of the day. And here’s the beauty of being a single woman…It doesn’t matter if I write the night through because there’s no one to object.

Thus, it brings us to another benefit of having a day job while building a creative career. Getting out the house and interacting with people! I’m an introvert by nature and so hiding away in my house comes easily to me. What I find difficult is socialising. I could happily spend months watching Netflix in my pjs, with my laptop open in front of me, but that circles around to missing out on life, and I’m trying to change that.

Being creative means ambition looks different on us. We may no throw on a power suit, mix with professionals and climb our way up a corporate ladder. A lot of the time it means spending hours alone, creating, existing in our own imaginations, and then when we do step into the real world it can be jarring, but we are aiming for something. Just because we procrastinate doesn’t mean we’re not motivated. I’m ambitious. I want to be a writer, and I want to be a successful one. It is my career priority.

Which is why I look for the silver lining of not being able to spend my workday doing nothing but writing. It’s not a realistic possibility for me right now. I’m a single woman trying to get back on my feet after redundancy which means the reliable income personally gives me peace of mind. My natural state is solitude, and it’s a constant battle to stop myself from giving in and hiding away. It doesn’t mean I’m not motivated. I’m ambitious. I want to be a writer, and I want to be a successful one. It is my career priority, but until I hit the payload with writing, my day job is integral to my writing.

How do you do it?

Today I read a Facebook post about which words to use during a romance/erotica novel love scene, and now I’m curious. How many people follow rules when they write, and how many just put down what they want?

My own writing style stems from the kind of things I like to read. If I don’t like a word then I don’t use it, if there’s something I do like then that’s what I go with. The books I write or that I’m currently writing are the stories I want to read, and while I hope others read and enjoy them too, the main thing that drives me is that I enjoy writing them.

I’m not saying I don’t think about readers at all. Of course I do. I don’t want people to pay for my books only to not enjoy them, or to be irritated by bad grammar or grossed out by a word I’ve used. What I’m saying, is that I let my preferences lead me. I don’t follow strict rules.

I also think it’s a fact, that we’re influenced by stories we’ve read and loved. We all know what we like and what makes us cringe, but as everyone is different, it’s impossible to write something universal. 

Which is why I concentrate less on rules and more on what I want to read.

I think I just like the idea of knowing the rules and then doing what I want. What can I say, I'm a rebel!

That’s how I do it, though. I write what I like to read. I’m curious about how many others do the same, and how many have strict plans and outlines that they follow.

A Late Introduction

I’m a romance writer with a day job.

I work for minimum wage to keep my dog and I in the lifestyle to which we’ve become accustomed, which is frugal budgeting and only spending when I have to.

That being said, we have a happy little life together, just me and her. I’m content with my life as it is right now. It doesn’t mean it’ll just be us forever, but for now I’m happy as I am.

I work in the day and I write in the evening. I have romance in my veins, in my heart, and in my brain. I’m a romance writer.

Things at the moment are extra crazy. They’re scary and devastating times, and as someone who is considered a key worker, it means the day job continues for me. Writing is my escape from hard times and it always will be. So, the new books will be coming, but not any faster than usual, because I’m fitting it around the day job.

Writing full-time is the dream, but it’s not the reality yet. Romance day and night is the dream, but it’s not the reality yet.

Right now, though, I’ll get back to the stories, and to everyone who reads this, stay inside and stay safe. Read books! It’s a fun way to spend your time.