Formatting

If you've read my last couple of posts, I’ve gone into the editing process and a bit about finishing up the first draft of Dirty Hit. Now, I want to talk about formatting the book.

I’ve done it both ways - formatted the manuscript myself into the ebooks and paperbacks you read, and I’ve also hired a designer to do it for me.

I love hiring a designer (I worked with Dee from Black Widow Designs on Beautiful Carnage and Sweet Destruction as well as Fallen Star), but the problem with it is I don’t have access to the raw file, so if something comes up and I need to change what’s called back matter (the links at the end, acknowledgements, etc.) I have to reach out and it’s a whole thing to change something relatively simple.

I also have the formatting software to do the formatting myself (I use Vellum), but I’m not a designer so the ones I format just aren’t as pretty as the ones a professional does.

But with Dirty Hit, I’m going to format it myself, so I thought I’d share what that looks like.

First, I go through the manuscript and figure out which chapter belongs to which character.

The reason I do this is because I like to have custom graphic headers for every chapter of my book. The formatting program has built in options, but I don’t like how generic they look so I design my own.

Next, it’s off to Photoshop.

I start by coming up with an idea. For this book, the eBook is going to match the style of the man chest cover instead of the alt cover. So, I look over the cover for inspiration:

For this cover, a few things stuck out that I wanted to explore in the chapter headers. First, I always try to match the cover fonts on the inside chapter headers, so I knew I’d be using the same font as the title. I also liked the rough ice texture and the city of Seattle in the background. Those things were my inspiration, so I took the idea to a stock photo website and started searching out elements.

These are the three stock images I used to create my headers. I played around with them a lot, but this is what I finally settled on:

I’m really happy with the way it turned out. Now I have to go through and make a new image for every single chapter. This book has 62 of them, so that’s 62 individual images. Once that’s done, the design aspects for the eBook will be ready to go when I get the manuscript back from all the editing parts.

I’ll post about the process as I go, but for now we wait.

The Process

I thought I’d give you a little peek behind the curtain of what goes on when I finish a book, so here goes…

You can read my previous post about when I finished writing the first draft of Dirty Hit if you’re curious about how it wrapped up. Once I had the first draft done, I didn’t waste any time. I decided a couple of months back to give pre-orders a try again for both Dirty Hit and Perfect Nightmare because it’d been a while and I thought it might be motivating to help me write faster.

It’s really not. All it does it stress me out like crazy. So, after those two books it’ll be a long, long time before I consider putting up pre-orders again. To me, getting the book right is more important than any timeline to release it. I want my books to be the best they can and that means not cutting corners.

Thankfully, the first draft of Dirty Hit was done with enough time to spare that I can do it right.

So what is “doing it right”?

First, I take a read through the entire manuscript. I take notes as I go of things that are inconsistent or words or phrases I notice that I’ve repeated way too many times. (In the case of Dirty Hit, I used the phrase “makes me” almost 70 times. Yikes. For example, “When he looks at me like that, it makes me want to jump his bones.”

This process took me 10 days this time around, including a couple of days I had to take off for migraines. I finished it up late last night.

Once that’s done, the file goes to my beta readers. For this book, I’ve got five of them. They each get their own copy of the file to make notes on. I ask them to point out things they love, things they hate, and anything that takes them out of the story.

After they finish, I go through and read all of their comments file by file. Then I tweak/edit the manuscript to reflect any changes I think need to be made based on the comments I’ve gotten.

Finally, the file goes to my editor where the manuscript goes through multiple rounds of edits and changes. I have ADHD so I really struggle with timelines. My editor does a great job of keeping the timelines of my books straight because otherwise they’d be a whole damn mess.

When the book’s gone through multiple rounds of edits, it’s then ready to format. I’ll make another post about that at some point as I get to it.

So, right now we’re in the “beta readers” stage of getting this book out into the world, and it can’t go fast enough. I’m impatient at the best of times so having to wait to get this book into your hands is driving me crazy.

But a little nugget you might be interested in: There are a few Savage Society cameos in Dirty Hit. You’ll see Romeo, Grave, and Wraith make an appearance in this book. Any theories as to what that means or what they’re doing?

The Book You Didn't Ask For

Yeah, I said what I said.

No one’s asking me to write a hockey book.

But you know what? I love hockey.

Always have (though there was a decade or so when we didn’t have a pro hockey team here in Seattle and my sports love shifted onto the Seahawks).

So, when we got our pro team (The Kraken), my love for the sport was reborn. There’s just something about the speed of the game, the violence, the strategy… it’s a rush to watch.

Last year, two of my favorite things collided: Smutty romance books and hockey.

It was, for me, a dream come true. As I was watching my favorite players last year, an idea sparked. What if a pro hockey player got a message from a fan on social media? Only, she wasn’t throwing herself at him. Instead, she was talking shit (or chirping, because… hockey). Telling him how much he sucks.

And instead of getting offended, he’s like… “Who is this chick and why’s she so hot?” And then he asks to be traded to her local team and starts to stalk her…

Since my black little heart loves dark romance and breeding kink, I’ve been frustrated by the lack of both of these things in hockey romance. It’s always so cute and fluffy and rah-rah and that’s just not me as an author. My heroes are assholes. They’re unapologetic. And at the end of the book, they’re not going to suddenly have an epiphany that what they’ve been doing is wrong and change their ways.

So, as Stefan would say, this book has everything: Breeding kink (stealthing!), somnophilia, manipulation, an over the top jealous and obsessed hero who will literally do ANYTHING to chain his heroine to him for life. He gives, like, negative ten fucks about doing what he has to do to get his way. There’s jealousy (yesssss) and one of my books wouldn’t be complete without someone getting their hands bloody.

This book should release in January (I say should because my muse is a fickle bitch and ADHD is like the shit sprinkles on top) as I’m actively focusing on finishing it. Are you looking forward to reading Dirty Hit? Let me know in the comments!

My Writing Plan & Schedule

Yesterday my dad asked me if I ever worry that I’ll run out of story ideas to write and I laughed. Hard.

See, ideas aren’t my problem. I have covers bought and ideas for at least two dozen books right now. My problem is organization and mental energy to get the stories from the idea phase to actually putting words down on the screen.

That being said, I’ve got three current projects on the horizon with lots and lots more coming down the line. I’ve always wanted to be one of those writers who could write and release a book a month, but I’m just not. The fastest I ever wrote and released a book was six weeks for Wicked God, and it nearly killed my love of writing. Since then, I’ve slowed down and really had to accept that my process is just that… a process.

It changes with every book I write, but one thing I’ve learned about myself is that it’s really important for me to do extensive character work before I can effectively write someone. I did it for Beautiful Carnage for the first time and it made the process so much easier to feel like I really understood Cole and Fallon and where they were coming from, how they would react to situations, their backstories, what they loved, what they feared, and on and on and on. I wrote 20k words just getting to know them that never ended up in the book (by the way, if you’re curious, this is a bonus up on my Patreon).

Once that work is done, I figure out the plot and go from there. Sometimes I can jump into writing at that point, but a lot of times I get stuck halfway through and end up having to go back and retool the story until I’m happy with it. Sometimes it sucks being a perfectionist, let me tell you.

So, as it stands… this is where I’m at with my current projects:

Sweet Destruction:

Currently sitting at 45,783 words.

I’ve been working on this one for a while, but I didn’t do the character work I normally do and I’m feeling lost halfway through because of it. I’ve already done a lot of rewrites on the first half, and then I realized when I was writing a scene two days ago that I’ve got a HUGE problem with the plot that’s going to change a lot of the story… and I’m feeling lost as to how to fix it.

Normally, I work on one story at a time. I have ideas for others, but I’ll just make notes as ideas pop up and go back to my current project. I don’t like starting something and leaving it hanging out there unfinished to start something else because I have a hard time with starting too many projects and never finishing them. I made myself a deal when I started writing that I would fight against myself with my natural inclination to have 10,000 plates spinning (as my husband likes to say) at all times, and only focus on one thing at a time.

Buuuut… I’m stuck. So, I’m setting this one aside for now until I can figure out how to fix the plot. And not only that, but I’m really stuck on the sexual component of their relationship. Sometimes, like with BC, I have a particular scene come to me (sex scene, just to be clear) first and I can shape the entire story around the couple’s sexual dynamic and chemistry. But with this one everything is different. I can’t picture them having sex in my mind (okay, I realize how weird that sounds haha), so until I can, I’m going to let it sit in the corner and move on to a story that’s been screaming at me for months to write it.

Deceit:

Current word count: 0

I’ve got the character work done for Asher on this one, and I’ll be starting Devon’s today. I’ve got the plot figured out (though I still have some detail stuff to work through), and I plan to start writing in the next couple of days. I’m hoping since I’ve been plotting this one for literally months, it’ll go fast. I’m not holding my breath, though.

Sicko:

Current word count: 0

This is a book that’s been bugging me HARD to write it, but I haven’t done a lot of prelim work on it yet. It’ll be what I work on when I have free time (lol) between Deceit and Sweet Destruction. I haven’t announced it anywhere but my Patreon, but it’s going to be a super dark stalker romance with a strong somno element and I really can’t wait to tell Aries and Aura’s story…. soon.

Well, that’s where I’m at with my current projects. Are you more excited for one over the others? Leave me a comment and let me know!

New Series Announcement

Savage Society of Emerald Hills is a dark (my darkest yet) series full of forbidden stories. Think father's best friend, step brother, priests, etc. It’s set in Emerald Hills, the fictional town located in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains (in the Pacific Northwest), and it takes place roughly five years before my upcoming series Riot Boys of Emerald Hills Prep.

The series kicks off with Cole and Fallon, a father's best friend, age-gap (obv) forbidden romance. If breeding is your kink, you're really going to love this one, too!

I’m currently writing it, but if you want a sneak peek, you can read it here.

I’m doing a few things different with this series. For one, I’m not planning the entire thing out before I go. I’m letting my creativity take me where it wants to. The chapters are going to be much shorter than my usuals, but there will be more of them, so the book lengths should be relatively the same.

But the coolest new thing I’m doing is posting each chapter as I write them over on Patreon. If you read chapter one and can’t wait to read more, I’m posting new chapters daily over there so you’ll want to sign up.

Please keep in mind that with editing and rewrites, the story is subject to change before it's published, and once it goes live on Amazon, it will be taken down.

I’m really excited for this one and can’t wait for you to read it!

Crossed Souls in the Making

I mentioned in my last post that Crossed Souls had started in my head as something so much different than it turned out to be when I wrote it. Originally, I imagined Willa as a sort of Cupid-like character. She was compelled to help everyone around her find their soulmates while not having one of her own and she was definitely bitter about it.

Here’s one of the very first things I wrote when I was trying to flesh out the idea (sometimes, I get a snippet of a character’s inner thoughts or a tiny bit of a scene so I just write it out and stick it in a folder to deal with later. In this case, I never did anything with it because the story went in a different direction):

The book was originally going to be titled “Soulbound,” and I’m really glad I didn’t stick with that one. It would still fit in the context of the series, but I like Crossed Souls better.

Once I had an idea of who Willa was, it was time to create her harem. I’ve always had a love for all things dark and psycho, so Hiro and Crew were the first two guys who flickered into existence in my head. Then, Ever and Knox joined the party… and I can’t promise things will end with the four of them.

I’ve talked about my series bible before for this book, but this thing is a BEAST.

For every character I create, I make a full write up on them. Here’s just a peek into part of Willa’s:

There are about three pages like this for each character detailing all sorts of stuff about them, and I do the same thing for places, familiars, villains, magic types, and everything else in between. It’s a pretty hefty file when all is said and done. It goes on and on…

Did you have any idea how much goes into writing a book? I know I didn’t before I started doing it myself! Now I’m curious: Leave me a comment and let me know who your favorite character in CS is.

Crossed Souls - Rewrites

Crossed Souls, the first book in my Twisted Soul Magic series, was my first foray into paranormal romance. This was a story that started out in my head as something so much different than it came out when I wrote it. It also was my first attempt at writing reverse harem, and y’all… that shit is hard.

So, even though I did a ton of prep work going into the series (my series bible is more than 6,500 words, which is roughly two full chapters of writing), at times I felt like the story sort of got away from me. Trying to keep all the voices, goals, and quirks of each character unique while keeping the story on track was definitely a challenge I felt like I started to lose as the book went on.

Despite all of that, I was happy with it when it came out… until I started to read the reviews. Because the readers weren’t loving it. You guys thought Willa was naive and stupid and let her life happen to her (a fair assessment, unfortunately, and not at all how I set out to write her), that some of the plot got repetitive, and that my world building left a lot to be desired.

See, as much as I try not to, I read every review and I like to think I’m pretty good at taking constructive criticism. Now, when someone leaves me a 1-star and tells me my story sounds like it was written by a man (yes, that’s an actual review I’ve gotten), I can laugh that shit off. But, when a bunch of people say, “I kind of hate your heroine,” or, “your worldbuilding doesn’t make sense,” I listen.

It’s because of reviews like that that I’ve decided to do some major rewrites on Crossed Souls to make it a better intro into the series. I’ve put Twisted Little Games and Emerald Hills Elite off for now (no idea when it’ll be releasing) because this needs to happen first. I’m doing a full (MASSIVE) rewrite on the entire manuscript of Crossed Souls to try and improve it.

So, instead of updating you on the progress of me writing TLG, I’ll be updating you for now on my rewriting progress and giving you peeks into the differences in the story from what it started out as to what it’s turning into.

For now, all I’ve managed to get through is chapter one. But, it got some pretty significant rewrites already. Let’s look at the beginning.

This is the way the book originally started. What I was thinking when I wrote this scene was that she was having a dream, one where her powers were activating and she was confused. She was coming into her first contact with her Guardians, though she didn’t know who they were or what was happening in any way.

In hindsight, I can see that to the reader, this whole thing is pretty confusing. It made sense in my head at the time because I knew where the story was going, but as a reader, you didn’t.

So, I changed the whole thing (though she’s still having a dream) to be more conversational, to have a bit more of Willa’s personality in it, and to hopefully have it make more sense what’s happening. I don’t even think before it was necessarily clear that she was dreaming, but with the new version, I really tried to punch that fact home.

So, you can see that the story has changed already quite a bit, and there’s lots more to do. I’ll keep you updated on how the rewrites are going, but so far I’m a lot happier with where the story is headed. Have you read Crossed Souls yet? If so, leave me a comment and let me know!

Twisted Little Games - Plot

Every book I write, my actual process of writing the book changes just a little bit. Well, I guess that’s not true—sometimes it changes a LOT.

I’ve talked about this before, but I’m a hardcore plotter. There are some writers (called Pantsers) who can just sit down and write and let the story take them wherever it wants. The thought of that gives me massive anxiety. Sitting down to stare at a blank screen with no idea where I’m going makes me sweat.

I tend to write out the big parts of the story (like where it’s going to start, end, and anything important from the middle) and then start to get more and more and more intense and detailed as I break it down until I have all the details worked out before I start writing.

As much as this brings me peace and lets my brain calm down enough to begin, it also really boxes me in. So much so that with two of the last three books I’ve written (Hostile and Chased), I’ve had to scrap the second half plans for both, do massive rewrites and then replot the second half. It’s a big undertaking that might not have been necessary if I’d just shifted the way I worked.

Yesterday I was stressing over Twisted Little Games because I know the characters. I know exactly where I want it to start and where it’s going to end. The problem is the middle is still a bit fuzzy for me and not a lot was coming to me when I’d sit and try to brainstorm.

Enter my writing partner slash awesome friend Cathleen Cole who said, “Why don’t you start with what you have and then when you get to the end of what you’ve figured out, plot the next bit?”

Uhhhh.

Lightbulb moment!

So, that’s how I’m writing this book. I started today working on the first chapter without the entire thing plotted out (eeeeep!). We’ll see if this way allows for more creative freedom without it being a total free for all or if it bites me in the ass, but at this point I’m willing to try anything.

Emerald Hills Elite Behind the Scenes

The Emerald Hills Elite series has been on my mind for a looong time. I don’t know if reverse harem academy books are still popular or not, but they’re a trope I love to read (and have loved to read for a while now). I’ve really itched to write my own story, put my own spin on the subgenre and so that’s where the idea for this series came from.

The name “Emerald Hills Elite” is a mix of a few things. “Emerald Hills” was a neighborhood in the city I grew up in (Edmonds, Washington). It was the fancy place that sat up on a hill and overlooked the grey-blue waters of Puget Sound. It was also the place where at Halloween, it was rumored the residents handed out full-sized candy bars (FULL-SIZED, PEOPLE) and so everyone would pile in their cars and head there for trick-or-treating festivities.

I’ve always loved the name, so I thought it really fit for this series. In this series, the city is called “Emerald Hills” and it’s a fictional place that I image is somewhere on what we called the “eastside,” which is east of Seattle. It includes places like Bellevue and Issaquah, if you’re curious. The city itself is up in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range so it’s got all sorts of pine trees and rocky lake shores that get all spooky when it’s foggy and the clouds hang low with rain.

That’s the setting I envision with this book.

There’s also another city literally on the other side of the tracks called “Mulberry.” It sounds like a nice place with a name like that—wholesome and sort of 50s-ish, but it’s not. Not at all.

(Side note: The name comes from the song “Mulberry Street” by Twenty One Pilots, one of my favorites from their new album and I wanted to give it a nod in the story. The song is falsely happy sounding, but when you listen to the lyrics, there’s a much darker undertone about mental health).

In order to keep track of where everything is in relation to each other, I drew a map (and yes, my art skills are trash but you get the point).

My original dry erase board rough sketch of Emerald Hills and Mulberry.

The prettier (but still not very good) one I made in Canva.

This story was originally going to involve all sorts of weird stuff (I was going back and forth about making it PNR, but decided against it… because there was a whole fountain of youth storyline thing that was just strange. Sometimes brainstorming goes in an odd direction), but in the end, I think I’ve got all the parts that will make this awesome fleshed out.

So, there are two rival gangs, a badass heroine, four guys in her harem (we’ll meet them later), two cities on complete opposites of each other, and a school that’s creepy and has its own issues.

Now, I just have to figure out how much (if any) bullying I want to put into the story. Originally, I planned to make this a bully romance but now I’m not so sure that’s what it wants to be. Thoughts?

Twisted Little Games - Prep Work

Now that Hostile is finished and out in the wild, it’s time for me to start working on my next project. I thought it would be fun to update you as I go, giving you a behind the scenes look into my process of plotting and writing the first book in the Emerald Hills Elite series.

Up until I wrote Crossed Souls, I’d only ever wrote “traditional” male-female books, so I never gave something like a series bible a whole lot of thought. It wasn’t until I started CS that I realized keeping track of all those characters and world details was going to be too much to just wing it.

So, I created a series bible and that thing was a total godsend while I was writing, and as I’ve started looking ahead to working on Bound Souls, being able to look back at all the info has been invaluable.

Knowing EHE was going to be the same level of detailed and intense, I knew right away before I even started on the plot I was going to need a series bible for it, so I’ve been building it for months.

What even is a series bible? Well…

It’s a file I keep with all the details on the series. My Emerald Hills Elite one currently looks like this:

Every single entry on that side bar has or will have details written in it about either a particular location description, it’s purpose, the characters and all their issues, etc. It really helps me shape my characters into real people who have real issues, quirks, and the type of people they are.

Yesterday I nearly finished my series bible for Emerald Hills Elite, although I don’t know that as long as the series is ongoing it’ll ever be finished. This time around, one other difference is I’ve spent time fleshing out the side characters and the bad guys so I have an idea of what makes them tick. Usually, I just make them very one-dimensional and toss them in the story and call it good.

I’m always, always, always trying to be better and this is one of the ways I think I’m growing as a writer.

Once I have the series bible done, I’ll work on the actual plot (though I’ve done a lot of this work already). I’ve got a rough outline. I know where the book starts and where it ends (it’ll be a cliff, sorry!) but the stuff in the middle is where I’m hung up at the moment. I’m hoping to tackle it either today or tomorrow.

Once the plot work is done and I have everything in line, it’ll be time to start writing. I’ll update again when things are done and just before I start so you can keep up with my progress in bringing this book to life.

I can’t wait to get started!

Progress Update

I thought it’d be fun to update you along the journey of writing my current books. So, what am I actively writing?

Chased:

I’m currently writing chapter four of Chased. It’s a Ronin POV chapter. When I wrote Captive, the chapters ran roughly 4,000 words each. So far, this book’s chapters are even longer at about 5,000 words each which are massive. Unfortunately for me, the harder I try to make them smaller the bigger they get, so I’m just going with the flow and letting them be whatever they need to.

I’m really excited about this book because it’s going to have even more action and be faster paced than the last one, too. I really should’ve finished chapter four yesterday, but my writing mojo wasn’t where it needed to be, so today I’ll be getting that done and moving on to Montana’s POV in chapter five.

Crossed Souls:

I’m still on chapter one for this book writing-wise. It’s from the FMC’s POV and Montana is such a dynamic character that I’m finding it hard to swap between the two of them because this FMC comes off as sort of boring in comparison.

The problem is I don’t want to make this FMC too similar to Montana and I have yet to really find the FMC’s voice. Because of that, I’ve stepped back from writing it for a couple of days to try and get a better hold on her personality. There was also a major piece of her background I was missing and didn’t realize it until I was actively writing.

Now, I’ve got all of that figured out so I feel pretty good about jumping back in and finishing the first chapter. My other issue is I hit all my plotted scene bullet points for chapter one and it’s only, like, 1700 words which is way too short to be a decent chapter, but I’m hoping with the bit of backstory I need to add in that it’ll plump it up to around 2500.

Takeaways:

I knew writing two books would be a challenge, but I really thought the tough part would be continuing to write after I hit my limit on one book. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten to that point yet, but I’m hopeful with the character stuff I figured out this week, I’ll be able to see how it all goes.

Writing two very distinct characters is hard. I want them to be unique and distinct and switching between the two is seriously difficult. But, I always like a challenge, so I’m not going to give up. I’ll post another update next week and let you know how it’s going.

Two-Timing

Well, it’s official: I’ve lost my mind.

Yup, I’m about to dive into writing two books at the same time.

I mentioned it in one of my recent blog posts, but even then I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to do it. Now, it’s official because I’ve fully plotted both stories and have the set up all finished.

I’ve talked before about how I plot my stories, but the part that comes after plotting is what I’m going to talk about today. Once I do my general plot, I dig down into the details—both of which I’ve gone into before. I do that part by hand so once that’s done, I enter it all back into my plotting program.

Finally, I go into Google Drive. This is where I store everything for writing my books. I create a Google Docs file for every chapter and then I name them and format them for my editor (this is a new development since I started with her for Captive, but she’s amazing!). So, everything’s written in Times New Roman because that’s just how I roll.

(Quick side note: I read a study once that said people who write in Comic Sans are more productive, but fuuuuck that. Comic Sans makes me want to rip my eyeballs out of my skull).

After the files are all formatted, I copy over all my scene details from my plotting program into the appropriate chapter. It looks like this when it’s all done and ready for me to write:

Once that’s done, I’m all set to write and I don’t stop until I’m done. I set myself daily goals (I’ve talked about it before, but in case you missed it, I aim to write 4,000 words a day in 500-word blocks) and I have a writing partner who keeps me accountable.

So, now that you’ve had a peek behind the curtain, I’m gonna change the subject real quick. See, I’m honestly HORRIBLE at keeping writing news to myself. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and promise books that end up not working out, but now that I’ve got everything set up and am ready to actually dive into these stories later today, I feel confident sharing just a little hint of what’s coming in that top secret project I’ve been talking about.

So, now you have a title for book one: Crossed Souls.

It’s not up for pre-order, but here’s a sneak peek of the story aesthetic and maybe a couple of plot hints.

There’s no release date or pre-order or anything yet, but do you have any guesses what the story might be about? Leave ‘em in the comments!

Plotting... to Take Over the World?

…cue maniacal laughter.

I’ve probably talked about it before, but there are two types of writers (and potentially more in the form of hybrids of the two types but we’ll ignore them for now): Plotters and Pantsers.

Now, “Pantsers” are the type of people who fly by the seat of their pants. Get it? Ha. Ha.

Anyway, they don’t plot. They just sit down and write and basically magic comes out (if it works like it’s supposed to).

While I’m pretty scattered and disorganized in every other aspect of my life, I can’t stand being that way when it comes to my writing. I have to plot until there’s nothing left to do but write or I feel like I’m going to go crazy.

Or sit in a corner and cry… not that that’s ever happened or anything.

Ahem.

So, with every book in the Shadow Phoenix series, I did my plotting a little bit differently trying to figure out what worked best for me and what level of planning I actually needed to do in order to pull off the story.

As it turns out, I didn’t find the answer until I wrote “Captive,” and the answer is I need to plot EVERYTHING.

Every. Damn. Thing.

But it worked so well, that when I slacked off on my writing for Captive after telling myself I got off to a fast start and could take a few weeks off there in the middle, I was able to write, like, sixty thousand words in two weeks because of my plotting skillz.

Now that I’m about to dive into Chased, I’m not even trying to change up my plotting style at all (which is a relief to not have to think about what needs tweaking), and as of yesterday, the first step of the full plot is done. Behold:

This is a glimpse into what my plotting looks like for the book. (For those of you who also write, I use Plottr in dark mode because dark mode is liiiife). I separate the characters by color, and then I use one keyword to describe whatever scene is going to happen. I always aim for 4 scenes per chapter, but as I write, if a scene runs long I occasionally have to cut a future one down the line or expand it out into a whole new chapter.

Thankfully, that only happened twice during Captive and I was able to just cut the scenes rather than expand. Once I’m done with the keywords and a few minor details to describe each scene, I print it out and go through it scene by scene adding as much detail as I possibly can so that when I write, I can transfer over the scene notes and go from there.

It may sound complicated, but ideally it takes me less than a week (Captive took me three solid days) to do all the prep work on a book and then I can dive in and start writing. I’m really excited to give you Chased, and now that this step is finished, I can move on to the final plotting (details!) and then get writing. Let me tell you, this book is going to get your heart racing in more ways than one and I can’t wait to get started.

What Captive Taught Me

This whole writing journey started for me with a song and an idea to explore what it would be like to be a rock star and also finding love. At the start of my writing career, I had no idea about HOW to actually write. I mean, sure, you can sit down to your computer and just start typing, and a lot of authors make that work for them.

I am not one of those people.

When I wrote Zen, I wrote and re-wrote it three times before I finally published it, and even then, I did a massive re-write last summer because I hadn’t done any series planning and the way the other stories unfolded, and the way the characters came out, didn’t fit in with the way I’d originally written them.

Now that I’m on my 8th book (EEK!), I’ve got a whole lot more confidence in what I’m doing and how to do it. Captive, though, it’s the first book in a brand new series and before I started writing it, I decided to sit down for a sec and decide if there were things about the way I wrote the Shadow Phoenix series I wanted to change going into this one.

For example, I wrote all the books in SP in first person past tense. There are a lot of combinations for how to write a book, but when I was writing the first seven, I found myself jumping a lot between past and present tense and then having to go back and correct my mess ups. So, while it was outside of my comfort zone and a little scary, I decided the Hollywood Guardians series was going to be written in first person present tense.

It might seem like a subtle change, and you may not even notice the difference when you read it, but writing it has been really different for me and I’ve gotta say I think I like it. I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it going forward or in future projects or not, but for this series it’s fun to push the limits on what I’m capable of.

Another thing I’ve learned writing this book is that I always knew I was a planner. I’m a plotter through and through and while every other book before this has had varying levels of plotting, Captive took it to a whole new level.

My process in the past has gone something like this:

• Get an idea for a book.

• Write down any other bits (conflict, characters, a specific trope) that are clear.

• Make an outline with vague things I want to happen (like “couple goes to lunch”).

• Break outline into chapters.

• Start writing.

While that’s at least something, the past three books I’ve written (from Jericho up to Harrison), I’ve had to spend a massive amount of time (and STRESS. Omfg, the stress) stopping somewhere in the middle of the book and re-plotting the second half because the story had gone off the rails. My outlines weren’t tight enough to keep the story on track, so things happened that I didn’t plan for and then the rest of the story wouldn’t make sense.

This time around, in an effort to streamline my writing process (because I’d really like to get my book out faster which means writing more every day), I decided to spend a solid three days before I ever wrote a word plotting all the tiny details of every scene. The places they go to eat (restaurant name), who they’re talking to, what they’re talking about, who’s interacting with who. All sorts of the nitty gritty details so I wouldn’t have to go do a ton of research in the middle of writing.

It was a lot of up front effort, but soooo worth it because my story has stayed perfectly on track this entire book. There’s been no re-plotting (well, aside from one tiny scene where Ronin needed to make an appearance that I hadn’t planned for, but it was no biggie to add it in to the existing story with zero extra plotting or accommodating) and I’m right where I should be.

Even after taking that mental health break right in the middle of writing this one where I didn’t write a word for about there weeks, I’m still right on schedule. Having everything plotted out for me ahead of time means that I’ve been able to write 52,000 words in the last 13 days to make sure Captive gets to you all as scheduled.

So, that’s a bit about my process in case you were curious, and I’m really excited to see how fast I can write Chased (Montana x Ronin’s story) using the same method.

My Creative Brain

Heeyyyy, lovely reader! The first book in my all-new Hollywood Guardians series, Captive (Connor's story) is still underway and on top of that, I've been working on something top secret, too... But right now I want to do something I'm not great at and let y'all in a bit.

See, I have crippling anxiety--the agoraphobia kind where it's hard for me to leave my house without a massive panic attack. Even going somewhere a mile down the road can be hard.

So, I've been quiet lately because I've been working on my mental health and my anxious (but super creative, so yay!) brain has a hard time balancing all the things you're "supposed" to do as an author.

Things like blog, post to Instagram, keep up with your group or your Facebook page. I'd even like to do TikTok... but just remembering and having the energy to write every day on top of all my anxiety program things (like journaling, meditating, yoga, breathing exercises and a whole host of other cognitive behavioral things I'm working on) is a big ask.

So, I will keep trying. I'll be kind and gentle with myself knowing that I'm doing my absolute best, and I hope that this is a reminder for you, too, to cut yourself some slack. We all tend to be so hard on ourselves, but at the end of the day we do the best we can and keep working toward being better.

I don't like to talk about my anxiety issues, but I figure if I can make even one person feel like they're not alone, I'm happy to do it.

Alllllll that being said... I'm so grateful for every single one of you here who's given my stories a chance and said kind words or gotten excited about something I've written. I love you all and I want you to know you make such a difference in my life, so thank you!

When I'm Stuck

Typically when I write a book, I aim to get a chapter done every day. Now, there are plenty of times that it doesn’t happen or that I do more than one in a day (more often, it not happening is what’s going down rather than me writing more, but it does happen from time to time).

I also outline my books before I start writing them, which means I generally know where a chapter’s going to go before I start writing it. Problems crop up when the story goes off the rails of the outline or I realize that the word count isn’t on target.

(I always aim to write at least 100k words per book, and Griffin has been my shortest so far at 105k).

With Tempting Harrison, I realized that with the number of chapters I have planned out and the word count of each chapter being what it is, I was going to fall short of my 100k goal. Now the struggle is how do I beef up the story without using anything that feels like filler?

The past four days, I’d been stuck on a chapter I added in. I thought I knew where it was going, but once I had written out the things I had in mind, I was about a thousand words short of where I needed to be. I’d been going crazy wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do, when finally I brought it up with a fellow writer friend of mine, Cathleen. (If you’re looking for something to read while you wait for Harrison, go check out her debut novel, Heart of Steel).

She made a couple of suggestions that got me thinking in a whole different direction than I was and bam! Unsutck, just like that. This morning, I finished the chapter and moved onto the next and the book is back underway.

So, in short, being stuck sucks but having peeps to bounce ideas off of is the best way to get un-stuck in my opinion. Also, this book (Tempting Harrison) is honestly my favorite of the series, which has been such a happy surprise. I can’t wait for you to read it!

Sorry For the Delay

I know, I know. It’s been a hot minute since I wrote anything on this blog, but there’s a good reason—promise! I’ve been hard at work writing Griffin. This book… it’s testing me, y’all. I’ve had to do so much research to try and get everything just right.

The Shadow Phoenix crew is going on tour in Griffin’s book, and while it’s not a huge tour, I want you to feel like you’re experiencing some of the places they go right there along with Magnolia and Griffin (and, of course, some of the other guys and girls from the group).

So, I plan on getting back into more detailed blogs soon, just as soon as I finish writing this book. I’ve got less than three weeks to get everything done and the stress is legit kicking my ass.

I’m off to get this manuscript finished so I can get it into your hands… or devices. But in the meantime, read on for a little sneak peek of a silly and sweet moment between Griff and Mags.

Griffin

Magnolia raised her eyebrow at me and I laughed. “What? You know I’m from Texas.”

“Yeah, but you don’t strike me as the kind of guy who listens to a whole lot of country music,” she noted, letting her stunning blue gaze run over all my tattoos and piercings and my body heated under her scrutiny. Again.

“Well, ma’am, give me any country song from the nineties and I could probably sing along,” I drawled, letting the twang I’d worked hard to bury pop out in an over-exaggerated way and she giggled. It was a sound I hadn’t heard from her yet, but one that had everything inside me lighting up. 

Instead of continuing our banter, she turned on the stage and looked out into the empty auditorium, breathing in deeply. “Just think about all the people who’ve stood on this stage in the last ninety-five years,” she mused. “The music that’s been played and all the people in the audience who had a chance to come out and see the show, no matter what was going on in their lives. They all came together to enjoy something special. It’s really incredible when you think about it.”

I stepped up beside her and looked out into the rows of empty seats. The Grand Ole Opry was a place of musical legend, and just like Magnolia, I never thought I’d be standing on this stage. This was one of those places on every musician’s bucket list--no matter how famous or not famous you were. “What show do you wish you could’ve seen?”

What Am I Thinking?

My mind was blown about two years ago when I discovered Lauren Landish and read a few of her books. They were so different than all the other romance novels I’d read in the past and I loved them so much. They were like a breath of fresh air.

And what made them different?

The couples never had that icky moment where they split up over a little misunderstanding or a lie or something one of them didn’t tell the other. That moment (the black moment) where a couple splits up only to be brought back together again never sat right with me.

Why?

Because it’s predictable. It’s something every book does, and I hate it. It’s why I rarely read contemporary romance anymore, because it’s predictable to me. As soon as I read her books (before I wrote my own), I vowed I would only write books like that—the kind that didn’t have the same kind of black moment as all the others.

That’s not to say that my books don’t have those moments. There always have to be stakes. There has to be that moment where you’re like, “Oh, shit. How are they going to deal with this?” I just prefer mine to come from outside forces.

Once my couple is a couple, they’re going to stay that way. It may take some time for them to get there, or it may happen quickly. It may be unconventional or a trope you’ve read a hundred times. But no matter how it happens, my couples are rock solid once they declare themselves together.

Us vs. The World.

That’s how I write my stories. I go in every time with that in mind above all else, and then I figure out how to make it work. Once I’m done with the SP series, I’m going to start working on the Elite Order series. It’ll be my first attempt at writing reverse harem and I am beyond excited about it.

Have you ever read reverse harem? Do you like that traditional “black” moment in traditional contemporary books or do you, like me, feel like something different is refreshing? Leave me a comment and let me know!

What I'm Working On

With the release of Playing Jericho, I haven’t been great about blogging. On the one hand, I was busy rushing to get it done on time. On the other hand, I’m fairly lazy when it comes to keeping up with my social media. Or anything, really, but that’s for another day (procrastination is another one of my many, many talents lol).

So… I did a thing. A sort of crazy thing that my husband challenged me to do—write my next book in just two months. I’m the type of girl who doesn’t appreciate when someone tells me I can’t do something so I went all challenge accepted on him and here we are. Me, writing Taming Griffin in just two months from start to finish.

Am I stressed about it? Sort of. But I’m surprisingly making decent progress on the manuscript and it’s going better than I thought. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Griffin and Magnolia’s story came really easy to me. Where Jericho and Moon were a total struggle every step of the way, I knew who Magnolia was right from the start.

Griffin… I always thought he’d fit in well with his brother in the loveable asshole category, but when I actually started writing him, he quickly let me know he was more like True than any of the other guys. He’s sweet and younger than the rest of the guys of Shadow Phoenix, and with his youth comes a certain naivety.

He grew up in a happy home with parents who always supported him, so he never really learned about the hardships the world has to offer. When he starts his journey with SP—a job he got pretty easily because of who his brother is—he has no clue about people’s nefarious intentions and motivations, or that someone might get close to him because of what he has to offer, not because of who he is.

Magnolia… she has some serious baggage she brings with her on tour. In Taming Griffin, we follow the band on a nationwide tour, one that Magnolia’s responsible for managing. She has her own reasons for wanting to be on the road and never staying in one place for too long, and none of them are good.

I’m excited to share more sneaks of the sweet but sexy Griffin, and the sassy Southern Magnolia. Read on for an unedited sneak peek!

Magnolia

“Did you enjoy the show?” a smooth, deep voice asked from right over my shoulder and I spun, throwing my fist right at his face. Griffin reacted so fast, he managed to catch my punch instead of letting it smash into his too-perfect face. “Damn, what’d I do to piss you off this time? I was coming to apologize.”

I jerked my hand out of the hold he had on it, horrified at myself for reacting that way. I learned a long time ago someone sneaking up on me wasn’t a good thing and now I reacted accordingly. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to sneak up a woman?” I snapped, my heart racing a million miles an hour.

He studied my face carefully before lifting his hands in surrender and taking a step back. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He raked his fingers through the damp strands of his wavy brown hair. “I wanted to apologize again for this morning. It was unprofessional of me to not even let you know I wouldn’t be able to make it, and it won’t happen again.”

Taming Griffin releases 12/22!

Alpha-Holes? Yes, Please

I’d never heard the term “alpha-hole” before I started reading dark romance, but whoever invented it is a fucking genius because it so perfectly describes the kind of heroes (or anti-heroes) that star in those books.

Who doesn’t love an alpha male who’s strong and at least a little possessive but who’s also an asshole? In real life? Probably not so much. But in fiction? Yes, please.

I’ve never written this kind of guy. When I first started writing, I thought I was into fluffy stories, both writing and reading. That was until I stumbled onto LJ Shen and my eyes were opened to the dark romance subgenre. My eyes have been FULLY opened now, and an alpha-hole is my favorite kind of hero.

Now, that doesn’t mean that’s all I’m going to write, but now I find myself drawn to writing not only darker heroes but also darker stories. If you’ve read the Shadow Phoenix series so far, you can sort of see the progression in each book as the characters have gotten snarkier, more possessive, jealous, more emotionally wounded, etc.

Jericho is a complete alpha-hole. He’s dark, broken, and a little bit wicked. He’s possessive but he’s also sweet in his own way. His journey throughout his book from someone who’s so closed off to someone who can relinquish his tightly held control is really incredible, and I can’t wait for you all to read it.

Once the Shadow Phoenix series concludes, I’m dipping my toes into darker waters with a new series and I’m beyond excited about it. So, what do you think of alpha-holes? Do you prefer dark or fluffy romance? Leave me a comment and let me know!