A Jersey Dreamboat - Blog Tour

This is going to be a very busy week this week. Firstly A Jersey Dreamboat is part of a blog tour from 28 September to 2 October hosted by the fabulous Brook Cottage Books.

I'm also taking part in the inaugural Jersey Literary Festival from 30 September to 4 October. Here's the link to the timetable where you can buy tickets if you wish to attend the talks - *whispers* mine is on Sunday at 3.30, hope to see you there.

Chatting to Alaina Drake about Forbidden Touch

Today I'm welcoming Alaina Drake to my blog for a chat about her intriguing book Forbidden Touch (out 24 September).

1. Did you do any research for your book?  What resources did you use?

I researched the setting a lot. The book is set in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the university city of Boulder. My family and I take vacations there each year to hike and climb in the mountains. I took a lot of pictures of the natural surroundings and flipped through them for inspiration as I wrote.

2. Do you have a favourite place to write and if so, where is it?

I write at my desk in our downstairs study. I am a full-time stay-at-home mom during the day, so I write after our daughter goes to bed. I’ve come up with a system that works for me. I have to have her baby monitor right next to the lit candle. I have to eat peanuts when I write and I have to wear one of my husband’s sweaters when I write the…ahem…steamier scenes. Call it quirks…but it works for me!

3. Do you aim for a certain amount of words when you write, or something else you aim for?

I always try for a thousand words a day minimum when I’m writing a first draft. I find that getting the “juices” flowing each day gets me into a rhythm where my body expects to write every night and actually misses it when I don’t. I always write even when I don’t feel like it. I can always highlight and delete the really bad stuff, which, of course as all writers will tell you, happens a lot.

4. Are you a plotter or a panster?

I’m both. I plot out the main character arc. I ask myself: how does each character grow? How does their individual growth lead them to a stronger romantic relationship? I know the basic storyline, and I try to map out each scene, but, inevitably, I will start with something like sixteen scenes and end up with twenty-five. I need more scenes than I think I will to develop characters, and I gladly add them in when my characters beg me to do it.

5.What are you working on now?

Forbidden Touch is Book One in the Claimed Series, which follows four women, all roommates, as they each explore romance in a different way. I have already written Book Two in the series, Forbidden Temptation, which focuses on roommate Jenn, a literature professor and avid rock-climber. I just finished the first draft of the third book, which is Forbidden Addiction. This book focuses on feisty Nina, my first scarred heroine. She made me cry and fall in love with her.

6. Do you have any tips for any new writers wishing to be published?

Forbidden Touch is my first published novel, so I can offer a lot of advice for new authors wanting to get published. The painful, scary, and sometimes depressing querying process is still fresh for me. My first piece of advice is to never worry about getting published as you write your first, second, or third drafts. If you write for an editor you think you will get someday, it will never work. Write for yourself. For the joy of it. Let the characters wake you up at one a.m. (even when your toddler is going to be up in five hours!) Let the plot work itself out when you’re folding clothes or blow-drying your hair. Write what you want to write. And, embrace the fact that the first couple drafts are going to stink. Wait, not just stink…I mean stink REALLY bad. And that’s okay! If you compared my first draft of Forbidden Touch to the final one, you would see very little resemblance. An author I admire and follow on Twitter once said, “Think of the first draft as shovelling sand into the sandbox. Every draft after that begins to build the sandcastle.”

So, I guess what I would say to new writers wishing to be published is to write with the goal to tell a story, not to get published. If it gets published, it’s just a really cool bonus.

Bio:

Alaina Drake discovered her love of writing in the fourth grade when she won her first young author writing contest. After attaining a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English Literature, she set out to write novels that combine her two loves: erotic romance and classical literature. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her watching sports, and, of course, reading way past midnight. She is an avid rock climber and former ballerina, and she finds a lot of connection between the two activities despite their obvious differences. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband and daughter.

Blurb:

Hannah Black saunters into the bar in her four-inch stilettos, intent on breaking her recent streak of bad dates and even worse sex. What she finds instead is sizzling hot doctor Beckett Stanton - but she doesn’t realize that he is the last man she should have chosen for her one night fling. While their views of sex and love polarize them, the attraction between them doesn’t allow either to turn away. The two play a dangerous game that tests both of their resolves, and when Hannah is given the chance to satisfy her needs, she is forced to make a decision - because the man with whom she wanted a no-strings-attached fling tugs at her heart in ways she never anticipated.
 Here's a trailer for you to watch: https://youtu.be/qFhfPImR9YE

 

The shortened link to buy the book is this: (Mybook.to/Forbiddentouch

 Follow Alaina on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alaina-Drake-961360597218796/timeline/

And Twitter: @alaina_drake

To follow the rest of the tour, here's who's coming next:

Thank you, Alaina.

Georgina

Lynne Shelby Talks About French Kissing

Welcome to my blog, Lynne, and thank you for answering a few questions for me.

Hi Georgina, Thank you for inviting me onto your blog.

1. Please can you describe French Kissing in twenty words? Childhood penfriends, Anna, who is English, and Alexandre, who is French, meet as adults. Will their friendship grow into love?

2.  What is your writing process, are you a plotter, or do you start with an idea and see where the story takes you as you write? I start with the beginning of a story, and I know the end, but as to what happens in between, I see where my characters take me. Sometimes I think they are actually in charge and telling the story themselves!

3.  French Kissing is partially based in Paris – my favourite city – what was your inspiration for setting this book there? Paris is one of my favourite places too. It’s such a beautiful and romantic city – a perfect location for a love story.

4.  Can you tell us a little about your journey to being a published author? I’ve always written for pleasure and dreamt of one day having my work published, but about five years ago I ‘discovered’ romantic fiction and realised this was the genre I really wanted to write in. I joined the wonderful Romantic Novelists Association New Writers’ Scheme, and started going to writers’ workshops, and entering writing competitions. In January 2015, I received the thrilling news that I’d won the Accent Press and Woman magazine Writing Competition, and that ‘French Kissing,’ would be published.

5.  That's fantastic, huge congratulations on your exciting win! What’s the most important advice you would give to someone who might be considering writing their own book? Write every day. Even if it’s just a few sentences, it’s amazing how your ms grows.

6.   I love the sound of Alexandre, your hero. I’m always asked if my heroes are based on real people. Is Alexandre based on anyone, or an amalgam of people and if so, can you tell us who? I was travelling back to London from Paris on the Eurostar, and there was a Frenchman sitting across the aisle who spent the journey phoning friends in England, telling them that he, François, was coming to London, and suggesting they meet up. Unfortunately, none of his English friends wanted his company. By the time the train reached St Pancras, I was feeling very sorry for François, and I’d had the idea for a story about a Frenchman coming to London who was very much welcomed by an English girl - these characters became Alexandre and Anna.

7.  I love the sound of French Kissing, have pre-ordered my copy and can’t wait to be able to start reading it. Can you tell us what you’re working on at the moment? I’m working on what I think is going to be the final draft of a novel about a love-triangle set in the world of showbusiness.

Another fabulous sounding book that I'll look forward to reading - here's the link to buy it.

Thanks, Lynne. Thank you, Georgina, it’s been a pleasure.

Website http://www.lynneshelby.com/
Blog: https://lynneshelbywrites.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LynneShelbyWriter

Twitter: @LynneB1

Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Georgina Troy: Jersey Cream

Here's my chat about my Jersey Scene series published with Accent Press with the lovely ladies over at the Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Georgina Troy: Jersey Cream:

Georgina Troy is lucky enough to live on the beautiful island of Jersey where her books are  based. We were delighted to have the opportunity... you can read more through the link above.

Publication Day - A Jersey Dreamboat

Today is the publication day for the third book in my Jersey Scene series, A Jersey Dreamboat. *unable to stop doing an unco-ordinated celebratory dance* This is the first book that I haven't previously self-published and it has been great fun to write.

The book is fiction but was inspired from a trip I took with my great friend, Carol O'Regan McQuillan...

Genre: Contemporary Romance : Release Date: 4 September 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTPby8LxkNo

A Jersey Dreamboat

The third instalment of the Jersey Scene series. Event planners Izzy and Jess are badly let down when a Jersey socialite hires them for the busiest weeks of the season and then cancels at the last minute, leaving the girls with no bookings and no money. Feeling despondent, they try a night out to cheer themselves up, and meet the captivating and aristocratic Ed, who invites the two on a luxury yacht cruise to Nice, together with his two brothers. Romance builds through heady days of blue sky and warm seas, but when a last-minute wedding booking is offered, the girls must return to Jersey, and real life has to begin again ...or has it?

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

Published by Accent Press

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