You have a dirty little mind, don’t you?   LOL, you’ll find out about that couch soon enough, but first….I’ve been tagged!!

Author buddy, Tracy Solheim has tagged me in a blog hop!  She had a great analogy on her post about blog hops being like those old fashioned chain letters we all used to get/start when we were young.  I remember my mother telling me “Don’t you dare pass that on!”  Well, here I am, all up in the webby version of it, and yep, I’m passing it on. 🙂   And that’s okay, all I have to do is answer a few questions about my writing and then “tag” two other writer friends.   Not a problem!

1.) What am I working on/writing?

Right this minute, I’m finishing up edits/revisions on STAY WITH ME, which takes place in the same fictional town of Copper Falls, Texas that DON’T LET GO did.  STAY WITH ME is a lighter, bit edgier story about Savanna (Savi) Barnes, who with her dad runs an antique/junk business out of an old barn.  Forty-three year old Savi is a former wild child who thinks she’s put all that behind her, just focusing on keeping her troubled business afloat, and falling for Duncan, the local veterinarian hottie across town.  She’s settled into her life–until the fire to her gasoline rumbles back into town on a Harley.  Ian McMasters was once the love of her life, and he crushed her heart when he left mysteriously.  With Ian back in town, rumors, lies, secrets, and coverups run amuck.  Chaos abounds as her family business is in trouble, people are suddenly not what they seem, and to top it off Savi has to fight the warring of her heart.  Two very different men hold very different pieces of her.  STAY WITH ME is slated to release later this summer, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

2.) How does my work/writing differ from others in its genre?

That is so hard, because everyone’s work is so unique and subjective.  I will say that my romances teeter into the women’s fiction realm a bit.  Only because my stories aren’t only about the romance.  My characters have baggage, and issues, and major crap usually going on, 🙂  so they have a journey of their own outside of the love story.  Also, I love writing in first person, putting the reader right into the story, so I think that gives it the deeper “womens fiction” feel as well.  That being said, I could never be a pure womens fiction writer….I love those hot romances too much!  I love sexual tension and the push/pull tease between two people who can’t get enough of each other!

3.) How does my writing process work?

I have a full time day job still (unfortunately) which while it pays the bills, it does cramp the writing style.  LOL.  So I write in the evenings when I get home, and usually half days or more on the weekends.  I write something every day.  And while I would love to say I have an office to do that in, I do not.  I write on my (here’s the couch moment) living room couch, on my laptop, with my dog jumping on my head dangling her rope toy in my face wanting to play, and my husband coming in and out asking me random questions.  Needless to say, I have learned to write steamy hot love scenes amidst chaos and SyFy marathons.  Because yes, the 60 inch TV is in there, too.

Who’s up?

My tagged ladies are two amazing women I’ve been blessed to meet at RWA National Conferences, and live on two opposite coasts!

Maria Geraci and I hit it off last year in Atlanta.  We were nominated together in the same RITA category, and became fast friends.  I’m convinced that if we lived closer, we’d be trouble.  Maria was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised on Florida’s Space Coast. Her love of books started with the classic, Little Women (a book she read so often growing up, she could probably quote). She writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with happy endings. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award.

And then there’s Melissa Cutler.  Melissa and I met two years ago in Anaheim, but we’d already kind of “met” on Twitter when she signed with the same literary agency I’m with.  And last year, we had a blast in Atlanta as well, and we will be roomies this year in San Antonio!  She’s a California girl, and another one that I know I’d get into trouble with if she lived closer.  Hmmm.  🙂   Melissa says she has the best job in the world, dividing her time between her dual passions for writing sexy contemporary romances and edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense for Harlequin, Penguin, St. Martin’s Press, and Kensington Books. She was struck at an early age by an unrelenting travel bug and is probably planning her next vacation as you read this. When she’s not globetrotting, she’s enjoying Southern California’s flip-flop wearing weather and wrangling two rambunctious kids.  Melissa’s latest book, How To Rope A Real Man, came out in May.  And her new Bomb Squad Hockey Series kicks off in August with Risky Business.

Check out these two fabulous authors’ sites to see who they tag next!