Here’s another special excerpt for your reading enjoyment.

Haley let her IM friends talk her into summoning a demon lover, but every spell has its price!

Demon Lovers: Haley’s Demon

by Leila Brown

Tired of being alone, Haley Dixon’s let her IM friends talk her into something really crazy — casting a spell to trap a demon lover for the night. She doesn’t really expect the spell to work, but when it does she gets more than she ever bargained for.

Haley Dixon’s trapped a demon — but every spell has its price, and turn about’s fair play. Taron, the fifth heir of the Severin Dynasty, just may be exactly what she needs.

Excerpt:

Haley Dixon looked over the website one last time. Candles, check. Salt circle around the bed, check. One blood red rose in full bloom, check. Okay, she was ready. Or as ready as she would ever be.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. Five minutes until midnight. Taking a deep breath, she wondered if she was crazy. Yeah, crazy, lonely, and most of all horny. At least she wasn’t alone. Her two best IM friends should be doing the same spell. If this spell worked she would have her own fantasy man to please her all night long. Hell, if it didn’t she hoped it would at least inspire her subconscious to give her a good erotic dream. Not to mention they would laugh and blog about it tomorrow.

Raising her wineglass to her lips, she downed the rest of the sweet golden liquid. She had to be the most desperate woman in the world to resort to conjuring up a man to satisfy her. Doubts pounded her. What was she doing? She could just go out and find any man off the street.

No, he might expect more than she had to give, and right now she wanted a no-strings-attached night of bliss. She had enough to worry about. Family, friends, co-workers — the list went on and on. There was no way she was going to add one more responsibility to her already overcrowded life.

Her alarm clock went off, making her jump and spill a few drops of wine over the rim of her glass. Too late for doubts now. Suck it up and just do it. She pulled the paper from the counter beside the empty wine bottle.

From deep beneath the surface rise Demon lover, heed my call Come satisfy my heady lust Stay until my passions wane Come to me in all your glory Provide a happily ever after To my bedtime story

That was the dumbest sounding spell she’d ever seen. Not that she’d ever seen one before. She shook her head. Had she really expected this to work?

A slight breeze blew through the room ruffling the red sheer curtains of her bedroom. The candlelight flickered for a second before blinking completely out. She didn’t have a window open, did she? No. She never kept her windows open at night.

Where the hell had that gust of air come from then?

“Where am I?” A deep voice asked. A very male voice.

Her chest caved in as every muscle in her body froze. There was someone here, in the room. It would be more than ironic if a burglar had chosen this exact moment to break in. Haley broke out of her terror induced stupor and tripped over her computer chair in a rush to turn on the lights. Wasn’t that how the stupid woman always died in the movies? New plan. Run for the door and don’t look back.

She hurried toward the door, flicking on the lights on her way out. Chancing a glance over her shoulder what she saw almost stopped her in her tracks. There in the center of her bed crouched a man, naked from the waist up. Her jaw dropped and she stumbled over her own feet. She’d seen naked men before, but they were a poor imitation to the one currently staring at her. He crawled across to the edge of the bed and stood.

Oh my God. The skintight black pants he wore outlined a massive bulge. That could not be real. Saliva pooled in her mouth as her mind burned his image into her memory. The chances of her ever seeing such masculine perfection again were approximately zilch to none.

“Human. Did you summon me?” His question was full of righteous indignation.

This had to be a joke. It had to be. If it were possible to conjure a man up just for sex, every woman in her right mind would be doing it. No muss, no fuss, do the spell, do him then make him disappear.

“Did you summon me, human?”

“Tell me this is a joke. It just isn’t possible.” Her mouth went dry and her throat closed up.

“Why did you summon me, human?” His eyebrows slanted as his gaze turned threatening.

“I just read a stupid spell. I didn’t think it would work.” She inched her feet backward.

The man’s head turned as he looked toward the candles surrounding him then to the rose lying in the center of the bed. “This looks like more than just a spell to me.”

“I didn’t think it would work,” she repeated. Her voice was getting smaller and she was getting closer to getting the hell out of here.

“Well, obviously it did. Now tell me why I’m here so I can go home.” Pissed was too mild a word to describe his tone. A muscle jumped up and down at the base of his jaw.

Haley swallowed but couldn’t budge the lump in her throat. There was no way she was going anywhere near the guy. “I don’t know…”

The man clenched his hands at his sides. “How about you read the spell to me then?”

She bit her lip. If she said the spell again she ran the risk of conjuring another male. And that was simply not acceptable. Definitely not acceptable. No way. No shape. No form.

“Human, I will not wait forever.” He took a step away from the bed.

If he took one more step toward her she was out of here. Fuck trying to be subtle. The man moved to take another step but ran into an invisible wall. He stumbled back into the bed. Thank goodness she’d followed the spell to a tee. She hated to imagine what would’ve happened if she’d omitted that circle of salt.

“So, you took precautions did you?”

“Look, I’m sorry I called you. You can go home now.” Concentrating hard, she just barely kept the tremor out of her voice.

“The magic does not work that way. I am stuck here until I fulfill the original request.” Disgust flowed right alongside his anger now.

“Totally not necessary. You go away. I’ll stay here. It’s a win-win.” Hell, she wasn’t even horny anymore. Not really.

I’ve got a special excerpt to share… I’ve just started reading the book. So far… awesome! Enjoy the excerpt!

Amethyst Bound

I’ve got a special guest today here on my blog. Thanks to Rebecca Goings for taking over and talking about one of my very favorite subjects. *insert swoon here* Cowboys! Take it away, Becka…

What is it about my obsession with cowboys? I’ve always loved them. Ever since I became a fan of romance novels (at the tender age of twelve), I’ve been in love with one cowboy or another. Perhaps it was the fact I grew up in Nevada, a state that embraces its Wild West past. There’s nothing quite like seeing a REAL herd of wild horses or walking the streets of Virginia City while learning about the silver rush of the Comstock Lode.

Whatever the reason, I can’t get enough of them; men who ride the range, who are kind to animals, polite to women, and who are the ultimate gentleman. Of course, there are bad boys of the range as well, men who aren’t repentant in the least for ravishing you under the stars…

I think it’s the combination of knowing cowboys can be unpredictable coupled with the love they have for their animals. They’ve got guns, and they’re not afraid to use ‘em. They’re wild and untamed, and can do amazing things on the back of a horse (SAVAGE THUNDER by Johanna Lindsey, anyone??). But they’re also carefree, they don’t live by the rules of society, and they symbolize (for me) shucking convention to ride the range with them.

I also believe my love for cowboys stems from my own love of animals and nature. Moreso than stuffy dukes and viscounts, cowboys seem to be more in tune with nature and the great outdoors. In a way, they are stewards of the land, and they’ll defend their woman until their last breath, defending her honor with their own brand of justice.

I’m saddened at the lack of Western historicals there are out there. It seems historical England reigns supreme. I know a handful of authors who are trying to bring them “back” and make cowboys popular again.

I want to be one of them.

YEEHAW!!

She’s here! Say hello to my good friend Lissa Matthews.
” title=”http://www.lissamatthews.com\”>” target=”_blank”>www.lissamatthews.com”> Learn more about Lissa and all her awesome (and I should mention smokin’ hot books).

It’s early morning and I’m sitting at the coffee shop writing this blog post for Selena. I have an hour to work relatively undistracted before I need to leave and head home. This is a normal morning routine for me. I get up, shower, take my daughter to school, and come here to Caribou Coffee. I sit in the corner, away from the window because it’s just too damn cold right there.

You must wonder why I come here and why I just don’t go back home and write. The answer is simple. Focus. Right frame of mind. That’s what the coffee shop first thing in the morning is for me. The shop is empty, no one is here save for the stream of people walking in to get their own jolt of caffeine.

I have my netbook out, open, and ready to go. And the netbook, it goes everywhere with me. I can sit in the car and write while I wait for my daughter’s school to let out. I can write at the coffee shop, Panera, a friend’s house, in my own bathroom if I just need to get away and there’s no way to leave the house. But back to the routine… That’s what this is, too. A routine. I don’t do it every morning, but I do try for at least 3 days a week. I typically order a regular coffee or hot tea and an oatmeal. It’s soooooo very good.

After I get breakfast, I sit and start working. Usually by this time, I’ve got a good 45-50 minutes that I can write, but, I make the most of it. The music on the mp3 player drowns out any other noises and I rarely look up from the screen. If I’m really into the scene, I can usually make a pretty good dent in my daily word count.

This is how I have started 2010. I needed a routine, something to focus me, to get me and keep me going and this is what I have chosen to do. I don’t have a designated home office, so this little corner in the coffee shop is used as such. It’s mindset. I have found that when I follow this routine, I get a lot more done both in writing and in my homes life with housework, kids, etc…

And yes, this habit is expensive, but as a way to combat this, I budget every month for it. I put a certain amount on a Caribou card and when it’s empty, well, let’s hope it’s near payday. I know I can’t deduct it from taxes, but, if it helps me start my day and put me in the frame of mind I need to be in, then, it’s worth it.

We all have a routine we need to follow, a regimen that centers us, focus’ us on what we need to do. Some people need to shower and shave and dress the part. Some people need just get out of bed and grab the laptop from the floor beside the bed. Some need an assistant, a time clock, an office. We all have something different we need to do in order to get us where we need or want to be.

It’s not the same as having a nine to five job, but some need and do treat it like one. I don’t. I get up, do what I need to do, write what I need to write. And I love writing. I love this job, this choice I made but I have to be serious about it if I want to make it. So, I go to the coffee shop in the morning a few days a week to draw myself into the writer mind, though to be honest, my mind is always working, always thinking, always wondering about the story. But, it’s all in how I use my time that will get me where I want to go as an author.

It’s easy to squander money and time. We find ourselves buying more books than we write and spending more time on social media writing 140 characters than we do on our 40K novellas.

It takes discipline and structure to stick to or even come up with a routine, a ritual, a regimen. It’s different than having a to-do list, it’s having goals and accomplishing them. Sometimes the only way to accomplish our goals is to have the routine. Like me and my coffee shop and speaking of which, I should get back to my writing before I have to leave.

What is yours?

Thanks Selena for having me!

~lissa

My friend Lissa Matthews has a hot new book out from Loose Id and I wanted to share the excerpt. Which meant sharing the blurb. Which meant telling you that “Sugar Rush is a straight contemporary male/female erotic romance. As you can probably guess from the title, there’s something about sugar in…truffles, to be exact. Yum, right? I know. Dark chocolate truffles with a hint of spice from peppers.”

Lissa will be here blogging on Wednesday, Feb 3rd. So be here.

Here’s the blurb for you:

Graham Hall is twenty-six and has a dream job as a travel writer. He’s come to Colorado for work and a little personal down time. With his article done and the six-month lease up on the small cabin in the valley, he’s stayed around until his next assignment. In a downtown Denver bar, Graham meets Edward and after a short conversation agrees to a blind date with Edward’s business partner, Jane. Afterall, what could it hurt?

Jane is completely oblivious to the machinations of Edward and Graham and shows up at Graham’s cabin to deliver a box of handmade chocolate truffles. From the minute he opens the door, she falls head over heels in lust. A plus size, mid-thirties woman, Jane isn’t sure what Cowboy Surfer, as she’s dubbed him, sees in her or why he’s so tenacious in his pursuit and tries throwing him off at every turn.

The inability to say continue saying ‘No’ leads to hot, scorching sex and a lot of follow-up phone calls opening Jane’s eyes to the realization that maybe life doesn’t have to revolve around chocolate truffles, but rather around a delicious well traveled younger man.

And now an excerpt:

“What the…?” Graham stood with his arms braced against the window frame and watched the wobbling woman outside on his front walk. Dressed from head to toe in pink and white fluff, she carried a pink box with a dark brown bow and was wearing the most absurd shoes.

Snow had fallen the previous night, and the drive up the mountains would have been a little tricky. She looked like a ski bunny, albeit a rather curvy one. He didn’t do ski bunnies. Much as he liked outdoorsy, adventurous women, something about the winter resort crowd had never appealed to him. He preferred privacy and solitary mountain escapes with roaring fires.

She stepped onto the porch and lowered the hood of her jacket. Her hair was a rich, dark brown wavy mass that stopped at her shoulders, and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. She was muttering something between barely moving lips, then pasted on a dazzling smile, shook her head, and knocked on the door.

Graham opened it, swung it wide, and grinned down at her. “My oh my.” He let his gaze travel leisurely from the top of her tousled mane to her pointed toes. She was a delectable, pink confection, crazy-ass footwear and all. From her mumbling on the porch and her scrunched-up face to the moment she shook it off and gave his door the most beautiful smile, his cock had stirred in his jeans and he’d had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Oh. Wow. I, ummm…I have a delivery for…” She fumbled in her coat pocket then pulled out a card, stealing small glances up at him as her cheeks reddened further. He would bet his next paycheck it wasn’t from the cold this time. “For a Mr. Graham Hall. Are you him?”

He gave it an exaggerated thought. “If I wasn’t, I would certainly lie and say I was.” She frowned. He grinned. “What are you delivering?”

“Huh? Oh. Ummm, candy. Truffles, to be exact.”

She couldn’t stop staring at him. Did she like what she saw? He sure as hell did. “I didn’t order any truffles.”
“You didn’t?”

“Nope. I don’t even remember the last time I ate candy.”

Her frown deepened, and her brows furrowed. It was all he could do to keep from pulling her against him so he could taste those pouty lips. She was adorable. “I’m sorry for the mistake, Mr. Hall.”

“Quite all right. Would you like to come in and warm up for a bit? I can make some coffee or hot chocolate. I might even have some marshmallows around here.”

“I…uh, no, thank you. I should get back to town and see about clearing this up. I am so, so sorry for bothering you.”

She wasn’t looking at him any longer. “You didn’t. Bother me, that is, and I really must insist that you come in and get warm. Your feet have got to be cold in those…those shoes.” He grimaced as he said the word and took her by the arm, ushering her inside before she could say no again. Besides, it was damn cold out there, and he was glad to have the door closed.

She eased her arm out of his grip then backed up against the door. “Really, this isn’t necessary. My car has a very good heater and…wait, what’s wrong with my shoes?” she asked, looking down and wiggling her toes, lifting her feet off the ground one by one as if trying to see what he found so distasteful.

“They’re nothing but two pieces of leather, a couple of strings, and a spike.” And would be much better suited to digging into my ass while you were on your back. He cleared his throat and tried his best to ignore the dirty thoughts running through his mind. He glared down at her feet rather than looking at her face, at her lush mouth, in her expressive eyes. “They are the most ridiculous things to be wearing while trudging through the snow. How in the hell do you even walk in those on a good day, much less when there’s ice covering the streets and sidewalks?”

“I…well, it wasn’t snowing in the city, and I didn’t know I would have to trudge through the snow, and I park inside a garage, so I didn’t have to walk on any icy streets or sidewalks. At least I didn’t until I got here. You should really shovel your walkway. It’s dangerous not knowing where one is walking.”

Her mouth had tightened, and her eyes had narrowed in his direction. She was not happy with him or his comments, and he was falling all over it, seeing her spark. Her smile twisted him all up inside, and her irritation with him did too. He loved that she couldn’t hide her emotions, that she showed everything she was feeling.

“Common sense should have told you that you wouldn’t be taking a leisurely stroll once you got up here. We’re in the mountains in winter. You need snow shoes, not those,” he offered with a dismissive wave of his hand in the direction of her feet.

He was rewarded with a huff. She crossed her arms over her chest, boosting what little of her cleavage he could see from the small opening at the top of the zipper in her jacket. Yum.

“You know what? You said I hadn’t bothered you, but you’re not being very nice and over a pair of… Look, just because you don’t like them –”

“I don’t like them because you’re an accident waiting to happen. You wouldn’t have slipped on the ice if you’d had proper shoes on.”

Embarrassment flooded her neck with heightened color. For a second, he felt bad at revealing that he’d seen her come close to falling on her face in his front yard, but the feeling didn’t last long. She could have been seriously hurt had she fallen.

She set the box of chocolates on the table beside the door and depressed the latch behind her. “Have a nice afternoon, Mr. Hall. Keep the truffles. Give them to your neighbor, your girlfriend, or throw them out.”

She opened the door. He put his hand on it over her head and closed it back again. “Stop. Please. I’m sorry for insulting your choice of footwear.” She just looked at him over her shoulder, one brow lifted in a quizzical expression. “Come over to the fire. Take your…whatever they are off and warm yourself up before you go back out there.”

When he made to put his arm around her waist, she shrugged him off and moved out of reach, walking over to the couch. She wasn’t lithe and skinny, his candy delivery girl. The ski bunny outfit couldn’t hide the natural curves of her hips and ass.

She was all woman under that bundle of fabric.

She unlaced her shoes, and he heard her sigh with pleasure when she got them off. She stuck her feet out in front of her toward the fire and wiggled her pink-socked toes. There was nothing flirty or coquettish in her movements. He found that interesting. She wasn’t trying to come on to him; she wasn’t trying to entice him.
What a fun challenge she would be.

“I offered coffee or hot chocolate to you before. Would you like me to make some?”
“No, thanks. I’m fine.”

He joined her on the couch after picking up the box of chocolates and settled into the corner behind her. “Want one?” he asked, holding out the unopened box to her.

She shifted on the couch. “No, thanks.”

Graham shrugged to himself and untied the ribbon, lifting the lid. “Uh, honey? The –”

“My name is Jane.”

He grinned behind her. “All right. Well, Jane, there are no truffles in the box, there’s only r–”

“What!” She turned around and took the box from him, looking inside it herself, finding only small pebbles glued to the bottom of the decorative paper cups. “I’m gonna kill him. I am going to wrap his tie around his gay little neck and strangle his gay ass,” she muttered.

This is probably one of my favorite novellas. I imagine that will change the more and longer I write, but for now, it’s one of my favorites and it’s fun, sexy, snarky, and romantic. I hope everyone that reads it will enjoy it.

I’m busy finishing up the third round of edits on Andre’s book so author Yolanda Sfetsos is taking over my blog today to tell you about her new book. Be sure to check it out and drop by her website. Or leave a comment and say hello.

Hi everyone! My name’s Yolanda Sfetsos and I write urban fantasy, paranormal, futuristic and sci-fi stories. Phew. That was a bit of a mouthful, huh?

Firstly, I’d like to thank Selena for having me over here today!
My latest eBook release is called SEALED WITH A DEMON’S KISS. Here’s the gorgeous cover:

Man, don’t you just love it? It was made by Cris Griffin. The first time I saw it, I couldn’t believe how well she’d captured what I’d imagined the hero and heroine to look like. It’s amazing! But anyway, enough gushing about the beautiful cover, I wanted to talk about where the idea for this story came from. I have to say, it didn’t take long for this one to strike.

I really wanted to write a story featuring a heroine who happened to be a witch. Not just any witch, but a pentagram witch – one who was born with an actual pentagram on her back. They’re rare in this world I created and most of the time, find themselves being discriminated against. Even by their own kind. So, I knew a lot about Tamara from the beginning. As well as the hero, a demon called Tyler, who has a demon master he must obey but would much rather spend his days walking amongst the humans. From the start, I just knew they were made for each other.
The villains came to me while I was researching a particular demon I wanted to base Tyler on. I stumbled on warlocks and knew right away that they would be the perfect choice. Witches versus warlocks – one uses magic for evil, the other for good. Throw demons into the mix – who have a stake in both, as well as being vulnerable to evil magic – and the deeper mystery of the story popped up. Like I said, I pretty much knew exactly what was going to happen in this story, but it wasn’t until I was actually writing it that everything got twisted and clicked into place. I love it when that happens!

So, if you’re into paranormal/urban fantasy tales with a good dose of danger, betrayal, passion and love, you may want to check out SEALED WITH A DEMON’S KISS, currently available from Cobblestone Press. You can read an excerpt here.
www.yolandasfetsos.com

Please help me welcome my latest guest, Tara Nichols. Tara’s talking about heroes and I admit I’ve often thought along the same lines. Would women in real life go for the ruff and gruff hero with the heart of gold? In real life, would he show his heart of gold? Or is this just a female fantasy played out within the covers of thousands of romance novels? ~S
With the metrosexual man on the rise, relationships built on friendships isn’t such an unusual thing these days, but I still don’t often see it in romances. The traditional dominant male hero still presides over that domain, and rightly so. He’s arrogant, stubborn, cocky, pig-headed, and sometimes a paranormal beast, yet underneath all of that lurks the good guy he doesn’t want his heroine to see. In my opinion, I doubt the typical dominant hero would truly win the heroine’s heart, but without those qualities there isn’t much struggle, conflict, er..climax (if you get my meaning).
But I’m here to herald the cheeky hero, the nurturer, the sensitive man who takes longer in the bathroom to do his hair than the typical women, the good dad, and the sweet shy guy.
He’s sexy without stepping on your toes, he listens and even hears you when you talk, he’s the guy that clutches you arm when the big hairy spider jumps out at the movies. He’s not a whimp, he’s not a loser, he’s not even second rate, but he’s harder to win over because he’s clever, and he doesn’t want to be treated poorly.
I tend to like and attract that guy.
He’ll tell you when he’s scared, and when he has doubts. He’s a human first, and a man second.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think Wolverine is smoking hot, but even while peeking coyly out from behind those foot long titanium claws, he’s worried if mutating makes him look fat.

Pictures speak a thousand words, so to illustrate my point I’ve provided a few examples,

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famecrawler/2008/07/01-07/lenny.jpg

http://fotos.subefotos.com/d55570d0be5bd059e7e3ea6aa4dee62fo.jpg

http://www.atlantamagazine.com/uploadedImages/Atlanta/Blogs/Shop_Girl/ryan-seacrest.jpg

As you know, I’ve been inviting my author friends to drop by and entertain you. Dee was feeling a little under the weather, which is a win for you! She’s offering up a contest for you my super-sexy readers. Who wants to win? Raise those hands high!

So, I’ll shut up now and let Dee take over.

—

Reading on both sides of the fence

For those of you who don’t know me, first, let me introduce myself. I’m Dee Carney and I write erotic romance. I should also add that I’m Morgan Sierra and I write erotica.

Yep.

Two authors in one. You couldn’t ask for more!..unless you’re Selena and I promised you a blog post a few days ago. Ugh. Sorry Selena.

So tell you what I’m going to do to make up for it. I’m going to host a contest here. And not just any contest! Both Dee and Morgan are handing out books for readers. This is how it’ll work:

I’m offering a chance at a free copy of The Fallen (by Morgan Sierra) to every reader who posts here and tells me their favorite bad guy. Doesn’t matter where he’s from, whether book, movie, real life…just so long as you leave a comment by April 15th. I will pick one winner (at random) from those who respond to this question.

I’m also offering a chance at a free copy of The Craft of the Wise: Book of Shadows (by Dee Carney) to every reader who posts here and tells me their favorite holiday. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Judeo-Christian kind or not…again, just so long as you leave a comment by April 15th. And again, I’ll pick one winner (at random) from those who respond to this question.

So if you haven’t figured it out yet, you have TWO chances to win a book. All you have to do is respond to both questions. Simple as pie.

To read excerpts from either of these books, just head on over to my web site and click on my Bookshelf.

Good luck!

Dee
…a little bit exotic…a whole lot erotic…
http://www.deecarney.com

Wow! Awesome contest Dee. My readers are going to get spoiled! Readers, a word… Dee has a FAB collection of free reads listed on her website…in case you’re into that sort of thing.

I invited fellow author Michelle Miles to come and talk to you today. I’ll be over on her blog one day soon, so watch my twitter account to stay posted.

Recently, my local RWA chapter had a “kissing contest”. Okay, it’s not the kind you think. We’re not that sordid. No, our contest was to have members write a kissing scene between two characters. It was successful in that it got several of the members writing and a couple who stepped out of their comfort zone to write in a genre they had never written in before.

So I got to thinking about this a little later. If we can step outside our comfort zone to write a simple kissing scene, why not an entire book?

Which made me wonder – could I write an entire book by just starting with certain scenes? In my head, I began to think about different plot elements of a book. Of course, Goal-Motivation-Conflict is in there. The big picture stuff. But what if we break them down even further?

A kissing scene. If you’re writing romance, there has to be sexual tension. We, the reader, want them to kiss as much as the characters want to kiss (and trust me when I say, these characters have a mind of their own). Maybe you’ve always wanted to write something scandalous and tawdry, well now is your big chance.

An action scene. It has to have all the elements of fast-paced action with some snappy dialogue. Maybe even an explosion or two. You want to keep the reader on the edge of his or her seat. Always wanted to try your hand at fencing? Get your characters to do it. Except give them a short sword and some armor and go for it.

The Black Moment. If you write or read romance, then you know what the Black Moment is. It’s that moment in the book when, just when the hero and heroine start to fall in love, something comes to drive them apart again. Something that can be so big it carries to the end of the book. Maybe they have a fight and break up. Maybe the heroine thinks her beloved, who has gone off to war in some faraway country, is dead and never to return. Maybe she’s decided she wants to have children and he doesn’t.

You get the idea. What if writing a book was writing a scene that wasn’t something you would normally sit down and plot and write from start to finish? Wouldn’t you then be stepping outside of your comfort zone and writing something totally different that you may not have ever tried?

Maybe you typically write contemporary but have always wanted to write historical. Sit down and let your imagination run wild with some ideas and just free write out that historical scene.

Or perhaps urban fantasy is more your cup of tea but you haven’t actually ever tried it before. Seize that moment! Sit down, open your mind, and let those fingers fly on the keyboard.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. What have you got to lose? You never know when you might discover your hidden talent for a new genre. And, after all, you never have to let you critique partners see it.

Happy creating!

Michelle Miles writes sexy contemporaries and is a member of Romance Writers of America. You can learn more about her books at www.michellemiles.net.

—

Selena asks: Thinking about comfort zones…I’ve been stepping out of mine lately. Leaping is more like it. But more about that another day. How about you, faithful readers? Have you stepped outside of your comfort zone recently?

Honestly, it’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a while. What draws readers to erotic romance?