Writing good erotic romance is like having good sex-there has to be great foreplay

Saw it once and I believe it one hundred percent. Here's the problem, there are all kinds of different levels of foreplay and readiness of one partner versus the other. But for the reader, they are usually all starting out at, so not ready. I hate to say I really forgot that. As I go through a story I was editing and I just have to say editing is a bitch and a half, it was painful enough to read though it on paper and see mistakes but to see just how flat it was until just as....okay to be frank he was about to stick it in....it was murky and stark without the lube so to speak. Why I wondered would a woman get into bed with him without the reader seeing it, really seeing and feeling it?

It was shit, it didn't need editing it needed drastic revision and I'm not going to lie I was really pissed. I wanted to scrap the whole damn thing but I don't have the time and money for it. The covers are done and delivered, shout out to Carrie at Cheeky Covers who was fucking awesome and amazing and did such a good job it made me want to deliver on the hot cover on the outside. I'm not just saying it, I stared at the covers and thought about what would make me buy one book over another and cover is important, extremely important then the hook and to take it home the story. Would my story deliver on the initial hook? Honestly, the answer to that was no.

Then, to make matters even worse I read a book that was sooo damn good I was pissed that I know only two maybe three of the seven I have finished are that good. Now I have to read through them all just to make sure. It's funny because this chick at my writing meetup was talking about one million word commitment to become a better writer. Umm...duh? Not just due to Outliers but if you do something often enough you will get better at it but still I don't think enough people truly understand it's not more writing, it's reading. Reading allows you to see the mistakes and accomplishments of other writers. It allows you to avoid the hole you might have stepped in and the things to do right. True, good writing is so often in the eyes of the reader and tastes can vary but no one can go over one road and say this isn't bumpy and another person go over it and says it's smooth. Both will feel the something differently but both will know it's not smooth.

As a reader and a disgustingly honest person at least I can look at what I wrote and see it how it compares to others and say if it's good or crap. It kills me that I was just talking with others about how, at least it's better than some of the crap that's out there. I talked about how I downloaded like 9, hell it could have been more and how I didn't get through half of them, sometimes unable to continue past the first or third chapter. Was I really willing to let that be my standard? People joke about how being a perfectionist is what you say is your 'worst' trait but the truth is it can be an extremely bad trait. It can hold you back from completing something and causing other things from being done to finish one thing. In the past I have called myself a perfectionist and it is true. I told myself I was going to fix glaring errors and push it out as I was just damned tired of having them sit on my chest but now I know it's not an option. Yes, I'm a perfectionist, yes everything can't be perfect errors will find their way in but no it won't keep me from putting out the best work I can deliver and I should be thinking that with every book. So often you get just one chance with a reader, I don't want to waste that reader's time or money. They'll remember that and really as a writer putting out work I need to remember it too.

Do you believe in Fate?

Personally, I don't like the idea of Fate. I like the idea that I'm in control of every moment of my life, the good the bad and how to fix. The weird thing is recently there has been a change to my schedule....again. Last year I wanted all seven out at one time and believed mid-March would be the date. Then my writing group kept pushing, hey get a few out sooner and then the rest out in March, give the reader to look something forward to. One, I am a long time, addictive reader but even I am not waiting with breathless anticipation for even my favorite writers because hello stuff happens and by the time it's out I will likely have forgotten. I'm not saying I've moved on the next time I have time/money and remember will likely buy and read-so like six months later. My stories aren't the exact same ones over and over, different lead ink different appeals I'm sure. I wanted people to have a choice.

Well, with the day job working the last damn nerve fine, I think. I'll pick the best three or four and post those and the rest will go out mid-March. Now that's the plan. I'm going to have at least three out for Valentine's Day and one free. Well, everyone and their freaking mother, father and grandmother are hocking romances the week/weekend of Valentine's Day. For fucks sake, I begin to wobble on my dates. The market is so huge, I'll be a drop of water going down Niagara Falls. But I'm determined, it's getting to where I'm sick of the damn things on my desk and want to move on to new stories.

Then something personal  comes up. I'm not going to be able to get it all together and push it out by Valentine's day, it's back to mid-March.

It got me thinking, little things have added up to me being in specific places to meet important people in my life, things I thought about but somehow didn't do until other things led me there. I don't know, boyfriend believes in it one hundred percent. His stories on why got me wondering. Again, not liking the idea, but just because I don't like it doesn't mean Fate might not be at play in big and small ways.

I'm so excited! It's finally happening! Almost ready to self-publish & go live!

So I've been working with a cover artist and I'm just so excited I want to squeal like a little kid! The covers are looking so good. I had a bit of a set back and thought I was going to wind up in tears but at the end of the day I'm still able to move forward, I'm not standing still.

My goal is to have at least four stories up by a few days before Valentine's Day. I want at least one to be free but having a hard deciding which one will be free. I'm not a huge fan of giving it away for free but have been told when you have more than one free it can work. If you only have one out then free is a crap shoot. I do have an experience of finding one author that was different than the rest and I really liked and after reading her free I did go out and buy two more the same weekend so I'm hoping that happens at least a few times.

I'm in too much of a rush to do what others have been suggesting and that's to hit up blog reviewers. Ehh, so many of them are buried in requests it will be months before they can get to it and who's to say they'll like it enough to write it up? Thinking I will hit up a few people for freebies but not nailed down plans. Still have a few weeks, so of course I will let it go until the last minute.

I do have seven completed but feedback was not clear on one and when I went back and began editing another all I could think is it needs way more revision. With the day job it will take a weekend or two and so even though I had wanted all seven if it were possible only five are ones I'm confident enough in to put out. So those five, two more completed needing revisions and I actually have two half written and one story idea banging on brain asking to be let out. But I know if I start it on a work day I won't push out enough to keep it going, that's why the other two are half written-I lost momentum on the story. So that will also require a clear weekend which I don't know when I'm going to have one any time soon.

Okay, exhausted. Off to bed to dream up more hot sex and thing about the story idea banging on my brain, he's just so yummy it will be fun to write for sure.