Tag Archives: writing inspiration

Getting to know me: The Smut Report 2023

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This re-post of an interview I did with The Smut Report is the fifth in a series of blog interviews I’ve done over the years. The first post explains my purpose.

The Smut Report Interview

Today’s post is from a 2023 interview I did for The Smut Report with the goal of promoting my Harwell Heirs series. At the time, I had just released Book 4, A Delicate Seduction, and so applied to The Smut Report for a review of Book 1, The Pleasure Device. They said they would review The Pleasure Device later, but in the meantime, I could do this promo interview called “My First Smut”, so I did. By the way, The Smut Report hated The Pleasure Device. It seems my Victorian erotic romance was too smutty for a website with “smut” in the title! Continue reading →

NaNoNoMore: Artificial Intrusion

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I have a story to tell. The first year I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), 2006, I told a computer programmer friend of mine about the event. If you don’t know, NaNoWriMo is a seat-of-your-pants, self-motivated challenge where you write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. By writing 50,000 words, you become a NaNoWriMo “winner”. My programmer friend said she could write a script in a few minutes that would repeat a word 50,000 times, so would that make her a winner?

Um, no. Continue reading →

Inspiration: Antiquities, Accents, and Together Alone

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This is my Discovering Her Delight inspiration post. Warning! There are spoilers ahead for the book. If you don’t mind spoilers, read on. If you don’t like your romance spoiled, read Discovering Her Delight first!

An Initial Inspiration

I started the notes for Discovering Her Delight way back in 2014 (then known as Discovering Her Desire). I knew it was going to be a story centered on an archaeological expedition, I just wasn’t clear on the specifics. An archaeologist friend of mine had a bizarre idea: what if the hero had to write on the heroine’s back?

So I held on to that thought, and it continued to inspire the story. Why would he need to do this? Under what circumstances? And how would he do it in 1881? Continue reading →

Inspiration: Romance in the Interstices

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Interstice (noun) in·​ter·​stice
plural — interstices
1a: a space that intervenes between things, especially one between closely spaced things
b: a gap or break in something generally continuous
2: a short space of time between events

Have you ever seen the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? The play (also a movie) is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the point of view of the courtiers Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, minor characters who inhabit the interstices of the action of Hamlet.

I like to think of A Delicate Seduction as the Rosencrantz and Gildenstern of The Harwell Heirs series, except without the existential absurdism. Continue reading →

Observe The Absinthe Drinkers

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Preface

I originally wrote this art-historical essay about The Absinthe Drinkers by Jean-François Raffaëlli (1850-1924) for another project entirely separate from my author life. I include it now as context and background material to my Victorian erotic romance stories. Book 6 of my Harwell Heirs series, Their Noble Deceit, will have a mention of absinthe drinking by heroes Norrington and Ravensburgh.

And now for the essay. Continue reading →

Sex and the Seasoned Romance

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In 2018, I was on a Seasoned Romance panel at the Emerald City Writers Conference. My topic was “Sex and the Seasoned Romance”. I was recently reminded of this presentation when another author posted a rather shocking comment in a seasoned romance author discussion group I am no longer a member of:

“I would not write an erotic romance about an older couple…simply because there’s a level of maturity that makes their sexual relationship much deeper and more meaningful, because of all they’ve been through.”

Uh…that’s exactly why an author can write a seasoned erotic romance! Or even just sex scenes featuring seasoned characters.

I’m still trying to get my head around what this author might have meant. Does she think “erotic romance” means lots of vacuous, meaningless sex? Because that’s not what an erotic romance is at all. In fact, the “maturity that makes their sexual relationship much deeper and more meaningful” feeds into what an erotic romance is: a sexual journey leading to a happily-ever-after. Continue reading →

Getting to know me: Betty Bolte’s Musings 2020

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This re-post of an interview I did with romance author Betty Bolte is the fourth in a series of blog interviews I’ve done over the years. The first post explains my purpose.

Betty Bolte’s Interview

Today’s post is from a 2020 interview I did for Betty Bolte’s blog to promote Resistance. Betty is one of the authors who participated in the Common Elements Romance Project, and she generously offered space on her popular blog for her colleagues. Continue reading →

Getting to know me: Gemma Snow’s Interview 2017

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This re-post of an interview I did with erotic romance author Gemma Snow is the third in a series of blog interviews I’ve done over the years. The first post explains my purpose.

Gemma Snow’s Interview

Today’s post is from a 2017 interview I did for Gemma Snow’s blog to promote The Westerman Affair when it was originally published by Loose Id. I met Gemma Snow virtually as a fellow Loose Id author. Loose Id is a now-defunct publisher, and both Gemma and I have republished our books.

The Interview

I got to sit down with Regina Kammer to talk writing, inspiration and her new book, The Westerman Affair! Continue reading →

Romancing the Throne, Part 2: The Eunuch’s Submission

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In the opulent palace of Ctesiphon, the capital of ancient Parthia, lives a princess who searches for the stolen throne of her kingdom, the sella regia. She engages the services of a palace eunuch in her quest, a handsome and astute advisor. Over the years, respect and esteem transform into love, love deepens into trust, trust sparks sexual exploration.

Thus is the set up for my two short stories “An Unexpected Discovery”, an erotic romance, and the follow up, “The Eunuch”, a BDSM flash fiction erotica short. In “An Unexpected Discovery” the Parthian princess Roedogune searches for the sella regia with the assistance of Arashis, the eunuch assigned to her by her husband. It’s an erotic romance, so it’s not really giving it away to say Roedogune and Arashis end up together — romance is about the emotional and physical journey since readers already know there will be a happily-ever-after.

Creating a romantic connection between characters is what a romance writer does. And sometimes that writer is given an opportunity to explore the relationship beyond the happily-ever-after, to take a peek into the life of a couple after that first flush of excitement.

Continuing a romance is especially wonderful if the characters are beloved characters, more so if these are characters who almost did not make the page. Continue reading →

Teaser: My Final Contemporary Romance

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Don’t you just hate teasers?

Or maybe not. Perhaps there’s something about a teaser that excites you?

Whatever your fancy, I offer you this teaser to whet your appetite for Resistance, my upcoming autumn 2019 contemporary romance: Continue reading →