Category: Writing

Let’s Connect is available for preorder!

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I wrote Let’s Connect for my newsletter subscribers. They’re an awesome bunch who keep opening emails from me, even when all I have to share is how much writing I haven’t been doing. I wanted to give them something new to read, something fun. So I decided to write a serial about the dating adventures of a 50-year-old book shop owner.

As an experiment, I’d call it a success. The response from my newsletter audience and reader group folks was super positive–and that was almost the best part. A weekly affirmation that, yes, I’ve still got what it takes to write something fun and coherent. With much of our lives being devoted to or deferred by the pandemic, it was lovely to be able to deliver and receive something light and fun.

It seemed only right that I make Let’s Connect available in a single edition for everyone else!

Continue reading “Let’s Connect is available for preorder!” →

LGTBQ+ Representation in Romance

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This past Saturday, I participated in a panel on LGTBQ+ representation in romance with eight other authors. Join me, Jenn Burke, Nathan Burgoine, Sheri Lyn, Kristine Cayne, Adriana Herrera, J. Leigh Bailey, GB Gordon, and Keira Andrews as we discuss why we write queer romance, what we’d like to see more of in terms of representation, whether we like coming out stories, where we’d like our genre to go, and what our favorite books are!

This panel was a part of the Ottawa Romance Writers, Romancing the Capital online convention (2020). While you’re there, take a look at the many other great videos and panels devoted to all aspects of the romance genre.

Kelly’s Keepers

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Two years late is better than never, right? I finally have a reader group and I’m inviting you to join the fun!

Kelly’s Keepers

Kelly’s Keepers is a private group on Facebook, meaning while the group is visible to the public, the content is not. We can talk about anything in there. Well, almost anything.

What I’d like to talk about is books. Mine, yours, everyone else’s. But I’d also like to get to know my readers better. I enjoy interacting with readers on my personal timeline (and on Twitter), and the replies I get to my newsletters, but have long wanted a dedicated space where we could just hang out and talk about stuff that’s not necessarily related to my being an author.

So, expect gaming talk. Pictures of hiking trails (once they’re open again), only the new recipe successes (we’ll save the failures for Pinterest), and gardening. Or me complaining about having to mow again.

We’ll also have the book talk I mentioned earlier, and I’ll be posting more regular teasers from my WIPs. There will be giveaways, because we all love giveaways. And, right now, Keepers will get access to my new serial, Let’s Connect, a couple of days before newsletter subscribers.

Interested? I’d love to see you there.

Writing Short

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I love short things. My favourite aunt is a tiny and compact ball of energy. She’s like a rogue asteroid that actually makes everything she bumps into better. My co-writer, Jenn, is short. I always forget how short she is until we meet up. I need a longer word to do her justice, though. Jenn is awesome.

I always order the shorti hoagie from Wawa because believe it or not, there is too much of a good thing. Too much egg salad is not a good thing.

A short stack of pancakes is the perfect stack.

I’m not here to tell you about all the short things I like, though. I’m here to talk about short stories. I love short stories. I like reading them and I like writing them. Continue reading “Writing Short” →

The Long and Winding Road

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I’m on the fourth draft of this WIP. What makes the situation unique, for me, is that I haven’t finished the first draft yet.

Usually, when I write a novel, I go all the way to the end before making any significant changes. There have been exceptions. Sometimes I’ll get the feeling the book isn’t working. Not in a small, niggling way, but a big, ‘two plus two does not equal five’ way. The motivation isn’t quite right or the ultimate conflict—the plot climax or the ultimate relationship test—feels forced. At that point, I’ll load what I have onto my tablet, read it, try to pinpoint the moment the book goes off the rails and make some notes to redirect it. This happened with both To See the Sun and Purple Haze. It wasn’t a big deal. In the case of To See the Sun, I had to go back and add a villain, which meant fleshing out an existing character and giving him a larger role in the overall plot. Simply done. Purple Haze was a little more difficult, but once I solved Dillon’s GMC (what did he really want?), I figured out what he needed to, er, sacrifice to get it done.

He and Lang got their happy ever after, okay? That’s all you need to know.

This book… Take a deep breath with me and let it out again. Yeah. This book has been a journey. Continue reading “The Long and Winding Road” →