ya know what is sad?? WHEN YOU GOTTA USE A CALCULATOR to figure out how old you are, lol. Anyway i missed yesterday i am sooo sorry, but NO worries, i have it today and it will publish Monday ( can we say August sucks for me?? cuz it totally does, even if i was born in it)
When you’re writing, do you prefer silence or background noise?
That really depends on where I’m at in the story. If I’m focused on what’s going on – or it’s a very intense part of the book – I don’t even hear what’s going on around me. That’s a good thing. I’ve got three big dogs, a mouthy parrot and a grandson who says my name three million times a day. If I had to have quiet while I was working I’d never get a thing done.
If I’m writing a story where the couple is dancing, or doing something that involves music, I search for that song and start a playlist.
In Daughtry’s book, music plays a big part, and I’ve listened to that playlist over and over again since I wrote the book. It’s important in a few upcoming books too – Luke’s and also Kari’s (in the Rojo series) – and I’ve got playlists for both of them.
Right now I’m writing the last Conner book and Chess’s lady love has a thing for boy bands, so I’m suffering through that. They can’t all be New Kids On The Block or Boys II Men, unfortunately, but I’ll suffer through.
Did anyone give you writing advice when you were first getting started? Do you think it helped?
I didn’t know a single author when I first started. I did send out a message or two to some of my favorite authors asking for advice and never got a response. Now, I make sure and talk to anyone who asks me for advice on how to get started writing, in the hopes that they’ll have a little easier of a time of it that I did.
There’s no sense in everyone else learning the hard way when I’ve got some experience to help them, right?
Do you have a writer companion? What is he/she like?
Companion? Like someone to bounce ideas off of?
If that’s the case, then I have about seven, and you’re on of them! Honestly, there’s a group of women who I talk to every single day, and they hear my wild plot lines and ideas while they’re just that – ideas. ‘The Crazy Coven’ as one of the men in our lives dubbed us has become as much a part of my writing process as my laptop and coffee mug are.
When I’m uncertain about something I’ve written or a wild left turn the storyline has taken, I hit them up on video chat and we solve all the problems of the world, including where I need to go in my storyline.
I’ve written books about three of the four other women in the coven – Jenn, Paula and Brea. I have plans to write about the fourth woman – Ciara – and give her a wild storyline with a happily ever after too. I’ve got some ideas for the other women who’ve been so helpful to me also.
Do you have a writer companion? What is he/she like? I have a writing colleague and friend, Cee Bowerman. We accidently got asked if we’d ever think of writing a book with another author in late 2020. We both said yes but had no idea who or how. We talked on Messenger and our collaboration was born at the end of November 2020.
As of this moment we created a whole world of 1)Tenillo, Texas, 2) formed two MCs and 3)we have out two books each in our respective clubs. They interrelate and the characters will show up in both of our books, but the two clubs are written only by one of us. However, we talk things out for hours sometimes. We want our two different styles to flow. We’ve started 4) booking signing events, 5) established partners to do merchandise and a million other things in eight months.
Cee is as driven as I am when it comes to our writing. We want our books to be relatable, so they have to have some reality and hardship and real emotions in them. She logs the hours and has the same pace as I do. We publish one book a month and every other month it’s two books we each publish. That means we wrote ahead before putting out our first books and we keep writing every week and month. She published her first book in early 2019. She’s loud, crazy and a lot like me in some ways then total opposite in others. She’s become one of my best friends.
What is the scariest thing you face as a writer? How do you handle it? Having readers not like the books. However, not everyone can like every book or ever character. So, I try to think that’s what makes for so many good books and authors. I try not to let negative reviews hurt, too much. It’s easy to criticize when you haven’t tried the process yourself or have no frame of reference to the material. Also, different areas of the country and world have dialects. Proper English is only happening 100% in a publication that is for an academic or business setting. We don’t speak proper why write an everyday book that way. I’m not talking typos or such. I mean word choice or alternate words.
Writers Block. Is it a problem and if so, what do you do to break through and start writing again? Knock on wood only once and it was Hawk’s Huntress and luckily it was before I even put out Terror’s book. I walked away and came back three months later when the characters started talking to me again. It took me four months to write it because of that break, when typically, it takes me a month or less to write a book. The fastest so far was drafted in eight days.
Is there a book, movie, or song that inspires you when you’re working? No specific of any, though movies, songs and sometimes books spark an idea to use to create a scene.
As a writer, I’m sure you also love reading. Do you have a favorite book and what do you love about it? Too many books to have a favorite single one. I don’t get to read a tenth of what I used to read with all the writing and other work that goes into this. It’s way more time than just writing. If that was the case, I could put out two books every month. There’s a lot of research and business that goes into it even if you have a PA. I have some favorite authors: Christine Feehan, KL Savage, Lani Lynn Vale, Manda Mellett, Nicola Jane, Harley Wylde come to mind and of course, my girl Cee Bowerman too. Those are not all of them by far, just the ones coming to mind as I type.
HOLY MOLY!! i love learning new things about amazeballs authors!!! they have so much amazing talent to be able to make stories for us to fall into and love the men and women that they create in their minds. To be able to share their stories with others, is just a wonderful amazing and awesome talent. I want to thank Cee Bowerman and the amazing Ciara St. James for answering questions, and not wanting to rip me a new asshole cuz i am slow in the "get the blog out" shit! LOVE YOU LADIES!!
Now if your keeping Track, LUKE is up for pre-order at Amazon!!!! (i can't wait for this book) so here is a link for it! TEXAS KINGS!
Ciara St. James will have PitBull (Aries Infedels') up soon for pre-order also ( i am so stinkin excited!!) but until then here is Savage's Princess (Dublin Falls Archangel's MC Book 2)