Author Spotlight: Guest Post by Mysti Holiday

The Evolution of an Erotic Romance Author

I didn’t start out writing erotic romance.  In fact, my first stories were all quite sweet.  But, as I grew as an author I started living a little closer to the edge until the day I was challenged to leap off that edge with abandon.

“Shut Up and Kiss Me” was written on a dare with my writing partner, Kealie Shay.  We’re both insanely busy people with work and family taking up a huge chunk of time. Some days it was just impossible to engage our muses and put pen to paper.  So – we challenged each other to write a complete story of at least 7500 words in two days.   Sounded crazy, sounded impossible and I don’t think either of us thought we could do it.

But we did.  Both of us.  Kealie’s “Appearances”, which she’s currently editing, was her end result of that challenge, and my “Shut Up and Kiss Me” was mine.  I polished it up nice and shiny and sent it in – it was my first official erotic romance so I wasn’t expecting a contract.  Apparently, no one mentioned that to my editor, who liked my voice and had faith in my ability.

Then she asked me for more.  MORE?  I’d never really planned on being an erotic romance author, but I discovered that writing it was a lot of fun.  I decided to take one of the 1,000 word stories I’d written for Whipped Cream Reviews and make it longer.  Originally it was essentially just a sex scene, so I needed to flesh it out a bit and give them a deeper backstory.  I did what I thought was a good job, but my editor decided that Caleb needed greater motivation for a decision he makes, so sent it back.

Have I mentioned how much I love my editor? She pushes me and challenges me to make my stories the best they can be.   The most important thing she taught me was to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out a sex scene (“erotic romance readers want ALL the sexy details, and a moment by moment, play by play ... don’t skip anything”).  She’s also challenged me to write what my publisher calls a “two rose” story: one that includes stuff a little more forbidden – ménage, bondage, etc.  I’m doing my best to take her up on that!

I have two more stories in the works and each one gets a little hotter, a little more daring as I learn the ins and outs (ha! pun intended) of writing a lot of sex and finding new and more exciting ways for my characters to get it on.  I hope you enjoy what you read.

Visit Mysti at:

Her website:  http://www.menagerieauthors.com

Her blog:  http://www.menagerieauthors.blogspot.com

Book Summary:

When Karin Lattimer moves across the country and her over-protective brother asks his friend Caleb Hawkes to keep an eye on her, she’s more than annoyed…she’s turned on. The attentive cop is a walking wet dream, but Karin knows he’s only hanging around out of a sense of duty. Acting on her crazy attraction would reveal more than the man’s buff body—it would also reveal her heart.

Caleb is well aware that Karin is all woman. He can’t keep his eyes off her and his hands itch to touch her. But she’s not one-night-stand material, and he firmly believes cops make lousy partners for long-term relationships.

Still, thinking clearly isn’t a top priority when Karin and Caleb finally touch. Sparks fly and barriers melt away as easily as their inhibitions, but can she convince him there's more to life than playing it safe?

Mysti will  be giving away a $10 gift certificate to the online book retailer of the winner's choice to one randomly drawn commenter, so please comment for your chance to win.