BATON BLOG HOP

MICHELE MICHAEL RAKES aka MIKEY RAKES

 

Aloha everyone! I’d like to thank the amazingly talented Mikey Rakes for passing this baton to me. She can WRITE! I’ve read all her stories that are being published or will be accepted ~ guaranteed. She is a phenomenal writer who writes poly relationships like I do. And m/m relationship love stories. All her stories have strong characters and you fall in love with every single one of them. They always go from a bad place in some way to a place of redemption and hope. I love getting caught up with her characters.

Read about Mikey at:

http://michelerakes.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/baton-blog-hop-shining-a-light-in-the-dark/
Twitter: www.twitter.com@michelerakes

She’s a founding member of ‘The Lush and Blush Club’ ~ Find us over on our FB page. We’re a group of redhead women writers who write steamy sexy romance erotica.

Cold Darkness is released next month in June
Ephemeral Darkness ~ released later in the year by Muse It Up Publishing under the Muse It Hot banner
Saving Kane ~ Novella, released later this year by Loose Id Publishing.

MEG AMOR

 

1) What am I working on?

I’m working on a trilogy, two short stories and novella. LOL. I just might have bitten off more than can I chew. The trilogy is my main work. It started as a ‘nice wee love story’ and sort of exploded on me! 

It’s called the Troika Love Series. Named after my great love of Russian things. In Russian, troika means three equal things. This is a trilogy and most importantly, a committed love story involving three people. Two dusky skinned Creole men from New Orleans and one wild curly redhead New Zealand woman.

Steamy hot romance for the soul. A gorgeous romance erotica, ménage love story trilogy—set against sultry hot New Orleans, Hawaii and sensuous France. Three hearts deeply entwined over three lifetimes. A committed Troika/poly romance, between two men and a woman who give each other everything. A perfect Troika Romance for the heart and soul.

Henry and Isolde ~ A steamy love story, set in modern day New Orleans. Henry, an older black musician feels his life is nearing its end. Until he falls in love with Izzy, his white New Zealander, younger, richer, married boss. To his joy—she feels the same way about him. He comes into his sexuality for the first time in his life. But will Izzy leave her husband? And how does Henry's best friend Charlie fit into their lives? It's complicated...

The Chi Circle ~ Charlie comes back early from seeing Mea in New Zealand. It's not working, why? Because he's in love with someone else. Well...two someone's actually. But do his best friends have any idea how he feels? Is this a one sided frustrated fantasy? Or is it possible, they feel the same way? Follow the CHI - Charlie, Henry and Izzy, as their life takes them from Hawaii to New Orleans and France. Where they discover a lifetime just after World War I in Paris—two Russian émigrés cousins and a young Frenchman become lovers.

The Flame Still Burns ~ Life has settled into a happy easy rhythm for the three lovers. Charlie's Club is sold and they are getting ready to go to France, to research the Russian/French lifetime, when there's a knock at the door. Standing on the doorstep is a kid from a rough neighborhood of New Orleans—the spitting image of Charlie. How will they cope with Alex, who twangs at their heart strings? When he gets shot after a gangland shooting, they take him to France, where they unravel the rest of the French lifetime, they're all involved in.

Henry and Isolde is finished and fully edited, thank you my wonderful editor!! I’m about to submit it. So fingers crossed. :-) Now I'm working on the synopsis for submission. I HATE writing these. They drive me up the wall. How on earth am I supposed to condense 110,000 down into 2 pages, hit all the highlights, infuse it with the deep emotion the books have and not go stark raving mad! LOL


2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write romance erotica. I'm one of the few vanilla writers in the ERWA group. Everyone writes some form of BDSM or kink. Some people might say my story with three lovers, instead of two is a form of kink. I don’t know. I can never decide if it or not. LOL.

Perhaps what makes this troika or ménage different is that all three of my lovers, love each other deeply. There’s no distinction between Henry, Izzy and Charlie when it comes to the love they share. They all make love together and are deeply connected to each other on a heart and soul level. I write love stories with explicit sex, because I think that's such a big part of a relationship. I hate not seeing that beautiful side of things in a story.

I also include a past lives in every story. You'll see all the threads from the past woven into their modern day lives.


3) Why do I write what I do?

That’s a toughie question. Because I’m compelled to on some level, I can’t quite define. I’ve always believed in love. It’s basically driven my whole life whether it’s a personal relationship, as a therapist, counsellor. It’s been a driving force for me. Then I married my late husband Aaron and his last name was Amor. Like me, he believed in love. Our name was perfect.  And I love the maxim:

AMOR VINCIT OMNIA ~ It means: Love Conquers All


4) How does my writing process work?

I am a complete pantser writer. LOL.

When I first started really writing, I bought all the books. And then felt horribly intimidated by 'writers' routines. Oh God, I thought. I'll never manage that! They all seemed to write EVERY day AND they got up at the crack of dawn. I usually go to bed at the crack of dawn!

But after awhile, I realized it didn't matter. My style was my style. I write when I write. Last year, I wrote one short story, and 2 and 1/2 novels, so can't moan too much.

Also, it seems to depend what I'm writing. My first book was a self-help book and I had to hold a gun to my head to finish it.

My books I write now, I have to hold a gun to my head to make me go to bed and sleep. :-) They enthrall me. I get lost in them. I look up and it's been three hours or more.

I write whenever it grabs me. Sometimes I sit for days, going through a scenario or dialogue piece in my head. Then when it's right, I get on the computer and just type like billy-o, trying to get down what everyone is saying and doing. It seems to work quite well. When I can't write, I edit. I do edit every single day, because I can't stay away from it and love it.

I write best after midnight and often get a second wind about 6 or 7 in the morning. Sometimes writing through to 10 or lunchtime, then going to bed.

I don't write every day, because I don't need to. I'm a pantser writer, so I have to wait for the characters to turn up in my head with their latest offerings. Then I just write/type them down. Once I've got them down, they go off and have a meeting or something (not sure where they go) and then they turn up again and off we go again. LOL. I used to find this a bit terrifying, but now I know that they're always there. They always turn up, they always talk. They'll give me what I need next.

So, I have almost no routine. I work when I feel like it. I write when they turn up. I edit every day though, because I can't stay away and I'm verbose. I have to fire up the word count chainsaw a lot. LOL. Henry and Isolde had 66,000 words cut from it, to make word count. It's astonishing what you really don't need.
I like to edit when I have my Bacardi and diet Cokes for the day though. It sets part of my brain aside and makes things jump out that don't need to be there.

Aloha everyone!! Thanks for reading. Meg Amor :-)

The Baton Blog Hop is a great way to discover the best erotica authors out there.

I’m happy to pass this baton on to two great writers. Both writers with completely different styles, but offering great reads. Alix Richards is our newest member in The Lush and Blush Club. She writes deep twin soul love stories. Lovely!

Ian Smith is a fellow member of the ERWA – Erotica Readers and Writers Association. I’ve read a number of Ian’s stories and you can WRITE! Ian’s work is very seamless and professional. Great characters and interesting plotlines. 

Check them both out please. And go over to their blogs next week to see what their answers are on these questions. Aloha Meg :-) 
 

ALIX RICHARDS

First a storyteller, Alix Richards didn’t get around to recording her stories on paper until she was ten. The creative worlds grew with time and experience in her imagination. Finding her own ‘twin flame’ inspired her to look again at those worlds and characters she’d set aside when life demanded her full attention.

Between plotting, chatting writer friends off their balconies, love stories and meeting new people, Alix spends time with her family and friends, happy to share her real life with the ones who mean the most to her.

She’s friendly, stubborn, and outspoken but still enjoys laughing and crying while reading a good book. She’s a romantic with a harsh realistic twist, because some things just don’t happen in everyday life. However, it doesn’t stop her from believing anything is possible.

Alix would love to hear from you, alixrichards.souls@gmail.com

TWIN FLAMES SERIES:

Soul Bound
Soul Memory
Soul Destiny
Soul Nature

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alix-Richards/163865084640

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlixRichards

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6472517.Alix_Richards

Souls Immortal Blog: http://soulsimmortal.blogspot.com/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AlixRichardsSoulsImmortal/posts

Author Page at MuseItUp Publishing: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/68-our-authors/authors-r/111-author-99416   OR   http://tinyurl.com/ozvskpa

IAN SMITH

Ian lives in the South-West of the UK, with his wife and their dogs and horses. His wife would like to keep chickens, but worries that they wouldn’t last long with two lively terriers in a small suburban garden.

 

Ian is a professional scientist who has started writing non-fiction and fiction as a creative hobby, with some modest success in being published. Non-fiction is an outlet for his butterfly mind, unwittingly encouraged by his parents telling him to "look it up" when wearied by endless questions. Fiction he blames on an over-vivid imagination and accepts that isn't really an excuse.

He’s had two short stories published to date in anthologies, neither of which was erotic, but both of which he’s rather pleased with.
He enjoys reading and trying to write stories with elements of adventure, mystery, romance and eroticism.

Well, he probably listens to more novels than he reads, as audiobooks are good company during his daily commuting.

He'd quite like to keep chickens too.

Links where Ian’s published work to date can be purchased:
Hunting at Dawn included in the Alfie dog anthology “This Land Is My Land”
http://alfiedog.com/products-page/adventure/this-land-is-my-land-16-short-reads-for-lazy-days/

A Career For Lizzy, published in the anthology “Child In Me,” supporting the Grandparents’ Association http://books.squidoo.com/the-child-within

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Child-Me-Short-Stories-Childhood-ebook/dp/B00FX7VHAM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top%20