Well, there's not much I can say about the WIP because there is no WIP. :-) Okay, not entirely true. I do have a couple of projects I started some time ago that are "in progress". Last week I did do more work on the characters in one of them, using what I've learned recently from the books and workshops I've done. I found that they worked pretty well and my story was on target, which was encouraging. I didn't actually do any writing on the story though, as the week was completely taken up working on promotion materials for the upcoming RT Convention. This topic pretty much took over my life! My goodness, this is a big deal! And being my first time at RT, with no experience to guide me, I'm really just winging it here. But the whole convention will be  learning experience in so many ways, that's how I'm looking at it!
On the weekend, I did manage to snag a few of the ideas tumbling around in my head and put them together into a story idea that I'm now getting anxious to start writing. I've fleshed out my characters, got my basic story idea down, done a little research and I think I'm ready to start writing - today!

To celebrate my upcoming release Breakaway, here's a little teaser excerpt:

Remi was close. So close. Everything inside her pulled up and tightened and twisted in near painful ecstasy.


She heard bells ringing.

She rode Jason, sliding her hands into her hair, her breasts rising, Jason’s fingers working magic on her clit. So close.

The ringing sang in her ears again. “Jesus,” Jason said. “Is that your doorbell?”

“No. Don’t be silly.”

She shifted forward, frowning, trying to pick up that feeling again.

A loud pounding reverberated through the house.

“It is the door,” Jason gasped, hands on her waist. Remi paused, breathing hard.

“No. It’s my heart. Feel it.” She took his hand and pressed it to her left breast and he made a noise deep in his throat.

The hammering sounded again, this time accompanied by shouting voices.

Remi paused again. Dammit! Now it was gone, the elusive orgasm. Although, it was her third of the night.

What was going on?

“There is someone at your door!”

“There can’t be.” She squinted at the clock beside the bed. “It’s three A.M. Who would…?” She clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh dear god!”

“What?” Jason’s brows snapped together. He was still hard inside her.

Remi’s mind scrambled. She rolled off Jason and off the bed, eyes darting around the room for something to put on. She scooped up Jason’s shirt from the floor. It was so big she couldn’t find the armholes and she started toward the door as she fought her way into it.

“Remi, who is it?” She glanced over her shoulder to see Jason getting out of bed too, and the sight of his body, all bronze skin and incredible muscles, slowed her feet and distracted her for a couple of heartbeats. He grabbed for his pants and started jumping into them as he crossed the room.

Remi hurried down the hall to the front door, which vibrated under intense, rapid percussion again. She heard a feminine voice calling, “Remi! Are you in there? Remi!”

She peeked out the window and saw—oh god—Delise standing there with two uniformed police officers. Blue and red lights flashed from a car parked at the curb in front of her house. Remi thunked her forehead against the door, hand on the deadbolt, and drew in a long breath. This could not be happening. Could. Not.

She twisted the lock and opened the door just as Jason arrived behind her, chest bare, pants undone, hair standing on end.

The police and Delise burst into the small foyer.

First another message about contacting me:  I am still having problems with the info@kellyjamieson.com email address. People are telling me it isn't working. I've tested it myself and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't; however if you do get a reply from me and try to reply again, the email address is wrong. *Sigh* I will try to get this fixed ASAP. Meanwhile, if you would like to contact me please leave a comment here at my blog, I get all of those and can contact you back. Thank you and my apologies!

I finished Anybody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips about a week ago. As with all her books, I really enjoyed it. Great tension between hero and heroine

And last night I finished Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day. It's been a while since she'd had a historical romance out. I really enjoyed this one as it was somewhat different from her others. She always writes kick-butt heroines, even for historicals and often heroines who are not innocent virgins, so this one was a change from that and yet, certainly not a wimpy doormat heroine either.

Monday morning and YAY! It's a holiday! So I'm at home today. Am I writing? Er...no. Having finished my WIP last week, including a few passes through it to tidy up some loose ends and add a little layering, it has now been put away to rest. Along with the  NINE other completed manuscripts I have sitting there in my computer.

Well truthfully, most of them aren't just sitting there. Five of them are out on submission at various places.

I did write this week, though, because it was my turn to write my chapter of the next Nine Naughty Novelists serial story. Oh I had so much fun writing it! It was just fun - exciting and exhilarating and energizing. It reminded me why I love writing. And I can't wait until it's ready for everyone to read, I think it's going to be another good one!

I also worked on edits this past week for Breakaway AND I got a print galley for Lost and Found to review so I started that. And I'm mulling a few ideas over in my head, deciding what to work on next.

And since I just got my cover for Breakaway here's a first peek at it:

I quite love it!! That's Jase, pro hockey player, and Remi, sixth grade teacher.

AND...

I have a print anthology out today!! This is the "Wet" series at Ellora's Cave which includes my novella, Sexpresso Night. Here's that cover:

Woo hoo!!

I mean me, I'm the bad blogger, not "Blogger". :-)

I forgot to blog on Wednesday about what I'm reading (Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day).

Here's a song I'm loving right now:

Last week I blogged about returning to work on my chef story and I'm happy to report that it is FINISHED!!! Wrapped it up Saturday night, bang on 80,000 words. It still needs quite a bit of work, there are a few things I'm not entirely happy with yet, but I had to put it aside for now as I got the first round of edits for my next Ellora's Cave release, Breakaway.

Did I announce that here? I can't remember!  Just got the signed contract back last week, so probably not! This is the story you may have read about here I referred to as my "hockey story". It's about a sexy pro hockey player. I love hockey and always wanted to write a book about a hockey player and I did and now I finally get to share it!  Here's the unofficial blurb:

Schoolteacher Remi just saw the last of the younger siblings she raised leave the nest and she’s not handling it very well. Pro hockey player Jason just broke up with his girlfriend because she got too serious. Jason isn’t ready for responsibility. Remi’s had enough responsibility. They’re both ready for one hot night of fun.


When Jason finds out Remi’s a school teacher, he wants nothing more to do with her. Remi thinks he’s kind of acting like a jerk who never called her after their one hot night together. He’s rich, famous and plays a game for a living. But as they spend more time together, their feelings for each other change and Jason manages to convince Remi they can still have fun together. And they do. Despite paparazzi and “puck bunnies” asking him to autograph their breasts, and despite disagreements over Remi protecting her siblings too much and bailing them out every time they need something, Jason and Remi continue to see each other—but it’s just for fun.

But somehow fun and games grow into love. Remi has always wanted a family of her own and she’s finally found the man she can have that with. This time Jason isn’t afraid of commitment, not when it’s with Remi. But their happiness is threatened when they both have to get serious, take responsibilty and make some sacrifices.

Stay tuned for new about a release date!

This week I read a couple of long awaited books by two favourite authors:  Loose Ends by Tara Janze and Call Me Irresistable by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

I have loved Tara Janzen's Steele Street series, sooooo much and I am so sad that it's over, much as I couldn't wait for this book to be out. My only complaint about this book was not enough romance and maybe a bit too much action. Tara's knowledge of weapons has me in awe. A little more JT and Jane would have been nice.

And  also enjoyed Call Me Irresistable. Great characters, including the many secondary characters (and there are lots) some laugh out loud moments and some heartstrings tugged.

I bought a new book to read, Sylvia Day's latest historical, Pride and Pleasure, but when I went to read it I discovered another SEP book loaded onto my reader that I must have bought a while ago and never read - Nobody's Baby But Mine. So that's what I'm reading now!

Back working on my chef story this week. I haven't progressed the story a whole lot, but I have added to the word count. Using some of the things I've learned in the last few months from the books I've read and the workshops I've done, which I've talked about here, I did a lot more work on the characters in this story.

Then I went back through the story and found places where I needed to develop those characters more. Added, lines, added scenes. I'm pretty happy with how it's working out so far. So I've added about 10,000 words to what I had before and wow, I'm ready for a crisis! 

This story is loosely connected to one of my stories I finished a while back, With Strings Attached, and my hero and heroine from that book make an appearance in this one. I would love this to be a series set in my fictional town.

I've mentioned before how motivating it is to get to this point in a story - 3/4 done! But the last scenes are also the hardest to write, at least I find. So, even though it feels close to being done, I know it will take longer to write the last quarter of the book than probably the first three quarters all put together. Wish me luck!

This week from the WIP (Work in Progress) which once again sadly has no title. It will come to me at some point. :-) It's about a chef. And a wacky interior designer. I'm having fun with Bradan and Mirelle!

****

“You hugged Jerick Ellard the other night.”


Her eyes widened. “What!”

“You hugged him.” His jaw tightened. “You obviously were friends with him and he was a client.” Christ, he sounded like a petulant little boy.

She laughed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He felt his chin jut out. He stepped closer. “You said we could be friends. The other night.”

“You want me to hug you?” she asked incredulously.

Yeah. Oh hell, yeah. But probably best not to answer that one out loud. He stepped closer and reached out to lift a stray golden strand of hair away from her face, moving it behind her shoulder, taking the opportunity to let his fingers stroke over her soft hair and then brush across her shoulder. “I just want to be friends.”

“Friends.” The word came out on a breath.

“Sure.” He was lying. Through his teeth. He dragged his fingertips up the side of her neck, sliding under her hair where she was so warm, her skin peachy-soft, letting his thumb skim over her small chin, then her bottom lip. Her scent drifted toward him, vanilla and lemon and sugar. It made his mouth water, made him want to inhale her, eat her up. Her eyes darkened as she continued to stare at him. He didn’t just want to be friends with her. He wanted to bang her brains out.

He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her closer, still holding her gaze. He looked at her mouth, soft and pink, a buzzing in his ears, blood rushing to his groin with painful heat, and his eyes closed as he bent his head to kiss her, to breathe her in.

And encountered nothing but air.

I usually blog about the books I've read or am reading this week. I finished Tequila Truth by Mari Carr, and really really liked it! As I said last week, just the kind of book I like to read - great likeable characters, lots of heat and an emotional story. So I picked up Mari's book Power Play. Loved it! More great characters. I loved the scenes at the beginning of the story where they're trying to get each other to beg. My only complaint - this could have been a longer story. And as often happens when I get on a kick for a certain author, I bought Any Given Sunday. It's the most recent book in a series, so I'm going to be reading in all the wrong order - oh well! But I will be reading that series!

But this week I'd love to know what YOU'RE reading - give me some great new ideas of books to try out!

Goodness, yesterday I blogged at Nine Naughty Novelists and forgot to blog here!

I did finish the WIP last week! The last few scenes were hard, and then I had this feeling there were a few little things that just weren't working that I went back and fixed. That took a bit more time, but once I'd done that, the ending flowed better and it was done!

Gabe really gave me a hard time on this one! This story was really different for me. For all the readers who said I probably couldn't top Power Struggle...I'm scared! Because I think this turned out pretty good, but what the heck do I know.

I spent a few more days after that, going through the manuscript a few times, fixing details, and now, as I always do, that manuscript is put away to "simmer" - to let the flavours develop, LOL. In a couple of weeks I will send it off to my critique partner - I'm anxious to know what she thinks!

Then I had to decide what to work on next. I have several projects in the works and sometimes bounce around depending on my mood, or inspiration, or - being honest - what I think is more likely to sell. So I decided to go back to my "chef" story. It's questionable whether there's a market for a chef story but I felt pulled back to this one and to the characters. And I'd already written 50,000 words so might as well finish it. So that's my new work in progress.

Love the lyrics...

In celebration of finishing my WIP, which is Gabe's story for anyone who's read Power Struggle, here's a little sneak peak ( and a picture just because it's snowing like crazy here today):

She ignored the faint suspicion inside her that said oh hell yeah, this was different, this man was way different than any other man she’d ever met in her life. This was not the kind of man she should be spending time with, all forceful and overpowering. This was the kind of man she should be staying far, far away from, the kind of man who could be her downfall. She should be with someone like Kevin—kind, gentle...nice. But Kevin didn’t tempt her like Gabe did. And so she focused on her rationale for why she could do this―one night. Hot attraction. That’s all.


“I like it when you laugh,” she said.

His eyes darkened even more. “I don’t laugh very often.”

“I know.”

“You’re saying I’m a bad-tempered son of a bitch.”

She smiled. “If the hardhat fits...”

He laughed again, then closed his eyes briefly as if it almost pained him. “Reagan.”

“Mmm?”

“Come see the rest of the house.”

She hid her smile as she followed him back into the house. His house was not decorated in single-guy, big screen television, stereo and exercise equipment style but rather had a casual, comfortable elegance. She eyed the wall of bookshelves loaded with books, wanted to explore more there. “Did your wife live here with you?” she asked.

He shot her a sideways look. “No. We divorced a long time ago. I just built this house a couple of years ago.”

“Oh.”

“Why?”

“Never mind. I’ve already complimented you enough tonight. I don’t want your head to get too big.”

“Too late for that,” he muttered, tugging on one pant leg.

It took her a second and then she burst out laughing. “You made a joke again.”

He frowned. “Now you’re saying I don’t have a sense of humor? Not much chance of my ego swelling with you around.”

She couldn’t help it. Her eyes dropped to his groin. Speaking of swelling...she looked back up at him and his dark eyes burned with a blue flame. He moved his head from side to side, but his lips twitched and she had to smile too. “I know you have a sense of humor,” she said softly. “You just keep it pretty well hidden behind all that surliness.”

He made a little choking sound. “Just when I think you’re getting nice, you backhand me again.”

When I do this Wednesday post about what I'm reading, I'm always painfully aware that the authors I'm talking about could be reading this. I know how ferocious other authors get when one of their own is criticized. And I'm not a reviewer, I'm just a reader who happens to also be an author. So I try to keep my comments positive and talk about what I liked about the books I read, but the truth is, I don't like everything I read. So sometimes I just don't say very much. This week I want to share my thoughts but I'm not going to name the book, nor will I name the author. I will say this is my first purchase from Carina Press.

I had a lot of problems with this book and ended up mostly skimming it because it just didn't engage me. The point of view jumped from character to character several times within scenes, which may have been part of the problem. Although it was an erotic romance with some very hot scenes, they didn't evoke any kind of emotional response in me and I realized the writing is very cold and sterile. The characters themselves don't feel any visceral reactions, so neither did I. The story itself was hugely disappointing. In the middle of the story a second hero appears, and he has his own point of view, which was a bit jarring. Turns out he's the man heroine has the HEA with, after very little conflict, I have to say - except he's not. He dies. In a completely meaningless, random way. The other thing that was extremely disturbing was one of the BDSM scenes that was so much like a scene from my own book, Rigger, that it really freaked me out. Similar actions, similar words...I still feel really unsettled by reading something so like one of my own scenes. It must be coincidence but, whoa.

I also read Board Resolution by Joey W. Hill. I can see readers having mixed feelings about this story, the heroine spending much of the book restrained and at the mercy of five men. Ultimate fantasy or abuse? It took me aback at first, until bits of back story were filtered in and I realized that the hero and heroine actually knew each other a lot better than I'd first thought. And it was hot!I'm going for ultimate fantasy, with a heroine who learns a lot about herself through the process.

Right now I'm reading Tequila Truth by Mari Carr. I love this book! It's exactly the kind of story like to read.

So close, so close...almost finished the WIP! I was hoping to do it this weekend, but of course the last scenes are the hardest to write - the most emotional, the most gut-wrenching, and it's slow going. In fact, even though I'm anxious to be done, I found myself procrastinating because I knew how hard these scenes were going to be to write.

This whole book has been hard to write. I know it's going to take a lot of fine tuning of this first draft and I'm just hoping it all makes sense. Both these characters are really complicated.

I'm also surprised by the length of the book. My goal was 60,000 words and I usually find that's a very comfortable length for me. Lately I've been trying to write longer, but this one I wanted to keep fairly short. But Gabe and Reagan had other ideas! I could easily make this an 80,000 word book but I think it will likely end up somewhere around 65,000 words. It is what it is.

Yay it's Friday and I love weekends. This weekend you have 2 chances to win one of my books.

Saturday at The Romance Studio Book a Day Giveaway, they're giving away a PRINT copy of Love 2 Love U.

And my friend Erin Nicholas and I are having a contest together, also at The Romance Studio  - we're eaching giving away 2 PRINT books - one for you to keep and one to give to a friend! Erin's book Just Right and my book Love 2 Love U were both released the same day so we're celebrating together.

Love 2 Love U is an anthology of my three novellas, Love Me, Love Me More and 2 Hot 2 Handle. Here's a little excerpt from 2 Hot 2 Handle:

He kissed her mouth, knowing he tasted of her and she kissed him avidly back. So fucking hot.

“I think we might exhaust you tonight, Abby doll,” he murmured.

He drew back and they shared a smile. “I can handle it,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Eric. He grinned, too.

“Yeah. She can.”

A rush of emotion so intense it almost sent him back to his knees roared through Jett. He was almost afraid to believe what was happening.

“Take your clothes off,” Abby said, her eyes gleaming. “You’re both wearing too many clothes. And Jett…”

His eyes flicked up to hers.

“I haven’t seen you, yet, either.”

Red-hot lust streaked through him. Fuck, what a woman!

He ripped his clothes off. He’d quickly gotten over any modesty when he’d started modeling, was used to his body being stared at, ogled, studied. Objectified, even. But damn him, he wanted Abby to like what she saw.

Her eyes widened, and her hands came out to trace over his chest, down over his quivering abs, and lower. She blinked as she studied him there.

“You’re…bare.”

He looked down. Oh, yeah. He was so used to it, he thought nothing of it. “I had to get rid of the hair for an underwear shoot,” he choked out. “It itches like hell when it grows back, so I just kept it like this.”

“Uh.” She seemed speechless. She reached out to touch and her soft fingers on his throbbing staff had him twitching hard. “It makes you look…huge.”

“I am huge.”

Her gaze flew up to meet his, and she smiled when she recognized his cocky humor.

“Well, yes you are, actually,” she murmured.

Eric came up behind her again, having divested himself of his clothes, too. “Hey,” he said. “He’s no bigger than I am.”

She turned her sparkling brown eyes to Eric. “No. Of course not. He just looks bigger because…there’s no hair there.”

“What? You want me to shave too?”

“Christ,” Jett said. “Don’t shave. That’s the worst thing you can do. You gotta wax, man.”

Eric winced. “Never mind. I’m fine the way I am.”

Last week I finished off Simply Irresistable by Jill Shalvis. It's not my favorite of her books but it was still pretty good. Then I read Afterlife by Joey Hill.  I think I may have read one of Joey Hill's books a long time ago (wait I'll go look) I"m back. I can't find it. So this is sort of like a new author to me and I've heard so many good things about her. I really did love this book, though I started to get a little impatient with Rachel and her continued thinking she wasn't good enough and didn't deserve Jon, but loved the writing!! So now I'm reading her Board Resolution - smokin' hot!

And a contest!

To celebrate the release of our print books on the same day, my friend Erin Nicholas and I are having a "friends" contest at The Romance Studio. You can win a copy of each of our new print releases Love 2 Love U and Just Right PLUS a copy to give to one of your friends! Check it out here. Contest goes until January 31/11.

I've been working hard this week on "Gabe's story". Yes, I really need a better title. I've been thinking about it off and on and have come up with numerous titles that I thought were okay, but then changed my mind. I guess I can worry about that once it's finished.

I have to say Gabe is a very complicated man and he is giving me a hard time! He's also giving Reagan, my heroine, a hard time. It also appears, despite my careful planning, that the story may be longer than I planned. I'm now up to 44,000 words and it's time for a crisis but Gabe's not ready for that - I haven't hurt him enough yet!

This is interesting to me, because recently I've been trying to write longer books and struggled a bit with it. I took a couple of workshops and I've read a few books to try to help with that and what is actually quite cool is that it's the books on character that have helped with my plotting. Now, I know I write character-driven stories, but it quite amazes me how much the plot can grow based on deeper characterization.

Now...back to Gabe.

Okay! I have news! I just can't share it right now! But...I'm going to share a sneak peek from my "hockey story", as I've been calling it, Breakaway:

“I don’t know much about hockey,” she admitted. “But I think it’s very rough.”
“It can be.” He smiled at her. “That’s the fun part.”
“Do you fight?”
He laughed. “I have been known to mix it up a bit. But not often. There was a time back when I was a junior player and I was headed to goonsville. I was big and I liked to protect the other guys, but sometimes I tended to jump in and get physical without thinking about the consequences. I had a great coach, though, who really got me to work on controlling those impulses and to think about things.” He tilted his head. “You should come to a game.”
“Oh. Yeah. Maybe.”
“I’ll get you a ticket. I’ll get you two tickets and you can bring your friend…what’s her name…?”
“Delise.”
“Yeah. She didn’t seem too impressed with me the other night. I think I should make it up to her.”
“It wasn’t you she wasn’t happy with, it was me.” Remi grimaced. “She’s the one who wanted me to find a guy that night and get lucky. Then when I did, she freaked out and got all paranoid that I was leaving with a serial killer.”
Jason choked on a mouthful of beer. “Good to know she has a high opinion of me.”
Remi laughed. “She didn’t even know who you were. She would have felt that way if I was going home with the Pope.”
“Ha. Be glad it was me. You wouldn’t have gotten three orgasms with the Pope.”
Now it was her turn to choke. “I didn’t get three! We were interrupted…”
“Damn. That’s right.” His eyes went even darker. “I guess I owe you one more, then.”

It's actually been two weeks since I blogged about the books I've been reading. At that time I'd started Something About You by Julie James. I loved it! So of course I had to read everything she has! I've now also read Practice Makes Perfect (loved it too!) and Just The Sexiest Man Alive (another win!). I could be really picky about a couple of tiny POV problems in Just The Sexiest Man Alive but I knew she was doing it to plant a seed for somethign coming later. Loved the characters, though and great dialogue. Can't wait til her next book is out.

Currently I'm reading Simply Irresistable by Jill Shalvis. I've seen a lot of people "discovering" Jill Shalvis recently. Meanwhile I've been a big fan of hers for years. I'm so glad for her people are finding her because I love her writing!