First of all, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a wonderful year and that many blessings are in store for you next year. It's been a fruitful year for me. I published ten books: 4 full-length novels, 4 novellas, 2 non-fiction writing books, and 2 multi-author boxed sets.
In January, I joined Mina Esguerra's #buqosteamyreads class. The aim was to write a steamy romance in a few months. I really got into the class camaraderie and wrote and published my first story in 25 days.
Taming Romeo, Sánchez Sisters Book #1 - Evie Sanchez is recovering from heartbreak when she runs into Romeo Garcia, the boy she left behind. Now a movie star, Romeo reignites her love with romance and skillful lovemaking. But is the fantasy real or revenge?
April, I finished Whole Latte Love - A career oriented young woman has no time for distractions—especially the sexy, guitar-playing barista she rooms with. But how can she resist his hot looks, lattes, and heart for the homeless? Set in Berkeley, California, this opposites-attract romance mixes bluesy rock music, hot, steamy love scenes, and financial shenanigans.
From May 15 to June 15, I ran my first Romance In A Month class with about twenty-five authors where we encouraged and cheered each other on while writing a romance in a month. Nine books were finished from that first class, and since then, another twenty have been written. Total for the year: 29 books from 13 authors [ranging from 1 to 6 stories from May to December].
Romance in a Month: Guide to Writing a Romance in 30 Days. Learn the basics of writing a romance: characterization, plot points, motivation and goals, and how to speed up your writing by using common romance tropes and archetypes. Exercises, slides, and examples are also included to guide you in creating your own unique romance in a short period of time, and do it again, and again.
After that, I wrote a series of novellas and published them over the summer.
#Played Novellas - featuring hot men in sports and feisty heroines doing their thing.
Played by Love. Soccer goalkeeper, Jaden Sloup, has his eye on Ella Kennedy, a woman who won’t date jocks or frat boys. He pretends to be a techno-geek to win her heart. When a bully harasses Ella and challenges Jaden to a fight, he proves that even a goalie can score.
Playing the Rookie. Jessica Song and baseball rookie Jay Pak Ahn agree to a week of enchanting, starry-eyed dates and rebound sex to get over their exes. When their affair threatens Jay’s position on the team and exposes Jessica’s past hurts, what will they sacrifice for true love?
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In August, I was asked by the Killer Romances team to join a Christmas boxed set, Romancing Christmas. I wrote A Father for Christmas and published it in September.
A Father for Christmas - (Holiday Romance)
Single mother Kelly Kennedy can't afford lavish gifts for her four-year-old daughter, Bree. Homeless veteran Tyler Manning doesn't believe he deserves a Merry Christmas. When Bree asks Santa for a father and picks Tyler, both Tyler and Kelly must believe in the power of love to give Bree her best Christmas ever.
From then, I was on a roll. We had another Romance In A Month class and I organized another multi-author boxed set Heroes to Swoon For.
Claiming Carlos – Choco and Carlos have been friends forever. When flashy restaurant consultant flirts with Choco and changes her image, Carlos aims to claim Choco’s heart by cooking hot, spicy, and steamy.
November, the Romancing Christmas boxed set was published and I submitted Roaring Hot, the story I wrote in the September Romance In A Month class, to the Heroes to Swoon For set.
Roaring Hot! A playboy motorcycle racer hires an aspiring actress when he is challenged by his grandmother to bring a real girlfriend to her birthday party.
One of the favorite features in my Romance In A Month class, is the daily character question. I would post a question and the class members would answer about what their character would or wouldn't do. This turned out to be a great motivator for deepening characters and many people said it stimulated additional scenes or even story directions. So in November, while waiting for the Heroes Boxed set to publish, I compiled the questions I had in the class with additional ones and published it.
366 Ways to Know Your Character: A Romance In A Month Workbook. Revolutionize your writing with living, breathing characters you and your readers will remember long after the dust settles on "The End." Each question in this workbook is designed to draw you deeper into your character’s psyche. It doesn’t matter whether the answer jumps out at you or that you must painfully dig it out. Either way, you will win new insights into your characters until they feel and act like real people.
I finished the year with an explosive December. The Heroes to Swoon For set was published first and we had an enjoyable two days of partying.
I thought I'd close out the year with Roaring Hot, my billionaire motorcycle romance.
But as the year wound down, I got inspired at the Heroes To Swoon For launch party to do one more story, a Christmas story. On December 9th, I started a brainstorming session with the members of my private reader's club [Club Rachelle Ayala] and wrote Christmas Flirt, posting the chapters and receiving comments as I went. Now, I had a goal to finish it by Christmas. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but the club members kept me going by waiting impatiently for the next chapter. On December 18, I finished my first draft and sent to my beta readers Dec 20-22. Incredibly, 7 out of 9 readers gave me their detailed feedback and comments. I revised and edited Dec 22-23 and uploaded to Amazon on the evening of Dec 23. They published it Dec 24, and voila! I did it. 10 books published in 2014.
Christmas Flirt! Naughty girl Lacy Reed gets more than she bargained for when her naked selfies turn up on her boss’s phone. What will it take for her to get her Christmas wish to come true?
Now, for the Christmas Gift! Both Played by Love and Christmas Flirt are FREE on Amazon from December 25th to December 27th! So Merry Christmas to all, and may 2015 be blessed and prosperous.
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