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  Official website of romance author Willa Edwards

Owned for Christmas Submitted

7/22/2014

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I made a hint a month ago that Valentine Next Door wouldn't be my last foray into holiday stories (I don't know that I'll ever be completely done having some holiday fun). The reason I made that remark was because of this story, that I was revising at that moment.

Today I submitted Owned for Christmas to my publisher.That's right, I was inspired by Christmas again.

Earlier this year I found a submission request for Christmas themed stories. I read it, because it was on the list and why not, but I wasn't going to write another Christmas story again (famous last words, I know). But for whatever reason these characters immediately formed in my mind, and my heart instantly broke for Kate. Trapped between two brothers. Wanting both of them but afraid to jeopardize her relationship with one to reach for the other. She just wouldn't let me go. And neither would Grant (which is fine with me, as long as he keeps the whip away from me).

Here's a rough blurb of the story.

Kate Baker thought she was nervous to meet her boyfriend Daniel Farrell’s family over the holidays before. That is until she walked into the kitchen to find Grant, her former Dom, standing at the counter.

A year ago Grant left her with only a note, shattering her heart and breaking her trust with the whole BDSM scene. Daniel helped her mend her broken heart, and she won’t give him up. Even if she has to bury the submissive part of herself to do it.

Grant Farrell left the woman he loved to come home and tend the
family ranch after his father died. It almost tore his heart out but he had no
other choice. That is, until Kate walked into his family home, on his brother’s
arm.

Kate awakens his every dark and dominate trait. Now more than ever, he’s determined to keep her in his life, even if he has to share her to do it. But half measures won’t be enough anymore. He either needs to own her completely, or give her up to Daniel for good. 

Can he convince Kate to forgive him for the pain he caused and trust him again? Or will he lose her to his brother forever for his past mistakes?

While this story is still Christmas themed, its very different than Naughty List. I think it shows how I've grown and changed as a writer these last four years. And I hope my editor and readers love these characters as much as I do. Only time will tell. My fingers are crossed.
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Ending the Old and Bringing in the New

2/2/2014

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I know it’s late but I wanted to let you all know how my December close out plan ended. Unfortunately I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. Due to a few factors, including family commitments, a funk and the flu. You know, the three Fs. J

I did manager to fix up and submit a short story, Jack the Bodice Ripper. I spent some of my December time, that I had set aside of new works, editing that story and working with the publisher to get it ready for release in less than a month. A feat impossible with most publishers, which is one of the reasons I love Romance Divine. I announced the release a few weeks ago on this blog, though it was in the middle of my flu ridden haze, so I wasn’t capable of much more. It was definitely time well spent, though it cut into my other plans.

I also revised Valentine Next Door and submitted it to Totally Bound. They accepted it this week. I don’t know yet when it will be released, I’ll let you all know as soon as I have more information, but I’m happy dancing all over the place about this one. I can’t wait to see how people react to Miranda and Jeremy. I know I love them, and I hope other people will too.

I’ve also been working hard to finish Second Chance at a Cheerleader. I’ve added another 5,000 words, putting me well above my original goal for the story. And I still have another 10,000 words or so to finish the book. And the last bit is usually the hardest for me to write. I’m hoping to finish the first draft this month. I have so many great Snowedin Stories I want to tell, but I need to complete this one to move on to the others. Not to mention any of the other stories I running around in my head.

As for New Year resolutions. Unlike some previous years, I’m not going to set any goals for myself as far as numbers. I have way too much going on this year and I don’t know yet what I’ll be capable of handling. But I do want to focus on writing as well as I can and finishing as many works as possible in my limited time. I need to get as many of the characters running through my head down on paper as I can. Not to mention bring more reading material for all you fantastic readers.

Other than that, I just want to keep moving forward. I have a lot to accomplish in 2014 personally, and I want to get better at just taking everything one moment at a time, one task at a time, and one red hot romance at a time.

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Valentine Next Door is Submitted

8/25/2013

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This last week I submitted my newest story, Valentine Next Door. Inspired by a submission call for valentine’s cougar stories, tells the story of Miranda Valentine the hot widow next door, and Jeremy Callahan, the boy that’s lived next door to her for years and loved her just as long. Now back, and an adult, he intends to go after what he wants. And all he wants is Miranda Valentine.

This story came to me very suddenly. But the second Miranda and Jeremy started telling me their story I had no choice but to listen. Jeremy was just so insistent on what he wanted, with me and Miranda and I couldn’t deny him. Even with everything else I had going on these last few months, and it’s been a lot (I write another blog post about that soon).

Here’s one of my favorite interactions between the two of them, just to wet your whistle a bit.

"Sure." He smiled, leaning up and grabbing the items from her. "It's nice to be useful. Even with this." He knocked on his leg. The loud thump of a fist on plaster filled the room.

Miranda sat on the opposite end of the couch, waiting patiently while he jabbed the corkscrew into the cork and twisted it out, even as it made her twitchy and achy. She watched him turn the corkscrew in the bottle. A sudden ache blooming between her legs at the twirl of the device in his hand, the triumph way he pulled the cork from the long thin neck. She clamped her thighs together, hoping to stem the sensation before it traveled any further.


"That's probably been the hardest part of being injured. Having to ask for help." He poured the thick red wine into one of the glasses. When the goblet was half way full he switched to other. "I guess I'm not very good at it." Once both goblets were filled to the midpoint, he handed her one and placed the wine bottle on the table.

She took a sip of the dry merlot. "Just like every other man." She hid her smirk behind her glass, but from Jeremy's returned smile he didn't mind the slight dig.

"I guess that's true." He sipped from his own glass, wrapping his hand around the glass with such a firm touch. What else he could do with those hands, how strong or how soft might his grip be.

"How did you get hurt anyway?" Best to keep focused on something besides Jeremy’s mouth pressed against the glass.

Jeremy looked down at the cast over his leg, "Do you promise not to laugh at me?"

She nodded, turning toward him, shifting her focus to him completely. She twisted into the couch cushions, sliding her stocking feet beneath her. 

"I slipped on a pile of Rhino dung."

She chuckled, slapping her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. She couldn't help it. The image of him sliding backwards in a giant pile of poop was too funny not to laugh.

"Hey," he yelled, though his face didn't hold any true anger. Instead he smiled with her. "You promised not to laugh."

"You're right." She snorted, placing the glass of wine down on the coffee table before she spilled it over the floor. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting a story like that." She wiped at her eyes, a bit of moisture gathering along the lashes. "How exactly does one break his leg by stepping in rhino dung?"

He smirked, bringing the wine glass to his lips and taking a sip. "I was trying to take a picture of a momma rhino and her calf cuddling. People love pictures of animal mother and babies, especially exotic ones. I wasn't paying attention to where I walk. I stepped backwards, slipped on the pile and my leg ended up underneath bent the wrong way."

She erupted in another fit of chuckles. "I'm sorry." She brushed the tears back. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good laugh.”

She reached out, touching his arm without even a thought. He glanced down, staring at where her skin met his. Then his eyes traveled back up to hers. For a second they just looked at each other. Arches of heat passed between them and her stomach fluttered.

"It’s okay," he whispered, his chocolate brown eyes gazing into hers. So deep and sweet, she almost believed she could drown in them. And what a way to go. "I don't mind too much."

His lips were so close she could almost feel them on her skin, the soft brush
against her own mouth, his tongue caressing her own. It'd been so long since she'd been kissed. So long since anyone had looked at her with as much heat and lust as Jeremy was now.

Not since Leo. Not since her dead husband.

She pulled her hand back, glancing away. She was on dangerous ground. She could feel it. She had to bring the conversation back to a safer topic. Much safer.

I’ll let you all know once I know what’s going on with this work, when it finds its home and where. But for now, I’m just so thrilled to have managed to write such a work during all the personal issues I’ve had for the last few months. It’s nice to know no matter what’s going on in my real life I always have my writing.

Now I have to get back to it. On to the next story. Don’t want to leave you waiting for long. :) Happy reading!
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Dirty Work is Submitted

7/7/2013

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I finally pushed the button tonight to submit Dirty Work. It was much harder to do than I anticipated, for a variety of reasons. One being that I really wanted to spend more time with these girls. I didn’t want the series to end. It has been such a huge part of my publishing life. The first book, was my
first every published work
. It’s been the safe place I’ve been going back to for over two years.

But unfortunately, with all the new series I have coming out, and the others I have planned for the next few years, I needed to end this series and move on. It was still tough (and I couldn’t help but leave myself a few loop holes that I might be able to get back in through), but I managed to do it.

Now that’s its submitted I can let you all know a few details of the story. Though the novel is of Giselle’s story, using her list to find her love, it also wraps up everyone else’s story, especially Callie and Eric’s that has been chronicled in almost every book of the series.

The story revolves around two important events, Labor Day (the holiday for this book) and a wedding. Callie and Eric’s to be specific. 

As much as it was hard to write this book, because I didn’t want to end this series, it was also a lot of fun to bring back all the characters for this special event. You get to not only see Amy, Callie, Krista and Giselle again, but Mallory reappears, with her two beaus.  I loved getting my heroines back together, which they haven’t been due to Mirage’s touring schedule since book one, but even more fun was sticking my heroes all together so they could commiserate about the girls. 

There’s a lot of real life wedding drama in this book, pulled from my own single bridesmaid experiences. Though there is some of me in every single one of these girls, I think Giselle and I might be the most similar.

I’ll keep you all up to date when I hear back from the publisher, but I’m really hopeful this book will be out soon. As much as I hate for the series to end, I’m excited to share with all of you the love between all these friends
and their Mr. Rights.
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Working for Him is Submitted

4/30/2013

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Just before racing off to a trip for the EDJ I finished up and submitted Working for Him. I'm really proud of it, I think its a great story and I love the characters. I definitely hope to find it a home, whether its with this anthology or somewhere else. I'm even thinking Richard and Serena might be making another appoearance with my muse, but I definitely have more brainstorming to do before I can say for sure.

Here's the last paragraph. Hope you like it.

He grabbed her hands in one large fist, pulling them above her head and holding them immovable. His grip was hard enough to give her bruises the next day, yet another set of marks she’d cherish. His other hand wrapped around her neck, holding her firmly where the collar slid across her throat. Yet no panic played across her mind, no worry he might hurt her. Just blissful bone-deep possession and total trust. 

He leaned down, taking her mouth with his own, as he slid into her with one quick push. Pounded deep, he forged their bodies together. And the dam inside her broke, the pleasure spilling out in a tidal wave. She held onto him tight, his own body convulsing against hers as he followed her over. Coming with her, as they always should.
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December and 2012 Close Out

1/3/2013

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I’m back at the Evil Day Job again, and that means my December Close Out plan is over. Just like every year I don’t feel like I did nearly enough, this break slipped by even faster than last years. But I did complete the major items on my wish list. I finished the first draft of Dirty Work and revised, and with only a few hours left in the year, I submitted Reunion Makes Three.  I’ll keep you in the loop when it gets picked up and when it will be out.

Not a bad amount of work for two weeks, but I always feel like I could do more. I always wish I could write more, faster, better. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over that. If I do it will probably be the end of my writing career :)

When I look back on 2012 I feel the same way. I feel like I could have done more, but I’m proud of what I did do. I had six releases this year, if you count my self-publish work and free read (which followed essentially the same process as any other work I’ve released). And I have two more under contract, Wandering Off the Path which goes on preorder next week (January 7th to be exact), and Jack the Bodice Ripper that should be releasing soon.

Also this year I’ve done a lot to learn about my writing. I took a dip into self-publishing. I attended The Romance Convention and learned a lot about the industry, some great tips on writing and meet some awesome people. I plan to use everything I've gathered from these experiences in the year ahead to improve my writing and be more effective with my time.

Unfortunately I didn’t make my reading goal this year, which makes me a little sad (I hate not meeting any goal, even if it’s one I’ve set myself). But according to my goodreads statistics I did real more pages than I did last year. When I look over some of the books I’ve read this year, it makes sense. I did read a lot more novels than novellas, especially from my fellow Siren sisters. So maybe it all evens out in the end. But with all I had going on this year something had to give, and apparently it was reading.

And not completing Nanowrimo, while understandable, still bothers me a little. Its rare for me not to complete that goal, though I have yet to sell an Nanowrimo work (though Wandering was a Maynowrimo project).

All in All 2012 was a pretty good year for my writing, despite the craziness and distraction of my everyday life, and I think I’m set up for an even better 2013.
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Full time writer’s vacation so far…

12/27/2011

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For the last few days I’ve been enmeshed in a full time writer’s vacation. In an effort to step closer to my goal of being a full time writer, I’ve spent my whole vacation from my true full time job writing/editing at least 8 hours a day, and taking my writing as serious as a full time job. I’ve learned quite a bit from this time. The most important being pacing and other being a new respect for full time writers.

Starting off my fulltime writer’s vacation with a bang, I received my edits for Heart’s Ultimatum. I was thrilled when I saw them in my email as another goal I could get behind me as part of this vacation. I got them on Tuesday (the day before my vacation) and did the easy edits, such as deleting and adding commas, typos and fixing comma splices. On Wednesday, my first day of the full time writer’s vacation, I dug into the edits, but by the end of my eight hours that day I was feeling pretty drained and emotional. It took me a good twelve hours of sleep and a Kathy Griffin stand up special to get back to an even keel.

I learned from that first day the importance of pacing. Don’t do all your edits in one day, because that’s going to make you crazy. Once you get so far into edits you won’t be able to do anything else, you’re brains already drained. Since then I’ve been spending the first four or so hours of the day either writing or revising something new. Writing gives me energy, while revising and editing tend to take it away, so I need to building writing new stuff into the schedule early, to give me energy in the beginning of the day to make it through to the end and then I can end with edits, when I’d be tired any way.

I’ve also been spending an hour or two a day, doing promo. Setting up blog spots, emailing people, even discussing writing on some loops and facebook groups. That’s an important part of writing full time too, making sure people know who you are and where to find you when they want to buy your books.

Once I started to get the pacing down, I’ve been having a much better time on my full time writer’s vacation. I revised and submitted another work and I’m almost done with my edits for Heart’s Ultimatum, I hope to get them sent back within the next day or two, which is still way ahead of the January deadline set by my publisher.

For the remainder of the vacation (which will extend through January 2nd) I have one more short to revise and possibly submit (but it’s not ready I won’t push it, since I plan to submit it to a big publisher) and to write more of Foolish Desire and my superhero novella. I’d also love to make some progress on heart’s trailer, but we’ll see. That’s really at the bottom of the list as far as I’m concerned.

The biggest thing I’ve learned so far this week, is that being a fulltime writer is not as easy as it appears. It’s a lot easier to put in eight hours at my day job than my writing one (though there are definitely a few hard days at the EDJ too). It’s more emotional than I would have though and draining. While I still want to work towards being able to live off my writing, and open up more opportunities for myself for my future, whether it is writing full time, or with a part time EDJ or being a full time mom and part time writer, the future is pretty unclear. But I plan to keep working hard, pushing through and enjoying my writing the best I can.
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December Close Out – Half Way There

12/20/2011

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We’re at the half way point of my December Close Out plan, so I thought I’d let you all in on my progress so far. I finished revising and submitted one of the three shorts I wanted to push out the door this month, Snow Day, and I’ve made great strides towards revising the second one. I completed my character profiles for my superhero novella. And I completed the Midnight Mirage trailer I’ve been working on and off for months.

Here’s my results--
I’m very pleased with the progress. Though now that the month is partially done I realize some of my priorities need to be changed.

I had hoped to do a book trailer for Naughty List. And while I still want to build one someday, I think now that we’re so close to Christmas, my time would be better spent creating a book trailer for Heart’s Ultimatum so I can use it for promo during its release (February 2012).

I also had another great surprise this month. Amy and Will from Foolish Desire started to talk to me, and since I’d really like to get this book released during the spring/summer time (which means subbing it in January/February) I definitely listened to them. Not only have I completed all the character profiles for these two, and have a good handle on their personalities. I’ve even started writing. I have about 3k, and I’m only picking up speed. But this will probably keep me from finishing Hunter and Madison’s story for a little while longer.

Tomorrow my plan kicks into high gear, as my fulltime writer’s vacation starts. I’ll be focusing for at least eight hours a day on my writing for my entire vacation (besides Christmas day). In that time I should be able to revise and submit the other two shorts, as well as work on some of my other projects. I hope to have a very merry Christmas of writing and revising. And take a few steps closer to making my full time writer status not just a vacation, but a lifestyle.
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WIP Wednesday

9/7/2011

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Sorry I didn’t check in last week for WIP Wednesday. I had a bit of a personal emergency. I hit a pot hole on a main highway and ended up bending the front passage rim. Not only did I end up with a flat tire, and thankfully was able to relay on the kindness of a coworker to come help me, but I had the whole upheaval of fixing the rim and trying to find another car to use until that was complete. It wasn’t a life or death situation, but took a lot of time and stress to deal with.

The big news this week, Heart’s Ultimatum is officially submitted. After very thorough read through, I sent it off to the publisher Saturday afternoon. WhooHoo!

But with any submission, this now leaves me with a gaping hole of what to do next. I always have a million ideas running around in my head. I just have to capture one and hold it down long enough to get all the specifics. An idea is far from a story, or even a book. A lot more needs to be determined before that can happen.

Right now the idea most on my mind is a shifter idea I’ve been contemplating that’s a twist on a secret baby storyline. I’ve got my heroine, Madison, fleshed out, and even her daughter Brianna is pretty three dimensional, but I’m having trouble capturing the hero, Hunter. As much as I roll him around in my mind I can’t seem to get a firm grasp on him. I feel more like I’ve grabbed the edge of his jacket, or maybe just an ass cheek :D

Until I have a better idea how he’ll react in the situations my heroine and her secret baby will throw at him, I can’t start writing. It’s an extremely frustrating part of the process for me, feeling the flickers in the back of my mind, but not able to grab onto them. It’s kind of like trying to remember a dream from the night before. I know I need a break to let it settle, once I stop thinking about it, the idea will probably just come to me.

Until everything is cleared up on my shifter story, I’m going to take another pass at Wandering off the Path and see if I can get that submitted to a few more publishers. I really love this story, but after completing and submitting four other works, I’m afraid it might need a lot of work. I was a much less experienced author then, and I’ve learned a lot since those days. But I love this story so much and had many critique partners really enjoy it too.  I think the story deserves another round of edits. If I can’t get it picked up this time, I might have to reevaluate if the work is salvageable.  So my goal for September is to do one more complete revision, taking into account an editors notes, and see if I can get this one set up for the 2012 schedule. While still stewing my shifter idea.

Should be a action packed month :D
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Knowing When to Quit

2/28/2011

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I often talk about how important it is to push through the pain, to keep going, to force yourself to work when you’d rather take a nap or watch American Idol. I do believe that’s a gigantic part of being a writer, and especially for being a successful writer, but there also comes a time when you have to quit as well.  There has to be a balance between pushing past the pain and driving yourself so crazy you don’t have time to sleep or think of anything beyond your work.

This week I decided I had to quit a project, not the project entirely, but the original conception of it. I had planned to finish my WIP I’ve been calling Post-Apocalyptic NYC and submitting it by the first for an anthology call. I realized it wasn’t a goal I could complete to the level I wanted to submit. I decided regardless of my goal of submitting something every month, I only want to submit works that are ready for publication, regardless of this resolution. Getting rejections is hard enough, no one wants to set themselves up for it, and submitting something you don’t like or doing think is ready is only asking for such a rebuff.

For right now I’m still able to accomplish my goal. I have a few more works in the shoot ready to be submitted, so I’ll just be calling another one up to action sooner. But it may mean I can’t make my goal later in the year. But I’ll get there when I get there.

As a side note, my work on Post-Apocalyptic NYC will continue, and I hope it will be ready for submission quickly. The work is a dramatic departure from some of the other things I’ve done, but a really interesting and stimulating turn. I’ll keep you all posted on its progress.
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    Willa Edwards

    Spicy Erotic Romance Author and Life-Long Book Lover

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    2012 Reading Challenge

    2012 Reading Challenge
    Willa has read 15 books toward her goal of 55 books.
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    2013 Reading Challenge

    2013 Reading Challenge
    Willa has read 27 books toward her goal of 50 books.
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    2011 Reading Challenge

    2011 Reading Challenge
    Willa has read 44 books toward her goal of 51 books.
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