Wednesday, December 5, 2012

#WIP it Wednesday with Rach

Welcome back to WIP it Wednesday!

I'd like to share some info with you about my current WIP, titled Queen of Hearts. It's a Female/Female erotic romance, and it's the first one I've ever written without a male hero. It's been... interesting.

Here's a little about the book:






Maya is a Gemini. She exhibits the classic Gemini traits: She is adaptable, affectionate, versatile, witty, intellectual, tense, cunning, and holds a deep-seated fear of commitment. Which means she's a perfect match for Aquarius Erica.

Erica, also true to her astrological sign is friendly, a humanitarian, honest, loyal, original, inventive, fiercely independent, intellectual, contrary, unpredictable, unemotional, and detached. She is also a serial monogamist who nit-picks everything. 

Astrology says they're compatible, but neither woman can be sure. 






So it's a holiday book, kind of like Spicy with a Side of Cranberry Sauce, which will be out in just under two weeks, but it's different holiday. 

These characters, like so many others, just kind of came to me, and I used a new astrology chart character building exercise I had worked out in order to really craft the basis for these characters. This will be a novella and should be out in January, just in time to be enjoyed before Valentine's Day! 

Here's a little snippet from the scenes I wrote last night: 

Erica woke to the most delicious smell. Bacon, eggs, and something else. She sniffed, trying to identify the smell. Strawberries. She rolled her neck and opened her eyes to the brightly lit room. Maya stood in the doorway wearing nothing but Erica’s Kiss the Cook apron, carrying a tray full of food.
“Oh, my God!”
Erica couldn’t believe it. Breakfast in bed? She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done something so sweet for her. She waited for the rush of thoughts telling her the negatives of such a sweet move, but nothing came.
“Morning,” Maya said, coming into the room and sliding the door closed with her foot. Erica sat up in bed, letting the blankets pool in her lap and Maya stopped for a second, admiring the view. “Let me revise. Good morning.”

So I've been having a few issues writing with an all-female cast here, specifically in love scenes. I never realized how often I use pronouns in love scenes and how important it is to say, she licked his thigh, and how much it has to change when it's two ladies. Because she licked her thigh could mean that my character is licking her own thigh and not her bed partners. Any other same-sex romance authors out there have issues with this sort of thing? How do you fix them? 

I hope you enjoyed your little taste of my WIP and will check back soon for more details. 

~ Rach



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

#WIP it Wednesday with Rach

Welcome back loyal readers!

I'm bursting at the seams with a new book! And yes, I know I just started a new novella for NaNoWriMo, but I just couldn't ignore this other book any longer. I sparked the idea and wrote the first few lines of the book about three months back while I was in the middle of writing Spicy with a Side of Cranberry Sauce, which was on a deadline and in need of all of my attention. So I wrote a couple of little notes and left this other book alone.

So I wake up the other day with an ENTIRE scene written out in my head. And I couldn't stop thinking about it or these two characters. So here's a bit about the book and the hero I have absolutely become obsessed with:


Chase Masters (in my head played by the incredibly hunky Channing Tatum) is a 28 year old Dominant who has been in the BDSM "scene" for quite a few years. He's the owner of a BDSM Club that is in trouble of being closed down. He can't find a suitable sub or even a girlfriend after the last screwed up relationship he had. Chase is a Capricorn, which means he's disciplined, careful, and patient - all great qualities for a businessman and a Dom. But he's also prone to some pretty hefty mood swings. He's a Dom that's not into pain, but relishes the control, and even more, the trust required of his partner.


Elizabeth "Liz" Clark (in my head played by the stunning Kristin Kreuk) is a 26 year old independent modern woman who spent her entire life rebelling against's her father's domineering rule. He would say no, she would say yes. No matter what. She always did the opposite of what she was told and very quickly realized she would never allow a man to treat her the way her dad rules her mom. She's also an author. So when she's plagued with the idea to write a BDSM story, and her editor keeps nagging and nagging her, she's refuses to  run from the challenge, even when that means entering the BDSM world to do an insane amount of research about a lifestyle she doesn't understand. Liz is a Scorpio, which makes her rebellious by nature. She's also determined, emotional, passionate, and obstinate.


So far, Chase and Liz have made for an explosive combination, and I'm only half-way through plotting the book.

Because the ideas just kept coming at me, I've started writing scenes out of sequence, which is a new thing for me. And, because I'm not actively involved in the BDSM lifestyle, I also have LOTS of research to do, which has been fun, interesting, and time-consuming. So this book should be a challenge, in more ways than one. Wish me luck!

~ Rach

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Let the Games Begin - Taking the NaNo Plunge

Well, it's that time again. Halloween is over and November has just begun. 

That means it's time for all these crazy writers to get together and commit to writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That's 1,667 words every day. Because November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

I did start a little early (I like to break the rules that way). So I've already got 1,700 words of the wedding novella. 

Here's my plan: 

Use the first 3 weeks of NaNo to write the draft of A Marietta Wedding which will hopefully be the full story, since it'll be a novella (shorter than a novel, but longer than a short story). 

Use the last week to start another book and write 5-10K depending on how long the novella is. 


Yesterday was WIP it Wednesday and I talked about my wedding book here. I'm really excited to work on it for NaNo. It should be exciting. 

I NaNoed (yes I've made it a verb) An Affair Across Times Square last year, which was my first time participating in this crazy train and I won. I'm shooting for the stars again this year with the sequel to my first NaNo book. Wish me luck! 

Anyone else joining me in my NaNo quest? If so, what's your project about? 


~ Rach

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

WIP it Wednesday

Welcome back to WIP it Wednesday!

Today we'll be talking about my newest WIP, A Marietta Wedding.

I spent this past weekend at a writer's retreat and I got some great work done on this book with researching and finishing the first chapter. But today, I'll just share with you the premise of the book...


All Mandy Lachlan wanted was her own identity. All she had to do was run away to Paris to find it. Instead, she finds love, a baby, and a marriage proposal.

Julien Chevalier needs to be free of Paris and his life there. As soon as he graduates, he’s moving to New York. But when he falls for a young American professor in love with the charm of his birth city, he’s determined to sway her back to the states with him.

But will her reluctance to commit make Julien run away to New York without her? 



This book is going to be filled with challenges for me and I can't wait to get into the heart of the story. It will be my first novella-length story and also will feature a couple that is not only inter-racial but also from two pretty different cultures. It'll be the first book set outside of the US, and will be sprinkled with details of the beautiful city of Paris and French phrases. 

I'll be sure to share updates about the book as I progress. 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday with Rach

Welcome back to Six Sentence Sunday!!!!!!!

I was going to post something from my WIP, but decided to give you all another little taste of An Affair Across Times Square this week. So here it is...


          “What do you want me to do?” Her words shook as she spoke. She surfed so close to the edge. So close to coming apart that just a few strokes of a hand would send her spiraling out of control. God, how she wanted to be out of control.

          “Slip your panties off.”




Get your copy here: http://books2read.com/u/38rZgO  

Well, there it is. Your little tease of spice to heat up your Sunday morning. I hope you enjoyed it and that we'll see you back here real soon. 


~ Rach

Monday, September 10, 2012

Why Times Square? A Q&A with Rach

So someone asked me this weekend why Times Square? She was really curious as to why I set An Affair Across Times Square in NYC, specifically in Times Square. I didn't have to think much about that, since I really had a great concept of where the whole idea for the book came from. 
I was at a conference in NY and staying at a hotel in Times Square and I came back to the room one afternoon to change between sessions and I looked across the street and could see into the office building there! And an idea was born. In the opening scene of the book, Layla Morgan goes back to her hotel room, gets partially undressed and... let's of some steam, shall we say? In full view of the building across the square.  Then she does it again... while he watches! It's a hot opening scene and it was the germ for the whole rest of the book. 

It couldn't have been set anywhere else in the world. I wish I had a shot from inside the room into the building across the street for your viewing pleasure, but I do not. Instead, here's a shot of Times Square that I took about five years back during a trip to NYC. I've always loved Times Square and all the craziness that ensues there. So it was a blast to set a book eighteen stories above the craziness... separate from it, but also so much a part of it. 





An Affair Across Times Square is available here: http://books2read.com/u/38rZgO  

Thanks for stopping by. And don't forget to enter our Three-Way Giveaway Contest - follow us, be entered to win three free books! 



~Rach

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday with Rach

And now for Six Sentence Sunday! Here's an excerpt from a hot little scene from An Affair Across Times Square... 

She felt the heat of his body through her thin dress, the cool air slipping between her bare thighs, chilling her slick folds. On the right of her body, she felt Tyler’s hand slide under the hem of the dress. She forced herself not to react, not to let everyone in the small space know how close she was to coming. His fingers stilled a moment, and she heard a soft groan behind her as he caressed her bare hip.
That’s right, baby. No panties. 

You can buy the book here: http://books2read.com/u/38rZgO