Diverse Reader is really excited to have author Elle Keaton here today. Enjoy this amazing guest post and enter the giveaway in the end.
Hi readers, thanks for having me on Diverse Reader today!
February 2019 is a very exciting month in this writer’s life
as I get closer to typing six little words at the end of my eighth book. Eighth
book, holy cow.
As I sit in my writing cave pondering what subject to blog about,
several *helpful* suggestions were tossed my way:
“The Seven Best Ways to Scratch Your Back” – “the first one
of course, is get someone else to do it.” Snicker.
“Fly Fishing Made Easy”?
I live with a comedian.
It would be cool to offer up a ground breaking post with
tips on How to Write – alas that has
already been written umpteen times with varying degrees of success. I don’t
know about you, dear reader and fellow writer, but I rarely follow that kind of
advice anyway. There is no universal formula for what makes a book sell or why
readers choose one over the other. More often than not it is a mixture of
chance, blood, sweat, and tears, good friends who take you out for a drink
after the dust has settled and a good editor. Never underestimate your editor.
I’d like to talk beginnings and endings – relative to
writing. Which is probably a lot like seven ways to scratch your back and fly fishing in a weird mashup.
March 2017 was my official author birth-month. Like so many
of us (dare I say most of us?) in the field I struggle daily with
self-confidence and still have trouble classifying myself as a ‘real’ author.
Like many I suffer from feeling I only play at being an author since I don’t
make enough to pay the bills. Or when people dismiss my work with ‘Oh, you
write romance’. Or call my work porn. I like porn fine, I’ve been known to
watch porn, I wish the damn word didn’t have such negative connotations. Like
the act of public sex for money or show makes it dirty. That subject, readers,
is not just another blog post it’s a PhD dissertation.
Regardless of what other people think or say, when it comes
to that little occupation box on turbotax I proudly click ‘author’. I have to
say it is ridiculously validating; if the IRS is going to put it there I’m
going to check it.
Sorry for veering off topic, I’m gearing up to publish the
last in my Accidental Roots series and I’m a little teary. These guys,
especially Adam and Micah have been with me from the beginning, they’ve been my
world. They went from an idea I had about someone being forced by circumstance
to return home to a full blown romantic suspense. I figured there would be
three books at most.
Ha.
As I type this I’m a bit over halfway through writing the
last book in the series. ‘When It Rains’, drops in March, the series will
finish with eight books plus a novella. I find myself more than a little
nostalgic and scared to let my guys go. What am I going to do without this
motley bunch of characters whispering over my shoulder on a daily basis?
Keep writing, because I am an author. See how I did that?
For those who have been with me from early days, when I
published Storm Season by the seat of my pants having no idea what I was doing,
only knowing if I didn’t hit the button I’d never hit the button –those amazing
readers be assured, I am not abandoning characters. There will be more Skagit
to come, with fewer dead bodies. My new series is titled ‘Never Too Late’ and
yes, Otto, yes, Owen, yes, Parker and Zeke, yes.
There are outlines for a three novella romantic suspense
series set against the back drop of South East Asia during typhoon season –
hopefully out within the next year. There will be an Accidental Roots holiday
novella again – not telling who J.
I’m also dabbling in paranormal romance – this is a stretch for me I’ve read
quite a bit pf paranormal but never managed to finish my own novel. Hopefully
it won’t go the way of my space opera which I finally completely deleted after
it sat on my hard drive for ten years.
Ending and beginnings, both exciting and scary in their own
way. And, yeah, being an author is a lot like standing in a freezing cold river
tossing a line out and hoping you get something good and maybe a scratch on the
back at the end of the day.
Thanks for putting up with me today, if you’d like to see
what I’m doing join my facebook group Elle’s Belle’s (yes lots of bad AC/DC
puns), follow me on Bookbub or even Instagram if that’s your jam.
Author Links
Giveaway
I’m giving away two copies of Storm Season – Accidental
Roots 1, if you haven’t had the chance to dive into Skagit yet.
Thank you for reading, until next time,
Love, Elle
a Rafflecopter giveaway
It's funny, Elle is a new to me author but I was just checking out her books earlier today!
ReplyDeleteThis looks and sounds awesome, thank you!
ReplyDeleteenjoyed the post today
ReplyDeleteThank you for the post Elle =) I've seen your books around and have plans to give you a read in the near future.
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