Cover of Kristina Wright's Best Erotic Romance 2015

“Fertile” Included in Best Erotic Romance 2015!

It may only be September, but somehow 2015 feels right around the corner…so why not share some big news today?

As you may know, Kristina Wright is the fabulous editor of the Best Erotic Romance series from Cleis Press. Well, the newest installment, Best Erotic Romance 2015, will be out in just a few months—and I’m delighted to share that my story “Fertile” will be included in the anthology! Hurray!

Check out the sexy cover:

Cover of Kristina Wright's Best Erotic Romance 2015

Doesn’t that just make you melt? I positively love it!

Next, take a peek at the line-up:

Introduction: Only the Best
Foreword by Tiffany Reisz
Siren’s Song by Renee Luke
Off the Beaten Path by Heidi Champa
Fair Game by Crystal Jordan
Late Bloomers by Annabeth Leong
Sunday Mornings Like These by Kiki DeLovely
Lotus by Emerald
What Happens at Sea by Tina Simmons
The Luxury Lane by Sommer Marsden
Just Can’t Explain by Martha Davis
The Couch by Malin James
Again by Axa Lee
Fertile by Jade A. Waters
All Your Tomorrows by Skylar Kade
The Crop by Claire de Winter
Mates by Jillian Boyd
Champion by Kathleen Tudor
The Proposal by Tamsin Flowers
Love Lasts by Kristina Wright

Wow! I am so thrilled to be included with all these wonderful writers (and super extra excited that all the Pillow Talk girls will be sharing pages)!

I’ll post an excerpt as we get closer to the release date, but in the meantime, you can mark the book as “Want to Read” on Goodreads. It’s also available for pre-order right now on Amazon!

I think this one is going to be fantastic, folks!

XX,
Jade

 

Jade A. Waters sipping a Jelly Bean while on vacation in Rhodes, Greece

Time for a Kinky Cocktail Story: The Jelly Bean

I am so excited, everyone! Kristina Lloyd’s blog tour for her new book, Undone, starts today. She’ll be stopping by later in the month to answer some questions for me, but in honor of her protagonist, Lara, owning a bar, Kristina wanted to kick off the whole tour with an all-day kinky cocktail party—that is, each of our sites hosts a special drink with kink! Cheers to that!

Now, I had a few ideas running through my head on cocktail options, and as you know, alcohol tends to make people fairly uninhibited. So I thought—in the spirit of a good cocktail party story—I’d be a little extra open today. The following semi-fictional story is inspired by a vacation I took in Greece a few years back, on which I discovered a delightful new drink called “The Jelly Bean”…as well as an incredibly handsome man.

I hope you enjoy the tale…

THE JELLY BEAN

by

Jade A. Waters

“‘The Jelly Bean’? Well naturally, that’s what I’m going to have,” I said, waving my menu about with a squeal.

“Naturally.” Sia rolled her eyes, because after knowing my candy obsession—in particular, jelly beans and licorice—for over a decade, she wasn’t at all surprised.

Our waiter came out from inside the deli, then, and I dropped my menu to the table with a gulp. He was the epitome of all the Greek features I’d been drooling over this entire vacation: gorgeous, tall, and dark, with stunning rich brown eyes and nearly black hair that waved down to the bottom of his ears. And that smile—oh fuck me, that smile—had me sitting back in my chair with a gasp.

“Hi there,” I said.

“Hello, lovely. So you’ll have The Jelly Bean, I take it?”

I flashed him my grin in response. His English was superb, but that accent had me squirming in my seat. Why yes, hot Rhodes waiter. I will have whatever sweet thing you’re offering.

Out loud I said, “Yes please!”

Behind his shoulder, Sia shook her head with another eye roll.

“I’ll have a beer.”

“No problem.” He went inside to fetch our drinks, and my jaw fell open.

“Oh hell-oh,” I said.

“Here we go…” Sia muttered.

See, I admit, vacation sex is my thing. It’s not intentional, but it happens. Foreigners rock my world, and there’s something magical about meeting a man in another country and living a brief romance with him—and don’t get me started on an accent talking dirty in my ear while I’m fucking. I guess for me it’s when in Rome, do a Roman…or something like that. There was the make-out with the Floridean on our Hawaii trip, the beach sex with the Dutchman in Aruba, the park romp with the Roman in Italy, the virginity-shattering of the Croatian in Rovinj, and the sensual island sex with the Texan in Puerto Rico. And of course, I’d already given that bar manager a blow job in the kitchen a few days ago, right before he bent me over one of the tables and then took me skinny dipping in the sea…

But the whole encounter had ended with him being a tremendous ass, so now I needed a better memory. I’d made it two weeks of our vacation through Athens, Ios, and Santorini without a hint of play, and we had only four more days for me to amend my vacation fling, dammit.

Hot Rhodes waiter came back with Sia’s beer and my blue and red glass of wonder. The Jelly Bean, you see, is a concoction of curaçao, grenadine, lemonade, and ouzo, and it tastes exactly like it sounds. I took a sip while they watched, the cool, candy-sweet taste washing down my throat as we sat in the unbelievably torrid, muggy air.

Our waiter grinned again.

“So where are you girls from?”

“San Francisco,” we chimed.

“Wow. San Francisco! We usually only get visitors from the east coast this far over. You two came a long way!”

“We did,” I said. “We wanted the full Greek tour.”

Sia gave me a look, but we made small talk with him for another twenty minutes because the place wasn’t busy midafternoon. Nikolaos—that was his name, and damn, even that fabulously Greek moniker stirred my blood—seemed tickled by his California customers. By the time I’d downed half my second Jelly Bean while devouring my Greek salad and a side of dolmas, we’d already started flirting hard. Sia, the perfect wing woman, laughed and played along, but it was on the way back from the ladies’ room that Nikolaos grabbed my hand and backed me against a wall.

“You’ve got a smile like some American actress…I can’t remember her name. But oh,” he said, looking me over, “you’re beautiful.”

Well, shit, handsome. Take me home now.

“Thank you,” I said. “You’re damn sexy yourself.”

“What are you girls doing later? I work late tonight, but you should come for dinner…”

Which is precisely what we did.

Greek dinners, for those who don’t know, happen mighty late. Sia and I had explored half the area by 10 that night and still had time to head back to our hotel for a nap and shower. It was so blazing hot—in fact, this was the year that Athens caught fire, 2007—that we lived in a layer of sweat from the second we left the shower until the moment we crawled our way back in. This meant we returned to the deli restaurant sweaty all over again, despite a good hour of freshening and dolling ourselves up. But, Nikolaos didn’t seem to mind. Not through dinner as we chowed on gyros and more drinks (Jelly Beans for me, of course), and talked to his friends who had joined the hang out. Not when Sia wandered off with some adorable Australian and a promise to meet me back at the hotel in a few hours.

And definitely not when Nikolaos talked me onto his moped and took me back to his apartment.

The place was a wreck, but I was all eyes-on-Nikolaos. He could have been a model, some Greek beauty blessing the pages of a magazine I would surely take home as a souvenir. However, I had better things in mind for this guy, and by the feel of his cock rising up between us, it was obvious he did too.

Nikolaos pulled me into his chest when the door shut behind us. He ran his fingers up my cheek, then stroked his hand through my hair. When he rolled his pelvis up against me, I let out a quiet purr only because I’d had three Jelly Beans and I wasn’t sure if I was coming off louder than I thought.

“You’re an aggressive little thing,” he said.

“I am.”

“And you almost look Greek.”

“But I’m not.”

“Are you sure you’re not a Greek-American actress? You look like an actress. And your Greek is fantastic.”

“I’m totally not. I just have a good tongue.”

That might have been the Jelly Beans talking, but Nikolaos took the bait. He leaned down and kissed me then.

And yeah. We were all tongues.

Tongues, fingers, hands, lips—we were naked and rolling around on the bed in no time. Nikolaos, it turned out, looked like a model from head to toe, and I, apparently, was his favorite shape. He spent several minutes running his hands up and down my body with heavy inhalations that made his nostrils flare, then he buried those fingers so deep in my cunt and his tongue so furiously against my clit that my Jelly Bean fueled groans had to have woken his neighbors.

“I’ve never fucked a Californian,” he growled.

“Perfect. I’ve never fucked a hot waiter from Rhodes.”

Our lips sealed back together when he frantically searched his nightstand for a condom. I barely noticed him putting it on, because moments later he plunged inside me, hard and filling, his hands gripping at my breasts and his cheeks so bright.

“Your smile…” he moaned. “It’s like fucking a celebrity…”

This somehow turned me on more. So as Nikolaos thrust in me, bit at my shoulder, nipped at my lips, and groaned in my ear—I writhed with wild calls that were twice as loud thanks to all those Jelly Beans. My body quaked with excitement as he pushed faster and deeper, and when he erupted with a grunt and I hadn’t yet come, he was right back down between my thighs lapping at me until I shuddered with cries that put everything before them to shame.

I remember thinking as we lay there—Nikolaos panting against my thigh, me trying to catch my breath, inhaling the smell of musty sex and dirty room and Greek humidity—that vacation sex was, even when terrible, awfully fun. I’m not one for notches on a bedpost, but maybe a map to mark my foreign conquests might make for a good chuckle.

Nikolaos slid up along my body, planting kisses over my face and tracing the circumference of my nipple with a fingertip.

“So you leave in four days?” he said.

“Yep. Four more days.”

“Hmmm.” He ran his fingers down my stomach, then slipped them between the sensitive, pink lips of my pussy. “Maybe you and your friend can come back to the deli tonight for dinner again…and have another Jelly Bean.”

“Oh. For a Jelly Bean, huh?”

Nikolaos gave me a quick kiss, and when he leaned back, he nodded with a grin.

“I just might,” I said.

I always have liked sweet things.

***

Want to read more awesome stories, posts, musings, and articles from the cocktail launch party? Click right here to see the full menu! And please be sure to swing on by to join the Facebook party all day today!

As for me…I think it’s time for another drink…

Jade Discovering The Jelly Bean While Visiting Rhodes

Jade discovering The Jelly Bean while on vacation in Rhodes, Greece…this may have been her second round. (Third?)

Hiccup.

XX,
Jade

The Pillow Talk...Erotica Writers Talking Dirty logo: black and white image of a cartoon woman with bright red lips on a pillow

Pillow Talk Secrets: More Than One Man…Must or Bust?

Hello everyone! Great news…it’s time for another round of Pillow Talk Secrets! Today Malin James, Tamsin Flowers, and I will be discussing whether it’s acceptable for a heroine to sleep with more than one man in the course of a book—a highly debated topic, indeed! Our lovely Tamsin is leading us today, so we’ve already started with cocktails. Yum! Hope you can keep up! 😉

As usual, I’ve posted the intro to our discussion here with a link to read more at the end. Or, if you’d like to hop on over to Pillow Talk you can read the whole thing in one fell swoop.

Either way…thanks so much for joining us!

XX,
Jade

Pillow Talk Secrets

Tamsin: Hello, girls. Nice to see you!

Jade: You as well! How are you?

T: Great!

Malin: Hi ladies! I’m here!

T: Hello, gorgeous!

M: Ah, now this is how I want to start a day – chatting with the two of you. Nothing tops it.

J: So true! Now, who’s leading us today?

M: Our lovely, Tamsin, I believe! And I think she’s got something really interesting in mind.

J: Bring it, T!

T: Okay, I’m going to launch us straight in to today’s topic: Is it all right for the heroine of your book to sleep with more than one partner? This is a question that’s been batting around my brain for quite some time now. As you two know, I’ve just finished the first draft of my sexy spy thriller, Honeytrap, and my heroine certainly gets called upon to cosy up with the villains as well as the good guys. But I remembered reading somewhere that it’s a big no-no to readers if the heroine sleeps with multiple partners. How would you two handle this dilemma?

M: So, I have a couple of thoughts right off the top of my head. The first is that context is probably critical – how and why is she sleeping with multiple partners seems to make quite a difference in how readers respond… What do you think, Jade?

J: I agree. There are so many variations here – is she a free bird, is she cheating, is she in a negotiated polyamorous situation? Maybe we should focus on one at a time.

T: Ooh! Free bird is a new expression for me. I like that!

Why should she choose between them?

Why should she choose between them?

J: I just made that up. 🙂

M: I love it! Interestingly, I think the free bird scenario is the trickiest for writers. There’s still  surprising amount stigma attached to a female character who sleeps with multiple partners for no other reason than she wants to. Her own desire might be perfectly valid justification, but that doesn’t seem to settle well with readers in general. It’s a real shame, actually. There’s a lot in that restriction that doesn’t sit well with me.

J: I think that’s still, sadly, largely due to the real life cultural view on women having multiple partners – and it translates directly into people’s reading.

T: And this is where the question is interesting. Obviously, if someone buys a menage story, they’re expecting multiple partners. But there seems to be a real move in the market towards erotic romance rather than plain erotica at the moment – and with it comes a demand for the heroine to be, how shall I put it, better behaved or in lurve!

Click here to read more!

Blue veiled banner image of eyes

The Sneaky Vignette: Resurgence

I’ve been hard at work on another book, something that started as a novella and then morphed into a bigger project. As in, it kind of took over my life—but in a very good way, of course.

While I try my hardest to stick to one project, other things constantly pop up, swirling around in my head and asking for attention. The following is one such thing that snuck in a couple days ago. I’m not sure what it will turn into yet, but for now I thought I’d offer up the vignette playing in my brain…

Resurgence

“Here?” he said. He brushed aside my hair, his lips skimming the nape of my neck. He curved his hands around my shoulders, hooking fingertips under the sides of my robe and parting them slowly, so slowly.

I shook my head—though already I could feel it, simmering deep in me. I closed my eyes as he drew back the fabric, silk dripping off my shoulders before it wisped to the floor.

“Here?”

He slid his fingertips up my arms and pressed his lips to my shoulder. One kiss, then two. His tongue ran the length of my shoulder blade, tracing what once felt it, felt this.

But again, I offered only a quiet head shake, the stillness of my breath.

He snaked his arms through the hollow between my arms and waist, curling them up, cupping my breasts. His palms grazed soft flesh that remembered and ached.

“Or here?” he said.

This time he came closer, his chest to my back, his breaths one with mine. His cock was hard but not insistent, patient like the draw of his fingertips across my nipples. They tightened at this simple caress and the warmth circulated, flowed.

Still, the words remained trapped at my lips, muted by an avalanche of memories and pain, weaving their way through my limbs, my heart.

He kissed my neck. His mouth was firmer now—needing me, summoning me. One hand inched down my stomach, lacing my body with goose bumps, with a sensation I’d forgotten.

“Here?” he whispered.

A fingertip grazed my folds. The faintest touch, searching me.

Finding me.

He circled the tender, tight knot that swelled for him and gently kissed my throat. My chest swarmed with heat as he trailed his finger down, slipping it inside a place that knew.

That remembered.

“There,” I breathed.

Yes, there.

His words were a rush of warmth in my ear, a quiet, compassionate plea.

“Can I stay here?”

There was no other answer, my body responding, heating.

“Never leave,” I said.

**

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂

Happy almost weekend…

XX,
Jade

 

Black and White Art Photo of Woman's Hips

Awake the Nymph — A Poem at Vanillerotica!

Happy Monday!

Black and White Art Photo of Woman's Hips

I’ve got fun news today, everyone! A while back, I entered the Talent Drips Erotic Poetry contest over at Vanillerotica—and was tickled to learn last night that my poem was selected! I’m so excited! Thank you to the editors at Vanillerotica Literary EZine!

So, if you’re of the poetry mind and would like to check it out, please hop on over to Vanillerotica to read my poem, “Awake the Nymph.” You can find it in the April section.

I hope you enjoy it!

XX,
Jade

Picture of a woman's hips in shadow, with thumbs hooked under her panties

Because I’m a Tease

Today I have all sorts of sexy news!

Well…kind of. Honestly, some of it is a lot of tease. Why?

You’ll see. 😉

Shadowed image of woman teasingly pulling panties off her hips

So, hmmm, where to start…First off, I have thrilling information I’ve been sitting on—I have a story in Rachel Kramer Bussel’s upcoming anthology Hungry for More! The book is all about female fantasies, and it’s sure to be hot, hot, hot!

While the cover reveal is yet to come and the release date is late this year, I do have a super sexy table of contents for you to preview. Look:

Introduction: Getting Explicit
Submissive Jacqueline Applebee
Happy Endings Giselle Renarde
Craig’s List Greta Christina
Bringing the Heat Tiffany Reisz
Madam Secretary Jaye Markham
Kitchen Slut Olivia Archer
Just Once Jocelyn Dex
Boat Rocking D.L. King
The Sleeper’s Beauty Jade A. Waters
Upstairs at the Ava DelovelyOlive
Organically Grown Brandy Fox
The Room Of Guarantees Jessica Lennox
Redrawing the Lines Bren Emile
Tickle Day Jeremy Edwards
Relief Katya Harris
Jailbait Torch Song Valerie Alexander
Red Lipstick Erzabet Bishop
Something Sleazy Elizabeth Coldwell
The Instructor Rose de Fer
My Pillarbox Red Cock Tilly Hunter
A First Time for Everything Rachel Kramer Bussel

What a hot lineup! I’m pretty excited about the story I have in this one, so I will pass on more news as soon as I have it…

This is actually the case with most of the news I have today: it’s all up my sleeve for just the right time, and all of it is so, so good. So for now, I’m going to have to play the tease. What I can tell you is that some of my news is almost-official, and more of it is official-official (aka, closer to reveal time). Like, for example, I mailed off contracts last week for three smoking hot anthologies, two of which will be my first time with an editor I adore—but I can’t tell you what the anthologies are yet. But soon. Soon!

I also have two crazy fantastic things coming down in about the next two months (hint: neither is an anthology, but both involve seriously awesome collaborations). I’m not sure on the date for one of them, but I can tell you that the other will happen right here on June 4th. Yes, June 4th! So go ahead, mark your calendars. I’ll wait. *Whistles.*

You’re back now? Good. I’m telling you, folks, this is going to be so fun! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am. 🙂

Okay, so the essence of a good tease is to at least give a little something, which is why I have two pieces of news that are actually in effect now.

Here’s the first piece:

I signed up for Pinterest.

Oh my god. Oh my god. How does anyone have any self-control with this program? I can already tell you that there will be hours spent drooling over men I consider part of my mental harem (one day, it will be my real life harem, don’t you worry), as well as hours on inspiring quotes, nail polish, glam looks, sexy photos, and, and, and… But I suppose it was bound to happen. So if you’re able and interested, please find me on there. You can check out my pretties and I’ll check out yours. (Heh.) I’m still light on boards but I see all sorts of potential, including one I might just whip up with images that make me think of the two lovely characters from my work in progress. Keep your eyes open!

Speaking of my WIP, I’ve been quiet for a bit on that, but a status update is the second piece of news I wanted to share. The book is called The Assignment, and the great news is that my wonderful betas finished and passed along some exciting feedback. Yay! So, now I’m about to launch one last edit before I send it out into the world to find a home. Then what’s next? Well, I have a novella dying to be written (okay, more like three), and I have a couple ideas to jot down for a possible sequel to the WIP. But that’s later—brewing, but later. And then of course there are a bunch of other things to work on, but I guess that’s what we do here in the writing world: project after project. I love it! 🙂

All right, so that’s the news for today. Stay close for more reveals very soon!

XX,
Jade

 

 

Banner photo of eyes beneath veil

Finished Edits, Good Friends, and Delicious News!

Well, the craziest thing happened on Friday: I finished editing my book.

I wish I could tell you it was that simple, but it wasn’t. It was more like this:

Image from The Gif Garden on Tumblr

Image from The Gif Garden on Tumblr

Weird, right?

To be completely honest, I didn’t feel finished. I’ve refined this editing process that some might call garden-variety OCD, but it works for me with short stories. Naturally, I thought I’d apply the method to a whole damn book. I mean, I outlined and wrote the thing in less than six weeks, so eight weeks of hardcore editing sounded completely reasonable.

The problem was that along the way, a few other life things had me at my stress max. Like, for example, a breakup. Oh and then the breakup, part two. There was also a tremendous amount of insomnia, and then for bonus kicks, my day job imploded. Fine, fine, no big deal. Next, I had pre-tendonitis in a thumb (what?), followed by pre-tendonitis in a finger on my opposite hand (spiffy). Then, my cat got sick and needed to be coned, which resulted in my two cats having to be separated for two weeks. (Note: cats body slamming and clawing at doors to get at one another may sound cute, but it’s not helpful for any sort of sleep factor. Or editing factor, for that matter.)

So cut to Friday, when I’m about to launch the “final” edit—and there it was: the final meltdown. I threw myself on the floor and kicked my feet in overwhelmed agony. There were even a few tears.

Luckily for me, Malin James came to my rescue. If you don’t know her, here’s a summary: she’s fucking fabulous. We had a seriously lovely phone call in which she talked me down for a good twenty minutes and reminded me that I was too close and probably too thorough, and I’d be editing again after my beta babes read it, so why not just send the manuscript on now?

SO I DID. I mean, when brilliance speaks, you listen.

After I let the book go, I felt like a mama bird pushing her baby chick out of the nest—maybe a little too early, but okay. I’m sure I looked something like this:

Oh my word. Is it done? Can we really call it done? Wahhhh...<br />  (Image from Gifs for the Masses on Tumblr) 

Oh my word. Is it done? Can we really call it done? Wahhhh…
(Image from Gifs for the Masses on Tumblr)

Still, the proverbial weight was off my shoulders and I proceeded to enjoy my weekend. I finished a few things. I relaxed. I slept for two nights in a row. Oh my god. I SLEPT, guys. It was great.

Less than a week later, I’m slightly less insane more calm. I’ve dived into a couple new projects while my novel is in my beta babes’ hands. Hurray! After that, I might even ponder a sequel… 🙂

In the meantime, I have exciting news about a couple other people!

First, Alison Tyler is writing a sequel to Those Girls. Did you read Those Girls? If not, you’d better. Stat!

Also, next week, something awesome is happening. Look:

How cool is that? I can’t wait!

Okay. I think I’m finally calm now. Phew! And on top of that, I finished a book.

Which means…time for me to celebrate and write more!

XX,
Jade

P.S. Special thanks to my beta babes, who not only eagerly took the manuscript off my hands, but gave me further cheerful pep talks. Yeah, you know who you are. 😉

Picture of panties around red shoes

“Marm” Featured at The Erotic Woman!

Happy almost weekend, everyone!

I wanted to let you know that my short story, “Marm,” is currently featured over at The Erotic Woman! I am so excited this story is up for you to read—it’s a little something I wrote and shelved, so I’m delighted to have it out in the world. And the good news for you?

This story is absolutely FREE!

Yep, a full short story for you to enjoy for free! All you have to do is click right on over to The Erotic Woman to read “Marm.”  The site is full of sexy reads and images, so definitely keep in mind it’s NSFW and then have a good time. 😉

I’ll also have some erotic poetry appearing over there in the coming weeks—I’ll let you know when it’s up!

I hope you enjoy “Marm”!

XX,
Jade

Picture of panties around red shoes

So, the Novel’s Done

I bet you’re all still a little dizzy from my post last week with Alison Tyler. Me too!

However, despite the party I’ve been throwing over here, I ended up buckling down and finishing my first erotica book in the last week, too. In truth, I typed “The End” over a week ago, but I didn’t want to call it done, like stick a fork in it D-U-N done, until I handled all those pesky bracketed notes I’d left for myself.

There were 147 of them, after all. And while some of them were amusing, perhaps for only me—[where the hell did her shoes go?] and [what is that one type of jacket with the things and the stuff?]—there were 147 of them. But, as of Sunday, they’re all handled! The book ended up being 87,000 words rather than 90,000, but I was clearly at the end of this darling couple’s journey…at least for this segment.

So what now? Well, I strongly believe in the simmer theory. I gave the file a great big kiss and closed it up with red tape. It is not to be opened for editing until March 1st. This works out surprisingly well, since there are a gazillion short story submission deadlines in March. They’re calling me and a couple other erotica author pals like a siren song, to the point where one of these lovely ladies dubbed them The Calls. (Yes, with capitals. It’s that serious.) Basically, I will be churning out short stories for a month. And when I say “churn,” it’s looking to be about seven stories. Or ten. Depends on how ambitious I’m feeling. I suspect switching from the pace of 87k to 1-5k will require a sharp downshift, but I’m ready. I love shorts!

Speaking of, after tackling all those bracketed notes Sunday, I reopened a short story I’d written over the summer. I have a lot to say about this piece that I’m going to save for a later date, but what I can say is that it was probably one of the most emotional things I’ve ever written. Editing it was almost as difficult as writing it—tears everywhere—and I’m still trying to figure out where it came from. I think sometimes, as writers, we get into the grind of creation, and every once in a while we surprise ourselves. That’s what this piece was for me. For now, I’m filing it away until I can figure out what to do with it. 🙂

So, in summary, yes, the novel is done—but there are plenty of things ahead to keep me occupied until it’s time to crack it open and edit. And that’s the nature of this thing, I suppose. Go, go, go….

Till next time.

XX,
Jade

Banner photo of eyes beneath veil

Progress!

Nothing like a little progress, right? So today, I thought I’d post a short update on my WIP.

In my last post, I mentioned I was too far along in my first erotica novel to get one of those delightful little counters.

Yeah, so I caved.

Jade’s Book Progress:

They’re just so cute!

I planned for this book to run about 80k, but since I’m a big fan of the editing process (translation: I’m a ninja word assassin), I opted to aim high in order to make nice, strong cuts as necessary when I go back in for editing. I have a few strategies I’ve used on my previous, non-erotica works, but I wanted to share Remittance Girl’s recent post about the editing process. It’s great guidance if you haven’t seen it yet (and if you aren’t following her, you should!).

I also have a tendency to write things in brackets, like [need better word] when I’d rather cruise on through my draft than get hung up on diction. That said, there’s still some “find and replace” work to do for my bounty of brackets once I hit that beautiful 90k mark …but even that experience is strangely fun. This whole process, honestly, is fun. I love writing short stories, but the act of working through an entire full-length is challenging and exhilarating in a totally different way.

Consider me hooked!

Meanwhile, back in the short story realm, I have some exciting news ahead…but you’ll have to wait for it a bit longer.

Know what else you have to wait for? My fabulous and delightful surprise guest next week! But, the good news is that you only have 7 days to wait. That’s right. Seven. Think you can hang?

Maybe I need to make a counter for that, too! 😉

XX,
Jade