HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAYS TO JUST FRIENDS AND NEVER YOU

My Steamy, Contemporary Ski Romance Just Friends Turns Three Today, and Never You Turns Two!

It’s my first book’s third birthday, and my third book’s second birthday. WOOOOHOOOO! Such cute little things, filled with deep, cold powder and hot, steamy sex.

I can’t believe it’s been three years already since Just Friends came out. So much has happened since I stumbled into this wonderful career: awards, reviews that touched my heart, a core group of writing friends who make my life, career, and work better.

It’s funny because when I started writing my very first romance (Which was not Just Friends. It was another novel that I rewrote four times before throwing it in the garbage.), I never thought it would be a career path. I was just trying to entertain myself.

I had blown out my shoulder and couldn’t bike or ski or kayak or dance, or do any of the fun things my husband and I normally did on the weekends. One day, an idea for a romance novel struck, and I started writing.

Then I realized how much I liked it. And that I would much rather be writing romance novels then marketing copy and non-fiction — which is what I’d been doing for the 15 years prior.

How did I go from writing a romance novel for fun to publishing my first steamy, ski romance novella?

Just Friends started out as sub-8000-word short story I wrote in response to a call for submissions for an anthology by the Romance Writers America. I didn’t think it would get published, since they needed eighteen stories and had a few thousand submissions. But it gave me a reason to try writing short stories, and a deadline (I do love a good deadline.).

A little more than a year later, I found out my short story was not chosen for the anthology. Rereading it, I realized I could make it much better—especially without the word count restriction. So, I did.

At that point, it was still more an exercise in learning to write fiction than writing a story with an eye towards publication. Then, at a writer’s conference, I discovered a publisher interested in stories as short as 10,000 words. So, I pitched it, the editor expressed an interest, and I submitted.

I’d hoped for a custom rejection letter with some great feedback to help me improve my writing skills. Instead, I got offered a publishing contract.

What an amazing moment! Major validation that my writing was good enough, and my stories something people might actually want to read. Plus, I was about to be a published author!!

And the Emerald Mountain ski romance series was born.

It didn’t take me long to realize that having one short novella, digitally published, did not a career make. So, I wrote the next two, longer novellas in the Emerald Mountain ski romance series.

Where Just Friends was a friends-to-lovers story with tons of sexual tension, In Deep reunited two lovers in the high-stakes world of ski patrol. And Never You stuck a wounded, prickly heroine with an too-sexy-for-his-own-good, smartass chef in a backcountry ski hut for a classic enemies-to-lovers tale.

These gave me a chance to explore different themes, and tropes, and personalities. And further hone my craft. But if it hadn’t been for that one little short story, I would not have three novellas and a boxed set published. And I certainly would not have just landed an agent.

I have no idea where my career will go from here, but I’m excited for what the future might hold. And I have my first book baby to thank.

Happy Book Birthday, Just Friends and Never You!

Check out all my books here.

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