I adore having guest bloggers to visit both of my web sites, and today I am honoured to have a guest whose work I admire- whichever genre they are writing in.
Over to you H K Carlton…
First off, I’d like to thank Kay for inviting me to visit today. I have to say I was thrilled for the invite but a little daunted as well.
I’m still a bit of a new writer compared to Kay, who has been writing professionally for nine years and has over ninety published credits to her names, between poetry, anthologies and stand alones. My first publication was in October 2012, Swap, a contemporary erotic romance. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough have ten books published, with three different publishers.
But my problem is, I can’t seem to settle into one genre. Hence, the name of my blog Pick a Genre Already. This is something Kay and I have in common, but whereas she writes under two separate pseudonyms to differentiate the genres; I did not choose to do so. Call it naiveté on my part, and if I had to do it over again, I think I would opt to keep my erotic works and my historicals apart. I have found the variety of my stories, throws readers off. When they read one of my historical romances and then come back to sample some of my other work, only to discover that I have more of an erotic romance backlist, than historical. And readers have a diverse expectation when choosing which genre they want to read. For one the vocabulary, between the two, is completely different and I find when writing, sometimes I have to reign myself in when working on a historical; not only in terminology but also explicitness. Or when penning erotica my editor comments that the wording is a little coy. And I have to raunch things back up a little.
To date even in the erotic realm, I have jutted off into several sub-genres, including time-travel, some very mild BDSM, ménage m/f/f and have even tried my hand at an m/m story. But it makes building a fan base a little bit on the tricky side, too.
Perhaps it makes no sense to others, flitting here and there, but I have to go where the characters and the story take me at the time. Usually I don’t have a choice. It takes me over and invades almost every aspect of my life until I get it written down. I usually don’t worry about genre classification and submission until it is complete. That is secondary. My measure; if my editors enjoy it enough to offer me a contract then I feel I have done a good job. But then comes the unpleasant task of marketing. As authors, we want to write, but that is only a part, of the job. The best part, of course. It’s also nice to sell a book or two, but more than that, we want readers to enjoy reading our story as much as we have in the creating of it. We want them to get lost in a world that we have crafted. See the scenery, hear the character’s voices in dialogue; live it, feel the emotions of a scene, as we have. There is nothing more satisfying, than to hear from a fan that they couldn’t get one of your characters out of their mind or that they have read your book, not just once but several times.
If I was asked to single out just one category to write in, honestly, I don’t think that I could. There are just too many stories left to be shared and too many genres yet to be explored.
Thank you again, Kay, for having me.
Cheers,
H K
MuseItUp Publishing (historical romance)
H K’s latest release Rock Me Gently (m/f contemporary erotic romance)
Rock Me Gently
Blurb:
Rock-god Jase West has it all. Millions of adoring fans around the globe, money, women, cars and the talent that afforded him the extravagant lifestyle he enjoys. Until one day, when he takes a good look at himself and doesn’t like what he sees.
After fulfilling his contractual obligations, Jase quits the music business and goes back to school. Re-emerging as Jason Westlake, history teacher.
During Jason’s first set of parent-teacher interviews, he meets Lainey Clarkson, the single mother of one of his students, and he is immediately drawn to her. But Lainey is in the midst of a nasty divorce from a semi-famous pro football player and the last thing she wants is a relationship, especially with someone who is, or has been, in the limelight. However, Jason is pleasantly surprised to find that Lainey has no idea of his alter ego Jase West and decides to keep his celebrity status a secret for the time being until she falls for him. Reasoning that by then it will be too late for her to just walk away.
But when Lainey finds out that she has been lied to and manipulated again, Jason has to put on the performance of his life to win her back. Or for once, will the guy who’s used to getting everything lose out on the best thing that’s ever happened to him?
Short Excerpt:
Jason opened the door of the shop at exactly four p.m. Lainey looked up at his abrupt entrance and smiled. “Hey, handsome.”
“Are you alone?” he asked, in a clipped tone.
“Yes,” she answered, her smile fading.
“Get in the back room. Now!” he said, in a low authoritative voice. She hesitated but when he turned the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’ and locked the door, she started to back into the little room. In large strides he followed, stalking her, loosening his tie as he came at her.
She was almost to the back wall when his large body shadowed the doorframe.
Lainey watched him warily. He seemed almost angry. Intense.
“Any cameras back here?”
She shook her head.
Locking the back door he then moved like a caged cat to where she stood.
Without a word he dragged her skirt up. His jaw was tight, like he had his teeth clamped tightly together. His lips were drawn in a hard line. Once he had her skirt up around her waist, he tucked the index fingers under the soft elastic in her panties and as he started to kneel down in front of her, he dragged the garment to her ankles on his descent.
Totally Bound Amazon UK Amazon US Amazon Canada ARe Kobo Sony
Also Available in Print
Bio:
H K Carlton is a multi-published Canadian author of Historical, Erotic & Contemporary Romance.
And coming soon…
Crime suspense family saga series
(with a healthy dose of romance and angst)
Gave Good Face and the sequel Hard and Fast
***
Many thanks to HK for dropping by today.
I take my hat off to anyone who is brave enough to use the same name to cross genres. Although I have to say,that having a different name for every part of my life can get very confusing! There are days when I get up and think- “Who am I again?”
Happy reading everyone,
Kay xx