Note to readers
This is within the pages of Faithless.
~Note to Readers~
There are a lot of misconceptions on what constitutes Dark Erotica or BDSM Fiction. Many would say that I do not write within my genre. I’ve read a myriad of contradictory statements. Every genre is broken down into sub-genres. But a lot of the misconception breaks down to a lack of knowledge.
BDSM doesn’t mean you live your life in a dungeon. It also doesn’t mean that your life is consumed with kink. While hot to read, the people of the lifestyle are not sexual beasts. They have lives, jobs, families, hobbies, and friends that do not revolve around kink.
My books are not centered in a dungeon, because life is not centered in a dungeon. I just cannot write one dimensionally. This works for shorter novels or standalone shorts and novellas, but not a longstanding series. I have to show all the facets of life to create a three dimensional storyline with lifelike characters… and sometimes, life just isn’t sexy.
Eroticism in my series: again, people have varying libidos. I cannot write every character as a sexual deviant that runs around dry-humping everyone like a dog. Each book is individually written based on the character. Some of my characters are randy sonsofbitches and others are more passive. I find that the overuse of sex in a book is just as bad as no sex in a book. I cannot connect with a book when it’s punch-you-in-the-face sex from the very first chapter. I need teased and enticed. I want a book to seduce me right along with the characters. Readers may read one hundred pages and find no sex or they may find sixty pages of sexually explicit content within my books. Why? It depends on my characters, my mood when plotting and writing, and the flow of the storyline. I will never write sex just for the sake of sex. If you find a random hookup in my books… it’s never random.
Mistress & Master of Restraint is the title of the series, and not because it revolves around Restraint. The Mistress & Master denotes that the narrator of each book will be a Dominant. The Restraint denotes it as the common denominator- the link between the characters. You may read a book and never enter Restraint. But all of the books will be narrated by a Dominant and be connected to Restraint.
Another BDSM misconception: BDSM isn’t necessarily about sex. The lifestyle varies as much as any culture varies. BDSM is always about release: sexual, mental, emotional, spiritual, pleasure, and pain. It could be a combination of one or two, all of them, or only one. But it most certainly doesn’t have to be sexual. It is a hunger that is being fed. As beings, we need sustenance, oxygen, water, sleep, sex, and companionship. Why would BDSM only feed one of your biological needs? And biological doesn’t always equate sexy.
Dominance: it is inborn. You are either dominant or you are not. You cannot learn it. Often in Dark Erotica or BDSM Fiction, books will portray the Dominant in a very cruel light. I’d heard from many that Dexter wasn’t cruel enough of as sadist. Dominant means you are a natural born leader, not an ABUSER. Cruel is abuse. As a survivor of domestic violence, abuse is never sexy.
I’ve heard from readers that they do not like children in my books, and a few said they didn’t want marriages and pregnancies. I assume this is because readers want fantasy, and this is too real to life. I cannot connect with a book that is missing major life events. Children exist or we wouldn’t have any adults. Pregnancies exist or we wouldn’t have any more children. What is sex? Sex is a biological need to mate- mate to create children. It blows my mind that my books should be without pregnancy, children, or unions. Seriously?
While real life isn’t sexy… it’s real.
HEA/HFN: I’ve written blog posting about this subject. My characters always have a HEA, it may not be within their book, and it may not be within a coupling. I believe HEA begins and ends inside of you. If the character is content with their lot in life, then they have reached their HEA. And on the opposite end: Dexter, again, readers felt he shouldn’t have an HEA because he is a sadist. I’ve heard this with Syn, as well. Why not? While fictitious, they are human beings. Only a submissive person should be happy, even if they have a nasty personality?
Romance: nowhere are the M&M books listed as romance. A few popular series that are listed as Romance, dip their toes in the BDSM or Erotica or Dark Erotica pool. The mainstream readers believe that all these types of novels should read just as those do. They are disappointed when my books do not read like a romance novel. I have another series, the Playroom, which has more romantic themes- less dark. I say less dark instead of light and romantic themes instead of romance, because I am incapable of light and romancy reads. I write darkly, twisted, sarcastic, wounded, raw and gritty, suspenseful and mysterious. Just as I do not write one dimensional characters, I do not write within one genre. I do not write to outrage or titillate or freak out my readers. I just write what my imagination tells me to write.
I guess the reason for this note is to clear up some of the misconceptions about my writing. I will not write to please specific readers, because it is impossible to please everyone. Hell, I love a lot of books the majority loathes, and I loathe a lot of books the majority loves. What’s the saying… no book is ever read the same way twice and no two readers read the same book.
WIP changes
Today has been a busy day. I created a giveaway for Wicked Reads reaching a goal of 2000 fans. Scroll down a post and enter as of Midnight. I tweaked, fixed some formatting issues, and reworded the epilogue of KING. Those who already have a copy, it’s worded slightly different, but still the same, story-wise. KING has been uploaded to B&N and Amazon. Within the next 12-48 hours it will be available for purchase. I’ll give a shout out when it’s live, and update the purchase links in the M&M of Restraint tab. I’ve also rearranged some things on this website, updated info and such. Lastly, updated Goodreads.
Now to the meat of this blog posting. What’s Erica up to lately.
I’ve been on the fence over quite a few things- disquiet- twitchy. KING was completed weeks ago. I had fixed the beta edits and reread the thing 7 times over. But I still didn’t publish. I wanted to do a scene that was needed, but not from Daniel’s POV. I decided on a epilogue. Here is one of my biggest issues. Faithless was going to be an info-dump book. For those of you who don’t know what that means, you’re inundated with a shit-load of info. I hate that. So KING’s epilogue is a two-for-one. Ezra narrates the epilogue and he dumps a ton of information that will help while reading the future books. In fact, I let so much info out that it is confusing. But who better to confuse you then our insane Dr. Lunatic? I think I will include this epilogue in the future books it impacts. Part two of the two-for-one epilogue, who doesn’t want to see Ez get his groove on? Hmm… he was so lonely, too. 😉
Warning: KING’s sex scenes are 90% gay, with only 1 straight scene and 1 bi scene. But if you didn’t know Daniel Whittenhower II was gay by now…. & frankly, I hope I broaden your horizons. Love is love, sex is sex, it shouldn’t matter who you’re with.
Back to my disquiet twitchiness… Something was just off. Widow is calling to me. “Hey, we’re over here. Click us and write!” I’m not feeling particularly romancy right now. Faithless was screaming, “Deadline! Deadline! Deadline.” & I was muttering to myself, “I don’t want to write you right now, stfu! Cort and I need to mind-meld for awhile.” I mean, who the hell wouldn’t want to converse with Cort?
My issue, King isn’t a new beginning, just a turning point. Queen’s books and Dalton closed out a mindset of the series. Using the word story-arc isn’t correct. King is just an introduction, a buffer between Dalton/Checkmate and Faithless. Just as how the story progressed timeline-wise with Jaded, Queened, Restraint/Unleashed/Dexter/Dalton/Checkmate, King bridges the gap of Faithless/The Hunter/Silence.
I have to write those three books at the same time. None of them can be released before the first draft of the next is completed. The current time, there is only a two-day gap between books, backstory not included. Silence will be as KING is, a change.
I will explain without too much detail.
Faithless: Faith Simpson as a fifteen-year-old thru the present day Syn. We see how her life brought her to the here and now. Her friendship with the Ezes and her entanglement with Wil. Syn’s book ends an hour after KING does. Daniel goes looking for Syn after the last line of chapter thirty-seven of KING. Final Chapter of Faithless, and then KING’s epilogue begins. So yeah… this is a difficult puzzle I’ve created.
The Hunter: Cortez Abernathy. The prologue is of a twelve-year-old Cort running through the woods playing with Ez. Chapter One, he awakes from his memory, a seventeen-year-old young man thrust into a nightmare. We experience that time frame in graphic detail. The King epilogue flows to the ending of The Hunter. Ez has some explaining to do.
Silence: Grant Whittenhower. He wants to tell you why he did the things he’s done. Since he no longer has a voice to call his own, he’s going to write about it. The Epilogue brings hell down on him. I only have a small bit of his book outlined, seeing as it’s books away. But about a third into the story, we progress into the present. Meaning, what happens in the epilogue, the rest of the book is the aftermath.
After that: No clue. Truly toying between Niel and Wil. I can’t say how much life is left in the series. But I can tell you, Marcus or Ezra will be the final book. Whoever isn’t last, comes just before. We have many characters before that. Whether novellas, shorts, or full-length novels. I didn’t create these character for them to fade into the aether without telling their story.
What this means for the Playroom series: It’s on hold until Silence is complete. It could be fall or closer to 2014. I don’t know. I do know that I will not write M&M book 12 until book 4 of the Playroom is published. As I said, Silenced is a turning point for M&M. I don’t know where I want to go from there. However, I do know where I want to go with the Playroom. I don’t foresee more than 6 or so books in this series. No side characters will be written about. I love the story. I just feel that the core group needs its due. This is how I see it. Obviously, I’ve been known to change my mind. *snickers* but in this case, it’s always been a solid vision. This is my HEA series. Good Girl ended as it did because Willow wasn’t ready yet…
*The names next to the title don’t denote a couple. Just narrators.*
Good Girl: Willow
Widow: Malcolm Mason, Clover Webster
Wayward: Isis Mason, Robin Prynne, Augustus Kline
4: Willow Prynne, Devon Mason, Kieren Mason
5: 1 of the Mason boys from book 4 & his sister Raven will share the narration of this book
6: Weston Mason, Seth Webster.
That’s all folks!
The completion of the Playroom will allow me to write anew. Either I will work on the two paranormal/fantasy series I’ve created or think of something fresh and original. I will only ever do 2 projects at a time. I already feel like Ezra most days. I can’t do 3 or 4 series at once.
When will what be done by when?
Guesstimates are highly tentative.
Faithless: May
The Hunter: July
Silence: August/September
Widow: September (75% written already)
Wayward & book 4: December-ish
My 2014 will be new, because I haven’t nary a clue on what I’m going to write. And yes, I get that today is April 1st. I might be creative, but my logical mind needs structure. So I’m all scheduled up for the next 8 months!
Off to ruin a trio of boys and a girl jogging along a wooded path. Told ya, not feeling romantic at the moment!
A look back…
A look back at the creation of Mistress and Master of Restraint series. I began writing Restraint, exactly one year ago… Wow. Time feels as if it flies by, but in reality, it’s burst of speed and moments where it slows to a crawl. When I remember my journey, some moments jump out at me, while other mute to the background.
Restraint was meant to be a novella at most. When it was completed, I thought it was over. I’d left it open to interpretation so that if I decided to enter that world again, I could. But I tied it up enough that readers would be satisfied.
Restraint was the first book that I’d completed.
It was the first book I had the nerve to publish.
It was totally unexpected. I was writing a fantasy novel. I remember waking up one morning with an idea. Huh? A book about a BDSM club? Really? Can I do that? Do I dare to even talk about it? I excitedly started writing. I wrote Restraint while my grandmother was staying with us. I wrote a dirty, sick and twisted book while sitting on the sofa next to my 93 yr old grandma. I shit you not!
I’d caught the writing bug after I published Restraint. Unleashed was written in a heartbeat. I was sad to see it end. So sad, in fact, that I couldn’t end it. Finally, inspiration struck. Who said I had to end it? I decided on a continual series narrated by different characters.
I published Unleashed and I still didn’t talk about it. It was like my books were some dirty secret I hid with the skeletons in my closet.
I started on Dexter. He was the obvious choice being that he was the nexus to several sets of characters. Midway through Dexter, Dalton was screaming at me. He was next, but he didn’t want to wait his turn. I wrote half of Dalton when Dexter was only a quarter finished. I wrote both books simultaneously. I published them both on my 34th birthday.
Still not talking about it. Still blushing when people ask what I do for a living. My mom was still smoothing it over, neglecting the fact that I write Dark Erotica.
Queen was next, but I knew Jack-shit about her. I knew her name, that’s it. On a long cross-country trip, I started Cortez (40 K that will hit the garbage when I butcher it) Suddenly, I knew who Queen was. One book turned into 3, with an omnibus edition.
Midway through book 3 of Queen’s, M&M #7… Dead-end. Good Girl was born to help me relax and lighten the dark within me. I proceeded to rewrite, restructure, re-edit, reformate, and butcher all the books from the very beginning. 7 books. Some major changes occurred.
After Checkmate, I was lost. I set up for a huge beginning on KING and I didn’t know how to write it… I didn’t want to let the readers down.
Good Girl again… I published it and began Widow. I was so enthusiastic about Widow, that I outlined Wayward.
The day I scheduled to start writing on Widow again, after a two week break, lightning struck. The most amazing thing happened; my mind cleared enough to allow new information to filter in. You can become blind in your writing, where you see only one possible path, but it’s not the right one. I knew the direction to take King.
KING is an important book and it was scaring me that I couldn’t do it. I’m not sure how I did it, or if the readers will enjoy it, but it flawlessly fused all the books together. What you thought you knew, you didn’t. KING has the foundation Restraint wasn’t. KING WILL hold the rest of the series without fail. I’m feeling closed-lipped about it. I want it to be a surprise.
One year since the conception of Restraint. I’m writing M&M #8- almost 40k (93 manuscript pages) in 4 days. I know the path that the next few books will take. The next books in the series will be: Faithless, M&M #9 (Syn). Untitled #10 (Cortez) and I believe #11 will be dedicated to Levi Wilson.
The series will maintain its dark edge, but it’s darker now. Mystery and intrigue. I’m curious to see where this takes me. We’ll see.
Happy conception, Restraint!!! Your 1st birthday is quickly approaching- April 24th.
In case you were wondering, when someone asks what I write, I proudly tell them. If anyone calls my books smut, I let the bitch-monster out. Be forewarned.
Queen’s Journey
I’m procrastinating or simply reminiscing. I don’t know which, it may be a combination of the two. My hands are freaking killing me today and my migraine is pounding. Don’t ever look at a writer and think them lazy. My mind and hands are tortured by my craft.
I am near the bottom of Checkmate’s outline. I can see the bottom. You have no idea how this thrills me. So let’s take a reminiscent journey of Queen, shall we…
I started Queen, Mistress of Restraint on June 28th. Dexter and Dalton were with the Betas. Yeah, I did two books at once. What an undertaking. (I’m being sarcastic. It was torture at the time and little did I know I’d one up myself) I knew Queen had to be next in the series. Wanna know why? A glimpse into the strange inner-working of Erica Chilson’s mind. It’s not as intriguing as I’m making it sound. I’m in a mood today. I was staring at the characters I’d written on a piece of paper. Katya was out, she had two books just for her- she’s so selfish, hogging the limelight like that. (I’m still in Queen’s head. so yeah…) It had to be a girl since I’d done two of Kat and two of D&D. It couldn’t be a gay because some ppl are sensitive to that and I didn’t want two gay books back-to-back. Obviously you’ve figured out that personally I have absolutely no orientation- Erica likes connection and chemistry. But it couldn’t be a guy or a gay. Queen is a girl, but… I’d written her as a lesbian. Syn was out because I thought she should do something else later on… So at the time I had no other girls that were Masters. Queen… Queen… I quickly slapped a band aid on Dalton to fix Queen’s lesbianism. (shotty bandage. Bad, Erica)
I typed Queen, Mistress of Restraint and groaned. “What the fuck was I going to write? Who is she?” I knew nothing of Queen. I knew a few details I’d given her in regards to other characters and that was it. So I ignored her. We weren’t ready.
I did final edits on the July Release of Dexter & Dalton. We were driving cross-country from the PA/NY Border to New Mexico for a NRA national championship (Congrats to Brian Chilson on his 2012 National Champ title. GO DAD!) Cortez was crooning his naughty, charming words. I yanked out the laptop and by the end of our 5 day journey to NM, Cort was 40k in length. He’s a sweet talker. We had a blast.
July 10th, the day before my birthday. I still didn’t know anything about Queen, and Cort was being quiet (a first since he is ALWAYS with me.) I was uploading D&D to the sites for publication and my laptop died. It fucking died on me at 5am in a hotel room in rural NM. I mean rural. I live in a rural place but give me a half hour and it’s cities. I was a sad panda. I got the books to upload finally. I was a sad, sad panda as my dad practiced at the rifle range and I watched. I had no laptop, nothing to write or read since I couldn’t upload to the nook. The nook was dead because the charger was broke (again).
We got in the car and he started heading towards Colorado, land of stores. 🙂 Pueblo was the destination. Mom said happy birthday and pulled into Sam’s club. I left the parking lot with a new laptop pressed to my chest and a sad smile. I felt like a shit because that was tooooo much for a birthday, but my bank account was miniscule at best. Being a starving artist writer, who just separated with her husband that she’d been with since age 12 leaves you with little. They said suck it up, you need this for work. I still feel like a shit. So they went in to Home Depot looking for supplies. And I’m a techie. That box was torn open, the laptop booted up and plugged into the powerport in the car. I was installing updates off of HD’s wifi from the parking lot. The laptop was named, updated, and programs removed while they shopped. Half hour later I was downloading all the stuff I use.. Sugarsync, calibre, kindle, and nook when they came out.
Yeah… I’m a techie… My family thinks I’m a member of Geek Squad and I have the propensity to tell the tech support ppl on the phone to suck it. The technician from our internet company came to fix my router and laughed when he told me I was red-flagged. I’m a short, round chick, who’s quiet. He laughed at me when I told him how it took 5 calls to get him to visit…. and I was right all along. Told ya so, tech support- suck it! He was my first awed person who looked at me like I was a rockstar when he saw my books on my laptop. He thought I was getting a tattoo of a dudes name. (Dexter) He said, “No, don’t tattoo some dude’s name on your body.” He shook his head at me and scowled. So I got to laugh at him in return by telling him that those pictures were my creation. Good Times.
July 11th, birthday time!! I’m 34 *shrugs* I didn’t want to sit at the hot and dusty range so I sat on the bed at the hotel with three usb thumb drives taking info from the barely running laptop to the new one. It was a long wait for the pictures and book files. I started Queen.
I wrote, “Jaded” out of nowhere. I started typing a book about Queen, but she was an 18 yr-old Regina Regal. 12k later it was time for dinner and my parents and the doggie were back. I typed all through the night trying not to disturb my sleeping parents. Regina turned into a sad girl who hated handouts and was a techie… Heehee, wonder where that inspiration came from. The 12th I sat while they practiced and 10 pages later I realized that the book couldn’t be Queen, Mistress of Restraint, but rather, Jaded, Queened, and Checkmate. I’d release them singularly and together as an omnibus edition. When I say 10 page outline, I should explain my way of outlining. Single line scenes, they could be half a chapter or three. Each line was a scene, ten pages of them. Queen was born because a broke, separated Erica had to take a handout from her loving parents.
Jaded was written quickly and Queened too! About 30k into Checkmate I found a problem. An epically huge fucking problem. I was paralleling Restraint, Unleashed, Dexter, and Dalton. I was dissatisfied and lost. So I went to bed. This is writer clarity of mind time. I woke up and Willow Pryne was born, my Good Girl. I wrote Good Girl in 10 days. I sent it off to the betas and a few readers. It’s not completed because I wrote more of the outline and have to do the final edits. 5 days tops and Willow will be ready to read.
I stared at Checkmate. What the fuck do I do? It’s not working and if I can’t fix it, the series is dead- total destruction! I did something I said I’d never do… I loaded Restraint and started butchering, re-editing, restructuring, rewriting, reformatting. If you can name it, I did it to my book! Everyone said Katya was cold. I warmed her up and lightened her up. I made Ezra more cryptic. I gave us more Cortez and I wrote Queen into the story. I knew her now and she needed in there.
I immediately started on Unleashed. The writing was so much better. I’d rewritten Restraint; it would have been easier from scratch. Unleashed flowed better, the English language wasn’t trashed, and the story made sense. I fixed minor errors and added some smexy scenes.
Dexter. I felt bad for my sadist. He didn’t really have a story. Dexter was the nexus to all the characters and the book was fucking fluff. I’m being hard on myself and I deserve it. I finally added the strife that was necessary for our game of Master of the Universe. Dexter was a different book from its original form. I did this to Dalton, too!
After a bunch of shit with uploading the new editions, plastering ‘get your updated copy here’ everywhere I could think, I went back to Jaded. I edited it and published it. It went through and I found a set of edits in the Queened folder that belonged to Jaded. I fixed it and upload it again to B&N and Amazon. It was BLOCKED from Amazon! JADED was dead in the water. I received no explanation. Phone calls got me nowhere, emails were auto-generated. So I said fuck you!!!! Really, I said it loud and a lot! I just republished it exactly how it was and waited. I cleared my mind and started on Queened. I edited it and no need for added scenes and rewrites. It was how I wanted it. I published it with no problem on both sites and it loaded within 5 hours.
Seven days later… waiting… waiting… waiting…. I started on Checkmate. I said FUCK YOU again when I saw it still said ‘in review’ for Jaded with the black-balled Jaded beneath it. I emailed them. 5 minutes later it was publishing. I almost pissed my pants. I didn’t want to cheer thinking that it would fuck it up somehow. So I yelled YAY a lot and knocked on my end table while my mom said, “I told you it’d work out alright.” And she was laughing at me… She may have even rolled her eyes a little bit too…
Checkmate… again…. I would get frustrated. I had this great outline. I knew the story in everyone’s point of view. But I would work so hard my mind would melt. 70k in 4 and a half days. I’d take a break and read or sleep. I get a few hours here and there since my mind wants to write to empty its contents. I’ve lost weight, a lot of weight because typing hands can’t put food to your mouth. My typing hands are taped up and my wrists are splinted. It hurts so bad that by age 35 I’m going to look like an old crone.
The weirdest thing happens… Restraint becomes popular in the beginning of November. It freaked me out. I was making money. Not a whole lot, but enough that this really constitutes as paying profession. I could see a future of independence and it scared me. I’ve been with my parents and then my husband and back to my parents since birth. I could really get a life… One I want… I am scared shitless. So all 6 books are selling, selling well. *Knock on wood*
Out of fear and the daunting deadlines, I froze. I couldn’t write. I was blocked. I read 20 books in a week with no sleep. I’d write 70k in a few days and then do the the reading thing… This is my present. This is what my life has become.
I sit here finding a compromise of writing 10k or so many scenes a day. When I get frustrated I open the book I’m reading and go back in a few hours. I started this the day before yesterday because I need rules or I’ll go insane. Last night I read a few chapters and went to sleep. It’s the first time in a while. Today I feel like shit. Migraine, hands and wrists are killing me, dizzy with a cloudy mind, and eyes that randomly roll around in my head. My outline is almost completed. The finish line is in sight.
Checkmate should be finished by Sunday night or Monday, depending on if I freak the fuck out again and freeze or if I get into a book and can’t stop reading. Hell, I have 6 episodes of the Vampire Diaries, Arrow, and two Revenges that are screaming from the DVR. They must wait and I pray no one erases them. All hell will be had! While Checkmate is off to the betas (who have a fast job ahead of them) I’ll fix Good Girl.
This has been a long, torturous journey to breathe light into Queen. My two book release of D&D was child’s play compared to a 3 book Queen and the debut of Good Girl, and formatting an omnibus edition.
I hope the readers think it’s worth it.
Have you hugged a writer today? They need one!!! {{Self-hugs}}
-Erica
Jaded&Queened Released. & Erica’s musings
Jaded and Queened are available for purchase from Amazon and B&N for $3.99. & not without great difficulty. Jaded was a week-long stress-fest. I can finally breathe and just do what I love- write my ass off!
I’m hard at work editing and writing Checkmate- the conclusion of Regina Regal’s (Queen) story arch. Judging by the length of my plot outline, Checkmate will be near the 150K word mark. It parallels the first 4 books in the M&M of Restraint series. You will see events through the perspective of Queen- questions will be answered and motivations will be revealed. I project Checkmate’s release in early December, possibly earlier depending on how hard the muse pushes me to work. & my muse is a wicked Mistress. She flexes her wrist and whips me into compliance and uses lack of sleep as a fitting punishment. She also denies me food and fun. But my stressed-ass is tens of pounds lighter thanks to her.
Upon the release of Checkmate, I will format and release the three titles (Jaded, Queened, Checkmate) in an omnibus edition, Queen Mistress of Restraint. You may wish to wait and read the 3-in-1 edition, unless you’re like me- extremely impatient.
Next up after Queen’s titles is the Debut book in a new series, Good Girl- Playroom. Good Girl will be released mid-December (depending on Checkmate’s progress) I have a few added scenes and revisions to edit- 3 days to a week, tops.
After these books are completed I’m taking a break. By the end of December, I will have written and released 9 books. That is 700,000 published words in 8 months. I’ve almost written a million words in less than a year. That is a conservative estimate considering the amount of scenes I’ve deleted, rewritten, and the unfinished manuscripts of 4 books I have waiting in the wings. I am tuckered out. I’ve learned so much and that knowledge has strengthened me, not only as a storyteller, but as a writer. I’ve made errors in judgement and I’ve also released books too early before their stories commulated into what it was meant to be. Lessons learned, risks taken, and I’m smarter for the lot of it.
Break or no break… It’s doubtful I can go more than a week or two without working… So my list of works most likely will be completed as follows:
Chrysalis (Lilies #1) Urban Fantasy
Untitled (Playroom #2) Erotic Romance
or Shattered(tentative title) (Atticus Fox #1) Genre to be determined
King (M&M of Restraint #8) Dark Erotica
After that is anyone’s guess- it’s entirely up to my muse. She demanded I write a new book out of nowhere mid-Checkmate. That’s how Good Girl was created! So we’ll see what she comes up with next.
Readers: Make sure you’ve read the most up-to-date version of the 1st 4 books in the series. The top of the title page informs you whether or not you are. It will have the first publication date followed by the revision date. It is imperative that you read the revised editions if you’ve previously read the originals. The storyline drastically changes during Dexter and Dalton. This would be one of the harsh lessons I’ve learned over the past few months. My growth demanded that I change Restraint, Unleashed, Dexter, and Dalton. I apologize for the inconvenience and the reread, but it is for the readers benefit. It’s a much more enjoyable, informative, thrilling, and titillating read. I’ve Easter-egged the shit out of those books, so a reread will be filled with AH-HA! moments. Easter egg, for those who aren’t familiar with gamer-speak, is hints/clues/and awesomeness for those in the know and if you’re like me, it gives you a massive amount of foreshadowing!
If you don’t have the most recent edition and you purchased the book thru amazon or B&N an update is available for your downloading pleasure.
I am thankful that I’m fortunate enough to do what I love and earn a living off of it. November is the month of thanks. I am thankful to my parents for keeping me safe and secure, my friends for keeping me sane and happy, and my muse for allowing me to live my dream by creating a universe from the ether. I live my passion and no matter the obstacles and roadblocks that are in my way, or the stress I put upon myself, I get to live my dream and if that isn’t happiness, I don’t know what is…
My muse is cracking her whip… back to working and listening to music and that’s just what she loves!
*Dexter*
Dexter’s revised 2nd edition will be available on B&N and Amazon within the next 12-72 hours.
A note to readers:
I found a handful of minor errors with Dexter, so in that regard it hasn’t changed. And I was thankful that I finally could write and read without having to fix my atrocious writing and deal with my bad habits. I was pleased to see that my growth was evident in Dexter. However, I found the storyline too light and I am at the advantage of knowing how Queen’s books play out as they parallel Restraint, Unleashed, Dexter, & Dalton. Dexter is now completely different storyline wise. It is the storyline that continues to flow throughout Queen. When I began Queen’s books she changed the direction of the storyline drastically. This is why I went back to the beginning and fortified the foundation of the series by editing all the books that are currently in release. I’m sure this will push my deadlines into December for the 5 book release I have scheduled. But it is for the best, especially for the reader.
Dalton:
I’m changing up Dalton’s journey as well. If you’ve read his story, don’t fret. He and his guy will not be messed with- tweaked. I think the readers will enjoy the direction I’ve taken Dexter and Dalton. *crosses fingers*
If you are a new reader. Please do NOT purchase a copy of Restraint, Unleashed, Dexter, or Dalton unless the top of the blub says it’s the 2nd edition. Amazon and B&N are different, but if you look at Amazon, the book page will state it as the 2nd edition in the list of information. B&N does not allow this distinction. So I added it to the top of the book’s blurb on both sites.
As always, I love hearing from readers. Email me: thewickedwriter@yahoo.com
~Happy Wicked Reading~
-Erica Chilson
Erica Chilson: The Wicked Writer 