Sapphire – Page 3 – Jeffe Kennedy Blog

Burble Burble

Jeffe Kennedy / December 14, 2011December 14, 2011 / Blog

Our rain finally changed into snow and it’s looking quite picturesque here.

I did have a thoughtful post planned for today, but I think I’ll have to save that for tomorrow. I’m just all pleased and burbling over with the news that Sapphire received a Top Pick from All-Romance E-Books (ARe Cafe). Even better, the reviewer totally “got” the story and that’s the best part for any writer.

So, I just have to share:

I expected Taylor to evolve, but in Ms. Kennedy’s capable hands, her transformation is surprisingly original and completely unexpected. She’s intelligent and driven, and those qualities do not disappear just because she’s met a man with a great set of whips and chains. Even more shocking, Adam, who I wasn’t sure I liked for half the story, also comes out of this a better person. I love that the submissive isn’t the only one who is floored by an encounter.

At the end of the story, there’s an unexpected twist that I don’t want to give away, but it blew me away. Nothing ends up being generic. I love stories with strong women, and I love hot, sexy, erotic, BDSM stories. Jeffe Kennedy delivered on both counts, compromising on nothing. The result is one of the highest-quality BDSM romances I’ve ever read. It’s a stunningly original love story with complex characters and sizzling sex.

So, here’s the link, though you’ve already read the good stuff.

And, I know – that makes two shameless promo hits this week. Must be the commercialism of the season invading my brain.

Want a cookie?

On the Job, Naughty or Not

Jeffe Kennedy / December 13, 2011 / Blog

Something about these bird tracks in the snow seems heartbreakingly sweet to me. They make good neighbors, the birds. Yesterday they were busily eating all the seed they could, ahead of this storm. They must be tucked in somewhere today because it’s very quiet out there.

I’m at one of those funny crossroads places.

I mentioned yesterday that I’d finished The Middle Princess. Now I have a brief window of time before I get edits for The Novel Formerly Known As Obsidian. That’s right – we’re retitling. It’s my own damn fault. With Sapphire out there, Obsidian sounds like a sequel, which it is most decidedly not. So, if any of you who’ve read Obsidian – hell, even if you haven’t – feel free to suggest better titles. Something that suggests the fantasy/science theme.

Get busy, would you?

My plan is to write a new BDSM short, to please at least one of my editors, but I’m not feeling it. Part of my mind is still with my princess and her adventures. A huge part is taken up with better ways to present the graphics for this deliverable for the #dayjob. And still more is lining up when I can put up the Christmas tree and which cookies I should make. Kinky sex is just not in the mix right now.

But this is where I have to pull out the professional chops.

I know, I know – it sounds ridiculous to refer to writing naughty stories as buckling down and getting serious. Still, just like I have to make myself work the #dayjob when I don’t want to, some days I have to apply the will power to focus on a writing project that contributes to the career.

Maybe I’ll sneak in a batch of Christmas cookies, too.

When Parents Read Your Sex Scenes

Jeffe Kennedy / December 11, 2011 / Blog

I’m over at Word Whores today, for my usual Sunday gig, talking about when your parents read your sex scenes. As, um, the title implies.

Washing the Pipes

Jeffe Kennedy / November 15, 2011November 15, 2011 / Blog

This is the basket I put together for the LERA Enchanted Words conference last Saturday. Seemed like it was quite the hit.

Overall the conference was a great day. I loved hanging with my writing buddies and debating craft questions. Everyone went away excited and inspired, which was great to see.

Yeah, there’s a bit of a “but” in there.

I confess I have a bit of an issue with people who purport to teach how to write a bestseller. If a person is so certain of the “bestseller formula,” then I’d think they’d put their energy into writing that, instead of telling other people how to do it. There’s quite a few folk out there these days, saying they teach writers through workshops, master classes and retreats how to make the magic happen. They charge a fair amount of money for this, too.

Frankly? It feels predatory to me.

I mean, it’s great for writers to come away from a seminar like this feeling fired up, creative, inspired and ready to work. But, in the end, I truly believe that you can take all the classes you like and nothing replaces the act of writing. Writing a whole lot. Over and over until you find your own voice and rhythm.

Ann Patchett says (remember I said I’d have more quotes from her):

Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art, you must master the craft. If you want to write, practice writing. Practice it for hours a day, not to come up with a story you can publish, but because you long to learn how to write well, because there is something that you alone can say. Write the story, earn from it, put it away, write another story. Think of a sink pipe filled with sticky sediment: The only way to get clean water is to force a small ocean through the tap. Most of us are full up with bad stories, boring stories, self-indulgent stories, searing works of unendurable melodrama. We must get all of them out of our system in order to find the good stories that may or may not exist in the fresh water underneath.

She continues with with pointed question:

Does this sound like a lot of work without any guarantee of success? Well, yes, but it also calls into question our definition of success. Playing the cello, we’re more likely to realize that the pleasure is the practice, the ability to create this beautiful sound – not to do it as well as Yo-Yo Ma, but still, to touch the hem of the gown that is art itself.

The people who want your money will chant NYT at you and tell you that’s success. Fair enough if you want that. Hell, I want that, too. But, despite what these teachers promise, there is no magic formula. If there was, they’d be using it themselves.

Back to washing out my pipes!

Having It Both Ways

Jeffe Kennedy / November 8, 2011 / Blog

A storm rolled in yesterday afternoon, producing rain, sleet (or hail – we weren’t sure) and then snow. I love all the looming shadows and the layers of cloud here.

I was IMing with one of my Critique Partners yesterday, about how I’m hitting this new place in my writing career. KAK (who just redesigned her blog AND actually posted to it here) is pre-published and is hitting the querying and submitting now. She was catching up with me on how Sapphire is doing, and I said it seems to be doing really well, though I make a point of not looking at sales rankings, etc. (With the glaring exception of that run on the Carina Press website, which I caught by surprise and then all the people who love me kept checking and telling me that I was still #1. That was pretty damn fun.) One way I knew was that my Carina editor, the insightful Deb Nemeth, emailed to ask if I was sending them more BDSM romance. Check that, she said “you are submitting more right?” and then said things about building readerships and frequency of publishing and so on and so forth and other things that I just don’t like to keep in my head for very long. KAK holds marketing stuff in her head much better than I do – one of the reasons I love her – and she said that Deb is right and that you need 3-4 books a year to build a readership. And I asked her if she wanted the email address for my boss at the day job.

Okay, I might have been whining a little bit.

Because she said, hey, you should be happy that editors are ASKING for your work. (I may have mentioned that my Ellora’s Cave editor, the lovely Grace Bradley, has been making similar noises.) I was chastened. I should be grateful. I *am* grateful.

The thing is, they ask what I’m working on and the novel I’m finishing is not one they’re asking for. So far, nobody is really asking for The Body Gift, either. So, I’m in this funny place where I have limited writing time and I’m spending it writing the books nobody is asking for instead of the ones they really want.

I’m insane, right?

I’ve seen career writers talk about this particular struggle – the work you want to write vs. the work they want to pay for. From that I know that this will never change. Charlaine Harris wrote the Sookie books way longer than she wanted to because of this. And you keep reminding yourself how tremendously lucky you are that they want to pay you to write more.

But then there’s that other reason we write. The love of it. “To touch the hem of the gown that is art itself” as Ann Patchett says. (Yes, I’m still reading that book. I went back, slowed way down and now I’m highlighting great lines to share here.)

I suspect the next step will be finding a way to do both.

Sailing Along

Jeffe Kennedy / October 26, 2011October 27, 2011 / Blog

I’m over at Carina Press today, doing a guest blog spot. Stop on by!

Sapphire and Old San Juan

Jeffe Kennedy / October 25, 2011 / Blog

I had a little glass (okay, cup) of champagne at the pool bar after work yesterday, to celebrate the release of Sapphire. The pool area, with the ocean beyond. Lovely

Then we went into Old San Juan for dinner. Cats are protected there and lounge in every quiet stairway.

This passage was full of cats, though they’re not easy to pick out.

Requisite statue pic.

We ate at AquaViva. Love these lights.

Sapphire!

Jeffe Kennedy / October 23, 2011October 23, 2011 / Blog

I’m over at Word Whores today, talking about Release Day for Sapphire.

And today I’m headed to Puerto Rico for the day job, but I’ll at least try to post pictures here. Thanks to the magic of virtual scheduling, I’ll be on a number of blogs, etc., this week. The schedule is on the home page, should you feel like you want to find me.

Can’t imagine why you would.

I’d stick around here for the pretty pictures, if I were you.

Still Got the Radio

Jeffe Kennedy / October 19, 2011 / Blog

So, I did a radio interview last night.

And it was super fun.

Desmond Haas has a website called the Romance Radio Network and he interviews authors over the phone, then posts it on his site. I’ll also get to post it here on my own website. Yeah, you can listen to me babble on. Like you have nothing better to do.

At any rate, Desmond read Sapphire before the interview and seemed to love it! Well, he said he loved it and then he gave all sorts of specific reasons for it. That was the best part: he really “got” the book. It’s always lovely to get compliments or good reviews, but the very, very best part of being a writer is talking to someone who understands your characters. He had insightful observations about who they are that hadn’t occurred to me, but were right on target. He also described the story in a different way than I’d thought of it, which showed me new and illuminating elements. Best of all, I tend to think of myself as a pretty feminine writer, so for a guy to think I got the male side of the story right. Well, that’s just amazing.

SO fun.

You know what else is fun? When I went to grab that link, like a good hyperlinking blogger kitty, I saw this:

Can you see what that says? Here, let me show you a close-up. You know you want me to.

Ya-huh! Ya-huh! <- that’s me doing an end zone dance. Not pretty. Be glad you can’t really see it.

I’m sure this will change in the blink of an eye (which is why I screen captured it for posterity). This is all pre-orders, so thank you all for that. For pre-ordering, for saying such lovely things about the story, for sharing the love.

Cupcakes all around!