Thirteen weeks…
That is exactly how long it took me to write The Baby. It. Is. Finished.
When I say that a lot of words, I mean that’s a lot of words! I’ll give more details in the Cruise Control update, but I wrote precisely one BUCKETLOAD of words this week and finished it about fifteen minutes ago. My brain is broken, so I’ll apologise in advance for any typos that you see in this newsletter, I have reread it and tried to catch them all!
This newsletter is a big one, so let’s get into it. I’ve got four giveaways and six books to tell you about, this week, then I’ll dish all of the latest Cruise Control dirt.
Here we go!
GIVEAWAYS
This BookFunnel giveaway ends on the 30th of June, so it’s your last chance to get your hands on any of these 39 free books!
Click the button below to check them out.
Another BookFunnel promotion that’s ending on the 30th of June. It’s got 113 books in it that were all released in June. Some really cool books in here, including The Wedding.
Click here to check out the books
Romance Reads
This is a StoryOrigin review copy giveaway that has 21 books in it. It ends on July the 10th, so you’ve got a bit of time to request any of the books you’re interested in.
I requested Eyes of Stone because, damn, that cover got my attention!
Imperfectly Wonderful Romances
This StoryOrigin giveaway has 22 books in it. I didn’t actually get any from this one because I read Lawn Boy a few weeks ago (I highly recommend it) and I still have The Billionaire Bachelor downloaded and waiting to read.
At one point this week, I updated where I’m up to with the books I’m currently reading on Goodreads and I realised that I’m partway through four books at the moment, so I need to actually finish something instead of just downloading a million books every time I write my newsletter!
So, assuming you’re like me and download all the books, anyway, just go ahead and click the button below! 😉
BOOKS
Ben was a loving husband until his life and death operation brought sadistic psychological scars.
Ben is facing two tragedies. First, he’s going to die soon. Next, he’s just learned his wife has been lonely in their marriage he thought was perfect.
Ben is told about a dangerous surgery that could save his life but it would mean getting an entire head transplant. Wanting to live and make things right with his wife, he undergoes the historic procedure and survives. But shortly after the extreme operation, disturbing behaviors accompany his recovery. And the tender intimacy Ben was hoping to share with his wife morphs into dark and diabolical desires.
Look, I know what I said up there, but this concept was too fascinating for me not to download it. Plus, you know, Kindle Unlimited and all. Sooooo, I downloaded it. 🙊
He’s never done anything like this before.
Arriving home fresh from the hell of Kandahar, Fletcher Bennett ends up at a bar. The straitlaced military man finds himself looking for a distraction. He’s mortified when he wakes up and discovers he’d found it in a strange woman’s bed.
There’s something different about this one night stand.
Outgoing. Outrageous. Outspoken. These are all words Lillie King has had used to describe her. Not one to chase after any man, she’s not unhappy when circumstances keep bringing the sexy soldier her way. But when they lose contact after Fletcher is called back for yet another dangerous mission, she fears the worst. Is this the end?
Walk down the altar or die
If it were up to me, the choice would be easy.
Die.
But I have to live. I won’t let my son be raised by the devil that killed his father.
Enzio Lanza owns my dead husband’s life. He even has his face.
My husband’s twin killed his own brother and inherited his kingdom, his wife and child included.
I will marry the monster that ripped my family and heart apart. I will teach my boy how to finish what his father started before he was shot by his own twin brother. We will have our revenge, one kill at a time.
I’ll leave Enzio Lanza to the end, and I won’t make it quick.
Contemporary sports romance author Britney Bell brings you a fun, light-hearted, short story with a smokin’ hot Texas Tornados football player.
Zane
No matter how many years I play professional football with the Texas Tornados, the city life doesn’t change my heart. I will always be that Texas guy who’s learned the value of getting my hands dirty with hard work on the farm, and I’m finally able to bring a piece of the farm to the city. Some people may look at this old truck as a piece of junk, but for me, it’s the memories that are embedded in each dent, scratch and chip to its paint.
Lily
It’s a good thing that the family business is my passion. The hours I put in at work do not allow for much of a social life. With the responsibility of the business currently being solely on my shoulders, there’s no room to even think about dating.
He’s a bar owning cowboy. She’s an innocent church girl. Can they find a way to blend their worlds?
Ella
It took a lot of convincing for my extremely conservative parents to allow me to attend my friend Sage’s wedding. Now, I couldn’t be happier that I begged and pleaded to get my way. A sexy cowboy with an alluring drawl and tempting swagger spent the entire night talking only to me. I never thought I would hear from him again, but to my absolute delight we spent weeks getting to know each other through constant phone calls. I fell for him hard and fast, and find myself faced with a whole new problem. My parents will never approve. The church is pushing for a courtship with a man from the congregation, and refusal goes against all they believe in.
Jason
Across a crowded dance floor filled with couples swaying to twangy country music, I saw an angel. I had to talk to her… had to know her. The problem? Her ultra-conservative family. They believe in the old courting ways: no dates without a chaperone, no sex before marriage, and a first kiss only happens on the couples wedding day. How can a roughneck, beer slingin’, cowboy like me convince them I’m worthy of courting their daughter? Come hell or high water, I’ll find a way. Whatever it takes, she is worth the fight.
Get The Cowboy and His Sweetheart
Teresa
The last thing I need is a hot, drool-worthy one night stand!
I just managed to break up with the loser I should have dumped ages ago, so I already know I’m not the best at saying no or ending things. But it’s time for me to plan for my future.
Payak
When your friends are all you have, every one counts.
So, when one of my squad disappears, I make sure I’m first in line to follow up on the planet where he was last seen. Mavin’s like a brother to me, and after his last punishment by the Sinth Sovereignty, he needs to know we all care—so he doesn’t disappear forever.
What I don’t expect to find, is an Earth female so alluring, it appears she can see right into my dimension. She can see me!
Will Teresa let me close enough to test our compatibility? What will it mean for the future of Earth if I fail?
CRUISE CONTROL
Hey there, guys. I’m going to be 100% real with you, right now. I am burnt the fuck out right this minute, as I write to you. This week took a lot out of me.
That’s not your fault, of course, it’s mine. I put pressure on myself to get The Baby finished by the time I hit thirteen weeks of writing. I did it, but if I’d managed my time better over the course of that thirteen weeks, this week wouldn’t have been what it was.
I only realised this, when I started to write this newsletter. I still love writing to you guys and I’m not going to stop, I’m just letting you know where I’m at, mentally, right this second.
That being said, I’m going to start taking out the Cruise Control books from this newsletter that don’t have any real update. There’s no point in them taking up space, especially as I start working on later books.
You all know that The Album is available on Amazon and where to get it. I don’t really have anything to tell you about it this week, so I’ll jump straight to The Wedding.
THE WEDDING – HEATHER AND HARRISON
The audiobook contract was signed this week and I uploaded the production notes. I’m really excited to get the extended sample, which is about ten minutes of the story that will be recorded by the narrator.
When I get that, I can listen to it, give any feedback and then give the green light for the rest of the book to be recorded. I can’t wait. The narrator that I chose absolutely nailed it with her audition for The Album.
Every single word was read with the intonation and inflections on the words precisely where I imagined they would be. She even had a kind of laughter in her words when she read about Gabriel fumbling his pool shot.
I felt like I probably could have coached a couple of the other narrators that I liked into reading it the way I wanted, but the fact that she picked it up entirely cold and read it exactly how I imagined was amazing.
I chose the scene where they all go to play pool together, because I wanted a scene where all of the group talked, which meant she had no frame of reference for what the characters were like since that’s in the middle of the book and that’s part of why I was so surprised to hear her read it absolutely spot on.
So, yeah, I can’t wait to see what she does with The Wedding.
THE BABY – LITA AND SEBASTIAN
It’s done.
Oh, you want to know more than just that? Allow me to elaborate! It ended at a whopping 164,389 words. Do you remember the word count I was at last week? 134,367 words. Did I write 30,022 words on it this week? Why, yes. Yes, I did.
Now, you see why I’m wrecked. It was a lot, but I’m happy with the overall story. It will need a mammoth rewrite before editing, though. I’ll try and get that done this week.
I laughed and I cried, sad tears and happy tears. I read it to my mum and she laughed and she cried, sad tears and happy tears. So, you know, at least one person likes it that’s not me!
I feel differently about this story. The Wedding felt amazing and epic and like very solid storytelling. The Baby feels like it should be shorter but at the same time, it is incredibly enjoyable to read at the length that it is.
There is one entire chapter that I feel could be cut channels her inner editor “for pacing” but it also has one of my favourite conversations in it (plus a super hot sex scene!), so I don’t know. Once the edit is done, it’ll go out to my alpha readers and I’ll take their feedback on it and go from there.
A few people have read it so far, and nobody has complained it was too long, yet. Everyone just wanted the ending from me.
_
Now is probably a good time to say that if you want to be one of my advance readers, you should click the button below. I’ll be sending The Baby out to them whenever I get it back from the editor, so if you want to get in on that, now’s your chance.
SEBASTIAN – YOUNG ADULT CRUISE CONTROL
Alas, due to the aforementioned 30,022 words written on The Baby, there was no new chapter of Sebastian this week, I’m sorry!
I know what needs to be written, but I just can’t do it right now. I’ll definitely get one up before next week’s newsletter.
Final updates from me:
Firstly, I fell in love with Hayden by the end of The Baby. He has an epic moment near the end and I just love him a lot, now. He’s very much like Lita, analytical and quiet. So, they got along really well and she connected with him, which meant I did, too.
A friend reminded me that when I was writing The Wedding, I told her that I had not connected with Hayden so much that I wasn’t even sure if I liked him, so this new development pleases me.
Secondly, I’m seriously toying with the idea of writing Dreams on Wattpad and then removing it once it’s edited and published on Amazon since this would give me the chance to enter it in The Wattys, assuming it’s finished by the end of the year.
Either way, it would allow people to read it as I write it. Immediate feedback from readers, allowing me to shape the story as I tell it could be a blessing or a curse. I kind of like the idea, though.
Some day, I’ll tell you guys all the ways that things have changed in the books as I’ve written them. Mum gets every chapter as I write it and she gets most displeased when I change things that she sees in her head as canon.
I tell her, “You want to see how the sausage gets made? ‘Cause this is how it gets made. Your other option is to not read the story until it’s fully completed.”
Unsurprisingly, she’s yet to take me up on that option! 😉
Which reminds me, I’m going to make my Mum’s day, tomorrow, when she finds out that The Baby is finally finished.
It’s almost 1am here, so I’m going to send this now. I hope you have a brilliant day, and happy reading!
P.S. I love how I told you guys I was burnt out on writing and then wrote probably the longest email to you that I’ve written in ages!
I just wanted to say that if you read this entire thing, you’re amazing and feel free to email me back with any questions or thoughts you might have. You’re the bomb! 😘
