I've been reading a lot of books lately, and the subject of spicy romance scenes has come up frequently. So, rather than just talk with my husband about it, I thought this would make for an interesting post as well.

Please note: This post contains only my opinions on the topic. I am by no means an expert, but I am an avid reader and writer who has an opinion to share. So, let's talk about romance! ​

As a reader and a writer, I enjoy romance, in the pure sense of the word. Watching characters fall for one another and be put in situations where they realize their feelings (or even better - profess their feelings) for the first time makes me giddy. I love it, and I will fully admit that some books' romance scenes have made me girl-squeal aloud. 

But it wasn't until recently that I realized I'm actually pretty picky when it comes to reading, and writing,  romance. So today, I wanted to talk specifically about the spicy, graphic kind of romance that I'm finding more and more often in books today. 

First, I think those spicy romance scenes need to serve a purpose. If it's going to be spicy, it's got to have a reason for being spicy, and it's got to fit the book. What I don't love is when I'm enjoying the story of a book and things seem to have a decent flow and then out of nowhere I get hit with a totally unexpected graphic scene that doesn't feel natural within the story.

If, on the other hand, I start reading a book and the expectation is there from the beginning, and those scenes add to the story, then I think it works fine. I recently read a book that had frequent spicy scenes within, but they fit the story and served a purpose (describing the experience a reaper has when she discovers she can be touched by someone for the first time in her existence). I also had a very good idea early on in the story that this was something I should expect.  

Second (and totally my opinion), I think it needs to be tasteful. I'm definitely not trying to shame anyone for enjoying what they enjoy. That's not ever my intention. However, I personally enjoy these scenes much better when the romance is focused on the connection and the intimate experience between characters rather than on the shock factor of using "dirty" words.

So, that's about it. I certainly don't think that anyone needs to change the way they incorporate various aspects of romance into their books; I just thought it would be fun to share my take on the subject. How do ​you feel about spicy romance scenes in books?

Interested in more writing-related content? Check back every weekend for more posts like this. Have a wonderful week!

So... I really enjoy writing. And I tend to get incredibly excited about it whenever the subject comes up. I also get really excited whenever other people have writing projects they want to work on. 

I've been talking with my family forever about starting a writing group, and I finally, finally did it! We had our first meeting, and it was so much more successful than I ever thought it would be. 

I started out by sending out an episode of the Pen2Plot podcast (I'd totally recommend for any writers out there looking for chill, very supportive vibes) as homework. Everyone had to listen to the episode about goal setting and think about what it means for them before we met. 

We met for about an hour and twenty minutes, and I don't know if many of you have tried to have a laser focused meeting with your family members, but I can tell you with my family, that's like... a miracle. But! Everyone sat down, we stayed super focused on writing and the writing goals we wanted to set. 

We started out by debriefing about the episode and discussing what stood out to each of us personally. Then, we worked through setting our own goals. Personally, I have a LOT of goals, and I update and adjust them often. In this meeting, our focus was to set one large scale goal (publishing a book, for example), and then another smaller goal that can be measured and adjusted from week to week. For most of us, this was a time goal. How many minutes a day did we want to spend writing? What project would we be focused on? 

After our discussion, we reviewed our goals to solidify our plan for the next week, and then we set a timer and each of us spent the next fifteen minutes writing like mad. It was awesome. 

For all you other writers out there, do you work better on your own, or with others? What does your goal setting process look like? Do you find that you're able to meet most of the goals you set? I'd love to know! 

I'll be writing another post in the near future about goal setting, but for now, I'm going to call this one a wrap. Stay tuned for other writing-related posts, as well as for updates on how this writing group pans out. I'm psyched about it so far!

The following links are inserted because I really find the content to be helpful. I am not sponsored by this podcast. 
Pen2Plot Podcast (First Episode - Youtube)                           ✍️Welcome to the Pen2Plot Podcast!           
Pen2Plot Podcast (Goal Setting Episode - Youtube)                           How Failing a Writing Challenge Changed My Goal-Setting Strategy           

I apologize that I skipped last week's post! I had a book signing and then we celebrated my son's birthday for the rest of the weekend. But I'm back now with a little post that has a big message.

Over the last year, I discovered a new part of being an author that I never expected, but I absolutely adore. 

This year, I started reaching out to various venues to schedule book signing events. Doing so has opened up a doorway for me to have an experience I've only ever dreamed about: connecting with readers. 

When I was a kid, I used to dream about meeting and talking with an author. And this year, I've been able to be on the author side of that... and I think it's an even cooler experience! Readers have come to chat with me at my book signing events, and it's even gone so far as readers reaching out via email and social media to share their copies of my books, share their reviews, and even share their own writing goals and experiences.

This has been a phenomenal experience for me, and it's reminded me of something so important: Without readers, my books are just paper and ink. The readers are what bring the stories to life and give those many many hours of work purpose. 

I'm so excited to continue to connect with my readers going into 2025! 

To all the readers out there, thank you for giving purpose to my work. To all you authors and writers, keep writing! 

2024 was a big year for me in terms of writing and publishing. It’s the first year in my author career that I was able to release more than one book, and I kept myself consistently writing all year long. Thanks to that, I have a few books that are written and should be ready to release in 2025.

WRITING GOALS
My biggest goal for 2025 is making a shift for my writing schedule. In 2024, I did all my writing in the evenings after I put my kiddo to bed. That worked really nicely because it didn’t take away any of my time with my son during the day, and I was able to save my daytime hours for my job. 

However, there were a few issues with that schedule. First, I was exhausted. When I got off work, I played with my son, got him dinner, got him through the bath and to bed, then I’d get to writing right away. Often, this wouldn’t be until 9 or 10 PM, and I would end up having trouble going to sleep with all the story ideas running through my mind. It also took up a good portion of my alone time with my husband, which is pretty hard to come by as it is with a toddler and a full time job. 

So although that dedicated writing time has been extremely helpful for my story production and my marketing, in 2025, I’m hoping to make a bit of a shift. My goal is to get up just a little bit earlier in the day and take the first hour (or as much time as I can get) in the morning to get my writing in before my son wakes up, and before I have to start work for the day. My hope is that the excitement I always get from writing will give me more energy throughout the day, and I’ll get to save those after-bedtime hours to hang with my husband. 

It's only been a few days, and I caught a cold during the holiday festivities, but I've still been able to do this at least a few days this week, so I'm hopeful!

Other goals I have for 2025 include...

1. Publish three of my own books. The three I hope to publish are all just about ready to go. Severed, Bound's sequel, will release at the end of March. Although the editing process is going a little bit slower than normal with all the demands on my schedule, it looks like I will still be able to meet my deadline. I have a romantic comedy style book that I hope to release sometime in the summer. I actually finished drafting this book back in 2020, and I've been pulling it out every once in a while over the last five years considering how I want to go about publishing it. I think it will be ready to release this year. Finally, I have a children's story that I wrote in early December, and I am slowly working on illustrating it now. This book should be ready to release probably in early fall. 
   
   
2. Finish my next poetry compilation. It's been years since I released my poetry compilation, Accidentally External. While I absolutely LOVE writing poetry, and I do it often, I'm hoping for this next collection to include poems that capture specific emotions. My goal is to write at least a poem every week in order to have the collection ready to go by the end of the year. I already have a handful of poems that will be included!
   
   
3. Work on my next big novel, which should release sometime in 2026. I actually have three novel ideas that I'm itching to delve into, but I'll need to focus on one at a time to fit the drafting process into my schedule. One of these books is a follow-up to some that I've already published (I won't say which ones just yet), and the other two will be totally new concepts. I've written the first chapter to the follow-up, and I'm hoping to get a first chapter drafted for the other two in the next month or two to see which one I'd like to work on first. 

MARKETING GOALS
This year, I have a few more marketing goals than I usually do, as this last year has really shown me what I'm capable of when it comes to marketing. Here are a few goals I have in the marketing department:

1. Grow my readership. I hope to reach more readers by growing my email list and posting regularly on social media. I'm also hoping to run more giveaways. 
   
   
2. Host or participate in one event per month. I am hoping to continue being a part of something for my books every month, whether that be hosting or participating in a book signing, visiting a classroom, or something else.
   
   
3. Help at least one author get their book published. I adore helping other authors figure out next steps in their publishing process, and this year, I have a few authors that I would like to help get their books out into the world. My biggest focus will be a children's book, which we hope to have released in December 2025. 

The beginning of a new year is always an exciting time, but it can also be stressful with so much change and so many things pulling us all in different directions. This year in particular, my main focus for this first month will be to finish getting Severed ready for ARC readers, writing those two other first chapters, working slowly on sprucing up my website, and getting this new schedule situated. 

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! I'd love to know - what are some goals you have for the new year? Leave a comment or send me an email!