Tag: Flame FOr You

Another new cover … She’s a damsel in distress and doesn’t know it…

Flame For You, the first book in the Bandit Brothers Series, came out in March 2022.

That’s wild! I can’t believe it’s been two years, and I can’t believe all the books that have followed since.

I’m so, so grateful to be doing this indie author thing.

A post came across my feed, from a mom wanting to desperately write and not being able to find the time. That pulled hard on my heartstrings because I remember being absolutely desperate to write, feeling like it was never, ever going to happen …  those blank pages and all the clamoring for your attention are both hard things to get through, no question.

But I hope it happens for you. I hope you find a way to section off time, make it important enough, matter enough that you’re at peace with carving out that time and when you do, you have energy to face that first blank page and I hope the words flow for you.

And then tell me about it when it does. I want to cheer you on.

***

If you haven’t seen it, here is Flame For You’s new cover! I still love Quinn and Simone.

new cover for Flame For You

 

 

 

The flawed character who doesn’t apologize. Meet Quinn Walsh.

Quinn Walsh, the main character of Flame For You.

Some like him, some don’t.

He doesn’t hide that he’s an asshole.

But he is loyal, so his friends give him a good shake when he needs it and one heck of a pass.

He has taken care of his mother and his sister and his family for years, he deeply cares about the people he loves.

Quinn has flaws, for sure. He has a quick temper, he takes longer to apologize than he probably should. He gets wrapped up in his head and can be slow to see the emotional fallout of his actions.

He is grieving and wounded and flawed and none of that is wrapped up by the end of Flame For You.

Ah! He meets Simone. And she definitely, absolutely, melts that cage around his heart. She knows he’s kind of gruff and detached at times but he also makes her feel safe, and adored, he listens to her, handles what she gives him with care and they find their way to a HEA.

But Simone isn’t out to save Quinn. She gets who he is and she loves him…with his temper and his flaws and his grieving heart, anyways.

And in my Christmas short-story this year, “Christmas with her Grumpy-grinch”, we see that Simone has grown, she calls him out on his stuff but Quinn still lets things get at him, doesn’t always pause, and then explodes. And he’s still slow to apologize but he does.

I will always have a soft spot for Quinn. Flame For You, Raleigh DamsonI love him and I am happy Quinn and I have found readers who also love him, flaws and all.

 

And Monday.

So this week, my household’s usual routine is thrown in the mixer as half of the members are away. I feel utterly exhausted at the moment and by the day, but it was fun and sound and a lot more quieter than I am used to.

And somehow, I managed to get 15k down, which is fine but I feel like I have been on this chapter forever. Gardenia is about to tell Dax her past; it’s not the only secret she’s hiding, but it’s a start. Got a lot of ground to cover in one weekend, you know.

And I have to constantly remember not to forget Gardenia’s cat Snowflake. And on twitter, I called her Snowball…oy. Most of my characters do not have pets and I kind of prefer it that way, though pets are fun and require no character arc/development plot.
Going to try to finish up this chapter and start at a new page for tomorrow.

Art Can’t Always Imitate Life

It feels like forever that I have been working on Sasha and Finn but this story started off as 10k and now it’s hovering between 55k and 65k and it needs a bit more work. The question of how much “realness” can I put into a piece of smexy fiction always crosses my mind. I feel like in some cases, I’ve held back, not wanting to cross into erotica- to try and stay in one genre that is more on the contemporary romance/ romantic suspense side. And then there is the balance of the suspense arc and wanting the suspense arcs to have their storylines intact.

On the good days, I feel like my books have done that. On the days when I read a fine smutty-erotica book, I want to unpublish mine; but I can only make the next book better. And on the very crummy days, I go read about the kind things Ivy Whitaker has said about my books here. 

I might just frame this quote so I have it to look at when I have doubts about this series and these two arcs that are written in every book. “I love the balance of kink and the overarching storylines that surround a private security company. It’s difficult to keep those two plot lines going without sacrificing the other, and I have to admit, I’m impressed with how Damson balances these developments.” ~Ivy Whitaker

In Sasha and Finn’s story, I did use a piece of real life, and I plunked into the setting of Club Bandit. And friends, it doesn’t work.

My beta readers thought it did for various reasons; but here’s the thing, I want to write good stories with lots of kink and spicy things; not reinvent the kink wheel.

In a group of friends one evening, a “hey check this out”, the photo was passed around and I thought about that for a long while, mostly because I am in awe of people’s astounding flexibility; you know, when you have none you kind of murmur in admiration and two, it looked beautiful.

It was a photo of a friend of a friend, suspended by aerial silks, and tied in bondage, using the aerial silks.

And when I went to add another theme room to Club Bandit as one does, this entered my mind. But it really doesn’t work. For so many reasons, not the least of which I actually didn’t write a bondage scene, but I used the aerial silks more hammock-like, as something to hold Sasha on, then tie her with, and in the recent edit, bondage is a hard limit for her anyways.
Okay, so maybe you don’t know a circus performer, certified aerial yoga teacher who likes to be a rope bunny on her off nights; fair point.

And maybe it’s a stretch to think that an aerial silk theme room would be in a BDSM Club but I liked it.

So I have to rewrite this chapter and then Sasha & Finn have to be set aside again as I turn my attention back to Book Four.