SNOW BOUND BLOG TOUR

Over the next few weeks, I'll be visiting various blogs to share different snippets and experiences of SNOW BOUND with readers. But I wanted to start off with something special on my own blog today: how SNOW BOUND came into being. This story is very special to me, and I want to share that with my very own readers here at home. I'd been having a particularly difficult time with my writing, a period of darkness as I dealt with questions like "What am I really doing?", "Am I just wasting my time?", "What direction do I really want to go in?". There were way more questions than answers, and discouragement had become a way of life. In search of encouragement, I went to close friend and Maven Linda Winstead Jones, pouring out my angst and frustration. Linda had read my work before, both in the past and recently, and she coached me on a few areas, including characterization. But her biggest piece of advice to me was: go home and write something just for fun. Something you want to write because it excites you, interests you. I'd spend so much time writing to different lines that I'd forgotten what excited me about writing. I didn't start that day, but over the next few weeks the idea started brewing. Before I knew it, Damon had started talking to me and I was exploring his pleasure-focused way of wandering through life. Who better to challenge him than the 1 woman he'd vowed to stay away from: a single Southern belle ripe for marriage. Only he didn't realize this was 1 woman who could take care of herself - in every way. I had so much fun with them! Did it answer all my questions? Solve all my problems? No. But it taught me that I needed to enjoy what I was doing, to write something that excited ME, not just fit someone else's requirements. I hope I never forget that lesson! So tell me, what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?  DON'T FORGET to comment on my Autumn's Harvest Blog Hop post (below) for a chance to win my fall goodies and an Amazon gift card, along with chances to win some big prizes like a Kindle! Chances to win end tonight! SNOW BOUND Available now through Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009Z1FCW6 ) and Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/251508 )  . The last thing Damon West wants is a trip to his bookish neighbor’s house in the midst of the worst snowstorm Cadence, TN, has seen in a decade. Still, his military instincts warn him that Miss Priss could use a little help. His arrival is met with an attack by an unknown assailant and the sight of Miss Priss in a sexy wisp of nothing-much, confidently wielding a double-barreled shotgun. Tori Anderson carefully portrays herself as a responsible bookstore owner and capable young woman to anyone willing to look twice. But two men grappling in her backyard called for speed more than decorum. That’s how the guy she’d been secretly lusting after since he’d bought the house next door sees her in a silky robe and panties—with nothing in between. Damon’s sudden interest thrills her, but she can’t help worrying about the unknown threat scared off by her shotgun blast.   Trapped in her house under several feet of snow with no way to reach the outside world, Tori finally has the chance to indulge her wildest fantasies. But she isn’t sure which is more daunting—the abusive boyfriend back to punish her or her desire to have more than one night with the town’s most unavailable bachelor.