Ok, book #2 of the Hell to Pay series has been released. Book #3 (Flame Unleashed) is headed out the door for final copywriting in a week and will release in September, 2015.

So what, if anything, have I learned now?

#1) Marketing. Need to increase education in this area. Still doing the throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks method, and it's not ideal. In better news, I now have a list of worthwhile investments of time/funds. (And a list of worthless ones....)

#2) Newsletters. I was like a monkey doing a math problem trying to set up my sign up newsletter signup form, new email (because something about yahoo is gnarly with mail lists), and creating and editing my first newsletter. I hit send only to realize....I sent the test newsletter. Ugh. Author fail. Dude, aren't there people to help with this kind of stuff?

#3) Covers. IMHO, these covers need a hot dude, smart lady, mountains, a bad guy oozing yellow smoke, snow and/or avalanches, a puppy, some nondescript people looking on in sympathy/awe, an old bald guy and molten lava. Why my editor believes that all of these critically important features won't fit on a standard thumbnail image is beyond me. Luckily, I don't design my own covers, or it'd be a flaming, hot mess.

#4) Crushes. Kind of have one on each hero while I write them. Didn't really expect that to occur.

#5) Terror. Just because I wrote a few books doesn't mean I can keep doing it. Maybe the juju runs out after a while. What if, one day, I can't come up with a new description of "heaving breasts" or "throbbing members"? 

#5.5) What the heck is a "member" anyway? It sounds like a club to join. Like I should wear a patch on my jacket: "Members Only" (if you've been alive more than 30 years, you know this reference). Uh, then yes, that would be super duper yucky.

#6) Terror, part 2. What if my non-writing life meets up with my writing life? What if family members, coworkers, conservative (read: 'sex doesn't exist') acquaintances, and blue-haired elderly patients find out? No, seriously, you don't understand. Dr. Jill has a reputation for being sweet, super nice and quite square. Patients and parents love it that way. Jillian David looks for evil, disgusting stuff that goes bump in the night and then freakin' HUGS IT.

#7) Small world. Just like in medicine, where all docs are 2 degrees of separation from each other. Same thing in writing. I'm amazed at the connections I've already made, and in such a short period of time.

#8) Business. Also an educational deficit. Do I need an agent: yes or no? Should someone be advocating for my career or do I just need to go bull-by-the-horns and manage everything? Contracts? Huh?

#9) Green eyed monster. Forget that Author X has worked their ass off for 20 years and dedicated 100% of their lives to writing amazing books. And, fair enough, it doesn't help that I'm insanely competitive through every fiber of my being. (Don't judge -- intense desire to succeed comes in super duper handy when a patient needs an emergency c-section or that baby isn't breathing. You want your doctor unable to accept anything less than their best performance. It's just a bummer that I cannot shut off that particular valve.) I'm just calling my green-eyed spade a spade, that's my point.

#10) Excitement. After I go through the writing/editing bipolar swings: "I can do this, it sucks firecrackers, hey not that bad, why would anyone want to read this crap." Once that internal dialogue is done and the books are put to bed, I've simply let them go, and what a good feeling. Then, I've started crafting a new series!

To update you: Dante Blackstone is the proportionally-superior hero of my second novel, Relentless Flame. I've shared with brutal honesty why I would definitely date my first hero, Peter Blackstone. Now I'm going to explain why I'd never date Dante Blackstone. Let's press forward with this onerous task.

#10) Rippling muscles and the big frame to carry them. Yuck-o-rama. Who wants beefcake? I'm a vegetarian.

#9) Glacier blue eyes that see into a woman's soul. On a dude? Come on, we all know that looks weird. And not hot...at all....>sigh<....

#8) Rumbling/vibrating bass voice in a Swedish accent. Bleeack. Mrrrfff. Feeling nauseous just thinking about it.

#7) Thick, blond -- yet manly-coiffed -- hair. No way. Give me a bald dude any day. And make him short while you're at it.

#6) Ability to quote romantic fine literature. Um....barf. What woman wants that? Oh, wait, that's pretty awesome....

#5) Intense desire to protect the woman he loves. Nuh uh. I like my guys cowering in fear and leaving me to fend for myself.

#4) Hilarious sense of humor. Forget it. Only grumps will do for me.

#3) Willingness to sacrifice himself completely for the woman he loves. Not my style. Just call me "speed bump." I'll take the brunt of the attack, no problem. He can just stay over there and look pretty.

#2) Heat-breaking sensitivity combined with tremendous desire to pleasure a woman, plus demonstrated prowess in bed. Triple yuck. What woman wants THAT? Uh, hello? Blind groping and unfulfilled dissatisfaction for 3 minutes will be just fine, thanks for asking.

#1) Need to overcome evil and help the underdog. Dis. Gusting. Like this guy is freakin' Mother Teresa or something? Except with big, bulging biceps and a voice that makes your toes tingle and....