BDSM Writers Con
Golden Flogger Award Nominee

Why did you begin writing BDSM novels?
I started writing BDSM novels when I had lost my job of 18 years with a downtown Fort Lauderdale law firm when the economic downturn hit in 2010. I was commuting to downtown Miami for a series of temp jobs (about 50 miles) and my daughter bought me a Kindle. If she hadn’t I probably still wouldn’t have one – not a techie here.   I downloaded some of the really sexy books, some of which were BDSM, and found I LOVED them. They were different, exciting and not the same old-same old romance. So, I downloaded a ton of them (not kidding – maybe 50 or more) and started reading.   How were they structured, how far did they go, what words did they use?   After doing legal writing for years, I thought I could write romance novels. I started one just to see if I could actually do it and finish. Calleigh’s Collar Book 1 of the Le Club series was born, to be followed by five more in that series. I have now written 25 books, all published by Siren/Bookstrand.   Writing the books saved me from major depression when I didn’t find another full time job.

Golden Flogger Award Nominee

What does being nominated for the Golden Flogger Award mean to you?
Being nominated for the Golden Flogger Award is so exciting. I know I have a loyal following of readers, but being recognized in such a prestigious way is thrilling.

 What is the hardest part of writing your novel?
For me, the hardest part of writing a novel is the middle. Since I don’t outline and only make a few preliminary notes, I don’t know what the story is going to be any more than my readers when they pick up the book. I start off with a premise and things are going great. And then the middle-of-book doldrums hit. I might have written myself into a corner with a problem that I don’t have a solution for. In Violette’s Vibrato, Book of The Golden Dolphin Series, my heroine , the first violin with the NY Philharmonic, was in trouble with the Russian mob. Yikes! How do you get rid of those guys?   I was stumped. I imagine it’s not much easier to shake the Russian mob in fiction than it is in real life.   Then one morning a few days later, I woke up with the solution, and I was off again moving toward the end of the story.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing works.
I love to write series because it’s fun to be able to keep up with past couples and see how they are doing.

My first was The Le Club Series set in the glamorous world of horses and thoroughbred breeding in Ocala, Florida. When that series came to its logical conclusion after The Kentucky Derby (Book 5) and The Triple Crown (Book 6, and as the song goes, “My horse naturally won”), I spun off into The Golden Dolphin Series set on a 300 foot mega yacht purchased by one of the characters from Le Club who turned it into a luxury BDSM cruise ship. It was lots of fun to take “my boat” up the Amazon, to Alaska, TO Rio, to Cozumel and the Caribbean. I want to do one more book in that series to tie up the story of Constantine Cortelis, the captain, and Casey Campbell, the purser, whose story has been running through the whole series.

Then I decided I wanted to write closer to home and spun off again into The Black Iris Club Quartet set in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Black Iris is about four girlfriends, two cops and two attorneys. It is set against the background of the luxurious, secret (of course) Black Iris BDSM club in the penthouse of a downtown skyscraper. The series had a logical end when I’d told the stories of the four girls and their Doms.

I then spun off again to The Black Dahlia Hotel Series when Jack Dalton Brown, the hero in Book 1 of Black Iris, bought a beachfront hotel to turn into a BDSM facility. I am now working on Book 5 of that series.

What are you working on now?
My latest series is The Wilton Park Grand Hotel Series set in a gay boutique hotel in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale that has a substantial gay population. This town actually exists and is called Wilton Manors in real life. This one is a spinoff of Black Dahlia. I have this problem. I can’t seem to let go of my characters, and they keep popping up in new books although all of the books are stand alone.

 If you could share anything with us, what would it be?
If I could share anything it would be live your dream. If you want to write, do it. Don’t just say “I wish I could write a romance novel.” Start making notes, dream up characters and locations and snippets of dialog. Just do something to make it happen. If you can’t finish the book, at least you can say “I am writing a romance novel.”
I grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, a bedroom community located in Northern New Jersey. My father grew flowers for the commercial florists in New York. I started writing erotic romance, mostly BDSM, in 2011, and my first book was published in January of 2012. Since then I have written twenty-five books, all of them published or to be published by Siren Publishing.     I can’t believe it myself. When I look at them, I wonder where all the words came from. I recently surpassed ONE MILLION WORDS published. Yes – I keep track of that!

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