Rough Edges
Multi Author
Blurb: For the book overall:
Work hard, play hard, love hard…
Nothing
is sexier than someone who knows what they want and has the confidence go after
it. This anthology is crammed full of hot romances featuring those kinds of rough-around-the-edges
alpha personalities–stories about the kind of men and women who ride horses
during the day and their partners at night, who speak few words but mean every
one of them, and who would never break their own personal code of honor. We're talking about cowboys... and cowgirls.
This
anthology contains seven romances with a Western theme that run the gamut from
sweet to sizzling.
Buy Links:
Jump Without Looking by TJ Dodd
Bio:
TJ Dodd is a frequently sweary,
occasionally inappropriate former teacher and acknowledged black sheep of her
family. She’s okay with that. She shares her home with her pit bull named
Piddles, who outgrew the habit but got stuck with the name. She’s made up
stories her whole life and thought it might be fun to try to get some of them
published. So far it has been.
Story Description:
Jackie has a veterinary practice, her
family’s ranch, and a habit of avoiding men. The last thing she needs is a
giant, blonde cowboy who tears down her fence and rattles her nerves. Russ has
no job, a beat-up old pickup, and a rundown ranch he just inherited. He needs
everything except the beautiful, angry neighbor who turns him on and then runs
him off. Can one pregnant cow, two horses that love to jump, and three long
kisses prove them both wrong?
Excerpt:
Not that his thoughts were angelic. In
fact, they’d send him straight in the other direction. Jackie O’Neill was
exactly the kind of woman who turned him on: spirited, strong, and sturdy. She
was more of that kind of woman than anyone he’d met, so much so that she may have
just become his definition of that kind of woman.
He wondered if she felt what he did, something like two magnets
pulling them together. He wondered if her skin was as soft as it looked, and if
it would dimple between his fingers when he held her thighs and kissed her full
round breasts. They wouldn’t bruise each other, that was for damn sure. He’d
fit right into her cushioned body.
Sitting next to her was a gift.
Is there a message in your story that you want readers to grasp?
I hadn’t thought of it until this question,
but most things I write look at different forms of strength and how strong
doesn’t mean flawless. Strong means respecting the strength in others and
honoring their weaknesses. With the right kind of love, people can strengthen
each other.
Was there an Author who
inspired you to write?
No, I read everything I could get my hands on
as soon as I had a grasp of the written word. I wrote because I had stories
that needed telling.
How did you come up with the
characters in your books/stories?
I haven’t actually attempted to publish a
book yet, but I’ve written a few and have a few in various stages of the
process. I don’t always know where the characters come from, they just show up
in my head with pieces of their story and grow from there. I’ve been inspired
by reimagining old myths and legends, by questioning my own past choices, and
by settings that have stories hiding in them.
What are your current
projects?
Oh goodness. Well, I’m working on the second
draft of a paranormal romance that will eventually become a multi-book story
because the characters are very long-lived, so why not? I have a third of a
modern romance with the working title ‘Peg Leg Pete’ written, and I’m almost
done with the first in what could become a series of books set in a fictional
area of the Midwest. Working title ‘Love Makes You Stupid’. My son and I are
putting together another book in that series, no working title yet but the main
characters are shaping up nicely and we have our basic plot outlined. He’s told
me that I will be doing the actual writing.
Do you see writing as a career?
No, I don’t see writing as a career. I like
my day job. Writing is my sometimes obsession, my escape and my pleasure. Who
knows how much I’ll even get published? I just love to write.
Do you ever picture yourself
and one of your heroines? If so, which
one?
My heroines have aspects of me but I don’t
see myself as any of them. I just live vicariously through them!
Do you have a favorite
heroine/hero from one of your books/stories? If so, who?
Yes, but I’m not mentioning her by name
because she may never see the light of day for anyone but me and a few of my
friends. Let’s just say she’s a kickass immortal shapeshifter who plays with
fire.
What kind of research do you
do for your books/stories?
Only as much as I need to. That’s not true, I
always end up learning more about a subject than I need to, then don’t use
nearly everything I learn. The internet is my friend.
What is the hardest part of
writing your book/story?
Letting it go. Calling it finished. I want to
keep fussing with my stories forever.
If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?
I hope you smile while
you read my story. I hope you remember something about it later and smile
again. Life is better with smiles, and so is reading.
What is your favorite Genre and why?
I grew up loving
mysteries. I love to read mysteries. But these days I need romance in my
reading, and I hate that romance as a genre is belittled. Look at the history
of literature, at the great works that draw us to them centuries later, and you
will find love stories at the center of so many of them! Pull the books off the
shelves that have at least one love story in their content and you have slim
pickings to choose from. I’m a defender of the romance genre because a great
love story can include mystery, suspense, comedy, the supernatural...you get my
point, right?
Do you prefer to write alone or do you like to collaborate with
other authors?
Alone! I’m too
possessive to play well with others.
Do you ever get writer’s block? If so, how do you get through
it?
I get writer’s block
sometimes. I get through it by rereading the story I’ve gotten done so far, or
writing ahead of where I am, to another part that I already have shaping up
nicely in my head. Or I walk away and write something else for a while, clean
my brain of the mess that’s bogging me down and come back to it later.
When you are reading a book, who is your favorite author?
I don’t have a favorite
author. I was an English and literature major in college and an English
teacher. I spent years reading and researching tons of works from British and
American literature. I came away with several favorite authors and poets and a
strong sense of what I don’t like. I don’t like grim books or stories with
harsh characters and unhappy endings. But a Shakespeare tragedy on the stage?
Bring it!
Do you come up with the cover or does someone else do it?
I’ve never had this
situation.
If you could change anything in your writing what would that
be?
I would be less
enamored of my characters and less indulgent of them, so my stories would be
more tightly structured.
What book if any would you want to be made into a movie?
Not a book, but I read
a story called ‘Dromtsiirin at the Tiki Lounge’ by Nicole Blackwood in Demons,
Imps, and Incubi, an anthology of romance stories, and the whole time I
kept thinking, “Damn! I’d pay money to see this on the big screen!” It is just
so beautifully drawn and vivid, with unique characters, a very earthy setting,
and a juxtaposition between image and reality that I love.
Who would you want to play the hero/heroine?
I can’t even. Um, Tom
Hardy for the male lead. Christina Hendricks for the female lead.
Everyone uses computers, tablets, phones and no one uses
handwritten form or typewriters, what do you prefer to use?
I only write longhand
if I’m in a doctor’s waiting room or something. Otherwise it goes straight onto
the laptop and into a cloud drive so I don’t lose anything if I have a system
crash.
Is there a ritual you do everything before you begin your book?
I have no rituals.
What do you do when you finish your book and turn it in to the
editor?
This has never
happened. I finished the story ‘Jump Without Looking’ and turned it into Cori
Vidae, the editor for Rough Edges. I think I celebrated with a cup of
coffee and some dark chocolate. I’m a wild woman, what can I say?
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