Dishing it up with Kiki Howell

Please welcome Kiki Howell to my dishing it up series. Ever since she was young, Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki could spend hours lost in a book, and soon she knew that creating lives, loves, and losses with just words had to be the greatest thing that she could do. To that end, she pursued her study of literature and writing, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She then followed in a Master’s program in Creative Writing.


“After a long break having my boys, I finally just had to write again. And, as soon as I gave the stories the space, they entered it. It’s both awesome and humbling to find the words in my mind become characters on a page and create their lives.”

She has now had over twenty stories published between five different small presses. She could not be more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real world. Please look around. Although, a bit of caution, most of her stories tend to hang out on the graphically sexy side of town.

Kiki resides in the Midwest with her incredibly handsome and talented, singer/songwriter husband and two children. When she is not writing, she is spending time with her family, reading, baking or knitting.

Her biggest dream is to have a novel she writes be made into a movie that her husband creates the soundtrack for, and then cruise to Alaska with her family on the money they make.

JET: Thanks for coming by Kiki. Can you tell us about your most recent book?

Kiki: Sure! It is an angel and demon erotic romance called, A Questionable Hero.  Here's the official book blurb:

Born of a mortal woman but raised in Hell by the demon that sired him, Abdamas is a Halfling—proof incarnate of the war between good and evil that exists in each of us. Shaebiel is an angel warrior earning her ultimate salvation in Heaven by fighting demons like Abdamas who are in search of human souls on Earth.


In the heat of a raging battle , Abdamas sees Shaebiel and wants her. When the blade of another demon aims for her, Abdamas is injured himself trying to save her. Shaebiel can’t believe a demon has rescued her from certain death and takes her questionable hero home with her to heal him.


As they both fight and surrender to their desires, the conflict around them continues, and there is Heaven and Hell to pay for their actions. Through divine intervention they are offered a gift. But Hell is nowhere near finished with either of them, and the stakes are getting higher and higher.


Can a questionable hero sacrifice enough to redeem himself in the eyes of Heaven so that he may claim the love of an angel?

Genres: Urban Fantasy (Angels and Demons), Erotic Romance
Adult Content Warnings: Explicit Graphic Language and Violence
from kNight Romance Publishing

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE KINDLE EDITION FROM AMAZON

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOOKBOOK FROM BARNES & NOBLE


JET: What drew you to erotic fiction?

Kiki: Actually, I was doing a writing exercise that said to write in a genre you are not comfortable with. I took not comfortable to mean not familiar having just read my first erotic romance story at the time :) After writing two stories, my husband read them and encouraged me to submit them just to see what kind of response I would get. I got a contract for both stories, so I got more comfortable with the genre and now have over 20 stories written in it.

JET: What’s been your most challenging hurdle on the road to publication?

Kiki: The constant waiting. I never realized how impatient I was until you have to wait for everything: to hear about submissions, if contract to wait for publication dates, to wait for reviews, etc. I have become addicted to checking my emails! LOL

JET: What was your favorite moment in the journey?

Kiki: Getting a cover quote for my novel Torn Asunder from NY Times Bestselling Author, Hannah Howell, and author I had loved reading for some time and met online. To have an author I admired read and like my book was amazing!

JET: Which authors had the most influence over you growing up?

Kiki: Authors, I couldn’t say for sure, but growing up I read a lot of ghost stories or paranormal mysteries. As a kid I was a big fan of Nancy Drew. As I got older and got into my mom’s romances, I found my genre combo!

JET: When did you know you wanted to take the plunge into the writing world?

Kiki: I always had the dream, but life intervened. So, I got started late, once my children were in school full time and then there was the years of excuses after that, of course ;)

JET: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of book research? Most interesting fact you uncovered?

Kiki: Done? Well, I better plead the fifth on that one! LOL But, I have bought a lot of Wiccan books, non-fiction, and recently bought a non-fiction book on Sex Magick. That is some interesting reading.

JET: Of all the novels and stories you’ve written - which one is your favorite? Why?

Kiki: Wow, I am so not good at picking favorites! Several of my stories have something that drew me to write them in the first place, and a lot of those reasons are very different. I think I really enjoyed writing my angel and demon story, and was also pleased with it when it was done (doesn’t always happen that way – sometimes you continue to question if they are really done). I kept joking after finishing A Questionable Hero that it took me days to figure out how to get a demon into heaven! LOL

JET: Any advice (from a writer’s standpoint) for the novices out there?

Kiki: Stay true to your story, don’t question it as you write it constantly wondering what a crit partner or editor will think. Your story will be the better for it.

JET: All right - now that I’ve hammered you with the big questions, let’s tackle my favorite (and geeky) quick ten. . . starting with:

JET: Paper or Plastic?

Kiki: Paper

JET: Steak or Tofu?

Kiki: Steak

JET: Beach or Mountains?

Kiki: Mountains

JET: Country or Rock-n-Roll?

Kiki: Rock-n-Roll

JET: Leather or Lace?

Kiki: Lace

JET: Angels or Demons?

Kiki: Halfling! LOL

JET: Paper or Digital?

Kiki: Paper

JET: Silent Film Classics or Cheesy B Rated Horror?

Kiki: Cheesy B Rated Horror

JET: Twilight or True Blood?

Kiki: True Blood

JET: Coffee or Tea?

Kiki: Coffee, but stupid stomach makes me drink tea :(

JET: Thank you for indulging me. Before we wrap this up, can you tell us what you're working on now? What's next?

Kiki: I actually have a lot of stories out there right now, awaiting the decisions of editors. What I hope is next is a contract and thus release of the first book in my Hidden Salem series.

JET: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat on my blog. Folks, you can find out more about Kiki Howell and her work at the following places:

Website: www.kikihowell.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kikihowell

Facebook Fan Page: http://twitter.com/#!/KikiHowell

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/KikiHowell

Kiki also loves to hear from fans! Email her at howell.kiki@gmail.com


Next Friday I’ve got Robert Browne dishing it up about his new release Paradise Prophecy – a kick ass thriller with an Angel-Demon twist and glimpse into Milton’s Paradise Lost! Swing in and say hi!

Until then,

Ciao.

JET

Manic Monday with Barrie Abalard - Finding the Body: Why the Journey May Be More Important Than the Goal

Today I have the pleasure of hosting Barrie Abalard here for my Manic Monday series.  Barrie has been writing and selling erotic stories for longer than she cares to admit under the pseudonyms Barrie Abalard, Belle, and Miss Lee. You can find her books on Amazon and many of the other usual places.


Being of a certain age means she's done a lot of s*** in her life, notably many years of radio DJ-ing and software technical writing. She also did short stints as a taxi driver, clerical chartist for the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, and temporary office worker for over half a dozen companies. Never mind what else she's done.

A good story with quirky characters turns her on. Besides reading, she enjoys cuddling with her cat, singing, very long walks and working out, and hanging with friends. She's addicted to any number of TV shows, and currently lives in the Middle Atlantic but is moving back to the Boston area later in 2011. She's led a wild life, and as such, believes a woman should have a past that's juicy enough to bring a blush to her descendants' faces.

Without further adieu - here's Barrie....


Finding the Body: Why the Journey May Be More Important Than the Goal

by Barrie Abalard

JET, thank you for providing me with a place to meditate a little on the journey we take as writers.

When I think of a writer's journey, I think of Stephen King's story "The Body", where a group of thirteen-year-olds go in search of a missing body that they heard about on the radio. Along the way, they learn things about each other—and themselves—that they never would have, had they not taken the journey.

You probably know where your writing journey is headed—what your goal is—but where has your journey taken you? Which things have caused you to change your course? Which things that you thought mattered, didn't?

After writing a lot as a teenager and college student, I married, had a kid, and settled into a real-world job. I have worked in writing or communications-related jobs for most of my life. Very little of the writing I did would be called creative writing. All my fiction and poetry was done in the off hours, but I honestly didn't produce much because of the restrictions on my time. In fact, in my thirties, I put my dream of writing away, a dream from my youth I thought I'd outgrown.

And, because of this, I thought I was a failure. What I didn't know was that all the writing I did, though it wasn't Pulitzer-Prize material, was part of my journey. My employers, in part, had paid me to hone my craft, to learn to write simple declarative sentences, to explain something with logical steps.

All of this paid off when, at the age of forty-four, I became possessed by a need to write stories. I didn't struggle any more to wring out a few hundred words, as I did in my twenties and thirties. Instead, characters appeared uninvited in my head and badgered me to write their tales. A simple conversation with someone could blossom into a plot that nagged me until I finally arrived home, where I could write it down.

In short, I couldn't not write. I needed to write as much as I needed to eat and sleep. My husband began to complain that I spent most of my free time (which often included eight to ten hour stretches on at least one weekend day), at the computer, writing. He'd never cared much for changes in routine, and my sudden urge to write every story that popped into my head was a big change.

But I sold every short story I wrote to two small publishers of erotica. Very small—we're talking a penny and a half per word. Yet, because someone wanted to pay me for my fiction, it was then that, in my mind, I finally became a writer. Did that mean I wasn't a writer all those previous years?

Well, that's complicated. I hadn't been a writer in that I hadn't actually created any fiction to speak of. But I had been a writer in that I needed a life of my own before I could create other lives—stories—to fill my hard drive and provide a little extra money.

No, I haven't found "my body" yet, which for me means I can't support the family with my fiction yet. I'm still on the road, searching. But even if I never find that body, I wouldn't trade my journey for any other life. Because I am a writer.

On your writing journey, remember that what happens along the way can be more important than the goal, whatever that goal may be. Yet, without that goal, without a body to search for, we might never leave our own back yards and create anything. We need both, the journey and the goal, but it is the journey takes all our time. The goal is one moment, an endpoint. It's really the journey that counts.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck on your own journey!


Alice in Shtuppingland is Barrie's latest book, here's a little teaser for you all...

Alice in Shtuppingland
Seventies slacker (to use a word not yet invented) and aspiring writer Alice moves from Virginia to Boston, with nothing but her intelligence, sass, and a MasterCharge. Within weeks she's accumulated a shared apartment, a job, and an assortment of friends that you'd expect to find on the other side of the looking glass, from crazy-assed musicians to writers to pro dommes and call girls. Not to mention the two very fine men who take turns in her bed: the strong-willed, intelligent George, who finds Alice by turns endlessly fascinating and infuriating; and Doug, a hot wannabe journalist, whose past that holds a secret about his long-absent father, one that rips his and Alice's lives apart.

This rollercoaster, semi-autobiographical tale by Barrie Abalard takes Alice from helping her sister, Barb, escape abuse at home, to landing her first freelance writing job—with a porno mag—to a mission meant to help an assaulted call-girl friend which requires her to pretend to be a working girl herself. And the sex. Did we mention the hot, super-fun, crazy Seventies shtupping? In this coming-of-age tale, Alice finds that she doesn't always get what she wants, but, as the Rolling Stones sing, she usually gets what she needs.

Links:

Amazon Buy link to Alice

Barrie Abalard Facebook Page

http://barrieabalard.com/

http://stickyfingerspub.blogspot.com/


Thanks for joining us today.  On Friday, I've got Saffina Desforges - swing in and say hi!