Jill Shannon

My first train ride to my grandparents house. My mom and grandmother were getting back on the train to go to the city, and I was staying with my grandfather. We heard the ice cream man coming. So we went outside to wait, he bought me an ice cream cone and we sat on the front porch while I ate it. Not long after that he passed, but that memory of that day and the time we spent together, always makes me smile.

Honestly, I can't remember one specific thing I really wanted to do. Even as a child, I lived for the day. If my friends wanted to be a nurse or a doctor or a mom, so did I. But I think if I had to nail it down to one thing, it would have to be a P.E. teacher. I was very active as a child and loved playing sports. I got along really well with my teachers, and they made their jobs look so easy. To this day I still love all kinds of sports.

Fern Michaels Captive Passion was the name of the author and book. For a thirteen year old the book was an eye opener, but I fell in love with romance books. I began looking for books about pirates, which led me to Johanna Lindsay and the Mallory family.

I chose erotic because, I have read so many love scenes in romance books that they all began to sound the same, with minor differences. With erotic I can give my readers some very descriptive and spicy love scenes without restictions.

I chose a motorcycle series, first because they say write about what you know. I have been riding as a passenger since I'm eighteen, and love everything about it. And second, because motorcycle clubs have always fascinated me. A brotherhood unlike anything else, loyalty and trust that they all rely on, and a code they all live by.

Honestly, no one. I wanted my heroine to have an unusual profession. I chose a salvage diver because I've never read about one in another book.

As of right now, I'm in the process of writing the third and final standalone in the series. But we'll see, I might add one more.

I can't say that I've had a bout of writer's block but there are times when the words won't come easily. When I'm stuck on a scene in my books, I generally walk away from it, but keep it in my mind. I'll clean, watch a show, all the time working out ways to complete the scene.

I'm up at five o'clock in the morning. I walk a mile and a half, back home I'll make my tea and catch up on the news. I shower, dress, and write until my husband gets home. There are other days I never write one word, because I'm running around with errands.

I would have to say Onyx. It was my first book, and I had so many ideas floating around in my head that wanted to be in the book. I also wanted it to be different, which is why I gave some of my secondary characters scenes in this book.

Blushing Books, my publisher creates my book covers. However, in my recent book Hunter's Treasure I asked Vinny Varden from the UK to be my model for the cover, and he readily agreed. So, I used his photo, but Blushing did all the finishing touches. As far as the cover of the month contest, yes I have. I entered Hunter's Treasure.

Have fun. You can determine how hot you want your love scenes, so have fun. Like any other genre stay true to your characters and their stories. If you don't believe them, neither will your readers.

I believe that would be a strong following. Having readers that will buy your book just because your name is on the cover, means a lot. Also, promoting it on any social media platform. Finding a company like AllAuthor also helps. They give you the tools to create book mock-ups. They also create taglines for promoting your book, then go the extra mile and Tweet the post they create for you. They are an excellent company to help promote your books.

Entering contests definitely helped. Even if you don't win, you receive a banner for being nominated, most times. Those banners on a book cover say to a reader that your peers like your writing.

I recently joined AllAuthor, and for me personally it was money well spent. They provide so many different ways to display your books. Individually, grouped together, sales, kindle unlimited, all photos to use that display your book. They create book mock-ups and taglines, they allow you to set up an author page on their website.They create Tweets that they themselves post to their Twitter page. The only thing I would recommend they do is start an Instagram page as another platform. I find that people respond more to my Instagram posts of my books than any other media platform. I can interact with readers easier, and see what they are reading, plus it doesn't take up my whole day as Facebook and Twitter do.