Golden Angel

I would say I had a great childhood. I lived in a very diverse neighborhood, my parents are pretty awesome, I did a lot of sports, went to a lot of camps, and was very involved in my church's choirs and youth groups. Not to say that everything was perfect - I was teased a lot for my last name and how skinny I was - but overall, nothing truly terrible happened and I look back on my childhood with a lot of happiness. The biggest thing I miss is being able to read whenever I wanted. Seriously, my mom started sending me to the bathroom when I'd been bad instead of sending me to my room, since my room was full of books and therefore I was perfectly happy to go. So I started hiding books in the bathroom. I'd read under my desk at school, under the covers after bedtime, under the table during dinner (that didn't last long, my parents aren't dumb), and basically just ALL THE TIME. Now I have to do things like work for a living.

I was writing for the website Literotica.com for years before I started writing what I would call "seriously." Everything on there is erotica, but I definitely tended towards adding in romance to my stories there as well. When I started writing romantic serials, I received a lot of encouragement from fans to start publishing on Kindle, and eventually I did so, and then things just really took off from there - that was three summers ago. I love writing romances because I love happy endings and because I'm definitely a romantic at heart.

So that actually came partially from an ex boyfriend. My Literotica name was goldeniangel because he called me 'golden eyes' (and goldeneyes and goldeneyeangel were already taken as usernames) and I've always had an obsession with angels, so when I made the switch to writing books I wanted to keep my penname close to the name my fans already knew me by.

This entire series has been heavily influenced by other books. I think the initial idea came from my love for the character "Killer" in Patricia C. Wrede's Calling on Dragons. Killer is a regular rabbit who is turned into a 6 foot tall bunny - however, unlike my bunnies, he remains a prey animal and is scared of the normal sized cats. Obviously Monty Python's Beast of Caer Bannog also influenced how the Bunson family turned out. I just loved the idea of bunnies that became total badasses, and so the Bunsons were born. I've always loved small, cuddly animals, but they can be vicious. I had a bunny that would growl and bite whenever anyone tried to pick him up. So that idea carried over into Chasing His Squirrel, and Jesse was done in honor of Jessie from Brian Jacques' Redwall. She was always one of my favorite characters; she was an incredibly strong character and it didn't matter how small she was. Not all of the heroines are going to be small, fluffy animal shifters, but I definitely want to keep going with having unusual shifter heroines.

Random moments. So many random moments. I have a notebook that I carry around with me in my purse so that I can write down the ideas as they come to me - and it happens A LOT. Sometimes ideas for the books I'm already writing come to me and I write those down too. I never have to think about what to write next - I have a list. A very, very long list that I despair of ever actually completing, especially since I'm always adding to it.

Well, I'm currently re-reading the Harry Potter series and I always find those interesting =) As I'm working on my Victorian series at the moment, I've been reading a lot of Victorian Romance to get in the mood and I did just finish reading Elizabeth Bramwell's Regency Romps series, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Oh man... this is so dangerous, because I'm pretty sure whatever power I had, I would end up being a super villain. I have a pretty strong moral compass, but I don't know if I could withstand the temptation of ACTUALLY doing away with people who aren't technically criminals, but actively harm others. At best, I think I would be considered a vigilante. I'd either go with Scarlet Witch from the X-men, and be powerful enough to change the world, or do something innocuous that I couldn't possibly get into real trouble with like Squirrel Girl and just spend the day playing with fuzzy animals (and yes, I realize she's also considered strangely super powerful, BUT I'd be a lot less tempted to try and use her powers for evil).

Lexie and Patrick were, strangely enough, two characters that sprang full formed from my head, like Athena from Zeus. They are actually not based on anyone at all. Part of the idea for them definitely came from reading books about the little sister falling in love with her big brother's best friend. I would always get frustrated when the big brother would be a total jerk about it and I wanted to try to do something different. As for BDSM, I think a lot of people are intrigued by power plays. I know for me, it's the loss of control which intrigues me; trusting someone else to make me completely physically vulnerable and even cause me pain, knowing they'll also take care of me, give me pleasure, and lavish me with love and attention. As someone who spends a lot of time running the show, having a place where I don't have to do anything but follow orders, trusting that they'll end in everything good, sounds blissful, because it's hard for me to trust things ending well if they're not under my control. Add in the fact that pain adds some spice to pleasure, the same way salt makes things sweeter, and it's hard not to at least fantasize about it.

I'm part of a couple of different private author groups for indie authors, and we don't spend all that much time talking about actual writing, but when it comes to ideas, blurbs, and specifics, they're a great resource. I was just honored that I was asked to be a part of them. As for websites, Literotica has definitely been my biggest influence. The readers on there can be both incredibly supportive and incredibly brutal with their criticism, and it's a good testing ground for ideas, writing styles, and developing a thick skin. I know I wouldn't be the writer I am without it.

Honestly, I can't imagine, but I suppose it's possible. Just not probable. I know when I'm not feeling super into a story, everything that I make myself write comes out boring or even stilted, because I'm bored by it. When I'm passionate about what I'm writing, it flows and readers can tell.

A closed bathroom door. No joke. I HATE going to the bathroom with the door closed. I'm also not a big fan of shower curtains. Not knowing what's on the other side drives me nuts. Fortunately my husband is willing to put up with my weird penchant for leaving the bathroom door open when I'm doing #1, and I'm courteous enough to close it when I'm doing #2 (but I keep an eye on that fucker the whole time). I also hate walking up stairs in the dark.

The idea actually came after I read someone else's book about a school with erotic class subjects. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the book or the author because it was so long ago, but it was a great and very hot book which I felt ended far too quickly. The focus of the book was more on the romance between the two characters and only one class was really explored. Immediately, my imagination started working over time about what a school like that would really entail, what the classes would be like, how a curriculum would go, etc. Basically all the things which I wanted the book to explore but it didn't (it was a really great story in its own right, but I found myself more interested in the school than the main characters). If such a school were to open, I'd probably be first in line - although there would def be a need for couples classes (hmmm... something to write about later?) so my hubby could come with me.

I think the biggest way is in how I focus on plot and characters. Venus School and most of what I wrote for Literotica has a heavy emphasis on the erotica. Now what I write places a much heavier emphasis on character journeys and plot, and I feel like both are becoming more complex. My latest series, the Big Bad Bunnies series, has an overarching storyline which will run through ALL the books, which is something I'd never done before. It's harder to write, but I'm enjoying it.

I was really surprised by how many fans really wanted to know more about ME as a person and not just what I was working on lol. I was also surprised at how easy it is to self-publish and how difficult it is to market! I tend to just rely on my main fan base and I've been pretty terrible about marketing, although I'm trying to get a little better at it. Being a self-published author can be very difficult, especially since there's a huge learning curve for everything that comes after finishing the book. I know I'm still nowhere near the end of that curve, although I learn a little more every year.

I decided to try out allauthor on a whim, and I will say that I have noticed an uptick in my book sales since then, so yes I would recommend it to other authors like me who are self-published and looking for new avenues through which to market themselves. Marketing myself has definitely been what I struggle most with, so having a website that takes the reins for me a bit is really useful and definitely eases my stress a little!