Owned for Christmas
In my newest release, Owned for Christmas, my heroine deals with accepting her true self and what she really wants. I think this is something we all struggle with. I know I have. For Kate, she has trouble accepting her submissive side, after being hurt by her former Dom, she wants to walk away from the BDSM scene and never look back. But it is only with Grant’s help—the same Dom who hurt her—that she comes to realize she can’t just walk away from that part of herself. She has to accept and love herself for who she truly is.
I think this is a struggle a lot of women, and a lot of people for that matter, can relate to. I know I’ve felt similarly about writing romance. I started writing romance back in high school, though in all honesty most of my stories before that had huge romance elements to them, I just didn’t know they would qualify as romance novels at the time. But after I read my first true romance novel, I knew that’s what I wanted to write. What I had already been writing. But even after I decided I was meant to write romance, gave it a try and loved it, I was still very hesitant to tell anyone about my ambitions.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been embarrassed by what I’ve written, but more I’ve been embarrassed by how other people view the romance industry, and by extension those of us that write it. Ninety-nine percent of which is unfounded. I’ve worried that people would think I was a sex maniac, that I did all the kind of things I wrote about (believe me, I wish, but I’m more of a shut-in than any of my characters). That I just wrote trash that anyone could write (that’s my favorite comment to get. If it’s so easy to do, go right ahead and give it a try, twenty pages in you’ll be singing a different tune). Or that I wrote romance because I wasn’t original enough to do anything else.
It wasn’t until I was published, almost ten years after I started writing romance, that I began telling people what I write, and even then I started out really small. Sharing with just a few people, those that were most important to me and a few I knew loved the same stories I did. As my writing grew, and my career expanded, I’ve become less self-conscious about my passion and become more open with those in my life about what I do.
I can never change the opinions people have about romance, especially erotic romance, the industry or the people that write it. But over the years I’ve learned to block out how others might feel about my writing and love my true self. And I do. I love my writing, I love this industry and I love the idea of bringing more love and romance into the world. Regardless of what anyone else might think about the erotic romance industry, I know that it brings happiness to people. It offers an escape to many people from their worries and problems. And I know this, because the romance industry has done all that for me. And something that offers so much joy can’t be all bad.
Just like Kate, it’s taken me some time, but I’ve come to love my true self, and embrace who I really am. I hope you’ll check out my newest release, Owned for Christmas now available with Totally Bound Publishing, to find out how Kate comes to love her true submissive nature, and picks up a few hunky cowboys along the way.
https://www.totallybound.com/owned-for-christmas