Writing for me is a solo gig. I happily bustle and hustle the kids out the door to school, boot out the husband as well, the dog, the cat …

And then I sit down alone with my laptop and …

Read.

Then I do email.

Then maybe I surf a little bit.

THEN when the ball of anxiety swells into my chest, reminding me I have to write a certain number of pages or I might be late on my manuscript, I get my butt in gear and write. Once I get started, I always laugh at myself and wonder what took me so long to get started. This euphoria lasts for about ten minutes, and then my ADHD gets the best of me and I’m going cookie hunting in the kitchen. Or back online.

Did I mention that writing is a painful process? But if I have to do it, if I have to plant my butt in the chair and focus, then writing Blazes truly is a joy for me. Last year I wrote a series of firefighters. This year I’m writing military guys, brothers. Next year, I’m … I don’t know yet. If I would sit down long enough to write, maybe I’d figure it out.

Which brings me to the question of the day — is there a certain profession that appeals most to you when you’re reading a Blaze? A certain type of man? Come on, help a writer out …

I’ll be drawing a name from the comments made here today, for any Blaze from my backlist. Happy Reading!

You know what I love about Blazes? The variety, the unabashed sexuality, and the feeling that no matter what the story is (a time travel, a historical, a paranormal), it’s about modern women who know what they want. Gotta love that.

I finished writing a Blaze for this coming summer not too long ago, and since I’m sure my editor Brenda Chin checks in here once in awhile , I’ll just come clean right off the bat and say I didn’t do my heroine justice the first time around. In fact, she was a bit of a wimp. Brenda called me up and said: fix her.

And sure enough, when I went back for another round with my characters, strengthening her, giving her a solid backbone and the will to use it, it changed everything. For the better. So now she’s a Blaze heroine, sure of herself and ready to rumble. And yet this being a blaze, who do you think got the cover?

Guess we all know who’s the real draw to the Blazes . . .

Happy Reading, Jill Shalvis
http://www.jillshalvis.com/blog