Time for another Wednesday guest and this week, it’s Kayelle Allen….
TWL-Welcome to the Wednesday blog, happy to have you join us today. Introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your writing, and your books.
Thank you for inviting me. I’m Kayelle Allen and I write stories with immortal gamers, misbehaving robots, and warriors who purr. I’m the author of multiple books, novellas, and short stories, a US Navy veteran, and I’ve been married so long I’m tenured. Do I always write happy ever afters? Some stories require endings that offer happy-for-now, or outcomes that offer hope for the future. But everything I write provides an ending that satisfies, and I never leave you dangling over a cliff.
TWL-Why and when did you decide to become an author?
My first day of school I came home and told my mother I learned how to write the word cat, and that meant I could write a story about cats now. I’d forgotten about that until someone asked me this question the first time. As it turns out, my first book was the one I’m sharing with you today, At the Mercy of Her Pleasure. It’s a PG13 sci-fi adventure romance and the hero is half-human and half-Kin, a feline humanoid race. So it turns out that I did write that story about cats after all.
TWL-What’s a typical writing session like for you?
I write before I do anything else. I don’t like requirements like X words per day or a set amount of time per day. One of my personal strengths is the ability to learn quickly, and I have a knack for finding information. Last year, I took the Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment, and then workshops from Gallup certified coach Becca Syme such as Strengths for Writers, and Write Better-Faster. These classes are 100% geared toward using your strengths to write. They opened my eyes to what I do best, and I’ve learned to focus on those abilities rather than on shoring up weaknesses. When you focus on your strengths, your weaknesses are reduced as a result. My number one ability is learning, and the second is gathering input. Whatever I feed my abilities first works like a love potion the rest of the day. I fall in love with it and focus on it. I make sure it’s my writing.
TWL-What have you learned most from being a writer?
Not to compare myself to others. By not comparing myself to others as if they were the yardstick for my life, it’s freed me to be who I am and to better enjoy not only my writing, but also my life.
TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?
Turns out I get stuck when I don’t have someone to bounce stories around with. I need a feedback mirror of a friend or colleague. A story that had me stuck for many years was overcome by a 90 minute session talking it over with a good friend. Not to belabor the point of using personal strengths, but my #5 strength is strategizing. People with that strength tend to need one-on-one feedback. Now that I know it’s necessary, I plan it into my writing. I’ve been in critique groups for years, and never realized how important they were to my success.
TWL-What’s been your biggest victory?
Getting over writing block by talking out the story. I spent years confused about the villain’s motives for a story I really wanted to write. Turned out, he wasn’t the villain at all. Once I got past that simple point, I wrote five books in the next eighteen months. Words poured out like water.
TWL-If you could give advice to your pre-author self, what would it be?
#1 Create a website and use it to blog regularly. It hones your writing skill, teaches you how to be consistent, concise, and develops discipline. You don’t have to write essays. Instead, talk about the background of your books, reveal insights about your characters, and use it to shore up interest for your newsletter. (My website is unlike any other author. It’s chock full of secret pages created only for subscribers, and I blog an average of three times a week.) #2 Create a newsletter even if you don’t know a soul. You will meet people and it will be more fruitful to release a book to a group of people who have expressed personal interest in your writing than to share on social media and hope for the best.
TWL-What writing tip would you offer to a new author?
Same as above. Don’t rely on social media to be your platform. Facebook, Twitter, and all the others can be shut down, bought out, change their requirements and rules, and lock you out. You own your website. Buy a domain (Google domains average $12 year), get hosting (I use Bluehost), and start out with WordPress. It will give you everything you need. That website will be your homebase for the rest of your career. A website’s purpose is to get people to sign up for your newsletter, show off your writing, and sell your books. And if you’re clueless (like I am) about websites and need help you setting up, you can’t go wrong by hiring Dee Carver from Personalized Marketing Inc. She’s managed my website and all the nitty-gritty background upkeep for year. 100% of the content is my doing, but she’s the guru who keeps me afloat. Tell her I sent you.
TWL-What would you like to promote today?
I just got a new cover for At the Mercy of Her Pleasure. It’s a SciFi Romance and was my first book. It will always be my first love. Here’s the blurb.
She’s addictive. He can’t touch her. But what if he kissed her just once…
To free his enslaved brother from a cruel master, Senth, an all-party-fun-and-games thief, must take on the hardest assignment of his life: stealing from the Empress. If he doesn’t, his brother’s life is forfeit.
To make matters worse, Senth has no choice but to work with NarrAy, a by-the-book rebel captain whose addictive pheromones could jeopardize the mission and destroy his will. When the unthinkable happens and NarrAy professes her love for him, Senth must decide if what he feels is real.
Can he trust this woman? If he loves her back, can he still save his brother? Or will he end up at the mercy of her pleasure forever…
Find At the Mercy of Her Pleasure everywhere https://books2read.com/ab-at-mercy
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