Next up on the agenda. Murder, mayhem and me.

Right now I'm neck deep in the editing of my fifth book in a series. Since I'm a firm believer in murder and love, (I know... I'm a romantic at heart.) I decided back in September to write a new series. I wanted to mix mayhem, murder and romance.
I was taking it back to my roots and my first love. The FBI.
Nothing makes me happier than a crime and the mastermind behind it. Out of that love was the birth of Elizabeth LaRue and Ethan Blackhawk.

 

I fell in love with both of them. Elizabeth is tough, bad ass and isn't afraid to take care of business. Ethan Blackhawk is sexy, brooding and dangerous, until he meets Elizabeth and falls head over heels in love.

Together they try to navigate the slippery slope of love and relationships, all while we voyeuristically watch them come together from the comfort of our own couches. I love a good marriage of love and chaos, and I think I've made that happen with these two characters.

 

I guess what my main hope is that when someone reads my books, they fall in love with the characters, they enjoy the twists of the plot, and they remember that love will always win in the end.

As it should!

After someone reads my books, the next question I get is, 'what are you going to do with the characters?' Well, if I told you that would ruin it, but I'll be very honest with you. Until I sit down to write the book, I have no clue. The books have a life of their own, and take off. I'll tell you that book three morphed into something I didn't know was coming, and then led to a big twist in book 4.

I will say this, book five- 'Fire Burns Hot' has been a struggle as a writer. If you've read my books, you know they're peppered with sex. I try to keep it to a minimum (I hate writing sex scenes. They make me uncomfortable. I always wonder if everyone is thinking 'WOW! Morgan is a freak in bed!') Now back to why it's been a struggle. I'm thinking of spinning off the characters in book 5 into their own series, so this book has to be a bit more personal to introduce what's coming and that means more sex than I'm comfortable with myself.
That being said, it's probably my favorite book in the series personally, due to the emotions, the connections and the love story. I actually cried when I read the end of the book. (Yeah- I knew what was coming, but the love story just tripped me up. I'm a puddle of mush. Sue me!)

I did realize that with this book I'm just on sex burn out. (Who woulda thunk?)

Tammy, feel free to call me and make a comment. I'm waiting for it.

Speaking of Tammy, she's really an important part of the Morgan Kelley team. (It does take a village folks to raise a kid and a story line) When you have a really good friend that will listen to you endlessly yap, read your books and be honest with you, then you're very lucky. Tammy is my conscious.

 She's my Jiminy Cricket if you will. If she loves something you know it. If she hates something?  hahahahhaha Oh, you definitely know it. When your phone rings and you see her number on the ID as she's proofing a draft, it's enough to make me break into a sweat. I may kill people for a living, but she scared the bejezuz out of even me.
We did battle on book three and four. Holy Crap! It was tense and stressful. It culminated with me hanging up on her. I know! I'm a horrible, soulless person that should be slapped for being a horrible friend. I'll plead temporary insanity from the stress of putting out four books with 170,000 - 190,000 each in under 6 months as the culprit, and say I'm sorry here and that I love you and appreciate you. I can be a diva, and thank you for just ignoring me most of the time in my rants and exhaustion induced tirades.

Wow! I feel better! Who would have thought confession was this good for the soul???.

Peace and love!
Morgan.





Successful weekend

Over the weekend I decided to allow Kindle to release my first book in the FBI Thriller series for free download. I tossed around the pros and cons, and then went with my initial premise behind my writing.
It's never been about the money. From day one, I've always told people I don't do what I do for the greenbacks. If you've ever been a new author, you'd know why. You've a better chance of getting struck by lightning, while shot, in a bikini, on a whaler in Alaska than becoming a success as a "newbie" writer.
I've been very fortunate, so I paid the good writer karma forward and had almost 2000 downloads in just over 48 hours.
Seriously?
To me that's staggering. I don't know 2000 people personally, so they can't be my family or friends. To top it all off, I actually had positive reviews and emails from readers asking questions. That had to be the highlight of my year.
(And I've had a pretty terrific year!)
I just want to thank anyone reading this that took the time to be bothered to read my book. From the bottom of my heart, it is greatly appreciated. I also want to thank everyone that rated my books on amazon with five stars.
Yay!
When you write and are up for review, there's always this little voice in the back of your head wondering is it going to be seen how you see it? Will someone rip it to pieces and then crucify the vision that I've nurtured and given life to?
It's not easy to take criticism and keep smiling. I know, I've been rejected by publishers and told 'no thank you'. But there is no greater strength than to release your work into the universe and pray that the hands of fate are gentle.
If you've ever read a really bad book, remember this. To someone, it's their baby.

Good, bad or ugly.

Be gentle, and think about how you'd feel if you (insert skill or favorite thing here) and someone ripped it to pieces and laughed while doing it. Compassion is a lost art, and more people should find it again.

Once more, thank you for falling in love with Elizabeth and Ethan.
xoxoxooxoxoxo

Morgan.