SAMAEL is the first book in the Blackwell Brothers’ Redemption trilogy, featuring three brothers with a very interesting job—they’re reapers.

Being the sons of the Grim Reaper comes with expectations, and their father is not happy at how they’ve been conducting business. He’s given them each an ultimatum— learn to reap with compassion and do the job to his standards or face eternal exile. Stranded in the town of Redemption with limited powers and money and no way to communicate with the outside, they’ll all play the game, reap the soul, and return to their normal lives. It’s a straightforward plan—until they meet their assignments.

Samael
Blackwell Brothers’ Redemption, Book 1

Love her. Protect her. Reap her soul.

Samael Blackwell is the son of Death—and he’s officially out of chances. After centuries of reaping souls with zero regard for the rules, his father sends him to the dead-end town of Redemption. With only a few hundred bucks and the clothes on his back, Sam has one last shot to prove he can do the job right: reap with compassion or lose everything.

It should’ve been easy. Find the soul. Finish the job. Walk away.

Then he meets Adrianne Sharp.

She’s strong, guarded, and hiding from a past that refuses to stay buried. The connection between them is instant—and impossible. Because Adrianne isn’t just anyone. She’s his assignment.

And her soul’s on the clock.

To win back his old life, all Sam has to do is watch her die. But what if the cost of redemption…is her?

He was sent to end her story. But she just might rewrite his.

An excerpt…

He pushed into a seated position and got his first glimpse of himself. It wasn’t only his watch that was gone. He no longer wore his custom Tom Ford suit and hand-tooled Italian shoes. In their place were worn jeans, a plain white T-shirt, a battered leather jacket, and boots that had seen their best day a decade ago.

He pushed himself upright and brushed the dirt and debris from his clothes. Raking his fingers through his hair, he scanned his surroundings. There were trees everywhere, not a high-rise to be seen. A huge crow swooped down and perched on a nearby branch, cold black eyes staring directly at him.

“Malaki. Why am I not surprised the old man sent you to spy on me?” Crows were often employed as messengers between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. Malaki was his father’s companion, his personal assistant, as it were. “You tell him I’ll play his game, and I’ll damn well win.”

*~*~*

Want to read more? You can find SAMAEL here:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2SDQMVF/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/samael-n-j-walters/1147212495
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/samael-13
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/samael/id6743937757

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit her at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://x.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

First, Happy Easter from my house to yours!

Next, remember when my dd gifted me with mini-Marvel superheroes for my advent calendar at Christmas?

Well, before I started to put together my report card for today, I decided to pull a figure from my bucket rather than pull a tarot card, just to get the right mindset for the coming week. I pulled this guy:

He’s The Punisher. Not a true-blue hero at all; however, he does have redeeming qualities. He takes out the bad guys. No mercy. So, I’m going to borrow some of his balls-to-the-wall determination this week and slay my calendar! 🙂

Report Card

Since April 1st…

1. I’ve done nothing. Nada. Zilch. Of course, I have the best excuse in the world. I am currently recovering from major surgery—and kicking ass while doing it. 🙂

This next week…

1. I will return to work, editing two projects for other authors!
2. I’ll issue an extension to authors interested in writing a short story for the Burn collection. Folks may have been waiting to see if I kicked the bucket before submitting their work. LOL
3. I’ll be reviewing short stories I’ve published and picking some to put together into a second Ultra collection. I need to get something published, and I do have some hot stories that haven’t appeared in a set or in print yet…
4. I’ll contact my oncologist’s office to make an appointment to set up more appointments so I can get them hard-scheduled in my work plan!
5. I’ll begin painting again. Small things, only. I want to continue work on #the100dayproject, even though I’m dragging far behind the rest of the participants.

Open Contests

Be sure to check out these posts and enter to win the prizes that are still up for grabs:

1. 1. Meet Author Kaje Harper! Complete Short Story Here! Plus, FREE Reads! — Read an entire short story, plus pick up FREE reads!
   2. Gabbi Grey/Gabbi Powell/Gabbi Black: Why I Can’t Stay in My Lane (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
   3. Gabbi Grey: I Wanted Taylor Swift! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
   4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest — Win an Amazon gift card!

I’ve finally graduated from a recliner in the living room to my own bed in my own room. The test was my being able to get myself out of bed without straining my healing belly. I graduated yesterday! Woohoo. I slept with a pillow on my belly in case the cats decided to climb over me. They were thrilled to have their human pillow and back-scratcher back. One chose my shoulder, the other my feet. I didn’t feel used at all with all the purring going on.

I’m up early and will likely head back to bed for a couple more hours of rest, but while I’m feeling up to sitting at the computer, I will.

I chose today’s puzzle image because it’s a house on the edge of the woods, which is our place, and it feels rather magical this time of year. Everything’s greening up—the yard and pasture, the trees in the wood. We have tons of deer coming to drink at our pond in the back. The squirrels love to harass the dogs, running from tree to tree, then quickly circling up the trunks while they bark at the dogs. There are other animals there, but sightings are rarer—foxes, for example. I remember the year we found the injured baby fox and raised it until it was ready to go back into the woods. In another month, we’ll be in the pool every day, watching the birds overhead, and in the evenings, watching the bats as they come out to eat up all those pesky mosquitoes. They really are cool to watch.

Anyways, it’s still dark outside. I wanted to get this post up so it would be waiting for you when you woke up. Happy Saturday, everyone!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me what magical things are happening with the seasonal changes where you are!

Well, I met with my surgeon yesterday.

From his POV, everything is going swimmingly. Even the UTI, with the gloriously named cause (Morganella Morganii), is responding well to the antibiotics. He renewed that prescription for an additional week just to make sure we wipe it out.

As to the results of my surgery…

Again, he stated he’d taken out everything he could visually detect. My body bits were sent to a lab, and they did find microscopic evidence the cancer was still alive. Not unexpected. He saw some in the omentum, which they fully removed, some in my uterus (also gone).

His recommendation to my oncologist will be that since I did so well with chemo, knocking it back so much, and my body appeared to tolerate it, that he would like to see me undergo three more rounds of chemo before I go back on immunotherapy maintenance.

Today, I’ll set up an appointment to see my oncologist to discuss what happens next.

I really, really didn’t want to hear that I’d be going back on chemo. It’s painful, it drags me down, and I just started regrowing my hair (I know, that’s not important, but…).

Three rounds would put me through the end of summer, which will really hit my pool time hard, and I’ve been holding onto dreams of floating in the pool with a margarita in my hand to keep myself feeling upbeat. So, yeah, today, I’m a little down.

I’ll allow myself a day to feel sorry for myself. But I’m determined to “graduate” from sleeping in my lift chair to resting in an actual bed this weekend—even if it’s not my own just yet. My dd wants to be nearby in case I run into trouble in the middle of the night, so I’ll accede to her wishes. She’s been an absolute gem, and I don’t want to make her work harder.

All my plans for what I’d hoped to accomplish this summer have to be reviewed. I’m sure I can keep busy with editing, but writing…? Good Lord. Am I even still a writer if I’m not writing? That sounded like a distinct whine.

Anyway, I plan to run a contest tomorrow and catch up on some that already posted because it’s time to wrap them up. I hope to get back to regularly posting very, very soon.

In the meantime, hello from me. I hope you are all doing well. I’d love to hear your plans for the coming summer/winter, depending on where you are in the world. ~DD

Hello, Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss my new short story in a great anthology!

I’m sure you’re wondering…Taylor Swift?

I’ll see if I can explain.  About a year and a half ago, I signed up for this anthology.  Well, this one and a bunch of others.  I signed up for every one I could get my hands on.

Then Plot Whisperer and I sat down to figure out potential storylines for each anthology.  This one was a bit perplexing.  What circumstances might lead a couple of guys to only have one bed?

I came up with the idea of Taylor Swift coming to Vancouver and people having to bunk together.

Plot Whisperer vetoed that idea. Not because of TS…but just because it didn’t resonate with her.

We kept working at figuring a reason.

In the end, we settled on the tight housing market in Vancouver.  Completely legitimate if you know this city.

Then we needed to sort through how Troy and Rocco knew each other, why Troy needed help, and why Rocco would offer it.  Check, check, check.

From there, I just had to write my story.

Writing about Rocco’s decision to downsize from a large house made sense. He wanted to be closer to work (Vancouver traffic is hellacious).

Troy’s living near the poverty level because of a job that pays barely above minimum wage is definitely a thing.

Throw in a good friend, a wayward son, and I had a story.

But I didn’t get my Taylor Swift!

Ironically, she announced she was coming to Vancouver just a few months later, and she ended her tour here. So, yay Vancouver!

(I did consider having Troy hit by a car by someone heading to the concert but wouldn’t have fit – so I vetoed my own idea.)

Mentioning any person – living or dead – is always a risk.  Especially speaking of them in a negative light.  There are people who don’t like Ms. Swift and would take offense for me including her in my story – even if I was only mentioning her concert as being popular. (FYI – I tried to get tickets and couldn’t. Given the expense, that probably wasn’t a bad thing. See above for the cost of living in the Vancouver area.)

Thanks for letting me visit Delilah! And to talk a bit about the process of writing.  I would love to give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card.  Can you remember a time when you were reading a book and a reference to someone famous struck you? (Good or bad…) I had a reference in an upcoming story to someone I thought was a good actor and a decent guy.  My proofreader said, you realize he’s a jerk, right? I googled and was horrified.  And no, I hadn’t realized. I had to change a line in the story just a week out from publication.  One of the reasons having a good team is so important.  So let me know! Or is there a famous person whose name would turn you off from a book? Drop a comment! Random will pick a winner.

Bed, Two Hearts: An Only One Bed Romance Anthology

Sometimes love starts with a little forced proximity… and just one bed.

In One Bed, Two Hearts, discover a collection of contemporary romance where strangers, friends, and even enemies find themselves sharing a bed—and maybe, just maybe, sharing their hearts too. With sizzling chemistry, accidental sleepovers, and unexpected connections, each story brings you a delightful take on the beloved “only one bed” trope.

From cozy cabins to luxury hotels, these stories are filled with laughter, tender moments, and undeniable attraction that will leave you swooning for more.

Perfect for fans of forced proximity, slow-burn romance, and a dash of humor, One Bed, Two Hearts delivers love that blooms when people are closer than they ever expected.

Authors:
Jill Brashear
Deaia Sanders
Michelle Moncreiff
Linda G. Hill
Emma Lynn Everly
Chele MacCabe
Sharon Michalove
Skylar M. Cates
Gabbi Grey
Cara Dion
Freyja Frost
Angela Breen
J.M. Adele
Jewelz Baxter
Ebony Snow
Juliet Martini
Cynthia Terelst
Harper Michaels
Maida Malby

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc25onebedtwohearts
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/One-Bed-Two-Hearts-Collection-ebook/dp/B0DJRKFBDY
Add it to Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220258911-one-bed-two-hearts

Inside One Bed, Two Hearts: Saving Troy by Gabbi Grey

Rocco

Being called to a hospital in the middle of the night is scary. When I discover my adult son’s best friend has been injured and has no one else around to help, I race to his side. Troy’s always been a nice kid, and now he needs a safe place to stay. My condo’s a tiny one-bedroom, but we’ll manage. Or so I tell myself.

Troy

Spending the Christmas season with the hottest man around—who also happens to be my best friend’s dad—is torture. Every night. Worse because his couch sucks and we end up sharing the bed. Platonically, of course. In theory. If Marco finds out I’m crushing on his dad, and it’s mutual, he’s going to kill me.

Saving Troy is a 15k one-bed, best-friend’s dad, instalove, gay romance short story.

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Personal links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up: https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey
Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/Gabbi-Grey/e/B07SJVFX1M
Audible Profile: https://www.audible.com/author/Gabbi-Grey/B07SJVFX1M
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey

So, I’m poking my head in the door. It doesn’t mean I’m back to my daily routine just yet, but I thought I’d let you know how things are going. I’ve shared (over-shared, I’m sure!) about my cancer journey so far, and I don’t intend to change that. The emails from online friends out there who have loved ones or who have or are going down this road have been moving.

Anyways, back to the subject.

I had surgery on April 1st. April Fool’s Day. My old wedding anniversary. My ex-hubby laughed at the date and said, “Ah then, everything is going to be fine, because we didn’t turn out so bad.” I have to agree, as odd as that sounds I’m sure to some of you since we’re divorced, but we’re still great friends, still sharing phone calls and birthday wishes. April 1st is a lucky day for me.

The doctor had thought he’d be taking out more than he did. First, he went after the omentum—it’s an apron of tissue that protects your internal organs. When he eye-balled it, he saw no living cancer on it although the omentum had lit up like a Christmas tree on my first PET scan all those months ago. Then he removed all my girlie parts, noting that he saw very little remaining cancer there. Mostly just slimy bits of dead remnants of cancer (I’m interpreting his notes, maybe embellishing a bit—can’t help myself).

He was going to take my lymph nodes down there. But other than some dead slime (more embellishment), he found them pink and healthy-looking so did not remove them. He hunted around my liver, gallbladder, intenstines, etc. He had said he’d remove anything he found infected (if he could), but found nothing else of concern. When he spoke with me later that afternoon, he told me my chemo had done an excellent job of knocking back the cancer. He was pretty sure he’d gotten everything he could.

Are you wondering why I included a picture of a zipper at the start of this post? Well, they closed with a long line of staples (27 in all) and my belly looked like they installed a zipper in it. (My attempt at humor.)

My sister, Elle James, stayed with me in the hospital for the two days and nights that followed.  She was a huge help. You need an advocate, someone to stomp down the hall to ask for pain meds. BTW, Dilaudid is fabulous. Opioids definitely have their place. It hits fast and only lingers a couple of hours, but when you need something fast… In a hospital setting… Mm-hmm. Highly recommend.

I went home on Wednesday with a soft pillow clutched against my sore belly and one last dose of Dilaudid to hold me until I got home an hour away.

Sis left soon after. Storms were brewing, and she still had a four-hour drive. Then I was left in my daughter’s gentle care.

When I’d been away, my SIL moved the reclining lift chair he’d purchased for me from my living area to the living room. Now, every time I need to get to my feet to move around (exercise is key to recovery), the chair stands me on my feet with little to no intervention from anyone and no straining of my belly. As the days have passed, that’s been very important to my independence.

Everything was moving along well. I was convinced I was going to have the easiest recovery known to womankind, but then…my temperature started climbing and my wee-wee-hole (no, that’s not the technical term, so don’t quote me) began to hurt. In fact, my entire pelvic floor area began to ache every time I attempted to relieve myself. I suspected a UTI and Dr. Google agreed, so I called my surgeon’s office and asked if I could have the urine sample taken at my local doctor’s office rather than head back to the city to pee into a bottle). He approved, and I was quickly put on antibiotics for a UTI. Not just any UTI, but one caused by an emerging super-bug with a very pretty name: Morganella Morganii. M. morganii turned my pee into the most brilliantly colored sunset orange I’ve ever seen. You know I’m going to be mixing colors to try to match it—Indian yellow, cadmium red, a touch of magenta or fuchsia…

I was headed to the surgeon’s office the next day (last Thursday) anyway, where an RN with the nickname of Buffy (it was just meant to be), removed all my staples. It wasn’t supposed to hurt, but maybe I’m just a big baby. 27 little needle-y pinches took my breath away.

I’m finally able to sit up for longer periods in my chair. I’m taking naps during the day on a bed with many pillows. My daughter has to help me up, but she was CNA-trained, so she knows how to get me up without causing any pain at all. My discomfort from my UTI is fading. My temperature is back to normal.

This coming Thursday, I’ll be back in Little Rock to see my surgeon. He’ll let me know his official findings and hopefully let me know when he recommends I continue my immunotherapy. (And more importantly to me—when I can jump into the swimming pool.) This journey isn’t over, but so far, I’m tolerating the treatments.

And that’s all I’ve got. I hope everyone out there is feeling well, loving the changing seasons. I didn’t even mention the huge flood we had right after I got home from the hospital, but yeah, the local river rose its highest since 1969. We were cut off from town for a couple of days there. Life’s just so interesting like that.

This picture was taken just down the hill from where we live and over a mile from the river.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Not every author writes books because they love writing books.

Huh?

Every author has a different motivation for sitting down at the keyboard (or with pen and paper, as I did with my first book) and pounding out a story.

My journey started in university.  Well, poems and short stories in elementary and high school.  University and my drama program?  I wrote two plays.  Uh…one bombed and one did okay.  I took two creative writing classes.  In the first, I started a novel.  OMG, I cringe at it now.  In the second class, though, I started a romance.  Only I didn’t know it would be a romance.  I’d only read my first Harlequin the year before.  I had no idea how category Harlequin romances would change my life’s trajectory.

I did well in that class — and kept writing that book.  Now, it SUCKS.  And was never completed. But I love the story and will one day tell it in an authentic way.  The heroine has been mentioned in another one of my books — so her story’s coming.

Basically, I kept writing.  I started numerous projects and would pick one up occasionally.  I would commute on the train in Toronto and write scenes.  I also wrote two scripts for a television series my friend was working on.  Didn’t sell them, but it lit a fire under me that they even got read.

I continued to write on and off for fifteen years. Never finishing a book. But planning.  Always planning.

Then I had a mental illness crisis in 2012 and was off work for a year.  I had thought I was going to write one book, but a secondary character, whom I’d seen as a throw away, kept nagging me to write her story.  So I did. By hand, In pieces.  Took 8 months and I wound up with 126k words.  Eventually I put the pieces together and had a manuscript.  Even I knew the thing was a mess.  But I found two beta readers who loved it.

In the meantime, I went back to work. Something happened in the news and I started in on the ‘what ifs’.  I had the genesis for a story. I wrote intensely over the next six weeks -including at work between phone calls (I worked in a call centre). I discovered I could write a lot of words in the seven seconds between calls.

I had a book.  Only one this was 85k words — the perfect length for a Harlequin Superromance.  My beta readers loved it, and I sent it to Harlequin. I’m not going to bore you with my 2 ½ year horrible journey to not being published with them (but coming rather close).  I moved on.  I sent it elsewhere, but I just couldn’t get traction.

The advice I got (and that I give to anyone who will listen) is, while you’re on submission and waiting, to write the next book.  And I did. Over and over and over.  But the time HQ rejected me I had 16 more books and 3 partial books in that series written plus a dark erotic BDSM trilogy — because I could.  I wrote a million words in 2014 and damn near that many the next year.  In 2015-2016, I moved into editing and my word count dropped.

In the end, I sold that BDSM trilogy to The Wild Rose Press.  And I wrote another MMF BDSM for them.  I’ve also, under that penname, written another MMF, an FFM, and a couple of short stories — all BDSM.  I even have one short story on audio.  That’s Gabbi Black.  I’m committed to writing at least one story for her every year because I love BSDM.  Although now my stories are much lighter — shows you where I am in my life.  Oh, and I have way more experience in kink than when I wrote the trilogy — so that knowledge gets incorporated into my work.

Those 20 or so books?  I wrote a series starter, have a prequel, the HQ book became book 2, I wrote book 3, and book 4 is the 126k word cluster mess that I need to sort out. I hired a freelance editor, she worked me hard, and the first 4 books (prequel and books 1-3) are out as Love in Cedar Valley.  Gabbi Powell.  I’ve also published a novella in that series and a short story.  I have another short story coming later this year.  I’ve committed to my freelance editor that I will fix book 4 and send it to her by the end of the year.  I even have a beautiful cover.  Just have to find the time.  I’ve also committed to sending her 2-3 more edited ones per year from the pile so we get through all 20 before she retires or I die. (we’re both older, so it is a race against time)

Finally, comes Gabbi Grey.  Didn’t see her coming — even though that was my first penname.  I wrote two MF short stories that got published.  One publisher was looking for MM novellas with one guy working in the trades and set in the continental US.  I wrote a story, and a nice author randomly offered to beta read it for me (I will always be grateful for their kindness to a total stranger).  They had very constructive comments. The biggest being — this story is too short.  Tell the story you were meant to tell. I backed out of the project with the publisher and, during my next mental health crisis, wrote the book I was meant to.  120k.  From the initial 50k… Uh…okay…

My freelance editor had a go of it, and I’ve tried to sell it to traditional publishers.  All want it shorter before they’ll look at it.  Now I’m hybrid, though (indie and working with a traditional publisher), I’m wondering if I shouldn’t indie publish the book.  It’s in the wrong point of view (I wrote it third person but everything I do now is first).  I’m currently fixing another manuscript and changing POV takes weeks of intense work.  So 120k word gay romance is on the back burner.

In the meantime, my new publisher, The Wild Rose Press, was putting out a series.  Intrigued, I contemplated what to write and decided on a gay romance — which they weren’t expecting in their small-town series set in Vermont. They greenlit and project and I wrote an MM paranormal ghost story.  Then the publisher wanted books with ice cream.  I wrote another gay romance.  Then they said I could write another book in the Vermont series.  I wrote a sweet gay romance.

Then they wanted a Christmas cookie book.  I tried but couldn’t cram the story into 35k words. I withdrew the story and finished it myself. I bought a cover, learned how to indie publish, paid a narrator to record it, and released the book into the world on November 15^th, 2021.

I haven’t looked back except to marvel.  That book is my best seller by far.  Book 2 in that series, which came out of nowhere, is the next bestseller. Then the various series I’ve written stories for including The Haunting of Pinedale High, Single Dads of Gaynor Beach, and Friends of Gaynor Beach Animal Rescue.  Then I finally got around to writing and publishing books 3 and 4 in my Love in Mission City series.  Plus short stories, as well as novellas and shorts for charity anthologies and on it goes.

Gabbi Grey has, unexpectedly, become my most successful penname.  The one I didn’t see coming. The one who writes queer romances.

So I should drop the other two and focus on her, right?  Especially if I want to break even and, eventually, make money (Spoiler -most authors, even if they manage to publish, don’t make a ton of money. Even those with publishing contracts might not be making as much as you might believe.) I don’t talk about money often.  I have a fantastic super important job.  The extra each month, after all my basic expenses are paid, goes into my writing.

Editors, covers, marketing, promos, prizes (and, for me, audiobooks). Also classes, memberships, and ads if you’ve got the ability to run them. Being an author can be expensive.  Some authors do it for less and still succeed.  I tell authors starting out they need four things: an editor, a professional cover, a website, and a mailing list.  Now, often you can barter for some of that and go super cheap.  Oh, and you need a good story.  Even the prettiest cover and the best editing won’t help if the story isn’t compelling.

I love my life.  I’m living the life I’ve always dreamed. I don’t want to be a ‘full-time’ author because I can’t live with uncertainty.  I have a great job where I work hard. I have benefits and a pension plan I pay into.  I’m working to pay down my mortgage.

I also write full-time.  How?  Four hours each morning for writing and marketing. One to two hours after work doing more marketing.  Ten-to-fourteen-hour days on the weekends.  A ton of writing and marketing.  Last year I wrote 832k words.  That’s full-time author territory.

I just happen to have two great jobs.  That goes with healthy family and happy dogs.  Anything happens with that equation, and my writing will decrease.  For now, though, I’m good.

And my ADD brain is happiest with three pennames. For maintaining different rhythms for each.  Hell, even different POVs.  Gabbi Powell is all third person while the other two pennames are now entirely first person.  Just a preference.  And something to keep my mind engaged.

That’s why I can’t stick to my lane.  I’d probably be more successful if I picked one penname and just wrote big books.  But I wouldn’t get the variety.  The thrill of writing stories for charity anthologies.  The joy of working with other authors in shared worlds.

Interestingly, my mentor/critique partner/future co-writer/friend laughed when I said I couldn’t stick to my lane.  She pointed out she wasn’t even on the highway.  Which is true. She writes what she wants. As long as it has a happy ending, she’s good.

So, what about you? Interested in trying your hand at writing? Already there? Or how do you feel about authors who switch lanes?  Will you follow them wherever or do you count of them for one thing and get frustrated when they move somewhere else?  Leave a comment and let me know. Random will pick a winner of a $5 Amazon gift card. Good luck.

About the Authors

Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Grey/author/B07SJVFX1M
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey

Gabbi Powell

Gabbi Powell has been a lover of romance since she first put pen to paper in the eighth grade to write her first romance.  She writes her novels while living in Beautiful British Columbia with her trusty ChinPoo dog a as companion.  She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and contemporary dark erotic BDSM novels as Gabbi Black.

Website:   http://gabbipowell.com/
Newsletter sign-up: https://sendfox.com/gabbipowell
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Powell/author/B08T8NTQNY
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21065056.Gabbi_Powell

Gabbi Black

Even though Gabbi Black is a firm believer in happy endings, she makes her characters work for it in every romance she writes, no matter what the genre. From contemporary to BDSM, they are penned early in the morning in her home in beautiful British Columbia while her trusty ChinPoo dog keeps her company. She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and small-town romances as Gabbi Powell.

Website:   http://gabbiblack.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbi
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Black/author/B08D8LNY7D
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20592691.Gabbi_Black