23 January 2012

Blog Hop: Lila Munro

Welcome aboard, folks! Today, I'm welcoming a special guest by the name of Lila Munro, and she's here talking about Assumed Identity. Without further ado:


Hi everyone! Thanks Lindsay for having me back over—it’s always a treat to come talk to your audience. I know everyone is used to seeing something naughty from me, but I thought I’d talk a bit today to the writers out there about vices by sharing what mine are and how I’ve dealt with them
When I first started out, as many people know, I was surprised and almost horrified that I got an acceptance letter straight out of the gate from the first and only publisher I sent my work to. I thought, well, it’s either that good, or it’s that bad and they just sign everything that comes their way. As it turned out, it wasn’t that good and it wasn’t that bad either. A few months after my first release I tried again in another arena and that’s where I met up with a woman named Edna, a barbarian of an editor and whom I adore to this day for pointing out my vices.

What were they and still are? Good grief what weren’t they would be a more fitting question. Punctuation, passive voice, point of view issues, dangling modifiers…I could go on. At the time it was almost overload and I wasn’t even sure where to start or what to try to fix first. Along with that I was furious with my first editor for not pointing all this out to me in my first story. If I’d known the first go around, I could have already resolved some of these issues and moved on. As it was I had no choice but to get over my fury and adjust.

The passive voice I got right away—don’t use felt anything. Okay that was easy enough, now that everyone and everything was owning their actions that looked much better. Dangling modifiers…attach them to something. Again, easy enough. Stop leaving things dangling about. Okay. J Point of view. Let me tell you, that one came a little harder. I wanted to tell what everyone was feeling and seeing and thinking at all times. Every other paragraph in some instances. Yikes! What a mess. So, that book went out with a few POV issues still, but I started to work on it and now I can write an entire story from one person’s point of view without a problem. And my work is much better because of it.

That brings us to punctuation…Oh. My. God. Would you believe I have a degree in English and I still can’t figure out where to put a stinking comma? I hate, hate, hate commas. They still haunt me and E and Dawn at Rebel are forever trying to break me of my atrocious comma habits. If I had my way, the comma would be banished for eternity from the English language, but then we’d have serious issues wouldn’t we?
So many times I see people bashing their editors publicly. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank mine, Edna, Dawn, and E, for helping me. Without them I’d never have gone from 3 star reviews that included rants about editing issues to 5 star reviews that focus on my plots and well-developed characters. I appreciate my editors and wouldn’t trade them for anything.

My latest release is Assumed Identity, book 3 in my Identity series…

Innocent childhood games of dress-up and pretend…

Julie Stevens is as straight as they come. Or so she tries to convince herself. But it isn’t easy believing that little white lie when she has the two most sexually eccentric best friends on the planet. One is a bi-sexual Domme who believes if it looks fun, try it. The other is a gay man in the role of slave to his very sexy Master whom Julie often wishes wasn’t gay. Dante’s commanding presence makes her want to do things that set her on fire with need and embarrassment. Given her boring vanilla life, how exactly does she fit into their world? Would they like to have a shinier third wheel?

Are a completely different animal for grownups…

After one wild evening and a bit too much liquid encouragement, Julie discovers a side of herself she’s always tried to ignore. The realization she’s a sub not only scares her, it excites her and she yearns for more. But the process of finding the right man to teach her becomes a real issue, until Mason comes along. He’s everything Julie imagines a Dom should be. Armed with her masque and Renaissance costume, Julie is thrown for a loop when the handsome Master draws more willingness out of her than she ever thought possible. Is it possible she’s more than a submissive? And will the assumptions he’s made about her identity end up tearing them apart?

“Are you wet, angel?” Mason asked, running one hand down the middle of her back. Her intake of breath told him she was and that she didn’t want to admit it. “Answer me. Now.”
“Yes,” she whispered over a whimper.
Covering her body with his, Mason leaned over her and gently took her by her hair. “Tell me what you need, angel.”
Silence. Sniffling. Muffled moans.
“Julie. Tell. Me. What. You. Need.”
“Sex.” Her voice was barely audible.
“No. That’s what you think I want. I know what I want. You’re to free your mind of thoughts concerning what you think I want.” Mason pushed back up and began moving one hand over her back in a soothing pattern. “Tell me what you need.”
“I need…I…Don’t make me…”
“Say it.”
“I need to come,” she whined.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Now tell me what you want.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Yes, you do. Tell me,” he growled.
“I want you to make me come,” she gushed, arching her back into his constant touch.
“I’m going to do just that, angel,” he spoke harshly, leaning back over her and taking a handful of hair, raising her head enough he could nip her earlobe. “Tell me you understand.”
“I understand.”
“When’s the last time you had an orgasm?” She started to answer and he cut her off. “With a man?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Shame on them,” Mason told her.
He stood and while keeping one hand on her lower back letting her know he was still present, he unbuttoned his jeans then unzipped them slowly, adding to her agony by being forced to listen to the click of each tine popping open. Scooting his pants down his legs along with his boxers, he stepped out of them and when his hand left her so he could sheath himself, Julie grunted in frustration.
“Get on your back on the bed,” he said as he finished rolling the condom down. She needed the visual contact even if she couldn’t see anything but shadows and reflections.
She hesitated, looked behind her as if trying to determine if he was baiting her or not, then turned and backed across the mattress before lying down with her legs spread and her arms at her sides, her eyes tightly squeezed shut. So clinical, as if she expected to be used as a vessel. Who the hell had she been with before and what the hell had they done to her to make her think sex was about lying like a dead fish while the man got what he wanted? Then he remembered what she’d been like at the party, after he’d caught her in the chase.
She was carefree and happy, not at all a dead fish beneath him. As he’d lain on her in the garden, she was vital and eager. Mason believed she’d have done anything he asked of her she was so pliable…She’d been Hayden. Not Julie. She’d not just been dressed for the party. She was literally hiding behind her masque.
A bit of anger and sorrow wound around Mason’s state of arousal and squeezed him as he realized she had to assume an identity to feel. Then he was almost ashamed at the bit of happiness that crept in at the realization that she was not only fresh and new to his world but actually, she was like putty in his hands. She was ready to be molded into the person she was perfectly capable of being. He could be the one to show Julie how good it really could be, not just physically, but emotionally as well. For tonight though, she needed a safe haven, a place where she could turn her fears into dancing.

Lila Munro currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She’s a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual to BDSM and ménage. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. Her works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, Destiny’s Fire, Salvation, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, and the Identity series. She’s a member in good standing of RWA and Passionate Ink. Currently she’s working on sequels to several series to be released throughout 2012. And has a brand new line scheduled for winter 2012-13. Ms. Munro also works as the VP of Business Affairs for Rebel Ink Press. She loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted via her website http://realmanticmoments.blogspot.com  or through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lila_Munro You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com For more information about Rebel Ink Press please visit their website at www.rebelinkpress.com

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