LUSH … The pleasure is all yours if you’re ready to let your fantasies take control and surrender yourself to desire…

One of the most common questions for a writer is “Where do you get your ideas?” or “What inspires you?” I find this question both the easiest thing to answer - and the hardest – because my true answers are not that romantic or inspirational.

Mostly, my ideas come from real life people - the ones I see on the streets, talk to in the mall, or read about in the news. Occasionally music or a picture will stir the muse, but basically, Life inspires me. However, being able to pay my bills at the end of each month also inspires … it inspires me to plant my butt in the chair and get my fingers dancing across the keyboard, even when it’s the last thing in the world I really want to do.

It’s not romantic, but it’s true.

It’s not often I can pinpoint exactly what inspired a story idea for me, but with LUSH, my newest release from Kensington, I can. The opportunity to write a single author anthology came at the same time I wanted to shift gears a bit with my storytelling. I didn’t want to write an edgy or raw story. I wanted something …. LUSH. And yes, the title did come first.

But what is LUSH? Think erotic, romantic, decadent… that’s what I decided LUSH was. Things don’t have to be explicit and raw to be erotic. A kiss can be erotic. The brush of skin against skin, or the scent of the pillow after your man leaves for work, and you’re still curled up warm in bed. Those are erotic. Those are Lush.

With the idea of a decadent series in mind, I thought about setting. Often my stories are set in bars or cafes or retail stores…like I said, every day life. But for this, I thought an art gallery would be perfect. And not just any art gallery, but one that specialized in erotic art, and the woman who makes it happen.

I’d love to show you some of the things I found during my planning that inspired the characters and stories, but they are not for everyone’s taste, therefore, I’d like to encourage you all to surf over to my website, and visit the LUSH GALLERY built there. You can view some truly erotic photography, a sculpture that I placed in the gallery, and then follow the link to the Bookpage for some excerpts.

So, for the first time in my life, I planned a series. Yes, they are only novellas, but for a panster like me who doesn’t ever plot, this was a big deal. Okay, I admit it…I planned it pretty loosely. I just planned the character connections, and then let them run free during their stories, and I have to say, I fell in love with them all. Each story has a different feel, but they all retain the erotic decadence that defines LUSH.

Everyone who participates in the following discussions will be entered into a draw to win a signed copy of their choice of ALLURING TALES, KINK, or THE COP.