Hiring an Editor: The One I Didn't Want

I've been touring and promoting Juliet for a couple months now.

Sorry, no I am not done yet. 

But I have heard quite a few people say - where did you come from?

First, Texas.

Second, I've been writing my whole life.

Third, I first published in 2015.

The abbreviated version goes something like this.

I have been writing since I was 5. Around 2012, I wrote a short story about this young alpha male submissive who would grow into a Dominant. His name was Salvatore Raniero.

In 2013, I almost died from a bacterial infection called campylobacter. During that time, I decided that if I made it out of that alive I would write something with the intent of publishing. 

My first novel is sitting half-finished – a science fiction/fantasy horror erotica piece.  

Half way through that and 140k in, I had this vision of this broken young woman discovering her sexuality. Iris Kettles would not shut up and sometimes when the voices start yakking – you either listen or drown them in whiskey.

I chose to listen.

And Juliet was born.

I wrote the original manuscript 150k in about ten weeks. I edited the best I could and hit the publish button, but I knew she wasn't done. So I fought with her – all the while working on her sister, Kinky Sex Magic and The SOS series. I released two more books - The Initiation and Kinky Sex Magic, doing everything I thought would grow me as an author.

Frustration and commas took a heavy toll on me during the later part of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. So much so that I was threatening to quit and then... I received an email from Goodreads – An editor!

I didn't want to hire an editor.
I mean, I REALLY didn't want to hire an editor.
I thought, "An editor will paint my picture differently. They'll change my words and rearrange my story."

I believe a lot of new authors have that same fear. But I am hear to tell you – that is your head talking and this is one time when you should ignore it. Just walk away and ignore.

A good editor can open you up not only as a writer, but as a storyteller. I sent Tea for Two off to Jenn first. I told her if she didn't piss me off too much, I'd let her have the first trio.

Well, holy shit.

Personally, I have no desire to learn about commas, but that's my thing. They are the bane of my existence, but when I am in the midst of creative flow the last thing I want to get bogged down by is – um, does this sentence need a comma? So I kind of put them where I feel they should go. Sometimes I am right, sometimes I am wrong. The beauty is I have an editor to fix my words.

I can't say what a bad editor will do. I have an excellent editor. 

Accept this fact now – Someone will always disagree with your painting.

Fuck'em.

That's what I say.

I have good number of people who got it and some that didn't.

And that is ok.

Not everyone is going to love you, like you, want to read you.

And that is ok.

But there will be one who will totally get it – I guarantee there will. 

And they will beg for more of your words. 

That one or ten or hundred or ten thousand is the reason you keep plugging on –– they are your FUEL. 

I certainly haven't been here the longest, but I always said I would impart my experiences on this journey as I went. If one writer benefits from it, I am happy.

Keep your head above the water! Keep moving forward! And keep writing!

Love & Light,

Ms. S

Why I Write....Err, Publish.

The obvious answer is: I don't have a choice.

I am controlled by some sort of external magic which forces me to grind pen to paper...err, finger to keyboard for -  h o u r s  - on end. I am a slave to the story, a junkie for plot twists, got a desperate girl or a beautiful asshole you equally love & hate - and I am so fucking there! Sign me up! Take my number.

*squeals*
I'll be your medium!
*begging on knees*
Please, Ms. Hot Chic choose me! Mr. Insane Killer, I am the writer for your tale of woe! Yes, you were repressed as a child I got it!
*whispers*
It's all okay though because you will be fucking gorgeous and women will love you anyway!
*eyes bug out*

Ok. Seriously. Why do I write?
Because I have to. *grins*

I have been writing almost as long as I have been talking. It started with poetry and flourished from there as seems common with my type. Basic answers you may have yourself or know a thousand friends that say the same thing.

The REAL question is why publish?
Long story short in three words, I almost died.
This started a chain of events which kind of led to a fuck-it-I-do-not-care attitude. They don't like me, I don't care. The goal was simply - write a fucking book. Start with Once Uponta...and get to The End. Become a FINISHER.

And thus, that became the mountain. Finish the damn novel. Not 100k in and not done (yes, I have several....) Not a beginning and an end, but follow the thing through. That I believe is the most difficult part. At least it was for me. Believing in the process enough to know and trust that I could get to the finish line.

So it began July 5, 2014. I would write the New Adult-Contemporary-Romance-Suspense-Erotica book I wanted to read. Fuck it if THAT ain't a genre. I don't care about that right now. Actually, I still don't. I realized early on that I could not wedge myself into the box of one genre, so I gave that up pre-starting the climb up the Finish It Mtn.

So...I write. First on my old huge Dell laptop. Then on a little RT machine. Then on a Surface Pro-3 (which I still use). And now on a MacBook Air. Keep in mind I have all those scraps of paper, journals, receipts, stubs, anytime I had an idea I wrote it down. I have a mess of paper. And by September 27, 2014, I had the skeleton of Juliet. Of course, I didn't know she was a skeleton, it was a year later before I realized I had another mountain on top of the Finish moutain called Edit Me Fool.

Yes, I am old school. I printed that damn thing like a trophy.

And then, I attempted to edit. Ok, now. Here is where things get very bad on Mt. Edit. No one tells you that Mt. Edit is like a hundred times as large as Mt. Finish. And that you will regurgitate that shit by the end of it, so for fuck's sake, love it. Love that story. And I did.

So, I kept writing in the Juliet world and hit the publish button three times.
Cool.

But after driving myself crazy for a year, knowing that my beloved baby was not what I had dreamed the choice became quite clear at the plateau I reached on Mt. Edit: Quit or Hire. By chance, a lovely editor sent me a friend request (...enter magical twist of fate here...) and the rest has been history. I gave Mizdee the current WIP - Tea for Two and decided I liked our flow so much that we would go back to the lands of that box because I believed in Juliet when few did.

• Break the bones.
• Reset them right.
• Build her muscle. 
• Give her skin...and makeup and loads of glorious hair.
• And make that bitch whole for the first time ever.

And now, Juliet is getting dressed, going to the ball and waiting for readers to ask her to dance.
(The re-release of Juliet and The Initiation are both available now.)

The curious part is how close my own journey of growth followed that of Juliet. And so the other day as we - me and the Mizdee - are talking (not uncommon) and she has this epiphany that my words have impacted her and...bam...suddenly, I realize that sitting atop the now conquered Mt. Fuckin Edit is the strange world of Mt. Marketing, for which I am trying to be social.

But fuck is it hard.

Let's back up though to that little bit - my words made a difference, making someone feel. And that is ultimately why I write - to entertain and enrich, perhaps providing some thought-provoking material. My art exists to be interpreted by each individual in their own way. There is no right or wrong opinion. Some may hate it, some may love it. I will write what I want to read, and if you enjoy it...I personally invite you to join me on the journey of my words.

And speaking of words, I love them, playing and rearranging them to elicit a reaction. I have a particular penchant for "dying" words. Words like atramentous. If by chance, I happen to hit a phrase wrong or you have a lovely little tidbit of a word, please let me know.

Sure, I could give you some perfect little churchgoing-type picture and the Ms Samuels lives in a Farmhouse with a menagerie of crew and animals....but that's not what you really want.

You want dirt between my toes.
You want the grit under my nails.
You want to know about me, Sal, Juliet.
The truth behind the story.

And how do I know this?
Because I am a reader, too.
So, I am giving that for better or worse. I will never sugarcoat any of my social.
Some days it may not be pretty, but I promise, it will be real.

I owe a VAST & GREAT amount of thanks & love to the Crew @ the farmhouse, to Mizdee at Nerdy Girl Editing & Co., to Giselle at xpresso book tours, and J.A. Huss for blogging about Giselle. And the lovely Brit, Evelyn (Summer's Eve and Quill & Ink Book Tours), for telling me at 3:30 am to "go to bed Missy."

And that is how Juliet technically came to be.
I will give more insights into the actual story and scenes in the near future.

Be good to each other.
With much much LOVE,
   XO
   Kailee

AVAILABLE @

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Juliet by Kailee Reese Samuels

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Juggling Your Dirty Words

It's November, AKA writers must juggle all of their work/life/holiday - Halloween, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas - time and somehow manage to slip in 50K words for NanoWrimo. It's easy, just blend it into work - you are after all, a writer, right?

Wrong.
Brilliantly misguided was I.

This is my fourth year of writing in the real world (opposed to my own private hermit retreat). I have not participated in every NanoWrimo though I have managed to hit up 2013 and 2015. I am trying this year. Seriously. I am.

My eldest son is prodding me along, pleasantly reminding me that my word counts should be increasing. And while I agree, I am in the midst of re-release chaos and preparations for Juliet and The Initiation as well as adhering to the sadistic hardcore schedule of 2017.

So while yes, I do have some ticks of ideas and what not, I make no promises as to having one solid 50k piece by the end of November. It may be 15k with Sal and 40k with Alex and maybe even 13k over there in that little ditty. But alas, I am trying to stay on the rails with this one unplanned and unscheduled piece.

Don't get me wrong, I am always writing, but I am rather spastic in my writing. I'll go a bit on one book and then toss it over for a few days in my mind, building the scenes and pacing. Then moving  to another book that has been milled over for a few days while working on the previously mentioned one. I am chaotic and crazy in my writing, rarely sinking into just one piece of work.

It's just not me.
And that's OK.

I know other people who start one and finish it, then move to the next one. And that is seriously GREAT for them. But it isn't me. I am a juggler. Kind of like plotsers and pantsers, there are also jugglers. And that is really the point of all of this, figuring out what kind of writer you are and making it work for you because in the end that is all that ultimately matters.

And that is half the battle - finding out what works and going with it. I appreciate the technique and ability of others, but I can't be them. And they can't be me.

Have a great fucking day y'all!
   XO,
   kailee

For the W! ;)

On that note, half of the farmhouse is resided in by *snickers* Northerners from Chicago (I am trying hard here to be PC).  And I want to extend my CONGRATULATIONS and LOVE to them and their history with their beloved CUBBIES. In watching your passion, this little Texan has become a fan! ;)

I'm not dead.

I've been missing for the most part from social media for the past year. Perhaps an intentional - thought-filled reflection, my own personal sabbatical.

And if you are curious, here's where I have been.

Mostly hospitals. My Dad had a stroke. And all told at the farmhouse by years end we will have had five surgeries under one roof. Life sucks sometimes. But fear not, the writing wheel spins on. Only now, better oiled than before.

As for me, I account for one of those surgeries. I had a little lump come up in my hand about five years ago when I was teaching myself to quilt. I thought nothing of it and asked the doctor about it. It was just a ganglion and would likely disappear. However, if it started hurting, I should see a hand specialist.

Guess what?
My damn pet pet was a fucking monster. Almost three inches long, two inches wide, and an inch thick. A fatty benign tumor, a lipoma.

So, I had surgery October 7. I have graphic nasty photos which I will spare you. Now, I am recovering and getting used to being the 8-finger typist. I can't feel my ring finger or pinky yet. I may never feel them again, but hopefully the feels will return in time. But fuck, what do I care really? I have my fucking hand. All is right in my book. Sure it sucks but it could be much worse.

What else do I know?
I decided in July to test drive an editor after much debate. Always having that fear of - omg this is going to change me, this is going to turn into his/her painting - ok, I was wrong. But I needed to come to this place on my own. So the lovely Ms D and myself ran a spell through Tea for Two, which was next up to be published. I fell head over heels again with writing after being pretty damned disgruntled. (Read: if I had a dollar for every time I said I was giving this public showing of my art up...)

But alas, I decided I liked Ms D so much, I would give her the big baby of Juliet. And of course, her companion The Initiation. So now, I am better than ever, stronger than before, and ready to grab life by the balls.

Wanna join me?
I'd love to have you.

kailee
XO

P.S. And as always, this blog will never fucking be edited. Come because you want but hell, don't expect me to edit this...it ain't gonna happen. ;)

Three-Dollar Money Shots

I am a writer.
I am also a voracious reader.

I am sick and tired of fake reviews people. I am not sure what lollypop land some readers are living in, but...just wow. How can people possibly give 5-stars to something so utterly terrible? I mean seriously. I am not handing out author names or book titles. No. Don't ask.

I have been writing my entire life. In the past year, I decided to put my words out there. And you know what? I have had a lot of downloads, a handful of purchases, and zero reviews. Ask me if this changes anything...

No. I have been writing for years. Reviews or not is not going to change whether I write.
Do you know why?

I am a writer. I love words. I love crafting a story. I love spinning a web and quilting it all together piece-by-piece. I am into it. Reviews be damned. Would I like some? Sure, who wouldn't? Is it going to stop me from writing? Absofuckinglutely not.

My problem is this...not everyone putting books on your local e-retailer shelves is a writer. Some of them just want to make a quick dollah. Ya, dollah. And by getting their family member/friend/co-worker to post the 5-star review, we unknowingly purchase said book expecting it to be good....until WHAMO! What the fuck? Hello. This isn't a story. It's scribble. Hardly legible.

I'm not talking about poor formatting here people. I'm talking bad. I'm talking my reading time in which I could have been reading good writers like - oh wtf let's namedrop some AWESOME writers I have been reading of late - Jade West or Jason Luke or Jasinda Wilder or Lucian Bane - was stolen from me! Taken my time like a thief!

Because I trusted those fake reviews.
I am not happy. Not in the least.

And do you know what? All of you readers and writers - should be pissed off too.

I write because I love it. I write for me.
It's not about the dollah bill.
Or the reviews.

What the hell is this 10-minute book for $2.99 anyway?
That is utterly ridiculous people. I have some $2.99 books and they are EACH over 100 pages.

And while I am on my bitch session:

No, I will NOT exchange a 5-star review of your book for a your 5-star of mine. FU.
-AND-
No, I will NOT purchase your review of my book. FU2.

I realize my complaining will not stop any of this. For all of the good in this market, there is an equal amount of slime.

What can I say?
I can tell you every time this girl reviews something, it is honest and heartfelt - be it written or product. I do not tout what I do not love. And if I cannot say something nice, I won't say anything at all. Because I have integrity and believe in karma.

I don't expect everyone to like my books. And I don't expect to love every book I pick up as a reader. But I expect more than 10-minutes of faked 5-star fluff. As a reader, I expect you to at least try. As a writer, if you are going to write the 10-minute for $2.99 jerk-off book then it best be at least tissue worthy...and not for my tears.