Guest Post with London Saint James

Hello Everyone.

Today on my blog I have a special guest, London Saint James. London's new book Trouble in Paradise was just released and to celebrate she's doing a Release Blitz Blog Tour. London stopped by today to talk about how she got into writing.

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today to celebrate my new release, Trouble in Paradise – A Paradise Ranch Novel. One of the questions I get asked the most is, “How did you get into writing?”

Like many authors, I’d always scribbled down things—little stories and such from a young age. Are people born to do a certain thing in life? Maybe. Because something about the art of storytelling has always been a part of me, even when others didn’t want it to be.

In the second grade I wrote my first short story, and trust me when I say the endeavor wasn’t encouraged, and my teacher didn’t necessarily think my big imagination was a good thing, so I put writing and my imagination on the shelf to gather dust and whither. As I grew a little older, I started writing again, and at the urging of my eighth grade English teacher, I wrote my second short story inspired by a love song. Then as life does, it moved on. Again, I put all the childish things away, writing being one of them. I needed to do “the sensible thing.”

Once in college, I took another foray into writing and the scribbles became an outlet for me. It became an even bigger outlet for me when I got a job in my chosen field. Writing was a stress reliever. An escape. Nothing more. I was living in “the real world” doing all those sensible things people told me I needed to do. But, the thing was, I always came back to what I loved—all that writing nonsense.

In 2010 while working forty-plus-plus-plus hours a week, I worked up the courage, and decided to submit a short story to a publisher for an anthology call. I figured what’s the worst thing that could happen? I pictured the rejection e-mail telling me in polite terms my story sucked, but that didn’t happen. *Smiles* My story was accepted for publication, and I’ve literally never stopped writing.

In the end, I followed my heart and all those non-sensible things people in my life tried to discourage me from doing. Now, I do what I love. I write full time, have won awards and honors for my writing, and have even been on bestseller lists. I also have enough WIPs (works in progress) to keep me busy for a long, long, long time.

So, what have I learned along the way? 

It’s never too late to dream, and never too late to believe. Never let people discourage you from achieving your dream. Never give up. Never stop working toward your goals. Do what you love, and love what you’re doing. Nothing in this life is unattainable, not unless you make it so. 

Trouble in Paradise

A Paradise Ranch Novel

Contemporary Romance, Erotic, Western

by London Saint James

Publisher: Roane Publishing

Release Date: February 15, 2016

Blurb:

If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go back to Dallas.

Since coming home Sutton has inherited herself a heap of headaches, two bossy men who want her for their own, threatening notes, and a whole lot of trouble in Paradise.

Having Doc McNab as competition, being ten years Sutton’s senior, and under her employ, meant the deck was stacked against Flint Palmer when it came to winning the sexy, vivacious Sutton as his woman. No way would she be interested in an old, worn-out, ex-rodeo cowboy like him, but that wasn’t going to stop the man from trying.

With the exception of the pretty as a picture, Sutton Callaway, Kale McNab’s childhood sucked. He’d been jerked up more so than raised by his ex-convict of a father, eventually leaving the girl and West Texas behind. Now, he’s all grown and back in Sutton’s life, willing to do whatever it takes to stay there.