Kimberly Dean's Blog

Dream Lover

I'm super excited that Dream Lover is now available to readers. I fell in love with Tony, the dream god, and Hunter, the moon goddess, as I wrote their story. They're a fiery but sweet couple, and it was fun exploring the fantasy aspect of their romance. I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks about it!

For a short time only, MAXIE (Triple X series, Book 2) is available for free. LEXIE (Book 1) is also on sale for 99 cents. It's time for some summer reading, don't you think?

Lexie


Maxie

Hey Paranormal Romance Fans,

If you're looking for something to read, Dream Man is available for free today and tomorrow. Just a little belated summer solstice gift. Happy reading!

Kimberly

Dream Man

I got “the call” today.  Haunted Hearts is a RITA® Finalist in the Paranormal Romance category!  This is big – like huge – and it hasn’t sunk in yet.  The RITA’s are the biggest awards in romance writing, and Haunted Hearts made the cut.

This was the proverbial story that sat under my bed for the last decade.  Longer than that, actually.  My first draft dates back to 2001.  The story went through many incarnations, based on feedback from several editors, until it was a tangled mess.  I opened the file in 2018 to look at it again, and suddenly I could see the path to untangle everything.  I took my story back and self-published it.

And, today, it was nominated for the highest honor in my book’s genre.

Hi everyone.  I’ve put a new short story out there.  It’s only 99 cents, or free if you’re in the Kindle Unlimited program.

Doctor Megan Chambers is heading to the International Space Station as an astronaut with an important mission – to study the mechanics and proper procedures for sex in space.  The research is vital for long-range missions and the establishment of remote colonies, but her project is put in jeopardy when her research partner is disqualified for flight days before launch.  Stranded alone in space, Megan strives to carry on independently until mission control expresses its disappointment in her lack of results.  Bad boy astronaut, Commander Aaron Bridges, volunteers to help her complete her… studies.  But their efforts have surprising results that might send them both into orbit.

Get your copy here!

I’ve recently been working on updating my Courting Series. I’ve been changing everything back to “American” English from the “British” English in which the books were originally published, and something interesting has been happening. As I’m proofreading, I’ve been noticing sentences that don’t sound like me or even individual words I don’t like.  Nine times out of ten when I go back to my original manuscript, I’m finding that these are things that were changed in the editing process.  It’s gotten to the point where it’s freaky.  I’ll read a sentence and think “that doesn’t flow right” and boom.  It turns out that was a sentence that a line editor re-structured.  These aren’t grammatical or punctuation errors that were fixed.  I’ll stumble through some dialogue and think “something is missing,” and I’ll discover that a word was removed or changed… and not because it was a translation thing like “lift” versus “elevator.”

What’s even more interesting to me is that it’s been four years since I worked on the first book in the series.  Four years since I’ve even looked at the story itself.  The stories are fresh to me as if I was reading somebody else’s work, yet these blips stand out like sore thumbs.  At first I thought it was odd, but the more I considered it, the happier it made me.  I know myself.  I know how I would write something.  My style has matured to the point it’s indelibly “me.”  And guess what?

Everything is being changed back to the way I want it.

One of the things I wanted to finish before the end of the year was an update to my website, and I did it!  (Barely)  Here it is.  I’ve cleaned up the navigation and changed the styling.  There are still some things I want to change, but I’ll do it incrementally.  So… What do you think?  Let me know if you have any problems or find any broken links.  So far, I’m pretty happy with it.  I’ve sharpened up my development skills and have learned a lot.  New year, new start, new website.  I’m off to a good start!

Haunted Hearts has been named Best Paranormal Romance for 2018 by N.N. Light’s Book Heaven.  I’m thrilled!

I had a very long day yesterday, sifting through stock photos.  I’m trying to come up with a concept for some covers I need to re-do.  You’d think this would be fun – and it is – for the first three hours or so.  Then it becomes unbearably frustrating.  There are millions of photographs and various images out there.  Many are fantastic and would serve perfectly fine as book covers.  So what was the problem?  Designers have to tag their images with keywords in order for me to find them, and the keywords they use don’t always match up with what I think their keywords should be.

Not all creativity is the same.  My creativity is rooted in words.  Designers think visually.  Often, it’s difficult for the two sides to communicate with each other.  Example?  I was looking for a “sophisticated couple” or a “classy couple.”  My results were disappointing.  It took me forever – and I mean hours – to figure out that what I was looking for was an “elegant couple.”  Aaaaggg.  Beyond that, even when I had the right search words, a lot of the pictures were labeled wrong.  So, so wrong.

It’s interesting how the brain works, isn’t it?  We often think that creative people and practical people have trouble communicating, but it can go deeper than that.  It can be difficult for writers and graphic artists to communicate, too, because our creative strengths are in different areas.

This process consumed my entire day.  It even affected my sleep.  I finally got up at three o’clock in the morning to write down a couple of new keywords and some different concepts to try.  I started searching again early this morning.  While none of them panned out, I stumbled across something I think will work.  Finally!  What a relief.  I’m ready to stop looking at pictures and go back to words.  It’s much easier on my brain.

 

Haunted Hearts is a finalist in the 2018 N. N. Light Book Awards in the Paranormal Romance category.  The winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 18.  How exciting!