C.J. Ellisson is the USA Today Bestselling author of the NYT Bestselling book, Vanilla on Top, the bestselling V V Inn series, and several erotica shorts. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a fluffy black cat who makes her sneeze.
Unlike most full-time authors, she's also battling severe chronic illness. C.J. works daily to put her Lupus into remission and continues to fight numerous bacterial infections while her immune system slowly attacks her body.
She turned to writing when she could no longer work outside the home and claims the escape of penning contemporary fantasy, erotica, and erotic romance has helped save her sanity.
To learn more about C.J. and her other books, please stop by the author's website http://www.cjellisson.com or visit her on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/c.j.ellissonfanpage
Carla Johnson thinks issuing orders to a lover will keep her heart safe and leave her in charge of her own destiny. Afraid for Carla’s future, her best friend Heather implores her to change her self-centered ways, handing her a list of love life mistakes to steer clear of:
1. Casual Sex
2. Friends with Benefits
3. Avoidance of Intimacy
Carla ignores the list—unwilling to face she might have a commitment problem. Until she invites a co-worker to her place one night. She instantly regrets the hum-drum sexual encounter and discourages the accountant from pursuing her.
Andy Shea refuses to become another lover the feisty blonde dumps. It'll take a patient man with a strong hand to unlock Carla's sexual awareness and win her heart. He’s up for the challenge to convince her he’s the one—and eager to prove this number cruncher won’t make a boring bedmate.
Q) What inspired you
to write this story?
After completing Vanilla
on Top I had half a dozen light BDSM story ideas running around in my head.
I’m not a fan of the books that go into the heavy BDSM lifestyle, but the
discovery of trying something “kinky” and new between lovers is always
something that’s appealed to me. Just like in real life—I may be bold enough to
try spanking or light bondage, but try and demean me or “put me in my place”?
Well, all I can say is my husband better sleep with one eye open ‘cause I’d
likely smother him later.
Q) How long did it
take you to write?
Avoiding Mr. Right
originally was an erotica novelette about 70 pages long. Interestingly enough,
almost all the sex scenes from the current 170-page book are exact from the
previous publication. The difference is I fleshed out the characters and wrote
an actual story in there rather than just a bunch of loosely strung together
sex scenes. I sat down right after Vanilla
on Top released and revised the manuscript to its current length in about
two months. I had a lot going on at the time, so it took a little longer than planned.
Q) What is your
favorite thing about writing?
I love telling stories. I’m an extrovert and have been in
professional sales most of my adult life. Part of connecting with people is
developing a relationship from nothing, and you do that by telling stories and
sharing relatable anecdotes. My first writing partner (before she agreed to be
my partner) read my opening chapter and proclaimed I was a natural. I’d
discovered my calling and never looked back. So to be able to tell stories for
a living is my absolute favorite part about writing.
Q) What is your least
favorite thing about writing?
The day-to-day struggle of balancing my life. When we work
an office job our hours are set (well, until the advent of the blackberry and
the instant access to email at all times, that changed most office worker’s
live forever). But when your job entails marketing, promotion, managing an
advertising budget, designing promotional materials, and editing, writing and
creating… it seems to never end. Try to fit in cooking dinner, doing laundry,
managing a household, chauffeuring kids and keeping a marriage strong
with all of that and you’ve got a recipe for overworked and stressed.
Q) If you could be
any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
I think I’d like to be Oprah. I’d love to have her job. It
might just be how it appears from the outside, but she looks like she’s having
a great time.
Q) What is the oldest
thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Hmm…. I’m guessing it would be one of the sauce jars in the
door. You know, like dressing or a marinade? Let me go check. *runs to
fridge* Damn, I’ve got nothing
interesting to report. It’s a relatively new fridge; we got it back in
September. And last summer we lost power for five days and everything had to be
thrown out of the old one. I don’t have anything expired or truly old in there.
The only thing I wouldn’t open and use immediately is the French onion dip from
our last party on June 21. I’m thinking even though the date isn’t past it
probably shouldn’t be used.
Q) What can readers
expect from you in the future?
I’m planning on a novella for my V V Inn series and have started plotting the third book in my Wild Side series. I’ve released three
titles so far this year and unlike some writers who can produce a book a month,
I need a bit more time. With hard work I’m hoping to have book three ready
before the end of the year, we’ll see how it goes.
Giveaway details: Two signed swag packs at every stop, complete with goodies from VoT and AMR, open internationally to commenters on the hosting blog.
