Stephanie London talking about writing her first book

I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Stephanie London to my blog this week as she launches her debut book, Only the Brave Try Ballet. Check out that cover!

Over to you, Stephanie! 

Things I Learnt Writing My First Book

Writing a book for the first time is a fantastic life experience. I learnt a lot about myself in the time it took to write, revise (and revise and revise and revise) ONLY THE BRAVE TRY BALLET.  Here are 5 things I learned in the course of writing my first book:

1.Coffee is (and always will be) my best writing companion

2.Feedback is worth its weight in gold and it’s worth putting up with the discomfort and fear of sharing your work for the first time

3.Secondary characters are like pepper – use lightly to add colour and flavour, too much will detract from the main course

4.50,000 words is actually not as long and daunting as it sounds if you write a little every day. 250 words is the equivalent of one book page, if you wrote that every day you would have a category-length novel written in about 6 months

5.Writing a book is a team effort, you need a support network to keep you going when it all feels to crazy/hard/scary

If you’re writing a book for the first time my biggest message to you is: KEEP GOING! It can be hard, frustrating, insomnia-inducing, but it’s so worth it when you type ‘the end’. It’s honestly one of the best feelings in the world.

Official Blurb for Only The Brave Try Ballet:

Step up, Grant Farley…not your typical ballet student!

Football pro Grant Farley is nursing an injury and needs to get back into shape—fast. Ballet wouldn’t be his first or even his last choice, but he’s desperate. Enter tantalizingly prim teacher Jasmine Bell—one disapproving arch of her eyebrow and Grant knows he’ll enjoy getting her tutu in a flutter!

But it’s not only Grant’s flexibility that Jasmine’s pushing to the limit! He knows she feels the heat between them, so why won’t she give in to it? Time to convince Jasmine that if she’s brave enough to dance en pointe she can certainly handle a fling with him!

Excerpt

‘About last night—’ he started.

‘If you say How was it for you? I’m going to brain you with this mug.’ She waved a coffee mug at him as if to illustrate her point.

‘What?’ A sly smile spread over his lips as he leant against the breakfast bar. ‘You got a problem with giving positive reinforcement?’

She poked her tongue out at him.

‘No matter—I’ll take the fact that you screamed the house down to mean I did a good job.’

‘Do you want this coffee or not?’ Her cheeks flamed, but she couldn’t prevent a smile twitching at her lips. He was cocky, but then again, when you were that good…

She held his cup under the coffee machine and filled it with steaming dark liquid. The scent filled the room. Usually it was the most comforting scent in the world—reminiscent of early-morning ballet rehearsals and catch-ups with Elise—but today it did nothing to quell her morning-after jitters. Weren’t people supposed to feel anxious before sex, not after?

‘I’ve heard of love ’em and leave ’em, but never love ’em and cease all conversation,’ he teased.

‘We don’t need to cease all conversations.’

‘Just ones pertaining to sex?’

‘Yes.’ She filled her own mug and brought it close to her face. Inhaling deep, she willed the curling tendrils of steam to work their magic, but her shoulders remained bunched, her hands in a death-grip around the mug’s handle.

‘So…how about that local sports team?’ He drummed his fingers against the countertop.

Purchase from: Amazon (US | UK | CA | Aus), Harlequin Mills & Boon (US | UK | Aus)