Guest Post: The Realtors by Liz Crowe

Today I have invited Liz Crowe, author of a new series, The Realtors: Life in the House Lane, to talk to us about her road to publication. Here is a synopsis of the series:

          Love is an easy word to use, a hard one to demonstrate, and sometimes impossible to trust.
          The Realtors is a sweeping epic, encompassing over ten years in the lives of two people who know how to love with their bodies, how to please and get pleasure, to control and be controlled. When it comes to the deeper meaning of the one word they both need however, their strong personalities get in the way. While their physical connection sizzles they continue to disappoint one another emotionally.
          Jack Gordon has it all--money, success, a string of women—but sustains a deep longing for something more. When he thinks he finds it with Sara Jane Thornton, his world is never the same again. Sara releases his natural Dom, a side of him he'd thought buried out of frustration and unhappiness. Sara learns a true submissive must trust implicitly, something she cannot associate with him, no matter how many times she tries, and he fails.
          With a rich cast of secondary characters, including a young man who presents a near-perfect foil to Jack's intensity, and who falls hard for Sara; The Realtors series is a romantic saga with an emphasis on contemporary life and love, with a healthy dose of white-hot eroticism. Modern, busy, driven characters living lives of purpose and real-time stress, seek the ever-elusive and highly coveted combination --a friend, lover and trusted advisor who will be there for the long haul.

My Journey to Publication

By Liz Crowe  

I’ll be the first to admit it:  I was not a kid who wrote a lot. I didn’t keep a journal or a diary.  I didn’t want to Grow Up to Be A Writer.

I didn’t think I’d grow up and own a craft microbrewery either, but that’s a different story.

I did, however, read, early and often.  My mother taught me to read when I was four, as a grad school experiment using Montessori methods. As a result I am a very fast reader, taking in chunks of words at a time, sometimes entire sentences or partial paragraphs.  And I am one of the worst spellers on the planet, thank you GOD for spell check and autocorrect.

It’s all that early reading that made we want to write later in my life.

Now, True Confession Number 2:

I am not a “romance reader.” Never have been. However, I was introduced to the concept of “erotic romance” about three years ago, and jumped into that with two feet, for varying reasons, but since this is not a marriage counseling session I’ll spare you.  Not “erotica” mind you.  Let’s make this clear.  I don’t like a “sex story” just for the sake of a sex story, which is what a lot of people are passing off as “erotic romance” these days.

I like a nice juicy, layered story, with realistic characters and dialogue that doesn’t flip the lights off when the Hero and heroine hit the bedroom (or the hallway, or the kitchen counter, or wherever).  What I enjoy is keeping it real on all levels. Showing the good, the bad, the hot and the cold and everything in between for my characters—that’s why I keep the admittedly pretty explicit sex in my books.  And I’m told it flows naturally. I don’t write erotica just for erotica’s sake. Although I’ve read some really good stuff in that area and it’s really good. The problem is so much of it is….not.

So in 2010 I tried my hand at it. Collected a few rejections, but that ultimately spurred me on to make it better, make it work, make it publishable.  

Today I have 5 different publishers including 2 very small, 1 medium and 1 that is the largest publisher of erotic romance going (Ellora’s Cave). So when it came time to find a home for my Very First Big Project, the One that started me on my journey as it were, and one which has now undergone the highest number of evolutions, adjustments, and major plot changes mainly because of my growth as a writer, I teamed up with a start-up, high energy e-publisher and together we are making this series really fly.

Thanks, Tri-Destiny, and Jessica Warth and your team of dedicated professionals for bringing my original dream to fruition. 

Everyone’s journey to publication is different, even if paved with familiar stones of inspiration, enthusiasm, rookie errors, rejections, humble pie, and growth.  Mine just started a little more recently than some. And went down a pretty crowded path—the romance one, although you will never catch me writing (or reading) anything with “Marry” and “The Duke/Earl/King/Emperor/President” in the title. Ever.

Thank you for visiting with us, Liz Crowe!