Labor of Love

Almost Perfect available HERE

By Jenna Jaxon

I’ve been writing for over four and a half years and I have to let you in on a little secret:  I love it!  It is literally a labor of love each time I sit down at the computer.  I have a day job and it was what my life was all about until I started to write romance.  I never thought theatre would take a back seat to anything, but I have to admit, writing is more exciting, creative, and fun than the stage right now.

Writing romance has given me a chance to re-invent myself. 

Before I defined myself as a theatre director, a scholar, and a teacher and that was wonderful.  I loved doing the research for a production or an academic paper.  I enjoyed making lesson plans and tried to make my classes interesting by being the most enthusiastic person in the classroom.  This was enough for many years.  But finally it began to pall.  There seemed to be no challenge any more.  I’d directed all the plays that excited me.  I taught all the same classes over and over.

When the writing bug bit me, however, everything old became new again.  The different challenges of writing romance forced me to learn a whole new set of skills.  I’d written academic papers and a dissertation and my major professor always complimented me on my writing skills.  But writing creative fiction--and especially romance--had a whole new set of parameters and unwritten rules that I had to discover and master.  And like many of my heroes, I love a challenge!

Sitting down to write romance fiction is an extremely freeing experience.  I am creating a story to play out in the heads of my readers.  For a change, it’s totally my work.  Academic writing uses a lot of corroboration in the form of research and footnotes and is often based on the work of others. Directing a play uses the playwright’s words and plot, leaving only interpretation up to the director.

With fiction I get to make it all up out of nothing, bound only by the parameters of the time period about which I’m writing.  The research component is the same--which I absolutely love.  In the end it’s almost like having the best of both worlds.  I start to write and the real world goes away, replaced by my own where I get to live for as long as my creative juices are flowing.

So when you see a post on Facebook saying I’m starting another chapter, know that I’ve got a huge grin on my face and am rubbing my hands together in glee.  Another labor of love.

 Blurb for Almost Perfect:    

 Pamela Kimball’s birthday present, a 1Night Stand adventure, promises to jump-start her life, put a new man in her bed, and help her forget her past.  Unfortunately, movie-buff Pam’s Pirates of the Caribbean fantasy takes an alarming wrong turn when she’s abandoned on a not quite deserted island—with ex-husband Roger Ware. 

Forced by hunger to accept Roger’s offer of dinner,  Pam realizes the geek she married has transformed into one of the most charming, sexiest men she’s ever met. His newfound confidence—and hot body—re-kindle old fires.  A simple kiss leads Roger to challenge her to discover how much his lovemaking skills have improved, leaving Pam torn between self-preservation and burning desire. 

With time running out before they’re rescued, Pam must decide if her heart can survive the consequences of becoming Roger’s “almost” perfect 1Night Stand.

Excerpt:

She inched into the lapping surf, searching for movement. Reflection off the water made this task harder than expected. Wasn’t the Caribbean supposed to be teeming with fish?  Now that’s something she’d had a lot of instruction in. Almost every marooned-on-an-island movie had a scene where the heroine learned to catch fish. Six Days, Father Goose, Blue Lagoon. All you needed was your hands and patience. She could do this.

Pam waded out further then stopped just before the water hit her now dry shorts. “Not gonna to have a damp crotch all night.” The words reminded her of exactly what she had hoped for tonight. “But not from wet shorts!” She headed back to shore to remove and drape them next to her shirt. The bandeau was a different story. Still damp, even after several hours, and uncomfortable. Might dry better if not next to her skin anyway. “Screw it!  Live dangerously.”

Standing as good as naked on the deserted beach, Pam smiled as the warm breeze caressed her bare body. The sense of being slightly naughty added to her delight in the sensual feel of the air as it dried her breasts. Her nipples peaked as the wind cooled them. She strutted down to the water’s edge to sink her toes in the sand, the salty tang in the air adding to the perfect moment.

“If you’re skinny dipping, you forgot to remove one very important piece of clothing.”

Pam whirled around. Roger stood on the beach behind her, a green bottle of Perrier in one hand. His gaze played up and down her naked torso and his salacious grin widened. “Mind if I join you?”

Bio:

Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of historical  and contemporary romance who has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager.  A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise.  She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own writing.

Jenna lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets.  When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the theatre, working with local theatres as a director.  She often feels she is directing her characters on their own private stage. 

She has equated her writing to an addiction to chocolate because once she starts she just can’t stop.