Naughty Hearts - Buy Me a Rose Playlist

Welcome to my playlist for my short story, Buy Me a Rose. I’ve been writing erotic romance for a number of years now and I’ve found that one of the most important parts of my writing is music. Music inspires titles, scenes, love scenes and even my characters.

I think this is true for most writers but it’s especially true for me. I know many writers who can’t abide lyrics when they’re writing because it distracts them. For me, songs with lyrics help me to reinforce my own words and the feelings behind them. I love to listen to great songs and genre doesn’t matter. Love songs grab your heart whether they twang, strum or anything else.

Let me give you an example, I’ve been writing about shapeshifters since I started out and most of my stories have featured couples who are new to each other. But I wondered what would happen with a couple who’d shared a long relationship. Would things stay happy or could True Mates, my version of fated soulmates among my shapeshifters, drift apart.

After considering for a while, I realized that yes, a True Mate relationship could get strained and just like any other relationship if a couple didn’t nurture it, the relationship could falter. But with True Mates, there’s no divorce option because once you’re together, you’re mated for life. Unlike a human couple, the danger of cheating or splitting up isn’t in the cards.

To make this story work, my couple, Nathaniel (Nat) and Jessica (Jess) Whitewolf have allowed their relationship to grow stale, but with help from their kids and some work together, they get the opportunity to rediscover each other.

Nat is a dedicated doctor and Jess is involved in her landscaping business and active in the community. They’d lost touch with one another. My shapeshifters can communicate mind to mind and Nat and Jess have almost forgotten how.

So here are a few tunes on my playlist for Buy Me a Rose.

Of course the biggest influence was Buy Me a Rose by Kenny Rogers. I remember watching an episode of Touched by an Angel that featured Kenny Rogers and roughly followed the storyline of his song. That episode and that song stayed with me. When I started writing this story, I knew that this song had to be featured so I could explore that distance between my hero and heroine. It ended up being an important turning point for my hero.



Another important song for my hero and heroine is “their song.” All I Need sung by Jack Wagner was a big hit in the mid-1980s when Nat and Jess met. In fact, it was the very first song they ever danced to and it expressed feelings they both had at that time in their life.



Another song that I used when I was writing and I also mention within the story is a song that long time lovers would respond to is Remember When by Alan Jackson. It’s sweet and it can make me cry and I know Jess would feel the same way.



Something That We Do by Clint Black is also one of those songs that helped me while I wrote. It’s super romantic but it kept me aware of the importance of the little things – the things we do – that show our love to one another. That was definitely something that Nat and Jess needed to be reminded of. Live in each day. Love in each day. Share each day.



Buy Me A Rose  by Francesca Hawley
Jessica and Nathaniel Whitewolf celebrate their thirtieth anniversary as True Mates but they’ve lost their bond. Now a hot couples’ retreat will get it back.

Excerpt from Buy Me a Rose by Francesca Hawley

Copyright © Francesca Hawley, 2015

Chapter One

She heard his step on the stairs and dished his bacon and eggs onto the plate. Right on schedule. Just like every morning. He walked into the kitchen and absently kissed her cheek as he sat down at the table. He ate neatly, as he always did.

Jessica Whitewolf watched her True Mate as he read the paper, his forehead knotted in thought. He’d been so focused on a case lately. One of his patients was late in a high risk pregnancy and he had been seeing her often so that she’d have a healthy pup.

Jess knew she shouldn’t feel jealous, the wolf bitch needed Nat’s attention. Sadly though, Jess couldn’t remember the last time her Mate focused so keenly on her. She fought the envy down and choked it off, wishing the best for the expectant mother.

“What are your plans today?” she asked.

Jess could almost predict what he’d say even though they rarely used their True Mate telepathic bond anymore. He’d talk about spending the day at the clinic and checking on his special case. Then he’d get up, give her a quick kiss and tell her he’d see her tonight.

“It’s a clinic day. I’ll be slammed all day with office visits.”

“Any interesting cases? How is Missy Goldwolf doing?”

“Missy?”

Jess smiled. Nat was a stickler about confidentiality. “She’s pregnant. She’s had a difficult pregnancy and everyone in the entire valley is holding their breaths hoping she’ll carry to term. It isn’t hard to figure out, honey.”

He rose and crossed the room. “I suppose not. She’s holding her own. I’m just glad that Yohana approved the upgrade to the obstetrics and neonatal units at the hospital.”

“Well, considering she’ll need it soon herself, it was a no-brainer for the council.”

“She didn’t know that at the time it was approved, but my thanks to the council,” Nat smiled and gave her a wink since Jess was part of that civic body. “I better go. See you tonight, right?” He kissed her cheek, picked up his briefcase and headed for the front door. Jess followed.

“The kids sent cards.”

“Hmm?” he asked absently as she followed him.

“Anniversary cards,” she hinted. “For us.”

“That’s nice.”

He opened the door and left without turning around once. She watched him walk to the car and waved as he drove away. He didn’t wave back. She wasn’t even sure he’d seen her.
Jess sighed. When had this happened? When had they become so comfortable and…boring. She turned around and went inside to wash up in the kitchen before she headed over to her landscaping business.

Writing Inspiration: Delia's Heartthrob by Regina Kammer

Hi Everyone! This is Regina, once again sharing a post from my own blog. In "Delia's Heartthrob," my story in Naughty Hearts, there's a festival celebrating the coming of Spring. Spring is definitely in the air where I live, and it's giving me inspiration for new stories. Read further to see what inspired my Steampunk series!

In Steampunk Inspiration (Part 1), I discussed my family ties to a unique object of inspiration for my very first Steampunk story. I also hinted at the source of inspiration for my second Steampunk story.

For “Delia’s Heartthrob”, my entry in Naughty Hearts the Valentine’s Day release from the Naughty Literati, there was a specific source of inspiration. But before I get into that there’s a bit of very personal backstory.

While I was writing “One Cheek or Two?” I had a traumatic experience in my real life. I won’t discuss it except to say that at the time it was very difficult to write creatively. I’m a writer, it’s my job, so I had to force myself. The ideas were there, but I found it quite crushing to get them down on paper (or in the computer, rather). I wasn’t experiencing writer’s block; it was post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet something very odd was going on in my freaked-out brain: my characters were waiting for me. Specifically the characters from “One Cheek or Two?”—Delia, Edward, and Sebastian—were waiting for me to write their stories. It was as if they were hanging out in the Green Room of my mind, smoking cigarettes (Sebastian) and drinking tea, conversing amongst themselves at a level of volume I couldn’t hear, lounging about, completely out of character like off-stage actors.

It was comforting knowing they were there, waiting patiently.

And then when I was ready, their stories started pouring out of me, a deluge of ideas, scenarios, characterizations. A whole series developed, actually. It was quite bizarre.

I knew I had to continue writing stories from the Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory, and began contemplating how exactly to do this—Search for anthology calls? Self-publish? Post as an extra feature on my website?

The Naughty Literati Valentine’s Day anthology, Naughty Hearts, was the perfect opportunity to continue the story of Delia, Edward, and Sebastian. But, hmm, Valentine’s Day…how could I make that unique?

Festivals As Inspiration: Burning Man

In August 2014, I went to Burning Man for the fifth time. The arts festival has a reputation for being a week-long, drug-fueled party for naked people. I suppose some people experience the event in that way. But for me, the main attractions are the artworks, the performance art, and seeing friends.

As an erotica writer I constantly get people saying to me “Oh, you go to Burning Man! You must get so much inspiration from being there”—implying, most likely, that somehow the candid nudity and sensuality inspire the erotic aspects of my writing. Actually, Burning Man has never inspired me in that way. However, it has inspired elements of plot and setting. The first such inspiration found its way into Hadrian and Sabina in the form of the festival of Osiris:

The colorful banners and costumes during the day and the flaming, noisy spectacles as night fell…

The theme for Burning Man 2014 was Caravansary and the Man was positioned in the middle of a souk, or bazaar, made up of tents. There were some excellent artworks spread across the Playa and Black Rock City. A few made lasting impressions upon me, and a couple of those gave me ideas for some sexy Steampunk machines in my latest Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory story.

Pulse and Bloom and Skull of Actaeon were interactive art installations that utilized electronic sensors to synch LED lights to a participant’s pulse, thereby visualizing human heartbeats. It was pretty amazing. Pulse and Bloom had the added component of mingling the heartbeats of two people at the same time for a syncopated effect.

Embrace was a large-scale wooden sculpture of two figures embracing (spectacularly set on fire one morning). Inside each of the figures was a glowing red heart hanging like a chandelier.

Festivals As Inspiration: Imbolc

But how to integrate all of this into a story? How could I bring Burning Man to an imagined Steampunk Newcastle? Elisabeth Waters my colleague at the San Francisco Area chapter of Romance Writers of America gave me an idea. At one of our meetings she told me about the Celtic festivals celebrating the seasons: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. Imbolc is the festival marking the beginning of spring and occurs about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

That is, in February, kind of near Valentine’s Day.

And, thus, the setting and plot elements of "Delia’s Heartthrob" were born.

Naughty Hearts is now available, but if you want to get an introduction to the characters in "Delia’s Heartthrob", their first story is “One Cheek or Two?” in the anthology Valves & Vixens: Steampunk Erotica. The two stories can be read as standalones, although I’d really like it if readers discovered the whole world of the Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory.

And I think Edward, Delia, and Sebastian would like it if you read about their lives outside the Green Room of my mind.

Craving a Dream Hunk by Marianne Stephens

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