Look all -- PENS! YAY!

Dana will be giving away a promotional pen to one randomly drawn tour commenter and a promotional T-shirt to another during the tour.

Sonja Winters was enjoying the good life with a great job and being married to the man of her dreams. As she prepared to celebrate their seven year anniversary she came across a secret that her husband had been keeping from her that would alter the course of their marriage forever.

Really, the book sounds fun and exciting, and I asked Dana to talk specifically about what was the most fun aspects of writing. So... Dana... the floor is yours!

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I am Dana Littlejohn, multi-published author of erotic romance.

When I was asked to write about what I thought were the fun aspects of writing my book was I found myself stuck. After a few minutes a smile came to my face and the answer was clear. Let me explain. My day job isn’t extremely hard work and the people are nice enough. I mean, I haven’t had to slip anything into anyone’s morning coffee so you know…but I live for the five o’clock whistle when I can rush home and hit the computer. I can’t think of anything more fun than being a writer.

Everything about writing a book is fun. I love the whole creative process. Ideas sparking from somewhere colliding with your imagination and after a while forming a full fledge story filled with interesting people, places and things. I think that is the coolest thing ever. Not just because it happens to me, but because it happens! I get inspiration from all over the place. I don’t think I’ve ever just sat down and said, hmm, I think I’ll write about... Motivation has to come from somewhere for me. My brain needs a catalyst. A place, a person, a situation, a song… Conversations and that whole ‘what if’ has kick started many of my stories.

One of my girl friends said in frustration one day, “I wonder what kind of marriage I would have if I ran everything.’ From that whispered wonderment came the book The Seven Year Switch. I loved doing the research and freaking my husband out with all the fetish and bondage books that were laying around. Each time something was delivered he would ask, ‘this is for research, right?’ LOL I pretended to be my main characters and joined countless chats to get the feel of the world the book would take place and interviewed anyone who would share with me.

Once the research part was done I loved building the people with problems and struggles they must conquer to make them better and then creating the solutions so that they can become better for overcoming it. I mostly use fictional places within real cities so the readers can relate to places. I incorporated real street names and made up buildings in real areas so the reader could feel that exhilaration that comes with walking in the footsteps of the character. That part was a blast!

There were times when the dreaded writers block came upon me and my brain came to a screeching halt. When that happens I figure I’m doing too much. I’m trying to take over when the characters are supposed to be the ones telling the story. So I back off for a minute and do something totally off the subject like watch movies, color or go shopping. *grin* Eventually they started talking to me again and the story started to flow. I don’t really consider writers block as a downside because gives me the hand slap I need and the opportunity to shop! LOL

Everything about writing this book was enjoyable. I didn’t know when I started if it was going to be 10k short story or 50k novel. I just jumped in created the world and played. When they told me the story was over I stopped writing and began the editing process.

Thanks for having me. This was fun, too.

Let's take a peek at THE SEVEN YEAR SWITCH, shall we?

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EXCERPT
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“Yes, I understand.” Bianca sat next to her and openly looked her over. “I see now why he chose you. You are beautiful and strong. You will be able to control him well.”

Sonja scoffed. Her anger at the situation came back, fueled by Bianca’s nonchalant description of her ability to deal with her husband.

“If you’re talking about my husband, I was controlling him just fine until you came along.”
“Hmm, I can appreciate how you must feel, but you do not have all the facts.”

Bianca clapped her hands and two men appeared. They looked similar to the biker guy who led her into the room except they were much younger and more firmly built. They dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.

“Yes, Mistress,” they said in unison.

Sonja’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Bianca’s voice roused her from her stunned state.

“Sonja, would you like a drink?”

“Uh…”

“Coffee, tea, perhaps a glass of wine,” she offered.

“Umm, yes, a glass of wine would be nice.”

“You heard her and bring fruit, too,” she told the men.

Sonja’s emotions teetered between anger, confusion and amazement. These large and strong looking, fully grown men were seemingly at Bianca’s beck and call. They left the room to do her bidding with only a comprehensive nod. She turned a look to Bianca. Sonja was sure her face reflected the surprise and shock wavering inside her over the men’s behavior. It was hard to hide as she looked at her hostess.

“Please, allow me to explain. These men come to me from various places and all walks of life, but they all want the same thing and they pay me to give it to them.”

“Uh-huh, and what’s that?”

“They want to be dominated by a woman.”

~~@~~
YOU HAVE JUST READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE SEVEN YEAR SWITCH
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Dana Littlejohn was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but has called Indianapolis, In. her home for over ten years. She has always wanted to write since early childhood, but put that wish on hold to raise her growing family and have a career. With the encouragement of her husband, Dana picked up her pen again in 2003 and has no intention on putting it down. With 3 novels, 8 novellas, 4 stories in anthologies, 42 short stories published to date and a long list of wips (works in progress) she is literally living her dream. Join her on the wild journey through her imagination. It’s a ride you’ll never forget!

Website: http://www.danalittlejohn.net/
Blog: http://www.authordanalittlejohn.blogspot.com/
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