Connecting the Shorts

I wanted to talk a little about my popular Happy Holiday shorts. Since their release, they have been selling very well and I want to take this moment to thank my readers for their support. (As you already know, I wrote the shorts for you guys to show reader appreciation over the holidays.)

There are a total of three short stories in the series that can be read and enjoyed on their own but are much more fun when you read them all. Yes, you can read the stories in any order. Although I did write Three-way Kisses first, Kiss and a Handshake second and All About a Kiss third.

What makes these stories fun to read together is that they are connected. What connects them?

• They take place on the same night, Christmas Eve.
• They take place at the same party, the Happy Holiday festival held by the law firm Stephens and Steven's.
• Each main character of each individual story hears the same conversation that presents the opportunity to crash the infamous kissing party where the first person you kiss, or who kisses you, is the person you must spend the rest of the night with.
• In each story you get a different character's point of view of both parties and you even get brief cameos of the characters in the other two stories. Otherwise the stories are totally different.

Three-way Kisses focuses on Kyla and Mike as they are introduced to Bret at the kissing party. It is an MMF ménage erotic romance with a nice little surprise embedded in there. It's more of a romance than the other two since Kyla and Mike have an established, loving relationship.

The others have little twists in them too.

Kiss and a Handshake focuses on Alex as he can't seem to get Zak off of his mind. It is an M/M themed erotic short with a rather fun and witty vibe to the storytelling. Even the title has a "funny" explanation.

All about a kiss is more of an M/F erotic story with themes consisting of interracial, public sex and light bondage. It focuses on Jasmine and her kiss with the Wrangler.

I had a fun experience writing these stories. I hope you have just as much fun reading them. Read one or read them all. There's enough variety for everyone.

Get them all today at All Romance eBooks, Barnes and Noble and Amazon for $0.99!

Leslie Lee Sanders

Breathless Press Offers Contract!

After an R&R, nonstop days of revising and what felt like a serious attempt to prove myself, (and turning into somewhat of a perfectionist during the process) Breathless Press has accepted my erotic romance, Benefits of Sharing!


Benefits of Sharing is a short erotic romance with an MMF menage theme. The story focuses on Cara who is having a difficult time turning thirty because of her sense of lost youth. Her husband attempts to cheer her up and restore her lost youth by introducing her to young Isaac.

I am so excited to become a part of the Breathless Press family and I look forward to working with my editor to further polish my story.

This is great news!

Leslie Lee Sanders

Judy Mays: Erotic Romance Writer Outed

(Excerpt from Barbara Vey -- May 5th, 2011 link below)

Last week the earth shattering news hit that high school teacher Judy Buranich writes erotica as Judy Mays. Horrors!! An English teacher who writes. It’s almost embarrassing to read the news accounts of the outing. A parent came forward because she felt erotica “is unethical, totally unacceptable. Period. It just sort of sickens and saddens me to know everybody’s sort of looking at this like, hey, this is OK.” I hate to break it to you parent, but erotic is ok. It’s not illegal. Lots of people obviously like it because there’s definitely a market for it. We even do book blurbs on them here. So I contacted author Judy Mays and asked for her side of the story.

Read the rest HERE!

Dreams and Storytelling

I have many story ideas and as crazy as it may sound, most of the ideas come to me in dreams. Recently, I had a crazy dream about traveling back in time and falling in love with a high school friend. The dream involved a train as transportation from present to past. Just add a few what-ifs to that scenario and we have ourselves a story. (Or a weird depiction of Back to the Future part three).

Before that dream, I had a dream about being held in some kind of controlled and dangerous community against my will and desperately trying to help my lover escape to find help. In the dream I wore a mood ring that doubled as a looking glass that either showed me the present or predicted the future regarding my lover. Through the ring, I watched him find another community and instead of getting help, he forgot about me and fell in love with a woman from that community.

Now tell me I don’t have a vivid imagination even while sleeping.

Some of my best ideas come from my dreams. And a little FYI, my dreams are very vivid and detailed. Ask my husband, he gets new, exciting stories every morning thanks to my dreams. I’m so in tuned with my dreams, long ago I created a technique to remember every dream I have. I can even wake myself from a deep sleep during a nightmare. Occasionally, I can change the outcome of a dream or mold it to my liking with what’s called lucid dreaming.

I enjoy dreaming. It’s beneficial to me. It takes me to new worlds, allows me to experience new things, and it serves as an outlet or release for my pent-up emotion . . . kind of like creative writing.

I’ve been intrigued by dreams since I was a teenager. I’ve read handfuls of books on dreaming and interpreting dream symbols. My favorite was a dream dictionary. I don’t remember a thing I read but it was fun.

It can sound a little crazy but even Stephanie Myers admits that the idea for her bestseller Twilight came to her in a dream.

Interesting.

(Edited to delete nutty rambling.)

Every night I look forward to what the dream world has for me. I wonder what crazy ideas will come to me in the form of dreams so I can incorporate those ideas into interesting stories to share. Next time you’re looking for ideas for your next novel or short story try turning to your dreams for assistance.

Leslie Lee Sanders

10

Behind the Story: Three-way Kisses by Leslie Lee Sanders

The idea to write Three-way Kisses came to me during the holidays. I wanted a sweet ménage for my readers, something to say thank you for your interest in my writing. I wanted the character to be relatable and the situation or issue to be believable. Therefore the premise of girl desires sexy fun and boyfriend vowing to stop at nothing to allow her that sexy fun came to life.

Available as a Kindle & Nook read



We all have or wish to have that one person in our lives that would do anything to make us and keep us happy. Mike is that person for Kyla.



The story, characters and hot sex must work for the reader because Three-way Kisses has sold hundreds of copies since its debut in November 2010 to this date. It is my top selling read since its release.



I kept my readers in mind while writing Three-way Kisses and I dedicate the complete 3 book Happy Holiday Series to them. Knowing that there are readers out there who appreciate my voice, my writing and my hard work is what keeps me writing.



Favorite character?



My favorite character from Three-way Kisses has got to be the mysterious Bret. I think he’s super sexy enough for both men and women to give in to his advances. He’s so good that he can plant a sexy idea in your head and make you think it was your desire speaking to you.



Favorite quote?



“Don’t ever think you’ve broken us. There’s nothing you can do to keep me from loving you, remember that.” He planted a kiss on the corner of her lips and smiled.



Leslie Lee Sanders

Why Books Aren't Free & Writing is Hard Work

An imaginative, inventive person like me has an urge to see their imagination come to life. We spend many hours in solitude—total isolation—creating and birthing our ideas. The message behind our work is what motivates us. We’re eager to expose our creation to the world and to relay our messages through our art. This is what we live for.


And if we simply give away that which we put so much of our time and effort into ... we wouldn’t be financially able to support ourselves. Writing is work, hard work. And just like your job, you want compensation for your time and effort.


Writing is work but it’s also my art. It’s my imagination come to life. Without it I wouldn’t be able to express my views, my opinions, my likes and dislikes—myself. Writing is how I connect to the world and how I declare myself an individual. I feel what my characters feel—happiness, heartbreak, embarrassment, betrayal—and I get butterflies knowing that readers feel those same emotions when connecting with my characters. Along with my characters, I fall in love, I’m heated with hate, and I feel the thrill of doing something forbidden and so much more.


My writing helps me feel alive. More than alive.


But writing would be impossible to accomplish without the support of my readers. And as much as I enjoy sharing my creations with others, I equally understand that writing is a business. This is why books, even digital books, aren’t free. It’s hard work. Not many people understand this, IT’S HARD WORK. Writing as a profession is more difficult than the average hobbyist or dabbler would ever know.


What makes writing so hard?

• You must be enthusiastic to start a writing project.

• You must be driven to write every single day for hours at a time.

• You must be determined to actually finish your writing.

• You must plan, outline, and take notes. You must figure out what questions to ask, ask the questions, and then research the answers.

• You must set a goal and push yourself to accomplish that goal.

• You must read every day. Only great readers become great writers.

• You must challenge yourself. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone.

• You must hone your skills and develop your craft. You can never stop learning.

• You cannot be afraid to fail. You will be rejected, you will get negative feedback but you must have the confidence to learn from it, keep writing and keep moving forward.

• You have to have the strength to ignore self-doubts about yourself and your work.

• You must plot, plan, rewrite, and edit. Check spelling, grammar, characterization, plot, point of view, tenses, transitions, believability, dialogue, description, etc. You must write the blurb, write the full synopsis, write the query to send to the editor and plot, plan, rewrite and edit those as well.

• You must learn the skills to present your writing professionally and sell it along with your voice to editors and agents. Know your competition and your target audience, etc.

• You must market and promote, manage websites and social networking sites, blog and article write, leave comments and respond to comments, design (or get designed) promotional material; banners, bookmarks, website ads and book covers and book trailers. You must request reviews, interviews and guest blogs. And sooo much more.

So knowing this, I hope you understand why books aren’t free and why authors appreciate their readers’ support.


Appreciate the books you own and the writers who write them. Never share or upload digital books online. And out of courtesy, never ask an author for a free copy. If you do get a free copy cherish it because a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making that book available to you.



Leslie Lee Sanders

Latest Releases

Here are a couple of my latest releases from Xcite Books!

Threesome: When One Lover is Not Enough.

Twenty short stories by various authors with the theme of menage. Featuring the story The Favour by Leslie Lee Sanders.

Pre-order the paperback on Amazon here.

Kindle edition here.

The Favour edited by Miranda Forbes. Featuring the story The Favour by Leslie Lee Sanders.

A collection of 5 mixed erotic stories with a central themes of threesomes.
The Favour blurb:

Jenna Madison is determined to keep her marriage full of spice. Convinced her husband is unhappy with their sex life, she searches for her husband’s high school buddy with hopes of restoring a little more than their friendship. Maybe the amazing Brandon Stone would do her a favour and provide the couple with the perfect amount of spice needed to save their marriage.

Kindle edition here.