What Would I Tell a New Author by Natalie Cross – Guest Blog and Giveaway

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It may be presumptious of me to give advice to a new author, as I still consider myself a newbie. Even though only two of my manuscripts are published, I have actually completed five or six manuscripts, in various stages of editing, over the past two years, so let me offer my two cents.

When I started my writing journey with the first draft of Ballroom Blitz, I wondered constantly whether it would be “good enough.” Good enough for who or to what standard, I never quite clarified to myself, but it was sufficient to halt my writing multiple times. I wasn’t finishing the book because I kept going back and trying to perfect my sentences.

That’s when I realized that the first draft isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s a very detailed outline, destined for rewrite after rewrite. Those bare-bones first drafts will evolve and morph into something beautiful and “good enough,” but if you never finish them, they’ll languish. I swear some of my unfinished manuscripts sit there laughing at me. And stories shouldn’t languish like browning bananas. They deserve to exist.

That’s not to say I’m not a mood writer. Should I sit down and complete a full three-book series in one go? Maybe. Do I do that? Absolutely not.

I have the first books in several different series lying around on my laptop. Once I get these competing stories out of my head and into a raw first draft, I skip around to complete other series. I’ve had to accept that’s the way my brain works.

That might not be how yours works, and that’s fine. That’s wonderful. Respect what works for you. We should all be different because we will create different and wonderful stories. They will be good enough for someone if they are good enough for you. I can’t wait to read yours.

In the glamorous world of ballroom, love and dancing do not always mix.

Professional dancer Anita Goodman has learned that lesson the hard way. With her studio and her reputation on the line, she has to take a chance on the last person she ever wanted to partner with: her best friend.

Patrick O’Leary has loved Anita since high school, but he has languished in the Friend Zone for long enough. He will take this last chance to prove to her that love is greater than winning.

Neither of them realize that conquering their rising attraction won’t be their biggest obstacle. Someone does not want them to be together, and will stop at nothing to get their way.

Love, dance, and danger. It’s a Ballroom Blitz.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The ballroom still thrummed with the clack of heels and the slide of suede, though its last inhabitants had vanished over an hour before. Applause and cheering from the final night party echoed across the hallway. The tables were strewn with hair pins, empty water bottles, and sweaty towels tossed with exhilaration before another heat. The perfume of sunless tanner and hairspray drifted toward the apex of the ballroom’s ceiling, and it almost seemed that a few notes of a Viennese waltz still clung to the utilitarian white hotel tablecloths.

Rapid footsteps broke the waiting silence. Stilettos from the click click click, glimmering with crystals, a few of which scattered from the shoes with a brackish clatter as the heels struck the parquet of the ballroom floor. Heavy breathing, panting. “No!” A stumble as one heel of the red satin crystal-encrusted stilettos snapped. Sobbing.

Then another pair of footsteps, flats, fashionable. Something hard, with an edge that might draw blood. These footsteps were measured. No panic. No anxiety. Calculating.

The sobs intensified. “Please, please, please, no, I didn’t do anythi—”

A gurgle, a grimace, a thud. The wash of silk from a bone-white evening gown susurrated along the cold parquet floor. The scent of copper flooded the air.

A grunt, a vicious exhale, an audible sneer.

Then the ballroom closed upon itself again. The tables, the cloths, the chandeliers, the lights. All waiting for its new secret to be discovered.

About the Author: Love is an adventure.
Natalie writes romances and cozy mysteries featuring women who want to be seen and the men and women who cannot look away from them.

Natalie lives in Los Angeles, where writing is an acceptable way to avoid sunburn. She is mom to two lovely young munchkins who despise brushing their hair and eat way too much cake. She is unapologetically terrible at taking selfies.

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