Hey, how’s it going? Hope spring time is treating you well. I’m happy you stopped by the blog today. In the last post, I gave a sort of introduction to the characters in my upcoming book Love and Sportsball, due out Sept. 24 from Afterglow Books. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Rae Shawn for her podcast Rae’s Corner, and one of the questions that came up was where does the inspiration for her stories come from. That question sparked this post. Inspiration can happen almost anywhere. People watching, a song, a commercial, a random comment. Then there is the question I ask myself which is: Can I do this? Part of being a writer for me, is challenging myself so I don’t end up in a rut. There are some base things that are “on brand” for me, but I do try and spread my wings and not stick only to things that are my comfort zone because I worry that could get boring after a while. I honestly don’t remember why I thought writing a sports romance would be a good idea for me, but when I told my Squad about the idea, the enablers of my bad decisions that they are, they were all in. Even trying to blow up the series to being about each player on the team. That’s too many books, so that was a no-go from the jump. So, why was writing a sports romance a bad idea? If you can’t tell from the book’s title, I’m not a sportsball person. I know a little about them, more since being married, but even with my kids playing various sports over the years they hold no interest for me. I’m just not that girl. You’re probably wondering then why did I? Simple answer, because I wanted to know if I could. Plus learning new things is never a bad thing. I was nervous when I started because I wasn’t tackling any of the well known sports like football or baseball, or even the typical basketball. Because I write sapphic stories, there was only one obvious (to me) course to take and the Atlanta Cannons WNBA team was born. Seriously, for a person who says she sticks to contemporary romances because she doesn’t have the patience for research when it comes to historicals, I had to research. I was not about to embarrass myself by not at least doing the bare minimum. That started with me watching games. Shout out to YouTube for coming through in a clutch since the season wasn’t active when this book was being constructed. But it was more than just watching and trying to pick up on the proper terminology, it was also about digging into what I could about the organization. I’m not so completely removed that I am unaware of the discrepancies between the WNBA/NBA. Or hell, even the difference in treatment the women’s college basketball has had in comparison to the men’s. It was a topic I couldn’t not include, but tried to do it in ways that felt natural for the story. Part of my research was to read other sport romances because I needed to see what the general balance was between how much of the sport aspect was talked about along side the budding relationship. And folks, it’s slim pickens out there for WNBA romances. I found some other basketball with the FMC being the player, but they were mostly set in college. The only series I found that featured the WNBA was the Trojan and Nymphs series by Nicole Falls and Alexandra Warren. Now there might be others out there, but at the time I was starting with the idea for Love and Sportsball, this series was the only one I came across.I enjoyed the ones I read, and they gave me a good idea of how much sport I needed to include. Even with doing the research, I’m also all about making sure I give myself a loophole which is why I had a character who was sort of like me, who was not into sports despite working in that field. I thought it’d be a fun twist to have someone whose job revolved around the thing she had no outside interest in. And as I was writing, I really leaned into the loophole I’d created for myself, but also pulled on some of the basic knowledge of sporty things I’ve learned over the years to make the book as plausible and on point as a fictional story can be. However, considering what Khadijah’s job was, I still had more work to do. Like with my basic sports knowledge, I had a general sense of what an athletic trainer did, but oh man, the schooling, and training, and the certifications they have to go through was way more intense than I thought. Though, I’m not sure what I actually expected to find out. Either way, as I moved forward I kept a running list of resources to refer back to for both of my characters since a lot of the story revolved around their respective jobs. The loophole I left for myself wasn’t the best all things considering. But, even with all the research I did on my own, my absolute best resource were my beta readers.Shout out to Rae Shawn and Jessica Terry. Their feedback from them was invaluable because I wanted to make sure I put forth my best effort in this new territory. Especially since I’d be writing more than one book. Rae is a regular beta for me, so I’m used to her feedback. I admit I was nervous to hear what Jessica had to say since she used to play ball. I truly expected her to be like yeah… no don’t do sports again (seriously), but she didn’t. And let me tell you, I was elated to have someone who actually played, and enjoyed sports tell me I didn’t get it all wrong. It made me feel so much better about the book going out into the world. I’m still nervous, but I’m always nervous with a new release. But I’m also more confident than I would have been if I hadn’t gotten the feedback before it makes it to the general public. So, Love and Sportsball will be out Sept. 24th. My first major traditional release. While I don’t read my reviews, I am eager to see how the general reception goes for these ladies. That’s it for this post. If you’re excited about the book, you can preorder. Scoring was the easy part…
Hard work has Khadijah Upton starting her dream job as an athletic trainer for the Atlanta Cannons. Then an evening of celebratory letting loose turns into a one-night stand with a beautiful stranger. It’s a reckless, wildly sexy encounter that Khadijah intends to forget…until her first day on the job lands her face-to-face with Shae Harris again. Shae is a major player in every sense of the word, and Khadijah doesn’t plan to be the latest in a long line of “Harris Honeys.” Personal and professional just don’t mix. But Shae, who’s all about living life to the fullest, keeps tempting Khadijah to blur the boundaries. And the more Shae reveals about herself, the harder it is for Khadijah to resist her. In the bedroom, their tension sizzles. On the court, it’s a liability. But unless Khadijah’s willing to really let Shae in, it won’t be just the team championship on the line, but a body-and-soul connection that rewrites all the rules. Until next time, ~Meka
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