So as you might have guessed . . . It's Sharing Time.
Remember that old game, Truth or Dare? Well, I picked both. I took the dare and now I'm going to tell you about it. Sooo, I have a pen name. I took a pen name so that I can write Paranormal Romance for the general public. And by General Public, I mean people who don't live, think, or act like members of the LDS church.
Did that sound ominous? Good! I hope so,
because I'm here to warn you.
If you enjoy reading my Christian Romance novels- Great! BUT - you might not enjoy reading my paranormal romances. If you hate the idea of reading books about witches, vampires (well, sort of) or werewolves, then please, please do not read my books. I would hate to read a review on Amazon about how shocked and horrified you are and so you're going to punish me by just giving me 1 Star or something really evil like that.
Next warning: There is kissing in my books. I know, I know! My clean romance characters kiss too, BUT these books are a little more passionate. I call it Clean With Steam. So if you are uncomfortable watching television after 7pm, or never watch a PG-13 movie, then these books are not for you. Really. They're not.
I must point out though, that my books are CLEAN. There are no sex scenes or heavy make out scenes where you wonder if the characters need an interview with their religious leader. No. None of that here. I will never write a sex scene. Ever. Kissing scenes? No problem.
There are also a lot of action scenes and some are kind of violent. So if Harry Potter freaked you out, please don't read my books. Really. I'm just trying to help you out here.
So why am I going out of my way to warn you away from my books? Do I hate selling books? No. Do I want you to be bored to death? No! Here's the deal. Shannon Hale, author of Austenland has been getting tons of flak lately. So much so, that's it's almost upsetting. From who? From people who are horrified and offended by the kissing and the innuendo. (Personally, I loved it and thought it was hilarious - but I'm twisted like that) So I'm just trying to head off the hate mail.
My Covers. This could be a problem. I've already had a comment on my other author FB page by a person who said they would NEVER buy my book because the cover was too sexy. On one of my covers, the woman's shoulder is showing. People - if you are offended by shoulders - PLEASE do not read my books! There will be shoulders in every book I write. I find that I can't seem to write about people unless they have shoulders. (Sorry, that was sarcastic)
So next question - Why even tell people about my pen name or that I write paranormal romance? Well, it turns out that a lot of my readers, friends and members of my church actually enjoy paranormal romance. Besides that, I've had a few people on FB message me and say things like: "Um, this is a weird question, but are you Katie Lee O'Guinn ?" These are also the people who read a blog I wrote about a year ago talking about how much I wanted to write a book about a witch and put 2 and 2 together. So smart!
Next question: Why the name Katie Lee O'Guinn? I've been doing a ton of Family History and I found out a lot about my Great Grandmother Katie Lee who died at a very early age. I kind of wanted her to live on and not be forgotten. Would she want the notoriety of being famous for writing Paranormal Romance? I'm sure I will find out someday.
So here's my other reason for writing for the general public: Most of the teenagers and new adults out there don't have the same standards as we do. So in all my books I try to sneak in a little lesson on chastity or choosing the right. A lot teenagers in the world are involved in sex, pornography and all the bad stuff that you read about. My character Sarah in my witch series has to deal with being pressured into a sexual situation. Not by an evil bad character, but by a friend she cares about. We all know from the story of Adam and Eve, that the temptation isn't coming from a guy standing on a corner, it's coming from someone you love and trust. So she has to deal with that. And hopefully some girl out in the world will be wondering what to do in her own life and read my book and hopefully come away feeling a little stronger and more determined to not be pressured into doing something that would just lead to misery.
Also, Ava in my werewolf books takes a stand against drinking and drugs in her 3rd book and also decides (again, against a lot of pressure) to wait until she's married to have sex. And if you read a lot of mainstream books, that is just not happening.
Sorry, this blog post is so HUGE, but I thought I'd just get it all out there while I can.
So if you're curious or intrigued, starting tomorrow, I'm offering my 1st book in my Lost Witch series for Free, it's called Freak of Nature. I'm also offering Werewolf Dreams for free as well, which is my first book in my Taming the Wolf trilogy.
And if that's not your cup of coco, please rest assured that I will be writing many more clean romance books in the very near future.
(If you insist on calling me to repentance or sending hate mail, please note that I will possibly put you in my next book and your character will be very mean and most likely unattractive.)
