Guest Post by Jennifer Macaire, author of The Road To Alexander (The Time For Alexander Series Book 1)

 

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Ashley is a time-travel journalist who has fought to prove herself in a world that that believes her road in life was paved by her parents' fortune. After winning a prestigious award, she is selected to travel through time and interview a historical figure. Choosing her childhood hero, Alexander the Great, she voyages back in time for less than a day to interview a man whose legend has survived to the present day. He mistakes her for Persephone, goddess of the dead, and kidnaps her. Stranded in the past, cold and aloof Ashley has to learn

to befriend, to trust...and to love. 

Writing hot when you have a cold.

Sometimes I don't feel so hot. I don't feel like writing a love scene. But there's a book to finish. The hero and heroine are in place, (picture a book as a movie set) and the producer (the author) yells "Roll 'em!"... and the scene starts to unfold.

So, here I am, sitting at my desk, a flannel blanket over my shoulders, a steaming hot tea by the keyboard, and I'm stuffed with aspirin and sucking a sore throat pill.

I'm writing: "They touch, he slides his hands along her cheeks, grasps her jaw, turns her face to his. She resists, and then their eyes meet. Her cool resistance vanishes in the heat of his gaze. He leans over. Their lips touch..."

And I sneeze.

I picture the woman kissing the man and then sneezing.
The moment is gone.
I start over. This time I get as far as his lips trailing down her neck. Then he breathes in her scent, and all I can smell is my camphor rub. I try to imagine something more romantic than camphor. Jasmine – the old standby. She smells of jasmine - a delicate, sweet scent. He sighs and buries his face in her neck, her hair tickles his skin.

I sneeze again.

Damn it. I take a swig of hot tea. Blow my nose. Glare at the keyboard. The hero is getting annoyed. The heroine is yawning, about to fall asleep. I realize I've been sitting here staring at the keyboard for a long time. My tea is cold. I sigh and start over.

Cool hands sliding over hot skin. (I have a fever!) Sweat pearling on brows. (That too, is easy to imagine.) But my fever is making me loopy. I keep imagining the hero putting cool hands on the heroine's burning forehead. I can only write it once though, not seven times in a row. Besides, she's supposed to be feverish with desire, not with the flu.

I sigh, sneeze, and start again.

By now my eyes are watering so hard I can hardly see my screen and I've finished a whole box of tissues.
I realize I will not be able to finish my love scene.
I must get rid of my cold in order to write hot.
Sometimes, you just have to wait.

As the saying goes, "Waiting is half the pleasure."  My hands fly over the keyboard.

The heroine pushed the hero away. "Not tonight, darling," she said. "But don't worry. The wait will definitely be worth it.

Jennifer Macaire

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About the Author

Jennifer Macaire lives in France with her husband and three children. She lived in the Virgin Islands and used to work as a model. She met her husband at the polo club where he was playing. All that is true, but she mostly likes to make up stories.  She has published over twenty novels. Her short stories have been published by Three Rivers Press, Nothing But Red, The Bear Deluxe, and The Vestal Review, among others. One of her short stories was nominated for the Push Cart Prize (Honey on Your Skin) and is now being made into a film. Find out more at her website  and her blog, where she writes about her life in France https://jennifermacaire.wordpress.com/.  You can also follow Jennifer on Twitter @jennifermacaire.