Patron Saints of Romance Collection Conversations Transcript

Danielle with Violit Hour: So first off, you're just back from Dreaming Dirty. How about that? Was that your first con experience as an author?

Sloane St. James: Yes. Well, so I had gone to one of them, I guess like a year ago, kind of as a reader, I went to Meet Me in Milwaukee and then I kind of thought well if this is going well maybe I want to do one so it's kind of like my reason for going just to see what it was about because I'd never been to one. And then I got invited to the Dreaming Dirty so that was like my first as an author going and it was it was so surreal like I didn't bring enough books I thought for sure like I was like we're gonna have too many there's this is gonna be too many and then I think we sold out of like before we came I think before even like general admission like opened up and I felt so bad but we'd like we're able to still you know sell some more but it was definitely uh there's more people than I thought there was gonna be like that knew my books because it it wasn't really I mean obviously it was my crowd like my crowd was there but so many of the authors were more like Romantasy and things like that and so I kind of was expecting more of those readers and so I thought well there's not gonna be like a ton of sports romance but no there was a ton of sports romance, so that was awesome. Yeah.

Love to hear it. You can be both too, you know!

I know I really would love to like as just as a reader I have never read a fantasy yet and I I know I know I feel so bad like I'm like I feel like I shouldn't be like allowed to write books until like like I have ACOTAR it's got my shelf like I've got some of them but I and they're definitely like on my TBR I just haven't read them yet and I think I would love them. But yeah, I don't know. I was recently listening to a podcast that did an interview with S.J. Tilly and she said that she doesn't really read contemporary romance. She just reads like Romantasy, which blew my mind because I thought you write what you, you know, read is to me. That's like what I do. And I kind of just thought that was like, you know, this is like the space that I'm in that I understand well. But that was super fascinating. So I'm like, I got to start like branching out into all of the genres. So.

I love that. And do you think it would be helpful in your writing process or is that, would that almost be like a escapism? Like just get me out of my own head.

Yeah. Oh, I think so. Like, honestly, there's so many books, I think, that can bring inspiration, you know, to writing another book. Like...

Especially if you look at Before We Came like a lot of that beginning of like Birdie finding herself and everything that happens with her I could definitely be in more of like a Crime, you know suspense thriller or whatever you want to call it So I feel like there's so many of those and I love love when those cross over Like I love like a good like thriller smut remix like that's just the best so I'd love to kind of get into that space eventually. But yeah, so I think reading more, that was like a really long answer for your question, sorry, but yeah, I think it would be good. Yeah.

We love a long answer around here. Absolutely. I am honestly shocked that it's on your shelf and you haven't read it, but it is, I mean, it's a commitment and you are a busy, busy lady, so that is understandable.

It is. That was one thing I didn't expect like, in the beginning, I obviously was a reader first and so i read all of these books and then I was kind of just sort of getting to that spot when I was like i think i'm gonna try to write a book and see what happens and then I did that and then it just sort of kept going. So I feel like it was like all of a sudden I just didn't really have time to read anymore as much as I wanted to. And now it's mostly like comfort reads when I just like really need to pull myself away and just read something different or something. I don't know. So yeah.

And I was going to ask because your books are I mean obviously the series is hockey romance and so you know follow some of the Tropes and things that you see But it does feel unique in that fact that each of them do have almost that like Thriller type of vibe in the subplot like there's something else going on. 

Yeah, I do like that. Yeah, that's, I think that's sort of... Yeah, and honestly when I started, so when I first wrote Before We Came, my beta readers were like, okay, but you should probably market this as like...more of a suspense or mystery and I was like dude I've already outlined like the next three books like it's a hockey team like we are definitely a hockey team and I was just like well I don't know how long this is gonna go for so I'm just gonna keep up with this so it was it was definitely because I didn't know what was gonna happen you know what I mean after the first one and if it didn't do well not to be like then I was gonna give up and go home. Like, I don't wanna be like that, but at the same time, I don't know if it's just like my ADHD. I have got so many like little hobbies that I just sort of start up all the time. And this was going to be like one of those like, let's see what happens. You know, let's see if I like it or whatever. And it went really well, obviously, which I was very, very pleased about and actually feel very at home now with this where I don't feel like I need to like give it up. But I kind of knew like if I was going to do this, I had to put like my best story first because I had to give a reason for somebody to want to pick up the next book. And I just wanted it to be different. Like that was my biggest thing was like and I had the idea for her story or their story And so it was kind of like well, I just I'll This is what this is what I'm going to do. And I knew like like someday I'm going to look back like if this goes well, I'm going to look back and be bummed that I use this story idea when I was first starting out, because like I know that I could do it better, but I didn't really know what I was doing. And there's definitely things like I change even now going back. But it's like, you know, it was your first one. And so I had to I had to kind of sacrifice it for just like the sake of everything. But yeah.

And so when did you know within the series that you had something basically or that it was sort of like moving out of the hobby and into the real-life space?

Yeah i think book three like in october that blew my mind like we were i went with my husband on he had a work trip to like florida and he was like hey if you want to come along and i was like yeah i can write you know because i just wanted time to write because i was working full -time then and we've got kids and it's just like kind of madness. But I was like, yeah, you know, that'll be a great excuse for me to just lock myself in a hotel and get as many words as I can out. And the release was happening at that point too. And my releases had been fairly small, but now I had had, I don't know what happened. Like to this day, I don't know what happened, but it's like it exploded. Like it was this. Like the page reads were just getting out of control and I was like, holy smokes, like this is, there's something going on. Like I don't, and I don't know where the traffic came from, which drives me nuts. Cause that's one thing we don't know on Amazon. Like they don't give us any of that information. And so it's really frustrating, but at somewhere it just like caught like wildfire. A post must've got, I don't know what happened. I mean, I had tons of people that were like pushing the content, which was amazing. They did so well, but I hadn't hit like I don't think I had started like a street team yet. I think it was after that. So I just I don't know what happened, but it was it was amazing. And that's when I realized like, oh, people like these books like this is this is like a thing because I was kind of just still going and wait, you know, like hopefully someday this works out. Like I knew the people who had read them really liked them, but I hadn't been widely read yet. But I feel like when Book 3 hit, that's when everything's just sort of went boom. And then I needed to like quit my job — my full-time job. So I was like I can't do this anymore like this is just I was I was getting a little bit of burnout to happening so yeah.

I can only imagine. I remember when I found you and I had like gone to your page on Amazon or something and your bio said you were working full time with kids and you did this at night. I'm like, how in the fuck is this woman doing it? Like what did your days look like?

Mm -hmm. Dude. They were long. They were so long. Like I'd get up, help, you know, get kids ready. Thankfully I worked from home so I didn't have to deal with like a commute, eating up time during my day, which was super helpful. But yeah, do my day and then at night I would probably sit down. It started where like my son was, you know at that stage where he won't go to sleep unless like you're nearby. And I just didn't, I was like, you know what, I will just sit in the corner and with my laptop and type away and you can go to sleep and we'll just do that. So that was kind of how like almost all of Before We Came was written in the corner of my son's room. Just like, you know, up to like 1 a .m. just typing. Um, because I also did NaNoWriMo. Do you know what NaNoWriMo is? It's like national, okay. National November Writers Month something like that whatever it is that would combine it yeah um and like the goal is to write 50 000 words in a month and I was like, I had misheard the instructions. I thought you were supposed to finish your book in a month. So I was like, all right, I'm going to do it. And at the end, I was like, oh shoot, I got to like 80 ,000 words. I didn't hit it. And I told my editor, I was like, yeah, well, we didn't finish it in the month. And she was like, it's only 50 ,000 words. And I was like, oh really? I was like, then I did great so that was kind of like this weird challenge to myself and at the time I had all of this creative like you know just like waiting to like be spent and so it was very easy to get it all out of me um and then as I kept going and like the more tired I would get it became harder to sort of pull some of that out of there like by the time I think book three like I just hated Barrett and Raleigh by like the end of it. I was so sick of them. I was just like, you guys, like, I feel like the story really got taken off the rails from what was originally supposed to be. And I just didn't know how to get back to that space again. And so it was like, yeah, I just had like this weird like mini writer's block, whatever you want to call it then. And I realized like looking back and like, oh, you were just you were burned out. Like that's what that was. So I've and I went through it definitely again after book four like after the series wrapped up and I'm like okay I've got like my next couple books and I knew what the plots were gonna be but I didn't know like when I would sit down it was just like nothing would come to me where normally I just type and it's like this weird conscious like just putting down everything that pops into my head and I'm typing like as fast as I can. I didn't have any of that and so I recently got over that which was like literally a week ago. I sat in like an airport and started and it worked out like on my way home from Dreaming Dirty and that that was great but.

Yeah, I think it was... what was the question again? I'm sorry.

Haha! It was literally how did you do all that with a full -time job?

Oh, yeah, not, not like, it wasn't healthy. I made poor decisions, but I don't regret any of it. Like I don't regret any of it, but it was kind of a rough year and my husband did a ton with the kids. Like on the weekends, I would be like, can I get like a writer's day, you know, in like, would you mind just taking them? And I would lock myself in my room and just go to town and get as much as I could done to try to meet, you know, my deadlines. Because you have like when you get an editor, you sort of have to book out their time, sometimes like a year in advance. Like I have all my editing slots for this year already. I don't have those books done like, but I got to get them done by then. My first one actually this year I had to push out because of all the writer's block but um can you hear my background noise? I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. Sorry. I mentioned shut these doors and I didn't. Um yeah so I yeah I had like my editing spot so I needed to like get into you know need to get them done by that and so that was sort of like my push and I think I was working in corporate and kind of knew like I'm not passionate about this, but I was really passionate about romance and writing and the whole like book community was so fun. And I'm like, that's like how I want to spend my days is in that space and not in this space where I loved the people I worked with. I had an awesome team, which was actually kind of hard to leave because I felt like it was so rare to find something like that in like a corporate environment. But I just knew like I had to go and my boss, like I mean, he moved mountains so that way I could get more time to write which was amazing like he was super supportive. I was very scared to tell them obviously what I was doing but they were like all for it because it's all like out my team was all men but they were like really pumped about it and like yeah like you got to do this this is awesome so yeah.

I love that! That's so rare.

Yeah, it was. It was so like the best to this day, like the best team I've ever worked with. Like I feel so lucky. I don't know if I would have been able to like, I wouldn't have been able to like do what I did this last year without them making like accommodations for me and and being like, you know what, let's see if we can cut your hours so that way you can write more. And like just yeah, it was it was amazing. It was amazing. Unheard of. But yeah. Yeah.

And so book four, was that the first one where you're like, I'm on my own, I'm not, like you are just.

Yeah, well, I wasn't fully on my own, so I stopped working last December, and I think I started, I don't remember when I started writing that one. For some reason, I can't remember that. But yeah, so I was probably like two thirds of the way done, maybe, or at least half, when I left my job. And then yeah, so then like the last half of it, and all of the editing, which is really nice. The editing was all, I didn't have to crunch that at night, because that's kind of tricky too especially when you're trying to work through a whole big piece of work and making sure everything flows well together when you can only do it little bits at a time. It's kind of hard to know if it flows, if that makes sense. So yeah, but yeah, that was wild.

With that, when you're writing dual point of view, do you write like, just chapter by chapter, like you are flipping between like Jordan and Camden or?

I usually will start at the beginning and go to the end, but I outline like really, I've got deep outlines that are, I mean, my outlines are usually like 40 ,000 words themselves. Like they're very, very detailed. So I'll do like, it's almost, I think when I outline, it's almost like a, um, like a screenplay would look like it's very just like dialogue. It's a lot of dialogue. Um, because I think that's how most of my books come together is with dialogue in my, in my head. Uh, and then I have other things that I have to like add in. That's something that my beta readers always catch. They're like, you need more scenery. Like we have this entire chapter and I have no clue what's going on and like where anyone is. Like what just happened? Where are they? What's going on? Because I just like right over my head I'm like well they're talking who cares? Like in my head like that's how I think of it and I'm like oh no yeah people like need those references because it helps them feel like they're immersed in a book so I always have to remember to do more of that.

It is, it seems like such an interesting challenge where I think about it even with the outfits that your characters are wearing or things like that. Like you are plotting, I mean, head to toe and everything around them. It's complicated.

Yeah. Well, and that's again, like going back to beta readers, there's so many times where I think in like this last book in the beginning, her dress was like long sleeve, like it's in the like the first chapter. And I think her ex like grabs her hand and it was supposed to be like hard enough to like show like white marks. And I was just like, all right. And they're like, yeah, but we wouldn't see it because she's got a long sleeve dress on. And I was like, oh, OK, you're right. You're right. Thank you. Like it's little things like that that they catch. I know. Isn't that just bizarre? I can't do it in my own work, but now after having them beta read for me and like seeing notes like that, I catch it while I'm reading sometimes too. And I'm like, oh, this is what they're doing when they read my books. Because I see it so much, I think differently in my head that it's hard for me to, it's like hard to read your own work as like a reader. I don't know. I think the closest I've come is listening to bits of like audio book. When it's being read to me by somebody else's voice, which is super weird too, but yeah.

Yeah, let's talk about that too because your audio book, it's the first one, is coming out just in a couple days, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah on the 23rd it's gonna be out which is... is that next Monday? Oh my goodness, wow that really like came up quickly. Thank you. Oh it was so cool. Yeah.

Did you find the experience with finding talent? Because I feel like that would be the hardest thing as the creative is like, all right, it's got to have Lonan's voice. Like it has to sound like it does in my head. So how did that go?

Right. Yes. So I hadn't been like, I kind of knew that I wanted to do it just, I wanted to do audio books because accessibility, like people who weren't able to read my books, I wanted them to still be able to get the books and like, you know, people and some people just do audio books. Like that's just like they're on the road all the time or whatever. Like that's just their jam. And so I was pricing out audio books and how much it was going to cost to produce one. And it was so expensive. And at the time, like I wasn't at that point yet, really, where I could it was going to be an investment. Like I was going to have to move some things around in order to make it work. And then literally, like I think I come across a woman on TikTok and her name's Savannah Thomas. I had to think of like her last name. But I heard her voice and I was like, oh my God, that's Mickey. Like I just knew right away and she was a voiceover or did like she was a narrator. So I was really, really excited and I contacted her and I got like her pricing sheet and that was kind of like when I really started getting serious about it. And literally probably I think it was the next week I got an email from Podium Audio saying like, hey, we want to talk to you about, you know, purchasing the rights to create audio books for you. And I was just like, oh man, this is so cool it’s totally coming together. Like I just it felt very meant to be. So we had a phone call and sat down and discussed everything and I had a lot to learn because I like writing is still very new to me much less branching off into this new space of audio and production and everything that goes into it. So they bought the rights. I was really excited about it because they have so many, they have such a great talent pool that's so big. And I really wanted to be able to dip into that for these books because who wouldn't, right? So they kind of had me like fill out these forms essentially where you talk about your characters in details that I had never thought about my characters. Like what kind of accents they have on like what part of the US they're from. Like they're, if they're, they speak like in a lower you know range maybe or like a higher range. Like in my head Mickey always had a lower range voice but other ones not and I think in the first book I think birdie had like a raspy -ish voice which I didn't know it was gonna get to this point so i was like oh no like i'm really sorry to whoever has to do this. like once that came about and I was like okay never talk about the voice again like don't ever write that because that's gonna be way too hard to do — but Chloe Ryan was incredible she did such a great job.

So yeah so i had kind of put down and you could write you know who did you think like who do you want to be as a narrator, you know, you can kind of like put in some suggestions. And I had put down a bunch and I got I think one from each. I got I think Chloe Ryan was like my first choice for my FMC. And then I got Edward Black for Lonan and that was super awesome. And and yeah. And then they sent me the files. I thought they were going to send me little clips because they were like, all right, we'll send you like some clips and then you can, you know, listen to it or once it was done. And I was like, all right, cool. And then I’ll like buy it and I can listen to it and they like sent me the full audiobook which looking back I'm like duh like of course they're gonna send you the full audiobook for some reason I didn't know that so when they sent them over I was like oh my god this is the whole book and I literally sat at my computer and would go like play pause play pause like I couldn't start it I was so scared and I made my I was like I had to have my husband come in I'm like will you please listen to this because I don't I can't do it like I've only ever heard these words in my head in my own like internal voice.

I've never heard anyone else read them out loud before. This is so scary. And so I left the room and he like listened to it and I was like, did you like it? Is it good? Blah blah. And he was like, no, no, it's good. It's good. And so then I came back and I listened to it and I actually haven't finished it yet. But yeah, it was as soon as like I heard it start, I was just like, oh, they did such a good job. I was very, very pleased. And then I did the same because they signed for books one through three. Book four isn't signed yet, but if I get like enough orders, they will also do book four. So if anyone's listening to this and wants to get book four, you got to get book one first.

We need to say goodbye so start ordering immediately. Yeah.

Yeah, super shameless plug here. So yeah, and then I did, yeah picked out stuff for the rest of the series and then I took that girl that I found on TikTok. I'm like, you're coming with me to Podium because I was just like, I liked her and I thought she was great and she was super pumped about it too. So it was kind of awesome to be able to like bring her with me because I don't know, it just kind of felt like from where I was going to like be able to continue that with her because we had talked about the books and I just knew like it had to be her. So yeah, and she's awesome.

That’s incredible to bring her along and have her have that exposure. I mean...

Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, well that's what I thought, because I know I kind of, we had sort of talked about this a little bit, but she was, you know, saying like, I'm really trying to get out there and I'm like, dude, I get it. Like I was literally that was me like months ago is just I would beg anybody to read my book. Like I was so I didn't care. I was just like, whatever. Like it's a pen name. I can be as cringy as I want to be when it comes to trying to get people to read this book. And so I did. And I wanted people to like, you know, when you see somebody who is good at what they do and you think that they're great, like you want to see them succeed, too and I wanted to like take her along to be like maybe you can get more exposure and then and I had told her I got really excited because we got I don't know if I've announced it yet but we got Alex Kidd for for Reese for book two which I was super pumped about because it's like Alex Kidd and everybody like loves him, you know, and so I had told her and she was like, oh my god. Are you serious? I was like, yeah, we got Alex Kidd It was so fun to be able like gush about it to somebody who understood, you know Like how exciting that was because I wasn't really allowed to talk about it yet With anyone else but yeah, she's an awesome narrator. So if anybody is looking for a narrator Savannah Thomas, she's on TikTok you can hear her her like samples. she did she posted like a little clip from book two already which was really cool to hear so I think she's I think she did a great job. I'm excited to hear the full thing.

Oh yeah. I'm excited too. I mean, it's just gonna be like such a different experience to be able to hear that. And have you gone back and re-read the series now that it's wrapped or is this sort of your first experience like re-reading?

Yeah, oh my goodness, yeah, it's bizarre. No, I want to. Like I've talked to my husband about that. Like I really should go read my own books. I tried to the other day. Like I tried to read book three because I was just feeling like I just needed like a book three moment. I guess, I don't know. And I didn't really like it. Which was so bizarre. I'm like, maybe it's just you right now. Maybe we should just put this away and we'll come back to it. Like, I think it's fine. It's just, I think it's one of the things when you write a book, especially editing, like I could edit forever. I could just do it forever and yeah.

Sure, yeah.

And it's one of those things. So when I read it, I find myself editing it in my head and thinking like, oh, I should have said it this way or I should have said it this way. And I kind of like ruin it for myself. So I'm hoping, though, listening to the audiobooks, I don't have the words in front of me. And there's a disconnect there where I feel like I'm more of a reader when I'm experiencing it. So I'm really looking forward to the audiobooks because it feels like I message Chloe, like just to tell her thank you. And I think I message both of them just because I was like, thank you so much for doing, you know, this audiobook. And we were talking about it and I told her like it feels like you've given me a chance to experience my books as a reader which is the greatest gift. So I'm very excited to just sit down I want to listen them like into their you know entirety but I was beating myself pretty hard trying to like get this book out during like all of my block and I'm like don't listen to anything else which is probably the opposite of what I should have been doing but whatever. So yeah, I do. I am going to like probably sit down maybe this weekend and just before release and listen to the full thing. And I've listened to a lot of it, but but yeah, finish it up because yeah, it's it's fun to like to have that. But it's also so surreal to to like hear voices saying things that you've written, like in performing it. It's not just like being read like it's being performed by somebody, which is wild. So wild.

Sure. Especially while I imagine like the spicy scenes too, which I think obviously you do so so well. But do you find that those are on that note more challenging than the rest of like general dialogue or does that come easier to you?

Yeah. Thank you. No, that's like the easier part, I think, a little bit to me. Like, I was talking to somebody about it, like, I could probably write smut for, like, that's not a problem. I can usually sit down, for the most part. There's sometimes where I'm like, I feel like there just needs to be something different, because I don't want it to be too repetitive either, because, like, you know, I can get repetitive. So I try to, like, make something unique about it.

Yeah.

So that can get like a little bit tricky sometimes, just the logistics of like, okay, how are we doing this? And like, how can I make it a little bit different? But my biggest challenge is probably trying to figure out where the plot hits, like, or not, not where it hits, but like where the climax of the book is, as you like learned in school, you know what I mean? Like it's sort of like that, like where, when did they get like high stakes, high everything and then become like, oh, this is sort of like the crux of the book. Like where does that happen?

Yup.

And so I think that's sort of my tricky spot because I have trouble committing to an idea once I like work it in my head over and over and over again. After a while it sounds not so good anymore because I'm so used to it and like exposed to it. So it's not as exciting as when I first came up with it. And I'm learning that I have to trust the process sort of and just like write it and then let someone else read it and see what they think. But by the end of it, usually I'm, except for this last book, except for book four, that was the only book by the end of it, I still loved the characters and I loved what I wrote for the most part. But before that, it's sort of like all of the jokes are, you've read them a thousand times and so the jokes aren't funny anymore and nothing is like really working out. And so in my head, it always seems, I always have like a little like menty-b right before like, posting because I'm just like okay this isn't gonna work this is this is bad this is horrible and my friends and like my beta readers know when I get to that point because it's always like right right when like things are right at the end and they're like no it's fine just stop reading it keep writing it you know like keep it you're fine it's gonna be fine like I was convinced that book two was a total flop and almost deleted it. They were like, don't delete it. Like it's gonna be fine. But my headspace, I was just like, there's nothing here. Like nothing is happening in this book. Like there's no plot. Like and then now looking back, I'm like, oh no, it was there.

You're kidding me!

Yeah. Like it was there. I just, yeah, I think it's just like exposure, overexposure to it makes it like you can't see it anymore. I don't know. You kind of are like flying blind by the end.

Oh for sure, it's like you're just saying wow. Yes! They say that when you cook for yourself it doesn't taste as good as when somebody else cooks it for you.

Yes, yes, it's exactly it. That's, yes, that is it. That's it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's exactly what it is. It's just not quite the same, yeah. Like a sandwich always tastes better when someone else makes it for you.

You've seen those ingredients and you're like, okay, we're done. Absolutely. And okay, so speaking of book four, that was my favorite, at least characters-wise, like I loved them so much and Banksy is so hot.

Yay. Yeah.

And it was the first time that I've actually read an NHL or like pro hockey romance series where there's some amount of like, There's smoking weed involved, like you have a 420 friendly type of main male character and number one selfishly loved it, begging for more at any time that you're ready. But what kind of made you think to include that? Because that was a unique point within the book.

Yeah, what am I allowed to say on here? Am I allowed to like…

Anything you want.

Okay um I yeah okay I as like I'm not I'm not a weed smoker that's just like not my drug of choice. It's just like not my jam. It doesn't work out for me. But there's other things that I do enjoy doing and originally like more in like the hallucinogenic sort of environment. And so that's originally that's kind of where I wanted to go and then I realized oh I should probably do baby steps because that's not everybody's I don't want to like I don't want to villify it you know what I mean and have people get like scared of it like obviously it's something that you have to be respectful of and like be responsible with when you're engaging in drugs but at the same time I think that there's so much that is just not maybe accurate from what everyone always thinks about it.

Sure yeah.

Like I think that there's just, there's such good qualities on some of those things that people do and like how they can help people, especially when it comes to like PTSD and depression and those kinds of things. And eventually I want to move more into that space. Like I would like to someday do a book where like, you know, they're dropping acid or whatever. Like I would like to do some of those spaces because I think that it'll take like a lot of research because it, and probably sensitivity readers to make sure I'm doing it in the right way. Because I don't just want to say like, oh, this is great, go do this. But at the same time, like I think that there's a lot we don't know about it and a lot that should be, I think we just should be experimenting on it more. Like, you know, instead of instantly saying, I know that I feel like I'm kind of getting on a soapbox right now. I don't mean to be doing that, but yeah, I just think that there's, there's like a whole world of that that exists. And, anytime I've read it in books, it's usually a negative thing and I just don't think that it needs to be that way. Obviously there's addiction and things like that, which I kind of covered in book two, that you have to be mindful of and it's not for everybody. I get that. But even with that, I feel like oftentimes that's also, it's like anyone who uses drugs is instantly a villain. Anyone who does them, it's like this bad thing and I don't think it's a bad thing, I guess. And so I kind of wanted to show that side of it and just be, especially with the way it's becoming legalized now in so many states, I feel like we're not going to be far away from it becoming like federal. But yeah like it's that's real life like people people smoke weed a lot like a lot of people do that and it's a very common thing andIi know that there's groups of people who um they never could just read that in books and soIi wanted to be able to like give like give them like a little like there you go you know like there's it's it's not it's not bad it's recreational and it's you know it's not being abused in these cases, I don't know. I don't know if that's like a weird way to say it.

Thank you. Yeah. No, I love it. I just think with reading, there's so much within, especially romance that we talk about, which is like safe exploration and kind of going through some of this just fictionally and then deciding whether or not that's something that you want to explore outside of that space. So I think that that's so thoughtful, just in the way that you're including it.

Mm -hmm. Right. That’s a great way to put it. Yeah, because that is, that is, you know, like the smut world is we're going through so many of those, like the different kinks and how to be safe with them and be open and consenting and all of these things. And yeah, it's just it's that just in a different in a different with different not sex.

Exactly. We can do it too. So, well, I know we only have a few minutes left, so I'll kind of wrap it up, but I know, right, like you've mentioned a couple times, you're in heads -down writing mode, and there's been some teasers or hints around the very beloved side character Sully, and like potentially what will happen in this series. Can you share anything about it, or like what's safe to know?

I can share it. I'm actually, so I sort of told everybody I was working on. Logan and Kelly. Well, I started working on Sully and then started working on Logan and Kelly because Sully just sort of like quit talking to me. And then all of a sudden it sort of hit. I just needed to write Sully's book. Like I was like, I can't I can't not write him next. I just need to write him next. And so that was where it's like I dug down and then it sort of like hit me like the story. And so, yeah, he will be next, hopefully in July? I'm hoping I'll have like his book release. I don't know if I've told anybody that so got it here first. Yeah, yeah so he's yeah I can share it'll be um he and Kendra. There's gonna be some surprises around this book that I hope they go over well. But yeah, it will be, I'm trying to think of what else I can share with it. My editor is like, you cannot tell anybody. Like she's got me locked down so hard right now.

Thank you! That is so exciting

But yeah, I'm thinking July, it'll be Sully and Kendra. And she was the one in book four who was the producer of the dating show that Sully was then gonna be on. So it'll be something with that. Yeah.

That is honestly exciting enough and it's going to be sort of, I think I read this, but maybe I'm making this a three-part series or are you still kind of mapping out?

Um, so originally I'm kind of thinking of him as like a standalone just because I do have ideas though for like a three -part series for the, um, for Logan and Kelly. I did want to do something with them that was kind of more of a, um, I don't know, like...I'd like the idea of doing a little like tattoo shop romance would be fun. And so I don't think one book will be enough. I don't know if I'll be able to write a book, though, that isn't in a series, honestly, like it's supposed to be a standalone. But by the time I'm done, like, who knows, honestly, what's going to happen with it? Because I constantly contradict myself and change my mind all the time. So, yeah, I think at that point, like right now, I think that's where we're at. But no, I do. I do have ideas for more series to come. And honestly, after Sully's done, I don't know where I'm gonna go. Like, I don't know where to start. I've always said like, oh, I'll just write a series through, but I have so many that I just feel like I need to get down on paper, like get off my chest that I don't, I might hop around, I might pull like an SJ Tilly and just sort of like, just jump around in all these different kinds of books and, and like work through them all at once. I don't know if I'll be able to do it. We'll try. We'll see what happens.

I mean, if anyone can do it, I would say between how you bumped out like all four of those books dropping in a year when I was looking at the release dates, I could not believe it.

No, that was crazy.

So you could accomplish it. Like because I said it now it's true, obviously. Exactly. You gotta tell it to the universe, you know?

Alright yeah no it's true you just like it's manifested itself that's fine I'll take it yeah absolutely.

So, you know, thank you again for coming on and joining us. Part of this is, you know, the campaign that we're doing around patron saints of romance and bringing in authors so I'm very excited.

That's awesome! I'm so excited about this by the way, like I'm so excited. I think this is just the coolest thing.

Thank you so much. I think you were honestly one of the first responses we got back and I completely lost my mind. It was like, you don't understand, it's Sloane St. James.

No, yeah. As soon as you said it, I was so on board. Like I read like two sentences and I was like, I'm in. And I was like, okay, finish reading the email though. Yeah.

Thank you. I think maybe that's my question is just if you're comfortable sharing, you know, why you wanted to support or kind of any of your thoughts around it.

Yeah, I don't really have like a close experience with, I mean, you know, thankfully like domestic violence, but obviously like my grandma had gone through some with like a husband that she had and then, and just there's so many people that have reached out since writing book four that have told me their stories and, and said like what they've gone through and as much as I am glad that they were able to connect with this book in that way and a lot of times like process some of those emotions while reading it which is like such a compliment oh my god. But it's there's so many women like it's too many messages. I've gotten way way more messages than there ever should be regarding people who can relate to the story and it's just it sucks. Like, it sucks. So anything that I think can be done to help, I mean, that's part of like this book, you know, is if something good can come out of it, like supporting a good cause. Absolutely. Like, I want to I want to do that because that's part of like these characters. It's not just like the characters, but this is like real life. You know, a lot of people go through this and to be able to help other people that are maybe experiencing it right now is something I definitely want to be a part of and do. And I think it's so cool that you thought of, you know, this and had it like, I don't know. It's just such a cool idea. I love it so much. So, yeah, I definitely, definitely want to do it just because I guess I'm doing it for my readers and like the people who have gone through that and who connected with book four in that way. I think it's important for them to be able to have to have this and and do it sort of I guess for them and for everyone else who's going through it. But yeah.

Absolutely. I think so much that we found was just, to me, seeing a lot of readers coming forward with stories on how reading your books or a lot of the books within our genre helped them heal and work through their trauma. And so it feels phenomenal to do a tiny piece to help that community here.

Yeah. Oh, it's a big piece. I think it's a big piece. It's so cool. So yeah, as soon as that hits, like I'm going to be promoting it like crazy because I think it's amazing. Am I allowed to promote it? I didn't know. Like, am I allowed to talk about it? Because I wasn't sure if it was like secret yet or if I should. I didn't know.

Thank you so much. Yeah, no, we are kind of just in the early phases of like, we haven't said anything publicly yet, but if you wanted to like tease it out as a wink -wink, that would not be the worst thing in the world. And we're gonna start promos next month too. Yeah, no, we're really excited.

Okay, sounds good. Oh awesome, okay cool. Sounds good.

And then, so last thing, but just as far as like your fan base, your readers, where can they find you? How can they support you? Like what can we do so that you keep writing and giving us these amazing stories, basically?

Um, tell your friends. Like, that's, that's my biggest thing. I think I do so much, uh, word of mouth. I mean, I've got someone who's now doing my TikTok content and my Instagram reels. Um, I still do all my weird chaotic, like, Instagram posts, but my reels and my TikToks are all like way more professionally done. So that's kind of like where some of my outreach goes. So you can always interact with me on those. If you want to message me or contact me, honestly, email is probably best just because sometimes I get tagged in so many things that I sometimes like get things get buried on social media. So yeah, it's sloanestjameswrites@gmail.com. If you wanted to just email me, but yeah, read. Read the books, tell your friends. That's the biggest thing. Tell people that you like them. The Facebook groups, you know, like the Smuthood and things like that where you can go and recommend books. Those are always super helpful. But yeah, just talking about them is like the biggest. I mean, it's amazing. When I see people talking about my books, I still like kick my feet and get squealy. Cause I'm just like, oh my God. And it blows my mind. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it. But yeah, so that's that's sort of like the biggest biggest way just to just to talk about them and share them with your friends and say like I really liked this one. I'd really appreciate it. Like I owe so much to my readers just because they've done so much of that. Yeah, they've they've paved the way for me to keep doing this and have allowed me to leave, you know, my full -time job and focus on this full -time and and it's just like the most fun. Like I love this so much. I love writing. It was just something I never thought I'd say, but I do. I really like it. So yeah.

That's amazing. Well, that love comes out in the books. You know, it's like, you've got to have that love behind it. So thank you so much, Sloane. This has been, honestly, an honor and a privilege to get to sit down with you.

Oh my goodness, thank you. That's how I feel. Thank you so much. This was, this was so much fun. I really, really appreciate it.

Titles by Sloane St. James