Making Your Romance Steamy Clean

By Heather Justesen

Can you make kisses steamy, and still keep them clean?

This is a big issue in the LDS market, and in clean romances everywhere--and the answer is YES!

The key to a good, clean first kiss that gives your reader a payoff without venturing into murky waters is two-fold, though both techniques work in tandem.

First, you want to focus on the senses--what does the viewpoint character hear, smell, feel, etc?

The second thing you do is draw the kiss out so it increases the tension. If your characters look at each other, their eyes blaze in awareness and he kisses her--all in twenty words--you've not allowed the tension to build. Now, there may be times when you want to keep your kiss lighter, and this might work--and you certainly don't want to try and make every kiss tension-fraught, because, face it, they wouldn't be in real life, so pick and choose your most important kisses--starting with the first one.

Here's an example of a bare-bones first kiss from my book, The Ball's in Her Court:

“It’s her cupboard.” She shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see it. His arms were surprisingly muscular for a desk jockey and his short-sleeved blue shirt emphasized his biceps and the width of his shoulders.

He opened the cupboard and picked the jar of salsa out, turned and placed it on the counter beside her. Denise looked up into his eyes when he placed his other hand on her shoulder.

“You’re a lot of fun when you let yourself be, Denise.”

She couldn’t respond to that as her mouth went dry. The look in his eyes said more than she wanted to see. Why had she thought they could just be buddies, friends? Hoping to bring some sanity back to the moment, she tried to protest, despite not wanting to step back from the situation. “Rich—”

“I’ve never wanted to work for a company besides Donaldson. Not until I met you.” His voice was low, barely more than a whisper.

Denise turned her head away, focusing on the sink. “Rich, we can’t.” The protest sounded weak even to herself. She wanted him to kiss her.

“For just a minute I’m going to forget that you’re strictly off limits.”

His lips slid over hers and she felt herself falling into the kiss. Something inside her had wanted this since the first moment they met, and she couldn’t beat it back. At that moment, she didn’t even want to.

Now here's the full excerpt--what actually ran in the book--with all of the sensory details. See what a difference it makes?

“It’s her cupboard.” She shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see it, or the way she tracked every move he made with her eyes. His arms were surprisingly muscular for a desk jockey and his short-sleeved blue shirt emphasized his biceps and the width of his shoulders.

He opened the cupboard and picked the jar of salsa out, turned and placed it on the counter beside her. Denise looked up into his eyes when he placed his other hand on her shoulder. Her stomach quivered.

“You’re a lot of fun when you let yourself be, Denise.”

She couldn’t respond to that as her mouth went dry. She swallowed, trying to get past the sudden lump in her throat. One of his fingers brushed her neck and she felt goose bumps run down her arm. The look in his eyes said more than she wanted to see. Why had she thought they could just be buddies, friends? The moment stretched out for several seconds as they stood, motionless, neither breaking eye contact as the moment wound around them. Hoping to bring some sanity back to the moment, she tried to protest, despite not wanting to step back from the situation. “Rich—”

“I’ve never wanted to work for a company besides Donaldson. Not until I met you.” His voice was low, barely more than a whisper.

Denise turned her head away, focusing on the sink, but Rich slid his hands up her neck and onto her cheeks, his gentle touch alone enough to have her turn and face him. One thumb brushed across her cheek and the fingers of his other hand slid into her hair. “Rich, we can’t.” The protest sounded weak even to herself. She wanted him to kiss her.

“For just a minute I’m going to forget that you’re strictly off limits.”

When Denise looked up, his face was drawing closer and she wondered if she would breathe again. His lips slid over hers and she felt herself falling into the kiss. Her hands grasped the cotton at the side of his shirt, pulling him closer. His torso was solid beneath her hands and the movement of his fingers on her face and in her hair sent shivers down her spine, into her scalp. Something inside her had wanted this since the first moment they met, fighting against the memories that warned her away. His soul called out to hers and though she fought it, she couldn’t beat it back. At that moment, she didn’t even want to.

The first version was adequate, but not strong enough for a first kiss in a book that has a strong romance plot line. The second one allows time for the tension to build--and there was actually a little more buildup to this tension between them before the excerpt. You don't have to use words like desire and lust (words that are both no-nos in this market) to make your reader to feel that sweet ache of excitement that comes with a new relationship. It's all in the details.

Trips to new places

By Heather Justesen

November was supposed to be given over to NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month, though I had more editing than fresh writing planned. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case every November, other things intruded, keeping me away from my story file, and keeping my word count from climbing. This year that thing was my book publicity, school visits, a blog tour, and other fun book stuff. I'm hoping now the biggest part of the rush is over I'll be able to spend a little more quality time with my laptop again.

However, I thought I'd share some thoughts and experiences I had this week. As part of my trips to visit students, I spent two days in San Juan County this week. Now for people who are as unfamiliar with where this is located (I had no idea how far off it was when I contacted the school back in October.), it's down in the Four Corners area--the place where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet.

Yes, that's a long drive.

Just a few notes from the trip:

There's a big scrub evergreen (I really ought to know what kind of trees they are, but I don't. If anyone else does, I'd be happy to be educated) on the East side of the road near Moab that is covered in tinsel and Christmas decorations. It even has a huge star posted on top. It was cool. I hoped I would see if on the way back so I could stop and take a picture, but it was dark and I totally missed it.

The tree gave me something to think about, though. It reminded me of the shoe tree in Park City (which I blogged about here). I can't help but wonder whose idea it was to begin with, why they picked that tree, and what they were thinking about when they did it. Could one of them have wondered if someone would see the tree and blog about it? Did they want to encourage holiday cheer to spread and hope the idea would catch on so others would do the same with random trees in their areas?

Actually, that's not a half bad idea....

Anyway, Tuesday evening I spoke to a small group at the CEU San Juan Campus library about writing and what I've learned over the years. Then we had some tasty cookies and talked for a bit before my new friends, the Razors, took me home and fed me some seriously tasty homemade pizza. Many thanks to them and their mom for putting up signs and feeding and housing me for the night.

The next day I went to Mexican Hat Elementary school where I spoke to the kids all day with each grade coming in for half an hour. I did two presentations to kindergartners. We'll just say that I got a bit hoarse by lunchtime. Thankfully there was a bit more break time between the afternoon sessions. It was fun, but my voice box was ready to have a break when I turned my car back north.

The red mesas and rock formations near the Navajo reservation at Mexican Hat are so cool. I took a number of pictures--mostly while I was driving back to Blanding. I couldn't stop because school got out a bit later than I planned on, and the drive was a good 20 miles further than I remembered from my early research, so I had to rush back so I wouldn't be late.


This formation is near the reservation. I remember when I drove near it in the morning I thought it looked like fingers coming out of the ground. It's more gray than the reddish dirt and rocks around it--the picture doesn't do it justice.


This one is called "Hat Rock" and ask you can see, it kind of looks like a Mexican Hat. I'm assuming that's where the town gets its name.


One day I'll have to drag my husband down that direction and we'll have to spend a few days going through Arches and Canyonlands national parks, then see some of the other sights that I didn't have time for on this trip.

In the evening I did a signing at the main grocery store in Blanding and sold several copies. Considering there was almost no advertising of my signing and I'm a nobody, it was still really decent.

My blog tour has ended now too, and it was a lot of fun. You can check out a full list of the blogs where my book was reviewed here. Jennie Hansen also reviewed it (along with Rebecca Talley's book, Altared Plans) this week for Meridian Magazine here. Also, there are a few hours before I draw the last few winners in my big giveaway tomorrow morning. You can learn more about that here.

Tomorrow I'll be signing with six other authors at the Barnes & Noble in Orem from 2-4. If you're in the area, pop on by and say hello! And if you have Wednesday evening available, Cindy and Nichole's book, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief is now out, and they are having their book launch at the same place Wednesday evening from 6 to 9 pm. It's going to be fun!

My book trailer is out!

By Heather Justesen

Just had to share. This has been several months in the planning and creating stages so I'm totally excited to see it. A big thanks to Stephanie Fowers for filming and compiling the video, and the Kevin Mathie who wrote the music (isn't it gorgeous?).



In other news I've had an interview and a couple of book reviews this week.

Cindy Williams interviewed me for her blog Writer's Mirror on Wednesday.

Danyelle Ferguson at Queen of the Clan blog reviewed my book. Danyelle has a non-fiction book coming out next summer which I'm totally excited about.

Tristi Pinkston, author and reviewer of many fine books, reviewed my book on her blog.

A big thanks to all of these ladies! My big local launch party is happening at the Fillmore, Utah library tomorrow from 10 AM to 1 PM if you or anyone you know lives in the area, invite them over.

New advances along the journey

By Heather Justesen

Lots of fun and exciting things going on in my end of the world. I just got notice that my author's copies of "The Ball's in Her Court" shipped to me from the warehouse today so I'm going to be jumping every time the front door opens at work on Monday wondering if it's the UPS guy.

I've set up a big book launch at my hometown library on Saturday the 24th, then realized today was the deadline for getting the advertising in the paper this next week, so my notice there I'll only appear three days before the event! But I'll spend some serious time that week hanging up signs and passing out postcards with my cute book cover on front and the party details on back (if anyone reading this is going to be near Fillmore that day and wants to come, by all means--we'll have giveaways and refreshments and lots of fun. 10 am to 1 pm.

I've also gotten hooked up for a signing in Sandy at the Barnes & Noble at the South Town Mall on November 7th--where I'll be signing with Aubrey Mace, Linda Chadwick, and Ronda Hinrichsen.

And November 20th I'll be at Confetti Books and Antiques in Spanish Fork for their celebration, though I don't know who all will be signing with me that day.

And December 5th I'll be signing at Barnes and Noble in Orem along with a bunch of other authors.

Oh, yeah, Tristi Pinkston and I are signing at a holiday boutique in Salt Lake on November 14th too...

All of the details for all of these signings will definitely be posted on my website and blog as they get closer.

It's really rather exciting, but writing the list of everything I still need to do reminded me of a dozen other details I need to iron out in preparation (besides digging out the room my friend Danyelle is going to sleep in when she flies into Utah for the first party--she's awesome, I know).

The point of this post (besides total celebration) is that when I first thought I wanted to be a writer I didn't take into account the fact that there would be promotional stuff to do as well, or that it would take up so much of my writing time. All of the arrangements that have to be made between now and the next couple of weeks seem overwhelming, but at the same time, I'm really looking forward to everything too.

This is all totally out of my comfort zone and normal behavior (I'm usually pretty introverted and hermit-like), but I look forward to the opportunity to meet people and grow into something more than I am right now--and hopefully if any of you see me at my table you'll take a moment to swing by and say hello, even if you only read sci-fi or westerns and wouldn't pick up a romance on a bet. =)

Cover art and how to finish a book

By Heather Justesen

First, you may have noticed my new book cover in the column on the side, but in case you didn't, or haven't seen it on my regular blog, or my website, or Facebook profile or any of the multitude of forums I belong to (I'm not at all excited, in case you couldn't tell), here it is.

Last week I received an email from a friend who is an aspiring writer. I've read the first three chapters of her book, so I know the girl can seriously write so I was surprised when she asked me this:

Okay, I'm feeling totally overwhelmed. How do you keep at a book when it seems like you're looking at a decade of work?

The problem? She kept going back to revise the previous chapters instead of focusing on getting the book written to the end. So this is what I told her.


I’m going to give you an assignment. Write the book—you are NOT allowed to go back and edit ANYTHING. If you realize in chapter 22 that you need to go back and change something in chapter 6 then make a note and keep plowing on (unless you’re going to add a scene, that is permissible. Editing the scenes around it while you’re at it is not). If you edit each chapter into perfection before you allow yourself to keep writing, it won’t get finished. This is your first draft—you’re going to have to rewrite it anyway to add or arrange for things you don’t know are going to happen yet. Wait until later, then edit the whole thing at once when it’s DONE.

The book I’m working on now I’ve worked on a chapter at a time. I take the chapter to critique, mark their notes on it, then keep writing. I haven’t made any significant changes to it, or read it through, just made notes on the text. When I finish getting the whole thing through my critique group, I’ll go back and do my editing. And I can see piles of things that I did wrong, or that I should tweak to reflect the direction my book is going now, but I don’t give myself permission to work on those until the last chapter is written, or the end will never get finished.

Try it and see what happens. It’s too easy to get distracted with everything you did wrong earlier in the book and let that stop you from moving forward. It’s much easier to fix the book when it’s done, even though I know that seems daunting. Trust me, I hate doing full edits, especially when there’s a significant amount of reworking that has to be done. I drag my feet and procrastinate for months. I’ve looked at piles of manuscript that are covered in red ink and think it’s going to take me FOREVER to fix all of the problems my friends pointed out. Strangely, it’s never as bad as my mind makes it out to be. Usually, I finish it much faster and less painfully than I expected.

Go for it!

Yesterday at the Book Academy conference at UVU Brandon Sanderson was a key note speaker. He spoke about the ten things he had to learn before he got published. (If anyone got the title for #4, please let me know, I seem to have missed that slide). During the speech he talked about the difference between discovery writers (AKA seat-of-your-pants or 'pantsers') which he referred to as multi-drafters, verses single-drafters or plotters. He talked about the different methods, and how he uses different ones for different books, and--here's my point (yes, I do have one). He said multidrafters often have trouble finishing books because they don't have the ending planned, while single-drafters (a mis-nomer, of course, because even those who plot excessively have to edit their first drafts and revise--and they HATE to revise) tend to have trouble in the middle (and now I know why I struggle so much when I'm 60% done).

Understanding what kind of writer you are can help you avoid the pitfalls of never finishing your books so you don't have 13 on your hard drive that are nearly done (again, using me as an example. Well, 13 may not be exact, I haven't counted lately). Whatever your tendency, figure out what's holding you back and get the book finished. As Nora Roberts is commonly quoted: "You can't fix a blank page."

The Ball's In Her Court Winner

By Heather Justesen

Well, I got my galleys yesterday, so it's really starting to feel like this book is going to happen. =) Seeing my name at the top of the pages made me tingly, and I like the title and chapter fonts they chose (this is, of course, of utmost importance, after all, lol). I'll be trying to burn through the minor changes my editor asked for, and to do a final proof so I can get it back to her as quickly as possible.

I had so many entries for this book, and I'm thrilled so many of you want a copy. I used Random.org to make the decision. And now for the winner--I know you're all waiting with baited breath--Cassie Osborne! Cassie, get your address to me and I'll send your copy out as soon as I get them!

The Ball's in Her Court Giveaway!

This month as part of the End of Summer Giveaway, I'm offering an autographed copy of my book, The Ball's in Her Court, which won't be released until October. I dont have a cover yet, either, but it should be coming before too long, and I promise to post it as soon as I have the final version. I'll be picking a winner for my book on August 28th, so make sure to leave me a comment to enter the contest.

Denise DeWalt thought she had it all together and put the past behind her. Then an incident in her apartment parking lot brings the memories of her abusive childhood back to the forefront. When her past continues to haunt her, she decides the time has come to look for her birth parents. She just hopes the family who saved her from a life in the foster care system will understand.

Rich Jensen felt drawn to Denise the moment they first met--when he was introduced to her as her new boss. Though he knows he should keep things professional, every instinct has him finding ways to get to know her better. As he watches her struggle with her search and her past, he wonders if there's any hope for a future, but he's willing to give her time. The ball's in her court.

And to tease you with a little taste, a scene from the first chapter:

The afternoon was almost over when Denise caught her first look at the promising interviewee. Southwick ushered him into the room like an old friend. The younger man exuded authority and self confidence from the tip of his well-polished shoes to the mass of brown hair on his head. The body in between was broad shouldered and powerful looking as well. It wasn’t until he turned his gaze around the room that Denise saw his confidence went all the way to the core.

His dark eyes saw right through her, jolting her, stealing her breath, and there was something familiar about him. Denise wondered if the lightening bolt of recognition wasn’t where the aura of power came from. Or was it the other way around? His eyes widened for a moment before he blinked and returned his gaze to Southwick.

Denise could feel her pulse beating a wild tattoo in her veins. She calmed her expression and fought to make her insides comply as well. Maybe he attended the University of Utah or had a sibling who did. Or maybe he reminded her of someone she once knew. She clung to those explanations, though none of them accounted for the something more than recognition bouncing around inside her.

When Southwick reached her and Richard Jensen extended his hand, she took it in her own. A strange tingle began at her palm and extended up her arm. She met his brown eyes—eyes that would have seemed too big on any other face. Somehow the strong chin and cheekbones seemed perfectly suited to them. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Denise.” The words flowed like Southern honey from his lips—strange for a guy from Chicago.

“Finally?” Denise smoothly withdrew her hand from his grasp, desperate to break a connection that had her antenna standing on end. She wondered why her hands weren’t shaking when her insides were doing a tango.

“I’m Lily’s cousin. You are the one who told me about this company,” he murmured.

“And we’re sure glad you did. I know Jensen here will do well, though he’ll have quite a job to fill my shoes!” Southwick said, pounding Richard on the back and grinning.

“Oh.” Denise felt stupid the moment the sound left her mouth. No wonder he had seemed vaguely familiar, Lily had shown her his picture after Denise had sent him a list of companies he might want to check into. “Well, welcome to our little family.” Hoping to inject a note of levity, she jerked her thumb toward Jake. “Don’t take the joker here too seriously. And don’t let him anywhere near your soda if you don’t want it tampered with.” She forced a smile and hoped it looked sincere.

Richard glanced over at Jake and smiled, turning his slightly nicer-than-average face into something only a step below breathtaking.

Or maybe she was a bit short of breath after all. His gaze returned to her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

You can read the whole first chapter on my Website here. But first, leave a comment so I can enter you to win a copy!

Introducing . . . Heather Justesen

Hello, my name is Heather and I, too, live in a small farming community in Utah. My love affair with books began before I could actually read, since my mom says she used to put a couple in my crib when I woke up at night. I'd look at them in the dark until I fell back to sleep. I started writing stories and plots in my head when I was not much older than that, but I never wrote any of them down until my senior year of high school. I've been writing more seriously for about nine years, and my first book, The Ball's in Her Court, a contemporary romance, is slated for release in October.

While my husband and I were foster parents for a couple of years I learned a lot about fostering, adoption, and renion issues for those who felt the need to seek out their birth families. I used some of the things I learned as plot elements in this book, and a second one I recently submitted.

My husband and I have been married ten years and live on a large lot that we share with our dog, two cats, three fish, a rabbit, four geese, eight quail, and a constantly shifting number of ducks and chickens as I hatch and sell the babies.

I like to read and write (obviously), quilt, garden, play with my animals, I run as a volunteer EMT for my community, run a business with my husband, and work part time in my parents' store.

I'm really excited for the opportunity to join these ladies on this blog as we discuss our writing journeys.