Z.A. Maxfield

Happily. Ever. After.

Way Back Wednesday – My Cowboy Freedom

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The author of My Cowboy Promises and My Cowboy Homecoming returns once again to the Rocking C Ranch… 

After doing time, Skyler is used to fighting for everything he wants, and what he wants most is a job at the Rocking C. But Sky’s boss Sterling Chandler is a vocal homophobe and his men don’t necessarily trust an ex-con. Sky plans to mind his own business and put his past behind him; hopefully, the men he works with will do the same. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t like a friend—especially one like shy giant Rock Evans.

But Rock has health problems, which come with expensive bills, and a hyper-protective family that won’t hesitate to intervene if Sky gets too close. He can either fall in line with his family’s beliefs, or lose what little independence he has. Both Rock and Skyler are about to learn that there’s more than one kind of prison in My Cowboy Freedom…

Reviews —

My Cowboy Freedom is a must-read in a charged era of changing sexual principles. The novel’s “turn the other cheek” scene stole my breath. And yet, there was more… and more. –Anniemaus, Amazon review

This one requires patience for a while, but then, like me, you will not be able to put it down, or get it out of your heart, or craw. Well done. Bo, Amazon Review

I’m a newcomer to this series by Z.A. Maxfield so I wasn’t sure what to expect although the story line for this book appealed to me. I was not disappointed. In fact, I found myself enthralled by Sky and Rock’s story. Wow… –Smitten With Reading B+ review.

Generosity of Spirit – My List

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Generosity of Spirit has been the rule, not the exception in the author community as I’ve experienced it. I have been privileged to see my name on lists of authors who have helped with other authors’ careers, and I want to make my own list, here.

At first, I was tempted to put our willingness to help one another down to the obvious–writers cannot stop talking about writing or they’d have to do it.

But that’s not all this is about, is it? Because I have a theory that every real writer starts out as a reader. And for them, books aren’t simply commodities that can be packaged and marketed like the latest celebrity perfume, using a hint of this. A touch of that. People like this color this year so why not use that on the box?

Every reader/writer wants books to be good.

Most important, every real writer wants to do the impossible: Write the book no one has ever written before, so brilliantly that it breaks all sales records, without being a commercial success, because ew. Amiright?

When writers talk ideas are born.

There’s no reason your ghost written-in-a-week novel, dressed up with a fabulous cover, stuffed with fifty backlist titles, can’t be good. But the statistical chances of it being as good as a novel by a proven author are unlikely.

Marketing those books, buying ads, generating sales is hard work. So is day trading, or running a Ponzi scheme. So is grinding Texas hold ’em in Vegas, don’t ever let anyone tell you the life of a professional gambler is easy. But buying a book someone wrote and putting your name (or a fake name that pays into your PayPal account) on it, has to be the ultimate delusion.

Books enlighten us, inform us, and direct our future actions. They create empathy for our fellow travelers on this planet, even if those people are not like us. They are own-voice stories, and fiction, and fantasy. They speak of faith, and ethics–of the possible dangers of rigorously applied morality or cutting edge science, because writers can make hard concepts easy to understand. They invite discourse. They challenge perception.

Like cameras, they kill fascists.

And in my experience, writers have preferred lifting their fellows quietly, relentlessly, and lovingly rather than attempt to gouge or steal or bully or set attack dogs on their colleagues.

Twenty people without whom I would not have a career*, are:

***I knew I’d forget important people. Edited to add the amazing Heidi C. and Marie S. who came into my life with Coffee and Porn (figuratively speaking.)

  1. Terry Black
  2. K.A. Mitchell
  3. Josh Lanyon
  4. LB Gregg
  5. James Buchanan
  6. Louisa Edwards
  7. Samantha Kane
  8. Deidre Knight
  9. Treva Harte
  10. Laura Baumbach
  11. Kris Jacen
  12. Belinda McBride
  13. Lynn Lorenz
  14. Heidi Cullinan
  15. Marie Sexton
  16. Damon Suede
  17. Caitlyn Willows
  18. Christopher Koehler
  19. Amy Lane
  20. Rhys Ford
  21. Louella Nelson
  22. Debra Holland

*Many more are not listed here as I gave myself a not so hard limit of ten… headdesk.

Pre-order now!

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A Plummet to Soar Story

Feckless, luckless, and charming, Mackenzie Detweiller is the author of a self-help book one reviewer calls “the most misbegotten motivational tool since Mein Kampf.” He’s maneuvered himself into a career as a life coach, but more often than not, his advice is bad. Really bad.

It’s even getting people hurt… and Mackenzie sued.

It falls to Mackenzie’s long-suffering acquisitions editor, JD Chambers, to deliver the bad news. He chooses to do so face-to-face—to see if the spark he senses between them is real when they’re together in the flesh. Unfortunately, a snowstorm, a case of nerves, a case of mistaken identity, and finally a murder get in the way of a potential enemies-to-lovers romance.

There are many, many people who have good reason to want Mackenzie dead. JD must find out which one is acting on it before it’s too late for both of them.

 

Calling all Hellions!

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The book Honky Tonk Hellion was so fun to write. Andi is very like me, unable to see the logic in old-fashioned, made-up society rules. She’s willing to experiment so she can live the life she chooses on her own terms. Also like me, she has to learn some lessons the hard way…

Because I wrote Hellion as a companion, a sequel, to My Cowboy Promises, I wonder if I really gave either Andi or Ryder their due. So much of Andi’s story was dependent on Ryder and Declan’s story. It’s best to read both.

In Honky Tonk Hellion, I gave Andi a new friend, Laureen Braedon, a woman in a similar situation to hers–married to a man with a male romantic partner who is equally important to him. But theirs is not any kind of true menage, because Kevin Braedon’s the only one who is happy with the arrangement.

Kevin isn’t necessarily always honest with himself, or with Laureen. He has anger management issues, and those things only escalate when Truman, his lover, leaves him. Y’all can read ALL about Truman and the HOT new man in his life, contractor Vanraj Desai, available for pre-order at Amazon now. Built To Love, available Sept 18.

Laureen’s marriage is doomed, and in the beginning of Hellion In The Making, she’s forced to accept this fact. So as I write Laureen’s story, it feels more like the first true “Hellion” book and not a sequel.

Laureen is a stay-at-home mom now, but she used to be a highly sought-after event planner and caterer. She knows all about great wine pairings, and she can accomplish a sit down dinner for dozens with very little notice. She expects a lot of herself and has few illusions.

Laureen views marriage as a partnership. And she treats hers the same way she treated her business partnerships. She’s thoughtful, consistent, hardworking and quick to forgive. She firmly believes nobody’s perfect, and she’s prepared to accept a lot of compromise in her marriage. In fact, she’s so determined to be rational about love, she almost misses out on it entirely.

Laureen is a character I am enjoying writing very much. From her lemon-themed kitchen, to her determination to be the best mother ever, to her ability to run a pristine household. When Laureen cracks wide open and her hellion emerges, I know I will love her even more.

As I write, I’m creating her love interest for her. Laureen is thirty two and her kids, Quintana and Daisy are 6 and 3. I want her to meet someone younger, someone hot as ever-loving f*ck, who wants to be the “anchor and not the ship” as Malcolm says in Honky Tonk Hellion. So here’s the idea…

Laureen Braedon sold her successful business to settle down and raise a family. She finds herself catastrophically, freshly single at thirty two. She has an optimistic nature, a willingness to work her fingers to the bone, and the determination to succeed. When Booker comes along, he’ll have the fight of his life convincing her to take him seriously.

Booker might be young, but he knows what he wants. It killed him to watch Laureen and her adorable kids with her godawful husband. When Kevin Braedon is arrested, Booker takes it as a sign Somebody Up There likes him and vows to win the woman he loves…

To Be Continued…

And the winners are…

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Winners of the “Ides of March” Drawing!

Congrats to Pam, Annie, and Mary, to whom I just sent copies of Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up.”

It has become my passion to create a clutter-free organized, and dare I say it? Pleasant environment. I want to love where I work and cook and sleep.

We’re nowhere near that ideal yet, and, I doubt it will last, but in the meantime…

WIN THE DAY!

My Mendacious Biography…

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My bio is no longer true.

I did NOT give up housekeeping entirely to begin my writing career. It turns out–I only put it off.

My entire plan was: Once I become a bestselling author, I will have someone else clean my house.

And yay, right? I’ve sold some books. But it turns out that kids need dentistry and shoes and eventually college and I still don’t have a housekeeper.

Therefore I have been undertaking The Great Clean since the middle of last year. And no, I am not done. But I will tell you that I have decluttered the garage, the office, the kitchen, the laundry room, and my bedroom. The boys did theirs too, and I’m quite proud of them. They each have a system. We’re still a hot mess, but getting there.

I have been cleaning by location, which–DOESN’T WORK for a lot of reasons. Mostly because I have this terrible tendency to think, well, I’ll put that there, FOR NOW.

Yeah. So, then I got the book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo, and drumroll please…

It changed my life. 

Because it’s not about finding places for all the stuff you have; it’s about deciding what sparks joy and letting the rest go. It’s about knowing what’s going to be in a drawer before you open it, knowing the exact whereabouts of the thing you need and finding it and using it and thanking it and putting it back–which is so smugly woo-woo I think I threw up in my mouth a little just saying it, and yet…

Le sigh. Sometimes smugly woo-woo things work, even if you despise their very idea.

My gift to you? I will be giving away 3 copies of this book on the Ides of March. (That’s Thursday, March 15, 2018)

Just fill out the form below, and I will receive an email to let me know you want to enter the contest. You must be able to receive the book electronically from Amazon, I guess, I should mention that. I tested it, and I made it work. No newsletter signups will be involved. I hope this works everywhere you see this blog post, but if not, I won’t be offended if you sign up a couple times to make sure. It will definitely work from my website.

I’m doing this because I want you to feel the way I feel when I see the room I’m sitting in now, clothes neatly hung in the closet, floors clean, everything in it sparking joy like a badass motherf*cking, joy-sparking…joy sparker. I must pause and enjoy…

Be well, and spring forward into the best year possible. I am cheering you on!

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What she said…

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