Five Things I've Learned While Writing Romantic Suspense

This fall sees me making my first foray into romantic suspense (not counting fan fiction) and, boy, is it a whole different animal than contemporary and/or erotic romance! 

I hatched this crazy idea about a team of mercenaries who live fairly regular lives but get into shenanigans on the side. And, as I work on the first in this potential series, I can't default to navel-gaze-y, internal narratives to drive the story. Oh, noes!

What have I figured out so far...?

1. External conflict is hard to do well, yo.

2. Sexytimes in the middle of impending doom is a gun you can only fire once.

3. When you make up military/government thingies and talk about weaponry, remember to RESEARCH if it's actually possible. But later. Not when you're in the flow.  

4. No, seriously, they can't have sex and talk about their feelings all the time. I mean it. 

5. When in doubt, blow something up.

You'll have to wait a while to find out how I've applied my learnings but, in the mean time, you can check out "Matinee," my short story in the erotic anthology The Big Book of Orgasms, and pre-order my contemporary novella, Bollywood and the Beast!