Cover Reveal - Author Kay Phoenix

Today, I want to share the cover reveal of my book that will be coming out on December 5th. It's available for PRE-SALE by clicking below:

Time for Christmas

Sparks flew when Andrew and Regina met the first time, but the discovery that he was her new boss snuffed out their budding romance.

Now, a job transfer makes their remaining time together much too short.

Can a hefty sprinkle of Christmas magic finally set them both on the right path? Will they realize that time, like love is a gift not to be wasted?

***

Recently, someone asked me "when did you know you wanted to be a romance writer?"

Here is my answer:

I started writing poems and rhymes when I was little. In junior high, my friends and I would trade a notebook between classes and add a few paragraphs or pages to a continuing story (we were such perverts... nothing has changed). In high school I was on the newspaper staff all 4 years and creative writing. My creative writing class published a book each year. I wrote horror stories and depressing, angsty poems about boys. I was sure I wanted to be a reporter but life happened and I didn't get to go to college like I'd wanted. I had to get a job and go to community college and think of something practical I could learn there. 

I became a graphic artist and had a very satisfying, good paying career for 16 years with people I enjoyed working with... until the company closed. But, I was able to stay at home with my son when he was born and soon found online writing classes from Gotham Writers Workshop out of New York. I did not take romance, I took horror and everything else. My instructors told me I should try the romance class since it seemed to be a common theme. I'd never thought of it before. So, I listened to them and took a romance writing class in 2009, and here I am 10 years later.

- Kay

The Christmas Unicorn

I’m always stumped when someone asks me what I want for Christmas (or my birthday, or whatever gift-giving occasion is at hand).  For some reason it has always thrown me for a loop and I’ve never been able to put my finger on why, and I still can’t.  The question will inevitably be asked and I will be perplexed and then feel as if I must be an alien because of the way they are squinting at me.  I imagine they are thinking “Geeze, she must want something really expensive.  I shouldn’t have asked!”

Well, the truth of it is that I absolutely don’t know what I want as a gift from someone.  And honestly, I would rather know what they would pick out for me without direction.  So, what is the proper answer to their question?  Should I say “Just pick something out,” and leave them with the burden of wondering rather or not I will like it (I will), or should I say “A gift card to the mall,” which is my standard response?  It’s hard to say.  

One of my favorite Christmas presents I ever got was when I was 16, my beloved grandma gave me a wooden snowglobe with a white unicorn inside.  I don’t remember what tune the globe played, I would have to bring it down from its high shelf to check.  But, what I loved about that gift was that it was simple yet magical and completely unexpected.  She happened to see it and she knew that I was still young enough to like it, yet old enough to appreciate the meaning behind it. She saw “me” in it, and that is why it is so special to me.  It was certainly not the most expensive present I’ve ever gotten, and to be truthful I don’t even recall what was the most expensive present I’ve gotten. 

For a few years I got to where I would actually carry around a little list in my purse and when I thought of something that I might want, I would jot it down so that I wouldn’t meet the “question” with a deer-in-the-headlights stare.  But, it felt wrong to keep a list.  It felt selfish.  I stopped. 

So, in case you ever wonder what I might want for Christmas, here is the answer:  I want something from your heart with meaning.  Give me a unicorn snowglobe with the sentiment that I am loved and that you truly “see” me and who I am.