EMERSON SHAW

How this writing roller coaster began for me:

Back in 2011, my sister discovered her husband of nearly fifteen years was cheating on her. Shortly after she filed for divorce, and so began one of the most unbelievable rides my family has ever been on. Like any tragedy, we thought it would never happen to us. And before you start rolling your eyes, I know we’re not so unique in this experience. I mean really, half of all marriages end in divorce, so I get it. But we learned the man  we knew lived a double life. He made Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde look like Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp. Our jaws dropped so many times I’m surprised our faces aren’t forever disfigured. I was by my sister’s side through every court appearance, lawyer meeting, and social worker visit, and my sister encouraged me to write Acts of Desperation, my debut novel, to share our story. It was published in January of 2014. For those of you who’ve read it and are wondering, “Grant” has been found and he’s pretty wonderful.

I spent about a year after publishing Acts trying to think of what to write next and what I discovered was writer’s block. I tried hard, really hard, to come up with something interesting and wrote about 33,000 words of babbling, non-directional bullshit that will never see the light of day. But one day an idea hit me about a female bodyguard. I saw her like a superhero. Strong in body and mind, but flawed when comes to affairs of the heart. My inspiration for her character stemmed from Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum–her One For the Money made me laugh out loud. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend the series. Although Diana Cain doesn’t blow up any cars, she does make some mistakes and most of them come in her private life, because Vance DeLuca. He’s her partner, Italian, and the chemistry between the two is off the charts. Between him, her on-again off-again boyfriend Gabe, and clients who often find Diana irresistible, things are usually complicated. Most readers are really pulling for Diana and Vance to get together. But will they?  Hmm…I have a strong suspicion they will.

Straight Flushed was published in June of 2015, and book two, Kissed Blind was released in June of 2016. I’m working on getting book three, title still undetermined, out of my head. But hey, here’s a cool idea! If you have an idea for the title of the third book, leave it in the comments. You never know, you just might name my next book!

I’ve also written a short story featured in Hook and Ladder, a compilation novel, titled Burnt Sugar. All proceeds go to the Children’s Burn Foundation. To date, this story is one of my favorites. Jesse “McKitty” McKinney is a fire fighter with a flare for reading, has a soft spot for animals, and is a gentlemen to his core…until he meets Aurelie. The sparks fly the day he sets foot in her kitchen. I’m looking forward to turning his story into a full-length novel.

Is there something else you want to know about me? Please, ask away. As they say, I’m an open book.

If you’ve read any of my books, I would love it if you’d take a few moments to leave a review.

That’s all for now! Cheers!