Abbie Roads

Author on the Couch: Houston Havens

Today I’m conducting a session with…Houston Havens!

Feel free to use the handy dandy click-to-tweet links!

Me: Tell me about an experience that had a profound impact on your life.
Houston:  When I was nine years old I died from a heart attack due to asthma. While I was there (on that side of reality) I was shown things by two beings (angels/guides/whatever you want to call them) after this imparted lesson from them, they then told me “It’s not your time yet.” Though I argued that it was indeed my time to return and that I wanted to ‘go home’…against my will, they returned me to my physical body on Earth.

Because I’d been dead for too long (Years later I confirmed with my father that I’d been dead for over 10 minutes.) the beings told me there was some damage to the body they had to repair. Nine hours later (after they’d repaired my body) I woke to live my life as any child does. But what they couldn’t repair was the weave of my consciousness. The tight weave most human minds are set at (so they don’t remember that side) was now loose in me. In other words, they couldn’t mend the weave of my mind, so I couldn’t forget what they’d shown me. What I saw and remembered CHANGED ME FOREVER.

An experience like that has a profound life changing effect on a soul…from that day forward, I learn as though I’ll live forever, but live as though I’ll die tonight.

I live each and every moment in the now. I can’t waste time pulling the baggage of my past negative experiences with me. YOUR TIME HERE IS SHORT. DON’T WASTE IT. Don’t just dream…make the dream a reality.

Me: Wow… What a powerful experience. It altered the fabric of your entire life… In a good way. The world would be a better place if everyone knew what you know.
What personality trait of yours helps you most as an author?

Houston: Determination: to live MY life – MY way. I don’t wait for life to happen to me…I make life happen. Stop worrying about what others think and say about you – just live and blossom in your own spotlight – BE HAPPY. Be true to those you love (for who they are) and those who love you (the way you are).

Me: Amen Sista! Preach it! You are so spot on!
What personality trait of yours hinders you most as an author?

Houston: Dyslexia; trouble with letters, words, numbers and getting too much information at one time…though I have no troubles understanding the theory of Quantum Physics. Go figure that one out. The mind is a funny thing.

Me: What was your high point as a writer?

Houston: Though one would think it was when I hit the bestsellers list six days after I released my very first book, Sinful Surrender, but it wasn’t. Mine was when I held the very first PRINT copy of Sinful Surrender. The e-book came out first, and it was great knowing I was ‘out there’, but I didn’t really feel like I was an AUTHOR until I held my first printed book.

 Stop worrying about what others think and say about you - just live and blossom in your own spotlight. @HoutonHavens Click To Tweet

Me: I totally get that feeling. It’s like it wasn’t real until I held my book in my hands and could see my words on the page.
What was your low point as a writer—a time when you questioned your path?

Houston:  I’ve never questioned my writing abilities…I’ve always been confident in my craft. My low points ALWAYS come when I question the path I’m walking in this very rough business. I get frustrated with the pirates, the demands of social media promotions, and many of the book distributors with all their censorship and improper categorizing of genre that are behind their iron curtains that shouldn’t be, such as erotic-romance novels of class being shoved in with erotica. There needs to be a very broad line drawn between these two genres! When I walk away from this business…it will be because of this…not my writing.

Me: Now more than any other time being a writer isn’t just about writing books. And we all get into the business because we want to write. Not because we want to market or be social media experts.
How many books have you written? How long does it typically take you to write a book? What’s the most painful part of the writing process for you?

Houston: I’ve written a total of twelve completed books (not counting the many rewrites I’ve done of said books) Right now I have seven books published (5 for sale and 2 for free). I have five straight romances waiting to be published. As well, I will be releasing another book in my Psychic Menage Series later this year with two more following it.

To write a book with three interwoven plots like I do, it takes about 6 to 8 months to write a novel start to finish – and that’s pushing it (16 hours days 7 days a week)

I pray for no (most painful part of the writing process) interruptions. 😉

Me: What’s the worst piece of writing advice you were ever given? How did you get beyond it?

Houston:  Show DON’T Tell – Is the worse advice being pushed on newbies! Once I became an Acquisitions Editor and saw how many authors were putting this LIE to work I was shocked. If YOU WANT TO GET PUBLISHED the honest RULE is Show AND Tell – but you have to know WHAT to show and WHAT to tell.

I will be speaking at the http://midwestwritersconference.blogspot.com this October and I will talk about this very subject. I hope to touch on a few of the other secrets that are never shared, as well. If you can’t make it to my lecture, you’ll find me roaming around the hotel – don’t hesitate to come up and talk with me.

Me: What’s the secret to your success?

Houston: Uncovering the lies and secrets unpublished authors are fed, then applying those secrets to my work so I could get my very first book traditionally published and have it hit the bestsellers list. Later this year, I hope to get my workbook on this very subject published. So you newbies be looking for it! I’ll share it all with you.

Me: Tell me about your erotic romance, Sinful Surrender.

Houston:
Top psychic spy Fay Avalon saw too much on her latest mind traveling mission and is now on the run from her post-catastrophic dystopian government, searching for the truth and proof. She escapes but is shot down, landing in the arms of the enemy.
In Drakker and Arlo’s world, women are so rare the men have accepted a polyandrous lifestyle. When the brothers stumble upon Fay unconscious in the wreckage of an aircraft, they are immediately attracted to her. Arlo wants to keep her, but Drakker knows they can’t. They must take her to their brother Logan Abán, leader of their people.
Logan struggles with trusting anyone, even himself. When a beautiful, intelligent, and intriguing woman falls into their laps, his denied desires for intimacy challenge his need to trust the spy. He’s frustrated by romantic Arlo’s claims of her innocence. Even when pragmatic and dominating Drakker defends her as well, Logan refuses to trust his gut.
Can one woman satisfy the diverse desires of three men? Will Logan’s fears be realized by betrayal? Is Fay to be sentenced to death as a spy, suffer a fate worse than death by being returned to her government as a traitor, or will she find a new life and love as the wife of three sexy brothers?

Me: Share with us a favorite paragraph or two from your newest release, Intimate Betrayal.

Houston:

This paragraph is from my latest release Intimate Betrayal book 4 of my Psychic Menage Series. What I love about this paragraph is Jaden’s sacrifice here. It shows just how much he loves Kindise (Heroine).

Excerpt:

Talut slammed his dagger into the tabletop. Rani and Brokk exchanged glances. Talut’s stare dared them to reach for it. When they didn’t, he turned to him (HIM is referring to the pov character here -Jaden). “Okay, Earth boy…ya’er payment comes in the form of ya’er letting me kick ya’er ass without defending ya’erself.”

Jaden smirked. “Come on, man.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin. “I’ve got moes. One hundred percent twenty-four K of the Airbornes fine Monetary Ores Exchange System. There’s about sixty thousand dollars’ worth in that bag, take it and walk away.”

“Accept my terms or don’t.” Talut yanked his dagger free. “There are no negotiations. I beat the shit out of ya or I kill ya. It be making no difference to me.”

“Don’t agree,” Rani yelled. “It be death for ya either way. One way’s just slower than the other.”

“It be an unfair fight!” Brokk shouted. “He be having height and weight advantage, don’t do it Jaden.”

He was a man used to handling situations with a gun, not his fists and right now, his arm didn’t feel strong enough to throw any knockouts. Taking a hard swallow, he paused. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t experienced unthinkable pain or stared death in the eyes before. Not more than five days ago, he’d done just that and was still feeling the price of his win. He wasn’t ready to deal with more pain. This guy was huge. Massive. God, this is going to be more painful than getting my skin stripped. He released the anxious breath he’d been holding. It wasn’t like he’d lived a pure, clean life. He hadn’t. For whatever reasons, he had no excuse for the wrongs he’d done. Having to fight for his life, only a few days apart was an omen. He’d had enough. If this was God’s punishment, God’s will that he die to give Kindise a good life with Sori, then he’d do it. Kindise was the only thing that mattered to him. She was the only thing that gave him something to live or to die for. “Let’s get this over with.”

Buy Links:

Sinful Surrender
Phantom Desire
Exposed Ecstasy
Intimate Betrayal

(99 cent TEASER BOOK has the first 3 to 4 chapters of the books listed above) Seducing Her

You can find Houston here:

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Abbie Roads writes dark emotional novels featuring damaged characters, but always gives her hero and heroine a happy ending… after torturing them for three hundred pages. RACE THE DARKNESS and HUNT THE DAWN are available now! SAVING MERCY Book 1 in the Fatal Truth Series is now available for pre-order.