At some point every author has to accept a major truth: if they’re to accomplish anything in their career, they must set author goals. But setting goals in our daily lives is a challenge and something we fail at repeatedly. Is it any wonder that we don’t want to set goals for our author careers?
Blue Huxley and Jade Behr discuss their writing process and share tips for setting author goals.
Blue Huxley and Jade Behr’s Book & Writing Process
Table of Contents
Q: What is the title of your book and what is it about?
A: Don’t Stop Believing. How can a man with more money than time stop his matchmaking grandma? Hire a fake girlfriend, of course.
Publication date: September 15, 2023
Q: What genre is Don’t Stop Believing?
A: Clean and Wholesome Contemporary Romance
I love fake dating and billionaire romances so you’ve already checked two of my boxes, LOL.
Q: What themes and tropes are included in Don’t Stop Believing?
A: Fake-dating, forced proximity, found family, a millionaire with a poor girl, rescues, only one bed. A major theme of this book is being brave and unlearning self-protective behaviors after being hurt. Life is not really worth living unless you’re living it to the fullest.
Q: Who is the ideal reader for Don’t Stop Believing?
A: This one is great for lovers of SLOW-burn romance. We really wanted them to become best friends before they fell in love. Also a good choice for readers who enjoy fake-dating, eccentric side characters, and redemptive arcs.
Slow-burn romances are fun and I love a good redemption story.
Q: Are you a plotter, pantser, or plantser? Share a bit of your writing process.
A: We are plotters. We keep a list of book ideas, and when we want to start a new one, we have a few brainstorming sessions. When we’re ready to start plotting chapter by chapter, we often do phone calls at night after our kids are in bed. We don’t do a super detailed outline, but write down a few things we want to hit in each chapter.
If something isn’t working while we’re writing, we have another phone call to figure out how to solve the problem. It can be a lot of fun! We try not to wake up any kids by laughing too loudly while on the phone😀.
I love that you get to work through your outline with someone else and it sounds like you have a lot of fun doing it.
Q: How do you choose your character names?
A: We may search for common names for characters by their ethnicity and their age (or the year of their birth), but we often just pick names we like! We have a list of names we want to use and cross them out after we’ve put them in a book.
We try to keep track of side characters, so hopefully we won’t repeat ourselves too often by mistake. I did keep naming female characters things like Ana and Dana, so that’s something to watch out for, lol. -Blue
I keep a list of names I like too, and if it’s a main character, I must love the name or I change it. And yes, keeping track of names is important, otherwise our brains reach for the same ones all the time.
Q: What makes a great story?
A: In our opinions, it’s a combination of style and plot, but the most important thing might be that we need to fall in love with the main character. But we both love to read, and if we like the author’s style of storytelling, we’ll read almost anything they write. Sometimes though, even when I like an author’s style, their characters might do something on my personal list of unforgivable plot devices, and in that case, I’ll probably DNF. -Blue
Yes! If we don’t like or connect with the main character, it’s hard to get invested in their story.
Q: How do you manage writer’s block?
A: Gingerly. We get burnt out if we push too hard, and then we might go six months without publishing anything. As fairly new authors, this is still something we’re figuring out. We try to let our whims guide us about what book comes next. What would be fun to write? It has to be fun, or it’s not getting done. The Blue Jade motto. (Just kidding.)
I love the idea that you focus on the fun because if the writers aren’t enjoying the story, the readers won’t either.
Q: How do you handle criticism or negative feedback?
A: Jade is much tougher than I am. When I get a bad review, I try to look at good reviews to remind myself that some people love the book. I think the most important thing to do is to write your best and believe in the finished product so that harsh critiques will allow you to say, ‘This book wasn’t for them, and that’s okay.’ But it is hard when a book first comes out and I’m waiting for feedback from early reviewers. -Blue
Definitely! Our books aren’t for everyone and that’s okay, but it’s much nicer when readers enjoy them and we see those positive reviews. LOL.
Q: What was the most challenging aspect of writing and publishing? How did you (do you plan to) overcome it?
A: Staying motivated, and having to do all the marketing. Writing books is challenging, but marketing them is an entirely different skillset. That’s why all authors love it SO MUCH when readers recommend their book to a friend. That can be so much more effective than trying to prove our books are worth reading to strangers on the internet, etc.
In regards to overcoming that challenge, we’re focusing on writing the best we can for now. We’ll have to continue to figure out marketing as we go along!
I totally agree—writing is hard, but marketing is another beast altogether. I wish more readers understood how important reviews or simply rating a book they enjoyed is. Sadly, people are more likely to review a product they hate than one they enjoy.
Q: How do you use social media as an author?
A: We don’t post every day, but if you love clean romance, you are welcome to join our new Facebook group, Clean, Clever Romance Readers. It’s a lot of fun to discuss bookish (and non-bookish) things with people who love reading as much as we do.
We also use Instagram! Probably the best thing to do on social media is have fun with it and meet readers, but we are still learning how to use socials effectively. Ironically, I used to be a professional content writer/image creator for a few clients, but it’s always a bit harder when it’s your own business. -Blue
That is an interesting plot twist, and you’re right—it’s more difficult when the business you’re managing is your own.
Q: Where do you find inspiration for your stories?
A: Everywhere! Although we write historical and contemporary books, we are definitely inspired by classic authors like C.S. Lewis, Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, etc.
Here’s an example of random inspiration: once I saw a street sign when I was dropping my kids off at school—Castleford Road. I pictured a Gothic, castle-like mansion, and over the next few days, the idea began to form for a marriage of convenience story with an heiress and a grumpy duke. After quite a few months of pondering, we started writing. We published Helen of Castleford at the end of 2023, and it’s our best-selling book so far! -Blue
Ooh, I love it! That’s a wonderful result for a seemingly random idea.
Writing Advice from Blue Huxley and Jade Behr
Q: What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting?
A: Advice I wish I had known about: even if you have ideas for a series, save those for when you are a more advanced author. By the time you write a few books, you will probably be a lot better than you were at the beginning. You don’t want to have the first book in your series be your weakest, because people won’t want to read the rest!
I recommend writing that first book as a totally standalone plot. And take your time with it! Don’t keep starting over if you can help it. Get all the way to the end before you mess too much with the beginning. -Blue
Great advice. Completing a book does more to sharpen one’s skills than rewriting the same story.
Q: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever received? How has it impacted your life?
A: You can’t edit a blank page. Just write! Even a poor start will give you something to improve and build upon. You can always change it later.
This is one of my favorite tips as well, and it’s gotten me through times when writing an entire book feels intimidating.
Q: What are your tips for developing characters?
A: We love to use the Enneagram. There are lots of resources for it; articles and free blogs regarding core wounds, biggest fears, and Enneagram number this in relationship with Enneagram number that. It’s like the book writes itself at this point! (Not really, but it helps.)
The Enneagram has been on my list of things to try since FOREVER. Maybe I’ll test it this year, LOL.
Q: Do you have any advice for setting author goals?
A: Set very small, achievable short-term goals. Set crazy, fun long-term goals, and remember to come back daily to those little goals to help get you there.
I love these tips as they make our goals seem attainable and fun! And of course, you can’t meet a goal if you forget what they are.
Q: If you could go back and change one thing in your author career, what would it be and why?
A: It may have been a good idea to finish writing more books before we started publishing, so we would have something new ready for the readers who want more. But at the same time, things worked out well for us in our inexperienced way, because early feedback on our first published book changed a lot of what we did going forward.
So, now that I think about it, there are two things I would change:
- Having a free book available to give to our newsletter subscribers (something I’m working on this year) and,
- That both of us could have read more widely in our current genre. We love romance, but our favorite books are old, so we didn’t know about many of the trends and preferences in modern romance. And this is probably the most common advice to writers that I’ve ever seen: read widely in your genre. Doh!
But everyone has to start somewhere, and we’ve read more modern books and learned a lot by doing. We can’t start over, so we’ll just keep putting our best feet forward! -Blue
Yes, these are important areas to focus on, but I love that you point out how crucial it is to keep moving forward if you make mistakes.
Just for Fun
Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?
A: Pausing time. I would love to be able to learn things and work on things without having to worry about anything else while I’m doing it. -Blue
LOL. Wouldn’t that be fun? But I can also see myself abusing that superpower by spending way too long on the tasks I like and putting off the ones I don’t.
Q: If you were not a writer, what would you want to be and why?
A: I love to sing, but my voice is not very impressive, so I guess I’ll stick to writing. -Blue
You can always write a character who sings and live vicariously through her. LOL.
Q: If your keyboard could talk, what would it say about your writing habits?
A: Please send help for the “E” and “S” keys! The paint is almost completely rubbed off.
Your response had me checking my keypad to see which key needs help…it’s the ‘A’–it’s practically a blur, but it’s not my fault that my name has so many ‘A’s’.🤣
Q: What’s the one question you wish I’d asked and how would you answer it?
A: A self-indulgent thing we will buy when we strike it rich? Housecleaning services. 😮💨
Ooh, yes! Sign me up for that housecleaning service as well😂.
Let’s Connect with Blue Huxley and Jade Behr
Q: What are you working on next?
A: We have our Texas Wilders small-town contemporary series that Jade is taking the lead on, and then a historical spin-off series from our Regency romance that Blue is spearheading. It’s going to be an adventure/forced proximity series! We have lots more books planned in other series too, but unfortunately, these things take time. 😁
I love how you take turns leading projects and look forward to what you write next. I hope you’ll find success with your new series.
About Don’t Stop Believing
An offer she can’t refuse…
Gwen and Franklin are both skeptics when it comes to love, but more pressingly, she is in horrible debt, and he has an escalating, matchmaking grandmother.
A paid “dating” gig would solve both of their problems, but comes with complications—like what happens if a daring rescue, an unexpected friendship, a dangerous wedding date, and helping each other dodge old exes turns one of these two fakers into a believer?
Don’t Stop Believing is a full-length, cozy, closed-door, slow-burn romance novel.
About Blue Huxley and Jade Behr
Blue Huxley and Jade Behr are millennial sisters who grew up in Southern California but now live in Texas. (We’re not next-door neighbors, unfortunately.) We are currently homeschooling our kids.
We come from a reading/writing family and love books. We especially love old books, movies, and music. Our favorite scenes to write involve dialogue!
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