C.J. Elliott, Confessions Of A Pen Name

Dear Reader,

Hello there. Before I introduce myself, I'd like to thank Kayden for having me as her guest. This is a first for me. Usually Cindy gets to do the guest blogging, but today the spotlight is all mine which is a nice treat. The name's CJ...CJ Elliott. I'm Cindy's dark side. I write all the scary, freaky, paranormal or just plain bizarre tales that don't jive with her world of love, sex and designer shoe.

It's interesting being the darker half of the same person. Sometimes it's annoying because Cindy will answer email questions directed at me or worse take the credit for what I wrote. But it's not all bad. There's a freedom that comes with being the pen name. Instead of shying away from a topic because it's too weird or too personal, I get to frolic through the black and stormy parts of Cindy's brain.

Our journey together began with a nightmare. A dream that troubled Cindy so much she jumped out of bed and jotted it all down. Then she avoided the idea like the plague because she found it too disturbing to work on. Then one day, she created me. What if she wrote the story using a pseudonym? And sure enough, I whipped up The Wedding Feast—a tale of terror about a woman who is stranded with a group of children. The more time she spends with the kids, the more she realizes there's something wrong with them. Bad wrong. I had a grand time working on this short story. And once I worked up the courage to submit it, Wild Child Publishing contracted it.

Since then, I've been a busy woman. I've written a dark tale about a woman who plans to murder her cheating husband, but finds out terrifying a secret...one that only makes her love him more. Best Laid Schemes came out last year in Weirdly Vol 3, also with Wild Child Publishing.

My first full-length novel, titled Clean, releases later this year with Moongypsy Press. The novel centers around a woman named DJ who's employer specializes in dirty deeds, but not dirt cheap. It's DJ's job to clean up after the Agency hitmen do their thing. The job had never gotten under her skin until she finds a target who's still alive...and then her world is turned upside down.

Usually my world is kept very separate from Cindy's. I have my own branding, my own website. Heck, I have my own muse. But then my muse, Lilith decided to conspire with Cindy's muse, Brighid and Hour of the Wolf was born. Telepaths, loups garoux, and a psychokiller, oh my. Plus there's a healthy dose of hot lovin'. Not usually my thing, but I have to admit, Matéo is one sexy wolfman. Maybe Lilith and Brighid should collaborate more often.

All in all, Cindy and I have a pretty good thing going here and I hope we both keep producing titles for many more years. Whatever our future holds, this much I can say, when I'm involved, rest assured that something wicked this way comes.

CJ's links:

website: http://cjelliottbooks.com

books: http://tinyurl.com/cjwcbooks