Little note from Toni: I love Jami! She writes great books and I love this series! Everyone please check it out and enjoy her post below! Her new book Down By Contact is out now! GO GET IT!

Writing Sports Romances for Female Sports Fans

Toni and I met because her books kept popping up on my books’ “Also Bought” lists on Amazon. So I contacted her, and we started a friendship formed from our mutual love of books and sports.

She loves hockey, I love football.

I’ve loved football since I was a little kid and my much older sister took me to high school football games. I grew up in a family of women, but we were all sports fans, even my mom. To this day, I never miss a Seahawk game and am a life-long fan.

When Seattle gets an NHL team, I’ll definitely be a hockey fan. In fact, I’m waiting for the day, which seems to be getting closer and closer with the Seattle arena deal approved a few months ago. I grew up three miles from the Canadian border so I’m no stranger to hockey. Even so, my experience is confined to watching high school games across the border when I was a teenager (because the guys were hot) and a few Seattle Thunderbird games. Someday I’m going to write a spin-off series with a fictional Seattle hockey team. In fact, I wrote a short Christmas romance with an NHL hero.

For the near future, I’ll continue to write my football romance series set in Seattle. Down by Contact, my third book in the Seattle Lumberjacks series, was just released in the past twenty-four hours. Writing sports romance presents special challenges for a writer, especially if the sport plays an integral part in the story, and not just a background prop.

When I wrote my first Lumberjacks book, I needed it to be a book that didn’t insult the intelligence of female fans. I wanted it to be as realistic as a woman who’s never played a down of football can make it. I’d read so many sports romances written by authors who aren’t fans. The players never practice, they never put much thought into the game, and they could be in any other profession and nothing in the story would change.

I didn’t want that for my books because a professional athlete lives and breathes his sport, so my guys needed to be dedicated and driven. On top of that, I wanted my heroines to be fans, too. I did tons of research, including reading a very good book written by an NFL wife. I attended two Football 101 workshops held at the Seahawks training facility on Lake Washington and absorbed everything I could absorb.

Even after all that research, Down by Contact was a challenge for me as a writer. My books include on-the-field scenes. Offensive players are easier to write about because they’re always in the spotlight, but my hero, Zach, is a linebacker—a defensive player. I found it difficult to get into the head of my linebacker as he roamed behind the line waiting for the snap. My solution was to add more locker room scenes, which I think worked pretty well.

Another thing I had to do in this book since it spanned an entire season was to design a game schedule and stick to it. Not as easy as it might sound.

All in all, I’m proud and happy of the result. Have any of you considered writing a sports romance? What sport would you pick? What would be the special challenges for you?

Leave a comment on Toni’s blog, and I’ll give away a copy of Fourth and Goal (Book 1) to a winner picked at random.

Also, check my blog on for my Release/Reader Appreciation Party on April 6-7. I’ll be giving away a $100 gift certificate to Amazon/ARe/Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) and many other prizes.

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Down by Contact

It’s showtime.

After twelve years in the league, all Zach Murphy wants is a Super Bowl ring. He’s been about hard hits not smooth manners, about breaking quarterbacks not making small talk at cocktail parties. But now he’s shattered something else. After dumping a tray of drinks on the team owner’s snooty daughter and accidentally feeling up the Governor’s wife, his tenure with his team looks perilously short. And things are getting worse.

Life is looking up for Kelsie Carrington-Richmond. A onetime beauty pageant star and mean girl, she only recently stopped living out of her car. But both those times have passed. Her Finishing School for Real Men has a real shot, and the Seattle Lumberjacks have hired her to polish up their roughest player. Except…it’s Zach. Long ago she broke his heart. He’s just the beast she remembers—gruff, protective—but she’s nothing like the beauty from his past.

Yet, getting knocked down happens, and getting back up makes a contender. And they both have the hearts of champions.

* * * * *

An advocate of happy endings, Jami Davenport writes sexy romantic comedy, sports hero romances, and equestrian fiction. Jami lives on a small farm near Puget Sound with her Green Beret-turned-plumber husband, a Newfoundland cross with a tennis ball fetish, a prince disguised as an orange tabby cat, and an opinionated Hanoverian mare.

Jami works in IT for her day job and is a former high school business teacher and dressage rider. In her spare time, she maintains her small farm and socializes whenever the opportunity presents itself. An avid boater, Jami has spent countless hours in the San Juan Islands, a common setting in her books. In her opinion, it is the most beautiful place on earth.

Website Address:

http://www.jamidavenport.com

Blog Address:

http://jamidavenport.blogspot.com

http://www.romancingthejock.com

Twitter Address:

@jamidavenport

Facebook Address:

http://www.facebook.com/jamidavenport