South of the Border--New Release

This Friday, my short story, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, will be released with Forbidden publications. Short, hot and steamy!

http://www.forbiddenpublications.com/book_pages/south_of_the_border.html

Faery Balls, author groups and writing time

It’s been a very active week. First, I got a brainstorm for a promotional idea, so I had to get busy and see if it would work.

I’ve organizing a group of M/M erotic romance writers to form a advertising co-op so that we can pool our funds and afford to run ads in bigger mainstream and gay publications and websites. I bought a domain name, Manloveromance.com, got a friend to design a website, put my dear, darling husband to work creating the site. Then I advertised for interested authors, got 20 of them to make a financial commitment, organized their info, and researched media kits for all the publications that reach our target audiences--gay men and straight women who like romantic M/M pairings. And then made phone calls and a flurry of emails to put the arrangements in place. We go with an ad on line with the Advocate.com soon.

Phew! I hope this all works out for everyone involved. We have a terrific group of authors with a diverse range of work that should appeal to a wide array of readers. I hope they find us and we can entertain them!

Mid-week, I was asked to join the group of delightful authors that sponsors the Faery Ball at the RT convention each year! What a fun thing to get involved with! The Ball last month was terrific, full of fun costumes, party people and great gifts and activities. It was one of the highlights of the convention for me. I’m thrilled to be part of it for next year. Now, I have to work on finding the perfect faery costume for Houston next April! I’m not very faeryish-looking, but I love shiny things! My motto is 'pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny’!

Now, inbetween all these things, the kids are off from school for the next 87 days (who's counting?) I have two rapidly approaching deadlines and I’m looking for places to lock myself into to get a bit of peace and quiet to finish up “ROUGHHOUSING”. Although, I admit it, I love writing these guys and I hate the thoughts of leaving them behind again when this one is finished. They are always making out! To be so passionately in love with a new man! Bram and James are so hot!

Speaking of which, I need to go make dinner of the horde of men living in my house.

Roughhousing a sequel to A Bit of Rough

I'm writing a sequel, Roughhousing, to my m/m contemporary erotic romance A Bit of Rough. Revisiting the characters of James and Bram has been a complete delight. I adore both men, understand their flaws and sympathize with their fears. I revel in their carnal energies, amazed at how often they pull me into their bedroom with them. Men really are insatiable. And they don’t always use the bedroom. The scene I working on today is a bit of passionate lovemaking in the front seat of a king cab pick-up truck. A piece of work for our guys to accomplish, but they rise to the occasion.

But in writing this, I have a few fears of my own. A Bit of Rough is very popular. It’s won awards, been nominated for both a CAPA and a Passionate Plume Finalist, received the #4 slot in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll and is the publisher’s best-selling novel to date. That’s a bit of awesome history to live up to. I try not to let all that affect my writing of the Roughhousing, but at the back of my mind I keep asking myself ‘will this one measure up? Will readers like it as well as they did the first one?” A little nerve wrecking.

But the nice thing about Roughhousing is that James and Bram DO take over the book. They write their own story. The entire novel is flowing right out my fingertips like sweet, slippery gel and oozing over the keyboard. They make the storytelling easy and fun. Granted, they keep a lot of it in the bedroom, but then new relationships, especially between healthy men, do spend a lot of time exploring the physical side of their partnership. I know I always did. Luckily my marriage remains new even after all these years. Picking the right man and holding on to him is so important. Something Bram knows and James is learning.

As to the question of whether or not readers will like it as well as A Bit of Rough? I’ll just have to finish this little puppy and get it out there and see! Maybe, they’ll like it even better!

speedy rejections

If EC is nothing else, they are quick! I submitted a short story on 6/8, got an email stating they had recieved it on 6/9, and I got a rejection notice on 6/13! They said 'the writing was good and the story very well plotted, but it wasn't right for us'. That left two things they might not have liked. Either the vampire/human pairing or the m/m romance. Damn, I like both of those!

I moped and sniffed for awhile, and then I sent it out to another publisher. I even thought about writing another one for EC, without the vampires, but that won't do me any good if the m/m romance part is what they didn't like.

I LOVE writing m/m and that isn't going to change, so I guess I'll have to just write that new one and try EC again until I get it right!

writing short stories

I just finished writing a short story, under 12,000 words,(for submission to EC's Cavemen anthologies), and I had to mop my brow when it was all completed because I JUST managed to make it in under the word limit. Thank goodness!

I find it so hard to write short! Developing two unique individual characters that readers can relate to and find interesting, plotting a believable storyline that brings them together into a romance and makes sure the sex fits into the developing relationship is difficult for me to accomplish in a short story! Every time I do it, I worry I've left readers feeling like they missed something. I must need more practice, which means writing more books and short stories. I'll have to find some anthologies looking for m/m romances! EEEK!