De-blog

I've spent sixteen hours typesetting the paperback and formatting the ebook for In The Stars Part II today. Am I inefficient? Maybe. Or perhaps it's down to the 210k, 572 page, fifty-five chapter leviathan I spawned... (yes, you read that correctly) Better still (or worse yet), this is only the second half of the story of In The Stars , which spans a year in the life of The Circle - the nine characters around which the Hiding Behind The Couch series revolves. The full story consists of the 105 chapters below - around 1,150 pages and something like 384,000 words. Which is, of course, why I'm releasing it not only in two volumes , but also as twelve separate episodes . Each episode is released in the month in which the related zodiac sign falls, so the first six episodes are already available (at time of writing). It doesn't have much else to do with astrology, to be honest, although the themes of religious beliefs, science, fate and fortune are key. I...

So, the thing is this. I got to the end of Checking Him Out , and it was all ready for submission. And, as all writers will know, it's a bit difficult to... ...just let go. I had plenty of other stuff to be getting on with, but I was watching the forums for Love's Landscapes . As I explained a couple of posts back , members of the MM Romance Group submitted "Dear Author" letters, detailing the story they wanted to be written, and authors claimed these prompts, which is their agreement to write that story. Unfortunately, circumstances mean that some authors have to pull out, and their prompt is then 'open' again for someone else to claim. On this particular evening, I was home alone, when two prompts became available at the same time. One was a sports-related prompt, which I had ideas for, but the prompter was hinting heavily at baseball, and I know next to bugger all about baseball (played with bats, and has that weird ballpark organ music, that g...

Checking Him Out is back from round #1 with my editor*, and she's pretty bloody awesome, that editor. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bolshy, stubborn author who digs her heels in. Luckily she seems to know how to handle me, as I've come out the other side smiling and happy - a very different outcome to the one I had recurring dreams about two nights ago! *Addendum: it is now edited and with the proofreaders! There was also an interesting plot hole that she spotted, and it took me about ten minutes of sitting, staring at the screen, saying, "What the hell is she on about?" over and again, before the penny dropped. It's fixed now, and I've got to say that right at this point in time I think this is the best story I've ever written. It's probably just a post-writing / post-editing moment of euphoric bias, because I love my Hiding Behind The Couch series beyond the capacity for rational thought. However, Checking Him Out was a ne...

I've just submitted two stories to my publisher. That sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it? And you know what? It is! But this isn't any old publisher. It's not a traditional publisher, nor an indie publisher. It's an online community endeavour to publish a massive anthology of around 200 stories. Do not think for one minute that this makes it anything less than professional. The support from the moderators, the editors, proofreaders - they are truly incredible, and the community itself really is one on its own. About The M/M Romance Group The community I'm talking about is the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads , and I'm a member. That feels a bit like coming out, because if you're unfamiliar with the terminology, "M/M" is male/male, and it's a genre I'm still learning about, even though I've discovered that my first novel, Champagne (2004, 2014), is, in fact, a M/M romance. However, much of what I write falls under the umbrell...

In The Stars Part II Trailer Out Now! ♥ It's a labour of love. ♥ I've blogged about it before. Hiding Behind The Couch - my series about nine friends. I've blogged about it a good few times, in fact, because I have a problem. It. Sells. Bugger. All. It sells so much bugger all it made me do that one word to each sentence thing! It doesn't get many reviews either, even though I can see that the first two novels are being downloaded from my website . Because, you see, the first two books are free . Book four is technically free too, as it's available in instalments from Smashwords , with 'user sets price'. So what's going on? When it does get reviews, they're generally great. I've done interviews in the press and online. I've run giveaways, taken part in blog hops, made video trailers... I can't even be bothered to list the rest of the things I've done here, but the bottom line is this: It's contempor...

Blog hop! What a great idea, like playing the Wikipedia game of link-clicking and getting lost in a whole new world of knowledge, except here you get to meet some authors you might not have met before, so without further ado... In this post I'm going to tell you a little about my writing process and what I'm currently working on. I was tagged by the fabulous Larry Benjamin , author of What Binds Us , Damaged Angels and Unbroken (shortlisted for this year's Lambda Literary Awards ). You can read Larry's blog post here: http://authorlarrybenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/my-writing-process-blog-hop.html Larry's website is here: http://www.larrybenjamin.com What am I working on? I've just finished editing the second edition of my first novel, Champagne , and after a very drawn-out discussion with a reader last week about how much the story affected him, I'm thinking about writing a "sequel" that would bring resolution. I deliberately wrote...

Welcome to Part Two of our Roundtable discussion on sex in gay fiction, with authors, Larry Benjamin , WS Long , Andrew Q. Gordon and Hans Hirschi , all of whom write gay fiction. Deb McGowan , author, editor and publisher is the discussion's moderator. Miss Part 1? Don't worry, you can read it here. http://authorlarrybenjamin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/lets-talk-about-sex-roundtable.html Don't forget we are also running a giveaway of eBooks and a $30 gift card. Just click the Rafflecopter link on this page to enter the drawing. You have until 12:00 a.m. April 8, 2014, to enter and winners will be drawn on April 9, 2014. Winners will be notified by email. DM: Welcome back gentlemen. Let's just dive in and pick up where we left off, shall we? What's your approach to writing sex? WSL: The sex scenes should propel the story, involve the characters at that moment. That's the only reason to include it. If the sex doesn't add to the plot then don...

Here's something a little different, AND you get to enter a giveaway! Awesome! I recently moderated a discussion between four authors - Larry Benjamin , Andrew Q. Gordon , Hans M. Hirschi and WS Long - all of whom write gay fiction. If you're not familiar with the genre, the fact that these guys are, well, guys, makes them quite rare, as much of the work published as "M/M" (male/male) fiction is written by women, and is more often than not romance. Not that I'm suggesting this is a bad thing (I've been known to write gay romances in my time), but it does mean that, for whatever reason, on-page sex is a common feature in gay fiction. Thus, sex in gay fiction is the topic for this roundtable discussion, posted in two parts. The first part can be found on Larry Benjamin's blog: http://authorlarrybenjamin.blogspot.com/2014/03/lets-talk-about-sex-roundtable.html The second part will be posted here on my blog on Thursday April 3. In addition, ...

In my head I'm screaming and kicking wildly. No, no, NO! I will NOT become a Fanyon! I'm in denial, because the reality is that I am completely in love with Josh Lanyon's writing. Yes, it's a little formulaic, and there are some parallels to be drawn in terms of characterisation between series, but it's well written and an easy read. What also helps is he's a bringer of Happily Ever Afters, and I like these. A lot. Last night I finished the fifth novel in the Adrien English Mysteries series - there is a book six that's a kind of 'write it yourself' thing - I may take a peek, but I prefer to have the story already told. So, effectively, book five is the end of the story. The full series, in order (links go to Josh Lanyon's website): Fatal Shadows A Dangerous Thing The Hell You Say Death of a Pirate King The Dark Tide Stranger Things Have Happened I started book one on February 9th, and today is March 7th. Talk about getting suc...

So, I'm utterly exhausted! I've been back home for just a little over an hour, and it's a real effort to type. Yesterday I was at the London Author Fair - the first event of its kind - held in Covent Garden, where I met up with Hans M. Hirschi , author of Family Ties , Jonathan's Hope and The Opera House . Two weeks ago I wasn't planning on going to London at all. I used to live down there, and visiting always reminds me of why I moved away. I swear the water is just piped straight from the Thames (makes me ill and leaves a really yucky residue around cups - that can't be right, surely?). Then there's the whole 'cheapest' ticket for a return journey of two stops (Russell Square to Covent Garden) being a £9 travelcard . Seriously? Do you think you could maybe tell me Covent Garden was going to be closed later before I buy a return? Anyway, gripes aside, I had a really good time. The London Author Fair was very useful - lots of seminars and works...

I'm releasing each episode of In The Stars separately, via Smashwords and Amazon , and it's turning out to be quite labour-intensive, but hopefully well worth the effort. I've just made episode 3 (Pisces) available, as I will be on my way back from the London Author Fair on March 1st, which would be its 'official' launch date. This follows the release of episode 1 (Capricorn) on January 1st, and episode 2 (Aquarius) on February 1st. The episodes are available from free-1.49 USD (reader sets price on Smashwords), and the full novels are 6.00 USD in ebook format - paperback also available.* To set in context, In The Stars is part of my series, Hiding Behind The Couch . In its full form, In The Stars consists of two hefty, full-length novels (books 4 and 5 of the series), spanning the period of one year in the life of The Circle - the nine friends central to the series. What I wanted to do with this particular instalment is give new readers an opportu...

So, you've heard the black dog metaphor? For the past couple of months or so, he's been the spectre of a Cairn terrier - tiny snatched glimpses of a fairly benign little feller , just visible out of the corner of my eye. Yesterday he was a Staffordshire bull terrier, sitting in the hallway, panting, impatient: "Come and take me for a walk," he goaded. Pant, pant, pant, pant... "No, you're OK. I'll just sit here and write, and maybe you'll go away, or someone else will take you for a walk." Which they did - thank you, Jose. Today, he's back. He's grown some overnight, too. By now he's looking something like an underfed Newfoundland: a bit scrawny, all fur coat and no...meat on his bones. (See, even I can manage a little attempt at humour in these dark moments.) I'll pick up on that ole black dog visual contact again in a minute, but I want to mention something else (yup, mental health's a bit haywire, so don't expect log...