Some General Updates

I've finished and submitted another short story for Evernight Publishing's Romance On The Go line. It's called The Right Time for Love. I've been offered a contract for it from Evernight so that is good news! I've not even received the contract yet so at this point I have no other news about it but will update the blog once I do.

I am working on The Crush, Revisited the first story in my planned trilogy. The others are The Secret, Revealed and The Lover, Reunited. All will make sense when the books are finished and are released by whoever I get a publishing contract with. I am *hoping* to have the first one finished sometime in April. these will be novella length stories though so they take me a bit longer than little short stories.

I know I've been doing a lot of short stories lately, but coming up in April will be Needing Seth. It's a novella length story and is loosely related to Admiring Jesse. Why? Because Seth makes a brief appearance as a secondary character in Jesse's story and Jesse makes a brief appearance in Seth's story.

Anyhow, those are the updates for now.

2013 Writing Schedule

I've set my writing schedule for the rest of the year and I intend to stick to it if it kills me. It might! It's hard for someone like me to stick to a schedule but damn it, I'm going to do it now. And I talked to my crit partner Ava March and she said she's going to make me stick to it.

So, basically here it is:

Needing Seth - my current WIP which should be done by the middle of February. This is already promised to Amber Quill and will release in April.

Irresistible - Half finished, I intend to have this finished some time in March and will send it off for publication when the time comes. Stay tuned.

The bulk of the remainder of the year will be spent on my trilogy, Gay Club 1, Gay Club 2, and Gay Club 3. No titles yet but they all have heroes planned and I have partially written number 1. I'll try to have them all finished this year but not sure if I can manage it, it will depend on how long each one is, and how long it takes me to write them.

And finally, due December 01, for Amber Qull, is Tempted to Taste, part of a Foodie pax. I don't think it has a title yet, the pax that is.

I don't think I can manage any more than that. And I already have a release in January, February, March and April (Needing Seth) so I think that's pretty good.   

Happy Autumn and Updates

I'm officially back writing. Okay, well, it wasn't entirely writing free. I did get Loving the Assistant done during my break. But I also got a lot of books read. I mean seriously. I finished three novels and two novellas. I think that's pretty good.

I'm in the process of writing Gratefully His, my next His story, which I hope to have out at the beginning of 2013.

Once that is done I will be working on a trilogy of related stories with the extreme possibility of a fourth sort of related pre-quel book. Mysterious, I know, but that's the best I can do as far as explinations for now. These stories promise to keep my writing very occupied for months to come.

Oh, and also, it's Amber Quill's 10th year. They are also having a contest in October for free books. The details were send via an email to newsletter recipients, I believe. But here they are:

Simply send an email to customer_service@amberquill.com with the following information...

-- Enter the word "CONTEST" in the Subject line

-- And in the body of the email, enter your NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS, along with the phrase "I LOVE AMBER QUILL PRESS BECAUSE ______" and fill in the blank. (for instance I LOVE AMBER QUILL PRESS BECAUSE THEY PUBLISH SHAWN LANE'S BOOKS, LOL)


What can you win?
-- Each day, Monday through Saturday, one of the contest entries will be selected at random and the winner will receive a free download of their choice!

-- Each Sunday in October, one of the entries will be selected at random and the winner will receive 10 free downloads of their choice!

That's 31 separate chances to win throughout the month of October, and all you have to do is send us a single email stating why you love Amber Quill Press. What could be simpler?

Next Monday, October 08th, begins Evernight Publishing's Birthday Blog Hop. I'll be participating along with 75 other authors, I think. I'll be giving away both Loving the Boss and Loving the Assistant. So check back in then.

Change of Plans, A Contest and Hiatus

Okay a couple of things.

I’ve decided not to write The Way to Forever. That was the vacation story, part of the Postcards From Paradise series. It just wasn’t working. I hated the idea of abandoning the story, but when even changing the location of the vacation didn’t lead to inspiration for me I decided it was time to throw in the towel. I contacted the Editorial Director at AQ and he was just as nice as can be about my failure. I think my problem is I said yes to writing this story before I actually had any ideas in mind. So from now on, if I can’t think of an appropriate idea BEFORE volunteering, I won’t.

So the good news is I can use the name Billy for another story down the line. I’m working on other stories that I feel much more warm and fuzzy regarding.

Now for the other. I’m going to be busy for the next few weeks with real life issues pressing in on me. I'm going on hiatus. So, here’s what I am going to leave you with.

I’m having a contest. Just an ordinary comment one. Make a comment from now until I return to posting probably April 25th. I’m going to choose FIVE random winners to win their choice of anything off my backlist (including my two paperbacks if desired) or they can choose one of my upcoming releases, Galaxy’s Heart (Sutter’s Bay 3) coming in May or Becoming His coming in June.

So, comment away. Which can just be "I want to enter".  And Good luck.

And...

I'm working on Sutter's Bay 3, Galaxy's Heart and making progress. My goal is the end of February but it would be smashing to have it done before then.

I've also started the next story which needs to be completed (I think by April 01). This is the story that is based on a vacation theme, Postcards From Paradise. There is a call for submissions on Amber Quill's site for those looking to break into AQ.

Anyway, I don't have a title for this story yet, although I vaguely thought of one the other night while trying to fall asleep. I'm batting it around a bit in my brain before I commit to that. I do have a name for one of the hero's thanks to Chris's veri word the other day. Yes, he will be Billy. Billy travels to Ireland on his vacation and begins an affair with a hot Irishman.

That's where I'm at, writing-wise.   

Thursday Updates

First, a shout out to Ava March for turning me on to a neat little feature on blogger where I can pre-schedule posts. I've made loads of use of that feature. I probably should have figured it out myself but well...I didn't. Now I have it.

Anyhow, some of you may have noticed I am rather flighty or wishy-washy as to what story I am going to write next. A couple of months ago I said I would work on another story (which shall remain incognito) by this time of the year, but well, it hasn't worked out that way. Other things come up in a writer's life and imagination and you have to be flexible.

My latest book, Pieces, as well as the next two releases, Twice in a a Lifetime, and The Beach House, are on the angstier sides. I think after the fun and light-heartedness of the Only Forever series, I went to some darker tales. Those of you who have read Pieces already know it had some angst to it. I think you will find similar angst in Twice in a Lifetime (it does NOT deal with suicide). I think The Beach House has some, but to a lesser degree than the other two.

Consequently, because I think both my readers and myself need a break after three in a row, I went to working on lighter, more fun stories.

The current works in progress are Accidentally His (the heroes meet because of a bus accident) and The Naughty Ones (a Christmas Elf story). I'm hoping to make both short and sweet (not no sex sweet of course).

After that, I have the deadline story, involving a Masquerade Ball, called
The Impersonator. It's due by December. When I initially said I would write a story for this themed story from Amber Quill, I had no clue what I would write, but since then I have come with the premise, title, and names. It will take place in Las Vegas. More information to come.

We'll see if I have any time for anything else for the rest of the year, which, I don't know if you all noticed, but it is nearly mid-August already. Yikes.

Anyhow, that leaves many, many stories to be written in 2011. Top of the list being Galaxy's Heart, which is book 3 in the Sutter Bay's series (Sweet Reunion, Twice in a Lifetime, Galaxy's Heart).

So that is the update for anyone wondering what the hell I am writing now and for the rest of the year and whether I have changed my mind yet again (which I have, of course).

Today is my mom's 84th birthday!


So, that's pretty cool, I think.

I'm lucky I've had this many years with her. I hope to have a few more, of course. Three years ago she was diagnosed with colon cancer, but after some scary things, she's been doing very well.

But I know I am lucky. I lost my father some years ago now. Far too young as far as I'm concerned. Many people don't get to have their parents or a parent around as long as my mother has been for me.

She's funny. Very recently she discovered I wrote m/m romance. She knew I wrote "naughty" books but she didn't know they were about two men. We were having dinner somewhere, my sister, mother, and me, when my mother, who reads romance, expressed an interest in them. She's read my old non-erotic het historicals. I just sat there in silence, because really I'm not sure I like the idea of my mother reading my erotic romances no matter who is in them. But, my sister piped in and told her that they were homosexual romances. My mother is a strange one. She's conservative in her political thoughts, but she just shrugged, and went something to the affect, "Oh, that's nice." Not that she continued the idea of reading them, of course.

Anyway, because it is her birthday a large group of us are going out for a fancy steak dinner (paid for thankfully by the lawyer sister, lol). Probably the last time we'll see my brother and his wife as they are moving to Kansas the next day.



Over the next two weeks I'll be around but perhaps not quite as visible as usual. I have little mini-trips planned two weekends in a row. And yes, no suprise here, one is to Solvang and Morro Bay again. The other is to Disneyland (visitors coming). Disneyland in August. Pray for me.



I'm working on two works in progress. Just did my edits for Twice in a Lifetime and they were easy (no cover yet though). Busy, busy.

If I don't pop on here again before the weekend, have a great one.

Monday Updates

I've finished the first chapter of my new work in progress, Accidentally His. The guys, Kirk and Elijah, meet when the commuter bus they both take to work crashes in a rain storm. Should be a slightly lighter book than Pieces and my next two releases are (Twice in a Lifetime and The Beach House).

I'm also toying (pun intended) with the idea of working on a Christmas story titled, The Naughty Ones. It will involve two naughty Christmas Elves (think adult full sized elves ala Lord of the Rings elves rather than Hermie from Rudolph).

Those are my updates for now.

Just Briefly

I'm down to one chapter to go on Twice in a Lifetime so it is my goal to have it finished by the end of this weekend.

Once that is done and submitted I will be taking a very short break to help a friend with her story before I get involved in the next WIP. It might not be until August that I really get working on the next one since I have an out of state visitor coming at the end of the month, my mother's 84th birthday, a couple of weekend trips planned, etc...

Anyway none of that matters until Twice in a Lifetime is finished and sent off to happy publishing land.

Hope everyone has a spectacular weekend and don't forget to pick up Pieces when it releases from Amber Quill.

Much Ado

I'm not sure what I have to say today.

His One and Only comes out in just over a week. I'm starting the contest to win a copy on Monday. I've also volunteered a copy for Stumbling Over Chaos which I'll let you know the details for that if you don't win the one from my site.

It's hard to believe, but also a little bit of a relief, really, but this is the last book of the Only Forever series. The paperback collection should be out in July and yes, I'll be offering a contest for a copy of the paperback collection if anyone is interested.

My angsty Pieces is out in July and then I think I'll probably go a month (August) at least without a release. I'm still waiting on a release date for The Beach House but I know it won't be August.

Twice in a Lifetime isn't going as fast as I would like but I've always wanted a fall release for it anyway. This is part of a new series. I had promised/hinted last year after Sweet Reunion that I would consider turning the town of Sutter's Bay into fodder for several books. Twice in a Lifetime is number two, and I introduce the guys for number three in Twice in a Lifetime, Adam and Galaxy (you read that right). There should be at least a fourth in this series as well. This series won't be as light as the Only Forever series though.

My God...Back to Work

Not really much to report for Monday. I am up to almost 10,000 words on The Beach House, though. Go me! It's got quite a ways to go on it though. Still I'll make the deadline. I actually got about 1,000 words done while on vacation.

In another couple of weeks, Only In His Heart comes out. So NEXT Monday, I'll start the contest.

Hope everyone has a good week. I predict the evil day job will be insufferable this week since I'll be catching up.

So This Is What Is Happening

Next week, Wednesday-Sunday, I will be going to Las Vegas. We (me, mother, sister) are staying at Bellagio. Gorgeous hotel. I've never stayed there before as it's too expensive for me, but since my sister is paying, I am happy. She's going to a lawyerly conference and asked my mother and I to accompany her. She has to work, me and my mother get to play. Sweet deal.




Anyway, I've decided to finally see "O". I've wanted to see this show since in opened in Vegas many years ago. I saw the original Cirque de Soliel show they did in Vegas when it first opened, Mystere. I loved it, but even then in the early-mid-nineties, it was expensive. My friends and I splurged. When "O" came out it was Cirque in water and I wanted to see it but it came out at like $100 a ticket. Trust me, couldn't do it, and no one else I knew wanted to spend that kind of money either.

Now many years later, I've decided to treat myself and see it. It hasn't come down in price either. In fact, the orchestra seats are like $165. Needless to say, I decided I could handle seeing it from the theater's balcony. I was able to get 25% of the normal balcony price so I am seeing it for $80. Still a lot but more doable for me. And what else would I do with that $80 besides throw it into a machine not likely to give me any money in return. At least with "O" I expect to be entertained.

I'll be seeing it by myself, but that's okay. My mother is of the mind that she goes to a place like Vegas to gamble and nothing else. We are lucky if we can tear her away long enough to sit and eat a meal. The thing about my mother though is she is eighty-four now so she can't go as long as she once did. I'm not seeing the show until 10pm so I suspect by the time I am out at around midnight she will have already gone back to the room and bed. My sister will often go to shows with me but this time she has decided she needs to keep an eye on my mother and so I am going anyway. Go me! as Shayne would say.

I'll be bringing my laptop so I will have access to the internet and my computer for at least some of the time. Saturday night (May 8) we will be staying at Stateline (Nevada-California border) and I know from past experience it is a dead zone. If you've seen the area, it really is, in more ways than one. But it is about a good 60 miles closer to home on the way back and at like $45 a night to stay there a good $200-$300 cheaper than another night at Bellagio. But trust me, there is a big difference. LOL.

Anyway, though I am bringing my laptop to stay in touch, chances are I won't be writing any hot and heavy sex scenes between Mason and John with my mother and sister right there. So, it is my intention before next Wednesday to have another chapter of The Beach House done. I have done two so far and am working already on that third. It would be even nicer to have a fourth one done, but I'm not holding my breath. The requirements are I must have at least 18,000 words and it can go up to 39,999. I've got more than 6,000 words done already so I don't see myself having any trouble with beating the deadline of July 01st by quite a bit.

The good news for those interested in Jude is I finished a new chapter on his story. I’d like to have it come out late summer, early fall given the time of year the events take place, but we will see.

Tomorrow's excerpt will be a surprise. To me too! LOL. Haven't decided.