Top Ten Things I Learned Writing My Latest Gay Romance

(c) istockphoto.com, palantir 2006

Here’s what I’ve learned writing TAKE ME HOME (tentatively due out December 2011):

  1. Characters do not always listen to my outline.
  2. The book isn’t done until it’s done. I added some really great stuff in the last week.
  3. Reading a manuscript while walking around the house is dangerous. For my cats. Sorry, little dudes!
  4. In order to really put myself into a scene it’s possible to simulate being freezing cold in a blizzard during 100 degree days using just the power of my mind. And a fan.
  5. Writing a scene set during any other time than the past decade requires a lot of research. Even when it’s a simple journal entry from 1953.
  6. In the process of editing I read faster during the action scenes and forget to actually edit. “Uh, this is YOUR book, Sloan. Pay attention.”
  7. Making my poor characters wait to get off is kinda fun. It makes the sex scene more explosive to write.
  8. I should not have two books “in process” with characters names that start with the same initial. In this case…Kyle and Kevin. I had to tell Kevin to get back to his own damn book way too many times. “Dude, get off Evan and go find Walter!”
  9. I really love the male body and can describe a blowjob for way too many paragraphs (okay, pages) than necessary. More than anyone would want to stick around to read.And the last thing I learned writing my latest m/m romance:
  10. It’s helpful to take a character’s clothes off BEFORE attempting anal sex.

Cover for Swept Away

I have a cover for my new short story “Swept Away,” my free gay anniversary story.

Cover-Sm-SweptAway

Blurb for Swept Away
The biggest case of Eddie’s career and nothing’s going right. He’s stuck in a stifling courtroom with the air conditioning on the fritz during the worst heat wave in years, and the judge has denied his latest motion. He just wants to spend a quiet night celebrating with his partner, Mike, on their fifteenth anniversary.

But Mike has a surprise in mind this year. A surprise that may be more than Eddie imagined possible.

ETA: the updated cover in 2015

Quote I Love: Your Kiss

“I long for the day I’ll dream of your kiss no more, when your lips will caress mine for real, when your touch makes me alive again, and the sight of you arouses all my senses.”
-Unknown

Quote I Love: Character

(c) istockphoto.com, Vernon Wiley 2011

“Character consists of what you do on the third or fourth tries.” – James Michener

Video I Love: Expect the Unexpected