Another song for the Take Me Home playlist

Came across another oldie that works great for Kyle and Evan (at least most of the lyrics do).

Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill

Also added it to the Behind the Stories page on my site.

Behind the Stories: A Preview in Pictures

When writing I often utilize my imagination, but I also will pull from my own experiences and the details I can recall about certain places I’ve been or people I’ve met. For Take Me Home I was able to use my experience of traveling across the United States on a passenger train.

But I also do a fair bit of research for each of my stories. I used to dread research, but I’ve learned to embrace it and see it as an opportunity for two reasons: 1) to learn something new about whatever I’m researching and 2) to expand my understanding of the world and the characters in which I’m writing about in a particular story.

I’m a visual person. I find pictures and videos helpful to really get into the story. Even if my description ends up nowhere close to the visual, the images create a spark of ideas in my mind that keeps the description from being stale and typical (at least typical for my writing and my usual vocabulary). Through my writing research I’ve learned about places, occupations, animals, symbolism, and more I might never have had a reason to delve into otherwise.

During my research phase of writing Take Me Home, I saved links and images and descriptions in one document for inspiration as I wrote. So I thought I’d share a preview of Take Me Home using only a sampling of the pictures from my research notes. Under each photo is a link where I found the photo and the credit if it’s available.

**Please note: Some may consider the following minor spoilers for the story, but the pictures give away only a few more specifics than the blurb and merely illustrate the story’s premise.


Photo Credit: Yuri_Arcurs


Photo Credit: kupicoo


Image Credit: Amtrak website


Photo Credit: Wigwam Jones


Image Credit: Amtrak


Photo Credit: Amtrak


Photo Credit: Amtrak


Photo Credit: Amtrak


Image Credit: Amtrak


Image Credit: Amtrak


Photo Credit: no body atoll


Photo Credit: pferriola


Photo Credit: Virtual Farm Boy


Photo Credit: The West End


Photo Credit


Photo Credit


Photo Credit: Minerva Bloom


Photo Credit: oakmechinsl


Photo Credit: oakmechinsl


Photo Credit: oakmechinsl


Photo Credit: oakmechinsl


Photo Credit: oakmechinsl


Photo Credit: Decarli


Photo Credit: Decarli


Photo Credit: Decarli


Photo Credit: Loco ( Inactive ) Steve


Photo Credit: Loco ( Inactive ) Steve


Photo Credit: Loco ( Inactive ) Steve


Photo Credit: Loco ( Inactive ) Steve


Photo Credit: Loco ( Inactive ) Steve


Photo Credit


Photo Credit: Doug Wornom collection

This one’s a video, you can watch here if it’s not embedded below.


Photo Credit

Read the blurb and preview excerpts for Take Me Home

A Collection of Love Songs

(c) istockphoto, MCCAIG 2006

I blogged yesterday at the Loose Id author blog about some of my favorite love songs. Songs that also remind me of Kyle and Evan from TAKE ME HOME.

Check them out and share some of your favorite love songs.
From Friends to Lovers: A Collection of Love Songs

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.

Help! I met this guy but was it a date?

Sloan’s busy working on her manuscript today, so she asked if I’d like to do a guest blog. I have a feeling I’m going to owe Sloan a lot (she’s writing about me in her serial story More Than Just a Good Book), so I figured I’d better say yes.

My name’s Scott Murphy. Right now I’m going to college in Ohio, but I’m originally from Elmore, Michigan, a rural small town where I grew up with my dad. It’s the kind of place with massive oak trees lining the streets, evenly trimmed green grass behind every picket fence, and a volunteer fire department which includes the town mayor, the local barber, and the president of the bank. Yeah, it’s that kind of picture-postcard town where everything looks perfect. A little too perfect. Because nothing really is when you take a closer look.

I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to say what this blog is about. The thing is, I’ve been really nervous about this. I don’t like being in the spotlight, and when I sat down to write this post earlier today, I drew a blank on what to talk about. I’m still in college. I haven’t done anything with my life yet. What do I have to say? But I made a promise, and I don’t like going back on my word. So here I am.

I guess the problem is my brain’s been preoccupied with this amazing guy Mark who I met where he works at the university library. I’m not sure “met” covers it, though. I was going to say, we went on a date the other night, but you know, I don’t know if it was a date.

We had sex. Twice. Amazing-I’m-going-to-be-thinking-about-that-for-the-rest-of-my-life sex. Once at the library (yes, INSIDE the library. Can you believe that? I still can’t). Then later at his apartment.

Before that, he’d shown me around the library’s comic book archive. Then after the sex we talked. Some. He told me what his plans are for after graduation, and I told him something no one knows about me except my dad.

But is that a date? Can you call it a date when it’s mostly sex? How about if you have sex twice? Do you need to go out for dinner, a movie, or at least drinks first?

I would tell you what happened at the end of the “date” but Sloan might kick my ass for revealing too much. I really don’t want to piss her off. I’d like to get laid again someday. I mean, it’s not like I had much action before she decided Mark should walk over to where I was sitting in the library. Guys like him never talk to me. Not that I’m complaining. It was the best sex of my life. Mark did stuff no other guy has ever done to me before. Maybe that means it’s a date simply because I had a fantastic time with him. I don’t know.

What do you guys think? What constitutes an official date in your book? I mean, if my dad calls, can I tell him I had a date? I think he wants me to find a boyfriend more than I do.

Thanks for the help,
Scott

————————————————————————

Edited to add: Scott Murphy is a fictional character from More Than Just a Good Book. His post and comments are meant to be a fun teaser of my work. I hope you enjoy reading this from Scott’s point-of-view.  -Sloan