Join me and several other m/m authors as we celebrate the holiday season on Keira Andrews’s blog. You can check out several of the posts already there. Mine will be coming December 19 and will include an excerpt from Take Me Home that I have not shared yet here on the blog or my website. Although, it won’t be new to those of you who pick up a copy of Take Me Home when it releases this week.

For those of you who do check out Take Me Home, I truly hope you enjoy Kyle and Evan’s story.

Thanks for checking out Keira’s blog and helping us celebrate the holiday season.

We spent the weekend talking about each other’s stories and coming up with titles, plot ideas, ways to kill off characters (don’t worry, that wasn’t mine), and more. We have writers of all genres and heat levels in the group. From contemporary to sci-fi. From sweet inspiration to steamy erotic romance and erotica. Most write romance, but some don’t.

So what kinds of things did I hear that weekend? Here’s a sampling:

“He’s a schizophrenic vampire priest!”

“Die, bitch, die!” (which worked for several of the stories)

“Orgasmoplasm“

“Hooha goo”

“Viagraville”

“Regrow the cherry!”

“Everybody use frickidous in a sentence.” Our 18-year-old, youngest member immediately told us all to, “Go frickidous yourselves.”

“bilabial frickidousness and glaodal stoppages”

And perhaps my favorite…“We need to make his junk grow!”

So yeah, it was a blast. Thanks ladies and Ray! I had a wonderful time.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, GayRomLit is a new retreat for readers and writers of GLBT romances organized by J.P. Bowie, Ethan Day, Lynn Lorenz, Carol Lynne, and Amanda Young. This is the first year for the retreat, which is being held in New Orleans on October 13 – 16. My publisher, Loose Id, along with several others and many authors of m/m romance will be there. It should be a great time for authors and readers to mingle and talk about male/male romances. I can only imagine some of the conversations that will take place over those four days. ;)

For those of you attending, I was given a preview of the Scavenger Hunt that a group of the authors have planned. Here’s how it works:

• 17 authors are participating in the scavenger hunt.
• The retreat’s registration bags will contain a clue sheet and empty bracelet for all attending the retreat.
• Attendees who want to participate in the scavenger hunt will solve gay romance riddles to find out which authors are part of the game.
• You collect beads from the authors and there are more raffle prizes at the end.

I can’t tell you who the 17 authors are, but I’ve seen the game and it’ll definitely be an entertaining way to break the ice and meet some of the well-known and newer m/m authors at the retreat.

So who’s all going? Anyone who follows the blog? I hope you guys have fun! Don’t get too crazy. Ah forget that. It’s a once-a-year event with fellow lovers of m/m romances all in one place. Have a wicked good time!!

• The first edition of the Hot Summer Days (HSD) Anthology is now available. You can get a copy via Goodreads. They have several ebook formats available. It looks like there will be four editions in total. My story will be in the fourth volume.
• A touching post by author Dorien Grey: On Being Gay, Parts I and II (scroll down the page to get to the posts dated September 2nd and 5th)
• A moving look back at 9/11 from a New Yorker’s POV: Walk Through 9/11/2001 Through Damon Suede’s Eyes
• For my writer friends out there an interesting article: Donald Maass, James Scott Bell and Christopher Vogler Discuss Story Structure
• I blogged at Loose Ends last week and shared several songs that sometimes help this writer out: Motivation for When Writing (Or Life) Takes the Hard Way. I’d love to hear what songs motivate you.

And proud.

I remember the chilling moment I saw a plane flying overhead on the day they started air traffic again. I remember talking with strangers in stores and on sidewalks, sharing news and comments as if we were old friends.

In honor of remembering that day and all who were lost, here’s an amazing memorial video and a link to the story of one of the day’s heroes and the brave mother he left behind.

Sand Art – “Never Forget” a 9/11 Momorial by Joe Castillo

Unexpected legacy left by hero of Flight 93: How a mom has “became a tireless advocate for issues that were important to her son.” “The openly gay rugby player was one of the heroic passengers who led a revolt against the terrorists on United Airlines Flight 93.” (I don’t think the video is available anymore, but you can still read the story).

What do you remember about that day?

I’ll keep adding the most common questions I get asked by readers as I have time.

Drop me a line if you have a question that isn’t answered on the FAQ page.

• For those of you who were asking, BREATHE is now available at Barnes & Noble.
• I blogged last week on one of my group blogs about motivation: Giving Lackluster Motivation a Kick in the Pants. Your reader comments about my writing and stories really do help!
• I now have a Facebook Author Fan page. You can “Like” the page to follow my writing news on Facebook. Or you can friend me via my regular profile. Or do both. I’m probably on FB more than any other social site (when I have time to be online at all, that is).

Okay, I’m off to bed.

Can’t wait for everyone to get a look at TMH. Is it December yet?

For all my author friends out there, this year’s Rainbow Awards are still accepting entries for LGBT fiction and non-fiction.

Awards Guidelines re-posted with permission:

SUBMISSION PROCESS

• Books submitted for consideration will be accepted between March 15 and September 15. Winners will be announced in December.
• A book can be submitted only by its author or by its publisher. Submit a book in the category most appropriate: please indicate Gender (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Transgender) and Genre (Coming of Age / Young Adult, Contemporary General Fiction, Contemporary Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery / Thriller, Paranormal / Horror, Sci-Fic / Futuristic, Non Fiction).
• The commision can include some books at their own expenses, if they are eligible, especially in those categories with not enough submissions.
• Books are submitted in electronic version (PDFs); exceptions will be considered (please contact me). Submitting the ebook, authors/publishers agree for its distribution with the only purpose of being read by the commission (from 3 to 5 judges). It’s recommended but not mandatory, that the PDF file has some kind of protection, like a specific disclaimer or similar.
• No submission fees required.
• Books (PDF format) have to be sent to the following address: elisa(dot)rolle(at)libero(dot)it

CATEGORIES

• A book can be submitted in only one category.
• If a category receives fewer than five (5) submissions, the category will not be active in this awards cycle. The submitted books will be reassigned to another category if appropriate.
• Gender Category: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Transgender
• Genre Category: Coming of Age / Young Adult, Contemporary General Fiction, Contemporary Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery / Thriller, Paranormal / Horror, Sci-Fic / Futuristic, Non Fiction
• Length Category: Novel of more than 41,000 Words. Novellas and Short Stories will be considered only on the following conditions: Novellas (between 18,000 and 41,000 Words) only in Collection of 2 or more collected together; Short Stories (<18,000 Words) only in Collection of 4 or more collected together. A single submission has to be of more than 41.000 Words. Exception will be considered if a single category will have not enough submissions.

Thank you to Elisa and all the volunteers for continuing this award to celebrate LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Good luck to all who enter!

As I posted before, MORE and BREATHE were finalists in the Passionate Plume Contest and BREATHE won third place in the New England Reader’s Choice awards. (Final results for the More Than Magic and the Passionate Plume contests will be announced in July.)

I cannot tell you how blown away and thrilled I am with those results in this year’s RWA contests for my highly erotic m/m/m and angst-filled high-drama m/m love stories. Well done Luke, Richard, Matthew, Lincoln, and Jay!

A special thank-you to the New England, Passionate Ink, and Romance Writers Ink chapters, their contest coordinators for putting together the awards, and the judges. I was very impressed by the organization and professional communication from all. Also a huge kudos to these chapters for hosting contests that recognize digital-only books in electronic formats.

Check out the new book I just got: The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

No, I’m not having a baby. I just get wickedly excited when I find a writing resource that’s a gem (at least for me).

Lately when it comes time to give my secondary characters their names, I’ve been drawing a blank, selecting the same ones over and over or not finding something that fits the character. For my current works in progress I had two secondary characters whom I affectionately called “Editor Friend” and “Prof Guy” for far too long. For a while I was afraid I’d get so dang used to “Editor Friend” and “Prof Guy” that I’d send it off to my editor like that. It was nice to finally pull out my baby name resources and search for actual names for these guys.

Lists that are organized or searchable in specific ways (by first letter, sounds like, meaning, popularity per year, etc.) are the most helpful. So far The Baby Name Wizard is the best naming book I’ve used, along with these websites:

BabyNames.com

Baby Names Finder

Baby Names World

Popular Baby Names

And for last names I almost always end up using a printed phone book.

For any writers who are interested, these links have also been added to my website on the Resources for Writers page.

I’m off to work on revisions for my next installment of More Than Just a Good Book. Hope you all have a great week!