Sloan Parker Blog

“Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile” – Unknown

“To love a person is to learn the song
That is in their heart,
And to sing it to them
When they have forgotten.”

- Anonymous

Occasionally for one of my quotes on the blog I share a favorite line or short excerpt from the work of another author of m/m romances.

Today’s quote is from Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels. It’s the story of a friendship between two lost, lonely men that turns to love.

“You curse a lot.”
“Fuck you – I hardly curse at all.”

- Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels

You can read more about this and other books by Tere Michaels at www.teremichaels.com

“The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practiced at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness.”

-Holbrook Jackson

• A Rush of Ideas: my group blog post where I talk about one of the aspects I love most about writing: the start of a new story. As I work on Walter and Kevin’s book, I’m getting the ideas down for a new story, and I’m having a fantastic time with it (and yes, I still have two more MORE books coming also). I love when there is no shortage of ideas.
• A yaoi role-playing game: Hot Guys Making Out. I read what one guy said about playing this game (in a private email) and it sounds neat. (Thanks to my uncle for sharing this one. Thanks, T!)
• Interesting… an M/M romance in which you enter your own details and customize the book.
• Joanna Stampfel-Volpe responds to a recent PW blog post on LGBTQ YA. On Being Used, the Lack of LGBTQ Characters in YA, and Why It’s Important to Work Together

Source: (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

• Repeal of gay ban causing few waves in military
• Airman tells dad he is gay as ‘don’t ask’ policy disappears. From his Youtube video: “I called my dad to tell him the hardest thing that gay guys will ever have to say.” Brought back memories of talking to my own parents. Not an easy thing to do even when everyone already suspects. (thanks to my niece for sharing the link. Thanks, A!)
• As gay military ban ends, officer sheds his alias
• I haven’t really had time to check out this blog but it looks interesting: gaytwogether
• For the writers out there, this is an excellent article from Joseph O’Connor. He shares his tips for writing fiction and I’ve included a couple fab quotes below.

  As Checkov said: ‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me moonlight reflected on broken glass.’ One of the strangest paradoxes of writing fiction is that the more you tell the reader, the less he or she knows. If you write ‘we were very happy indeed’ the reader thinks ‘big deal’. If you write ‘we grabbed each other and hugged and we couldn’t stop laughing’ the reader is in the scene. Putting the reader in the scene is everything to the storyteller. So describe what you can see, not what you know. Use visual words when possible. And never be afraid of leaving something out. Leaving something out is a powerful invitation to the reader, an incitement to the imagination of the person you must never forget. The reader is an essential participant in what you are writing. Meet them half way, and never more than that.
  - From: Joseph O’Connor

  I think of it in musical terms. The writer is providing the sheet music. It’s the reader who is singing the song. To know who you’d like to make sing is an important factor. It also helps to stop writing being egotistical. Writing must always be about the reader, in the end, not the writer. If I have one single commandment, that’s it.
  - From:  Joseph O’Connor

• And another one for writers: Paper Boats: Bail water or bail out? Knowing When to Abandon Your Wip by Josh Lanyon
• And a little eye candy for everyone:
  • Loved the second photo on this blog post.
  • This is an old post but there are some lovely pics over at Yummy of the Day (link is NOT WORK SAFE)
• Lastly, because you know I love this site, here are some screenshots from Damn You Auto Correct
  • I Don’t Remember That Sesame Street Character
    
  • When Craigslist Goes Wrong: 5 Autocorrected Text Fails
    

Have a great weekend, everyone! I’ll be doing some brainstorming with my local writing group. We have such a blast when we get together to work on our story ideas. The conversations that come up are priceless. Last year there was mention of Fire Lube and artificial immaculate insemination and orgasming (is that a word?) your way across a room full of bodies. I wonder what we’ll discuss this time around.

Occasionally for one of my quotes on the blog I share a favorite line or short excerpt from the work of another author of m/m romances.

Today’s quote is from K. A. Mitchell’s Regularly Scheduled Life, a moving story about life and love after tragedy. This scene takes place after Sean is injured in a shooting at the school where he teaches.

Sean nodded, and then they were alone for the first time.

Kyle squeezed Sean’s hand. “You fucking idiot.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Tears burned the back of Kyle’s throat. All through the anger and fear he’d managed to hold on, but the relief, the heart-stopping simple fucking joy that Sean was still here with him was enough to drain the strength out of him. He put his head on Sean’s chest, cheek finding heat through the thin gown. The smell was all wrong, laced with disinfectant and blood, but the warmth was enough. Proof of life.

- Regularly Scheduled Life by K. A. Mitchell

You can read more about this and other books by K. A. Mitchell at www.kamitchell.com

Two published authors who co-wrote a post-apocalyptic young adult novel were offered agent representation on one condition: that they make a gay character straight or remove him completely from the story. When they shared about the experience, they said…

When you refuse to allow major characters in YA novels to be gay, you are telling gay teenagers that they are so utterly horrible that people like them can’t even be allowed to exist in fiction.

LGBTQ teenagers already get told this. They are four times more likely than straight teenagers to attempt suicide. We’re not saying that the absence of LGBTQ teens in YA sf and fantasy novels is the reason for that. But it’s part of the overall social prejudice that does cause that killing despair.

We wrote this novel so that the teenagers we know—some of whom are gay, and many of whom are not white—would be able, for once, to read a fun post-apocalyptic adventure in which they are the heroes. And we were told that such a thing could not be allowed.

After we thanked the agent for their time, declined the offer, and hung up, Sherwood broke the silence. “Do you think the agent missed that Becky and Brisa [supporting characters] are a couple, too? Do they ever actually kiss on-page? No? I’M ADDING A LESBIAN KISS NOW!”

- Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, From Authors Say Agents Try to “Straighten” Gay Characters in YA

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

“There’s this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It’s the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me.”

- Gretchen Kemp

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

- Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird