Sloan Parker's Blog

Here are some of my recent tumblr finds. (Love, love that site, but I have to limit myself to a few minutes. I could spend hours browsing around for all sorts of story and sex scene inspiration.)

One of the best Justin/Brian (from Queer as Folk) videos I’ve seen. Not safe for work viewing but oh so inspiring to watch.

For those of you who mentioned Sawyer as your Lost fave when I had Jack up for my first “Picture This,” well now it’s Sawyer’s turn.

Here’s my pick for Josh Holloway: James Marsden

And speaking of Lost and Sawyer, I thought I’d share my favorite Sawyer moments:

• When he’s reading to Aaron.
• Whenever he reads, for that matter. There’s nothing sexier than the sight of a man reading.
• When he jumps from the helicopter when it’s too heavy to make it to the boat.
• When Juliet dies.
• When he and Juliet “remember” each other, and he says, “I got you, babe.”

What are your favorite Sawyer moments? And who would you put together with Josh?

• 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.

It’s been a while since I shared something visually inspiring, so here you go. I’m calling this new blog category “Picture This.”

I’m seeing these two locked in a passionate kiss. Anyone else inspired?

“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

Finished revising and editing my latest short story (based on the picture above), and it’s off to my critique partner. There will probably be a few corrections/changes, but for the most part it’s done!

I have to say, I’m really happy with how quickly I wrote this one, as well as how the story turned out. I won’t share the title yet as the group at Goodreads is doing some fun stuff with guessing titles and character names.

In celebration of finishing it, I thought I’d give you guys a little preview.

Here’s a snippet:

I expected him to bend me over a piece of the matching wicker deck furniture, the table or maybe one of the oversize lounge chairs, but he didn’t. He smiled again. I hadn’t seen him smile this much in months. He looked like a dope with the silly grin and his dick rock hard. I didn’t care. It was a stunning combination.

“Race you,” he said, then jumped off the deck and ran onto the beach stark naked, heading for the water’s edge.

“Asshole,” I called out as I kicked off my shorts and shoes. I chased after him, laughing all the way to the water. He’d already made it in waist-high by the time I got there. He splashed me as I ran in. I lunged at him, and he let out a huge-ass giggle as I wrapped my arms around his chest from behind. A fucking giggle.

Wait. That hadn’t come from him. It was from me. His laugh still sounded like a guy his size normally would. It sounded great. I sounded like a kid running to get to the dodgeball first at recess. Maybe it was the sound of pure joy.

- From a new short story coming soon to the M/M Romance group at Goodreads and my website

Edited post on 7/1/11: revised the above except to incorporate final revisions.

Today I worked on a new short story for the upcoming “Hot July Days…M/M Style” event at the M/M Romance group on Goodreads.

For this event, members of the group wrote letters requesting a story centered around one of their favorite photos. Authors or writers in the group then volunteered to write a free short story based on the letter and picture of their choice.

Here’s the picture I selected (not sure of the original source). I fell in love with it right off.

I got a good start on the story today and have outlined the rest of it. It has a lovely romantic ending, and you all know how much I love when a couple of guys take a moment to get a little sweet with each other. Especially a couple of bears on the beach.

After the story is posted at the Goodreads group, I can add it to my website. I’ll let you all know when it’s available.

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Was catching up on Grey’s Anatomy last night when I saw the episode that resulted in this image:

(Image Source)

How cute are they? Seriously. Makes me smile every damn time I  look at it. Also makes me feel something else all together. *sigh*

When I first saw the scene I had two reactions…1) I think my uterus skipped a beat (despite by plans on having no children) and 2) what is it about women and seeing a guy with a baby? Then one of the characters on the show brought up that same topic about men with babies (or men with dogs) and how appealing that image is for most women.

So I’m curious what you guys think. Why is it women find a guy with a baby so damn sexy? Is it pure biology working there? And is it just women? Do any gay men find other men with babies just as damn sexy as many women do? Or how about a guy with a dog? And are there any women out there who don’t find they are “inspired” by a guy holding a baby?

I’m curious…what do you guys think?