A lot of people say I don’t. I have kind of a corny and crude sense of humor, my second favorite singer is young enough to be my son, I refuse to wear Mom Jeans, and oh yeah, I write gay romance. Erotic gay romance.  And I for one think there’s not a thing juvenile about that.

We were talking about age earlier on my Yahoo group. Okay, I was talking about it and making everyone else listen *g* A couple of the group members are age fifty and up, and one mentioned that she is usually the oldest member of groups who are fans of gay romance. That really made me stop and think for a minute. I see the same lopsided bell curve she does in the online gay romance communities — A few barely-adults, a swell of people in their twenties and thirties, a downslope of folks in their forties, and a trickle of those fifty and up. Why is that? Is it just that people upwards of fifty are so busy with their lives these days that they don’t care to spend time online? Are they unaware of the groups out there? I’d be more inclined to believe those explanations than to believe that people over forty-nine aren’t interested in gay romance, because I’ve not found that to be the case at all. I know for a fact that all sorts of people of all ages read and enjoy romance of all sorts, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.

So do I act my age? I don’t know. What does that mean? If there’s some sort of universally accepted code of conduct for women in their forties, I never got the memo. IMHO, our thoughts, feelings, ideas and beliefs, are unique to ourselves no matter how young or old we are. And in that case, acting your age simply means being who you are. I think I can do that

No that was not a bunch of typoes in the title of this blog. NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth or NANOWRIMO sometimes shortened to NANO is a month packed full of writers trying to reach a minimum word count of 50,000. The object is to complete a novel from start to finish in one month, edit it in december and ship it out in January to publishers. Many writers do sell the stories they have written during NANOWRIMO. I’m not one of them. I’ve YET to finish a novel in November. I’m one of those people who find deadlines very restricting, and they cause my muse to run amok for the month.

I try. I really honestly do. I find other writers who are participating and offer encouragement to them while they encourage me. It’s that feeling that I have to acomplish 50k or I’m a failure that makes me crash and burn every single year. Yet I continue to sign up. I can write 4-6k a day with no problems, but in November I struggle to reach 200 words a day. Why is it that I do this? Perhaps I focus too much on what I still need to accomplish? Perhaps it is the excel spreadsheet that I whip up to track my writing for that month? Perhaps it is hearing about writers who can whip out 10k a day? I honestly don’t know how they can do that. Are they homemakers without children? I have four children, and on my best day when I was still a homemaker I could reach 6k, but only by not making any meals, getting up early, staying up late, and not cleaning a damn thing. Not doing any homework, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Perhaps this year I won’t reach 50k either, but I’ll be there, trying. Will you?

Michelle

This past weekend I worked the vender booth for my publisher, MLR Press, at the gay erotic expo in NYC. I met a lot of nice people and, though completely exhausted by the end of the weekend, I had a good time.

But I’m not here to talk about my vender experience.

What I do want to talk about is books, specifically whether you’re reading, and consequently buying, more or fewer books than you once did.

On our table at the expo we had an attractive display of books, all gay fiction, all discounted for sale at the event, and they got quite a bit of attention. People would come up to the table, pick up one or another book, admire the cover, a few even engaged us in lively and interesting conversation about reading.

But do you know how many books we sold?

None. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sweet Flag

 

It was a really entertaining story. I hope you’ll be writing more.

I was asked this recently: “In writing M/M or M/F erotica with obviously plenty of sex scenes, how do you keep the sex fresh, interesting, hot and varied??? Is this easy/difficult for you??? What kind of “tricks of the trade” do you have to employ?”

I liked answering so much, I thought I’d share here too.

I don’t really think about it in terms of tricks or anything. I think of it in terms of characters. Each person is unique and each couple is unique. I figure out pretty quickly what turns my characters on and why they’re attracted to the other. Then I use that. For me, that manages to always keep it fresh. To use the Heaven Sent boys as examples, Darien looks at sex from a different angle than Johnnie, and not just because he ends up being a bottom. He’d far prefer being caught than doing the stalking and we all know Johnnie much prefers the hunt. But even Darien and Tyler are different and they both started off het and got convinced that gay was the way to go. They think differently, so they act differently, so the sex is different. At least, that’s how I’ve always looked at it.

Even when it’s kind of the “same scene”–eg sex in a bed or in an alley–the circumstances are invariably different. Where were they before this? Have they slept together yet? Is this one of their first time? Is it day or night? Are there other people in the “house”? Even little things like is the bed made or is the window open can make a scene that’s pretty much the same as another into a unique thing.

Even in the few times that I did come up with the scene first–as in, “oh man, I want to write a scene using that toy!” (yes, it’s happened)–I immediately think of what kind of person would want to use the thing. What happened to give them the kink? Or was it a new thing that just kind of landed in their lap? Is their chosen partner for or against? Expecting it or surprised? Again, it goes back to the characters where all I said above applies.

My muse is one tough guy. He likes to go off to the islands, sip fruity drinks with umbrellas and listen to me gnash my teeth as I try to pound out a manuscript. Can anyone be so annoying? My honey likes to give me funny looks as I mutter under my breath at the computer about the way I am going to castrate the muse or heck, beat him into submission but once he decides to take pity on me, I am able to flow completely and am grateful for the muse’s help in getting the characters in order. As an author, I try to find  a way in between family, kids and other activities to write but some days I can not write due to other commitments. The one complaint I have on my muse is that he likes to start yammering away when I am gong to sleep. Do you know how annoying that is to hear the voices or feel that prod to write when I am just about to crash into la la land? *sighs* My honey tells me to keep a notebook by the bed to write what I am hearing but for some reason I can not make that work though I have heard it being done before by other authors. Can I get my muse to stay on the job when I need him to? Probably not but when he is in the house, I am creating worlds, characters and stories that make me feel like I am living it as it is played out. I like to think my muse is a cross between Johnny Depp’s character from the Pirate movies and Gerard Butler. What a combination in my mind for inspiration and one I would not change in a heartbeat.

A while back, I wrote about how reviewers were giving me mood swings.  Well, yesterday, I was so happy when reading my first review for Love Cuffs that I almost cried–tears of joy, that is.  LOL. 

Title: Love Cuffs
Author: Ashlyn Chase & Dalton Diaz
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Publisher URL: www.ellorascave. com 
Reviewer: Stefani Clayton
Rating: 5 Stars
Heat level: O

Dalton and I are still over the moon! 

I get discouraged every now and then and think about giving up this whole writing gig.   I’m sure many authors do.  There are two things that stop me.  1) Reviews like this and fan letters (oh yes, we’ve received some of those too, already!)  The second thing that stops me: I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.  Writing is hard works and when I feel appreciated, there’s no better feeling in the world.   But when it isn’t…

What would you do if you gave up writing?

Ash

Join Ally Blue when she visits the ladies of LAW here on Oct 30th

Join Kimberly Gardner when she visits the ladies of LAW here on Sept 18th and Oct 18th.

Kimberly will also be joining us Nov 18th and Dec 18th.

Join Celia Kyle when she visits the ladies of LAW here on Sept 7th and Oct 9th