Small Freakin' World...Hey, I KNOW him!

Talk about my two worlds colliding!

Okay, this all started when Brynn Paulin randomly posted this great video on her blog. I watched it, loved it, and proceeded to spread the joy.

Then my friend Melia watched it and said, "Oh, it's great, and you realize Brad's in this, right?"

HUH?

I totally spread around this video not even knowing that one of my friends in "real life" is one of the dancers!  So bizarre!!

Anyway, when he was performing with the Rockettes' Christmas show about 5 years ago, the guys in the show got together and made this up as a Christmas present for the rockettes.  This is their performance for the gals, who you can hear doing all the screaming throughout!

Now I see him dancing every week...at my daughters' dance academy just down the road.  He brings all that enthusiasm and talent to the fore every single day working with the dancers of tomorrow, and he does a fabulous job doing it! 

Thanks-Giving and First Silver & Gold Reviews

First off, a huge thanks to Brynn Paulin (and Bronwyn Green) for pointing out that my newest blog version wasn't loading right on the Firefox browser.  Thanks to Brynn's generosity with html code, I'm now (hopefully!) working right across browsers.

I'm also very appreciative of my wonderful friend and beta Ava March for taking me seriously this week when I was kvetching about my lack of enthusiasm about my WIP, answering me honestly when I asked for her opinion, and offering up enthusiasm when I finally got it right!

Speaking of Bronwyn Green, she was one of the first to read A Pint Light, and has been relentless in asking for Killian's story...see paragraph above....it is finally on track, and thanks, Bron, for keeping me motivated!

One last thank you, although I'm tempted to just keep going and find some reason to thank everyone in my life! My bud Patric Michael, who although he has so much on his plate of life-altering import, always manages to find time to check in and keep me sane.

Onward and upward...to Silver & Gold.  So glad people are finally getting to read Geoff and Abe.

I won't pest all of you over every single review, although I must say that it's still early enough in the authorship game that I devour (and take to heart) each and every one. :)  But since these are the first ones out, thought I'd share a couple.

My very first one was by Eyre, and boy she was right out of the gate. A lovely review, plus a 5 out of 5 star rating on Goodreads.  Thank you, Eyre!

The latest one was at Dark Divas Reviews, who gave it 4 & 1/2 delightful divas and a very nice review. Thanks to Kathy at DDR!

Ok, one more thank you, to Shawn Lane for helping me 'find' Geoff's and Abe's names!  :)


Here is the blurb for Silver & Gold for those of you who haven't yet read it:

Geoff Radcliffe is having a mid-life crisis just in time for the holidays. He goes into a tailspin after hearing from his first love, picks up a stranger who locks him out of the house in nothing but his pants, and then he gets up the courage to go get rid of his grey, and the colorist refuses to 'do' Geoff's hair!



But Abe Golden, thrilled that the hunky silver-tipped guy has admitted he's gay, does 'do' him, taking him home for the hottest night of Geoff's life. After three heavenly days of smoking hot sex, Abe has done the unimaginable: he's fallen in love. And when he finds out that Geoff has been using him to practice for another man, Abe is at first heartbroken... and then he plots how to show Geoff the value of combining silver and gold.

Banner Day: Silver & Gold Is Out ... And A Pint Light Is Reviewed

It doesn't rain but it pours!  All sorts of fun stuff to share today. 

First off, my holiday story, Silver & Gold is now available in e-book from Dreamspinner Press.

Geoff Radcliffe is having a mid-life crisis just in time for the holidays. He goes into a tailspin after hearing from his first love, picks up a stranger who locks him out of the house in nothing but his pants, and then he gets up the courage to go get rid of his grey, and the colorist refuses to 'do' Geoff's hair!

But Abe Golden, thrilled that the hunky silver-tipped guy has admitted he's gay, does 'do' him, taking him home for the hottest night of Geoff's life. After three heavenly days of smoking hot sex, Abe has done the unimaginable: he's fallen in love. And when he finds out that Geoff has been using him to practice for another man, Abe is at first heartbroken... and then he plots how to show Geoff the value of combining silver and gold.

 
I also just found out that A Pint Light got 4 & 1/2 hearts and a Reviewer Top Pick from Night Owl Romance.
 
"...Rhodes adds in just the right amount of hot n’ steamy sex to get your mind racing and gets your imagination hopping and reels you into the story. This is a fantastic read." --- Zollyanna of Night Owl Romance


December is off to a great start!

M/M Meme...Thanks Shawn...(& EH...& Lily...you most of all scarecrow, uh, Kris)

Hmmm, in a twisted way I'm flattered that I rank up among Shawn's Top Two to tag.  I'll conveniently ignore that it most likely means I'm one of the most gullible suckers best friends she could think of.  So by way of Shawn Lane, and Erotic Horizon, and Lily at I Love Books, back to the instigator Kris 'n' Good Books, here is my M/M Meme:


I didn't have anything better to do today. Really. ;)

Rules:

1. Answer all the questions below in either the comments here or post it on your own site. If you post it on your own site you have to come back and give the link here so I/Kris can mosey on over and see if you have a sticky beak.

2. You have to tag two other people once you’re done and pester them relentlessly until they do the meme too.

3. Instead of a meme image thing you have to post a cookie, preferably a twofer. It is an m/m meme after all. ;)

Questions:

1. How long have you been reading GLBTQ fiction?  8 months

2. What was the first book you read in this genre? (sorts e-library by date) First m/m interaction was in a m/m/f, Simply Sinful by Kate Pearce.  First strictly m/m story was Diving In Deep by KA Mitchell.

3. Are you 'out' as a reader? Yes. Now that I write it, it's a given, however I don't chat about it casual convo!

4. Ebooks, print or both? Mostly e-books, have only a select few in paperback.

5. Do you buy direct from publishers or from secondary sellers? A mix of both, depending on the incentives.

6. Prove you're a Book Slut. How many books would you say you buy a week? I'm down to about 3-5 a week now that I proof a ton and get to FLE a lot for free...in advance. :)

7. Are you a cover, blurb or excerpt buyer? Blurbs hook me, excerpts reel me in. Covers are a nice bonus. And of course, I stalk my fave authors.

8. Yeah, you read reviews, but do you actually take notice of them? Yes, but I give the benefit of the doubt. Some I've enjoyed have been panned, and some that are acclaimed, I couldn't get into. So I read 'em, then make up my own mind.

9. Who's your fave publisher? Tough call. Partial to TEB and DSP of course since I'm pubbed with them. Also like LI.

10. What about authors? Your top two only!!  Ack!  Grrrr!  KA Mitchell and JL Langley

11. Is there a sub-genre you particularly dis/like? Love well done historicals and crazy about paranormal.  Probably my least fave is heavily S&M BDSM, although some authors do it very well.

12. Short or long?? *rolls eyes* And, no, I'm not talking about cocks. Up the middle? (bats eyes)  Long enough to tell a complete story, short enough to read in one sitting.  Long novella is probably my fave, although traditional e-book novel length is fine.

13. Anything turn you off about m/m or is all just glorious smut to you? Hmmm, well not a huge fletching fan (gag).

14. Finish this sentence. You know it's m/m twu wuv when...you want to share it with the world.

15. What trope or theme are you heartily sick of in m/m romance? I'm with EH on this one, the horrible gruesome emotional train wreck of a past for one or both characters. Sometimes my disbelief that one person could have to endure that much bad luck pulls me right out of the story.  **Except when Shawn does it.

16. If you could choose any 3 characters for a m/m/m who would they be? Versatile Noah from Diving In Deep by KA Mitchell, Naughty Clark Sterling from Most Likely To Succeed by Shawn Lane, and Irresistable Mark Richfield from loads of GA Hauser's stories.

17. What new GLBTQ release are you most hanging out for right now? Ticket to Ride by Shawn.

18. What GLBTQ book has completely blown you away this year?  Wow, tough questions. Umm, one that's a bit off the usual mention radar was Single White Knight by Brynn Paulin. 

19. What do you think we'll see more of in m/m romance in 2010? Paranormals and suspense seem to be popular. More to do with gay rights/marriage most likely.

20. Don't you agree that author Josh Lanyon should kill off arsehole character Jake Riordan? All I'm going to say is, everyone gets what's coming to them in the end.

Tag:

Sloan Parker

Bronwyn Green

New Cover & Look At My Fellow Authors...

...a freakin' Who's Who. I'm so excited to be sharing January's Gaymes anthology with Carol Lynne, Kim Dare, Jude Mason & Jenna Byrnes, Lisabet Sarai and Gwen Cease.  So who is that Devon person anyway? Lol!

Waiting...

Waiting...

I was letting my mind roam during a bit of scene break paralysis last night (sometimes it's hard being a panster), and a niggling bit of discomfort seemed to need solving.  I finally realized that I'm in a holding pattern in several areas of my life, and the waiting is starting to get to me.

I have two manuscripts submitted that I should hear back about by the middle of the month.  Both are with editors and publishers that I haven't worked with in the past. So no poking, like I can get away with at my current houses, just waiting patiently for news...trying not to stalk my inbox, lol.

I should be grateful that my fam & I don't have the flu, but this nagging, clinging cold that we all shared just isn't going away, three weeks so far and no end in sight. Starting to think we'll never feel healthy again!

My computer is on its last legs but made the decision to wait until after the New Year to buy a replacement. 

My next release is in December, so a whole month to go through before that excitement hits.  I know, I got spoiled with my 'bing, bing' first two releases.  Still...

The list could go on, but in the interest of time, I will cut it off at the top few.  I'm normally an extremely patient person, so the light anxiety that I finally diagnosed is really hard to get a handle on.  I can keep myself busy (and boy, have I!), but the unresolved items continuously circle in my head like so many vultures. 

So who else feels the waiting game anxiety and how do you handle it?

Release Day for A Pint Light!

Okay,  have to go to bed soon, but excited to announce that    A Pint Light is now available in e-book from Total-E-Bound, just in time for Halloween!

Valerian stole Raine's blood, his magic...and his heart.

What's a vampire to do when every day is the same old dull quest for blood? Head to Maui, of course. But before Valerian can hit the beach, he needs to get rid of the sultry mage seducing him in his sleep. She may have fooled his subconscious, but he doesn't need a mate complicating his life. Imagine Val's shock when he finds out she's a he, yet still has the power to arouse him beyond anything he'd ever imagined.
Raine faints at the sight of blood and isn't looking forward to being a vamp's chew toy. Still, family duty calls, and Valerian turns out to be the hottest, and most powerful, male on two legs. Raine is crushed when the sexy vamp of his dreams runs from their rough play in horror. But his pride can't stand in the way when Valerian accidently steals his magic along with his blood.
Now, with time running out, Raine needs to seduce him one last time to even up the score, and maybe this time, they'll exchange more than blood and power. Magic is in the air, and sometimes love only needs a little nudge.

Happy Hump Day!

In writing about angels and demons, this pic really spoke to me.  Deserves a solo shot this week. Enjoy!

Monday Mania & New Poll

Okay, one of life's little coincidences today...I was catching up on my blog feeds before posting my own (priorities!), and my friend and fellow author Shawn Lane posted about adding to an already abundant list of mental storylines. I swear before you all that I was going to post on this very thing today, because I had two, count 'em, TWO new ideas spring almost fully-formed into my brain this weekend.  The glitch is that my writing schedule is already formed and full..so now it's decision time.  Go with the plan in place, or follow my muse???  Ugh, I guess it's a "good" problem to have!

New poll due to the fact that I am flip-flopping on my angel's name, cast your vote by the end of the week! If you need a visual to decide, see post below!

Contest Winner & Introducing my angel and demon...

Thanks everyone for your wonderful ideas..I didn't end up going with any of the suggestions, but it really got my creative juices flowing and helped the process along! I've added the names to my "name list," so maybe you'll see your choice in another book of mine sometime in the future!


My A Pint Light winner is Kathy for her unbridled enthusiasm! I'll send it over as soon as I get my copies! Congratulations!

My poll closed with the vote practically unanimous in favor of a male demon. And the names of my heroes are....drum roll please....

       Kyrian/Kyriel (my angel)                            Seth (my demon)
  --model is (no kidding) Rafael--                  --model is Billy Freda--

Thanks to Jeanne for having me over and to everyone who stopped by to make my first author interview so memorable!

First Release Day!

Can't believe that the day has finally arrived, my first every release day.  Everything that I've been working towards for the past six months or so came to a head this morning in a quiet but profound way.  First of all, I can call myself an author, not just a writer. :)  Irregardless of whether I have any more releases, this first baby of mine will be around for at least three years. It's an amazing feeling, very gratifying, very humbling.
Remarkable Restraint was one of those stories that just flowed directly from my brain to the screen.  My characters came alive and I wrote the story in only a few days. I was blessed enough to have a good enough relationship with my CP Ava March and Shawn Lane at that point to impose upon them for a critique. Their insights were invaluable, and I must say that without their feedback, I wonder whether this would have gone anywhere. I was bummed (but understand because of the formatting and space constraints) that there wouldn't be a way to include a dedication, so here it is!!

For Ava and Shawn, two talented and classy women that have encouraged me every step of the way. Thank you for your ongoing support...Chaz and Justin wouldn't be here without you!

As long as I'm throwing the love around, here is a blanket shout-out to everyone here in my cyber life and out there in the real world who have made the process of going from aspiring writer to published author so much fun. *mwah*

All The News That's Fit To Print

It's been a fairly eventful day so far, writing-wise.  I was compelled to stay up last night until after 3am, banging out the last chapter of Rough Riders and actually managed to finish it to my satisfaction. Ended up stretching a bit further than I expected, but I needed the extra space to wrap things up sufficiently.  I went ahead and did a quick edit and got it off to my editor this morning. Another creation out looking for acceptance!

I'm also pleased to share that Silver & Gold will be published by Dreamspinner Press as part of their 2nd annual Advent Calendar collection. Keep an eye out for this in December. It will be available as a single e-book or as part of the complete 31 story collection.

Also found out that an author who has become a dear friend is back home after a stay in the hospital.  Very happy day all around!!

Hump Day Happenings

So I'm *this* close to finishing my current WIP, Rough Riders.  Thought I would wrap it last night, but I got into a very tender yet hot scene and the romantic side of my muse clammed up.  When that happened, I wisely gave up and left it for today, and I'm much happier with what's coming out now.

On another note, when I got into my last 'team' scene yesterday, I had a pretty complete storyline come to me for Mario, who is a secondary character in Rough Riders, and will be getting his own story in a few months. As soon as I come up with a working title for that one, I can cross it off my Sept to-do list! 

Release Date for A Pint Light!

Hi all! I hit the Coming Soon page at Total E Bound and got my release date for A Pint Light, my Voracious Vamp short story, available October 26th! Just in time to set the mood for Halloween!
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=594

Progress

I spent some creative time today working on my website, adding a Works In Progress section, which forced me to think about and clarify the status and descriptions of my manuscripts and ideas. I think that in the long run, this will prove to be time well-spent, above and beyond having a new page for the site. In addition to letting people know what's on the way, it will (hopefully) help me to track my ideas, give me a convenient place to flip through to decide what to work on next, and motivate me to move these from the WIP page to the My Books page.

Also managed to get through a tough transition scene in my current WIP, Rough Riders, which takes me to 12K, and sets me up for the remaining three major scenes. If I get through a scene a day, I can actually have this in on schedule by 9/15. I'm sure my editor is happy to hear that!

Cover For A Pint Light

Fun e-mail morning!  Got my cover from Total E Bound for A Pint Light. Love it!  Great angle. :)

Happy Hump Day!

Wrote another 3500, which puts me well into Chapter four and right in the middle of a very hot scene. I also sat and roughed out an outline of major plot points for the rest of the story.

At the rate I've been going, I should have the first draft completed by this weekend, giving me plenty of time to tweak before it needs to be in by the 15th. That would also allow me to get going on my other September project. The completion date I'm shooting for on that one is the 20th, and it's around 25K, so it'll be tight.

5K Day on WsIP

Had my most productive day since APL yesterday. I overcame a roadblock on my current WIP, Silver & Gold, and finally got that on track to completion. I managed to get through the most difficult scenes, the setup and first meeting, which puts me in place to begin work on the fun scenes. All downhill from here, since most of the rest is set in my head. :) Already hard at it this morning, reviewing yesterday's work and delving into the next scene.

The entire 5K wasn't on S&G, part of it was a mid-story scene I hammered out for my next project, also on track to complete this month. I don't have many firm details to pass along yet, but let's just say this scene involves fit men, sweat, and an illegal tackle. Those of you who know me know that I usually write in a very linear fashion, but this scene was so vivid that I needed to get it down, even though it occurs well into this book.

I came up with my characters' names during my very productive and impromptu emergency-name-creating-summit-chat this weekend (thanks Shawn and Ava). Originally just looking to firm up names for S&G, the byproduct was two great names for the next project as well. Andy (aka my muse) was apparently very happy with my choices. He's finally stopped pouting and is actively helping me along now. It probably doesn't hurt that he's VERY interested in a secondary character in  S&G. :)

Website Is Up!

Finally got everything to where I could launch the website this afternoon. Now I'll be tweaking forever, but at least I'm up and running. :) I'd love some feedback, but please keep in mind that this is a work in progress (and my first attempt at something like this--*bites nails).

http://www.devonrhodes.com

Changing Gears Mid-Story

Made a big decision today that has been weighing on me all week. I had known when I wrote RR that I would eventually put Andy into a story of his own. Separately, I had conceived of an idea for a holiday-themed story, Silver and Gold, and at the time, the two characters were random.

Then I had the thought that Andy was my "Gold" for the story, and I took off with the story on that premise, writing the first two chapters, and then pausing. I then wrote an alternate first chapter, then stopped again. Put all the stuff I had written into some semblance of order, and just as I was getting to the point where the characters from RR would be brought into the story, I stopped. Full stop.

I really like Andy, and I think the biggest stumbling blocks to his being my "Gold" are the time and space constraints. Time because as it's a "holiday" story, there isn't enough time wrap up any kind of relationship in a couple weeks to a month. And I'd like Andy to have a relationship, not just an encounter. The other problem is the word count restrictions. A maximum of 18K doesn't allow for much development, and also doesn't leave much space for me to check in with Chaz and Justin to see how things are progressing there.

So tonight, amidst a long, rambling chat with another author (thanks Shawn), I decided that I'd be better off giving Silver and Gold to a couple as of yet unknown heros, and waiting to give Andy the kind of story he deserves when there aren't limits to be observed. I must say, I feel lighter for having made the decision, and if it weren't so late, I'd be pulling up the file and working. As it stands, I think I'll take a hot bath and think up the names and backstories for my two new guys. They have a busy day tomorrow, so I want to make sure we're on a first-name basis!

Edited to add: Shawn took this thought and ran with it in her blog post today...check out http://smlgr8.blogspot.com/ . Thanks Shawn, D.

Laid Up...So Why Not Build A Website?

Got injured again last Wednesday, I know some of you probably are beginning to think I'm accident prone! Anyway, it was very painful yesterday, and since it needed to be done anyway, I spent a good portion of the day working on building my new website from scratch.

Let me just say that this is the first time I've attempted anything like this! I probably would have been better off using a template, but I have a pretty definite sense of style as far as what I like, and couldn't find the right look already out there, hence the building part.

I ended up finishing a mock-up with either 5 or 6 pages, and am testing it right now. Hopefully it will be online soon. I will make sure to have a big grand opening!! :)

I did some shopping for some decorations for my site, here is one of my shiny, new purchases for you to enjoy!

Blurbs

Blurbs, I have lots of blurbs, but it's a tease, since I'm not posting them yet. No, this is about writing them. I was happily working on paperwork for the new TEB contracted story, A Pint Light, when to my horror, I realized that part of what they needed today was a hook line and a blurb.

Now, that doesn't seem too tough. I'm sitting here in my jammies in the middle of the afternoon while the kids play. I should be able to come up with a one-sentence teaser and a coherent two to three paragraph summation. After all, I wrote the whole 40 page story in two nights. Piece of cake. Right? (wish you could hear the huge sigh)

It was TOUGH to write this blurb. You have to introduce your characters, make them interesting, give some background to set the stage, present the conflict that they will face, draw the reader in and give the reader hope for the resolution...all without being too wordy, corny, or giving away too much of the plot. I just about wore out my backspace key as I went over and over what I was trying to get across. Whew. Of course, now that it's in, someone else will be looking at it and deciding if it will work. Blurbs get edited, just like everything else.

Ironically enough, just as I sent over my final effort to TEB for A Pint Light, I got another e-mail from DSP with a revised blurb for Remarkable Restraint to approve. Slightly different submission process, DSP has you write the blurb as part of the submission, while TEB asked for it after offering the contract. So that one was already written long ago as part of the cover letter for my submission inquiry. I looked back to compare the two, and actually they were fairly kind, only making a few small changes and keeping it mostly as originally written.

Apparently I was slightly more inspired on that day. Either that or after writing the synopsis concurrently, I was already in the zone.Either way, by the time you write the manuscript, the synopsis and the blurb (and in some cases the hook line), it feels like you've flayed your idea to the bone. And that's pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment as well!

I'd love to hear from some other writers about how they feel about blurbs and whether it's as difficult for you to write them!

My First Edits for RR

I was chatting with my editor at DSP when I opened the manuscript, and oh, the sea of red! She assured me (while laughing, I'm sure) that it wasn't the worst she'd seen. And it was mostly formatting changes. Still, looked at first like a paintball casualty! All in all, it is very interesting to see how different publishers edit (I proof for another publisher).

Turns out there weren't that many changes, just a lot of little tweaks. Many good suggestions. A couple things that I caught that slipped past them, but nothing major. And only one or two corrections that I wasn't excited by. All in all, a pretty painless process so far. I think all the proofing I've been doing has prepared me for the reality of the edit process, and I can definitely empathize even more now with the authors I'm proofing for! Glad that I was raised right and am polite about the suggestions..will continue to be even more so!

So now Remarkable Restraint is back in to my editor, and I'm thrilled and confident that my baby is in good hands.

Banner Week! Another Story Sold...

What an amazing and gratifying week this has been. This one is my vamp short story, A Pint Light, that took a bare two nights to write right before my big trip...my relentless muse kept me up until 3am two nights straight until it was done. More details to follow, I'm two for two on fantastic Sunday e-mails from editors.

Busy Day

It's been super busy, all in a good way. My eyes are crossing from all the time spent on the laptop today going back and forth between Google, GoDaddy, and all the major e-mail servers trying to narrow down my pen name. It was a tougher decision than I had imagined, between domain availability, names already used by others, and just plain sounding good! I finally chose the name I did because both parts of the name have sentimental meaning to me, and those lucky people who I managed to track down mid-day unanimously voted for it! Thanks for all your help!

I Got A Contract!!

For my m/m short story, Remarkable Restraint, with Dreamspinner Press in the Games In The Dark anthology coming out this fall!! I almost fainted, I was so excited when the e-mail came from the editor. I am simply over the moon, and ironically at a loss for words right now. I'll need to write more later when I've had time to process. But I am absolutely thrilled that my guys will be out there for the public to meet!

Submissions IN

Managed to get my quickie, A Pint Light, wrapped up, synopsis written, and submitted to TEB while on the road last weekend from the hotel room. That left Remarkable Restraint sitting there looking at me to write the synopsis and get it in to Dreamspinner already.

Coming up hard on the August 10th deadline, it finally hit me today that I will be heading to Mom's tomorrow for the next week. And while I can access e-mail on her old desktop, I won't have wi-fi for my laptop, hence wouldn't be able to produce and e-mail anything. SO sat down to write the synopsis today and it took forever to get it going.

Good news is that I finally got it done, typed up my e-mail, attached and hit send. So another baby out there in cyberspace, looking for approval. Only 2am in my current time zone, ha! Geez I need to get to bed!

Attack of the killer muse

I just wrapped a new 11K short story tonight that I wrote over the last two nights. It's a m/m contemp vamp/paranormal story titled A Pint Light. I can't believe I actually did it, since I'm leaving on my trip in about 10 hours. But my muse was unstoppable until I finished it up. I am going to write up my synopsis and blurb tomorrow morning, just way too burned out at the moment, and get it sent off before we hit the road. Hopefully it's not too raw, since won't have any other eyes on it before I throw it out there. Busy betas! Okay, gotta get to bed!