Ask the Author: Lex Valentine
Answered Questions (10)
Lex Valentine
Yes. I have Ray's story started but I've just not been in a stable situation long enough to finish it.
Lex Valentine
Ian and Miro in the Marshals series by Mary Calmes are one of my most favorite fictional couples. I don't have any one favorite because my favorite is usually determined by my mood. However, I find myself re-reading the Marshals books over and over because of the dynamic between this couple. Miro tries so hard to prove that he's okay without Ian when in reality he's breaking inside. Ian wants to be with Miro all the time, hates when he's called away by the military and he won't quit because he still somehow equates being a man with serving his country and being the tough guy soldier. Finding out he's gay has messed with his sense of self and his manhood. So he goes when he's called even though it kills him to leave Miro. He worries because he knows when he's gone Miro doesn't take care of himself and always gets hurt. When they resolve these issues its amazing, but the getting there is an emotional roller coaster through these books. You can't help but love these guys each with their own brand of neurosis.
Lex Valentine
Well, the paychecks can be nice, but not everyone makes good money. I make okay money when I have new releases. I honestly love getting fan mail. It makes me feel as if what I've done, what I've created, has touched someone's heart. And that gives me the warm fuzzies like nothing else. It makes me proud to be an author.
Lex Valentine
Don't take the first contract offered to you. LOL No, not exactly. Really, it's that you should work on your craft. Work on it and work on it and work on it some more. Don't offer your book to a publisher that isn't top tier. Small pubs that are barely known or just starting out aren't the best places to submit. Pick a well known pub. Aim high. if they reject you, pay attention to WHY. Work on that issue. Don't just take just any offer for your work. And if you decide to go indie...get a real editor. Choose someone who has credentials as an editor for a well known house. Don't just go with some blogger turned editor because other indie authors use them. I can't tell you how disgusted I've been by the poor editing I've seen in indie books only to find that the company/editor has no real editing credentials.
Lex Valentine
Ach! I'm so not the person to ask this. Until I began having health issues, I'd never experienced it. However, strong painkillers can be a real deterrent to writing. I don't know if it's real writer's block or just being blocked by artificial means but either way, it made it so I couldn't write. I've just been slow to come back to the writing process. I guess it just takes time an patience and a true desire to write to get back into the groove.
Lex Valentine
I have started Canaan's story, but it's slow going for me right now. I'm coming off three years of not being able to write because of health and economic issues. And I've been pondering whether to actually have Gavin get back with Alex or perhaps give him someone new so that when Alex does come back he's even more heartbroken and resistant to someone new for himself. I would love to hear readers' thoughts on this. Please feel free to visit my website and send in a contact form with your thoughts.
Lex Valentine
Mel,
Sorry for the late reply. I don't come to Goodreads very often. I've been battling health and economic issues for the past three years. Currently, I'm getting the rights back to all the Tales books. They will be going back out soon I hope, revamped with new covers either as self pub books or possibly with another publisher. I hope to be able to continue the series once everything has been reissued. I'm so glad it's your favorite and I'm so sorry for the delay in completion. If you go to my website and send me a contact form, I'll send you a code to get a free Darkworld audio book.
Sorry for the late reply. I don't come to Goodreads very often. I've been battling health and economic issues for the past three years. Currently, I'm getting the rights back to all the Tales books. They will be going back out soon I hope, revamped with new covers either as self pub books or possibly with another publisher. I hope to be able to continue the series once everything has been reissued. I'm so glad it's your favorite and I'm so sorry for the delay in completion. If you go to my website and send me a contact form, I'll send you a code to get a free Darkworld audio book.
Lex Valentine
Music and the works of other authors who are my favorites. And really, just from anything that catches my attention sometimes.
Lex Valentine
I am currently working on three things at once! The sequel to Partners which is a collaboration between myself and the wonderful VJ Summers! The second thing I'm working on is the 3rd book in the Souls in Bondage series. And I'm working to revise the middle part of Out of the Pocket, my award winning manuscript and sequel to Scrambling. I may also have an idea for a short story that might fit the 2nd RWA anthology, if they'd have me again. ;)
Lex Valentine
I got the idea for Flying in the Face of Convention which is in RWA's Anthology Premiere, from thinking about friends to lovers stories and wondering what if they weren't really friends, what if they were secret crushes instead. The story just grew from there.
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