Riley Long's Blog, page 3

Finding a buddy

[image error]

In my last blog post, I talked about how important I think writing buddies are. I promised that I would talk today about finding said buddies. I think I got lucky. It’s been relatively easy for me. But I’m going to give you some things that I hope help.

First, and I’m certain you’re not surprised to see me endorse this, but NaNoWriMo. If you’re a novelist especially, starting with your local NaNoWriMo group can be helpful. NaNo has forums on its website, and forums are divided into regions. Sometimes those regions have Facebook groups as well. That’s where I started – by joining my regional NaNo forum.

Another step is to join Facebook groups, or maybe find groups on Twitter (I’m less adept at Twitter, so I can’t really speak for that experience). There are tons of Facebook groups for writers. I recommend looking for groups local to you, particularly if you think you’ll be interested in meeting with local writers at some point (highly recommended).

You can also check professional writing organizations. For example, the Romance Writers of America has local chapters. A simple Google search shows me that there are many professional writing organizations, and I’m certain that most of them, if they are national, have local chapters. And if they don’t have a chapter near you, they may have a listserv that is national where you can reach out, or a critique partner matchup on their website that could help you.

There are also many writing websites. Critique Circle is my favorite, but there are dozens, if not hundreds, that are similar.

Several authors I follow post critique partner matchups on their blogs, so check out your favorite authors. They just might have one!

So far, I have found writing buddies from my national RWA site, Facebook, and NaNoWriMo. I’m sure there are hundreds of other ways to find writing buddies that I don’t know about or haven’t thought about here. If you know of another tip for writers seeking buddies, post it here!

A little help

[image error]

For me, as a writer, there is nothing like getting a little help from my writer’s group. I really “tossed and turned” over what to write about today, with a handful of topics I was only semi-excited about, until this happened.

So basically, I am struggling with one particular spot of my WIP, Pulling Strings. It’s about two college guys, Shane and Ari, who meet and fall in love, in the face of chaos. In any case, Shane is an indie rock musician, and my critique partner suggested, very convincingly, that I needed to include lines from the major song referenced throughout the story.

I believed her, but I am not a songwriter. “Just write a poem!” people said. “Songs are just poetry set to music.”

I’m also not a poet.

So I put out a call for help. I posted on my local writer’s Facebook group, begging for someone to take mercy on me and help me, give me a starting point, some tips, anything. Ultimately, what happened was one of the writers got very excited and drafted a song for me, for Shane.

I could not be more excited. It is beautiful. At least, in my estimation. It took me a long time to figure out which particular verse to use, and I ended up choosing to just include the chorus, but I am so, so excited to share this with you guys eventually. I don’t want to give it away now, not yet, until I am sure that we have worked out all of the kinks, so to speak, but I am definitely excited.

So there’s that.

I also spent a good two+ hours last night with Marie Cole, a local m/f romance writer whom I really respect and admire. We’re motivational buddies, and we are working on meeting weekly to keep each other “honest” in the face of procrastination. It really helped me to set aside time to work on Shane and Ari’s story, finish up the first round of edits, and focus. Plus, it’s always nice to have a writer buddy around so if you do the “writer desperation” thing where you put your head and in your hands and sigh, they can say, “How can I help?” and give ideas. Marie helped me retool a scene between Shane and his stepsister, Brooke, in a way that made things work. I’m really happy with it.

Lots of good things come from having writing buddies, both near and far. I highly recommend it for any writer. Finding writing buddies can be tricky. I’ll talk more about that next time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the value of writing buddies, and how you find them as well!

Queer as Folk – 13 years late

[image error]

Okay, okay, I admit it. I am 13 years late to Queer as Folk.

Well, truth be told, I’m not that late. In, oh, the early 2000s, I was *mumblemumble* years old, and I would sneak watching it in my very conservative parents’ house. But a few months ago, in my very own house, I sat there, flipping through Netflix, desperately looking for a good LGBT+ show to watch. I was honestly looking for something I found on some random listicle, but it wasn’t available, and the always-helpful Netflix suggested QAF instead. I was delighted.

Watching it was a bit like revisiting my youth, remembering those days before I understood myself, I watched Justin and Brian fall in love. Before I understood that I have a particular attraction to the lives of gay men, before I really understood that I was queer and what that meant to me, I knew that I loved this show. So I indulged myself, and started watching.

Somewhere along the way, my husband joined me. We had been watching something dark and intense, and one night I asked him to give me a reprieve and to watch QAF instead, and he got hooked. Along the way, he did mention “this is the gayest show I’ve ever watched,” and remarked at the high number of penises seen in the later seasons, but other than that, we both enjoyed it immensely.

In any case, we recently finished the series. I am pretty sad about it, not just because of the ending (no spoilers here!), which was appropriate and true to character, but because I miss them already.

It also made me want to write a love story like Brian and Justin’s. I love them both individually (even though Brian’s a bit of an asshole) – something my husband will never understand. I think missing seasons 1 and 2 really set him back on the loving Brian train.

In any case, now I’m on the hunt for something relatively light to watch. What shows do YOU love? Bonus points if they have an LGBT+ slant.

Happy 2018!

Holy mackerel. Okay, it’s not that I *forgot* about this blog, exactly, it’s just that I realized I couldn’t keep up a several-times-a-week posting schedule and got discouraged. So I gave up.

I’m going to try not to let it happen again.

Things have changed. And they haven’t. I didn’t write much in 2017. Until NaNoWriMo of course. I DID create a Twitter account, posted my picture publicly for the first time (eep!), and joined several writing groups. I’m now a member of RWA, Rainbow Romance Writers, and Passionate Ink, as well as the RWA chapter for Virginia (my home state).

I also bought a new laptop.

In 2016, I wrote a sequel to Falling Apart, my love letter to Billy and Ryder which needs an immense amount of work. In 2017, I wrote what is tentatively titled Pulling Strings (which may be a little to on the nose, but again, tentative).

In 2018, I plan to edit Strings, as well as the sequel to Falling Apart, write at least two more books, win NaNo, and begin attending workshops. I also hope to attend GRL (https://www.gayromlit.com/home) this year (it’s in Virginia – how can I not go?) either as an author or as a reader, create a newsletter, tighten this website, blog more, submit to a publisher at least quarterly, and so much more. 2018 is going to be my YEAR.

That said, I hope it is OUR year, dear readers. I hope this is the year that readers find me, connect with me, and fall in love with my boys as deeply as I have.

If you are interested in following me on Twitter, find me at @writerrileylong.

I love you all, and I apologize for my disappearance. I hope you are willing to stick with me as I work towards making 2018 the year of Riley.

That would be a win

So. I chalked up another NaNoWriMo win this weekend. I didn’t doubt that I would, as I’m super competitive with myself. This year I challenged myself to finish earlier than ever, and I accomplished that goal. Now I’m extending the plan by  writing every day in November. I’ve also been lucky to find several new friends who would like to be Beta reading buddies/critique partners, and we’re working on figuring out that new relationship arrangement. I’m very excited. I’m taking this time in my life to dedicate more time to writing and become a more serious professional (as evidenced by my joining RWA, for one).

The sequel came out much better this time around, and I think you’ll enjoy it. We have a new supporting (but very important) character, meet Billy’s parents, and there’s a special surprise at the end.

Here’s an excerpt:

Ryder stopped abruptly. “Roll over.”

“What? I—” Billy protested.

“I’m serious. Roll over.”

“But I was getting so close.”

“Like I give a shit. Roll your ass over.”

I’m pretty pleased with how this one turned out. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Remarkably well

Another short one – I have a date tonight to watch American Horror Story with one of my besties – but I wanted to check in on the NaNo front with you all. It’s going remarkably well. I hit 20k yesterday, which I didn’t think I was going to do, and I’m farther ahead than I’ve ever been. Six days ahead, to be exact.

The downside is, I’m hitting the slump early. I’m feeling it, that mid-novel fatigue, and I’m tempted to switch to something else just for a bit to reinvigorate myself, but the only other WIP I have right now is handwritten, and I hate counting words by hand.

In any case, Billy and Ryder’s story is proceeding apace – lots of angst and relationship drama and uncertainty. Rest assured that they will get their HEA in the end (else it wouldn’t be a romance novel), and all will be well in Falling Apart land.

Speaking of which, I need a title for this sequel. I’m the worst at titling things. My working title is Coming Together – too cheesy? It’s not meant to be a double entendre, though I suppose it could be, if one wanted to look at it that way.

Regardless, NaNo is coming along remarkably well for me. How’s it going for you?

It’s going well

We’re three days into NaNo, and I’m going to make this a brief one, but it’s going well so far. I’ve got about 7,000 words, and the sequel is proceeding apace. In the first 5,000 words I crammed in two and a half sex scenes and an off-screen death. This is going to be a bit of a rollercoaster. I’ve got plenty planned, but I’m currently facing a little bit of a block, so today’s word count has been slow in coming along. I have about a half hour of writing time left for the night before I have to pack it up (Supernatural is on tonight), so I’d love to hear how NaNo is treating you all so far!

Last Minute Prep

Tomorrow is NaNo. In less than a dozen hours, I’ll be scribbling away in a notebook or pecking away at a computer keyboard, feverishly trying to get my word count in for the day. Okay, that’s maybe a stretch, because *checks clock* I’ll actually be at work in not-too-many hours, but you get my point.

I’m excited. I may have mentioned that before, but I’m more prepared than ever, and I feel good and ready. I’ve got the scenes plotted out, and I know I need to write a little more than a scene a day, and that each scene needs to be at least 1500 words. That’s a little neat and tidy, so I’m sure the actual execution will be messy as hell, but it’s a good starting point.

The one thing I haven’t done that I promised myself I would do is re-read Falling Apart. I swore I’d re-read it to get a feel for the voices again, and to remind myself of some of the important details (like eye color). I have started reading it, but there’s no way I’ll finish by tomorrow, unfortunately.

I’ll do my best to keep my blogging going – even minimally – throughout November. Are any of my friends here participating in NaNoWriMo?

Membership and Community

This week, I finally joined RWA. RWA is the Romance Writers of America, and it’s the professional organization that encompasses all romance writing. Being a romance writer, I figured it was time.

I’m already delighted by the options available to me as a member. There’s a great message board, and there are many online and in person chapters that cater to localities and special interest groups. There are online workshops, and if one joins the local groups, there are in person workshops as well. There are even contests.

My next “join” will be a special interest group, but I can’t decide between the erotic romance group and the LGBT+ romance group, and I think joining both is probably overkill at this time. (For me, anyway.)

It’s interesting, this sense of community and membership that I get from these organizations.

I realized how much I was missing/needing that when I started chatting on the NaNo forums, actually. NaNo has forums divided into genre subgroups, and I’ve been utilizing the Erotica, LGBT+, and Romance forums quite a bit. When I hit the Romance forums, I always feel like taking a breath and saying, “Ahh, I’m among my people.” But even there is a sense that erotica is the odd duck. The LGBT+ and Erotica groups are a little more tailored, but they, too, have the feel that as a m/m writer, I’m just not quite into one mold.

My local critique group is fantastic (I adore them, I really do), but I’m definitely the only erotica writer, and the only LGBT+ writer (in writing practice, that is), so once again, I’m just a bit off of the beaten path (wow, three metaphors for one experience… so sorry!). They are great, and are often my Beta readers and critique partners, but it would be nice to not feel like I’m imposing many of them, or having to censor myself for the group. (That said, Eye is fantastic and has never once complained about reading my stories – she’s a great crit buddy.)

Even when we have NaNo get togethers during November, I have to censor myself, or at the very least, I can’t share my writing with most of the writers there. Not that we do a lot of sharing – mostly we just write – but it would be nice not to feel slightly embarrassed of my work. I’m proud of what I write, and I wish I could feel that way all the time.

All of that is why I’m excited to join RWA and special interest groups. I’m hoping that I can find a community of practice there that makes me feel less like an outsider and more like a family member.

I’m curious – are you a member of any professional organizations? Writerly or otherwise? Do you plan to join one once you’re published or hit a certain level of status in your writing? Or, if you’re not aiming for publication, do you ever plan on joining one?

Why I Love to Write

It’s no secret that I love writing. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t bother with it. It’s hard, in so many ways. It’s intellectually challenging, emotional, and taxing on the brain and body (carpal tunnel, anyone?), so why would anyone write if they didn’t love it? Well, maybe for the paycheck, but – now maybe this was a secret – I don’t get enough of a paycheck for writing to be my reliable source of income. Maybe one day that’ll change, but it’ll take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get there.

So the question is, then, why do I love to write?

The answer isn’t so simple.

I love to write for the escape it provides me. Now, that makes it sound like I’m trying to escape my real life, which I’m not, not really. But we can all use a healthy escape outlet, and writing is one such outlet for me. It helps block out the bad and let me get fully immersed into a world of my own creation from time to time.
I love to create. Writing is the unique sensation of creating a world, sometimes from scratch. Creating people from nothing. Building cities, shaping things in my own way. It can be a lot of fun.
I love to bring joy to others. This one sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I know that at least some of the people reading my stuff enjoy it, and making people happy makes me happy.
I write to leave something behind. Now, most people might not think of smutty m/m novellas as something worth leaving behind, but I write because it leaves me a legacy. My writing will live on once I die. It’s a little grandiose, but it’s true.
I write because I can’t not write. It’s like I have a fire burning inside of me and I have to write to relieve the fire. That’s not a very good metaphor, but it’s the best way I can explain it. I feel as though I have to write, as though I must write. Stories inside of me are dying to get out, and I don’t have any choice but to write them down.
I write because the characters won’t leave me alone. This one is more related to my NaNo project, but sometimes I have characters and ideas that just won’t go away, or won’t be satisfied with a little piece of flash fiction. Never has this been more true than in the case of Billy Cunningham and Ryder Sullivan, cowboy-meets-rocker and falls in love. They just won’t go away, damn it, and they insist there’s more story to tell.

As you can see, there are many reasons I love to write, and these are just some of them. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing. Writers, what are some reasons that YOU love to write?