Morgan Elektra's Blog, page 5

Portable Magic

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I’ve always loved this quote from Stephen King. Something about it rings very true for me. It speaks to my heart. It is why I want to be a writer… but it is also why I am an avid reader.

When I was very little, before I learned how to read, my dad used to read to me before bed. He had a big, ugly, plaid Daddy chair and I would climb into his lap so he could read to me. Usually Dr. Suess. I don’t remember if he did different voices or anything like that, but I remember thinking it was the most fun thing ever. Better than playing kickball and riding my bike. Better than TV.

Though our house seemed small to me when I was young, it was a pretty decent size. And one of the perks was the room my parents called the den. Aside from the one wall where the woodstove was, the other three walls were lined with built in bookshelves. Two of them were half-walls of shelves and you could sit on the couches beneath. But that third wall was floor to ceiling. And every shelf held books.

As soon as I learned how to read on my own, this became my favorite room in the house.

I am and always have been an awkward spaz, so there were a lot of days that I spent lying outside on a blanket reading a book in the sun while the other kids down the street played games.

(Don’t get me wrong, I played sometimes too… it just usually ending up with me hurting myself in some way. I still sport a scar just under the jut of my bottom lip where I attempted to catch a baseball with my face once.)

Winter was even better, because I could lay right in front of the woodstove and soak up the heat from the fire. I’m pretty sure my mother has some pictures of me napping there, a cup of tea near my hand and my face on a book. There might even be a cat. So, basically, my idea of Heaven.

It was all that reading that made me realize I wanted to be a writer. I think I might have mentioned that before.

Reading really does feel like magic to me. When the world around me feels too shitty or dark or chaotic to deal with, I can disappear into a good book. You know the beginning of the movie Stand By Me? How Richard Dreyfuss is typing in his study, and then it fades into the scenes from the past?

That’s sort of how reading works for me. It starts as words on the page, but then quickly starts playing like a movie in my head. And if it’s *really* good, it’s like I’m there. Not me, exactly, but like I’m an invisible observer, the way you are sometimes in dreams.

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I don’t know if that happens for other people when they read. But it does for me. And it’s one of the reasons I devour books like candy. Only, candy that’s good for me. Because, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as a book that’s bad for your brain. Not even the books some consider “trashy”. I don’t hold with that.

It’s a pretty widely held belief that writers should also be voracious readers, and it’s one I happen to hold strongly.

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Not only do I personally need it as an escape when my brain is overloaded, but it’s so incredibly important to keep learning and pushing yourself as a writer. Read outside your favorite genres. Read books by authors that look nothing like you, like these. Or these. Or some of these.

There are no end to the places and things you can experience, the people whose lives you can walk among.

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Sometimes, you’re going to stumble on a dud. A book that either just doesn’t do it for you, or is actively bad. Now, usually in this instance, my advice would be to put it down and move on to something else. Don’t waste your time on bad books when there are so many amazing ones out there.

But, for a writer, it can be a helpful object lesson. While not as pleasurable as reading a good book, even a bad book can teach you something. If you’re reading and you think to yourself, “God, this _____ is terrible!”, make a note of it. Pay attention to what the author is doing that is burning your bacon, so you can avoid doing it yourself.

And, too, if you read something and you’re absolutely loving it, make a mental note of how the author has hooked you. What is it about that book that brings tears to your eyes, or makes your heart pound? More than just enjoying the story, enjoy the craft. Mentally mark a well done turn of phrase, or a deft bit of character development.

Some might feel that studying the nuts and bolts ruins the magic, but I disagree.

Books, in my opinion, aren’t magic like a trick, where if you know how it’s done it ceases to be impressive. Because a good book is not a con. It’s not sleight of hand, making you look one way while the author fakes you out.

A good book is alchemy. Like a good meal. Knowing the recipe doesn’t make the food taste bad. In fact, sometimes when you realize what skill went into a dish, it makes it taste even better. At least, that’s been my experience.

There are so many great reasons to read books. These are only a few. Though, they are pretty important reasons. Especially if you want to be a writer.

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If you want to hear about some of my favorite books, and more thoughts on reading, you can check out my #ReaderoftheMonth post over at The Pink Heart Society!

5 Ways to Get Inspired

I’ve talked a little bit about inspiration here in the past, especially in regards to A Kiss of Brimstone. But today I’m talking about it as it pertains to A Single Heartbeat, and in more general terms about how I keep myself from burning out, over at fellow M/M author Nic Starr’s blog for her Friend Friday post.

For some tips on how to keep your inspiration gauges filled, visit Nic’s blog. There’s also an exclusive excerpt from A Single Heartbeat, and some pics of yours truly!

Feel free to chime in down in the comments section, either here or at Nic’s, and tell me your favorite ways to feel inspired.

~xxxM

What’s In a Name?

If you’re friends with or follow a writer on social media platforms, you’ve probably heard them talk about blurb writing, or ‘blurbing’. Generally, this means they’re working on that short description of their book that goes on Amazon, or the back of a paperback. It’s usually a few hundred words (approx 100-300 on average, although there are the ones that are much shorter or much longer.) Sometimes it’s called a synopsis, although in other cases a synopsis is allowed to be longer.

Most writers are not a fan of blurbing.

Why? Well, summarizing an entire work in 150 words isn’t easy. This is our baby we’re trying to tell you about. It’s hard to decide what to highlight and what to leave for the reader to discover later.

The blurb for A Single Heartbeat took me several days to write. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, but a good blurb needs to be sharp. It takes honing. The final blurb, the one that went up on Amazon, is just a smidge over 150 words.

After 200 years, the nightlife has lost its allure for Reese. A leader among his kind, owner of a nightclub that serves as a banquet of nubile flesh and hot blood, he is bored out of his mind.

His heart hasn’t stirred in over a century.

Born to a line of vampire hunters, Will ventures out every day after dark to track down those creatures who have crossed the line from feeding to murder, and destroy them.

All he wants is one night off to drink and dance and get laid.

Too bad it’s not his lucky night. Or maybe it is?

Not even witnessing Will stake one of his brethren is enough to quell the lust that Reese feels from his first glimpse of the gorgeous hunter. And though Will knows how dangerous it could be to take the sensual invitation in Reese’s dark eyes, he can’t resist.

Why fight when they could fuck instead?

That’s a blurb. Introduce the main character(s), tell the reader a little about them, and then hint at what’s to come in the story. You don’t want to give everything away. You want to entice the reader to buy your book. It’s like the literary version of a movie trailer.

Sometimes, we also have to write a logline. A logline (or tagline) is even shorter than a synopsis or blurb. It’s a one line stinger.

Normally, I’m not a fan of coming up with these either. They can be even harder than blurbs. I mean, ONE LINE? Are you kidding me? But, thanks to some erotica gods somewhere, the logline for A Single Heartbeat came to me pretty easily. And I actually quite like it.

Nature made them adversaries, but one glance ignites a lust stronger than the need for blood.

Now that MLR Press has accepted A Kiss of Brimstone, the follow-up novella, I’ve just had to do another blurb and logline for that. This time was much more of a struggle, honestly. Andras and Ben’s story was more difficult for me to encapsulate. I needed to find something that hit the right mood.

After much tweaking and fiddling, I finally came up with something I was happy with. I’ll most likely be sharing that here in the near future, once I’ve gotten the go-ahead on it from Jennifer, my editor.

But, that’s not what this whole blog post is about, believe it or not.

No, I actually discovered something that was harder and more painful than blurbing OR coming up with a logline. I didn’t think it was possible, but I was wrong.

See, when I wrote A Single Heartbeat, it was supposed to be a one off. A fun, short, sexy romp between a vampire and a vampire slayer. But then… well, then Andras and Ben happened. Not long after A Single Heartbeat was published, I got this image in my head of another fight in an alley. Only, this time, the vampire hunter stumbled on the fight and ended up coming face-to-face with a demon. I saw the demon towering over him, looking fearsome, a long serpentine tongue flicking out to taste the air. And thought he looked terribly frightening, I knew he wasn’t. He was actually a kind soul, perhaps even a bit on the shy side.

Thus, A Kiss of Brimstone was born, with Andras’ otherworldly looks and soft heart.

It was while working on the rough draft of AKoB that it became clear the world I was exploring was vast, and that there were many stories to tell in it. Some of the players have already revealed themselves to me, and began whispering me their tales.

Which, it turns out, is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, it’s a wonderful thing! I am quite enjoying getting to know and understand the world and all the creatures living in it. And I think people will enjoy the upcoming stories just as much as they’re enjoying A Single Heartbeat. MLR even seems interested in publishing more of them. All great stuff.

But, as good as all that is, it means I had to come up with a name for the series.

A small inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, for sure. But, damn, was it hard!

Having a series name is great for letting readers know that books are connected, the way A Single Heartbeat & A Kiss of Brimstone are. It makes a lot of practical and marketing sense. Branding is everything! And in paranormal romance & erotica, there are a lot of series.

Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark. Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series, and her Guild Hunter series. Anne Bishop’s Others series. The list goes on and on and on and on.

Which added an extra layer of difficulty.

How to come up with a series title that not only fits my series, but one that isn’t already taken?

I agonized for DAYS. Went through lists of ideas, throwing most of them out. I Googled dozens of different permutations, and cursed when one came up as already in use. At one point, I thought I had an epiphany, I found one I really liked… only to find out that a New York Times best-selling author was already using it for a romance/erotica series.

Banging my head against the keyboard began to seem like a really good idea, like maybe it would shake something loose.

Poor Beta Team Voltron, I pestered them endlessly. “What do you think of this? How ’bout this? THIS ONE? OR THIS ONE?!”

I’m surprised they’re all still speaking to me.

And then, after I don’t even remember how long, I finally came up with something I sort of liked. (I say sort of because by that point I was so frazzled that I wasn’t sure.) I crossed my fingers and toes and held my breath and plugged it into Google.

Wonder among wonders, not only was there no book series showing up with that title, there were no books with it PERIOD. Could it really be?

I went through the first 5 pages on Google, and nothing. My heart was pounding. My hands were clammy.

“This is it,” I thought.

But first, I had to run it by BTV. Those ladies are always super honest with me, unafraid to poke holes in my paper boats and sink them, if need be.

When none of them came back with a vehement, “It’s shite,” I finally began to feel a bit of hope.

Still, I didn’t want to rush the process. I made myself sit on the title for at least 24 hours before going back to it, turning it over in my mind and seeing how it tasted on my tongue.

A little over a day later, I looked at the words again and found I liked them even more. Maybe it’s just Stockholm Syndrome, given how abominable the process was, but I don’t think so. You tell me.

A Single Heartbeat and A Kiss of Brimstone are now the first two novellas in the Out in the Shadows series!

I liked Out in the Shadows for several reasons. First, I felt like it fit with the tone of the series, the supernatural creatures and the things happening after dark. Second, I liked the way it worked with the existing titles. On Amazon (and other retail sites) you can include the series title in the book title. So it looks like this: A Single Heartbeat (Out in the Shadows #1)

The third reason I like the series title so much is that it’s a bit of a wink, a play on words.

It not only emphasizes the paranormal aspect of the stories, I think, but considering the main characters are all openly somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, it gives ‘out’ a double meaning.

So, after all the fuss and angsting, I am pretty happy with the result. Thank the gods.

What do you think? Tell me in the comments below!

~xxxM

A Single Heartbeat Giveaway Winners!

I would like to say thank you to the lovely Meredith and all the folks over at Diverse Reader for letting me come play in their sandbox. I had a lot of fun!

In the end, I got over 70 entries from all over the world, which is very cool. And I really appreciate everyone who took the time to tweet, or comment on the blog, or even just visit my Facebook page.

You guys all rock!

I wish you could all win, but unfortunately that’s not the way these things work. I’m glad I don’t actually have to make the hard decisions here, as Rafflecopter has a wonderful feature that randomly selects the winners from the entries.

So, without further ado, here are the 3 winners of a copy of A Single Heartbeat:

-Shirley

-Missy

-Jen

Congratulations, ladies! And again, thank you so much for participating!

I will be emailing the winners shortly to get them their prize.

If you didn’t win this time, don’t lose heart! There will be more opportunities in the future. Make sure you follow me either here, on Twitter, or Facebook to hear about more upcoming giveaways.

~xxxM

The Blog Tour Continues!

Visiting other blogs is a big part of promo for an author. Yesterday, I posted a link to a review, excerpt, & guest post over at Diverse Reader.

(FYI, the giveaway is still running there for another day. 3 people will win copies of A Single Heartbeat. And if you follow this blog, you already qualify for one entry. Click here and scroll down for more info on how to enter. Winners will be announced Wednesday at 9pm EST.)

Today, I’m going to direct you to Jessie G Books. Jessie is a fellow M/M author, but she also does reviews and hosts a blog series called #FiveQuestionsWithAnAuthor that’s posted on her site and cross-posted on the blog for Queeromance Ink.

I’m happy to say she gave A Single Heartbeat 4 stars. And it was fun answering her 5 questions!

Read her review, an excerpt, and my answers, here!

~xxxM

Quickie

Just a brief update to direct y’all to another blog you should check out – Diverse Reader! They’re a great site for LGBTQ+ book reviews.

Today, they’ve been nice enough to host me as a guest blogger, and I’m giving away 3 free copies of A Single Heartbeat!

Click on the link here to read the blog and find out how to enter to win. (Hint: if you’re already following this blog, you already qualify for 1 entry!)

The Cost of Pursuing A Dream

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Writing has always been my passion. That bit in my bio about how I used to sit at the table and write stories as a small child is not drama or hyperbole meant merely to make engaging copy. I have written stories since I learned how to write.

(Before then, I acted them out with my Barbie dolls.)

[image error]“Oh, shit, Midge, I think we killed Skipper! No, don’t stop! JUST KEEP DRIVING. Oh, god, oh god. There was so much blood! Do you think anyone saw? PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, MIDGE! We can never tell anyone about this. Swear it!”

I’ve always known writing was something I wanted to do. But despite the encouragement I’ve gotten along the way from friends and family, this is not an easy profession. Especially if you like luxuries like clothes and food and electricity. And as much as I love writing, I also love eating on a regular basis, so once I was old enough to understand how very hard it was to earn money as a writer, I just figured it would be something I would do for fun. I would write my little stories and keep them to myself. Maybe share them with people I knew well. But that was it. I closed the door on the idea of having a writing career.

My friend Debi is the first one who cracked it open again.

Several years ago, I was working an office job. One I liked but wasn’t exactly creatively fulfilling. Debi was someone I had met online via the horror community and had fast come to feel as if she was a long lost family member. When she contacted me and asked if I wanted to review some books for the horror website she works on (Dread Central, you should check it out if you don’t know it already), I of course said yes.

Writing, even if it was reviewing other people’s books instead of creating my own, still felt as good as I remembered it. And having something out there with my name on it, seeing people’s reactions, it was like a drug. The door was officially open. Just a sliver.

I didn’t immediately quit my day job or anything. That paycheck was still very necessary. But I enjoyed the hell out of writing for DC, and it reminded me how much I loved writing in general.

So, when my husband and I moved from NY back to Georgia and began job hunting, I started looking for some freelancing writing gigs. Romance & erotica were the jobs most often posted on sites like Odesk (now Upwork), so I figured ‘What the hell?’

I went for it.

There was something amazing about having someone paying me to write fiction. It felt, at the time, like the realization of my dreams. Of course, it wasn’t. Not really. For one thing, I wasn’t getting to put my name on the work. In some ways, that was incredibly liberating. I worried a lot less about whether or not people would like what I wrote. (Although, that never stopped me from obsessively checking reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.)

But after four years of banging out (pun intended lol) millions and millions of words in service to other people’s story ideas, it was starting to wear on me. I wanted to write my ideas. To put work out there with my name on it.

Still, while I wasn’t rolling in cash (ghostwriting romance and erotica doesn’t pay much, honestly… I started off taking jobs that paid half a cent or less per word written and after 4 years was making only 1-2 cents per word), I was still making money. Enough to help cover our monthly bills.

It’s always hard to walk away from money, even if it’s not much. At least, for me it is.

Had my husband not come to me (after I forced him to read a story I had written for myself) and said, “Honey, I love you, you need to be pursuing this,” I probably would have kept ghostwriting until I burned myself out completely.

Which brings me to present day. Well, almost.

After talking with my husband, I decided to go for it… Jump in with both feet. I finished up the ghostwriting jobs I had, and informed my clients that I would no longer be taking on new contracts. (At least for a while. I didn’t want to burn any bridges, in case I failed spectacularly.)

Starting in about May of 2016, I began sending out short stories–things I had written over the years and never shown anyone but a few select friends. And I braced myself for rejections. Which I got.

But the harder part to deal with, I found, was the lack of money coming in.

I got my first paying job as a camp counselor at 13. Since then, I’ve always had a job. And, though writing and submitting still feels like work, it’s not a job that earns a weekly paycheck.

Now, despite the rejections I’ve gotten, I’ve also been so incredibly lucky to get some acceptances. One of which led to the publication of my short novella A Single Heartbeat by MLR Press. It’s thrilling and makes my stomach swoop and my heart do a dance.

But even getting published doesn’t mean rolling in dough.

There are no big advances at this level of publishing. MLR pays generous royalties, but those only get paid out once a quarter, and how much I make depends on how many books I sell.

And, like the old saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. MLR buys ad space and promotes their writers, but I am one of many there. Like I’ve mentioned before, promo is one of the things all authors (unless they’re on the level of Stephen King) are expected to do.

While a lot of the promo stuff I do doesn’t cost anything but time, those things tend to get only a small bump in sales. All bumps are good bumps, in this instance, but in order to keep growing my following and getting my name out there to a wider audience, I need to do everything possible.

I mentioned in a previous blog post about how I was going to be attending Rainbowcon, a QUILTBAG author convention in Tampa, Florida this July.

This is an incredible opportunity to network with other writers and reach a wider audience. But, in keeping with the size of the opportunity is the price tag.

Registration as an industry professional costs $175 for the 4 day event. I am lucky enough to be within driving distance (4-ish hours, anyway), so I don’t need to get plane tickets, but there’s still the matter of needing a hotel to stay in.

It’s been my experience in the past that, when attending a convention, in order to get the full experience, it’s best to stay in the hotel where the con is happening. You may be able to get cheaper rooms a little further away, but you always end up missing out on some of the most fun and rewarding aspects of a convention. (Mainly the random hang outs after all the official programming is done, when people eat together, or just chill.)

It’s a bit more costly to stay in the con hotel, but the experience is invaluable.

So, staying in the con hotel for the duration is about $500 ($110/night, plus taxes & fees). Add onto that the cost of gas for the drive–say approximately $100, conservatively, and the running total for this trip is at $775.

Even if I go to the con empty handed, it’s going to cost me almost a thousand dollars for those 4 days. But I can’t go empty handed. There are things I need to help me network and spread the word. Things like business cards to hand out ($60 for 100), or promotional items like postcards with QR codes to purchase A Single Heartbeat ($90 for 100) or magnets with the teaser image & QR code ($60 for 100).

When all is said and done, $1000 is spent easily.

On the bright side, I can write off most of the cost when tax time comes around next year, because they are work related expenses. The down side is I need to come up with the money to begin with. And considering how money comes in for a writer in dribs and drabs, it’s not easy to come up with a lump sum like that… not even when I can space out it out over the next 3 months.

Apart from the time, effort, and emotion, this kind of thing is the cost I pay for pursuing my passion for writing.

It can be disheartening.

I am not always comfortable putting myself out there, as I believe I’ve mentioned a time or twelve. I’m even less comfortable when it entails money. Even when I’m offering goods and services in exchange for money, which is a pretty normal, everyday thing.

The lovely folks who have pledged to my Patreon so far are a godsend.

I have been able to concentrate full time on my writing because they help pay my bills in exchange for monthly stories and exclusive behind-the-scenes excerpts. And now, every extra dollar is going to be squirreled away to go towards the Rainbowcon fund.

Between me, my Patrons, my friends, & my family, I will find a way to make Rainbowcon a success, and I will keep on going after my dream. No matter how scared or sad or overwhelmed I get, I refuse to give up. I owe it to everyone who has supported me so far, either emotionally or financially (or both).

I owe it to myself, too.

~xxxM

Should you feel moved to chip in in some way to the Rainbowcon fund, you can buy my book, pledge to my Patreon, or even just Paypal me!

Beta Blockers

You know that phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, I don’t have any non-furry children, so I don’t know how true that is… but I know it’s pretty accurate when it comes to books.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that, as a kid, I had this idea that being a writer involved sitting in a romantic garrett and plugging away at a typewriter and then shipping a manuscript off to an editor. Then it would magically become a book–voila!

Which is very, very far from the truth.

Granted, the initial part is fairly solitary.

[image error]What the fuck is the word I’m looking for? Ugh. Nevermind. I’ll just reword it.

But once the draft is done, and polished the best of my ability, there’s an important step before sending it off to be read by strangers.

That’s where beta readers come in.

In my case, my beta readers are people I’m very close with, who I trust to tell me the truth. Other authors I know get their betas from critique groups or fan pages. There’s really no wrong way to find a beta. So long as it’s someone you can work well with.

Once I’ve done a couple of passes for basic grammar and editing, I message my betas to let them know I’m ready for them, and what kind of turnaround time I’m looking for. (Waiting to hear back is one of the hardest things!)

[image error]It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I’m sure they love it.

But what exactly does a beta reader do, you ask?

In the case of my amazing Beta Team Voltron, they do a little of everything. They read my stuff and tell me what works and what doesn’t, whether something is true to a character, or doesn’t make sense. They catch typos and grammar issues.

They make my writing better. Stronger.

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I am incredibly lucky in that four of my very best friends are willing to beta for me. I refer to them as ‘Beta Team Voltron’ because they work really well in tandem. Individually, they are awesome, of course. Any one of them on their own is worth their weight in gold. But together, they are priceless.

(I’m not even kidding. If another author tried to poach them, there might be murder.)

[image error]This isn’t red ink.

 

One of BTV is really great with the emotional tone of the story. C will let me know if something is out of whack, and helps me make sure that the emotions I am trying to convey are coming through.

Another is exceptionally good at keeping me honest on character logic. Stories that violate their own internal logic are one of my biggest pet peeves, and without T, I’m afraid I would fall victim to it myself. She questions the characters’ motivations and makes sure I have reasons beyond expedience for their actions.

K doesn’t think like me, which is very valuable. My other betas and I tend to think alike. Which is good in some ways, because it helps them understand where my writing is coming from. But K’s mind works differently, her thoughts and experiences are nothing like mine. I love her to death, but we are very different people. Which is great, because she brings that different perspective to the work and can call me out on things that I assume are universal because they are the way I feel. She challenges my complacency.

A is the master of technique. Word choice, flow, pacing.

She beta reads my stuff like a surgeon with a scalpel, helping me carve out the strongest possible story from my rough drafts.

Each time the 4 of them read something of mine, they cover their various areas of expertise, giving me the widest range of comments and critiques. They also occasionally note the same things, which gives me multiple points of view on trouble areas, and lets me know when something really needs to be fixed.

Beta readers aren’t the same as editors, but thanks to my amazing Team Voltron, the work I send off to the actual editors is tight and requires much less work from them.

If it wasn’t for BTV, my work would be considerably poorer. (They don’t beta this blog, to give you an idea. Hence why I ramble too much and meander in my topics.)

My betas are total rockstars. I don’t even want to think about where I’d be without them!

~xxxM

With extra special thanks to my Beta Team Voltron: T, A, C, & K. Love you ladies!!

PS: My friend and fellow author Scott Roche was nice enough to have me over on his blog today for a little interview about writing erotica. Check it out!

For Sale: (1) Writer – As Is

One of the things that is expected more of writers in this new publishing age is self-promotion. Get out there, build a fanbase, gain a following…

Sell yourself.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying marketing and promotion are a bad thing. Not at all.

I’m saying they are a hard thing. For me. (I know plenty of authors who are naturally very sociable. I am not one of those.)

Sometimes people tell me that I can come off as unapproachable. Especially in a group or a crowd. I think this is down to two things.

One, I suspect I may have a bit of RBF (that’s resting bitch face, in case you’re not up on your latest random internet abbreviations). When I’m thinking too hard, or concentrating on something, my brows tend to furrow (I have very thick, dark eyebrows… like, Riverdale’s Veronica Lodge and I could share pointers) and I might possibly purse my mouth.

I don’t intend to look like I am contemplating where to bury the body, but I can see how people might think that.

The second reason is sort of tied to the first. Or, it’s the reason for the first. Or something.

Honestly, I have a bit of social anxiety. Nothing crippling, but it’s difficult for me to get comfortable in a crowd or large group. (Smaller groups, especially if there are numerous people I know well, are much easier for me to navigate socially.)

Because it’s outside my comfort zone, I’m often overthinking it. Trying to figure out what I should be doing, and how I should be acting. Hence, the squiggly eyebrows and tight lips. If you ever see me in public and I look pissed, I’m really not. I’m just awkward.

The reason I’ve been thinking about this recently is because earlier this week I registered for Rainbowcon, which is an “event centered around QUILTBAG (Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans*, Bisexual, Asexual, and Gay/Genderqueer) multimedia”.

It’s an amazing opportunity to network with other QUILTBAG authors, and readers. I am extremely excited to be attending a con as a bona fide published author.

Also? Not gonna lie. A little terrified.

In a good way though, honest! It will be something new. A challenge. If you’re a reader or author who is going to be in Tampa in July and you happen to see me, please don’t hesitate to come up and say hi. Even if my RBF is fierce. I’ll most likely be feeling very lame and talking to someone will help.

Preparations for attending the con have already begun. I’ve designed some business cards to bring along.

[image error]This is a proof. I can’t wait to see them in print.

(PS: I am aware my number is on there. If you feel the urge to call, don’t be surprised when I don’t answer. I never answer. Talking on the phone is yet another thing I am awkwardly terrible at. I call people back. Usually. But I have to prepare first.)

The last time I had business cards was when I was writing for Dread Central. They were ordered for me, since everyone basically had the same cards except for their info (name/title/contact). Designing these, figuring out what I liked and what worked, took a little while. Luckily, I have a friend who is savvy in graphic design and she gave me a bit of feedback and advice. (Thanks, B!)

I’ll be bringing a couple of promotional items as well, though I haven’t settled on what yet. But since I don’t have any physical copies of A Single Heartbeat to sell, I want to bring a few fun things that will hopefully encourage readers to seek out a copy of the book once they leave.

All part of building that fanbase.

That’s why I write blogs like this, too. Promo on the computer is much easier for me. I feel comfortable and relaxed in my own home, but I can still reach out to readers. I like this combination. I feel like I can be the real me, without having to worry if I look like the poor fat girl from your class that no one likes but your mom made you invite to your birthday party anyway.

Intellectually, I know that’s a silly thought to have. Once people get to know me, they generally like me just fine. I’m very loyal, sometimes funny, and I’m into a lot of geeky, pop culture things.

I like people. I do. It just takes me a little bit to warm up.

(The amount of time is variable. It’s considerably shorter if I have at least a one person buffer… someone with me who I know and am comfortable with, who is in turn comfortable in the public situation and can drag me out of my protective shell.)

But, being behind a screen and typing on a keyboard works as that buffer, reducing the length of my awkwardness to practically nil.

For example, when I first started writing this blog, it made me really nervous. (Oh god, what am I going to say? Is anyone going to read it? What if I sound stupid?) But now I feel much more in my comfort zone and I barely worry at all.

Even if no one’s reading this right now, my relaxed mind says, people might discover your books and come back to it. Someone will eventually want to read about your spazzy public self.

Still, I haven’t been at this author thing very long, so even online promo is a bit of minefield for me. Only, no one can see my RBF.

Thankfully, there are a lot of really amazing, helpful people out there willing to work with me and my perpetually awkward personality.

Next Sunday (March 19th), I will be blogging over at Diverse Reader. There will most likely be an excerpt of A Single Heartbeat involved. Also, I’ll be giving away 3 copies of the novella, so if you’re into paranormal romance, gay erotica, or vampires (or all of the above), make sure you check it out!

Then, on Monday (March 20th) I’ll be answering 5 questions over at Jessie G Books. That one will be cross-posted over on Queeromance Ink as well, I believe. There may also be video involved. Which should be interesting, because of the aforementioned spaz.

At the end of the month (Friday, March 31st), I’ll be over on fellow M/M romance author Nic Starr’s blog for Friend Friday, talking about what inspires me.

For someone who feels a bit like throwing up every time the prospect of talking to someone I don’t know arises, I think I’m off to a pretty decent start at this whole self-promotion thing. I feel good about it. Not a single furrowed brow or pursed lip yet.

Hopefully, that will translate to more readers for A Single Heartbeat, and the sequel (currently in edits), A Kiss of Brimstone*.  Because that’s what it’s ultimately about. I’m a socially awkward author with Resting Bitch Face, but I want to share my stories with you.

If you give me a chance, I promise I grow on you. Like a beard.

(How’s that for a pitch? Elegant, I know. I didn’t say I quite had the hang of this whole thing yet, did I?)

~xxxM

Are you an author or some other creative type? If you’ve got any tips or tricks–for self-promotion either online or off–leave a comment below! I’d love to hear them.

*This is a working title and therefore subject to change.

The Good ‘No’

Rejection is hard.

[image error]Do I smell? Is that the problem?

But, as a working writer, it’s something I have to deal with on a pretty routine basis. Ever since I started submitted stories with regularity last year, I’ve gotten more rejections than acceptances. Which is par for the course of any writer’s career. Stephen King and Jo Rowling got turned down a bunch, and now they’re mega-stars. Those stories are the rule, as opposed to exceptions like Stephanie Meyer, who got an acceptance on her first thing and it became a mega-hit.

I am no King or Rowling (yet!), so I still have to deal with a steady stream of ‘No, thanks’, and ‘Thanks, but no thanks’, and even the occasional, plain old, ‘No’. It’s not always easy to take. Sometimes, it makes me question why I’m bothering.

(Generally, this is when I take a step away from the computer and have a day of self-care. I read, drink tea, eat snacks, watch a movie I love, or otherwise do anything other than think about being a writer. Because I know why I bother. I bother because I love it, and not doing it would stifle something inside me I couldn’t live without.)

Each time I get a rejection, I have to brush myself off a bit and remind myself about all those other successful writers who have gone through what I’m going through, and are now kicking ass and taking names.

[image error]Right, so, you spell that, ‘B-I-G, T-I-M-E, P-U-B-L-I-S-H-E-R?

Persistence is the name of the game. Well, not the entire name. Talent and hard work figure in there too, of course. But if I gave up the first time someone wasn’t interested, I never would have gotten where I am now.

Admittedly, I still have a long way to go. But I’ve got one novella published, and that’s just the beginning.

That knowledge makes it easier to keep going every time I get another ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ email about one of my stories.

Another thing that helps get me through are the rare personal notes from an encouraging editor. I got one of those today. She was very positive and made it clear that though they really liked my story, it came down to it not fitting the anthology they are putting together.

I’ve gotten a few of those before. It’s always nice to know it’s not my writing that’s putting them off.

This particular rejection was one that didn’t even feel like a rejection, once I got to the end of the email. The editor in question not only assured me they really liked my story and encouraged me to submit further work, she said she’d “love to see more” of my writing.

It’s not as great as an acceptance, but I’ll damn well take it. With thanks.

When an editor takes the time to go that extra mile to express how much they liked something, even if they didn’t accept it, it means a whole hell of a lot. Editors are busy people.

So, I got another rejection. But it feels pretty fucking good.

[image error]Or an email telling them you aren’t going to take their story, but want to read more of their writing. Whatever.