Ryan Field's Blog, page 537

Cities with Highest Number of Same-Sex Couples...New Hope Among Them

This was only supposed to be a one post day. But I saw this and couldn't resist. I didn't know I was living in a city with one of the highest numbers of same-sex couples. I just thought it was a nice little artistic town with a lot of gay people. Now I'm glad all the stress I went through nine years ago to buy this house has paid off.



Cities with highest number of same-sex couples per 1,000 people



1. Provincetown, MA: 163.1

2. Wilton Manors, FL: 139.6

3. Palm Springs, CA: 115.2

4. Rehoboth Beach, DE: 106.9

5. Guerneville, CA: 86.6

6. West Hollywood, CA: 66.7

7. Pleasant Ridge, MI: 59.6

8. New Hope, PA: 58.6

9. Rancho Mirage, CA: 57.4

10. Oakland Park, FL: 56.0



Source: The Williams Institute

There's A Hurricane A'Comin...And Bury It, Officer

Like almost everyone else on the east coast, I'm gearing up for Hurricane Irene. I live between New York and Philadelphia, in New Hope, PA, and I have an interesting property that's surrounded by humongous trees. It's the reason I bought the place nine years ago. The architect who built the house was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and the original owners wanted a post modern house that brought the outside inside. The house and guest house were literally built around the trees. There's nothing cookie cutter about it, and I love each and everyone of my trees. However, when the wind blows, it gets interesting around here.



The one photo above is a winter view of just some of the trees I have and they are all looming over and around the house. The other is a tree that went down last April at six in the morning. So if blogging is scarce next week, it's because I'm outside with my chain saw clearing away another tree or two. I'm not new to this. In the past nine years I've gone through five chain saws, sometimes wondering why I ever sold my nice easy town house.



I also wanted to post about my new release, Bury It Officer, which I'll post more about next week when there's time. It's available here, and at most large retail web sites where e-books are sold.

Who Has the Most Tops...and Bottoms?

I don't know any gay men who aren't at least slightly interested in this topic. You won't hear it on TV discussed much. But I can't be certain because I haven't seen many of the TV shows like Modern Family. Maybe they do discuss it. I remember innuendos from Will & Grace that made me laugh. Maybe it's there and I've missed it.



But it is discussed within the gay community, especially between gay men. And someone's written a book about it for gay men who travel. Here's the link, and the article is below. I know I'm curious to see what it says.



And there are other links on the post, so there's even more detail.



Book Review: The Gay Travel Guide for Tops and Bottoms





The Gay Travel Guide For Tops And Bottoms (ISBN 978-0-9869297-8-6) by Drew Blancs has set the record for new release sales at Icon Empire Press. The tongue in cheek look at gay travel based upon the sexual performance of the locals is a unique approach in travel review books. The research is done by two promiscuous gay male travelers (one exclusively top gay male and one exclusively bottom gay male).



The idea was created by Drew Blancs who became tired of the complaints of his top and bottom friends of their lack of finding compatible sex partners. " I wrote this book so that gay men can set out and find the city the fits them best and yes, that pun was intended" says Drew Blancs, a frequent Los Angeles blogger and now first time author.



The book took over five years to complete due to the travel schedules of the two featured travelers. As the two narrators visit each country, they rated the local top or bottom gay men by sexual performance with up to a 5 point rating system. The book was able to determine which country had the best top and the best bottom gay male locals.

A Typical Monday Morning...

Instead of posting what I had planned to post this morning, I decided to hold off and post about what a typical Monday morning is like in my office.



I get a manuscript back from the copy editor and that's usually no big thing. I hate to change copyedits...ever...and the main reason I go through the manuscript is to make sure I've addressed all comments the copy editor has made...if there are comments. Sometimes there aren't. Again, most of the time we agree on everything and there are rarely ever changes. But you never know. So each line must be read with absolute care so I know everything is just right before the book goes to publication.



But it's not always that simple. This morning the file switched mid-stream. Don't ask me how or why. One minute I was addressing a comment, the next the file switched to something completely different. So I'll have to wait for a reply from the publisher to see what to do about this. It's happened before. And I do not know how or why.



Then two friends call. Good friends, but they don't seem to understand the concept of people working at home.



The next e-mail is from another publisher regarding a story that's coming out at the end of the week. They want me to contact a journalist in Europe so we can set up an interview.



After that, it's on to the next book I'm working on, which is another Virgin Billionaire book. And this means it's time to switch gears and go into writer mode, which thankfully, for me, isn't a problem.



And all those good intentions I had for social networks will have to wait until there's more time. In case you're wondering, it only took ten minutes to write this post.

Bury It Officer and A Fundamental Difference Between Gay Men and Straight Women

I just found out the release date for BURY IT OFFICER is going to be August 26th.



I'll post more when it's released. But this is another short story, with a very happy, unexpected ending. At least it's unexpected from my own personal experience as a gay man. But it's fiction and it's something I would have liked to see happen just once. I would imagine most gay men would find it unusual, too.



This is also one of those stories that reminds me of a few lines I heard last night in the movie, Life As We Know It. A few neighbors were talking about the main character, played by Josh Duhamel, and this is what the dialogue sounded like...not verbatim.



Neighbor One, a gay man, points to Josh Duhamel and whispers something to the effect of, "There he is. He's the one who sweats all the time and smells so great."



Neighbor Two, a straight woman, rolls her eyes and says, "I think he stinks."



And there you have it. A fundatmental difference that someone else wrote this time, not me.

Something I'm Not Fond of...

It's no secret I've worked in publishing for the past twenty years. Up until about five or six years ago, I spent more of my time writing under various pen names and submitting work to editors who were working on LGBT anthologies. My first job out of college was with Conde Nast, with a magazine. I've done everything from freelance to edit a full time editor for a small print publication with a wide circulation about astrology. One of my oldest and dearest friends has been a lit agent for over thirty years. In other words, I didn't just pop up out of the blue, the fiction I write isn't a mid-life career change, and you can bet I'll be around for the next twenty years.



But the one thing I never like to see is when authors go after other authors. I've posted about this before, but not for a while. What sparked this post was a blog post I read on another author blog on Friday. The vicious author in question, a straight woman who seems to have popped up out of nowhere in the last five years, once went after me, in public, on her blog and on other blogs, and I didn't even know who she was. Talk about a WTF moment. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I'm used to the professional, friendly publishing industry, pre-Internet, where people support each other instead of ripping each other apart. In fact, this is one of the things I've always loved about publishing. It's a nice, trusting industry to work in compared to other industries.



But the vicious author I'm talking about wrote a scathing blog post about another author on Friday. And she actually admitted that what she does in her spare time is surf the freaking web looking for vicious reviews on goodreads that rip bestselling authors apart. She actually said this...on her blog. Can you imagine someone doing this in her spare time? What a colossal waste. I read it three times just be be sure I wasn't wrong. And not only did this vicious author give an example of what she thought was the bestselling author's bad writing, she added mean comments and sardonic photos to go along with the example. She even mentioned the bestselling author's name on her blog. And when I see things like this, my Sicilian temper starts to rise.



Although it's killing me, I'm not going to link to the offensive blog post and I'm not going to mention the female author's name who wrote the mean, uncalled for post. It's not because I'm afraid of confrontation. I actually look forward to confrontation in some cases. If I did link to the author, I'd only be giving her free publicity and I often think authors like her do things like this just to get free publicity. Besides, it's not really worth the time or the energy. It's actually a little funny. The vicious author I'm talking about went after a bestselling author who has an established fan base. I doubt the bestselling author is worried about it. I didn't bother to approach this vicious author when she made snide comments about me in public. Again, I figured it wasn't worth the time. And why give the idiot free publicity?



But I did do this. I bought a few of the vicious author's books. Like I said, she writes m/m fiction, and from the way she tells it on her blog, she's the only one who's ever written good m/m fiction and the only one who ever will write good m/m fiction. I've seen her say this in public, too. Well, I read the books and they sucked. She's an absolute amateur and it only took the first five pages for me to see it. If I'd seen her work when I was editing, automatic slush pile. She plays upon overly sensitive subjects within the gay community to work on readers emotions, and clearly knows nothing about them from a first hand point of view. On top of that, she's not one of those straight women writing m/m fiction that actually get it right with regard to any of her content. Most straight women writing m/m fiction do get it right, and I've read them and praised them here on this blog. But when they don't get it right, it's downright pitiful.



So for now I'm just going to rant a little here on the blog. Blogging is, indeed, a cathartic process, and I feel so much better now. But this bitch better hope she never runs into me in person (smile).

MM Good Book Reviews...

I have to admit that I honestly just did stumble across this new MM book review site. But I'm glad I did. I love the way it's set up and I the love the content even more.



The site is called, "MM Good Book Reviews." And it states, "Honest reviews for readers and writers."



It's simple to navigagte, which is always a plus. And I use aol, so I don't have to wait forever for it to come up like other book review web sites. This one fact is a huge plus.



So check it out here. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

Facebook Status Updates...

This is a short post about facebook status updates...in a general sense. I could be wrong, too. So if you don't agree with me, please feel free not to pay attention to me. We all look at social media a little differently, and everyone has a right to an opinion.



Like most people, I don't have much time to do facebook. I wish I did, but I'm usually there checking out my friends status updates about twice a day, usually five minutes at time. I was one of the first people on facebook when it started. I've always enjoyed it and I've even made a few nice friends there that I consider very close. So I take it seriously when I'm on facebook looking for individual status updates my friends have left. It keeps me connected to them in a very busy world. And I would imagine they feel the same way about my status updates.



But I will say that one thing that really irritates me is when I click over to facebook and my news feed is filled with status updates, one after the other, from someone I don't know, and someone who has probably just started facebook and they don't know what they are doing. It's like I've never seen them before, and now, all of a sudden, they're posting status updates a page long, about nothing of any interest at all.



There's nothing wrong with posting one or two, maybe even three, updates in a row. I love to read new status updates from new friends. I don't want to sound like the facebook police here. I would also imagine most people feel this way. But when people check out their news feed and they see that Betty Jane Bumpkin has left a slew of status updates about everything from her last trip to the WalMart to the plantar's wart on the bottom of her right foot, it's an automatic "Hide All By Betty Jane." Maybe her good friends care. But most people don't.



Unfortunately, Betty Jane might be a really cool lady. She might be promoting books I'd love to read, too. But because she slammed me with too much information about nothing of importance, I make a conscious decision that I don't want to read any of her status updates.



People are far too busy nowadays to go through every single status update on facebook. And if they have over 2,000 friends, it makes it even more difficult. This bad habit of hyjacking facebook with too many updates has gotten so out of hand that I find myself doing searches for good facebook friends just to see what they are doing and ignoring all other status updates. And that's a shame. Who knows what I might be missing?



And, like most people, I hate to unfriend anyone. But facebook has put that "hide" feature on there for a reason, and everyone uses it. They'll never tell you. But they do use it all the time. And everyone uses it for a reason, too. So I'd be careful about going overboard on facebook, especially with long streams of status updates one after the other. What you think is going to help you get attention, might just backfire and make you invisible.

Intercourse...

I hope no one shudders and crosses her legs when they read the title of this post.



It's probably the most G-rated blog post I've ever written. But I can understand how anyone might misinterpret a title like this on a m/m romance blog. So I hope you do take the time to check out the wiki links I've provided. I often say that I think linking too much in blog posts is a lazy way of blogging. It's nothing more than repeating what someone else said and has nothing to do with journalism. But in this case, you need to click the links.



First, I'm not talking about this kind of intercourse. I'm not even talking about this kind of intercourse. I may or may not post about both of these variations of intercourse in the future. But today I'm talking about this kind of Intercourse.



And the main reason I'm posting about Intercourse is because I just started a new book in The Virgin Billionaire series that has a lot to do with Intercourse and everything that surrounds it.



Living in New Hope, Bucks County, PA, I've experienced the wonders of Intercourse many times. I've done Intercourse for lunch, for dinner, and sometimes I've spent the entire day there just lingering. I'd definitely recommend Intercourse to anyone who is interested in doing something different. And I thought it would be fun for Jase and Luis to experience Intercourse for the first time in THE VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE: AMNESIA.

The Virgin Billionaire Series

I was recently asked to write a guest post for a blog that's focused on m/m romance, so I decided to write it and post it here first. The administrator asked me to write about plotting a series. In this case, The Virgin Billionaire.



I guess I should start this post with the fact that I never intended to write a series in my life...about anything. When I end a book, I like knowing that I'm not going back to it...ever. I almost feel as though I'm putting it to sleep and locking it up. It never even occurred to me to write a series. I'm like this with everything in my life. I've never returned to a place where I once lived; I've never gone back to a friendship or relationship that has gone sour. I like to move forward all the time.



When I was contracted to write The Virgin Billionaire for Ravenous Romance, I'd been contracted to write ten other books along with it. The editors at Ravenous are extremely flexible and they allowed me the freedom to choose which books I'd write first. And I was so intimidated about writing The Virgin Billionaire, I put it off until it was the very last book in that particular contract that had to be submitted. I actually had sleepless nights thinking about it...I really didn't want to do it at all and kept thinking of ways I could talk the publisher into letting me out of it.



But I eventually decided to do something I'd always wanted to do and have a little fun with it. It's no secret the first book in the series was loosely based on the old movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. It wasn't supposed to be fan fiction; I had a reason for doing this. As a gay man, I'd always wanted to see a film or read a book like this that revolved around two gay male characters instead of a straight couple. Growing up, the only gay romances I ever saw or read were dark, depressing stories filled with angst and self-loathing. In fact, they weren't even romances; just sad stories about gay men living in a world that would not tolerate them. I still see a lot of that around. So I figured the publisher was giving me a chance to do something I'd always wanted to do and I took advantage of it. I still can't thank them enough for allowing me the chance.



I've also taken a lot of flack for doing this, too. But I had another reason. Truman Capote was gay and he didn't have the chance to write about gay characters in his time. He would have been shunned from publishing and from the mainstream and he never would have been able to survive if he had written about gay characters in his day. So he did what he had to do in order to survive back then. He played their game and he played it well, too.



As I stated, I didn't look forward to writing this book and I put it off for a long time. But when I did start to write it, I found myself absolutely engrossed in the characters of Luis and Jase. There were days when I wrote three chapters in a row. And I ultimately finished the entire book in less than two weeks. I was so worried because I'd finished the book that fast I took another three weeks to go back and edit it to be sure I hadn't done anything wrong. It took another three weeks after that to go through the line edits.



But The Virgin Billionaire was never supposed to be a series. It wasn't plotted and it wasn't planned. And when the publishers, Lori Perkins and Holly Schmidt, at Ravenous Romance approached me about doing a sequel I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. First, because the characters of Luis and Jase consumed me so much I wasn't sure I wanted to go back there. Second, because I wasn't sure I could do them justice in another book. I eventually agreed to write the next book in the series, and at the time I thought that would be the last one.



Then I was approached a third time, only this time the publishers had a list of Virgin Billionaire books they wanted me to write now. And once again, I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. I'm not one of those authors who sits and plots everything, especially not with my characters. I like to know the basics, like are they moving forward, are they constantly changing. And I always know my storyline. But I also like my characters to let me know what they are going to do rather than me forcing them to do what I want them to do. It's a difficult process to explain sometimes. But the easiest way to put it is that I give the characters the freedom they need in order to move forward. I also draw a lot from my own personal experiences as an openly gay man to make things a little more realistic. For example, I have a gay brother just like Luis does, and I put in a lot of examples about the dynamics between gay brothers who are close in age and slightly competitive. I didn't even know my brother was gay until I ran into him at a club in New York on a Saturday night.



Right now I'm working on the next to the last book in The Virgin Billionaire series. It's tentatively titled, The Virgin Billionaire: Amnesia. But that is subject to change. In this book, Luis and Jase, and Jase's family, are recovering from the death of Jase's father, Barry. And they all gather together at Cider Mill Farm to celebrate a huge Thanksgiving. But there's a twist. Jase and Luis wind up going away for a few days and their little trip to Pennsylvania Dutch Country becomes more intense than they'd expected.



After that, I'm contracted to do one more book in The Virgin Billionaire Series, and I think that will be it. One important thing about all the books in the series is that I wanted each one to stand alone. In other words, if someone picked up the fourth book, they didn't have to read the three books before it to get the book. And I already know the basic plot of the last and final book, and I know what's going to happen to the characters. It's all in my head, not on paper or e-ink. I try to be at least three books ahead while I'm writing the current book. But it's never set in stone. And any plotting ahead I do is usually subject to many changes that usually come from my characters, not me.