L.A. Fields's Blog, page 3
October 15, 2019
End of an Era
It's finally time to grow up: the fifth and final book in my YA series is out this month, called
Fixation
. Here's the summary:
***
***
In this last installment of The Disorder Series, these friends are finally forced to grow up.
Marley Kurtz is still looking for love when he discovers he’ll also need to look for a new job. Is college still an option? His best friend Missy survives another health scare, and tells her long-suffering boyfriend he needs to move on to be happy. Can she take her own advice? Marley’s ex-boyfriend Jesse bites off more independence than he can chew. When he comes crawling back, will anyone accept him?
No one is left untouched from the realization that they’ll have to change to move forward. Faces emerge from the past, relationships are tested, and the one thing that’s clear across the board is that complacency is not an option. Join these characters one more time as they grieve their mistakes, alter their behavior, and learn to prosper.
August 3, 2019
State of the Writer
Haven't done a public update in a while, so here's what's up:
1. New Job
Old job is out, new job is in: for the past six months I've been working from home (aka The Dream TM), copywriting 15,000 words per week (~8-10 articles), and generally living the way I've always preferred since I was a latch-key kid: very much a night owl, running my own schedule, never leaving the house except to check the mail (fun fact: since visiting my sister in South Korea this past March, I haven't left the building once, and I pretty much like it that way). I make significantly more money and am now comfortably in a career-sphere that makes sense with my skill set and education. It only took about 10 years since getting out of undergrad to finally get in on the ground floor! When does being a Millennial stop? I'm over 30 now and still can't seem to shake it off.
2. BFF In DTX
Here's something that'll get me out of the house though: my college BFF Kate has moved to the DTX area as of this week, and that's a game-changer. We've been visiting each other back and forth since undergrad, we've survived grad schools and multiple moves and international travel, and more. I only ended up in Dallas because she was in Austin for grad school, and now she's happily returned and at long last we've synced up. We're gonna start podcasting again from these outer Dallas 'burbs (we're the Mutual Admiration Society), we're gonna introduce ourselves to many beers and tacos and sushi rolls around town, and probably hanging out with her will revitalize my social life once again—I'm social, but on my own I do all my socializing via the internet. Being buds with Kate brought me into person-to-person friendships once before, and I'd bet good money it'll happen again, just as a matter of course.
3. Fiction Works
When last I left you I was working on an annotation of Joseph and His Friend , now published. Since then I was contacted by Wayne Goodman, who also did a treatment of the book: a retelling called Better Angels that addresses women and race and homosexuality with more freedom than the original had—someday we'll discuss our different treatments in his own podcast!
I was also polishing up Gay A Day with my MFA buddy Tyson Kadwell (which we continuously collect new names for in case it merits a follow-up edition) and venturing into TV scripts (we came up with and wrote two separate shows in matter of weeks, we're very proud). The job upheaval got in the way for a bit, and Tyson has been living in rural places with ghastly-weak internet, and yet still we're hard at work with:
A three-book series: These are about a group of college friends who have to solve personal mysteries over a span of about 20 years. It started as one book, Back to the Morgue (currently under consideration by four different literary agents), and by now we're nearly halfway through the sequel (Home for the Funeral), and have the third book largely sketched out. They take place in Pittsburgh, Maine, and (so far as we know) Los Angeles or California. It's basically America: The Millennial Mystery Series.
Independent projects: I have my gay Sherlock Holmes short story collection on the back burner still, and Tyson has written a fictionalization of a supergroup from the 80s that I got to bring my marketing skills to help with—I wrote that thing a pitch letter, and a summary! It's under consideration by two agents right now. I wrote the pitch letter for the Morgue book too, which has had seven requests from agents so far (though three have turned it down). Maybe I'll go into agenting if I get bored with writing someday, I may have the chops for it.
Future plans: Not only do Tyson and I plan to get back to our personal education of watching a lot of gay and/or clever movies or shows three nights a week (we're hashtag MillennialScienceTheater on Instagram), but we also have a new pilot script idea in the works for a mutual acting friend, and plans to turn our first script into a novelization because we loved it so much.
Up and Coming
I can't seem to stay busy enough, because I look forward to collaborating with Kate on a novel too, and I assume that someday I'll want to go solo again, but not at the moment. I've already written so many dang books after all! For example, that 5th and final book from my YA Disorder Series is scheduled to be out before the end of this year, titled Fixation.
At the moment it's very stimulating to adapt in around another writer's style and structure and ideas. It's granting me new creative skills and knowledge, just as my potboiler copywriting job is keeping me precise regarding word count and staying organized.
So: that's the state of this writer in summer of 2019.
1. New Job
Old job is out, new job is in: for the past six months I've been working from home (aka The Dream TM), copywriting 15,000 words per week (~8-10 articles), and generally living the way I've always preferred since I was a latch-key kid: very much a night owl, running my own schedule, never leaving the house except to check the mail (fun fact: since visiting my sister in South Korea this past March, I haven't left the building once, and I pretty much like it that way). I make significantly more money and am now comfortably in a career-sphere that makes sense with my skill set and education. It only took about 10 years since getting out of undergrad to finally get in on the ground floor! When does being a Millennial stop? I'm over 30 now and still can't seem to shake it off.
2. BFF In DTX
Here's something that'll get me out of the house though: my college BFF Kate has moved to the DTX area as of this week, and that's a game-changer. We've been visiting each other back and forth since undergrad, we've survived grad schools and multiple moves and international travel, and more. I only ended up in Dallas because she was in Austin for grad school, and now she's happily returned and at long last we've synced up. We're gonna start podcasting again from these outer Dallas 'burbs (we're the Mutual Admiration Society), we're gonna introduce ourselves to many beers and tacos and sushi rolls around town, and probably hanging out with her will revitalize my social life once again—I'm social, but on my own I do all my socializing via the internet. Being buds with Kate brought me into person-to-person friendships once before, and I'd bet good money it'll happen again, just as a matter of course.
3. Fiction Works
When last I left you I was working on an annotation of Joseph and His Friend , now published. Since then I was contacted by Wayne Goodman, who also did a treatment of the book: a retelling called Better Angels that addresses women and race and homosexuality with more freedom than the original had—someday we'll discuss our different treatments in his own podcast!
I was also polishing up Gay A Day with my MFA buddy Tyson Kadwell (which we continuously collect new names for in case it merits a follow-up edition) and venturing into TV scripts (we came up with and wrote two separate shows in matter of weeks, we're very proud). The job upheaval got in the way for a bit, and Tyson has been living in rural places with ghastly-weak internet, and yet still we're hard at work with:
A three-book series: These are about a group of college friends who have to solve personal mysteries over a span of about 20 years. It started as one book, Back to the Morgue (currently under consideration by four different literary agents), and by now we're nearly halfway through the sequel (Home for the Funeral), and have the third book largely sketched out. They take place in Pittsburgh, Maine, and (so far as we know) Los Angeles or California. It's basically America: The Millennial Mystery Series.
Independent projects: I have my gay Sherlock Holmes short story collection on the back burner still, and Tyson has written a fictionalization of a supergroup from the 80s that I got to bring my marketing skills to help with—I wrote that thing a pitch letter, and a summary! It's under consideration by two agents right now. I wrote the pitch letter for the Morgue book too, which has had seven requests from agents so far (though three have turned it down). Maybe I'll go into agenting if I get bored with writing someday, I may have the chops for it.
Future plans: Not only do Tyson and I plan to get back to our personal education of watching a lot of gay and/or clever movies or shows three nights a week (we're hashtag MillennialScienceTheater on Instagram), but we also have a new pilot script idea in the works for a mutual acting friend, and plans to turn our first script into a novelization because we loved it so much.
Up and Coming
I can't seem to stay busy enough, because I look forward to collaborating with Kate on a novel too, and I assume that someday I'll want to go solo again, but not at the moment. I've already written so many dang books after all! For example, that 5th and final book from my YA Disorder Series is scheduled to be out before the end of this year, titled Fixation.
At the moment it's very stimulating to adapt in around another writer's style and structure and ideas. It's granting me new creative skills and knowledge, just as my potboiler copywriting job is keeping me precise regarding word count and staying organized.
So: that's the state of this writer in summer of 2019.
February 2, 2019
Three-time Quarterfinalists!
Tyson Kadwell and I have done it again: we're three-time quarterfinalists! If only they added up, we'd be 3/4ths into a win by now. This honor is for a whole new show (our original Specter & Shades) at a whole new contest, the 2018-2019 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition--somebody take us to Hollywood!
January 17, 2019
Double Quarterfinalists!
Along with being Quarterfinalists for the 2018 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Competition, Tyson Kadwell and I are now Quarterfinalists for their Cinematic Book Competition as well! Our entry, Back to the Morgue, is an ensemble-cast commercial thriller (think The Big Chill meets Mysteries of Pittsburgh, with sprinkles of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on top). Currently unpublished, we're actively on the hunt for agent representation.
We're pleased, we're proud, we're cross-platform writers and it feels great!
December 15, 2018
Gay A Day
At long last, this collaboration is complete: Gay A Day is now available for pre-order (and on Amazon can be had for $5 off with promo code GIFTBOOK18)!
From pirates, politicians, and pornographers to starlets, serial killers, and saints, Gay a Day showcases a multicultural mosaic of real-life stories. Each day features the biography of a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or intersex person of note: their accomplishments, their loves, their tragedies, and their times. With every page you turn, you'll find beautiful heroics, chilling horrors, and secret histories that will scandalize you, and by the end of the year you'll be prouder than ever. A great read for people interested in the rich yet often hidden past of queer folk.
Take any year and make it queer, one day at a time!
From pirates, politicians, and pornographers to starlets, serial killers, and saints, Gay a Day showcases a multicultural mosaic of real-life stories. Each day features the biography of a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or intersex person of note: their accomplishments, their loves, their tragedies, and their times. With every page you turn, you'll find beautiful heroics, chilling horrors, and secret histories that will scandalize you, and by the end of the year you'll be prouder than ever. A great read for people interested in the rich yet often hidden past of queer folk.
Take any year and make it queer, one day at a time!
November 10, 2018
Quarterfinalists!
Yesterday my MFA buddy Tyson Kadwell and I got the good news that one of our scripts (Breakneck, about North Carolina cold case detectives) is a quarterfinalist for the 2018 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Competition!
Us and 660-ish others, the funniest part being that we wrote three scripts for another show (half brother paranormal detecting con-men), plus a spec episode for The Blacklist, and took super special care for both of those, then saw a deadline for a shorter show, and churned out Breakneck in a week. We weave chaff and shit gold apparently! Hilarious.
Us and 660-ish others, the funniest part being that we wrote three scripts for another show (half brother paranormal detecting con-men), plus a spec episode for The Blacklist, and took super special care for both of those, then saw a deadline for a shorter show, and churned out Breakneck in a week. We weave chaff and shit gold apparently! Hilarious.
October 8, 2018
A Magisterial Tome
My annotation of Joseph and His Friend got a great review today, calling it a "magisterial tome" that contextualizes a valuable piece of history. Check it out!
Out in Print - The Annotated Joseph and His Friend
Out in Print - The Annotated Joseph and His Friend
September 10, 2018
Hey Joe, whattaya know? My book got read on a podcast show!
The Smartest Man in the World - "Franklins"
Listen at the episode link above (starting at minute 13:50) to find out just how good my gay Sherlock Holmes book sounds when Greg Proops reads from it! Also listen to the rest of it to appreciate the blue wave of interesting news he rode into the red desert of Texas (where I currently reside against my preference and will).
(Pictured: Kittens McTavish with my gift of fluffy orange balls.)
Listen at the episode link above (starting at minute 13:50) to find out just how good my gay Sherlock Holmes book sounds when Greg Proops reads from it! Also listen to the rest of it to appreciate the blue wave of interesting news he rode into the red desert of Texas (where I currently reside against my preference and will).
(Pictured: Kittens McTavish with my gift of fluffy orange balls.)
July 18, 2018
Anthologies Abound
I've gotten my contributor copies of
His Seed: An Arboretum of Erotica
and
THCock: Stoner Boys
. Check them out to find my stories "King of Fruits" and "Lit Up" respectively!
April 19, 2018
The Annotated Joseph and His Friend
Out this month, a research endeavor that took me over a year to complete, and my ticket to being a 'rogue scholar'--find out the stories behind the story that is America's first gay novel,
Joseph and His Friend
!
