Kaje Harper's Blog, page 37

Interview and blog tour prizes

Hi. I wanted to let you all know I have an interview up today on MamaKitty Reviews. This is part of the Storm Moon Press Three Year Anniversary blog tour. The tour has a grand prize of 12 ebooks (one a month for a year) and also three $25 gift certificates to a choice of Amazon or All Romance eBooks. So even if you know more than you ever wanted to about me, you might want to go leave a comment. :)

The story I have for Storm Moon Press is Gift of the Goddess , in the anthology Carved In Flesh. It was fun to write a fantasy for a change, and maybe Garvin & Nyle will appear in another story someday.

Comments left here are appreciated, but they will not be entered in the drawing, so you have to go to MamaKitty's for a chance to win.

Fun! and win Home Work in paperback

This has been just a fun week so far!

First I got to see a rough version of the cover for my upcoming Samhain book, Sole Support . Yes, the book still isn't coming out until June, but Samhain is always waaaay out in front with everything. I like this cover a lot.

Second, I wrote a lot on Life Lessons #4 in the last few days, and I'm 2/3 done with the book. I'm still trying to figure out which loose ends have to be tied up. But it's coming together and now I know who dunnit - always a watershed moment for me when writing (and yes, it took this long for me to know. Plotting? What is this advance plotting of which you speak? Finding out as I go along is part of the fun of writing - like reading, only better.)

I got some nominations on Jessewave's "Favorite M/M Author in 2012", alongside Amy Lane and Harper Fox and Jordan Castillo Price. I doubt I'll make it into the final five, but it is such a thrill to see the nominations. I'm so glad my books are making people happy.

And I just won a free book in a drawing there. :)

And finally, I got the author print copies of Home Work. MLR press was changing their process for print books and mine got lost in there somewhere. There is a special thrill in holding the paper version of one of my books and realizing I wrote that. Very cool!

In celebration, I'm going to do a random drawing for one of those print copies - here and on my Wordpress blog. Leave a comment between now and 10 AM EST on Saturday January 12th, and I will randomly draw one name for a signed copy of Home Work - Life Lessons #3. No restrictions for location. **This is the third book in a series, and should be read in order.** I will contact the winner on the weekend for a mailing address.

And now back to working on Life Lessons #4, which doesn't have a title yet, but now has a complete plot. Sometimes this writing gig is just so much fun!

ETA:The winner of the signed paper copy of Home Work is Icedave (comment #9).

I'll contact the winner by PM. Thanks everyone for commenting and entering the drawing.

Happy 2013

So that was 2012 - wow.

It was a year of ups and downs for me, with lots of pain and anxiety on the personal side. But that was balanced by wonderful support and success on the professional side. The very best part was finding all the friends, readers, reviewers, authors, and other folk whom I met online in the past year. I'm going to start and end by saying:

Thank you all for your enthusiasm and friendship throughout the year. You really made all the good times possible.

I won't discuss the personal stuff other than to say 2012 was a tough year for family and friends, and my seatbelt is buckled for 2013.

On the professional side, I published 4 novels and 10 short stories, including the Kira Harp stories. I received some wonderful reviews that I have tucked away to reread when I start doubting myself again. I had an interview on Reviews by Jessewave, and some touching fan mail that made me believe my writing really had worth. Into Deep Waters in particular seemed to touch people in ways I hadn't expected. Winning a 4th in the Rainbow Awards Best Historical M/M for that book was a bonus.

I've been nominated in a whole bunch of categories for the 2012 M/M Romance Group's Member Choice Awards. We'll see soon how that turns out, since voting ends tonight. But even if I don't win anything - (and seriously there are sooo many good books in the field I don't have expectations) - even so, seeing my name pop up on those lists was such an affirmation. A big congratulations and thanks to Enny Kraft, whose gorgeous (and mostly donated) covers graced many of my free stories, and who was also nominated for the Show Me Yours cover she gave me.

The Young Adult LGBT Books group invited me to be a moderator, and opened up a new place to play, frequented by some of the nicest people around. Working with that group has been a privilege and a pleasure. In the couple of months this fall when I battled with self-doubts as a writer, and I couldn't write anything else, I could still do short stories for that group. And got only support and reassurance back - fellow YA LGBTers, I am so glad to know you - thank you all.

Gay Rom Lit in October was... an amazing experience. I managed to interact with crowds of strangers (Thank you Edmond) and met favorite authors, (Amy Lane hugged me :) ) I met people who loved my books, real people whose days were just a bit brighter because I shared my guys with them, and that made me feel like a real author, coming out into the light. (Thank you Chris, Cris, Amanda, Helen, Jess, Anke, Jenn, Debbie, TJ, CJ, Dianne, Sue, Archie, Karen, Gennie, Lucy, Wave… and a dozen other people; Special thanks to author K-lee Klein for hanging out with me when I really wanted the company.) I won an award for ebook sales. (Thank you Laura and MLR.) I got people to pronounce my name right (like “cage”.) It was supportive and fun and it was family, and it was something I'll definitely try to repeat next year.

So many good things happened in my writing world...

I'm looking ahead with hope to 2013. I'm writing more, after that slump in the fall. Life Lessons 4 is about 1/3 done and my new Samhain book is in edits. I have several sequels and a couple of stand-alones planned. Hidden Wolves 3 has one chapter done, as a promise and a place-holder. And dammit, I'm going to give Jamie and Toller from Full Circle their book. Lots of plans.

So as New Year's Eve approaches in this part of the word, I wish you all a 2013 with days of fun, with joy and growth, with family and friends around you, and good books in hand. And chocolate. May the new year bring you wishes fulfilled and ambitions to pursue. And thank you all, again, for your support and friendship in 2012. It has meant so much to me. See you next year.

-Kaje Harper

Happy Holidays and a chance to win

I want to wish all my friends online the very best for a Happy Holiday Season with friends and family. May you find yourself in a good place this weekend - with people you love, people you are comfortable with, or even just your own good company, a treat or two and some excellent books. I hope you have safe travels, good food, and moments of peace, grace and joy.

I've received so many intangible but invaluable gifts through the year from readers. Your words, comments, enthusiasm and even the criticisms you cared enough to make have been wonderful encouragement. Every time people talk about one of my guys as if they were real, that validates my decision to share them with other people. Every time someone says my books entertained and distracted them, gave them pleasure, or affected them emotionally, that's a reward to me. In a few cases I've been told a book of mine (particularly The Rebuilding Year) introduced a new reader to M/M in a way that has them looking for another book. That makes me happy. So many gifts.

May you all receive words that feed your soul this holiday season.

On the tangible side, I can't repay all of that, but I'm going to offer 5 people chosen randomly any one ebook from my backlist. Did your budget not stretch to Home Work yet? Were you happy enough with a freebie of mine to consider buying something? Just leave a comment on either my Goodreads or my Wordpress blog before 10 AM EST on Dec 26th and I'll do a random drawing for 5 winners on Boxing Day (the 26th.) I will PM (Goodreads) or extract emails (Wordpress.) So you don't have to put your email in the comment openly to win, but you certainly may, especially on Goodreads if you don't access your PM's often. Good luck to all.


Happy Holidays everyone.

Compensations - Life Lessons 3.5 Available

Ok, I think all the bugs are out and it's good to go. This is a short story that takes place after Home Work. There are some major spoilers for Home Work in here, so if you haven't read the third novel you'll want to wait on this one.

You can read the continuing story of Mac and Tony on my website or download it from Goodreads. (PDF, epub and mobi, thanks to Enny :)
It's now also available on Smashwords. (Let me know if you find any problems.)

I hope you enjoy this little taste of what comes next for the guys, along with a partial answer to one question that was left hanging at the end of Home Work. Book 4 is in progress but there's still quite a lot left to go yet in the writing. I do love finding out where my subconscious is taking things and I still don't know the ending myself.

Upcoming, and a cover for Life Lessons 3.5

When Home Work came out, I promised there would eventually be more of Mac and Tony's story. Next Sunday, December 9th, I plan to release Compensations , a free 10K short story about the guys' New Year's weekend. The time frame is just a week after the end of Home Work, and offers a small taste of things to come and maybe the answer to one dangling question.

The amazing Enny Kraft has done another gorgeous cover for me:




I plan to put this story on my website, and make it available for download from Goodreads and Smashwords. (Wish me luck with the formatting - Enny volunteered help there too, so I'm optimistic.) I hope you like the story.

Just FYI, I'm working on the 4th Life Lessons book, but I don't have anything close to a release date, or even a solid title yet.

I also just finished the rough draft of my next stand alone book, tentatively titled Sole Support . Since the draft came out at 112,500 words, I'm thinking there's going to be a little editing to do - make that, a lot of editing. But it's nice to have that draft completed and out of my head, so I can give Mac and Tony more of my attention.

As always, I appreciate everyone's interest in my writing. A special thanks to the judges who gave my self-pub book Into Deep Waters a 4th place honorable mention in the Rainbow Book Awards - Gay Historical category - on Dec. 1st. What a great start to my month.

NaNoWriMo and Works in Progress

As some of you may be aware, NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is an activity some of us undertake in the month of the November. It's open to anyone, published or not, who wants to join in and try to get some words down, helped by the added encouragement you get from doing it as a group. The idea is to start a novel and write 50,000 words in the course of the thirty days. This is a rate of 1,667 words a day, quite doable. Except for the part where you have to hit this average daily for 30 days in a row.

I don't write steadily like that - I never will. Some days I write zero. I had a long stretch of time this fall when I wrote nothing except short stories for the YA LGBT group. (I was in a mire of doubt about my work - confidence having nothing to do with actual hard evidence. I'm mostly over it now.) But although I'm not a steady writer, I can get 5000 words or more written on the good days, so it averages out. Last year I "won" my NaNo certificate, completing 50K words on a sequel to my Kira Harp short story The Benefit of Ductwork. That novel, Life, Some Assembly Required, is still not quite done, but I have sworn to complete it in 2013.

This year I'm working on a stand-alone contemporary M/M tentatively called Sole Support. (As an aside, I always search my proposed titles on GR and Amazon, to be sure I'm not reusing some popular book's title. This one on Amazon gave me only inserts for shoes :) )

I got a slow start at the beginning of the month, due to a few urgent family issues and a short-notice trip. But now I'm on a roll, and I hope to meet the word count, and perhaps even finish the book within the NaNo deadline. Technically this year I'm a "rebel" which means I didn't start a new book but went with one already at 30K words. That means I can't "win" by the classic rules, but I'm using the challenge to put at least 50K more on the existing 30. Which would be almost enough to finish the whole book - I figure that's an even better win.

(For those of you who are also doing NaNo, there is an excerpt of the beginning of the first chapter on my "Kaje Harper" profile. And I wish all of you fast, fun, and creative writing.)

After Sole Support is done with the first draft, I promise that Life Lessons 4 is next. I know I left it a bit up in the air at the end of book 3, and I'm eager to find out how things work out for Tony and Mac. For me, part of the fun of writing is that I don't plan it all out first. So I don't know any more than you do yet just where the guys will end up. But the first chapter of book 4 is done and waiting for me to go on with it soon.

I will have a short free story about Mac and Tony coming out in December. That will be my next actual release. After that, well, I'll let you know. The dry spell I had means I don't have anything in press right now, but I've never been wordless for long. There will be more books. The first chapter of Hidden Wolves 3 has also been bouncing around in my head. It's really good to be writing again.

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches here in the US, I am grateful for many things. Grateful that the recent natural disasters were not worse than they turned out, that so far my family crises have been muted, that my state voted against homophobic language in our constitution, and I'm grateful that the words are flowing again in my writing. I hope everyone has a good holiday week (or just a good week if you live outside the US.) If you are traveling, may it be a safe, pleasant trip. May the delays be short, the roads clear and dry, and your airplane seat-mates free of cold viruses. Take care of each other, and may you find many good books to read.

Please Vote

It's election day here in the US. I wasn't going to post anything political, but I've been overhearing conversations for the last couple of days that bother me. People saying "Well, my state is so Blue/Red that my vote doesn't count anyway."

Please Vote.

There is (thank God) no state in the Union so homogeneous that all public officials are from the same party or elected by acclaim. Those smaller races are important too. The judges, the school superintendents, the State House and Senate - they too have a profound impact on the quality of life at the local level.

This year we seem to have so many candidates who are openly anti-LGBT. In my home state of Minnesota we have a politician who ran for presidential candidacy putting her hand over her heart and pledging to God and Nation never to let those LGBT people have equal rights and status. We have major candidates who are not just opposed to gay marriage, but to civil partnerships, gay adoption, work-place protection from discrimination, gays in the military and any other form of social equality and protection.

There are also a host of ballot initiatives in various states that have significant civil rights implications. Often they are worded in misleading or complicated ways. Figure out your position. Vote. Make your voice heard. Whether your vote is enough to tip a balance or not, it counts. A gay marriage amendment that fails by 2% is far more likely to succeed next time, more likely to even be re-proposed, than one that fails by 15%. And if it passes, every added vote is added legitimacy.

For some of you, this election is no doubt difficult, pitting your social conscience with regard to gay rights against your preferences for the economy, the cost of protecting the environment, and other parts of social and economic policy. I wish you all the best in making your choice.

To me, we are at a tipping point for GLBT rights. Just as, fifty years ago, a candidate's stance on race equality was a measure of their ability to see all Americans as equal, as human and valuable and worthy of fair treatment under the law, so I feel a candidate's stance on LGBT rights is similar today. If someone feels 5% of Americans don't deserve to love, to work, to raise children, as the other 95% do, that is prejudice. To me, it does not speak well for their commitment to the rights and well-being of their constituents. If someone can see other humans as "less than" because of a fundamental part of their nature, then I believe they are someone open to treating people unfairly for superficial reasons. That's not what I want in a leader.

But however you will vote, please, even if it's hard and you are digging out of last week's debris and it seems like you won't make a difference, vote if you can. Our system stands on the idea that it represents the will of the people. Make your will clear.

Thank you.

A tiny Jacob & Daniel freebie

When I went to GayRomLit I wasn't registered as an author. So I didn't bring swag or books to sign.

Some readers actually brought along their own copies of my books. That was such a trip, to think that they bothered to pack those, just so I could write in them. I signed at least a dozen, and I love you all. Thank you!

But I did want to have something on hand to sign, if people asked. What I ended up with was one sheet of paper, a thousand word snippet that comes after Into Deep Waters, my LiAW free book. It's a short, somewhat sentimental look at Jacob and Daniel. I handed out about 20 copies, and a few people picked one up from the stack William Cooper let me put on his signing table (thank you William!)

I promised someone who wasn't going to GRL that I would eventually post the story. It's now up on my website. Deep Waters 1.005. The title is Can't Hurt to Believe and I promise no one dies.

Now I have to dig into my NaNoWriMo story. The concept of National Novel Writing Month is to get together with lots of people and push each other to write at least 50,000 words in November. I can use the push - family stuff has kept me busy not-writing. I hope to use this to finish a stand-alone novel. Wish me luck.

GayRomLit 2012

GayRomLit was an intense experience for me. As an introvert, a relatively new author, and a first time attendee, I had no idea what to expect. I'd only met people as Kaje Harper the writer twice before, and never in a group that size. The four days went by fast, and instead of trying to tell you all about it, I'm going to pull out some highlights and memorable moments (but no pictures -sorry, I didn't bring a camera.)

The most common question people asked me: Not “When is the next book coming out?” although I did get that a lot, but “How do you pronounce your name?” The answer is that "Kaje" is phonetic, like “cage” - you know, the wire thing you can keep plot bunnies in.

Biggest fangirl moment: Meeting Amy Lane.

Biggest OMG moment: When Amy Lane told me she'd brought one of my books for me to sign for her. OMG!!

Toughest introvert moment: MLR Press sponsored the opening reception the first evening. It was a lovely event – an appetizer buffet so large and varied that it made a fine dinner, a couple of short speeches with a tribute to William Neale, who died while the planning for the event was underway. But... the room was set up with round tables with maybe ten seats each. The lighting was atmospheric (read – a little dim.) I knew almost no one by sight yet – we all wore name badges around our necks, (praise be), but when people were seated the badges were below table level. And I arrived late, when only scattered seats were left. So I gathered up my outgoingness (which you can fit in a thimble) and asked someone if this seat was taken. They apologetically told me it was. Repeat that two more times. After the third one I walked back out of the room and found a corner in the hallway. I couldn't make myself ask a fourth time.

I was saved by fellow Minnesota author Edmond Manning, who spotted me, hung with me for a bit and found us both seats. That would turn out to be just the first of several times when he showed up and gave me someone easy to talk to through the course of the event. So Edmond wins the sweetest person there award.

Most emotional speech: MLR sponsored a Day of the Dead themed party at a lovely old house-turned-party-venue in Old Town. At that event Laura and Kris of MLR spoke of William Neale and the fact that the house was his choice – a place Bill spotted while scouting locations and told them MLR had to have. They both choked up in describing his pleasure at finding the perfect venue for the event he didn't live to see. For those who knew Bill, even just online as I did, it was a sad moment.

Author pride moment for me: At the same party, Laura gave me an award as MLR's highest-selling ebook author for the year! (And then asked me to say a few words, which was introvert-panic moment number two.) But I was stunned and delighted, and I'm very grateful to all of you who read my work. Thank you!!

Top get-out-and-party event: You may want to check out other attendees' blogs for that one. For various reasons I only saw the first hour of the Friday Gentlemen's Juke Joint, and missed the others. However watching Damon Suede dance was definitely a highlight. *fans self* - Damon was running around every day non-stop ("like a greased squirrel" someone told him) but there's no doubt he's in great shape.

Most embarrassing moment: Realizing I was so short of small talk that I was telling people more than they ever wanted to know about my kids. If you were one of the folks I did that to, sorry! Part of the problem was that I usually love talking about books, but at this event you never knew whether the author of that book might not be sitting just a few feet away. Which was wonderful, but a little inhibiting.

Best panel or event: I went to several that were fun and interesting, but I think the highlight was a panel on humor – the Romantic Comedy Hour – with Barry Brennessel, Amy Lane, Z.A. Maxfield and Ethan Day. They read from their books and then discussed humor in romance, tossing the topic around with joy and flair and funny stories.

Comedy of errors: We had buses to take us from the hotel to our lunch venue on Friday. The only problem was that the drivers apparently had no idea where they were going. One bus dropped off its riders two miles from the restaurant and drove away. Another circled the venue several times until we began saying, “Didn't we pass that already? Twice?” Finally Damon pointed and said “That red brick building right there,” before we passed it again. The bus was then dispatched to pick up the lost folks, (and found them - thank you cell phones), and eventually we all got to eat.

Unexpected Incentives: I had a lot of luck. Most events had some kind of prizes and I won several books, T-shirts, ebooks, gift cards... hell, I even found a $20 bill in a deserted corridor. A friend, author K-lee Klein, asked me if I was going to take the lucky horseshoe out of my ass and give it to her for a change. (I imagine she rethought that phrase a moment later ;) ) Talk about tangible rewards for being there. There was lots of great swag too, the most memorable probably being the chocolate cocks.

Conclusions?

I had a lot of fun, especially since I could retreat to my room to recharge when it got to be too much. Going with a good friend would be even better (and my best friend is going to try to make it next year.) Going unofficially as just a reader was a lucky choice for me; it was much lower stress even if it did make it harder for people to find me. Next year I'll go as an author and I have a much better idea of how to make that work after watching all the authors who were there.

I want to thank everyone who came up to me and said nice things about my writing, everyone who asked me to sign stuff or seemed pleased to get the little scrap sequel to Into Deep Waters that I brought. I met a lot people I "knew" from online, both readers from Goodreads and so many of my favorite authors. It was great to put faces to names. Everyone was very friendly and shared the same interests so it felt like family - I hugged and received more hugs than I think I have in the previous ten years.

The organizers deserve massive credit for how well it ran, and the staff of the Hard Rock Hotel were wonderful. They did everything from serving food unobtrusively to bringing extra chairs quickly and graciously, and didn't seem to turn a hair, even when some of the author readings veered deep into TMI territory for non-M/M-fans. The repeatedly broken elevator was a pain at times, but at least it was working after the book signing when authors were lined up with arms full of heavy boxes - that was the essential moment, so the rest can be forgiven.

So next year – Atlanta, GA October 17-20 (with an author workshop October 16th) – am I going?

Absolutely YES (barring plagues of locusts, or other disasters.) I'll try to bring books to sell and answer questions and do some of the things I didn't have the nerve for this year. I hope to see you there.