H.B. Pattskyn's Blog, page 11

Welcome Tinnean

First, let me take a moment to say welcome and thank you for being here today! It’s always a pleasure to have guests in the hot seat…erm, I mean interview chair. LOL! Thanks so much for having me, Helen! It’s always a pleasure to take whatever seat you want to give me. ;-)Why don’t you start out by introducing yourself (where you call home, how long you’ve been writing, etc.)? I first took pencil to paper when I was in the third grade, but I’ve been putting fingers to keyboard writing m/m under the pseudonym of Tinnean since 1999, when a friend brought to my attention the fact that there were stories out there on the Net about hot guys doing delicious things to each other. Having the computer helped, since copying and pasting made it so much easier to transfer whole chunks of wordage from one part of the document to another, or even to remove them to save in a separate file for future use. At that time we lived up in NY, but we’ve been down here in Southwest Florida for the past thirteen years, and I’ve reached a point where I can devote myself completely to writing.Please tell us a little bit about your current release. What inspired you to write this story? How did it come about? My husband wanted to know why I didn’t write a “straight” novel. (I’m sure we’ve all been there.) Back in the day I had written m/f, so I thought why not? I dusted off a 25k story I’d written in 2004, called Blue Velvet. By the time I finished reworking it, it had become Where the Heart Chooses and had grown to 104k. Heart is an offshoot of my Spy vs. Spook series, (as Blue Velvet had been of the Mann of My Dreams series) and tells the story of Quinton Mann’s mother, Portia Sebring Mann. Portia first made an appearance in Houseboat on the Nile, when Mark Vincent interviewed her for the sole purpose of learning more about her son. As he learned more about her, as she revealed more about herself, we both became fascinated with this woman regarded by many as “the ice queen.” One of the things I enjoyed most about writing this novel was discovering the passion she shared with her beloved Nigel. We also see a good many of the incidents in Spy vs. Spook from her POV.I incorporated events of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, from the building of the Berlin Wall, to the assassinations of John, Martin, and Bobby, to Watergate, and finally the boycott of the Summer Olympics in 1980. I have to confess I had a marvelous time doing that, and I hope my readers enjoy it as well. Is there an underlying theme in your stories? Actually, there is: people are people, whether they’re men or women, no matter what their age or what they do for a living, and most importantly, no matter who they love. Your new book is F/M but it’s set in an already established M/M story world. How have readers responded so far? What inspired you to write Portia’s story? Where does she fit into the Spy vs. Spook universe?
At this point, all the readers I’ve heard from are familiar with the series and know Portia from there, so they’re willing to read her story, even though it’s f/m for the most part. She’s the mother of the “spook” in Spy vs. Spook, and we see how through her training and encouragement, Quinton Mann became the man he is. However, although she’s appeared in every book, we never knew more about her than she was willing to reveal. When it became obvious she would talk to me, I jumped at the chance to tell her story.
  In a recent blog post of my own, I talked about the perceived ideal length for a novel and so I couldn’t help noticing that Where the Heart Chooses is 104,000 words long. Is that typical of your writing?  Do you have any thoughts about “too long” or “too short”? (There are a fair number of publishers who didn’t want anything over 80K or 90K.) I’ve always believed a story is as long as it’s going to be. As you mentioned, Heart is 104k (and I had to take out a couple of sequences which weren’t absolutely necessary). On the other hand, my next release, a novella, runs a little over 15k. When I start a new novel, I aim for 60k, which will get it in print. Once I’ve hit that point, I relax and let the story take me where it will. I do get nervous when it starts climbing close to 100k, but I’ve been lucky in that both Dreamspinner and JMS were kind enough to let me run with the length. There’s some controversy about women who write M/M? Do you have any thoughts on the subject you want to share? I’ve heard of this, and frankly, I don’t understand the controversy. Weren’t some of the authors of Nancy Drew men? Didn’t Robert Heinlein write numerous stories from the female POV? (Podkayne of Mars, The Menace from Earth, Friday) I will say that when I first chose Tinnean as my pseudonym, one of the reasons was because I felt it was gender neutral.  And tying this in with the next question:“They” tell us that writers should write what they know—do you think that’s true? Why/why not? I don’t think the men who ghostwrote Nancy Drew “knew” what it was like to be a sixteen-year-old girl. Having said that, I write about spies and spooks who have no trouble canceling someone, and surprise! I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve written about women (and men) who travel through space, and I’ve written about a baronet who lived in 1836 England. I’m a twentieth/twenty-first century woman who hasn’t done either. But I do a lot of research, as do all the authors I know, and I think that’s the key.   Pantster or plotter? Why? Oh, definitely a pantster, although I usually know how I want it to start and where I want it to go. If I plot, I’ll plot it to within an inch of its life, and then I lose interest. In the case of something like Where the Heart Chooses, I brought in aspects from Sidebars, which were also part of the Mann of My Dreams universe (which became Spy vs. Spook), I did have to make a list of what incidents I needed to include. One thing though: I have to have a title. Heart began years ago as Blue Velvet. (originally, when Portia and Folana met, Folana had worn a blue velvet gown) When I rewrote it to be published, I changed the title to Violets for My Furs, (on their last day together, Portia gave Folana a broach of amethyst violets, and afterward, Folana always sent Portia violets) and then The Nightingale, Not the Lark. (this title tied in to something that happened before Portia and Nigel married. She wanted him to stay, and he quoted the line from Romeo and Juliet.) At the very last minute, the title changed again, to Where the Heart Chooses, and this was the book making that decision.What’s your favorite part of the publishing process? (writing the story, working with an editor, working with the art department, marketing, etc?) I love writing the story, but I have to say I had the best experience with Heart: I was told since it was such a clean copy it hardly needed any editing! What’s your least favorite part of the publishing process? Writing the synopsis. Condensing a novel that runs over 100k to a couple of hundred words is hard, and many bitter tears have been shed over that. How much of your real life experiences go into your writing? Where does your inspiration usually come from? Ever based a character on a real person (friend or enemy?) The experiences are in there, although thinking about it, not as many as I’d originally thought. In Forever, when Mark told Quinn about the fish he found washed up on the beach and brought home, and which drowned when the basement flooded-- this was a story my father used to tell.  When I was in the 5th grade, we went to the Central Park Zoo, where an elephant snatched a classmate’s thermos, and that’s appeared in one of my stories. I wrote Greeting Cards after we received a Christmas card and couldn’t figure out who had sent it to us. Dr. Morse, the vet in The Light in Your Eyes (Pick Up the Pieces), was named after my good friend and beta, Gail Morse. And of course Tom Hansom and his partner Jack Sweet in my first novel, Friends and Lovers, were based on my friend Tony and his partner. I did include someone I was ticked at in a snippet, but I wound up feeling bad about it and deleted all mention of him.  Do you listen to music while you write, prefer absolute silence, run off to the coffee shop…? If you do listen to music, can you name a few songs off your playlist?   Oh, I definitely listen to music. Usually I have my television set to the Sonic channel that plays oldies. This is how I found what was originally supposed to be the title for Two Lips, Indifferent Red—Brown-Eyed Handsome Man. Some of the songs I listed to for Heart were http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teshue2qTVk Violets For Your Furs , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icfq_foa5Mo Blue Velvet , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYfaJYn5fU It Had to Be You ,  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kgm-vppxOY Such a Night , which is Quinn’s ringtone for Mark. What advice would you give to a writer who’s just starting out but who hasn’t been published yet? Everyone will probably give the same advice: Write, and don’t let anyone or anything stop you. But I’ll add this: Keep a notepad with you at all times, because you never know when inspiration will strike. And most importantly! If you’re in bed and about to drift off to sleep and you get an amazing idea—write it down! Otherwise, you will not remember it the next morning. Trust me, I speak from experience. No matter how great the idea is, no matter how sure you are there’s no way you could forget such brilliance... you will.  Do you have a favorite character (of your own creation)? What makes that character special to you?  My favorite character is Mark Vincent, the “spy” in Spy vs. Spook, who started as senior special agent of the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security (the WBIS) and became Director of Interior Affairs. He’s snarky, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and has no problem shooting down (sometimes literally) anyone who gets in his way. He’s someone it isn’t wise to cross. And I’d love to be like him. (except for the shooting people aspect. *cough*) What about your current book, who’s your favorite character in that one? Why? Actually, that would be a couple: Portia and Nigel Mann. They were known in the intelligence community as Mr. Freeze and his ice queen; however they not only had a very passionate sex life, but they were devoted to each other. Many times we’ll read of a couple that’s been married for many years, and when one partner passes away, the other doesn’t survive for much longer. If Portia hadn’t had their thirteen-year-old son to care for, I always thought she would have followed Nigel. And frankly, if the circumstances were reversed, I’m not sure Nigel would have let anything prevent him from joining her. Do you miss your characters when you finish a story? Do you try to come up with ideas for sequels, or are you too excited by the prospect of a new project to feel sad that the previous story is over?  I do, to the point where I start planning sequels, even if I’m not sure I’ll ever write them. When I finished Forever, I was certain that was the last of the Spy vs. Spook series. Then I decided to tell Portia’s story, and once that was done, I thought it would be nifty to see how Mark met his friend Pierre. And yeah, there are at least three more novels/novellas waiting to be finished. But let me say that there is one story not tied in with anything else; at this point I’m calling it my Civil War story.If you could have a lunch date with anyone in the world, living, dead, or fictional, who would it be and why? Okay, this is really going off on a tangent, but it would be Kyle Reese, from The Terminator. He was so in love with Sarah Connor. I’d love to know what he thought when he first met her. Did he know his mission to keep her alive would end with his death? How old was he when he first met John Connor, and were there no women from his time who tempted him at all? And then I’d try to write a story where he got a happily ever after.  What book are you reading right now? What do you like best about it? Actually, I’m reading two by Kim Fielding: Brute and Buried Bones. I love stories about opposites, whether that’s in looks or abilities, and both of Kim’s books have that.  [I read Brute last year and loved it, too and I'm totally with you on stories about opposites  :) ]  What are your favorite movies of all time? Casablanca, Jaws, Aliens, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love, Actually , and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. As I get older, my taste in movies has become more morbid. Being a child of the Cold War, I used to be terrified of the end of the world/destruction of mankind scenarios, but now…not so much. What kind of music do you listen to? Do you have a favorite musical artist? I prefer easy listening and oldies, and by oldies, I’m going all the way back to the ’20s. I like Michael Bublé, Billy Joel, and Johnny Mathis, and I’m absolutely blown away by Ramin Karimloo, who’s actually the “high baritone” Portia spoke of having seen in Les Mis.  What television shows are you currently watching? Castle is the only show I watch on Network TV. (The ones I’ve stopped watching are much more numerous.) The rest are on satellite: The Long Island Medium, House Hunters, Rehab Addict, and The Incredible Dr. Pol. Oh, and The Walking Dead, although I have to DVR that and watch the next day with the remote clutched in my hand. What’s in your CD / MP3 player? I’ve got a Zune, just like Kipp does in Two Lips, and I listen to it when I go walking. On it I have two podcasts my good friend Tony made for me, and when they come on, I walk through the complex with the silliest grin on my face. As for the music, there’s everything from Fred Astaire singing Puttin’ on the Ritz to Savage Garden doing I Knew I Loved You to highlights of Phantom of the Operaand Les Misérables. If I use a song for a story, it will wind up on my Zune.   What’s next on the horizon for you? WIPs, writing goals, personal goals…?  I need to finish Book 4 in the Spy vs. Spook series, If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going. Then there’s Quinn’s novella, Such a Night, (unless I come up with 40k more, in which case that will be Book 5) and finally the Complications stories, which should be Book 5, but may wind up Book 6. I’ve been working on what I call my gay vampire story (remember what I said about titles? *g*) for the past five years, and I’d like to finish that soon and sub it to Dreamspinner. And then there are the sequels to Greeting Cards and Two Lips, and of course the Civil War story. As for personal goals... I’ll settle for getting a pair of glasses that finally work.  Blurb: Portia Sebring was born into a family that’s considered royalty in the intelligence community, and the fact that she’s a woman doesn’t preclude her from joining the “family business”. A linguistic genius, she’s recruited by her older brother for the Venona Project. While at Arlington Hall, she meets Nigel Mann, a CIA officer known as Mr. Freeze, who’s been vetted to the NSA. Unbeknownst to Portia, her father is behind the meeting.  Rumor has it that Portia, called the ice princess, is also a lesbian, and at this time in America—the late ’50s—it could negate any veracity to the codes she deciphers. A match with an equally cold man who won’t distract her from her work seems the ideal solution in her father’s eyes. Things don’t go quite according to plan, as both Portia and Nigel develop strong feelings for each other. They marry and eventually start a family.  However, the lifetime together they anticipate is cut short when Nigel’s jet crashes. Devastated, but with a thirteen-year-old son depending on her, Portia has no choice but to go on after Nigel’s death.When Quinton, her son, is approached to join the US Equestrian Team for the 1980 Summer Olympics, she’s pleased and proud. However, those plans are dashed due to the government’s boycott of the Games. To distract him, Portia takes him to France on a wine-buying trip, and it’s there that Quinton first feels an attraction for someone of his own sex. Since Portia herself had a same-sex affair in her early twenties, she’s very accepting of this.Along with Gregor, her trusted bodyguard and devoted family friend, she watches as Quinton follows in his father's and her footsteps in the "family business," and finally finds a partner worthy of him, WBIS agent Mark Vincent. She’s happy for them, but sure that she won’t love again, since Sebrings have their “one” and she's lost hers, but is she right? Excerpt: I was working a code that I’d been given earlier when the in-house phone buzzed. “Yes, Tony?” “How do you do that?” “Do what?” I laughed to myself, knowing full well what he meant. I could tell unerringly when my oldest brother was on the line. “Never mind. Listen, I need you in here right now. Jefferson’s forwarded a new code to us, and there’s something about it that’s driving me out of my mind.” “I’m on my way.” I pushed my chair away from my desk and stood, digging my fists into the small of my back and arching to work out the kinks. Then I made sure my blouse was tucked neatly into my skirt. Just because it was nine at night, and everyone else had gone home, there was no reason for me to appear looking sloppy. His door was closed. I tapped briskly and walked in. “What have you got, Tony? Oh!” I halted abruptly. He wasn’t alone. The other man had one hand braced on Tony’s desk, his attractive face tight with impatience.  I had seen him occasionally in Arlington Hall, in the corridors, on the stairs. We’d passed each other with nothing more than cool glances. Occasionally I’d wonder if his glance concealed as much fascination as I knew mine did. He was about average height and appeared to be a number of years younger than my brother, which would make him about twenty-nine. A lock of sable brown hair spilled onto his forehead, and eyes a changeable hazel regarded me with interest. His vest was unbuttoned over a flat stomach, his shirtsleeves had been rolled up revealing muscular arms dusted with dark hair, and his tie loosened.  Abruptly, I was reminded of the seascape that I’d purchased in that little London bookshop. I couldn’t decide to whom I should give it, and I’d wound up hanging it on my bedroom wall, where it was the last thing I saw every night.  There was something about this man that spoke to me of that expanse of sea, aloof, alone, contained, stretching to meet turbulent clouds… I shook that fanciful notion out of my head.  He gave me a slow, deliberate smile and straightened, and my knees went weak with desire. “I’m sorry.” I reached up to make sure my hair was tidily confined in its French twist, something I never did, and I felt my cheeks heat. I touched my tongue to my lips.  His eyes seemed to catalogue each of my movements.  “Portia, this is Nigel Mann. He’s been vetted to us from Bryan’s department. Nigel, my sister.” He became aware that Mr. Mann was staring at me. “Yes, we’re aware there’s a resemblance, so—” “Actually, she’s much prettier than you or either of your brothers, Sebring. Miss Sebring, it’s a pleasure.” He crossed the geometrically-patterned area rug that took up most of the floor in Tony’s office, his hand held out. “Please, call me Portia.” I’d overheard the secretaries in Arlington Hall discussing him in the ladies room, calling him Mr. Freeze because apparently he’d turned down a play made by one of their number who was decidedly pulchritudinous. “Portia. And I’m Nigel.” The skin of his palm was smooth and warm, free of calluses, and I fought back a shiver as I wondered what it would feel like stroking over my skin. His eyes, suddenly green, remained fixed on mine, and I was lost in their depths. Tony cleared his throat. “People?” How long had I stood there, staring into those mesmerizing eyes?  Nigel turned to my brother with an absent smile. “Sorry, Sebring. You were saying?” “I was saying that if you’d let go of my sister’s hand, maybe she could take a look at this code and make some sense of it.” But he looked taken aback rather than irritated. He’d never seen me react that way to anyone. Ever.  Nigel slowly… reluctantly?... released my hand, and a line from Romeo and Juliet crossed my mind… and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss… I shivered and stared down at my palm, certain I would see my heart line glowing. “Mann,” my brother growled, “would you stop distracting my sister so she can see if she can make heads or tails of this code?” I shook myself out of my daze and approached his desk. “What is it, Tony?” “There’s something about this line….” He handed me the paper, and I studied it. After a moment, I spoke the Russian words aloud. A soft sound came from Nigel Mann, and when I looked at him, there was an expression on his face that took me by surprise. “Do you find my pronunciation amusing?” “Not at all. I haven’t heard anything that flawless outside of Mother Russia.”  “Mother Russia?” I read it over again, and it hit me all at once. “That’s it! The key to this code is in Tolstoy’s War and Peace!” I went to the bookshelf and pulled down the huge tome. “Portia, are you sure?” “Tony, I’m more than sure—I’m positive!” I was almost vibrating with excitement as I thumbed through the book and found the passage I wanted. “There! See, there! Oh, that sneaky so-and-so! This is Sidorov’s work, isn’t it? He did something very similar with Anna Karenina. The man has a weakness for Tolstoy.” “Nicely done. Nothing like a fresh pair of eyes!” My brother had a satisfied grin on his face. “I’ll give this to the team to finish deciphering.” He cleared his throat and looked at his watch. “Mann, why don’t you and my sister go out and grab a bite to eat?” I frowned at him. Was he trying to set us up on a date? “That’s quite all right—I still have a few hours of work left to do.” I could hardly offer the excuse of having a sandwich at my desk, since I didn’t, and the cafeteria was long closed. However, I was reluctant for my brother to see how eager I was to spend time with this man. Was this what Barnabas Sebring had felt when he’d first seen his Rachel? “Besides, I’m sure Mr. Mann… Nigel… has plans of his own.” “Portia.” Tony growled at me this time. “It’s been a long day, and I think you could do with a break. Consider it a reward for a job well done.” “I never say ‘no’ to the man in charge.” Nigel rolled down his sleeves and fastened the cuffs, took his suit jacket from the back of a chair, and slid his arms into it. Nigel couldn’t see, but I crossed my eyes at my older brother. He ignored that and reached for the telephone, pausing to say, “Just remember, you both need to be back here bright and early in the morning.”  “Miss… Portia?” “Just let me freshen up.” I needed a moment to get myself back under control. Where had the ice princess gone? “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”  I went back to my office for my purse, locked my desk, and hurried to the ladies’ room. I patted some cold water onto my wrists. My nipples were tight, and I felt as if I were burning up from the inside out. However, my reflection in the mirror showed just a hint of color high on my cheekbones. I took the compact from my purse and smoothed the powder over my cheeks. My hands were shaking slightly as I applied a fresh coat of lipstick and blotted my lips. I made sure I didn’t have any lipstick on my teeth, drew in a steadying breath, and blew it out. I stared coolly into the mirror and tucked a stray strand of hair into place. “You are a Sebring. You will behave as such.”  Giving a decisive nod, I returned to my office to collect my coat. Once I had the door locked behind me, I went to meet Nigel Mann.  Buy Link: JMS Books: http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=931&zenid=refonpqatg0ukq5mbo27iepac3 Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Where-the-Heart-Chooses-ebook/dp/B00FLKZB9E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1380911970&sr=1-1&keywords=where+the+heart+choose Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/where-the-heart-chooses?store=book&keyword=where+the+heart+chooses All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-wheretheheartchooses-1310541-341.html 
    Thanks again, Tinnean, for being here today!
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Welcome Michael J Bowler

First, let me take a moment to say hello and welcome to my guest, Harmony Ink author Michael J. Bowler. It’s always a pleasure to have guests in the hot seat…erm, I mean interview chair.
Why don’t you start out by introducing yourself (where you call home, how long you’ve been writing, etc.)?
I’m Michael Bowler, but all the kids at the gym and juvenile hall call me Mike, so that’s fine. I grew up in Northern California, but went down to Los Angeles for grad school and stayed there. I’ve been telling stories and writing stories my whole life, even in elementary school and it was always a dream/aspiration of mine to be a writer. Life, of course, often gets in the way, but the beauty of dreams is it’s almost never too late to make them come true.
Please tell us a little bit about your current release. What inspired you to write this story? How did it come about?
It’s called Children of the Knight and it’s a contemporary, gritty urban fantasy. Why the fantasy angle? Here’s the genesis and my reasons for writing the book and its two sequels. I’ve been a volunteer within the juvenile justice system of Los Angeles for almost thirty years and a high school teacher for twenty-five. The idea for this book goes back fifteen or twenty years when I got to know and understand gang members better, as well as other disenfranchised youth I met within the system or at my high school. I saw the success of Homeboy Industries here in L.A. and the effect its founder, the always inspiring and charismatic Father Greg Boyle, had over gang members, even to the point of having enemies work side by side and ultimately become friends. I talked with lots of gang members, homeless kids, gay kids, drug addicts, high school drops outs, and many who combined more than one of these “offenses against society.” I got to know these kids – they were the ones I gravitated to, and they to me. They seemed to know instinctively that I was open to them and would not shove them away or reject them like most grownups had already done and continued to do. Over time, I began to wonder what might happen if an adult, a strong leader, came along and united these marginalized kids and turned all their collected might toward positive endeavors. As young people who'd been rejected and unloved, these kids had engaged in nothing but antisocial, destructive, and criminal behaviors. That’s where all of their negative energy and feelings were being directed. After all, since society had rejected them and who they were as human beings, they rejected society and all its conventions and phony platitudes about doing what’s right. Society had wronged them so they felt they had the right to wrong society. But if that negative energy and “might” could be collected, harvested almost, by someone who made these kids feel loved and important and who convinced them that working together made them much more formidable than working alone, they could effect real change in society for the good, not the bad, and the adult world would have to pay attention.It seemed to me that the time of King Arthur with all the warring, feuding groups and clans of ancient Britain seemed very much like the gangs, tagging crews, and other possess of rejected kids we have roaming our streets today, especially here in LA. It wasn’t a big leap from that thinking to the idea of King Arthur, himself, with his philosophy of “might for right,” bringing together these lost kids and sparking a revolution.Another reason I wrote this book was so these disenfranchised kids could have some heroes of their own to root for. Gay boys (more than girls) are mocked and bullied and made fun of to the point that a huge number, relative to the overall teen population, commit suicide or attempt it. There are also an inordinate number of gay kids in detention, roughly fifteen percent, and I’ve personally known a large number whose rejection by society and their own families led them to drugs or other negative choices. As a consequence of those choices, they ended up in juvenile hall. Teen gang members are vilified and excoriated in the media or made into mere thugs by Hollywood. Abused kids often suffer in silence because they are too afraid or embarrassed to tell anyone what happened to them. These kids need more stories about them, with characters like them, in settings they know – like the inner city, lousy public schools, run-down housing projects, or even street corners that become home when they’ve been kicked out of the house by cruel, unfeeling parents.

The teen characters in my book have all been screwed over by their parents and/or society for most of their lives, even rich girl Reyna, and yet they rise to the level of heroic when given the opportunity. They overcome their past abuse, neglect, and rejection to become young people of great significance, achieving results adults could only dream of. Lance, the main character, is a particularly strong role model  - a kid rife with fears and insecurities and deep-seeded pain who overcomes these traumas to inspire the city and the world. All these ostracized kids, more than most, need positive images of themselves, and my book, in its own small way, seeks to provide those images.I also hope to mainstream for general readership these kids that society disdains. As much as I want gay kids, the abused, and the gang-affiliated or former gang-affiliated kids to read this book and its sequels, I really want so-called “regular” teens and adults to read it, too. Many teenagers honestly don’t know anyone who’s gay or in a gang or even who was abused. I’ve met plenty of adults, and too many kids, who want nothing to do with, as Reyna puts it in my book, “Thosepeople.” On TV and in movies gay boys are usually portrayed as stereotypically effeminate, and so non-gay kids laugh at that and think all gay boys fit the same mold. The gay boys in my book are not the least bit feminine but are, in fact, quite badass, brave, and rather epic. I want readers to know that gay boys, like non-gay boys, come in all shapes and sizes and talents and are, in fact, just like every other boy.Same goes for the teen gang members. According to the news and the media, they are nothing more than monsters. But in reality, for anyone willing to take the time to know them, they’re no different than anyone else’s kids, except they grew up with a lethal absence of hope in circumstances most of us wouldn’t wish on our enemies. Most gang members I’ve gotten to know would love to have never gotten caught up in the lifestyle. They have dreams and aspirations and want a good life, just like non-gang-affiliated kids.Sadly, there are even a lot of people who don’t take abuse seriously as the reason behind some teens committing criminal acts. Trust me, physical and sexual abuse of kids is rampant in this country and most of it goes untreated. Especially with boys, that internalized pain and humiliation will rise to the surface eventually and the result won’t be pretty. So yes, I’d like “mainstream” readers to walk in the shoes of these kids so they can maybe understand them a bit and therefore not be so quick to judge them.Long answer, I know. LOL
What inspired you to write Young Adult stories? I’ve worked with kids and teens my whole adult life, even when I was a still teen myself, in various capacities. I understand them and actually enjoy spending time with them (ha!) so writing YA seemed a natural fit for me.
Is there an underlying theme in your stories? In our society today, young people are inundated with “self-centered” media messages, and even witness in their daily lives far too many examples of adults who celebrate the “If it feels good, do it” and “It’s all about me” philosophies. In my King Arthur trilogy, the message is that the way to make this world and this society better is to do what’s right, rather than what’s easy. There are a lot of other themes, as well, about the dangers of adultifying kids and how we need to spend more time really communicating with each other as human beings, rather than through computers or text messages, but that is the main one. Thus, my characters face difficult moral challenges and have to decide if they’ll take the easy way out or make the harder, but right, choice, the one that will serve the greater good.
What drew you to write M/M fiction? What sub-genres do you enjoy the most? I wouldn’t say I “decided to write m/m fiction.” Until about a year and a half ago I didn’t even know what “m/m fiction” meant. Ha! But I have known lots of gay kids and I sponsored the GSA at the high school where I taught for many years. I’ve seen boys fall in love with each other, and girls too. I know from my experience with them that it’s no different than m/f love. It’s just the way some people are wired. Seeing the way two boys in love are so vilified in this country, I wanted to include such teen characters in this series of books that deal with marginalized kids. By the third book in the series, the “two boys in love” are the movers and shakers of everything that happens and genuine heroes in their own right. The things they accomplish are astonishing, but they don’t accomplish them because they’re gay. They accomplish them because they decide to accomplish them. I think all kids, not just gay ones, should see characters like that and accept them as a normal part of the amazingly diverse tapestry we call “humanity.”As to what sub-genres I like, I mostly read YA/paranormal/fantasy/horror and some contemporary if the story sounds interesting.
“They” tell us that writers should write what they know—do you think that’s true? Why/why not? In some sense that’s true. But we can all learn about things we don’t know from the Internet, so research is pretty easy these days. But if we’re going to write certain types of characters I believe we need to hang around those kinds of people, the way actors do, to pick up the cadence of their speech patterns and the kinds of mannerisms typical of certain people and ages. I find many YA authors clearly spend no time around modern-day teenagers because their characters NO NOT talk like teens and often don’t act like teens. They all talk (and think) like adults.) I’ve seen too many books where every teen character sounds the same, and even young kids who are eight or nine talk just like the seventeen year olds. That drives me crazy!
I couldn't agree more with you on that one! Dialogue in general is a major sticking point for me as a reader--but my teen aged daughter is a SO much less forgiving than I am  :)
What’s your favorite part of the writing process? (the spark, the research, character oultines…?)I love the feeling of completing that first draft and then going back to revise. Especially with a long book like these last two, I forget particular moments along the way and it’s fun to rediscover them the way a reader would. Ha!
What’s your least favorite part of the writing process? I’d say researching locations that I haven’t personally visited. In the two sequels to Children of the Knight there are a lot of locations I needed to use that I didn’t know personally, especially in the third book. These are actual places – cities or hotels within cities – that some readers will have visited so I had to search high and low for enough information and enough pictures of the locations to make the setting realistic. That’s why writing this third book has taken almost twice as long as each of the first two.
What’s your favorite part of the publishing process? (writing the story, working with an editor, working with the art department, marketing, etc?)Overall, my experience with Harmony Ink was amazingly positive. The entire process was very affirming from beginning to end, from the cover creation through the editing and on to the final product. All the people were great to work with and easy going and the final book looks, in my opinion, beautiful inside and out. I couldn’t be happier!  I can’t speak for other publishers, but Harmony Ink was fantastic.
What’s your least favorite part of the publishing process?The one area Harmony Ink seemed to drop the ball (for me personally as a new author) was informing me about the release process and marketing and promoting. I did not know any of their other authors and had no real clue that almost all the marketing is done pre-release and if reviewers aren’t interested in your book prior to release, it’s kind of a done deal as far as publisher promotion because then they’re onto the next release. I’ve since been learning things about promoting the book myself and have made the best effort I can, but it would have been super helpful if my publisher had explained the process and what they were planning and what they hoped to accomplish. That way I might have been able to help when it counted the most.
I noticed that Children of the Knight is the first book of a trilogy. How does writing a trilogy differ from writing a stand-alone story? You have to know exactly how the third and final book will end so that everything from the beginning of the first book builds to that pre-planned conclusion. These books of mine are populated with a lot of characters and the goal of this “crusade” to change the way the entire country treats its children is epic in scope and required me to delve into the education system, the criminal justice system, politics on both local and national levels, and a whole host of other areas within our society and their impact on the youth. It’s been a daunting challenge, but also a lot of fun. My trilogy is one long book, actually, as part II begins exactly where I ends and III begins where II leaves off. The total story covers about four years in the lives of these kids, so it's a genuine coming-of-age story. I loved taking the journey with my kids and bearing witness to their growth and maturity and accomplishments, especially given where they came from in the beginning. They go from the barrios of L.A. to the White House and beyond, and I think readers who read all three will be glad they stuck around for the ride.
Do you listen to music while you write, prefer absolute silence, run off to the coffee shop…? If you do listen to music, can you name a few songs off your playlist? As an avid soundtrack collector, I always use music from film scores when I’m writing to help me create the mood for certain scenes, especially those involving action or deep emotion. Children of the Knight was no exception. What people often find very odd is my choiceof film scores. People ask, “What does that movie have to do with your story?” The answer is, “Nothing. It’s the mood created by that particular score, not the source movie, that inspires its use.” Five scores I used for this book were King Arthur, by Hans Zimmer (no brainer, there); Backdraft by Hans Zimmer (a fire fighter film); Armageddon by Trevor Rabin (a disaster film); The Amazing Spiderman by James Horner (super hero film); and the one I used the most was The Greatest Game Ever Played by Brian Tyler - a period movie about golf that should have nothing to kids or King Arthur, and yet the score was by turns rousing and heartbreaking and absolutely the perfect backdrop for my story and characters. And don’t get me started on the sequels! Can we say 10,000 B.C for both? That’s a weird, hybrid caveman movie. Amazing score!


What advice would you give to a writer who’s just starting out but who hasn’t been published yet?Write the story you would like to read and then solicit a publisher. I think if writers try to copy a current trend or write to a niche that isn’t theirs just to get published, the resulting book will not be very good. Writers are readers first and foremost, after all, and should write what they enjoy reading.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing? (hobbies, time with friends?)I workout with weights and do some kind of cardio daily because I’m addicted to exercise. Ha! I love reading, naturally, and I love movies. You might have figured out the movie thing from the music I listen to while writing. LOL I also do a lot of volunteer work with juveniles in detention, with kids at the YMCA, and with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Do you have a favorite character (of your own creation)? What makes that character special to you?  Lance from the Children of the Knight books is my favorite, hands down. He’s filled with all the insecurities that plagued me in adolescence (and to some extend still do – Ha!) and yet he manages to rise above them, to overcome them and deal effectively with whatever it is that confronts him. He’s decent and caring and yet tough as nails when he has to be. He manages to look beyond the surface and find the good in everyone. Plus, he’s tenacious and never gives up and strives to do the right thing as often as possible. Growing up I always felt isolated and on the outside looking in, even with my family. I felt unworthy of being loved and wanted, always something of a loner, never quite fitting in with any group. That’s probably why I always gravitated to other kids like that as a teen and why, as an adult, I tended to work with the lost and disenfranchised and marginalized kids, kids with learning disabilities or those who were gay or emo or something else not quite “mainstream.” I’ve been hearing impaired my whole life and from grade school all the way through college I never met anyone even close to my age who was hard of hearing. I got made fun of and picked on by other kids as a child, and was often told by my parents that, “You can hear when you want to.” So when kids tell me their parents say they could choose not to be gay if they wanted to, I can relate to that kind of ignorant foolishness. In a sense, my so-called disability made me feel isolated, yes, but also made me more empathetic to others who society isolates for other reasons. I try to bring these feelings and emotions to life in my characters, even the gang members who often feel the same way, but are too “hard” to openly admit it.
Do you miss your characters when you finish a story? Do you try to come up with ideas for sequels, or are you too excited by the prospect of a new project to feel sad that the previous story is over? I will undergo withdrawal when I finally lay to rest the Knight Trilogy.  I’ve lived with these characters on and off for more than fifteen years – that’s how long ago I conceived this storyline – and I’ve been writing and living with them 24/7 for the past year and a half. It will be very sad to say goodbye to them, but I do leave the door open to revisit the characters down the line when they’re older to examine the repercussions of what they accomplished in the first trilogy. It seems most of my books either lend themselves to sequels or I set them up that way. I suppose it’s because I loved series books as a kid before series books became the “in thing” they are today. LOL Anyway, I could easily write sequels to all of them if the interest is there from readers.
Of all of the stories you’ve written, which setting or location (city/country/time period) has been your favorite? Why? That’s easy – Titanic. Yes, I know it sank, but I’ve been fascinated by that ship since childhood and it’s a primary setting in my paranormal romance “A Matter of Time.” Writing those scenes were the best because I felt like I was on board that ship, walking those decks, soaking up the elegance and opulence. I wanted to be my main character, Jamie, who was partially based on me and, like me, had always fantasized about what it might feel like to walk those decks. He got the chance and, though him, so did I. Of course, walking the decks and figuring out how to get off before the ship sinks are two different matters, as Jamie soon discovers. Ha!
Do you have any heroes or people you look up to? (Real life mentors, public figures, fellow authors, living or dead). If so, who and why? I had two amazing English teachers in high school and three in college who really inspired me and encouraged my writing. They spent lots of time helping me shape my ideas and thoughts and express them in ways that others could read and enjoy. Plus, the high school teachers had such a positive, nurturing influence on me that I wanted to go into teaching as well as writing so I could perhaps touch the lives of kids the way they had touched mine. On the non-education side, Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle, who runs Homeboy Industries and who’s dedicated his life to disenfranchised kids and adults, is a friend and mentor and a personal hero of mine. I’ve learned an extraordinary amount about humility, decency, compassion, and unbending resolve from this remarkable man.
One of the hardest things for an author to take is a bad review. How do you handle those one and two star reviews? So far I don’t have enough reviews to answer that question. Ha! Actually, on Goodreads there is one “1-star” rating for my book, but no review to go with it. That makes me curious as to why that reader rated it so low because I think the book is well written and crafted with strong characters. It’s not Shakespeare, obviously, but it’s a solid piece of writing. To me, “1-star” means the book is egregious and I don’t think I’ve ever read a book I didn’t think had some literary merit. The lowest reviews for my book so far have been three stars. I recognize that everyone’s taste is different and that we don’t all like the same kinds of stories. If a book is well-plotted or written, but doesn’t happen to be my cup of tea, I won’t downgrade it. I’ve read several books this year by my own publisher that have gotten rave reviews and I feel like maybe those people read a different book than I did. Unlike many people, however, I won’t post a review (unless it’s for a bestselling author) that is less than three stars, so those authors whose books I had problems with won’t have their feelings hurt by me. After all, nobody forced me to read their books.
Children of the Knight was just named a finalist
in the Rainbow Awards! 
 What are your favorite movies of all time?I love The Wizard of Oz (who doesn’t, right?) But I think my all-time favorite movie (it’s at least in my top 3 or 4) is an obscure little film called They Might Be Giants that starred George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward. I never tire of this film because, even as a kid and even though the characters were middle-aged, I could relate to the story and the message. I supposed it’s because the theme of the movie is that sometimes what we dream is better and more palatable than real life and it’s okay to live in those dreams if the real world becomes too much to bear. I think that’s why I love writing because I can live with my characters and help them deal with various situations. I can create a world I’d like to live in rather than always having to deal with the real one I inhabit.
What are your favorite TV shows of all time? As a child and young adult: Dark Shadowsand Star Trek. As an adult: Starman, Star Trek The Next Generation,and Beauty and the Beast (not the remake).
Can we just pretend that the "remake" doesn't even exist?! Seriously. But I'd better stop there, otherwise, I'm going to hijack Michael's entire interview! (but I am going to selfishly insert my favorite romantic song of all time!)


What kind of music do you listen to? Do you have a favorite musical artist?As mentioned before, my favorite type of music is a movie score. I like rock and roll, especially classic rock, but my favorite “artists” are people like John Williams, the late Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Hans Zimmer and Brian Tyler, to name just a few. Hey, what can I say – I’m weird like that. Ha!
What television shows are you currently watching?The Walking Dead. While zombies aren’t that scary, the writing and acting and wrenching human drama is gripping. Not many shows make me cry, but that one can. I spend so much time writing I don’t have time to get caught up in any other shows.
What’s in your CD / MP3 player? Almost all film score music. Even when I work out, that’s what I listen to. The right music in my ears while I’m running gives me all sorts of plot or scene ideas, including specific lines of dialogue. I couldn’t be a writer without my music.
What’s next on the horizon for you? WIPs, writing goals, personal goals…?  I’m not sure the status of my two follow-ups to Children of the Knight as far as publishing them is concerned. As of now, the first book hasn’t generated any real interest from the constituency who regularly buys and/or reviews Harmony Ink books. It’s getting strong support from “mainstream” reviewers and teen readers, but the bottom line is sales for any publisher, so we’ll see how that goes. Somehow, the sequels will be out in 2014 so those readers who loved the first part can finish the journey. After that, I have several more novels outlined, in various genres, though most could be YA since they all feature strong teen characters. I have a supernatural horror story, a realistic “superhero” story, a time travel teen romance, and a science fiction/action story all laid out and ready to go. Of course, if I don’t make any money at this writing gig I’ll go back to tutoring or into personal training. But I plan to stick with the writing for as long as I can afford to. Can’t give up on a dream, right?

Thanks again, Michael J. Bowler for being here today! You can find Michael on the web at http://www.michaeljbowler.com, http://sirlancesays.wordpress.com, or on Facebook.

Children of the Knight is available through Dreamspinner Press. It's also available through Amazon and Barnes and NobleHelen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Theme Music

Last week or so, my friend J.P. Barnaby posted a beautiful blog entry about personal theme songs. It was beautiful because hers (Blackbird, by the Beatles) tells such a powerful story, much more so than most of my theme songs ever have. 
But that still got me thinking. I think we all have some song, or maybe a set of songs, that resonates with us for some reason, and what I'd really like is to hear yours. 
I have several. 
When I was an angry (not really, but I thought I was), rebellious (not by a long shot, but I thought I was), angsty (guilty) teenager, I thought this was my theme song. The audio on this version is less than stellar, but there's something important about the live performance. I saw Siouxsie and the Banshees in concert in the mid-eighties (this recording is from 79, 'I think) and I'm very happy to say they performed a bunch of their older stuff, including my "theme song" 


Then I grew up. And like most people growing up, I hit a serious rough patch. This is probably the most serious theme song my life has ever had. I actually did use it as a sort of therapy at one point, to help me get down to all the icky stuff so I could deal with it. (I chose the live version of this one because the video is kind of gross). 

You know, listening to it again (haven't really listened to it since the mid-90's) I think I was more of a mess than I thought if that was what resonated with me! Yikes. I'm glad I got better!
This is the song I put as a "caveat"  on the compilation CD I made for my husband as part of his wedding gift from me. 


There are a couple of other songs that are special to me, especially this one:

Favorite line: It's not having what you want,it's wanting what you've got.
I want to leave you with one more song. It's not a theme song per se, but it definitely resonates with me. I kinda hope it resonates with you, too:

(unfortunately, I didn't care for any of the live performances on Youtube; it's a shameAbney Park puts on an amazing show)
Now it's your turn. 
Favorite song?Theme song?Something that resonates?
Leave a comment below and tell me about it!

oops...
I realized belatedly that there is a song that should have made the list. Before I got all angsty and hormonal, Howard Jones "New Song" was my favorite song ever. I still play it all the time, too!


Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Does Size Matter?

If I said "only if you're in a zucchini," your minds might still go straight to the gutter.  *G*
But what I actually want to talk about today are books and what I'm really asking is does length matter to you as a reader?
When is a book too short? Too long?
There are a couple of things prompting me to ask. One is my own reading habits which have changed drastically over the years. And another is something my publisher said at last year's author conference. Now, I wasn't quite taking notes, so I may be off by a couple thousand words (for which I apologize to both you and her). Essentially, the statistics she gave us is that the "sweet spot," the length that tends to sell the best, in the neighborhood of 70,000 words. 
Now, I tend to write longer than that by at least 15K. My first novel was about 89,000 words after the final edit; my second novel was few thousand words less--but only a few. 
Hanging by the Moment, my third novel, weighs in at a whopping 112,000 words. That's nothing compared to Grace Duncan's fabulous book Choices, which closer to 130,000 words.
Now, I realize I'm talking a foreign language to some of you. Most readers look at books in termspages, but the thing is that that's really deceptive. I once had to write an essay for my Anthropology class (okay, I've written a lot of essays for a lot of classes, but this one illustrates my point beautifully). We were charged to write a 5 page paper. Easy, right?

Except by the time I was done, it was almost twice that length. I knew I could give him a six page paper, but ten was pretty much out of the question. So I did the opposite of what most students do. First I went through and got rid of as many extra words as I could, replacing "ands" with semi-colons and finding every extraneous "that" there was. (Oh, if only I could have gotten rid of the double spaces after periods! But it was the day of the dinosaurs and we still double spaced after every end-stop). That got me down to nine pages. Okay. Next: change the margins. Instead of one inch around, I gave him .75 inches at the right and left and .5 top and bottom. I changed the font to 11.5 point instead of 12 point. I changed the line spacing from double to 1.5. And huzzah! Six pages!

This is why writers think in terms of number of words rather than number of pages. 
Here's an example you can actually see with your own eyes:
although scanned separately, I made every effort to size them
accurately when I put the images together for comparison. 
If Anais Nin's Delta of Venus was the same length (in pages) as Hanging by the Moment, it would weigh in at 129,000 words...and bear in mind it's physically about half the size as Hanging by the Moment . 
In reality,  Delta of Venus  comes in somewhere between 105,000-107,000 words in 268 pages.  Hanging by the Moment  is 112,000 words and 340 (much larger) pages. 
(And seriously, part of why I love my Kindle so much is that these poor old eyes do not deal with that iddy-biddy print anymore.) 
To put into a different sort of perspective, many modern romance novel publishers put a top cap (the maximum number of words) for a novel at 90,000. The minimum for novel length for most publishers is 60,000. Some drop as low as 50,000. Novellas, of course, are even shorter. 
J.P. Barnaby's novella  Rent Boy, Charlie was a little over 30,000 words (69 pages *snicker*). For me, that worked just fine. Sure, it didn't give enough space to give the second MC's point of view, but the book wasn't so much about him as it was about Charlie and it made for a perfect afternoon read, which was exactly what I wanted when I bought it. (Which is a reflection of my reading habits changing over the years; back in jr. high and high school, I was chewing through books the size of Ms. Nin's Delta of Venus --and longer--on a weekly basis...although I wasn't reading erotica, Anne McCaffrey and Steven Brust were more my taste. I even read all five hundred pages of  Clan of the Cave Bear , without batting an eyelash. Give me a five hundred page book now and I'm likely to roll my eyes and politely pass. I don't have as much time to read as I used to; I want a book I can finish in a week, preferably a weekend.)
But there's another side to the coin. When is a book too short? 69 pages/30,000 words is good. But what about a "book" half that size?  I won't name names, but there's a story that caught my eye--then I saw that it's only 29 pages long. (And the kicker: the cost. $3...and to put that into perspective, you can get an ecopy of any of my books for around $6 andt they're roughly eight times as long). Do I want to pay $3 for a romance, that's probably only in the neighborhood of 11,000 words? It's not being billed as a short story, it's not part of an anthology, it's a book all on its own. It's getting great reviews, but I can't help being afraid I'm going to be totally let down by such a short "book". Do I even want to read something that short?

(Okay, yes, I have a short story that does that, but I cut out a huge chunk of the middle--and have it right here on my site as a free-read.) 
So my question to you: Does size matter ?
When does it become a factor in deciding to read (or not read) something? And does the price influence your decision? What about genre? 
.....
   I  know people read my blog, but it's very sad to only have a few followers (although I love you all and thank you so much for following me!) So I'm asking very sweetly for folks to consider a) following my blog b)  subscribing to my newsletter , or c) both.  
     Subscribing to my newsletter has the added bonus of being eligible for random giveaways throughout the year. I don't spam and you won't get junk in either your snail or email and I promise I will never, EVER give your contact info to anyone.       To follow my blog, scroll down on the right; just under the pic of yours truly is a list of my followers.  All you have to do is press the "Join this Site" button  :)  (I think you have to be a registered Blogger user or some such, so if you're not no worries. There's still my newsletter.) Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

TGIF

I don't think I've ever been so pleased to see the backside of a week as I am see the end of this one. 
Now. It wasn't all bad. I got a couple of great reviews on my new book and I read a couple of amazing books, too. But on Sunday, I had a fight (sort of) with my sister and my teenaged daughter. (But because we're family, of course we all still love each other. That's what it's all about). On Monday, I got a nasty awful virus (yes, I have anti-virus software, no, I'm not the first person this person this awful thing has zapped. I genuinely there is a special circle in hell *just* for the people who make these things--and an even worse place for the people who do it just to profit off others. I know better than to cough up $300 because my computer freezes and the screen says the DOJ has taken control of my computer, but apparently in their panic, others have paid. And still not gotten their computers unlocked. Go figure). Tuesday, I just had a migraine...it kind of stuck around on Wednesday, but after a couple of glasses of wine, I didn't notice so much  ;-)  
Today, I have my computer back and I can do some writing. (I actually did do a little yesterday on hubby's laptop--my wonderful husband who sat at Micro Center and refused to leave until somebody took my computer off the shelf and started working on it. No, I wasn't trying to cut ahead in line, I was perfectly happy to take my place in the proverbial queue. I just wasn't happy that my machine had been left on the shelf because my assigned technician had the day off. He's totally entitled to a day off--and while he takes it, a colleague should take over his work so that customers don't have to wait unnecessarily.)
Today I can be happy because the fight has blown over. I was the one hanging on, probably because I was pissed about other stuff. 
And today, I can celebrate what's left of Bi Pride Week reading other people's thoughts on the subject. Here's a great one from Posy Roberts.
Today I can get back to my life and appreciate all over again how much I love writing--how necessary writing is to *my* heart and soul because the last few days have been miserable. I could work, but I couldn't really work as much as I wanted on the things that I wanted because they were all on a computer in the shop.
Oh, and tomorrow, I can start figuring out how to back up my writing because the scariest few hours of my life was when the technician told me he wasn't sure he'd be able to save the data on my hard drive because he couldn't find it.
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Welcome Layla M. Wier!

Please welcome guest author Layla M. Wier on my blog today! Layla's new release, Homespun has just received an awesome review from the Blog of Sid Love  :) Way to go, Layla!  Thank you, Helen, for hosting me today! I'm currently in the middle of a blog tour for my novella Homespun, available now from Dreamspinner Press. I'm also giving away a hand-knit scarf (custom knit by me for the winner of the giveaway, in their chosen colors and style) - comment on any of my blog tour posts to be entered to win! There are more details here: http://laylawier.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/scarf-giveaway/ When I was scheduling stops on my blog tour, I was delighted to find out you were celebrating Bi Pride this month on your blog. One-half of the main pairing in Homespun, Owen, is a bisexual man currently in a relationship with a guy. His first important relationship was with his wife Nancy, who died twenty years ago, leaving him with a young daughter. His second important relationship is with his lover Kerry, and that's the one the book is about.  But that doesn't mean that he didn't love Nancy. He'll never really stop loving her, and Kerry has to struggle with his own jealousy of a woman twenty years gone. I didn't set out to write a bisexual protagonist. It simply happened organically as I worked on the story. For plot reasons I needed Owen to have been married before, but I could have gone many ways with it. Owen lives in a conservative small town, so I could easily have written a version of him who married Nancy from social pressure or confusion, and only later realized that he was gay. I thought about it, in fact. And I do think that Owen's overall sexuality leans more gay than straight. But his relationship with Nancy was real, and meaningful, and important -- in point of fact, as real and important as his relationship with Kerry. A person can have more than one great love in their life. And sexuality is a huge, complicated gray area rather than a neat, clean line between straight and gay. You can't force yourself to be something you're not, but what you are... ah, that's a complex and baffling thing, isn't it? A lot of people fit neatly into a box with a tidy sexuality label -- but a lot of people don't. I am functionally straight, so I can't speak authoritatively on the experience of bisexuality, nor can I (or should I) talk about boundary policing in queer spaces. I am an outside observer and I can't claim authority in those areas. Instead I would prefer to stand back and listen, so as not to drown out the voices of people with actual, lived experience. But I do know that I want my characters to reflect the full, wide range of human sexuality. In Homespun, Kerry is gay, and has always known he's gay. Obviously this doesn't make his life uncomplicated -- his life is complicated in all kinds of ways. But in that area, at least, he doesn't have doubts. With Owen, it's less cut and dried. I never really get into too much depth with Owen's sexuality in the novella. It's not really within the scope of the plot, particularly since, in the time frame of the novella, most of Owen's soul-searching on this topic took place years ago (and some has yet to happen, I think, because of the events in Homespun, though I can't talk about that without spoilers!). If I write more with these characters, I think I'd like to explore that aspect of Owen's character a bit more, but in the actual canon -- which is to say, the novella -- it's basically settled. But it's settled in favor of bisexuality. Owen is not gay; he's not straight. He's bi. And I wouldn't want to write him any other way.  Homespun by Layla M. Wier  Genre:M/M Contemporary RomancePublisher:Dreamspinner PressLength: Novella/104 pagesRelease Date: Sept. 18, 2013 Blurb:For twenty years, Owen Fortescue, a down-to-earth farmer in upstate New York, has had an on-again, off-again relationship with volatile New York City artist Kerry Ruehling. Now that same-sex marriage is recognized in New York, Owen wants to tie the knot. But Kerry responds to the proposal with instant, angry withdrawal. Owen resolves to prove to Kerry that, regardless of the way his family of origin has treated him, family ties don’t necessarily tie a man down. With help from his grown daughter, Laura, who loves them both, Owen hopes to convince Kerry that his marriage proposal isn’t a trap, but a chance at real love. Buy at Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4189 About Layla:Layla M. Wier is the romance pen name of artist and writer Layla Lawlor. She was born in a log cabin in rural Alaska and grew up thirty miles from towns, roads, electricity, and cars. These days, she lives in Fox, a gold-rush mining town on the highway north of Fairbanks, Alaska, with her husband, dogs, and the occasional farm animal. Their house is a log cabin in a birch and aspen forest. Wolves, moose, and foxes wander through the front yard. During the short, bright Arctic summer, Layla enjoys gardening and hiking, and in the winter, she writes, paints, and draws. Where to find Layla:Blog: http://laylawier.wordpress.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/Layla_in_AlaskaTumblr: http://laylainalaska.tumblr.com Stops and topics on the Homespun blog tour (Sept. 16-Oct. 8): Monday, Sept. 16: Zahra Owens (http://zahraowens.com/) - autumn Tuesday, Sept. 17: Tali Spencer (http://talismania-brilliantdisguise.blogspot.com/) - sharing passions Wednesday, Sept. 18: RELEASE DAY! Party at the Dreamspinner Press blog! Thursday, Sept. 19: Charley Descoteaux (http://cdescoteauxwrites.com/) - location scouting in central New York Friday, Sept. 20: Chris T. Kat (http://christikat.blogspot.com/) - interview  Monday, Sept. 23: Charlie Cochet's Purple Rose Tea House (http://purpleroseteahouse.charliecochet.com/) - doing research Tuesday, Sept. 24: Helen Pattskyn (http://www.helenpattskyn.com/) - bisexuality in Homespun Wednesday, Sept. 25: Garrett Leigh (http://garrettleigh.com/) - interview Thursday, Sept. 26: Skylar Cates (http://skylarmcates.wordpress.com/) - rural life Friday, Sept. 27: Madison Parker (http://madisonparklove.com/blog/) - interview + review  Monday, Sept. 30: Jessica Davies (http://jessicaskyedavies.blogspot.com/) - learning to spin, part 1 Tuesday, Oct. 1: Anne Barwell (http://anne-barwell.livejournal.com/) - learning to spin, part 2 Thursday, Oct. 3: Michael Rupured(http://rupured.com/) - writing respectfully from outside a subculture Friday, Oct. 4: Jana Denardo (http://jana-denardo.livejournal.com/) - invading characters' privacy  Monday, Oct. 7: SL Huang (http://slhuang.com/) - interview Tuesday, Oct. 8: PD Singer (http://pdsinger.com/) - central NY photo tourHelen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Welcome Lyla M. Wier!

Please welcome guest author Lyla M. Wier on my blog today! Layla's new release, Homespun has just received an awesome review from the Blog of Sid Love  :) Way to go, Layla!  Thank you, Helen, for hosting me today! I'm currently in the middle of a blog tour for my novella Homespun, available now from Dreamspinner Press. I'm also giving away a hand-knit scarf (custom knit by me for the winner of the giveaway, in their chosen colors and style) - comment on any of my blog tour posts to be entered to win! There are more details here: http://laylawier.wordpress.com/2013/09/09/scarf-giveaway/ When I was scheduling stops on my blog tour, I was delighted to find out you were celebrating Bi Pride this month on your blog. One-half of the main pairing in Homespun, Owen, is a bisexual man currently in a relationship with a guy. His first important relationship was with his wife Nancy, who died twenty years ago, leaving him with a young daughter. His second important relationship is with his lover Kerry, and that's the one the book is about.  But that doesn't mean that he didn't love Nancy. He'll never really stop loving her, and Kerry has to struggle with his own jealousy of a woman twenty years gone. I didn't set out to write a bisexual protagonist. It simply happened organically as I worked on the story. For plot reasons I needed Owen to have been married before, but I could have gone many ways with it. Owen lives in a conservative small town, so I could easily have written a version of him who married Nancy from social pressure or confusion, and only later realized that he was gay. I thought about it, in fact. And I do think that Owen's overall sexuality leans more gay than straight. But his relationship with Nancy was real, and meaningful, and important -- in point of fact, as real and important as his relationship with Kerry. A person can have more than one great love in their life. And sexuality is a huge, complicated gray area rather than a neat, clean line between straight and gay. You can't force yourself to be something you're not, but what you are... ah, that's a complex and baffling thing, isn't it? A lot of people fit neatly into a box with a tidy sexuality label -- but a lot of people don't. I am functionally straight, so I can't speak authoritatively on the experience of bisexuality, nor can I (or should I) talk about boundary policing in queer spaces. I am an outside observer and I can't claim authority in those areas. Instead I would prefer to stand back and listen, so as not to drown out the voices of people with actual, lived experience. But I do know that I want my characters to reflect the full, wide range of human sexuality. In Homespun, Kerry is gay, and has always known he's gay. Obviously this doesn't make his life uncomplicated -- his life is complicated in all kinds of ways. But in that area, at least, he doesn't have doubts. With Owen, it's less cut and dried. I never really get into too much depth with Owen's sexuality in the novella. It's not really within the scope of the plot, particularly since, in the time frame of the novella, most of Owen's soul-searching on this topic took place years ago (and some has yet to happen, I think, because of the events in Homespun, though I can't talk about that without spoilers!). If I write more with these characters, I think I'd like to explore that aspect of Owen's character a bit more, but in the actual canon -- which is to say, the novella -- it's basically settled. But it's settled in favor of bisexuality. Owen is not gay; he's not straight. He's bi. And I wouldn't want to write him any other way.  Homespun by Layla M. Wier  Genre:M/M Contemporary RomancePublisher:Dreamspinner PressLength: Novella/104 pagesRelease Date: Sept. 18, 2013 Blurb:For twenty years, Owen Fortescue, a down-to-earth farmer in upstate New York, has had an on-again, off-again relationship with volatile New York City artist Kerry Ruehling. Now that same-sex marriage is recognized in New York, Owen wants to tie the knot. But Kerry responds to the proposal with instant, angry withdrawal. Owen resolves to prove to Kerry that, regardless of the way his family of origin has treated him, family ties don’t necessarily tie a man down. With help from his grown daughter, Laura, who loves them both, Owen hopes to convince Kerry that his marriage proposal isn’t a trap, but a chance at real love. Buy at Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4189 About Layla:Layla M. Wier is the romance pen name of artist and writer Layla Lawlor. She was born in a log cabin in rural Alaska and grew up thirty miles from towns, roads, electricity, and cars. These days, she lives in Fox, a gold-rush mining town on the highway north of Fairbanks, Alaska, with her husband, dogs, and the occasional farm animal. Their house is a log cabin in a birch and aspen forest. Wolves, moose, and foxes wander through the front yard. During the short, bright Arctic summer, Layla enjoys gardening and hiking, and in the winter, she writes, paints, and draws. Where to find Layla:Blog: http://laylawier.wordpress.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/Layla_in_AlaskaTumblr: http://laylainalaska.tumblr.com Stops and topics on the Homespun blog tour (Sept. 16-Oct. 8): Monday, Sept. 16: Zahra Owens (http://zahraowens.com/) - autumn Tuesday, Sept. 17: Tali Spencer (http://talismania-brilliantdisguise.blogspot.com/) - sharing passions Wednesday, Sept. 18: RELEASE DAY! Party at the Dreamspinner Press blog! Thursday, Sept. 19: Charley Descoteaux (http://cdescoteauxwrites.com/) - location scouting in central New York Friday, Sept. 20: Chris T. Kat (http://christikat.blogspot.com/) - interview  Monday, Sept. 23: Charlie Cochet's Purple Rose Tea House (http://purpleroseteahouse.charliecochet.com/) - doing research Tuesday, Sept. 24: Helen Pattskyn (http://www.helenpattskyn.com/) - bisexuality in Homespun Wednesday, Sept. 25: Garrett Leigh (http://garrettleigh.com/) - interview Thursday, Sept. 26: Skylar Cates (http://skylarmcates.wordpress.com/) - rural life Friday, Sept. 27: Madison Parker (http://madisonparklove.com/blog/) - interview + review  Monday, Sept. 30: Jessica Davies (http://jessicaskyedavies.blogspot.com/) - learning to spin, part 1 Tuesday, Oct. 1: Anne Barwell (http://anne-barwell.livejournal.com/) - learning to spin, part 2 Thursday, Oct. 3: Michael Rupured(http://rupured.com/) - writing respectfully from outside a subculture Friday, Oct. 4: Jana Denardo (http://jana-denardo.livejournal.com/) - invading characters' privacy  Monday, Oct. 7: SL Huang (http://slhuang.com/) - interview Tuesday, Oct. 8: PD Singer (http://pdsinger.com/) - central NY photo tourHelen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Bisexual Pride Day!

September 23 is officially Bisexual Pride Day.

Why Bi Pride? Don't we already have a Gay Pride Day and an LGBT Pride Month? Aren't there celebrations enough?  Yes. And no.  "Yes", we do get to celebrate LGBT Pride, and many of us participate in Gay Pride events to support our community, but most people at Pride events assume I'm straight, because I show up with my husband. Most people assume that guys who show up are gay, or possibly straight allies, depending on the gender of their companions.   And "no," not only because of that, but because even now, there are a lot of misunderstandings about what it means to be bisexual.  Even in this day and age, there are people on both sides of the proverbial fence who seem to think that we're straddling it and should make up our minds--people both gay and straight who want bisexuals to "choose" to be either gay or straight, as if anyone has a choice. I don't choose to be romantically and sexually attracted to both men and women (and honestly, everything in between as well), but I DO accept it. This is who I am and I've had a long time to get comfortable in my own skin.   I'm glad to know I'm not alone. Bisexual Options  is a great online resource for information, and just generally feeling like you're not alone out in the world. Of course I'm lucky, I've met and become acquainted with a number of bisexual people in my life--and I'm really lucky in that pretty much everyone in my life accepts me as I am (although I have to be honest, that isn't entirely luck. If someone can't take me as I am, I'm more than happy to politely move along and save us both the time and trouble of an unhappy "friendship.")   The biggest thing someone has to accept about me...well, there are two things. Number One is that I'm in a committed, happy marriage. Being bi doesn't mean being unfaithful to the person you're with just because you happen to like people of other genders. It doesn't mean an inability to commit. Now, yes, my husband and I are open to the possibility of a third person in our relationship, but that's because we're both a little poly and *not* because I'm bisexual. We're also at points in our lives where we wouldn't actually date someone who didn't want to date both of us or who wasn't looking for roughly the same things we were (a genuine full-time relationship with an eye toward marriage, even if it isn't the legal kind). Sure, when I was younger I happily dated both men and women who had no intentions of going that extra step (marriage), but I think that's true of most 20-somethings. (Everyone I went out with knew I was playing the field and that I was dating both men and women).  So, Number One: I'm not going to cheat on my husband. Don't look at my Facebook Profile and try chatting me up. (Something only men seem to make the mistake of doing...not stereotyping, just sayin'...)  And for the love of god, don't go up to any bisexual woman and ask her if she and her girlfriend want to join you in bed. That is a very good way to get slapped into next week! (I dumped several guys in the middle of the first date for making that mistake. Well, first I gave the guy an earful, then I walked out of the restaurant.) Number Two: I didn't choose this. Like I said, I accept it, and me, but I did not choose the extra hassle of being attracted to men and women. I did not wake up one morning and think, gee, I'd just love to get heaps of bullshit from both the gay and straight community over my sexual orientation.   No one does. So why don't I just quietly sit in the closet, let people assume I'm straight because I married a guy? Is it just because hubby and I would date a woman we were serious about? No.  Absolutely not.  If I was with a completely monogamous man, I would still be an out and proud bisexual woman, because I simply do not believe in closets. (Just ask the hubby, who tripped over the laundry basket this morning on his way out the door!) Seriously. Closets are for clothing, not people. I will not sit quietly in the closet, even when it makes my life easier. (Bear in mind, I'm a 44 year old woman who has very accepting in-laws! Mom and Dad's advice when we talked to them about a lady we were interested in was to, politely, as if perhaps she was a little less domestically challenged than I am  ;-)  I seriously have the world's coolest in-laws).  But the bottom line is that I am out and I'm proud and if someone can't deal with that, it's on them, not me. I do it in part because it's in my nature and in part because I know there are a lot of bisexual people who can't be out. I'll stand up and be a voice for bisexual awareness in the hopes that someday no one will have to hide in the closet for fear of losing their job, their family...their freedom or their life.  ................................................


   I  know people read my blog, but it's very sad to only have a few followers (although I love you all and thank you so much for following me!) So I'm asking very sweetly for folks to consider a) following my blog b) subscribing to my newsletter , or c) both.  
     Subscribing to my newsletter has the added bonus of being eligible for random giveaways throughout the year. I don't spam and you won't get junk in either your snail or email and I promise I will never, EVER give your contact info to anyone.       To follow my blog, scroll down on the right; just under the pic of yours truly is a list of my followers.  All you have to do is press the "Join this Site" button  :)  (I think you have to be a registered Blogger user or some such, so if you're not no worries. There's still my newsletter.)  Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Reading therapy?

Anyone who writes has probably heard of writing-therapy, but lately, I've discovered (or maybe re-discovered) reading therapy, because when I feel bummed out I want to escape. I don't think that makes me unique  ;-)  I usually submerge myself in a TV show or a movie or maybe in the Sims (I have to be careful with the Sims. It's easy to get lost for days...)  But yesterday, I tried something different. I picked a light-hearted book off my to-read list and I read. Not only do I feel better than after a marathon session of Caprica (okay, not the most light hearted series out there), but I feel more inspired to write as well--because as I've disclosed to a few friends, I've been dancing with depression lately and that makes for a very unproductive writing sessions. I'm muddling through, getting promo work done for my new book and generally trying not sink into a hole of my own making, but it's not always easy. It's even harder for me to even admit to having a problem; I was raised with notion that everybody feels down, it's no excuse, you just plug on and keep moving. Grandma didn't think "depression" was a real problem, it was just all in your head.  Um. Yeah. No. It's a real problem and just "plugging onward" only works for so long, then you end up on the sofa unable to move.  Of course it takes more than reading and writing to crawl up out of the depression-hole, but every little bit helps. And the first step really is admitting that there *is* a problem. It's not just "the blues" and yes, everybody gets stressed out and unhappy, but ignoring it doesn't actually make it go away. Fake it 'til you make it only goes so far.  Part of why I'm posting this today is because fall is the perfect time to curl up with a good book and I am participating in the Fall into Reading Blog hop.  :)  In addition to the awesome prizes being offered by The Romance Reviews, I'm offering up a $10 Dreamspinner Press gift certificate. All you have to do is comment on this post (and/or the post before this one--no worries, I'll gather all the names to select a winner). You don't have to, but I would love to hear what your favorite part of autumn is, or maybe your favorite Halloween costume (I talked about mine in the last post).   I love it when the leaves start to turn color--they're just starting to now. It's so pretty (and definitely makes me want to feel less down in the dumps so I actually want to get outside and enjoy it!) The book I spent the last day and a half reading is called Gumption and Gumshoes and is available from Dreamspinner Press. It's a wonderful light hearted read about a were-chinchilla. Yes. Chinchilla. If anything could take the edge off a glumpy, down in the dumps sort of day it was definitely a shape-shifting chinchilla. :)

Now, off to get some work done on my *own* book.
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    I  know people read my blog, but it's very sad to only have a few followers (although I love you all and thank you so much for following me!) So I'm asking very sweetly for folks to consider a) following my blog b) subscribing to my newsletter , or c) both.  
     Subscribing to my newsletter has the added bonus of being eligible for random giveaways throughout the year. I don't spam and you won't get junk in either your snail or email and I promise I will never, EVER give your contact info to anyone.        To follow my blog, scroll down on the right; just under the pic of yours truly is
a list of my followers.  All you have to do is press the "Join this Site" button  :)  (I think you have to be a registered Blogger user or some such, so if you're not no worries. There's still my newsletter.)   
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Fall Into Romance Blog Hop

If you're here for the last day of the Suicide Prevention/Awareness blog hop, please click here.

Yes, I'm still celebrating Bi Pride Month, but I decided to participate in this hop for two reasons. One: I love The Romance Reviews. :) Two: Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Fresh corn at roadside stands, apple cider, potatoes from my garden...not to mention the kids going back to school! I love the way the leaves turn color (and I'm sure I'm going to miss it when we move south). My favorite holiday happens in the fall too: Halloween. (And no, that's not just because I'm a witch  ;-)  I love jack o' lanterns and trick or treaters; when I was younger I loved dressing up. One of my favorite costumes was the year I decided to be Boy George (I am totally dating myself here!) It was an easy costume to do--I had this old night shirt that came down to my knees and I tied a scarf in my hair and I'm a little embarrassed to say that his was the make up I copied for my everyday look back then, so I just made it a little more extreme... And I'm sure what you're really waiting for are the prizes!
I'm putting up for grabs one $10 Dreamspinner Press Gift Certificate. All you have to do is comment below and tell me either what your favorite part of autumn is OR what your favorite Halloween costume (could be something special you did for your child or sibling, you don't have to embarrass yourself with what you dressed up as  ;-).

Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you. If you're the winner, you'll have to create a Dreamspinner Press account (if you don't already have one), but I promise it's easy and painless :) 
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      I  know people read my blog, but it's very sad to only have a few followers (although I love you all and thank you so much for following me!) So I'm asking very sweetly for folks to consider a) following my blog b) subscribing to my newsletter , or c) both.  
     Subscribing to my newsletter has the added bonus of being eligible for random giveaways throughout the year. I don't spam and you won't get junk in either your snail or email and I promise I will never, EVER give your contact info to anyone.       To follow my blog, scroll down on the right; just under the pic of yours truly is a list of my followers.  All you have to do is press the "Join this Site" button  :)  (I think you have to be a registered Blogger user or some such, so if you're not no worries. There's still my newsletter.)     Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author