Leta Blake's Blog, page 70
December 11, 2013
Win Training Season! Stumbling Over A Freebie! #ebook #mmromance #gay
Chris at Stumbling Over Chaos is giving away a copy of Training Season. Go have a look at the contest. It’s as simple as a leaving a comment.
Click for a chance to win a free copy!
December 10, 2013
Baby Goes To Eleven #picordidnthappen
Since this will likely never happen again, I needed some evidence. Almost in the top ten! Whooo!
ETA: 
\o/
Training Season Deleted Scene - Matty, Yuliya, Ben
I thought I had my blog set up to automatically post here, and I see that my last blog post did come through, so perhaps it is simply delayed. But, yes, here's a deleted scene from Training Season. More deleted scenes to come in the next few weeks.
Leta Blake's "Training Season" Is A Story Of Discipline And Sacrifice
Reblogged from The Novel Approach:
“Every day we walk away from once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, chasing after other once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We just have to hope we’re choosing the right thing to chase.” – Leta Blake
You know, sometimes this review business boils down to nothing more than read this book. But while that tells you what to do, it doesn’t say anything at all about why you should read it, which is really the most important part about sharing the love of the books we read.
Oh my goodness! This is such a fantastic review of Training Season from The Novel Approach! I'm over the moon!
Deleted Scene of Matty, Yuliya & Ben at the Rink – Training Season
I deleted about twenty-thousand words from Training Season during edits. The following scene was one that needed to go for various reasons including plausibility and story flow, but I’m very fond of the scene. There are several parts of it that are favorite moments of mine and reveal some of the things I love most about Ben and Matty.
So, here’s a little extra for fans of Training Season! Oh, Ben! Oh, Matty!
Disclaimer: this section was never edited because it was cut early in the process.
Click to buy at Barnes & Noble!
The day Matty took Ben to the ice rink in Whitefish for the first time he’d dressed as Yuliya just like Ben asked. When they walked in, Matty had stopped just inside the lobby of the rink, watching Ben’s face as the inevitable wave of whispers and nasty looks rolled around the room.
Ben turned to him then, his eyes full of hurt, and he pulled Matty out of the building, back to the snowy parking lot. With his face turned away, Ben said in a tight, horrible tone, “It’s not funny after all. I’m sorry. You can take it off.”
“All right, but, it’s okay. Ben, I’m used to it.”
“Well, I’m not.” Ben’s voice quivered. “It scares me. Please.”
Matty released him, took off the glasses and the wig, and shoved them into his bag. He pulled the skirt he wore over his practice leggings off, and shoved it in the bag, too. He ran a hand through his whacked out hair, and asked, “Better?’
Ben’s lips still trembled but he nodded. “Yeah. I guess we should leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Yuliya can’t be here.”
Matty put his hands on Ben’s shoulders. “Look, Ben, I can coach you as myself or I can coach you as Yuliya Romanova. It’s no big deal.”
“Then why is she around at all?”
“She’s better than I am because she can be mean to you if you need it. I can’t be mean to you because you’re just too cute.”
Ben snuffled and sat down on the curb, watching the cars go by on the road. “And because you envy me?”
“Especially because I envy you.” Matty sat down next to him. “Still, if you don’t want her here, if she embarrasses you—”
“It’s not that,” Ben said. “It’s not embarrassment. It’s…God, why are people so mean?”
Matty was quiet for a minute, squinting into the bright day, not sure how to explain or if he even could. “I’m not being a dick when I ask this Ben, I guess I just really want to know, but what were you expecting? That we’d walk in and everyone would clap and laugh and be excited to see a man dressed as a woman?”
“I don’t know,” Ben said. “I guess I thought they’d think it was funny. But they were so…ugh. It’s like at school when people call me a fag because of Dad, or say that he molests me, and I must like to suck cock, and all kinds of shit. I mean, why are they so damn mean just because my dad—” Ben broke off into a muffled sob, and he buried his face in his arms.
Matty rubbed his back, his own throat aching and his eyes full. “I don’t know,” Matty said. It came out as a strained whisper. “I’ve been wondering that for a long time myself.”
“How come it doesn’t bother you?” Ben asked. “Am I just a baby about it?”
“Nah, it does bother me. I guess, though, after a while, I had to stop thinking about how much it hurt, and start thinking about how angry it made me. Changing my focus gave me a way around it. Being angry – it gives me drive. Being hurt – it shuts me down. Don’t get me wrong, Ben, I shut down a lot. I get hurt. A lot. That’s, well, that’s part of what brought me here, actually.”
Ben wiped at his face. “Don’t tell my dad about this, okay? I don’t want him to know about school and stuff. It’ll just make him feel bad, and it doesn’t change anything.”
“That’s a pretty grown-up perspective, little man. But, don’t you think he’d want to know?”
“It’s just it makes me sick when I see how guilty he feels over it. It’s like, lately, he’s been so happy – you know, since you came around. And if he started to look sad again, or guilty like he does when he hears about school shit, then I’d just want to vomit.” Ben hit his fist against his thigh and said, fiercely, “I love him so much, and I fucking hate everyone who says bad shit about him. They suck. I hate them.”
“Yeah, I hate them, too.”
Ben laughed a little. “But you don’t even know them.”
“I don’t have to know them. I know what they’re like and I hate them. But you know what? Hate is good if it makes you get off your ass and do something beautiful, but hate is bad if it makes you get off your ass and do something ugly.”
“Like cry?”
“No, crying can be beautiful. I cry all the time, and I’m pretty when I do it.” Matty wasn’t sure that was true, photos of him crying were less than stellar, but he knew that when he cried his eyes turned a gorgeous shade of clear brown, and that was good enough for him. It was a falsehood he could live with. “No, I’m talking about fighting, or whatever, something violent or wrong. Something beautiful is when you take that anger and you skate it out, or you create something out of it, or you tell your dad you love him because of it, or whatever. It’s alchemy, you know? Taking something ugly and making something gorgeous from it.”
“Alchemy? Isn’t that turning shit into gold or something?”
“Yes, exactly like that. Well, I think it was technically turning rocks into gold, but I’m not entirely sure about that either.”
Ben wiped his face again and stood up. “Okay, let’s go back in.”
“With Yuliya Yasneyev or without her?”
Ben hesitated and looked at his feet. “Will you be mad if I say without her?”
Matty hopped to his feet and put his arm around Ben. “Not in the least.”
Ben said, “Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, kiddo. Just land your jumps, and do what I tell you, and everything will be fine.”
Just before Matty opened the door again, Ben said, “Hey, listen, um…” and he grabbed Matty in a hard hug. Ben pulled away and rolled his shoulders. “Yeah. Okay.”
“I think you’re awesome, too.”
Matty knew he’d never forget how Ben opened the front door of the ice rink with an expression of determination, saying, “Let’s try this again.”
December 9, 2013
The Gay Games Aren’t Just For Gay People! #sports #gaygames9 #gay
The Gay Games only have 6% participation by heterosexuals, mainly because the assumption is that only LGBT people can participate in the games. But that simply isn’t the case! The Gay Games are absolutely inclusive and any athlete can participate.
The Chicago Tribune ran an interesting article about the Gay Games a few years back. I recommend reading it.
Read more about the Gay Games 9, and remember that I’m donating 10% of the first six months profits on Training Season to the Gay Games. Spread the word!
December 8, 2013
Review: Training Season -- by Leta Blake
Reblogged from Bea's Hive Romance Book Reviews:
Other Reviewers: Goodreads
This is an advance reader copy given to me by the author for an honest review. As with all of my review, these are my own opinions.
This is the first book of Leta Blake that I have read, with no preconceived notions of her writing style. This was a great opportunity to read Training Season with fresh eyes.
What an incredibly thoughtful and thought-provoking review of Training Season. I'm honored to have had the book given such serious and meaningful examination. Lovely review. Thank you so much, Bea!
‘Tis the Season for Nook Book! Training Season on Barnes & Noble! #nook #mmromance
Training Season is finally available on Barnes & Noble!
Also, it continues to get raves at Goodreads! It’s broken into the ARe bestsellers list! And it’s been climbing up the charts at Amazon! (It’s at 26/100 at the writing of this, but could be lower on the chart–or higher I suppose–by the time this is published tomorrow morning.)
As for me? I’m still in a state of shock. When I stop smiling and flailing, I’ll let you know how I feel!
Click to buy at Barnes & Noble!
