Leta Blake's Blog, page 76

I Know You Don’t Believe Me But Writing Is My Job #writerprobs #life

I uncovered this post in my drafts section. I clearly started it last February sometime, but never finished it. It still applies, so I decided to post it now. Though, no, we haven’t had any snow in October. No worries. LOL!

Well, writing is one of my jobs. I actually have two that pay money and, like all mothers and wives, several that I do for free. The trouble is everyone else sees writing as something I do for fun, and it’s never as important as what they’ve got planned.

For example, we had several Fridays in a row which were canceled for snow days recently. Fridays are my only day free to write. Monday through Thursday are taken up with my day job that pays our bills, Saturday and Sunday are family days, and given my husband’s work schedule, I’m often solo-parenting those days. You can imagine my extreme frustration at losing my writing days to snow. Especially after I’d lost my writing days to holidays, illness, and more childcare issues since before Christmas.

Now, imagine my hopeful relief to see a phone call come through on these snowy Fridays from someone who is a childcare provider for my child. Had they recalled that I write on Fridays? Where they offering to let me bring my kid over to play with their child for the day? Could my writing day be saved?

Hahahah. No. In fact, it was someone calling to ask if I could watch their kid, too, while they went to the events they’d originally had planned for that day because, “I know you’re home on Fridays.” I agreed to help out believing that my day would come. And the next week when it snowed they canceled school again. The phone rang and it was a different sometime-childcare provider. I thought, “This is it! My payback for my good deed last week!”

No.

“Hi, I was wondering if you could take Mandy for the day? I’ve got some errands I wanted to run and I know you’re home on Fridays.”

I should have said no. I should have said, “Actually, I can’t. I was hoping you’d take my child because I have work today.”

But I feel guilty. Because I’m at home doing something fun (my work) and I could be helping them and…and…and….

Recently, a friend of mine related a conversation she had with her husband about honoring her writing time. She writes sitting in her bed because she can’t concentrate that well at her desk, and her husband and child would constantly come in and loll about chatting with her while she worked. Finally, she said, “Okay, would it be okay if I came to your workplace, sat my ass down on your desk and started yakking at you while letting our kid tear around your cubicle? No, of course it wouldn’t. So, if we think of writing as my JOB, can you see how maybe this behavior is a bit of a problem?”

Hopefully this conversation with her husband will make an impression.

I sometimes think that I just need to be more selfish. But I feel selfish enough as it is taking all this time away from my family to spend with imaginary people. So, I’ve got to get past that if I ever want to make this writing thing truly work.

Thanks for listening.

Dat Ass! No, Really, Dat Ass! #brianjoubert #datass #figureskating

Listen, it’s in French. I don’t know French, but I don’t care what they’re saying. Dat ass!

Oh, and he does some really nifty figure skating sometimes, too. Indeed.

The Kitten Keyboard Fetish

N’awww. The kitties.

The Kitten Keyboard Fetish.

Can’t Shake the Last Book Yet #stuck #writerproblems

Okay, so, I’ll admit it. I’m having a hard time transitioning out of Training Season writing mode. The book is nearly done–mostly, almost entirely–and is in someone else’s hands right now. I want to work on ’90s Coming of Age novel…but I can’t seem to move on from TS yet. And while I do want to work on ’90′s COA, I also want to do something absurd and completely useless like, I don’t know, re-watch (or gorge on unwatched) Christian and Olli vids on YouTube.

I don’t remember where I left off watching you two, but I feel like maybe I need to stay up until 5:00 a.m. binge-watching whatever I haven’t seen before. Or maybe I should start at the beginning and watch you fall in love again?

Am I allowed to do that? I mean, really? Can I? I know I can and I’m allowed, but not writing what I “should” be writing definitely makes me feel like I’m wasting precious time. But, then again, maybe this is the refueling rest-stop on the way to actually doing something? I doubt I’d spend more than one or two nights drugging my brain with Christian and Olli.

So, I guess I will. Maybe. I dunno. Sure.

Oh, and I watched like six episodes of DeGrassi with my kid today, which makes me the parent of the year or something (DOUBTFUL, maybe it’s opposite) and I kind of want to spend tomorrow watching a shit-ton more. Someone get me that parent of the year badge. I’ll wait here. FOREVER.

North Carolina #photos #carolina

Before I got sick last week, I traveled to NC and met my co-writer, Keira, and some of our mutual friends for the very first time in person. It was a wonderful day. We took a boat tour and stopped by a flower bridge. Everyone was wonderful and the weather, though threatening a storm, was a good temperature. If only the puking had stayed at bay, I would’ve gone horseback riding the next day. Alas, I had to worship at the throne of the porcelain god instead.

Fanwork Friday: My Life Would Suck Without You #dero #awz

I was looking up some YouTube fanvids for Roman Wild from the German Soap, Alles was zählt and found this amazing ‘shipper vid for Roman and his main love interest, Deniz. I admit that the color fades at the end were a bit much, but it doesn’t negate the otherwise awesome presentation of the truly fucked up, hot, and tender love between Deniz and Roman. Jeez, I’d forgotten how hot their kisses were. American soaps? Take note. This is how hot man-on-man kisses should be, not that dreary, cardboard you give us!

Also, the perv in me would like to point out the perfect placement of the shower scene to the line “you’ve got a piece of me”. Nicely done, vidder. Nicely done.

One used to be able to view all of Deniz and Roman’s story translated by some wonderful fan volunteers. I’m not sure that’s still available. If a fan knows and reads this post, feel free to enlighten me and others as to where that can be found!

FWIW, their romance ends tragically, but it’s a German soap, so what were you expecting? Hell, it is a soap, so what were you expecting? Let’s not talk about trains, okay? I’m still not over it.

Johnny Weir Retires! Hooray! #johnnyweir #goodboy

Okay, so we all know I love Johnny Weir. (If you didn’t know, I love Johnny Weir! He was definitely an inspiration for my upcoming novel!) So you might be wondering why I am cheering his retirement. Well, gotta say, Johnny needed to retire. This is a smart call for him. It’s the right thing for his life and his body and his skating reputation. I think he’s amazing, but it’s time to move on.

Johnny Weir Retires

I firmly believe that the only reason he even attempted a return to training and competition was because, after years and years of that being his life, he just didn’t know what else to do with himself. I think running around like a chicken with its head cut off, doing anything and everything asked of him for those years after the Olympics took its toll, too, on someone accustomed to discipline and rigor, and so I imagine he returned to training because that was a known quantity and a comfort.

Whatever Johnny does going forward, I think he’ll be good at. He just needs to turn thirty and grow into his new self. He’ll be fine. And fabulous. And pretty. And famous. Forever.

Editor or proofreader – which do you need?

Editor or proofreader – which do you need?.

What’s the Right Price for M/M Romance Books? #mmromance #marketing #amreading

 

So, the other day, I noticed that someone who has always read Keira’s and my books added the latest, Love’s Nest, to their to-be-read shelf on Goodreads. That was nice and I’m grateful for that indeed. I hope she does get around to reading it and I very much hope she enjoys it.

I noticed, also, that she commented saying that the book was pricey and that she was giving a lot of thought to how expensive m/m romances are these days. I’m not sure if that is due to her personal situation, like perhaps she doesn’t have as much to spend, or if she’s noticed an increase in price of late or decided the books weren’t worth the expense.

(For the record, as an author, when I go through a press, I don’t get to choose the price of my book.)

 

Obviously, there is no way to answer those questions, and that’s fine. But it made me think–what is the right price for an m/m romance?

I glanced around the internet and there is a lot of discussion about that very question. But I’m asking you, dear readers, what is that magic number for you? Does it have to do with how long the book is? Does it have to do with genre? I’m going to be putting out a 200 page book in about four months and I’d love to have it priced just right. 

What’s your number? Hit me! And tell me why! Por favor!

Dying for sex: it’s a male marsupial thing

Totally, crazy, wow, fascinating.

Dying for sex: it’s a male marsupial thing.