Leta Blake's Blog, page 80

Happy Birthday To Me! #birthday

I feel like I should be doing something special here on my blog for my birthday. But, truth be told, I’m also bad at birthdays–my own and everyone else’s around me–so I shouldn’t be surprised that I wouldn’t even know where to start with a birthday bash here on my blog.

But I would like to do something special for my 40th birthday, which is next year, and so if you have any ideas for that, please feel free to post them below. What would be an awesome way to have a blog celebration of my official entry to middle age? Let me know!

If I have one wish for my birthday it’s that my daughter is healthy and happy this year. If I have two wishes, then I wish the same for my husband. If I get a third wish, then I want to have more books out next year and have more success in my publishing endeavors. That’s about it. Otherwise, my life is pretty perfect as it is.

Been Reaching High, But Always Losing Ground #music #life

A paper installation of Mt. Hood by Marisa Green and Peter Bogart. Click the photo to see more beautiful pictures of it, especially the lovely one of people standing underneath the floating mountain.

The above picture represents my mind right now. I’m in the midst of completing the final touches on this draft (and there’s sure to be another draft!) of Training Season, a m/m romance about a figure skater and a rancher. Yes, really. You did read that right.

As I push through to the end, adding the necessary pieces to make this mountain fly (see above), I find that other responsibilities in my life are falling through the cracks. Emails to friends, reading I’m supposed to do for a fellow author, careful review of my child’s homework (oops, I might suck), and even my 20 year High School Reunion. Yep, it’s true. I skipped it to work on this novel.

So this is me apologizing to you–whoever you are, all of you, any of you–because of how I’ve let you down. I know that I have in some way or another. Hopefully, before too long, I will be in a place where the novel is in my editor’s hands and I get some room to breathe. For my child’s sake, at least, I hope this is soon.

This song is also fairly representative of how I feel right now. Listen and enjoy!

You see, when I’ve touched the sky

The earth’s gravity has pulled me down

But now I’ve reconciled that in this world

Birds and angels get the wings to fly

If you can believe in this heart of mine

If you can give it a try

Then I’ll reach inside and find and give you

All the sweetness that I have

At this point in my life

–Tracy Chapman

Oh, heck, here is that pic I was talking about above, because it really is so lovely. The smile on her face, the glow of the lights, the floating paper mountain. Humanity. Only humans do these things.

Anais Nin, Feminist’s Nightmare, too?

Taylor Swift is so hated by the feminist-ophere and, as a feminist, I really don’t get it. I’ve posted about this before but when I ran across a certain Anais Nin quote, I was reminded of how nasty feminist bloggers are about Taylor Swift.

For example, not too long ago, Swift was quoted as saying, “Relationships are the ultimate collaboration but It’s wonderful to hand over the reins to your boyfriend when you control so much of these big, high-pressure decisions, you know?”

Almost immediately feminist blogs started blasting her for this admission that, oh my goodness, at home, she likes her man to take control. I recalled the Jezebel article which calls Taylor Swift a feminist’s nightmare and this quote in particular:

For Taylor, fifteen means falling for a boy and dreaming of marrying him. My fifteen was more like: Flirt with this one, make out with that one, try a cigarette, get drunk, lie to your parents, read some Anais Nin, wish you lived in France, attempt to adopt Shakespearean euphemisms for sex into casual conversation (“beast with two backs” was very popular in my circle Freshman year), etc. 

Yes, that’s right. READ SOME ANAIS NIN. I somehow don’t think the author of that Jezebel article read this particular quote:

I do not want to be the leader. I refuse to be the leader. I want to live darkly and richly in my femaleness. I want a man lying over me, always over me. His will, his pleasure, his desire, his life, his work, his sexuality the touchstone, the command, my pivot. I don’t mind working, holding my ground intellectually, artistically; but as a woman, oh, God, as a woman I want to be dominated. I don’t mind being told to stand on my own feet, not to cling, be all that I am capable of doing, but I am going to be pursued, fucked, possessed by the will of a male at his time, his bidding.

- Anais Nin

I think that Jezebel should get right on shaming Anais Nin for that, dead though she may be. Because, clearly, Anais Nin is a feminist’s nightmare if that’s what she thought.

Also, for the record, my age fifteen looked a lot more like Taylor Swift’s version of fifteen, and you know what? That’s okay.

In other news, I wish that feminists would clue in to the idea that haranguing a young woman for her sexual choices, for being cisgendered, for being white isn’t really very feminist at all.

Autumn’s Here #music #autumn

This song just about sums up how I feel about autumn. It’s interesting to me, though, that so many of my novels are set, or at least begin, in autumn. I can only think it is because of the deep stirring of sadness inside me and it’s a well of feeling I can draw from to work into a book.

You can tell by the wind

By fresh cut wood

All stacked to dry

That autumn’s here

And it makes you sad

About the crummy

Summer we had

With pine trees creeking

The raven’s screeching

Just like the story my grandma tells

About when a bird

Hits your window

And someone you know

Is about to die

Autumn’s here, autumn’s here

It’s ok if you want to cry

’cause autumn’s here, autumn’s here, autumn’s here

So find a sweater

And you’ll be better

Until the kindling is tinder dry

We can be quiet

As we walk down

To see the graveyard

Where they are now

I wonder how

They brought their piano

To holdene hill

From old berlin

Be hard to keep it

It well in tune

With winters like the one

That’s coming soon

Cause auntumn’s here, autumn’s here

It’s time to cry now

That autumn’s here,autumn’s here, autumn’s

It’s ok if you want to cry

Because autumn’s here

I think that ghosts like

The cooler weather

When leaves turn colour

They get together

And walk along ways

These old back roads

Where no one lives and

And no one goes

With all their hopes set

On the railway

That never came and

that no one stayed

I guess that autumn

Gets you remembering

And the smallest things

Just make you cry.

Autumn’s here, autumn’s here, autumn’s here that autumn’s here

Autumn’s here, it’s time to cry

Cause autumn’s here ooooooo

Autumn’s here, autumn’s here

It’s ok now, cause autumn’s heeeere

woooooo wooooo

Tempting Tales 1 and 2! More Sexy Fairy Tales! #gay #fairytales

If you enjoyed Keira’s and my latest book, Love’s Nest, don’t forget to check out the other gay fairy tales we’ve written!

Click through to buy at Amazon!

Click through to buy at Amazon!

You’re Not An Alien #music #cameron

My daughter is obsessed with this song. You might want to be obsessed with it, too. I’m not sure.

Loving Peter and Reimagined Fairy Tales #gay #fairytales

Check out Keira’s blog reposted below for a chance to win books!

Fall into Romance (via http://www.keiraandrews.com)

I’m delighted to be part of TRR’s Fall into Romance Hop! The hop will run from September 13 to 21, 2013, so you have nine days to hop around for book recs and tons of chances to win terrific prizes. Reimagined romance My book recommendation is Bonnie…

Oh, I Love You, New York! #nyc #brooklyn

Hi, hello! I’m back from my vacation with my little Bird child and now I need to reply to all comments I’ve missed while I was away. You know, the two or three I missed. Because my blog is super popular, kids.

Where I’ve been!

Blink And You’ll Miss It #hiatus

Taking a small break to enjoy life! Be back later, y’all!

She Threw It Away! #therifter #ginnhale #omgwtf

I wrote The Rifter first but couldn’t find a publisher for it so I moved on to Lord of the White Hell. At one point I threw the entire Rifter manuscript away because it took up too much memory on my rickety old computer. (Fortunately a few copies were still drifting around in my writers group.)

Then Nicole Kimberling, (editor at Blind Eye Books), and Gavin Grant, (owner of Weightlessbooks.com) started kicking around the idea of publishing a digital serial. Nicole remembered my giant manuscript and realized that it was long enough to run for nearly a year; the massive behemoth was reborn as ten slim volumes. — Ginn Hale, Goodreads Interview

Listen, we all know I’m obsessed with The Rifter by Ginn Hale. But, listen, when I read the above paragraphs, I actually nearly burst into tears. Okay, maybe I did burst into tears.

1) The idea that this book was ever thrown away by its creator? That, if there weren’t copies drifting around in her writer’s group, it might have been gone forever? The thought that I might not have had the reading experience that I’ve had? It actually brings me to the verge of tears and strikes a bit of terror in my heart. I have fallen in love with this book, so deeply, so truly, that the idea that it almost didn’t happen is deeply upsetting to me.

2) Then there is this rage at the fact that she could not find a publisher for this book. The only reason I can imagine for that is because of LGBT characters. I cannot fathom any other reason. Not even the size should have put someone off this book unless they were creatively stunted idiots who couldn’t figure out packaging issues.

3) Guys, it took her five years to write this book and she almost didn’t get it published, it almost didn’t see the light of day. My God, and yet she kept writing. How exhausting and disheartening that must have been. I kinda want to hold her and cry on her shoulder and tell her that I’m so happy she didn’t throw the book away, but I also can’t meet her because I’d do just that and that is weird.

Anyway, wow, I just had to quickly blog about my crazy emotional response to reading that part of the article. I know I am insane, but that’s part of the beauty of me.

THANK YOU to everyone who believed in The Rifter and didn’t let Ginn Hale give up on it. Thank you to Ginn Hale for taking five years to write it. Thank you to the creative brains that figured out packaging. Thank you to those of you who buy it, too, because this woman deserves money for her work and effort. Thank you for those who love it with me. Thank you, universe, for coming together to give me The Rifter.