Megan Erickson's Blog, page 2

OVEREXPOSED Release Day!

OVEREXPOSED is finally here!

 

For some reason, this book release felt like it took extra long. I’m not sure why. BUT IT’S HERE NOW. And you get to hike the Appalachian Trail with Thad and Levi.

So, the Appalachian Trail runs from Georgia to Maine, and part of the trail crosses very close to where I live. Every year, I attend a family reunion at the park the trail cuts through. This August, I took a picture.

New series announcement… vampires!

Hey everyone! I wanted to get a post up to announce that I am writing a new series for Penguin Random House/Loveswept about vampires!

 

YES! It will be called the Mission series and the first book is called BLOODGUARD. I’m super excited about it. I’ve loved vampires forever, and this series is a little gritty and snarky and of course sexy. To sum up, a vampire must protect a feisty human from a band of assassins, all while resisting his attraction to her because his mission is to deliver her to his brother… to be his wife. And the future of the human race depends on that marriage. No big deal, right?

Here’s a little Novel Aesthetic I put together. In case it’s not clear, this is an m/f romance.

 

I know it’s not out for a year, so this is a tease, BUT I’M EXCITED, OKAY??? I have some of this written already and I’m having so much fun.

Ok, so that’s all…. for now. OVEREXPOSED is out Tuesday. Yes! Tuesday! And so far, I’m really blown away by the messages I’m getting from early readers. Thank you all for reading! I can’t wait for everyone to meet Thad and Levi.

Also, stay tuned because I have another new series to announce soon… and the first book in that series will be out THIS YEAR. Stay tunnnned.

How I self-care

So I’ve blogged about my anxiety before. If you want to read the post, you can do so here. So yes, I do take medication and that helps IMMENSELY, but medication is not a standalone solution. Medication is like… when you buy a shirt and you think you look amazing, then you go to work and under the fluorescent lights, the shirt is see-through and everyone can see your bra that you should have thrown away last year.

 

Medication best works in conjunction with other things like self-care and therapy. Therapy is amazing. I don’t go and that’s really only out of sheer laziness because I don’t want to put the work in to find a good therapist. Don’t be like Megan. Go to therapy.

HOWEVER, I’m not too bad at self-care. I know when my heart starts pounding, and I get a little flail-y and unfocused that I’m on that panic attack clown car, and I need to get the fuck off even if it’s already going at 50 mph. Social media is a big source of anxiety for me. Maybe because sometimes it feels like a lot of people yelling. And that’s okay. What is a source of anxiety for me is that I sincerely care about what people are usually yelling about. So I care about this, and that and then all of a sudden, I have way too much… care-age (made up word) in my head and that’s when the ignition in the clown car starts.

Therefore, I’m going to tell you what I do for self-care. These might not be things that work for you. But maybe they will give you ideas OR encourage you to make a list of things that help you. So you can refer to it when your brain is like OMGWTFBBQARGH.

1. Go for a drive: I do this because when I’m in the car, driving, I can’t be on my phone. I can’t be answering emails or messages or checking Twitter or finding out that someone I thought was cool is posting #alllivesmatter like an asshole on Facebook. So I put on music that makes me happy and I driiiiiive. I go on back roads where I’m not going to see a lot of cars and I listen to old school Good Charlotte (I yell out Motivation Proclamation like no other), and sing along with Green Day or whatever. I often get story ideas in the car or work out plot points that aren’t matching up with is a major bonus.

If you don’t know who this is, we’re not friends.

 

2. TREAT YO’SELF: And I’m not saying you need to go out and buy like $200 shoes. Swear to God, treating myself is going to Sheetz and getting a Krispy Kreme. It makes me happy. Or ordering washi tape off of Etsy (I got really cute cat tape the other day, which I plan to cover myself with). But doing something for myself makes a difference in how I feel. Saying, “I deserve this because I didn’t cry in the fetal position today” is valid. I mean, hell, if I did cry in the fetal, then I deserve that damn donut even more.

 

3. Exercise: I know! I know! Getting sweaty and moving limbs is the worst. I like to take a walk around my neighborhood but if you live somewhere or in a climate where that’s not possible, then just get moving in whatever space you have. Even some sit ups or jumping jacks, or whatever. You’ll feel better. You’ll have more energy. You become more aware of your body and it’s power and how humans are pretty cool when we’re not being assholes.

I had to include this gif because LOL what is this????

 

4. READ. Yeah, like duh. Pick up a comfort read. For me, that’s probably a lot of Kristen Ashley. Find a book/author you can read again and again and finish that book with a smile on your face and a full heart.

5. Write: Yeah, this is probably not for everyone. But writing is self-care for me. I like to write a random scene that no one will ever read, just something that popped into my head. It feels so good to get it down. And who knows, maybe I’ll come back to it later. But I feel like it… empties out my head. And gives me room for new ideas.

Fast Connection Release Day!

Hey everyone! It feels like just yesterday that Santino Hassell and I were playing around on Twitch and dreaming up Kai and Garrett from Strong Signal. And now, here we are, releasing the second book in the series. We had so much fun writing these characters, from Dominic Costigan’s smart-ass comments to Luke Rawlings’ grumpy retorts. So we’re thrilled you all to get read about them as they claw their way to a happily ever after. Grindr-style.

Cover reveal for Overexposed

Hey everyone!

I’m excited to share the cover for OVEREXPOSED (In Focus #4) which is out 9/20. This book is about Levi (from OUT OF FRAME) as he decides to get out of the spotlight of the reality show he’s been on, and hike the Appalachian Trail. He’s also mourning the death of his sister, who died while serving overseas.

I really adore this book. It’s a little more intense than OUT OF FRAME, more in line with the one of FOCUS ON ME. And I hope you all like it too. AND HOW PERFECT IS THIS COVER?? It captures the tone of the book perfectly.

writing, anxiety, and why they are inseparable for me

So May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I’ve been very open on social media about the fact that I have anxiety and take daily medication for it. And I’ve mentioned a couple of times how it affects my writing. But I’m not quite sure I ever wrote a full blog post about it. When I asked on Twitter if you all would like to read something about it, you said yes.

So, here we go.

I’ve always been a worrier. At least, that was what I called it. I thought it was normal to wake up in the middle of the night, nauseous and unable to breath because I just remembered something I said two weeks ago and what if that person told this person and the entire world hated me now?

It was bad in high school but again, I just chalked it up to like… teenage hormones. Normal stuff. In college, things weren’t so bad. Then I graduated and got a job, and the worrying started again. Again, I thought it was “my personality” or my temperament.

Then I had a kid. And if you’ve ever been pregnant, you get it. If not, lemme explain. You don’t just grow a child for nine months and pop that sucker out, lose the baby weight and everything’s all dandy until you get knocked up again. NOOOOOOPE. Getting pregnant forever changes you. I am more sensitive to smell and taste. I LOVED wine before I got pregnant. Now? I’m finally starting to like it again after six years. My body temperature runs hotter than it used to.

And my brain? Oh my brainnnnn. Bless your heart, Megan’s brain, because you didn’t take this well AT ALL.

With a newborn, I couldn’t handle life. I thought every decision would impact my kid’s future in HUGE NEGATIVE WAYS. It wasn’t until he was eight months old, and I had a complete crying meltdown in Babies R Us (because what sippy cup he used was super important, right?) that I realized shit was not right. I was not okay.

I think my official diagnosis is post-partum anxiety. But after talking to my doctor, we realized I’d been having panic attacks for years, which I attributed to low blood sugar. I just ate more protein. Funny how that never really helped…

So, I got on medication. Fun fact: Your body getting used to SSRI drugs is not really fun. Not so much. It was like morning sickness all over again for weeks. But once the drugs kicked in, it was like all the bolts in my body loosened. I wasn’t wound so tight. I could BREATHE. I could make decisions without agonizing over them for weeks.

I could live.

And for me, FOR ME, that opened up the floodgates of creativity. I’ve always been a writer, but I think I couldn’t let myself go enough for an entire novel to form in my head. Two months after beginning medication, I had my ribs tattooed with a ink bottle and feather quill, the words ‘carpe diem’ crawled below them. A month after that, I wrote my first book.

Wow, this is getting long. Sorry about that. I feel like you all needed that backstory.

So, writing and anxiety.

My medication, IMO, was what I needed to jumpstart my brain. The fog cleared. But you know what happened? Then there was SO MUCH SHIT TO FOCUS ON. And I’ve heard this is a common side effect of anti-anxiety meds, but I can’t focus worth a fuck, to be quite honest. My husband will be talking to me, and I’ll zone out in the middle of his sentence. I lose everything in my house. I miss appointments. I forget to take my kids’ snack into school. My brain always feels like it’s focusing on two many things at one time but I have a hard time… uh… weeding them out.

I’m a mess.

I’d rather be this mess than the other mess, though.

However, the one time I can focus is when I write. I get asked a lot how I write so much. It’s because I write in sprinting blocks. I shut everything out for 30 minutes to an hour and just WRITE. It’s amazing that it’s pretty much the only thing I can do that takes my entire focus. I get in the “zone” and I pound out words (I’m taking my abused keyboard into the Genius Bar to get fixed today because my N has had enough of my shit).

I’ve been working on different ways to organize my life. I used to be able to hold everything in my head fine but my meds are all, FUCK THAT. I have gone through three different planners and am now trying a bullet journal, so we’ll see how it goes! Hopefully that’ll help me sort my shit out.

I have been thinking a lot about my anxiety lately now that I took a short breather. I released a lot of books last year and wrote a lot too. I was constantly on deadline. I told myself I’d take a break in April of this year. And you know what? IT SUCKED. It was like my brain didn’t know what to do now that it didn’t have that dedicated focus time every day. It neeeeeds it. It fuels it. It allows me to sort out everything else when I have that time to spew out everything that’s circulating in my brain. Writing is like my brain’s every day spring cleaning.

Sometimes I hate my brain. I wish I could focus. I wish I didn’t worry myself to the point that I’m physically sick. I wish I was that organized mom who did cool Pinterest shit. I wish I could handle the PTA. I wish I didn’t say awkward things. I wish I was appropriate and didn’t swear too much or talk about blow jobs when I’m not supposed to. But I’m not. And the older I get, the more I’m learning to accept me for who I am, and not who I think I should be. I strive to be a better version of myself every day, but I can’t be something I’m not.

You see now why it’s all connected? I’m not the writer I’d be without my anxiety, without the medication, without my brain chemistry the way it is. I need it all, I guess. And that’s why mental health awareness is so important to me, because it’s a huge part of my life. If I hadn’t gotten help, I’m not sure I’d be writing right now. It’s one of the reasons mental health is such a common issue in my books. Because having your brain be your own worst enemy is fucking terrifying.

I write because I don’t know what else to do. Because there’s no way to clear my head. Because I think the writing is another form of medication for me. It’s not all I need, but it’s one component. A version of my therapy.

This business can be hard on those with mental health. There is constant rejection and criticism. I think at the core, you gotta write for you. And it’s okay to do what you need to do for self-care. Whether that’s taking a break. Whether that’s writing whatever is in your head regardless of whether it’s marketable right now. I also have side projects that I go to when I need to clear my head. Whenever I just need to get words down and not feel pressure.

This was long and ramble-y. But I hope it helped somewhat. Obvious disclaimer that this is all my experience and I’m not trying to diagnose anyone. If you feel like you can benefit from talking to someone, call your doctor. I know that first phone call is hard as fuck, but damn am I ever glad I did.

Tips on a Successful Co-write

So I’ve had a lot of people ask me about how cowriting works. And Santino Hassell (my Cyberlove series co-writer) and I have done a couple of interviews on how specifically we work. You can find links to those here. However, I thought I’d make a generic how-to post, since I see more and more writers teaming up. Obviously, these are only my opinions. But I feel pretty strongly about them. Take ‘em or leave ‘em. I’m not the first person to cowrite and a book and I won’t be the last. I hope you get something out of it!

1. Choose wisely

Why are you cowriting with this person? When Santino and I chose to write together, it was because we had utmost respect for each other’s work. And we were friends. We understood each other’s schedules and thought we could pull off meshing our different writing styles. While our partnership went well, I can see the many ways cowriting could go wrong. Get to know your cowriter first. Don’t jump in without your eyes open.

2. Leave your ego at the door

No really. Shut it in a closet. Lock the door. You are both staring down a blank page of nothing together, starting from scratch. No one is Gordon Ramsey here. You are both home cooks looking to pull off a souffle without it falling.

Cowriting is a different beast from writing alone. A different skill. And as soon as you start thinking you don’t need your cowriter, then that’s when it all falls through. Discuss how much tweaking you can do with each others’ words. But honestly, word choice is a small thing compared to the entire book you’re producing. If your cowriter changes a word, it’s probably for the better. Don’t get huffy because they changed ‘asked’ to ‘said.’

3. Decide on your goal

What are you hoping to accomplish with this book? Get it out as fast as possible to hit a trend (no shade)? Is it a story that you are working together on the side in conjunction with other projects? Is this about building your fanbases? Hitting a list? Whatever it is, talk about it. Your goals might shift while you are writing, or after you’re writing, or even once the ARC reviews roll in. That’s fine. Either way, talk about it!

4. How you gettin’ paid?

If you’re self-publishing, you need to discuss whose account you’ll be using for deposits, and how you’ll pay the other writer. There are a zillion apps that you can use with no fees (unlike paypal). So look into it and decide early how you plan to document your expenses and profit for complete transparency.

5. Play to your strengths.

Overall, I had more time and more comfort with marketing, therefore I took the reins on that in our cowriting partnership. Santino took a lot of the responsibility for communicating with our formatter and proofer. Even within your two-man team, delegating is crucial. You should both be leaders and step up to the plate where you think you can be most effective.

6. COMMUNICATE.

All caps, because for real. You don’t communicate, and I don’t see it going well. We are both loose plotters, so we talk before every chapter to make sure we’re on the same page.

7. Have fun

Seriously. It’s pretty awesome not to be responsible for every single word in a book. And there are so many times that opening the doc to see what my cowriter wrote is like Christmas morning. I love that feeling!

So have at it, kids. Produce awesome books.

A Thing Happened

A Thing Happened to the little Megan Erickson book business. You know in Jerry Maguire when he says to Dorothy that their little company just had a big moment? That’s how I feel right now. This author business, which I’ve kicked and scratched and clawed uphill both ways to do, had a big moment.

It’s this.

Yep. That’s my book. On the USA Today bestsellers list. For those of you who aren’t sure what this means (like my mom), it means I sold a lot of books in one week, and I can now use the title USA Today bestselling author from here on out. And that’s awesome.

Changing his Game was a book I wrote because I had this crazy sexy concept that began with a naughty tumblr post and it went from there. This was fun to write, and a little bit silly, and a lot sexy. Thankfully, my agent, along with editor Heather Howland and Entangled, were on board. And I’m thrilled readers love it too. It came out last year, and last week, Entangled put it on sale because the last in the series comes out in May, and we watched as it climbed the charts.

So thank you to the readers who’ve supported me since I published Anchor Me and Make it Count. Thank you so so much. I can’t wait for what’s to come.

 

 

Out of Frame Release Day!

I’m so excited that OUT OF FRAME is now available. This is the third book in the In Focus series but can be read as standalone.

Couple of points about this boo:

– It’s lighter in tone than previous books in the series.

– It takes place on a cruise ship!

– One main character is bisexual

– Main relationship is interracial

– There’s beer pong

I enjoyed writing this book and revisited the In Focus world. The previous characters in the series make cameos, so watch out for that!

I hope you enjoy!

Romance trades the open road for the high seas in the latest from the author of Focus on Me and Trust the Focus…

Perpetually shy, Quinn Mathers is content to remain in the shadow of his brash best friend Jess Hartman. But before their college graduation, he and Jess have planned one last hurrah: a spring break Caribbean cruise.

And it won’t be just any cruise. On board are members of the reality show Trip League, which follows young twenty-somethings on adventures around the world. Since the show’s beginning, Quinn has been fascinated by J. R. Butler, with his amazing body, warm eyes, and killer grin. Unfortunately, he’s straight—or so the world thinks.

At nineteen, J. R. signed a contract to play straight for the show, and there’s no way to get out of it now. Yet with each passing day, Quinn and J. R. find it harder to keep their hands off each other and to keep out of the camera’s frame. But when the lens finally focuses on them, J. R. must decide if he’s willing to risk his career by admitting his bisexuality, and Quinn must determine if he’s bold enough to stand in the spotlight with the man of his dreams…

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Your cyberlove stories (part 2)

This week, Santino Hassell and I released Strong Signal, which is about a deployed soldier who begins an online relationship with a video game streamer back in the states. The entire Cyberlove series will be about relationships that start online. So about a month ago we asked readers to submit their stories about a love or friendship that started online. We received over thirty stories, and there were so much fun to read. You can check out the first part on Santino’s blog here. And today, I’m hosting the final part.

And now that the book has been out for a couple of days, I want to say thank you for the amazing response. We hadn’t realized just how many people would relate to Kai. And to Garrett, and most specifically, HOW they met online. So thank you.

And here are your stories!

Cyberlove via fandom

“I think the internet gives people the anonymity needed to truly be themselves and then decide if they want to reveal who they are. I have made some lasting connections that way and I am grateful! ”

-Rachel met some of her best friends through fandom

 

“I think it’s that I just felt so comfortable because at home, no one else liked anime or talked about gender issues and race issues and political correctness? I was actually made fun of at times by siblings, so talking to Rin and Yuzu is like my safe place to unload, whether it’s happy or sad. They’ve been there for me during some extremely traumatizing stuff and have even talked me down from anxiety attacks. ”

-Reira Heart met Yuzu and Rin, her good friends, on Tumblr

 

“We’ve helped each other out when needed and to this day I don’t know what I would do without him, just because how he makes me feel. ”

-B met their boyfriend through a Harry Potter website/chat

 

Cyberlove in Romancelandia

“She is 1/4 of my soul #LF1.

Elise is one of the friendliest, sweetest, funniest people I have ever met. She has become my personal therapist and daily organizer lol

We talk daily whether it be on chat, text, or actual phone conversations ((which the minimum phone convo is over an hour)). ”

-Stephanie met Elise on a book discussion group

 

“Nearly 3 years. We finally met each other at RainbowCon last year. I also met @dawnhoneyc”

-Lilgator met JR Gray on Twitter

 

“We just clicked. We can talk about anything- not just books. She probably knows more about me than people in my RL. Since then, we’ve met each other once in person. Wish we lived in the same state at least. ”

-Li Li met Laci on Goodreads

 

“There is an incredible intimacy that comes with chatting people up online. Even if  you’re just making connections, the barriers kinda come down. I’ve met wonderful people in my own city online, and I’m developing friendships with them in person now. Slowly but surely, the Internet can help people fine a friend, or more, that just gets them. It can be scary, sure. Trusting people is a really frightening thing, but sometimes the benefits can be so amazing. I’m now in friendships that I know will last forever.  ”

-Kristie met Mare in an SE Jakes FB group

 

“Internet connections can lead to relationships as casual or as real and deep as any other. But with fewer points of contact and without vocal or visual signals they can be more tenuous, more susceptible to misunderstanding and hurt, so they require special care.”

-Anonymous met their dearest friend after reading their book

 

“We connected by talking about the various stories on the site, and various issues that come up when you’re young, gay, and semicloseted. ”

-Anon met their friend of 12 years on a free gay fiction website (this friend also introduced them to their fiance!)

 

Cyberlove though social media

“We chatted online for 4 months before we decided to meet in person. We tried to meet up at mutal events multiple times, but either one of us didn’t go to event, or one of us was too shy to say we were there. ”

-Anon met their life partner 12 years ago on social media

 

“We were both hanging around a chatroom called Sharon’s. I literally had no idea it was a so-called “alternative lifestyles” room, it just seemed like a hopping, fun place to chat. He was a bit moody and we seriously had nothing in common but we somehow became inseparable.”

-Rafa met her husband in a chatroom

 

“I felt like we got to know one another on a really deep level without all the extra. We could just be real.”

-Mrs. Mueller got to know her husband more after chatting on FB

 

“This is really hard to put into words and is going to be long and ramble a hell of a lot…  For a whole year or so we chatted online until the early hours of the morning, maybe 4 times a week, basically every night I wasn’t getting trashed (he didn’t drink a lot back then). It was an instant connection, we randomly liked the same things, even going to the extent of co-writing a play (no idea why a play and not a book – that would have made sense), playing weird as fuck games, him convincing me to play WoW, online versions of every board game we could find and not have to pay for.  One of my biggest regrets is not keeping our chat history, both of us have lost it, would have been amazing to look back on.

After about a year or so of this we kind of realized that we hadn’t even exchanged phone numbers, and that felt a bit weird, possibly the most important friend in my life had no way of contacting me other than online. So we swapped numbers and text each other now and then but still did the whole MSN until dawn thing. But the exchange of numbers changed our relationship, it kind of started to cement our friendship in RL. ”

-Daniel met his friend/soulmate James 11 years ago on a forum

 

“Our sense of humor, music, hard to describe. We would talk for hours. We clicked. Neither of us had had a serious gf/bf before and we were both virgins.”

-Anon met their ex-boyfriend of 2.5 years on ICQ (when asking about Napster!)

 

“I think the internet is truly a powerful piece of technology. Yes, there’s a great deal of focus on cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, and all the other negative things that the internet is used for, and that attention is necessary in order to bring about awareness. But the internet can also serve as a bridge, bringing together people of different nationalities, cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, etc. It causes divisiveness only if we allow it to. :)”

-Jen met her friend of twenty years on a Penpal website

 

“We chatted a lot the first night we friended one another and quickly realized we were both queer AND had both been born premature. After that, we were friendly and slowly started emailing and then texting.

Things changed when we both went through break-ups within six months of each other. We were reading a lot of the same books and both read The Hunger Games series around the same time. Between that and being there for each other, we were suddenly texting all day long and growing incredibly close.

One day, I realized that my feelings had gone beyond friendship. To my surprise, when I confessed it to her, we were both in the same place.

A few months after that, I flew to California to meet her in person. And now, I’m planning to move there this year! ”

-Molli met her girlfriend 7 years ago on LiveJournal

 

“Husband:well xD, he is my husband, when I met him in internet he was shy, and quiet, and all the things that I´m not!! xD. He was nice, and kind, and I felt he was somebody to trust. Fortunately, I was not wrong.”

-Anon met her husband in a chatroom

 

 

About Strong Signal:

I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.

That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel. 

I never expected to become fixated on someone who’d initially been a rival. And I’d never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn’t planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.

But it did. And now I can’t stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it’s love at first sight.

Except, like most things in my life, it doesn’t go as planned.

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