Kate Lowell's Blog, page 45
November 12, 2013
Tuesday Tickle: Love Underground
Oh, man, I suck at picking titles. Honestly, could I not have come up with something better than that? Apparently not, because that one’s been hanging around for about a year.
Sigh.
On the other hand, the story isn’t bad. It’s kind of cute. Poor Henry. He does love his boyfriend. But he has–issues.
This is also an example of me writing in first person, something I very rarely do, because I don’t think I do as good a job with it as I do with third. And, it’s the first thing I’ve ever actually sold, if you want to call it that. Technically, it’s a donation, to the fundraising anthology the Erotica writers who hang out at the Absolute Write forum put together. AW is a huge site and must cost a ton to keep going. This is our way of giving back.
It’s currently scheduled for release on December 1st. Don’t worry, I’ll be jumping up and down and waving flags and setting off sirens when the day happens.
“Watch your head, Henry!”
“Why—ow!” I rubbed my head underneath the bright yellow hard hat that Jaime had made me put on. Who takes a bookworm spelunking on their birthday? Apparently, my boyfriend. I glared at him.
“Come on, relax. You’ll love it, once we get there.” Jaime grinned at me, that charming ‘let’s go get into trouble’ grin that had first seduced me away from my desk, then bit-by-bit had carved its way into my heart.
I sighed and followed him further into the cave. The light from our headlamps splashed about us, giving us glimpses of the damp gray rock curving overhead. The ceiling was getting lower and lower.
“Uh, Jaime….”
He turned and I was blown away again by how much I wanted him. Almost three years, now, and it had never changed. It was just like that first day, when he had walked into the Admissions Office of the small community college where I worked, and it was all I could do not to lunge across my desk and tackle him to the floor. I still got that feeling, sometimes, when he walked in the door of our house, whistling cheerfully. Some days, he didn’t make it much further than the entryway.
“C’mon, Henry, it doesn’t get much lower. You’ll be fine.”
Yeah, right. I’m claustrophobic—not terribly so, but enough that I was very aware of the tons of rock hanging over my head, just waiting for the perfect time to fall down and bury me. Jaime doesn’t notice things like that. He’s your typical outdoorsman, with hair sun-bleached from hiking and weekend home improvement projects and eyes just a bit too dark to be hazel. His body was lean and muscled from wrestling car engines and other heavy automotive parts into places they didn’t want to go. Me, I’m your typical nerd. No glasses–thank God–since the surgery, but my hair is a brown that is just brown and my eyes are a blue that is just blue. I’m not as tall as Jaime, or as muscled. He likes hiking and exploring; my idea of a well-spent afternoon is my comfy chair on the porch with a good book.
I hadn’t expected it to last long at all, when we first started dating. Funny thing, though–our differences are less different than our similarities. We’re both early birds who like leisurely breakfasts. He likes to do laundry, especially if he can put it out on a clothesline. Me, I hate laundry—damn stuff never ends. But, dishes—I can get into doing dishes. We both like a tidy house. And, since I bought him those headphones, I can read in peace with my head in his lap while he saves the known world from the digital enemies of the future.
We get along. So, for him, because he was so excited about this little excursion, I was tempting fate and Mother Nature by invading the grand old dame’s insides. She is so going to get me—I might as well paint a target on my back right now and get it over with.
“You know I’m only doing this because you asked me, right?” I reached forward to take the hand he held out to me. The feel of his calluses against my own less work worn hands made me catch my breath a moment. Suddenly, I was willing to do just about anything to have this whole thing over, so we could go home and I could feel those calluses slide over other portions of my anatomy. God, how I loved his hands.
“You’re doing great! It’s not far now.” He helped me across the slick stones, holding me up when my feet slipped in the damp and wrapping an arm around my waist. Once, my feet went out completely from underneath me and I fell. My hero, Jaime caught me just in time to keep me from becoming a–not so–virgin sacrifice to the gods of the earth.
Filed under: Tuesday Tickle Tagged: AW anthology, mm romance
November 11, 2013
A Pittance of Time
On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a drug store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the stores PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.
Terry was impressed with the stores leadership role in adopting the Legions two minutes of silence initiative. He felt that the stores contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.
When eleven oclock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the two minutes of silence to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.
Terrys anger towards the father for trying to engage the stores clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, A Pittance of Time. Terry later recorded A Pittance of Time and included it on his full-length music CD, The Power of the Dream.
Thank You to the Royal Canadian Legion Todmorden Branch #10 and Woodbine Height Branch #2 for their participation in the Video.
Please visit http://www.terry-kelly.com (text copied from Terry Kelly’s official YouTube channel)
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Lest We Forget, Remembrance Day, Veterans
November 10, 2013
Today I was a Woodchuck and Tonight I shall be a Beaver (lol)
It snowed here last night, for the first time. It didn’t last, but it’s a sign that winter is definitely on its way. My brother came out to help me put more wood in the basement, and to clean out more junk. So, we spent the afternoon tossing logs in through the basement window and then stacking them up behind the furnace and along the walls. It’s good to have that done, and to have a chance to pick his brain about how the workflow goes in a video gaming company. I made changes in the story after listening to him talk and I hope they ring true with any IT professionals out there.
There are more tweaks to make to Christmas Goes Analog, which is what my evening will be spent on. The story gets longer and longer–at the rate I’m going, it’ll soon be a novel, albeit a short one. I have my cover and it’s lovely. You’ll have to wait a bit to see it–Sinfully Sexy will do the official reveal in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’m working on blog posts in every spare moment I have, since I have a few lined up and a few more to arrange. It’s hard to come up with new ideas–you don’t want to repeat yourself, but how many different topics can you cover when it’s all centered around one story? But they’re coming, if slowly and painfully.
So it’s nose to the grindstone tonight for this Kitty. And tomorrow night. And probably all the nights after that, until release day.
Lol.
Filed under: writing Tagged: mm romance, promo, three weeks left
November 7, 2013
People Keep Sending Me Squirrels…
I bet Nathan wouldn’t have to worry about those love handles any more, if Vince put up something like that.
How long did it take them to teach the little fellow all that?
Filed under: Nuts About You, Random Weirdness Tagged: mm romance, silly, squirrel, weresquirrel
November 5, 2013
Tuesday Tickle: Christmas Goes Analog
So, it occurs to me it’s Tuesday, and I owe you a Tickle, since I copped out last week. This one is from the Christmas novella that currently has me in a mad panic, because it comes out on December 3. Eek!
Shawn took advantage of Rob’s temporary distraction to slide his hands under his boyfriend’s sweater, moving it smoothly out of the way so he could run his fingers up the groove of his spine. Rob jumped and let out a strangled whimper, but continued his explorations down Shawn’s neck.
“You warm enough?” Shawn whispered.
“Yeah.” Rob sat back and peeled of his sweater. “You. Shirt off, too.”
Shawn sat up in a half-curl and pulled his t-shirt over his head. “You want more off than this?”
Rob tilted his head to one side and was quiet for a moment. “No. Not yet. This is nice.” He stretched himself out again on top of Shawn, warm skin against warm skin. “Slow burn. We’ve got all night. Unless you’re worried about Santa catching us.”
Shawn squirmed underneath him, feeling himself grow even harder at the sensation of Rob’s chest against his and Rob’s nipples rubbing past his own. “I think he’d understand.”
“Good.” Rob bent once more to Shawn’s mouth, only this time his tongue slid out to skim delicately over the inner surface of Shawn’s lips. It was barely more than a hint of pressure, the tip flicking along the sensitive nerve endings, but it coaxed a needy groan from Shawn’s throat. He opened his mouth wider and moved one hand up to cup the back of Rob’s head, bringing him close enough for a real kiss.
Rob laughed and then moaned as Shawn took charge, his tongue stealing in to tease at Rob’s. Shawn slid his other hand over Rob’s ribcage, dragging his fingernails lightly over the hollows between the bones. Rob arched into the touch, his hips shoving downward to rub against Shawn’s hard-on.
Shawn broke the kiss. “This is going to be more like spontaneous combustion if you keep that up.”
“So long as it’s your clothes that go up in flames. Maybe we better get them out of the way, just in case.”
“What happened to slow burn?”
“It suffered from spontaneous combustion.”
This is probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever written, except for maybe Jamie and Henry, which we can talk about next week, if you like. 
Feels strange to suddenly have so many stories out.
But, you know what? I’m really looking forward to some down time. By that, I mean time that isn’t tied up in revisions, or promo, or anything like that. New words, new characters to meet, new worlds to explore. I’m starting to think about the steampunk again…
Filed under: Christmas Goes Analog, Erotic Romance, Tuesday Tickle Tagged: Christmas, happy ever after, mm romance, sweet
November 2, 2013
Getting Ready for Christmas Goes Analog
I’ve spent most of today emailing people. Some I know, some I don’t. With the short notice, and my even shorter amount of spare time, today has been an absolute flurry of activity.
The first thing I did was pick up a prize for the bloghop. Because Christmas ornaments play a fairly important role in this story, I thought it would be fun to give one away. Specifically, this one:
It’s made of pewter, by local craftspeople. (Well, local to me, anyway.) Two birds, perched on a wooden house, with the words ‘Our First Christmas’ carved in the front of it. It’s cute, and it fits the theme of the story.
The next thing I did was start contacting blogs–some I’ve worked with before, some I haven’t. If you glance down the right hand side of the blog, you can see some of the dates I have lined up.
There’s another complication, which I haven’t put on the calendar yet, simply because I don’t have hard confirmation of the release date. The Absolute Write Underground Erotica Anthology is slated to come out on December 1. Remember I mentioned this before? I’ve had a chance to go back and read some of the other stories now that I have galleys and it’s really good. A wide variety of stories, both MM and MF. Some kinkier than others.
And, aside from paying the cover artist and buying the ISBN, all the money goes to support the forums at Absolute Write, which is an amazing resource. If you’ve ever considered trying your hand at writing, you can’t go wrong there. I’ve heard it said that, if you spend enough time on there and take your reading seriously, it’s the equivalent of an MFA. Without the tuition fees. Plus, they’ll help you target appropriate markets and figure out how to publicize your stories. I was happy to contribute Henry and Jamie to the antho and hope to revisit them again–maybe if we do a second one?
In any case, I need to book a post or two for that, as well. So there’s going to be a fair bit of emailing still going on for a while.
And then I decided to defrag my computer. What is it about watching the disk view on these apps that’s so appealing? I could watch the little bits disappear and reappear for hours. This must be what cats get out of watching a mouse hole all day. It’s completely mesmerizing. But so satisfying, too.
And now I’m hungry again, so I must go feed myself. And sweep the floor. Because ew.
Filed under: Christmas Goes Analog, writing Tagged: Absolute Write, mm romance, Undergrount Anthology
October 31, 2013
A Whole Bunch of Random Things
And not necessarily Halloween.
I missed the Tuesday Tickle. And I’m so tired tonight, I think I’ll just let it go for this week. Writing production has been at a near standstill for the last three months and I don’t want to over-expose anything. At least, not until there’s a chance it’ll be coming out in the near future.
That being said, I have two releases coming in December. One is a Christmas novella from Loose Id, with my two geeky lovers, Shawn and Rob. The other is a short story I donated to a charity anthology, in support of the writer’s forum at Absolute Write.
The charity antho, with the theme of Underground (in all the meanings of the word) is a way for some of us who hang out there a lot to help out with the costs of keeping the forum going. We tossed the idea around last summer, got some editors to volunteer their time and we’re about ready to ‘go to press’ with the book. Right now, there’s a cover contest going on–check out the forum for when you can vote for your favourite cover. I’ll put a note up here.
The Loose Id story comes out December 3, which has me freaking out, since it was only accepted a week and a bit ago. I thought the production schedule for BMT was fast–this is two weeks shorter. Which means a lot of work over the next four weeks, and no playing around in other stories. I expect to have the first set of edits back to me this weekend. But the boys are adorable and Shawn is such majorly excellent boyfriend material, I’m thinking about having Rob shanghaied and throwing myself at Shawn. Not that he’d pick me up, dammit, but a girl can try, right?
Which makes me lol, because my writing group just had the weirdest conversation about haircolours and complexions that we like on our men (and our women). Are gingers really that unloved? Because I like a man with dark red hair. Or red-gold, though that’s harder to find. And Black Irish boys? YUM!
Kimber Vale says she’ll go brunette for me. Really need to get a room together at a con one of these days, just because the stories afterwards would be so awesome.
It’s Halloween, and I’ve had eight kids. That’s likely all I’ll have. I watched Cloverfield and rooted for the monster again. Now I think I’ll have a Mojito and a hot bath with a dirty book and wait for the kitten to get home from trick-or-treating, so I can raid her stash of candy. After all, that’s why you have kids, right? At least, it seemed like a good reason at the time. 
Oh, and while I know the squirrel is out and I should stop throwing squirrel pictures at you, here’s one that popped up in my Facebook feed today. (Oh, those Brits! Right, SA Meade?) And thanks for pushing Forgotten Menagerie as far up the ARe charts as it went and for putting it in the Top Five Downloads for four days! For such an odd little book, I was pretty happy with how well it did. And people seem to like Nathan, which is awesome, because I like him too.
So here’s your Halloween squirrel. I swear, I have to do something like this to Nathan…
Filed under: Random Weirdness, writing Tagged: Black Irish boys, mm romance, weresquirrel
October 27, 2013
The Rise of the Audiobook
I used to listen to audiobooks, sometimes, about 15 years ago. They were great for driving, or doing one of those household chores that takes lots of time but not much brain. My problem with them was–the readers weren’t good.
Seriously.
I eventually stopped listening to them, because the good ones were so rare I couldn’t justify the expense. I’ve recently started again, because my job has been moved to a town slightly more than an hour’s drive away, and I hate the morning radio around here. Sometimes I listen to music, but I’ve rediscovered audiobooks as well.
And, boy, have they changed!
I’ve just finished listening to the first four of John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War novels. I liked both readers–they were unobtrusive, stayed in character and kept me entertained all the way to work. As a side bonus, I’ve found that the audiobooks keep me more focused during the drive. When I listen to music, I have a tendency to drift away and start plotting stories.
Not something you want happening when driving at 60 mph on a windy road with loads of traffic coming in the other direction.
The truly cheering part is that there are audiobooks available in my genre, MM erotic romance. I listened to Cut & Run at the beginning of October, and have the second one queued up to listen to next. It’s a great way to keep on top of what’s going on in my genre, even though my reading time is now severely curtailed by this humongous drive. I think I might try Adrien English next, because he’s an old favourite, unless I’m feeling kind of grimdark, in which case, I will listen to Joe Abercrombie (who is not, by the way, MM romance, but gritty fantasy. I’m an equal opportunity kind of girl). But it’s good to see our books getting this treatment. Not only is it another way people in the same situation as me can enjoy the stories without having to lose sleep to do it, but it’s another revenue stream for authors if it takes off and a step towards being treated with the same respect that authors in other genres already enjoy.
I have to admit, though–I’m still kind of scarred by my history with audiobooks. Are they all as good as the ones I’ve already listened to? Any I should stay away from? A reader that can always be counted on? I’m thinking of getting an Audible subscription, but like anyone out there, I don’t want to waste my credits. (PS. I’ve added links to the pictures, if you want to check out the stories, or Audible, yourself.)
Okay, enough dilly-dallying and procrastinating–back to the Christmas story.
Filed under: Uncategorized, writing Tagged: mm romance
