Renae Kaye's Blog, page 9

Day 5: Renae interviews Paul & Andrew

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.

5.  A place you would live, but have never visited

Paul:  I dunno?  Para-gay?  Any place where it’s not illegal to be gay is okay with me.  I mean, I think I’m pretty easy when it comes to living circumstances, and nursing is a job that I could get anywhere.
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Andrew:  I think the educational opportunities for the kids are wonderful in places like Sweden and Norway.  I’ve heard some great things about the Denmark education system.  I haven’t done much travelling outside Australia and Asia, so Europe is unknown to me.  But I think the kids would really like Europe.

 
You can pre-order Safe in His Heart here:
Dreamspinner:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/stor...

Day 4: Renae interviews Paul & Andrew

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.

4.  Ten interesting facts about yourself

Paul:  What?  Oh, god.  We’ll be here all day.  Okay, let’s see:
1.  My name is Paul Alfred Marshall.  Alfred was my great-grandfather and he died in the war.
2.  I’m a nurse.  I love it.  Don’t mock it.  I love it.
3.  My best friend in school was Glenn, but his life now revolves around kids, so we grew apart.  I never really considered kids.
4.  My best friend now is Lon.  He’s hurting badly, but I think he’s on the road to recovery.
5.  I drink beer after work.  I know it is a cliché with the Aussie male kicking back with a beer after a long day at work, but it relaxes me. 
6.  I love hanging out with my parents and sister and brother.  It sounds weird to some, but we get along really well, and there’s always laughter in our house.
7.  I’ve always wanted to visit Paraguay.  When I was a teen, I thought it was pronounced Para-gay.  I thought “para” meant “many” – like paragraph meant lots of words, and parachute mean lots of chutes.  I thought a country with lots of gays would be fun.
8.  I think I always knew I was gay.
9.  I started working out at the gym so I could bulk up and not be picked as a bottom-boy all the time.  After that, I just continued because I love it.
10.  I grew up Anglican.  I never had trouble reconciling my faith to my sexual orientation. 

Andrew:  Ten?  About me?  What are your answers, Paul?  Can I cheat off you?
1.  My name is Andrew Richard Lockwood.  I never bothered to ask my parents about the Richard stuff.
2.  I’m the CEO of Cabott’s Oil and Gas Exploration.  We are a small but important player in the mining field, and our employees are top class.  Mining is booming in Western Australia and anyone who wants to be in on the wave needs to act fast.  If you have a parcel of land you would like explored for mining potential, we can prepare a geological and archaeological report… Oh.  Sorry.  You’re probably not interested in that bit.  I’ll just say I’m the youngest CEO in my field and leave it at that.
3.  I always wanted children.  I have two of them and I could not love anything more in my life.
4.  I have a wife.  Her name is Kristy.  Our relationship is… complicated.  We’re married, but it’s not… It’s just complicated.
5.  I drink Scotch.  I like the burn.
6.  Playing with my kids is the best fun I could ever have outside the bedroom.  There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing their laughter.
7.  I can’t stop laughing at the fact that Paul thought it was Para-gay.  I’m getting glared at.
8.  It took me a while to work out I was gay, and I’ve only recently stopped trying to change that.
9.  I started working out at the gym to spend time away from the house and get my head on straight.  Of course there were a lot of perv opportunities at the gym too, but mostly I used the gym as my escape.
10.  I grew up Catholic.  There’s no reconciling being gay to that.

You can pre-order Safe in His Heart here:
Dreamspinner

Day 3: Renae interviews Paul & Andrew

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.

3.  Your first love and first kiss; if separate, discuss both

Paul:  **chuckles**  Okay.  I’ll confess.  You’re really going to laugh at this. Marcus Graham.  He played Wheels on E Street, remember?  Oh, yeah.  He was my first love.  I was madly, passionately, tragically in love with him and would tape the show and watch it over and over, just for a glimpse of his bare chest.  Yes.  He was a character on TV but I knew we were meant for each other.

My first kiss?  I knew I was gay from a pretty young age, but also knew that hiding it was the done thing.  So I didn’t tell anyone apart from my best friend, and I pretended to like girls for a long while.  So my first kiss was actually Melinda Black.  It was just after a blue-light disco and we were both thirteen.  **frowns**  I don’t remember much more about it.  It obviously didn’t leave a lasting impression.

Andrew:  My first kiss was when I was eighteen.  She was a nice girl who I had been dating for about two months.  Karen Sanderson.  I’d just driven her home after our Saturday night date and I was about to get out of the car and go around to open her door when she stopped me, leaned over and kissed me.  I remember being shocked.  I also remembered being scared.  Of her father, and of having to confess to my priest the following day.

My first love, though?  Yes.  He was my first heartbreak, so I had to love him.  His name was Trent.  There’s nothing more you really need to know about him apart from that, and that he lied to me – systematically and thoroughly.  I thought he…  Never mind.  That’s past.  It happened when I was in my early twenties.  Romantically I never fell in love again until this gorgeous guy I was seeing on a sexual basis wouldn’t get out of my head.  Damn man.
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Paul:  Me?  Aww, shucks.  **winks**

Cover Reveal: Safe in His Heart

Okay – here it is.  The cover and blurb for my new book. 

Release date:  2nd May, 2016
Pre-order:  now

The pre-order links for the other outlets will be coming soon.  At the moment it’s available only at Dreamspinner:  link.
 
Safe: Book Two

Andrew and Paul learned about God and Jesus in different churches and realize their views of spirituality are worlds apart.

Andrew was raised Catholic and was told his homosexuality was a sin. For his entire life, he hid the truth. He married and had children to present a façade to the world—that of a straight man. It’s not until he has an affair with Paul, who shows him a different side of Jesus, that Andrew realizes he can be gay and still believe in God. Paul’s Jesus is one of acceptance and love, and in Paul’s church, being gay is not a problem.

For Paul and Andrew, falling in love is the easy part of their journey. They must make it through the fires of cheating, being discovered, Andrew’s wife leaving, the necessities of childcare and family life, the demands of their jobs, and working on their commitment to each other. Only then can they be safe in each other’s heart.

Day 2: Renae interviews Paul & Andrew

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.

2.  Your earliest memory

Paul:  You’re taking me back a long way now.  Sometimes I feel ancient.  But I think my earliest memory is when I’m about three, maybe four.  Mum put the sprinkler on in the backyard and me and Michael were playing under it.  My sister was just a baby, and she got all muddy.  **smiles**  Yeah.  They were good days.  Family, sunshine and fun.  What about you, Andrew?
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Andrew:   Church.  It was always a big deal in my family, and so I think it stuck in my mind.  On this particular day I remember there were lots of candles, and it was all very quiet and solemn.  I can remember those candles.  And the hard wooden bench.  And the fact that I had to pee.  I don’t know why.  But I can remember that day.  That’s my earliest memory.

Day 1: Renae interviews Paul & Andrew

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.
 
1.  Five problems with social media

Paul:   There’s a problem with social media?  Where?  I think social media is a wonderful tool for some people.  I’m a nurse, and I see a lot of people in hospital who are isolated from their loved ones and they just want to keep in touch.  Facebook, Twitter – all of that helps them.  They’re not in a hospital bed if they’re on social media.  But the one problem I do see with it is when people bring it to the gym.  There are so many guys I see who aren’t working out to their potential because they’re too busy on their bloody phones tweeting that they’re working out.  Then they have to share the pictures of their bodies to prove their prowess.  Yeah.  Whatever.

Andrew:   Define social media?  Look, I understand that it’s out there, but I never really use it.  My wife, Kristy is on it, and it seems to work for her.  My PA says that it’s a good tool as well.  I’ll just let them answer the question for you, shall I? 

Paul:   That’s a cop out.  You can’t ask Erica to do this interview for you.  There are somethings you need to just do yourself.  You seriously never used it at all?  What about Grindr?

Andrew:  Do you mean Grinder?
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Paul:  I guess that answers that question.  Okay.



​(See below for questions coming...)

Renae’s thoughts about writers’ daily word counts

The following blog is on my thoughts about word counts for authors.  It’s aimed at sharing my opinions with other writers.  If you’re a reader, you may find it interesting, so you’re welcome to read on.  If you’re an author, I’m sharing my point of view, and you may take from it what you like.

I, by no means, consider myself an experienced author.  I’m on the cusp of learning the trade, and I look around to my more experienced colleagues to see what they do, but ultimately writing is a very personal choice.  When you do it, how you do it, how much of it you do it…  It’s like one of those sex quizzes where we all want to peep into someone else’s bedroom and compare our own experiences.  But at the end of the day, whether you’re doing it doggie style or missionary, it’s what’s working for you that’s important.  As long as you’re doing it.

I am writing.  Not every day.  But most days.  And the following is how I approach my writing, which is not how everyone does it, but for those who are similar to me, I hope to reassure you that you’re not “doing it wrong.”

However, I’m also in a situation that my fellow authors may not be in, so take this into account when you think of your own writing career.  And it all comes down to a dirty word in the trade: income.  Shh!  We don’t talk about that.  Rest assured, I’m not going to mention levels, just an example that you can adapt to your own situation.

My personal situation is that I don’t have to earn money from my writing.  My husband supports the family with his employment, and if I spent 12 months not earning a cent from my writing, we would need to tighten our belts, but it would be okay.  However, if I’m not earning any money at all, then I wouldn’t be writing – it’s as simple as that.  If I couldn’t earn a certain level of income, then the writing tap would be turned off, and I’d be out of the house with my CV, looking for a job.  Because in my family, although I don’t need to earn money, we like our nice things like steak, internet connection and once a year heading “douth” for the holidays.  (West Australian translation: douth = down south.  No need to put those extra syllables in.)  My writerly income provides us with our money to relax about our budget.

Any author will know that writing is not a steady income.  It fluctuates wildly depending on whether you’ve recently released a book, and 95% of the effort and cost of releasing a book comes before that time.  If I didn’t earn a cent for 12 months we’d be okay… as long as I knew that my effort was going to be rewarded one day in the countable future.

My last book release was August 2015.  Ouch.  That’s a long time ago in a reader’s mind.  It will soon be eight months.  My next release is May and so it will be a gap of nine months between releases.  But what have I been doing in that time?  Well, actually, I’ve written three full novels and added to many other projects.  I expect the next nine months of my writing career to be very busy with these releases.  From a financial point of view, my income will dip for a while, and then rise again.  I know that.  I’m prepared for that.  Financially I’ve saved my income from the months where I’m flush in preparation for the months that will be down.

So what does this have to do with word counts?

I treat my word counts like I treat my income – I keep my eye on the bigger picture, rather than the microscopic one. 

Most career authors I’ve spoken to keep a track of their word counts.  I do too, to give myself goals and to prove to myself I’m doing something worthwhile.  My word counts vary from day-to-day depending on the other things happening in my life and editing, so I always average my word count over a month.  I estimate each book requires the same amount of time on the first draft as it does on the editing and tidying up, so my monthly word count goal will also take into account those days where no new writing occurs.

I then compare my monthly word count to the supposed income I can get from a book.  I have a look at my published work, and I then evaluate it to estimate the projected income using an average across my published works.  This is a very, very rough idea, but it’s relevant.  Stick with me.

Let’s just say I think that a 60,000 word novel of mine will earn me an income of $6,000 over the first two years of its life.  (I picked that figure so the maths is easy – you need to pick you own figure based on length and sales of your books).  Therefore, I could possibly say that every 1,000 words in the book is equivalent to $100.  (See – easy maths, this is why I picked the figure.)  So where does this get you?  It gets you to the point, that if your monthly word count is 30,000 words, you could say that you’ve written $3,000 worth of books. 

Yay!

So what is the point of this blog?  The point I wish to make has to do with working across multiple projects.  Every writer is different, but for me, I have in excess of 20 manuscripts in varying degrees of completeness.  It may seem a waste, but it’s how my mind works.  It’s true that I would earn an income from those words faster if I complete them one at a time, rather than have five on the go, but you can’t force an artist to creativity.  For me, I often reach a point in a story and get stuck, so simply switch to writing a new manuscript until my creativity centre works out a solution to my stuck story.

At the end of the day, I am progressing all of these projects and working toward the finished product that will give me my $6,000.  And because I don’t rely on the income to pay every bill, I have the ability to delay that income for a while, but still know it is coming.  If I was a writer who could work steadily on a single project, I could write and release (for example) a book every three months – four per year.  But for a writer who can’t focus on a single project at a time, writing four books at the same time, finishing them as the creative juices allow, then releasing them August, September, November and December in a 12 month period, will end up with approximately the same income.

Of course, this only works if you CAN finish the manuscript.  Remember that a crappy first draft can be edited and improved to the point where it can be published.  An unfinished story is nothing.

So my opinion on word counts has to do with writing relevant words.  As long as you’re progressing a project forward that you will finish one day, then it’s not a waste if you put those words down.

We’re at the end of March now, and this month I’ve worked across three projects.  In the first half of the month I picked up a project that had 27,000 words on the count, and progressed it by another 25,000 words.  I’m looking at an end count of hopefully around 65k-70k words, so I’m 75% done with this book.  Then I got stuck.  I’m not sure if my character is acting true to their personality and so I stopped writing and for two days I worked on a novella that now has a word count of 11,000.  Then I hit a wall with that one – and I’m waiting for someone to get back to me on some research, so picked up another project and I’ve now added 6000 words to that one and I’m going strong.  My kids have been off school for 5 days for the Easter break, so I haven’t been able to write a lot, but I have a huge rush of energy behind me on this third project, and I can already see the next three chapters in my mind.  If I’m lucky, I’ll end up with 40,000 words for my monthly word count.

That’s two-thirds of a novel, but not all on a single novel.

So, for all the authors out there who also work on multiple projects at the same time, I’m firmly in your camp.  Here’s hoping you get those word counts on your projects and get them finished soon.  Don’t stress that you didn’t finish that novel this month.  Look at the bigger picture.  As long as your word count is progressing those projects, and you know that you will finish, then go with your creativity.  Think of it as value adding.  You’ve added value to your projects this month.  Use your calculator and prove it to yourself with my example above.
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Happy writing!

Renae interviews Renae about Out of the Rain

Name of book:  Out of the Rain
Date Published:  10th July 2015
Available in: ebook
Other forms coming:  Nothing, sorry.
 
When did you start writing this book?  January 2015

What gave you the inspiration for the story?  I really can’t remember.  I think I started with Mitch, the MC.  He’s a down-to-earth, working class, approaching middle-age, just-want-a-beer-after-work dude.  I was sick of characters who were defiantly gay, or in the closet, or woe-is-me gay.  I just wanted a guy who was gay, and hey, no big deal.

Of course, then in his blue collar end-of-day routine, I had to go and give him an in-the-closet, woe-is-me partner.  Hey, sue me.  I can’t control my characters!

What was the working title?  This one was just “Queermance.”  Queermance is an Australian meet up in Melbourne, and they were working on an anthology to go with the launch of the festival.  I was attempting to write a short story for them.  The terms of the story were simply to be something queer, and Australian.  After I’d finished writing Out of the Rain, I decided it wasn’t really Aussie enough – it could’ve been set anywhere.
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So I put it aside and wrote another story for them.  (See previous blog regarding Hard Feelings).

Where did the title of the book come from?  I was fiddling around with something like Bringing Him Home, but it didn’t quite work for me.  I was thinking how Elijah had come out of the closet, and then got cast out in the rain.  And then how Mitch rescued him from out of the rain… and voila!  Title found, baybee…

What challenges did you face with writing this?  The speed of the relationship.  I’m not one who believes in love at first sight.  You need to know someone’s character before you can declare that you’re in love with them.  But I only had 10,000 words to write this in.  It had to move fast.

Tell us about MC1 – where did the inspiration come for him?  As I said, I wanted a character where being gay wasn’t such a big deal.  I wanted a realistic character – one with a boring job, a mortgage, and the neighbours we all hate when they knock on our door.  He’s just an everyday-Joe.  Admittedly his house and car turned out to be identical to the guy up the end of my street… isn’t that funny?  LOL.  Yeah, my neighbour is a carpenter and drives his work ute around. 

Tell us about MC2 – where did the inspiration come for him?  Elijah foisted himself on me.  By virtue of the story, he needed to be young, and maybe in need of a little bit of guidance.  When Mitch first looked out into the rain and saw him… well, it played in my mind like an anime movie and Elijah just appeared on stage.  The inspiration for Elijah just came out of the… blue.  **wink**

Is there anything special that happens in the story that you think readers would like to know about?  This is my first (and only) self-published story.  I therefore had to go through the editing stage all by myself.  One of the things I dislike about publishing through a US company, is that they publish my stories with US spelling.  I’m proud to be Australian, so I would prefer Aussie spelling, but rules are rules, and I knew I’d have to self-publish to get the spelling I’m used to.

I was therefore so excited to have this story with Australian spelling.  I asked my beautiful Australian author friends, Toni Griffin and Nic Starr to beta read the story for me.  They did a great job.  Then I found an Australian editor to fix up my numerous mistakes (thanks Susan).  Then Krista picked up the proofing for me.  Krista was the only non-Australian to work on it.

So then it released, and I had a bunch of people come back to me with things like, “What’s an esky?”  Since we were all Australian, a lot of Aussie-isms slipped into the story that no one thought needed explanation.  Whoops.  LOL.  Live and learn.

What is the best thing that has happened about this story, post-publication?  Faith in myself.  It was hard to self-publish, especially when I didn’t know what I was doing.  Next time I hope it will be better.
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Do you plan a follow up story?  No.  This one is just a little story, and that’s it.

Renae interviews Renae about Hard Feelings

Name of book:  Hard Feelings, short story published as part of Queermance II Anthology
Date Published:   17 April 2015
Available in: ebook
Other forms coming:  expanded ebook
 
When did you start writing this book?  February 2015

What gave you the inspiration for the story?  A call for submission to an Australian anthology.

Many people will wonder about this book – What?  There is another Renae Kaye book? 

This is a short story that is published in the Queermance II Anthology.  The anthology aims to publish short stories about Australian LGBT life.  I decided to attend the Queermance conference in 2015, so I thought I would write a small story for the anthology too.

I will be expanding the story and republishing as a standalone, hopefully later this year.

What was the working title?  During the writing phase I simply called it “Queermance.”

Where did the title of the book come from?  The name came naturally once I finished the book.  The main character in the book is a guy they call Moe.  He’s bisexual and fancy-free.  He doesn’t like strings on his relationships.  And when he finds a brief liaison, he tells them that it has to casual, and if he goes off with someone else, no hard feelings, okay?

Until he meets Sam.  He gives Sam the same conditions, but something has happened to Moe.  He’s developed hard feelings for Sam.  The name grew from there.

Besides, naming a gay romantic story “Hard Feelings” was just deliciously naughty.

What challenges did you face with writing this?  The word count.  It had to be under 10,000 words.  Oh, come on.  That was so hard for me!
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Tell us about MC1 – where did the inspiration come for him?  I wanted to set a book at this beautiful beach called Prevelly.  It’s a world class surfing spot where there are international competitions.  Moe grew from this.  A boy who was raised in the region, learning to surf early in his life, living and working his parents’ business. Tell us about MC2 – where did the inspiration come for him?  One thing that I’m passionate about is portraying real people.  Not just perfect people.  And not just white people.

In Perth we have a lot of Asian immigration.  Little shops pop up that are owned and run by Asian families, and I love their dedication.  Their entire families seem to be employed to run the business.  Shopping and chatting with those who are from Asia, or are first born generation Australian is usual for me.

But I still get caught out.  I still make racial assumptions.  Last year I visited Broome which is in the north of Western Australia.  The town was founded on the pearling industry, and the Chinese and Japanese cultures were some of the original people to build the town.  Today it’s a lovely mix of Chinese, Japanese, Aboriginal and Caucasians.  One of the original stores in town is a store called “Wing’s” and is your typical Asian corner store where you can find anything from Chinese noodles, to fishing gear, to pots and pans.  I love Wing’s.  I made my selections, walked up to the counter, and I greeted the Asian looking guy like I always do.

“G’day.  How are you today?”

To my absolute shock, he replied, “Great, thanks.  You?” without a single trace of the Asian accent I was expecting.  He sounded typical Australian, and I now laugh at my assumption he would have an accent.  I wanted Moe to experience the same chagrin that I did.  For Sam is as Aussie as they come.

Is there anything special that happens in the story that you think readers would like to know about?  You are welcome to experience this book in its short 10,000 word form, and buy it in the Queermance anthology.

Or you can wait a little longer for me to expand it.  I will release it on my own.

What is the best thing that has happened about this story, post-publication?  I had the wonderful Meg Bawden do me a cover!  I met Meg in person at Queermance.  Meg is a writer and cover artist.  After getting to know her, I knew I had to ask her to do me a cover.  And I love it!
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Do you plan a follow up story?  No.  This is just a short story.  I love Moe (and Stuart, who you will meet in the story), but I think their story is just this.

Renae interviews Renae on Shawn's Law

Name of book:  Shawn’s Law
Date Published:  6 March 2015
Available in: ebook / print / audio
Other forms coming:  Not at this moment
 
When did you start writing this book?  February 2014

What gave you the inspiration for the story?  You may’ve guessed it, but I’m one of these people who always looks at the funny side of things, or tries to put a good spin on it.  Yes, I swing to the depths of despair and predict that the sky is falling, but it never lasts more than 30 minutes.

If you read the interview from last week about Safe in His Arms, you will find that I tried to “tone things down” when writing that one.  It was hard.  After finishing it, I really needed a pick-me-up.  I’d read TJ Klune’s Tell Me It’s Real and wanted funny like that.

Then an evil, evil, wonderful thought hit me.  I know how hysterical some people can get over the (so called deadly) wildlife in Australia, so I thought, “Why not show them?  I wonder how many native animals I can have attack my hero before the end of the book?”

What was the working title?  This one was always titled “Shawn’s Law.”

Where did the title of the book come from?  The title is obviously a play on “Murphy’s Law.”  I had an idea of a character where everything went wrong for him, so much so that they named a law after him.

I have a “thing” about the way that words look on the page.  My character’s names and often the words I use in sentences are chosen for their sight value.  I wanted something that “looked” good with the word “Law”.  Some people asked me why I spelled Shawn like I did, but consider the words “Sean’s Law” and “Shaun’s Law” – they just don’t look as good.

What challenges did you face with writing this?  There’s always the research.  I had to look into the consequences of being bitten by snakes, ants, spiders, jellyfish, etc. 

And as an author, I knew I was walking a thin line with the physical description of Shawn.  I knew there would be readers out there who didn’t like the fact that Shawn wasn’t buff or good looking.  I knew there would be those who disliked him because I described him as rounded and meaty, but I wanted to have someone real.  It was a challenge to me to write him in a way that I hoped people would fall in love with him, warts and all, but be realistic about his appearance.

The hardest part of this book was the bleak outlook of Shawn’s mother.  As a sufferer of Alzheimer’s she was never going to get better.  I did a lot of research on the disease, and each zany thing Estelle did was backed up by a site that explained the results and progression of Alzheimer’s.  That our parent is going to die is something that we may wish to shy away from, but it’s real life.  I’ve faced it and lived through it.  It’s not nice.  But it happens.

Tell us about MC1 – where did the inspiration come for him?  **laughs nervously** Oh, okay.  The guy at my local pools.  I don’t know his name, but I was watching my kids’ swimming lessons one day and he was on duty.  He was short, rounded and curvy.  But I could see from his attitude he wasn’t standing there all day apologising for his physical appearance.  He was interacting with his workmates in a way that I could tell he was well liked and respected.  He did his job without once losing the smile on his face.  He just drew me.  I wanted to capture that in Shawn.
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Tell us about MC2 – where did the inspiration come for him?   The day after I saw the guy who I knew would be perfect to model Shawn on, I was driving along a suburban street and spotted Harley.  I only saw him from the back, but he was walking his two dogs down the path (or rather they were walking him!) and I could see he had this long blond plait down his back.  He was wearing a black shirt and jeans (which Harley would never wear!) but I looked at him and wondered about the hair.
From there the story of a promise to his father grew, and before I knew it Harley had emerged as Shawn’s perfect match. Is there anything special that happens in the story that you think readers would like to know about?  I was speaking to a friend the other day and I pointed out the little idiosyncrasies an author has.  Apart from the title of the book—Shawn’s Law—in which I deliberately spelled Shawn with an “aw”, you may’ve noticed Shawn and Harley’s names?
Shawn O’Hara and Harley Lawson.

To fit with the look of a name, I chose Lawson as Harley’s surname.  It mimics the form of Shawn and contains the word Law.  And to mirror that back, Shawn’s surname has “Har” in it to mimic Harley’s name.

I also snuck in a reference to another book.  In the last chapters, Harley meets a male nurse at the hospital he calls “Steroidal Man.”  You met him in Safe in His Arms.  It’s Paul, Lon’s friend.

Paul’s story will be released in a couple of months.  (The countdown is on!)

What is the best thing that has happened about this story, post-publication?  I had no illusions about the release of this book.  It’s funny in a way that has been described as slap-stick.  If that’s not your thing, I’m not offended.

But I have had an amazing response to the book.  People who obviously share my sense of humour.  Every time someone writes to me and tells me they nearly peed themselves laughing, or that they laughed out loud on the bus, I give them a mental thumbs up.  Welcome to the club!  You share my humour.
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Do you plan a follow up story?  Not at this moment.  Shawn has a friend called Kris who briefly knocked on my inspiration nerves.  I started his story.  But I didn’t get very far with it.  I have enough stories I want to write that will last me for years.  Maybe I will bash away at Kris’s story every now and then, but for now, I don’t have any further plans for Shawn and Harley.