K.E. Belledonne's Blog, page 3

Waxing poetic

I have been swamped under moving-related things, quite honestly overwhelmed by the task of categorizing and inventorying every single thing in my house before our move in a few months.

How is it possible to provide a monetary replacement value on the handfelted Swedish tomten decorations I fell in love with and bought in Stockholm, one of the few places I’ve visited where I instantly felt at home? What about my antique blue and white enamel water pitcher, which I bought from a cardboard box at a brocante in our Quartier Antiquaires for 5 euros on a blisteringly hot summer Sunday and which has held so many bouquets of apple blossoms and peonies and lilies and daisies and carnations and other signs of ebullient summertime in France? (and which, eBay shows me, has comparable brethern for sale for hundreds of dollars?)

I am a collector of things, far too many things. I cart around small vases and pitchers, and sweetgrass baskets and hand-painted brooches and lozenge tins. It’s making me anxious to think of putting my treasures into the hands of unknown people to keep safe and loading them into giant metal boxes and onto huge ships for weeks of crossing the ocean and tossed about on the docks. They didn’t cost me much at all, but they’re precious to me, and I am having trouble being heartless enough to put baldly on paper that my beautifully polished-by-the-sea heart-shaped rock, the size of my two fists, from the beach at Dieppe, pearl-smooth and soothingly gray has a replacement value of zero dollars. It’s worth nothing (except the memory of the standing on a beach of the Normandy landings, windswept and sunblasted, slipping as I walked on the rounded stones and listening to the sucking hiss of the waves sliding back to the sea.)

So, that’s where I’ve been. Tallying canning jars and counting forks, folding up woolen blankets and noting how many of what size pillowcase is in which box. And everything is entered into a massive spreadsheet, wherein the only blank column remains “replacement value” because I cannot yet bear to add up the sum total of my life here in France.

#AmWriting #AmLate #AmStillHere!!!

Gah! I can’t even remember the last time I actually posted here, and that makes me feel awful.

It’s been a wild couple of weeks — killer flu, secondary upper respiratory infections, finding out we’re moving 6 months earlier than we’d thought, beginning to inventory our entire apartment and trying to finish home renovations back in the States.

Oh, and write book #2. Just a little trifling thing, you know.

Do not ask me about my opinions on bathrooms sinks. Just don’t. I have no more opinions about them and I am certain that we have just purchased the last two bathroom sinks that I like, out of every bathroom sink that is currently available on the market. (Trust me. I’ve looked at them. All of them, it seems.)

Oh, and flooring. I know exactly what I don’t want (carpet; white grout) and have a vague idea of what I do — wood floors, encaustic tiles, warmth and vibrancy.

Book writing is going……okay. I’m hitting that stage of writing where I am firmly convinced that everything is awful and dumb and stupid and any other playground word I can think of. I don’t know if it makes sense, I don’t know if it’s good, I don’t know anything, except I’m behind on my wordcount and my deadline is creaking inexorably toward me, its cold and bony hands extended toward me–

Yes, I’m having nightmares, and daymares, about my deadline. But, it’s a motivational terror.

How’s everyone else doing?

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

Another FIVE STAR review for Right Here Waiting!!

The Bookish Raven has written a wonderful review of my book, Right Here Waiting. 

“Right Here Waiting is a heart-warming story about two men loving each other fiercely even when they’re thousands of miles apart while one of them fights in WWII. It’s such a beautiful story – even if it did rip my heart out a few times.”

“Right Here Waiting is the perfect book for those who love historical romances of the m/m variety. The author builds a nice story that has your emotions going up and down and all around with the characters’. I would honestly recommend this to anyone looking for a great romance. Because that truly is what this book is. I’m going to love these characters for a long, long time. :)”

I’ve been struggling here for a good 20 minutes, trying to figure out which quotes to pull out of her review to post here, and it’s an impossible task. Rather than repost the whole thing here, please click on over to her blog (and check out her other reviews, too!)

Her reaction is exactly what I hoped it would be: falling in love with Pete and Ben, having your heart ripped out a few times, not being able to put it down because you want to find out what happens next — that’s exactly the kind of book I set out to write. I’m so happy it worked.

And to have the only complaint be that the reader wanted more — and not because the characters felt flat, or there were plot holes, or scenes didn’t work, but because they just wanted to live in that world a little longer. I mean, could there be a higher compliment? What an honor!

I’m just delighted that people are reading my book and connecting with it. I’m so happy it’s touching people’s hearts, and I’m glad it’s a satisfying read.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

Right Here Waiting has been added to two great lists on Goodreads!

I’m so honored and delighted to find that Right Here Waiting has been added to two lists on Goodreads!

Best M/M Historical Romance of 2015

and

Best Gay Romance In Times Of War

I’m well aware of sometimes friction-laden relationship between authors and readers on Goodreads, and I do not want to wade anywhere near those waters. I’m definitely of the opinion that Goodreads is for readers to find great books to read. As an author, I believe my role there is to make it easy for readers there to find out more about my book, or myself as an author, so you’re not going to find me shouting from the rooftops or doing much promotion work there.

So, I’m bringing these lists to your attention, because I am highly honored to have been included on those lists, with so many great books that I have enjoyed or look forward to enjoying. It really is such a thrill. I’m leaving the lists in your hands, to vote or not vote or do with what you will.

Meanwhile, I’ll be over here, frantically clicking “want to read” on soooooo many books on those lists.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

A month after its release, Right Here Waiting, is back u...

A month after its release, Right Here Waiting, is back up to #16 on Amazon’s 20th Century Hot New Releases list.

Now, I realize that all the Amazon lists change every hour, and are compiled by a complex string of algorithms  and things that are top secret and likely based on book sales, the angle of the sun, whether Mercury is in retrograde and the league ranking of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. (I have no idea. I’m coming up with the strangest things to try to make a correlation between…)

However.

I’m still over here beaming proudly at my computer screen. There are people out there, people I don’t even know and who aren’t genetically or legally-bound to me who are choosing to buy my book. They are appreciating my words, they are appreciating the story and my boys who’ve I’ve come to love so fiercely in the writing of them.

Thank you all, everyone who has clicked on this to see what I have to say, everyone who has retweeted a post, everyone who has forwarded a link, everyone who has bought my book — heck, even those who have just had a momentary thought of  “ooo, that book look good!” — I hope you all have at least a moment of grace, a moment of utter happiness, a moment of contentment. You all are helping to make my dreams come true, and I can’t thank you enough for your help and support.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

#AmWriting #AmFeelingBetter

I devoutly hope that my bout of flu is over and done with. I’ve got the last vestiges of a runny nose, and a faint trace of Kathleen-Turner-voice. The sun is shining, it’s warming up here (Spring has sprung, here in France.)

I have been out and about a great deal the past week (as soon as I was released from unofficial “quarantine”/contagious period, I bolted out of my apartment and into the sunshine) and unable to crack open my beleaguered laptop, so I’ve been doing most of my writing by hand. With this book, I’m doing a lot of scrambling to get the basics down, using the {INSERT TERSE INSTRUCTION HERE} method so I don’t get bogged down in places where I need to figure a tiny plot point out, or choose a different word or what have you.

However, I’m getting some good stuff. I’m really quite excited. When I start to write, I have just a general plan for what needs to happen in the scene — imagery and themes all happen in process, as I’m scribbling frantically. I’m really quite proud of what came out of my writing seance in the passenger’s seat of a parked car waiting for someone.

When inspiration strikes, I can’t be too picky. I can only hope I have a pen and a big enough piece of paper to get down what I can before it’s gone again.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

#AmWriting #AmSick #ButStillWriting

I’ve got the flu — just the average garden variety flu, nothing serious, but seriously awful. Dizzy, ear aches, body aches, heart palpitations. I’m just curling up in my armchair and trying to cope.

While my body is exhausted, my brain has fits of whirling around and I’ve been trying to scribble down ideas or bits of dialogue as they flit through. My table next to my chair is now a bio-hazard zone with kleenex boxes and tea mugs and notebooks and I’m afraid I’ll have to research how to disinfect pens.

(No, not really. I imagine, if anything, I’ll wipe ‘em down with some bleachy-cleaner-type stuff.)

Today’s research topics have been: “vintage collectibles storage” (book related), “uzu”, “oozo”, “Ouzo” and “yuzu” (all of which sound exactly the same to me when discussed on Top Chef France — the hot new ingredient on the show this season is yuzu vinegar. This may end up being book related, I’m not sure yet) and “swollen glands in front of ear” (flu related…)

All in all, it’s just one of those days where I’m trying to corrall my sputtering energy into usefulness, and I’m just not sure it’s working. I feel like I need to keep trying, and not lose momentum and so, another cup of tea to try to recoup my sensibilities and then it’s once more unto the breach again, dear friends.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

Right Here Waiting is still in the top 20 of Amazon’s 20th Century Romance Hot New Releases!!!

I’m so proud and, I must admit, slightly baffled by this — this is such an incredible feeling!

“Adorably guileless heart candy… The real story is an old-school one of a grand love and a whole community that comes together to support it, with a happy ending that gives the reader a moment of escapist grace.” — Publishers Weekly

In 1942, Ben Williams had it all a fulfilling job, adoring friends and the love of his life, Pete Montgomery. But World War II looms. When Pete follows his conscience and joins the Army Air Forces as a bomber pilot, Ben must find the strength to stay behind without the love of his life, the dedication to stay true and the courage he never knew he’d need to discover his own place in the war effort. Good friends help keep him afloat, until a chance meeting on the homefront brings him an unexpected ally one who will accompany him from the stages of New York City to the hell of the European warfront in search of his love.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

Today’s a day for catching up on all the paperwork and ru...

Today’s a day for catching up on all the paperwork and running around I haven’t had a chance to do while doing book promotion. It feels….good. It’s all things that I don’t particularly enjoy doing, but it feels good and responsible and like it will help in the long run, like how sore your muscles are the day after a really good workout. Hurts like hell, kind of annoying, but you know it will be beneficial in the long run.

In between appointments, and while waiting for my ridiculously slow scanner to scan documents, I’m actually getting quite a bit of writing done. I have a satisfactory pen cap to lightly chomp on (no gnawing, just enough to hold between my teeth — the The Penguin with his cigarette holder) to aid me in my thinking.

Today, among writing a few other scenes, I’m writing a bit pseudo-science fiction for a tiny part of the plot, though New Book is not a science fiction book, pseudo or otherwise. I particularly enjoy vintage science fiction and coming up with “sciencey” sounding words to string together — much like the “Molecular Vitamene” featured on ABC’s TV show Agent Carter — words that sound vaguely scientific enough to allow the reader to suspend disbelief (or, if the reader is at all like me, to give the reader a moment of “hey, didn’t I read about that in my Chemistry class??”)

There have been fits and spurts of when I am physically able to write, but the writing itself is flowing smoothly and easily. My notes are solid, my plan seems like it’s going to work well. The only problem now is getting all the little details and minor ideas down on paper before they get lost in the shuffle of the dailyness of my life.

Right Here Waiting is available at Interlude Press, barnesandnoble.com,  and amazon.com (as well as the international Amazon sites!)

Go Down the Rabbit Hole: A Writer’s Manifesto

Originally posted on Writing for Digital Media:

1. You are the work. The work is you: both an articulation of the self and a possibility for self-reflection. Be honest in creation: allow yourself to bleed into the work, but also allow it to work on you. Your work can show you things: illuminate and clarify your own thoughts, motivations, actions. If you do it right, you will find the work changing you, too.

2. Thinking is process. Laying on the floor. Sitting on park benches. Getting lost on purpose. These are all working. Learn the difference between mindless distraction and mindful wandering.

3. Go down the rabbit hole. Sometimes the work isn’t about what you think it is. Allow yourself to get lost down alleyways, to follow a train of thought around a corner. Don’t feel you need to reign yourself in. Too much focus squeezes all the possibility for revelation out of the work.

4. Fear…

View original 290 more words