The Beginning

About a year ago, I was in a huge reading slump. I know it's not technically possible, but I felt like I’d read every single book in the universe. Every time I would scan the “Recommended For You” section it seemed like it was the same story over and over and over again. Every time I started a new book, I stopped within the first couple of chapters, feeling uninspired. Part of the problem was that I didn't really know exactly what I was looking for. I think I was just waiting for someone to decide it for me. To look inside my mind and know exactly what I wanted to read and put it down on paper for me. And it just kept not happening. I don’t know why nobody was interested in working that hard for me. But there was, bored out of my mind, with nothing to read, so, I decided to write a story for myself.

I had absolutely no idea where to start or what to say. So I did the only thing I knew how to do and just started writing about the people and places and things I know best. These happen to be small towns and a little bit of heartache and a lot of loneliness and building up friends and family that make it all better at the end of the day. As I was doing that, these two characters emerged: Marcus and Cory. Once I had a good idea of who they were as people, their stories pretty much wrote themselves, and I just went with what they told me.

I wrote the story because I wanted to see where it went for myself. When I finished, I shared it with a couple people because I was proud of it, but I also thought that Marcus and Cory had a good story to tell and wanted other people to love them just as much as I do. As I shared it with more and more people, I convinced myself that it might be worth sharing it with everybody. So, here it is. I have no idea what you all might think. But I welcome your thoughts, whatever they happen to be.

I've learned a lot in this process, mostly about myself, but also about how much creativity and support and generosity there is out there in the world. I have nothing but endless respect for anyone who is brave enough to put their thoughts on paper and share them with the world. In particular, I am endlessly grateful for and inspired by the MM romance community. There’s so much love and enthusiasm, it’s almost impossible not to get excited about being involved in some form or fashion. So here is my little tiny contribution.

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