Queer Town Abbey's Author Interview with Jason Lloyd

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?I grew up in a small town called Upper Black Eddy in Pennsylvania. It’s about 45 miles north of Philadelphia. We lived in an old farmhouse with a lot of land until I was about twelve, then my family moved to Center Valley, which was closer to Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton areas.In high school, I wrote all the time. I kept journals with short stories and poems in them. I wish I still had those journals now. It would be interesting to go back through them. I always felt like I was a creative individual, so my main focus in high school became art.In college, I studied Graphic Design and Business. I had my own Graphic Design business for a few years after I graduated. I actually design my own cover art for my books.I rediscovered my love for the written word after I was laid off from my full time job. I was hanging out with my friend at a bar and we were having a funny conversation about guys, being gay, relationships, sex, and he said to me “You need to write this shit down!” I created a blog a week later out of boredom until I found another job. The next year my blog started to take off. It was nominated for The Best of Gay Philadelphia, under the category Best Gay Website/Blog. I was in shock. I didn’t know people would be that interested in my life and point of view.I had numerous fans of the blog, write me and say that I needed to write a book. I tinkered around with the idea, but did not come up with a clear concept until six months after my friends and I took a beach vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.After I wrote three blog posts about our experience in Rehoboth and I saw how fans of the blog enjoyed them, I realized then that I had the concept for my first book, Salty Aftertaste.Salty Aftertaste was published in September 2013, almost two months after my friends and I had gotten back from vacation in Rehoboth for the second time! About five months later it ended up in the Smashwords Best Seller List in the Gay & Lesbian fiction category.For Salty Aftertaste’s first anniversary I am planning to reveal a new book cover and format for the book. Since it was my first book it was a huge learning experience for me and I want to go back and improve on things.What do you do when you are not writing?When I can manage to tear myself away from my computer screen, I try to get together with my friends. On occasion I do enjoy going out to clubs, restaurants, or other social events with them. My friends are very entertaining. It’s never a bore. Lately things have been low key because of work and schedules. I’m having a love affair with my Netflix, so a nice quiet night with some movies and wine is also awesome.What’s the best thing about being an author?My favorite part is connecting with people. If I made you laugh, cry, or say, “Oh. My. God.” I know I did my job. The whole point in wanting to be an author is creating something you hope that your reader will enjoy.
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