Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

writing

Exciting Announcements! Audio, Slow Heat, and Surprises to come! #gay #romance

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Hello! Long time, no blog. But I’m back with some wonderful announcements that I can’t wait to share with you.

  1. AUDIOBOOKS ARE COMING! – After a confidence-busting false start and more angst than I’d anticipated, I’m incredibly excited to let you know that audiobooks are in the works for Training Season and the Wake Up Married serial.Michael Ferraiuolo will be narrating Training Season. He’s the voice behind the audio of Santino Hassell’s First and First and Sunset Park, amongst many others. I’m excited to see what he can do with the bratty Matty Marcus.
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    A newcomer to the field of gay romance, Jason Mitchell, of Voiceovers 911, will be narrating the Wake Up Married serial. His Patrick was utterly perfection, exactly what I hear in my head when I’m writing Patrick, and so after discussing things and working the financial aspect out, it was a no-brainer to make an offer. I was thrilled when he accepted and I can’t wait to see what he does with this serial!

    I want to thank all patrons over at Patreon for making this monetarily possible. And I want to thank my $5+ patrons especially, for holding my hand while I fretted and worried, and for listening and giving their opinions on the various audio auditions. As a reminder, a $5 pledge on Patreon gives readers access to my entire back catalogue of books, access to new books for as long as they are a patron, and all kinds of extras and goodies. The $10 pledge gets all that plus access to any audiobooks produced for as long as they remain a patron. We have a lot of fun over there. 🙂

  2. SLOW HEAT IS ALMOST READY TO GO TO THE EDITOR! – My next release, a non-shifter omegaverse book is nearly ready to go to the beta readers and the editor. My personal deadline is to have it out to them within the next five days. (Another reminder that patrons at the $10 level will be offered beta reading opportunities. Not a requirement, mind you! Because beta reading means getting a less than quality book and giving critics to turn it into a quality book, and that’s not everyone’s bag! But it’s an option.) I just need to go over it really thoroughly one more time and then off it will go to find out all the ways it sucks. 🙂
  3. SURPRISES TO COME! – There is going to be a surprise coming to my Patreon in the next month or so. I’m not going to say much about it yet, because it’s still in the percolating phase. But let’s just say that I’ve had Dar Albert do something with this little picture to help promote the endeavor when the time comes, and we’ll leave it at that. It will be available to $1 pledges and up. Oh, and there might be a very grumpy doctor and a diabetic do-gooder involved in the storyline.

A Deeper Analysis of My 2016 Writing/Publishing Year by Leta Blake

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Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?

I always overestimate what I’m going to get done, so I’d go with less. I always think I’m a super-human machine who will be endlessly inspired and motivated to crank out word after word after word. Then it turns out I’m human and have down periods and times when four pages just won’t “lay flat” and I spend a week on them.

What did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

I published Angel Undone. That was never in my plan for the year. It hit me in June that I was essentially done with the story. That it was finished in my heart and that it was either going to languish on my hard drive forever or I was going to send it out into the world. So I quickly polished it up and published it. I also never would have guessed that I’d be working on my current WIP. It was never, ever in the plan for 2016/2017, but events transpired with the fall releases that made me have to take a step back from my goals in October. This WIP hopped into that space overflowing with words and begging to be written. In my need for something to feel good/right/moving, I took it on, despite reservations about it. And now I’m nearly 50% finished with the book. I hope to have it out in early spring.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

The unfinished book that makes me the happiest is the one I’m working on right now. It’s a bit top secret until I’m closer to the release date, but let’s just say that it involves, um, male pregnancy. The book I published this year that makes me the happiest is You Are Not Me. You have to suffer through Pictures of You to get to it, but everything about You Are Not Me fills me with joy. Maybe I’m weird, but, unf, I love these characters so damn much.

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Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

I did! Everything I did this year was a risk, from doing the Will & Patrick Wake Up Married serial to releasing ’90’s Coming of Age books, to Angel Undone. The real question is which risks paid off? And what does it mean for something to “pay off”?

Will & Patrick turned out to be a brilliant choice. It was crazy fun to write and has turned into a consistent little money maker, which, let’s get frank, is important.

Angel Undone didn’t really pay off in terms of critical reviews or sales, but it did get the hell off my hard drive and that, believe it or not, is a pay off that is priceless in some ways. No more agonizing over what to do with this little story. It’s out and done.

And then ’90’s Coming of Age (Pictures of You & You Are Not Me)… Well, guys, I don’t know. I have a lot of mixed emotions about this risk because it did exactly what I expected it to do: it was a financial and sales flop, but a critical darling, and, dammit, I lived off those reviews like it was ambrosia of the gods. But reviews don’t pay bills and they don’t put food on the table. For the first time ever, books I self-published didn’t pay for themselves or even come close. I’ll be releasing something in the new year regarding the plans for ’90’s Coming of Age, but I will state here that I can’t afford to put out more in the series until I produce something that refills the coffers.

So, the risk of publishing the ’90s Coming of Age series paid off in a few ways: wonderful reviews, dedicated fans, and starting the process of getting a 14 year old project put to bed. But now I’m looking at knowing that I have to invest another large hunk of money into two more books in order to finish it off, and I have quite clear evidence that those two books won’t be able to pay for themselves. So I have to be careful and very wise with my next publishing choices. Something my muses don’t understand–as evidenced by the male pregnancy WIP!

So, I guess, as you’ve seen, I’m diving into bigger risks this year, too. But more on that later.

My most popular story of this year:

The Wake Up Married serial for sure!

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Ha! Well, I think it’s pretty clear from my rambling above that Pictures of You & You Are Not Me didn’t get massive sales numbers (or even decent sales numbers) so that’s what I’d have to go with, though I will say the people who did read it, mainly reviewers and those who got ARCs, seemed to love the books so much that I felt they were quite appreciated by those who took the plunge.

Most fun story to write: 

I have adored working on this current story! It’s just been delicious and fun and everything I’ve needed right now.

Story with the single sexiest moment:

Hmm, I think that You Are Not Me has a really sexy moment, but it’s not as graphic as some I’ve written.

Most “Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:

Probably this male pregnancy story? Or maybe the dark erotica I’m working on under a different pen name?

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

You Are Not Me. Once I understood Daniel, everything fell into place.

Hardest story to write:

We Can Be Good. The third book in the ’90’s Coming of Age series. I wrote 90,000 words of it several years ago and in reviewing those words recently I was sort of horrified to realize that most of it has to go. (And most of it is sex. Apparently, I was really into showing ALL THE SEX and that just doesn’t fit the vibe of the books anymore.) So now, between realizing that I’m basically going to start Book 3 from scratch, and knowing that I haven’t even come close to paying for Books 1 & 2, I sort of quail in fear every time I open the document. I’ll move past it, though. Eventually. It will be released in 2017. I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Biggest Disappointment:

*smiles softly* I think that’s pretty clear by now.

Biggest Surprise: 

How well the Wake Up Married serial was received. I had been told that serials were a mistake and a disaster and don’t do it, but while they weren’t the rousing success of Smoky Mountain Dreams, they have proved consistent and worth the time and effort.

Most Unintentionally Telling Story:

Definitely the male pregnancy WIP I’ve got going. All my societal issues are getting dumped into it. Yay.

Do you have any goals for the New Year?

I do! I wrote a whole blog post about that a few weeks ago. Check out the second half of THIS POST for my 2017 goals.

I’ll update more on my plans for ’90s Coming of Age books in a week or so. Until then, let me leave you with the best New Year’s Wish in the world, penned by Neil Gaiman:

 

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

NOW AVAILABLE! Pictures of You by Leta Blake (90's Coming of Age, Book 1)

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“Go ahead and start getting excited about this.” Katie, Back Porch Reader
“An amazing story that I couldn’t put down!” Jaime, Alpha Book Club
“Five freakin’ awesome stars. Wow, Leta, you have outdone yourself.” Jewel, My Fiction Nook
“I couldn’t put this book down. I absolutely loved it.” Tracy, Bayou Book Junkie
“What a book! It consumed me from start to finish.” Amy, Goodreads Librarian/Reader
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Growing up gay isn’t easy. Growing up gay in Knoxville, Tennessee is even harder. 

Eighteen-year-old Peter Mandel, a private school senior—class of 1991—is passionate about photography. Peter doesn’t have many friends, preferring to shoot pictures from behind the scenes to keep his homosexuality secret.

Enter Adam Algedi, a charming, worldly new guy who doesn’t do labels, but does want to do Peter. Hardly able to believe gorgeous Adam would want geeky, skinny him of all people, Peter’s swept away on a journey of first love and sexual discovery. But as their mutual web of lies spins tighter and tighter, can Peter find the confidence he needs to make the right choices? And will his crush on Daniel, a college acquaintance, open a new path?

Join Peter in the first book of this four-part coming of age series as he struggles to love and be loved, and grow into a gay man worthy of his own respect.

This new series by Leta Blake is gay fiction with romantic elements.

Book 1 of 4.

These books contain aspects of: New Adult fiction, ‘90s gay life, small city homosexual experiences, Southern biases, sexual exploration, romance, homophobia, bisexuality, and twisted-up young love. Oh, and a guaranteed happy ending for the main character by the end of Book 4.

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Crossposted to Steemit.

“I loved this book. Couldn’t put it down and if I didn’t have to work I would have finished in one sitting.” Review of Training Complex by Leta Blake #gay #amreading

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“I loved this book. Couldn’t put it down and if I didn’t have to work I would have finished in one sitting.”

via Goodreads | Sharon Blanton’s review of Training Complex.

 

Click to buy on Amazon.
Click to buy on Amazon.
Available at:

ARe|Amazon|Smashwords|Barnes & Noble|iTunes.

Maybe You Shouldn’t Put your Book on Amazon Pre-Order #sales #writingtips

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FIRST A DISCLAIMER: I have never used Amazon Pre-order because, honestly, if I have a book ready enough to make a pre-order page, then I’ve got a book ready enough to go on sale for realsies. So any discussion here is based on what I’ve witnessed from the experience of author friends who have used the pre-order system on Amazon and the research/reading I’ve done into it via author blogs and writing forums. And basically? I’ve realized that everything said by Renee Rose on her blog and quoted below via the Press This button appears to be 100% accurate. Most of my friends who have used pre-orders have seen zero help in their sales rankings on Amazon, no engagement of Amazon also-bought algorithms, and poor showing altogether for their books. In some cases, the worst showing of their careers.

Please read below to understand why the use of Amazon pre-orders may be linked to this potentially negative outcome, and then head on over to Renee Rose’s blog to see more. If you are having poor sales ever since you started using Amazon pre-orders, possibly consider not using the pre-orders for your next book. Amazon algorithm engagement is key to any sales success and if the pre-orders get effective algorithm engagement then the book is basically doomed.

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From Renee Rose’s blog:

“Amazon Pre-order

Don’t do it.  That’s my expert advice.  Here’s the scoop:  unless you are close to reaching New York Times or USA Today’s Best Seller lists, it will only hurt you. Why? Because if you’re like me, you rely largely on the Amazon algorithm to sell your books for you. That means, Amazon’s recommendations that come in the form of “Customers who bought this book also bought… ”.  No one but the programmers at Amazon know exactly what data goes into Amazon’s algorithm, but most of us agree it has to do with the number of sales you hit initially on your own.  It’s generally accepted that the first 72 hours your book hits Amazon are crucial for getting the Amazon wheel turning in your favor.

So what happens when you put your book on pre-order?  I had understood that the orders made in advance of the release date would count toward my opening day “ranking” on Amazon.  Not True.  I repeat: Not True.  What it does count toward is books sold if you’re trying to hit the New York Times or USA Today list.  While I wish I was in that camp, unfortunately, I am not.

So what happened when I set my latest book to pre-order?  Amazon rank started immediately.  So in the ten days before my book released I had some trickle sales (I think around 25 total) which gave me a lousy ranking, but I wasn’t worried, because I thought they would count on my opening day. Nope. On my opening day I had the worst ranking of my entire career.  Talk about supreme disappointment. I had split my usual opening sales in half with the pre-order thing, and Amazon’s algorithm made a decision on my book based on that ranking. It seemed like my “also bought” recommendations took a long time to come in and sucked. So far the mistake seems to be unrecoverable, not that I’m giving up on my book baby.

The only benefit, I found, was having my links ahead of time for promotional purposes, but considering all the promo I did didn’t help my book, I don’t think that little bonus is worth it. Also, if your book happened to be tagged “adult” (since we are all sex writers here) you would know it ahead of time.  But again, the clock has already begun ticking, so knowing it in the pre-order stage is hardly a boon unless, of course, you pull the book entirely and resubmit with a new title.”

via Why You Shouldn’t Put your Book on Amazon Pre-Order.

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Unbelievable Coincidences – Okay in Life but not in Fiction #writing #life

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Another post from the abandoned draft vault! 😀

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Readers are more likely to say something is unbelievable or too coincidental when it’s in a book, but these kinds of things happen in real life all the time. Two examples off the top of my head, though not of the same importance, they were, possibly, even less likely to happen.

1) On a trip to NYC in 2002, we only knew one person who lived there at that time. He wasn’t a friend, he was a total acquaintance from high school and we only knew he lived there because his mother lived around the corner from us. We didn’t know where he lived or where he worked or anything else. So, we’re in Soho with Punny, and around the corner we come, and WHO IS THERE? Richard. Yep, the one and only dude we knew who lived in the city. Did he even live or work in Soho? No, he was there leaving a cafe where he’d met a friend for lunch. He lived in Queens and worked in Midtown. And yet in that city of endless people, we somehow ran into him during the course of the four days we were there. The odds of that are insane!
2) Once I was driving in a mall parking lot in Chattanooga, singing along to a song and looked over to see that the driver at the stop sign across from me was singing along to the exact same song, at the exact same place in the song. I could see her lips making the words very distinctly, and I was like, “Wow, that’s wild. We must be listening to the same radio station.” But then I remembered I was listening to a cassette tape! What are the freaking odds of THAT? And it wasn’t even a hit song. It was an old Cure song, if I recall correctly. Love Cats or something.
Anyway, yeah. I have no idea where I was going with this…just that coincidences and weird synchronicity happen in real life all the time, but in books they’re often doubted and dubbed unrealistic. I wonder why we are so much stricter with fiction than reality?

Confession: I Sometimes Really Don’t Think I Can #writerprobs #selfdoubt

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Wow, so I drafted the following in May of 2014 and never posted it. Well, here it is January of 2015 and I finished the book I was angsting about and am now in this exact same place with the next book. In a way, I find this comforting. In another way, I find it horrifying. Will this crippling self-doubt ever stop? It really sucks.

From the unposted draft archives:

Despite the fact that I’ve got four or five books out now, whenever I’m working on a new one, I always reach a point where the following thoughts go through my head:

“What the eff are you doing? Who do you think you are? You can’t write a book. You’re not even capable of writing a book. You don’t know what you’re doing and you will never know what you’re doing.”

That’s the worst part of writing. It’s the part that really gets me down sometimes.

For some reason, though, I keep on writing. I’m pretty sure it’s because I have to write to survive. So write I do. Hopefully I’ll be wrong and a book will come out of what I do. Still, that nasty little voice is there. Despite evidence to the contrary, there’s always part of me that thinks I can’t.

But I can.

And I will.

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I DID. Here’s Smoky Mountain Dreams, the book I was certain I couldn’t write.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And now at KOBO.

Writing Review 2014 – How’d I Do? What’s the Plan for 2015? #writing #goals

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I suppose it is the time of year when I should take stock of my writing career and decide how I did in 2014 and what I want to do going forward.

What I accomplished in 2014:

I released The River Leith and Smoky Mountain Dreams in 2014. I took TRL up from a 40k draft to a nearly 80k final product, and I took SMD from a two-year old start of 25k up to a finished product of almost 140k. That’s around 155k of new words on those books. Not bad. In addition, there is all the work around a release–promotion, blog posts, blurbs, seeing to covers and formatting, review requests. So, that’s a good start to the year’s wrap up.

In addition, during 2014 I worked on the four book Pictures of You series that I will begin releasing this fall. (Come hell or high water!) Book One, titled Pictures of You, didn’t really have any new words added (though it will shortly in order to make a few editorial changes suggested by Ajax Bell), but I did work on some edits there. Book Two, titled You Are Not Me, saw an addition of about 30k new words. Book Three, titled, You Make It Real, was written nearly entirely during 2014 and that brought in an additional 94k words. Book Four hasn’t been started yet and I will finish it in 2015.

I started Training Complex, the sequel to 2013’s Training Season, and have 62k there. I will finish that in 2015 and hopefully release this spring. (I always say hopefully because the muse is a slippery thing.) I did 5k of a silly, mainly sexy “virginity loss” novella that I hope to finish one day. I wrote 2k of some Middle Grade things I wish I had time to toy with…we’ll see.

I suppose that’s all I worked on this year. Wow, that seems pretty shoddy. Let’s add it up.

Tally:

155+30+94+62+5+2 = 348k

Yeah, I need to do better next year. That’s just not enough words. *sigh*

Still, I won’t spend much space beating myself up. This is supposed to be a positive post and word count isn’t everything, right? So let’s talk about the fact that Smoky Mountain Dreams was #1 on the Gay Romance and/or Gay & Lesbian Romance charts at Amazon for over a week and remains even now (at the writing of this blog post on Christmas Eve, at least, if not the actual posting of it) in the Top Ten. Wow! So freaking unexpected and totally amazing! Thank you, readers, for making the end of my year extra-especially spectacular!

And let’s talk about the fact that The River Leith was an I Heart Indies! finalist, and that Training Season was nominated in the Goodreads M/M Romance Member’s Choice awards for Best Book of the Year! Let’s talk about the fun I’ve had getting to know readers and other authors alike, and the validating and fulfilling trip to Florida for Rainbow Con. It’s been a lovely and strong year even if I didn’t get close to my word count goal. (Which, to be even more fair to myself, I didn’t realize I had until I found myself disappointed with the total. I’d like to get 600k next year.)

What I hope to accomplish in 2015:

1) Get Training Complex out this Spring

2) Get Pictures of You out this Fall

3) Write Rock Star/Priest novel with Indra Vaughn

4) Complete Book Four of Pictures of You series

5) Finally decide what to do with my quirky/weird angel novella and the god’s plaything dark erotica novella, both of which I wrote a few years ago. I need to add what needs added and release them, come what may.

6) Finish Stalker Book 1

7) Start the Smoky Mountain Dreams sequel now that some key pieces fell into place and I know what I want to do with it

8) Start the third (and final) Matty & Rob Training Season book

And though I want to add even more that’s probably realistically too much as it is. Working a job and being a mom and yadda keeps me from cranking out the books, but I always like to overshoot because, hey, what if I actually managed to accomplish it all somehow? Wouldn’t that be cool?

So, here’s to 2014! You were a pretty good year to me, pal. Thanks for everything! And, welcome, 2015! I look forward to knowing you! 😀

“I don’t know how Leta keeps doing it!” Roger Grace’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams #mmromance #gay

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“I don’t know how Leta keeps doing it, each time I read one of her books, I have a new favorite by her. I just can’t stop getting pulled into the story and enjoying it so much. This book should be read and enjoyed. can’t say enough just know that the origami swan on the cover is there for a reason. there is a lot of pain and a lot of redemption in this moving story. And each of the stories are different from each other.”

read more via Amazon.com: Roger G Grace’s review of Smoky Mountain Dreams.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

Smoky Mountain Dreams is available now at:

AMAZON
B&N
SMASHWORDS
iTUNES
SCRIBD
OYSTER

And now at KOBO.

Leta Blake’s Writing/Release Plans for 2015 #bythepowerofbono #gayromance #loveislove

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So, when Smoky Mountain Dreams came out last week I had a lot of people saying, “Wait, what? You have a new book? We didn’t know anything about that! Why didn’t you say? I can’t believe I didn’t know!”

I was a little surprised by their reaction since I’ve done little else since June except think about Smoky Mountain Dreams (and the hopefully upcoming Training Season sequel, tentatively titled Training Complex), and surely my mental thought processes are broadcast worldwide every day at 3:15pm, right?

*wanders off into mental playland for the next paragraph; you can probably skip it*

Oh, yes, via the Power of Bono, my thoughts and dreams and aspirations are downloaded onto your iTunes playlists and inserted into the middle of that new Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters song, thus invasively keeping you abreast of my every thought and feeling. So cool, right? No? Well, it’s probably for the best that I don’t have that horrific power. I’d hate for all of my stuff to clutter up the mental space meant for all your stuff. And my beloved Sinead O’Connor would consider it an act of terrorism for me to use the Power of Bono in such an intrusive way. And I would too, actually.

But, uh, I’m babbling. About bullshit. Excuse me. Sometimes I get silly.

Anyway, I suddenly realized based on readers’ surprised reactions to the release of Smoky Mountain Dreams that, hey, maybe I didn’t talk about the upcoming book in a public way very much at all. And, jeez, maybe I should probably try to do that sort of thing a bit better.

The trouble is that I’m a bit superstitious about talking publicly about release dates and upcoming books. I don’t like the idea of getting anyone’s heart set on a book, only to find that my fitful muse has taken off down a new path with a glittery new friend, (temporarily) abandoning the project I’d already told everyone to expect. I don’t want to disappoint anyone.

[BREAK: OMG HOW AMAZING, HOW UTTERLY AMAZING, THAT I HAVE READERS WHO MIGHT BE DISAPPOINTED IN A BOOK’S DELAY!?! PINCH ME! IS THIS REAL LIFE!?! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE!]

But I do want people to have some idea of what I’m working on. Though, I admit springing a new book on folks is a bit fun. LOL. But despite that, I’ll go ahead and tell you what I’ve got cooking.

Attention: my muse insists that I tell you all that this is subject to change at her whim. But if we all tread lightly and speak very quietly, she might not get contrary on us.

1) Training Complex – the sequel to Training Season (which, by the by, is on sale for 99 cents until the end of November). I’m hopeful this book will be ready to release this spring. Probably late spring, but, yes, this spring is what I’m aiming for. I’m a little bit of a mess about this book. I can’t decide if it’s any good–though beta readers tell me it is–and so I feel like I’m wrestling a massive stone as it rolls down a hill completely out of control, bumping and bruising me along the way. At least it hasn’t cracked any bones…yet. Anyway, Matty and Rob are having…well, a lot of intense sex, honestly. *bites nails* I’m a bit uncertain of the reception this book will get because, well, yeah. Loads of intense sex. Let’s put it this way–they aren’t backing down from their Training Season sexual antics into some staid, sweet sex life. They’re into button pushing and…so they’re gonna push buttons. Hopefully these will be good buttons for many of you and if not…well, it’s all Matty’s fault. It was his idea to begin with.

2) Pictures of You series – This is a four book series that is more like one very long-ass book told in four novel-length parts. I try to end each book at a natural breaking point, a pause in the action so to speak, but the full resolution of any particular storyline doesn’t come until Book Four. I am 100% committing to having Book One out in September of 2015. I’ve had it mostly done for well over a year, but I am superstitious, like I said above, and didn’t want to put the first book out until I had a draft of the last book. Well, that’s still my aim, but even if I don’t have a full draft by September? Out Book One goes. Pictures of You series is set in the early 1990s and follows the main character, Peter, over the course of his senior year of high school and his first year of college. It’s a definite coming-of-age story arc with a lot of growing up, a focus on romance, and sex. Yay for sex! 😛 Hopefully it will be embraced by readers, but I recognize it isn’t necessarily everyone’s cupp.

3) Priest/Rockstar with Indra Vaughn – I threw out the idea for this combo on Facebook the other day and Indra jumped on me via email about writing it with her and next thing I knew I’d committed to starting this with her in March (or April). It’s gonna be an angsty one, guys. OMG YAY! 😀 I’ve started reading a on of rock star bios in preparation. Indra’s taking the priest POV and so I’ll leave that research mostly to her. Though I did read a bunch of books about the modern priesthood about six years ago (is that still modern? life moves so fast!) when I was researching a novel that I call Japanese Saint and which hasn’t even been started yet.

At this point, once these books are done, I’ll reevaluate about what to tackle next. I have quite a long list of works in progress and story ideas. I have three books that are more than half complete–Stalking Book One (the prequel to the freebie Stalking Dreams), a very dark erotica piece with a lot of very bad choices made, and an angel book that I’m quite fond of but requires a lot of work to finish off–and I’ve got a heterosexual romance novel idea that won’t let me go. I feel like if I want to work on the het book at all, then I need to have a year’s worth of m/m books “in the bag” to allow myself the time to complete a full novel in a different genre. (Though, really, why is it a different genre? Romance is romance. Love is love. Pfft.) Some of my other book ideas have been screaming at me for awhile–a heist book, a young adult book, a trans novel. And I have really fun ones planned in the Training Season Universe (Angus/Bill, Elliot/his love interest, etc). Then I also have ideas for continuation of the Smoky Mountain Dreams Universe (SEQUEL!), and, of course, new universes that I haven’t written yet.

All the books and too little time to write them! I always have new ideas for books! Any way, there y’all go. My current plans for writing/releasing books. Here’s to this next year being as productive or more productive than this year. Let’s do this thang.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.

Cover Reveal: Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake #gay #mmromance #amreading

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I am so thrilled to present the cover for my next book Smoky Mountain Dreams. This gorgeous cover is the creation of Dar Albert at Wicked Smart Designs and I think she has once again outdone herself!

Smoky Mountain Dreams will be released to the wild on November 18, 2014. It’s a story that I started about four years ago and then set aside in favor of working on some other books. My dear friend Alice Springs, who had read the initial 20% of the first draft, asked out of the blue last spring when I was going to finish this book because, “I’ve never read a gay romance like that one and I loved it so much.” Cue me pulling up the unfinished manuscript, reading it over, and deciding, “You know what, friend? I think now is your time.” And so it is. Thank you, Alice, for reminding me to love this book. You’re the best.

Sometimes holding on means letting go Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he's still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him. There's more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He's raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There's no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.
Sometimes holding on means letting go
Christopher Ryder and Jesse Birch are two men hanging on to the past. While Christopher has let go of his failure as a country singer in Nashville, he’s still trying to please his narrow-minded, non-accepting family. His beloved Gran loves him the way he is, but Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. He’s happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee, but even when Christopher is center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.
There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to bisexual Jesse. He’s raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children’s mother. There’s no room in his life for dating, his kids are his priority, and he doesn’t want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn’t want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart. Find out more on Goodreads.

ETA:

Buy links!

SMD at Amazon
SMD at Smashwords

A Call for Help! #marketing #outsidethebox #fantasy finding an audience | @Darrah_Glass

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“I didn’t set out to create something problematic, yet somehow I ended up with a very long story divided into four books with teenage main characters who have lots of graphic sex in a historical setting featuring a non-historical version of slavery as a prominent fantasy element.Despite their ages, it’s definitely not  a YA book.

Despite the detailed 1900 setting, it’s not entirely historical because, hello, there are slaves. Because there are slaves, it’s a fantasy, but it’s certainly not classical fantasy with magic or dragons.  And despite the presence of slaves, it’s not a BDSM story.  All of these things are marketing problems.Of course, none of this seemed like it would be an issue while I was writing the books.”

via finding an audience | Darrah Glass.

Darrah is really hopeful she can strike up a dialogue with other authors who have successfully navigated the marketing of something that is quite outside any prescribed box. If you’ve got information or advice, click on through!

Writing Big Books: How To Keep Track of Many Characters/Storylines #writing @anniepearsonOK

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“I began writing big books like the Accidental Heretics series because I like to read big books.Right now, I’m buried in the last 10% of  Book 3 in the series. One of my writing friends Leta Blake, who is fantastic commented about what it takes to manage the complexity of big books with many characters. At her prompting, I’m sharing more here about my methods.”

via Getting to the End: Crux Lunata « Heresy and Rain. <–Check out Annie Pearson’s process for keeping up with multiple storylines and characters. Impressive stuff!

Not The Boss of Me #history #slang

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I love research. Seriously, it is one of my favorite things about being a writer. Because I wanted to make sure that this phrase was used during the time period I was working on, I stumbled on this, and it just thrilled me to know this slang has gone back so far!

“Though the phrase “you’re not the boss of me” may owe some of its current popularity to the TMBG song, this bit of rebellious kid-speak has been kicking around since the late 19th century.

When I checked up on this a few years ago for the American Dialect Society mailing list, I was able to trace “you’re not the boss of me” back to 1953 using then-available digitized newspaper databases. Now, thanks to the wonders of Google Book Search, it’s easy to take it back another 70 years:

His sister was going to put her arms around him, but he whirled, and facing her with a very angry face, snapped — “Let me alone; you are not the boss of me now, I tell you, and I’m going to do as I please.”
—”As by Fire,” The Church, New Series Vol. III, 1883, p. 70

Source: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005037.html

 

Flash Fiction: The Running Zachariah Meets The River Leith #mmromance #extras

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Flash Fiction

The Running Zachariah Meets The River Leith

 

New York City was far enough from Louisville that Zach felt safe. He’d run far, far, far away from home years ago, traveling the world with his job on a cruise ship for years, and he never intended to go back. Now it was time to put down some roots, though. And if he didn’t like the roots he put down, he’d just tear them up and run off again. After all, running far away from places and things that hurt him was what he did best. But, in the meantime, he needed a place to crash.

Park Slope was baby-land from what he could tell by the number of strollers and actual children running, laughing, and hopscotching up and down 7th Street, but he didn’t mind. He liked kids. If life worked out the way he hoped, he might even have one someday. He’d enjoy showing a child the world, holding their hand by the Eiffel Tower, or throwing them in the air in the Riveria sun. He’d never, ever hit them or tell them they were shameful or make them want to run away from home forever.

Dismissing memories of his grandmother’s belt and his mother’s hateful words, he jogged across 5th Ave and hooked a right. He glanced down at the paper in his hand, double checking the address. Yes, he was on the right street now. He grinned at a little Asian girl on a tricycle, and nodded toward her German-looking nanny while hunting for the building number on the doors. The one he was hunting for was nice enough, with windows that jutted out toward the leafy green of a nice-sized tree.

He folded the paper carefully and squinted up at the apartments above the bar below. Then he looked around, taking in the prime location—close to the subway, the shops of 5th just down a block, and the shops of 7th Ave just a little further upslope. It was perfect. Now, he just needed to make them like him. He was good at that. He could be charming and sweet, loving and open, and they’d like him. Well, so long as they never saw the dark spots his family had left on his heart, anyway. He could hide his wounds. He was almost as good at that as he was at running when someone got close enough to spot them.

And, really, all that mattered was that they liked him for just long enough anyway. He could leave again. There was always Italy, or California, or Alaska. There was always somewhere to escape to and a way to forget if things here went bad.

The doorbell chimed and Zach sucked in his breath, stunned at the sight of the sweaty, flushed, goddamn-gorgeous man who answered: blond hair, hazel eyes, and a body to fall to his knees for. All displayed beautifully in a white sleeveless t-shirt and jogging shorts. “Hey, yeah. Can I help you?”

“Hello,” Zach said, sticking out his hand and telling himself to pretend he was vlogging. He could do anything and say anything if he was vlogging. He could be real without having to suffer for it. It was a good trick he’d learned over the last few years. “I’m Zachariah Stevens. I’m here for the extra room?”

“Oh. Right.” The guy took his hand and they stared into each other’s eyes. A handshake failed to form and the touch turned into an awkward almost-hand-holding clench that morphed into further weirdness, until the guy jerked his hand back. “I’m Leith.”

“Nice to meet you, Leith. Been out running?” Zach asked, gesturing at his sweaty state when Leith looked confused.

“Yeah. In training.”

“For a marathon?”

“No. I box.”

“Oh.” Well, that explained those muscles and his tough-guy look. Zach’s knees went a little weak.

“Uh, come in. The girls are upstairs.”

Zach followed him up the stairs to the apartment, his eyes on Leith’s firm, muscular ass, and he shivered. A hot, boxer roommate? Oh, hell, yes, this could be a good place to live for a while. How much fun could he have seducing the guy? And if by some miracle things actually got real between them? Well, that’d be awesome for as long as it lasted.

And if things turned bad? Well….

Leith looked over his shoulder at Zach, his hazel eyes confused, as though wrestling with something down deep inside. “The room’s kind of small.”

“That’s fine. I don’t have a lot of things. I travel a lot. I don’t keep much to hold me back.”

“You gonna travel a lot while you’re living here?” Leith turned and took the next flight up to the third floor.

“No. I’m sticking around for a while. Trying to build a real life for a change. It’s an experiment.”

Leith stopped on the landing and waited for Zach to join him. “You’ve got a job?”

“Of course.”

Leith gazed at him and the air between them seemed to thicken. Zach nearly took a step forward into the space separating them, but held back. Get the room first. Then see what happens.

“A real job?”

“Do I look like a vagrant or something?” Zach laughed. He was wearing jeans, sure, but they were expensive jeans and he knew he looked nice.

“Uh, no. You look….” Leith swallowed. “Like you’ve got a job. But, you know how it is. You can’t be too careful. We’ll check your references.”

“Of course. And, to answer your question, yes, I have a real job.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Well, come in and meet the girls.” Leith keyed open the door. “It’s up to them if you get the room, anyway.”

Zach followed him into the small but clean apartment. The sofa wasn’t new but it’d obviously been quite nice once. The throw on the loveseat matched nicely, and the tv was big, but there were a lot of books stacked around, too. Always a good sign.

Leith clapped him on the shoulder as he called out, “Marian! Ava! A guy’s here for the room.”

His hand was warm and stayed just a moment too long. Zach shivered. Yes, this could be nice and if things didn’t work out here, he could always go. He’d made a career out of leaving.

Leith smiled at him, his eyes crinkling at the edges. “Would you like some water while they grill you?”

“Sure.” Zach licked his lips. “Thanks.”

But maybe, if he was lucky, he might find a reason to stay.

 

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The above is a prequel sort of flash fiction set three years before the start of my book The River Leith.

Memory is everything. After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain. For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him. Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.

 

Romance/Erotica Authors Lead Hotter #Sex Lives Than Most Americans, Says Survey | Digital Book World

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So much for the stereotype that women writing erotica or romance are lonely, sexually frustrated housewives/spinsters!

“For writers of romance and erotica, truth is at least as steamy as fiction, according to a new survey by the ebook recommendation site The Fussy Librarian.The 103 authors surveyed last month are overwhelmingly women, heterosexual, married and publish under a pen name. They’re no more likely to have had sex for the first time any earlier than the average American, and the survey found they’re 10% less likely to cheat on a spouse. But they do report a greater variety and incidence of intimate encounters.”

via Erotica Authors Lead Hotter Sex Lives Than Most Americans, Says Survey | Digital Book World.

You Get What You Measure: Fiction Edition « Words in the Cloud #writing #advice

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“For me, daily word count is not an adequate measure of productivity.  However, I was also formerly a manager known for creative definition of realistic measures for productivity and success. So I’ve been thinking about how to understand my own productivity as a fiction writer without focusing only on word count and number of publications per quarter. I’m sharing some of those ideas here for other fiction writers, especially those who don’t write fiction full time as their principal income.”

read more via Annie Pearson, You Get What You Measure: Fiction Edition « Words in the Cloud.

 

Because I Need To Say It — THANK YOU. YES, YOU! #family #readers #realitycheck

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When a book comes out, there are always people to thank, most especially the readers. Right now, though, I want to write a post thanking my family. Though it’s unlikely they’ll even see this post, I want them to know that their acceptance, support, and enthusiastic cheerleading of my endeavors has meant the world to me.

I want to thank my mother for being amazingly supportive, for reading and for just being awesome about my books. She’s been absolutely amazing the last few months, even helping me brain storm plot problems. Love you, Momma!

I want to thank my husband for always saying I could make this writing thing work and for never giving up on me, even though he never actually reads my books. Thank you for believing in me without any evidence that you should!

I want to thank my mother-in-law for taking care of my kid and being as supportive as I allow her to be. True, I am not as forthcoming with her about my books as I am with the rest of my family, and despite knowing she’s being kept in the dark, she is still encouraging.

I want to thank my sister-in-law for reading my last book, taking me to lunch, and telling me why she loved it! I want to thank my brother who is, no doubt, bemused by what I write, and still tells me to keep on keeping on.

I want to thank my daughter for letting mommy write even when I’m sure she’d like my attention.

I want to thank my father for employing me and for making sure that I have the financial freedom to try to make my dreams come true. Without him I would be nothing, we would be nothing, and he truly is the wind beneath my wings. He doesn’t get the credit for that that he deserves. I do know, Daddy. I know. And I thank you for it.

I want to thank my readers, because you might not be my family, but you make the sacrifices and encouragement worth it. You are the people who buy the end product and I cannot possibly thank you enough for that.

I am such a lucky and loved person, and I feel that every day in so many ways. I needed to acknowledge it.
THANK YOU.

 

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Gay Guy Reading – Review: “Truly a story you won’t want to put down.” – Training Season| #mmromance #gay

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Scott at Gay Guy Reading Review (GGR-Review) has the following to say about Training Season:

“It is truly a story you won’t want to put down.”

and

“I should receive a quick kick to the arse for not reading this [book] earlier.”

and

“I can only recommend that you follow what I did (only don’t wait as long as I did to read it). Just open it up and start reading.”

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Read the rest of his enthusiastic review here:  Training Season | GGR-Review.

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Training Season can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, ARe, and Smashwords. Coming soon to iBooks.