Leta Blake

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

co-writing

2015 – You were a year! And I did some things in you! #2015 #yearinreview

by

Golden glitter

 

So tonight is the winter solstice. The longest night of the year. The true turn of the year. From this point until Summer Solstice, the days will slowly get longer and longer. Earlier tonight, a friend pointed out an article from a fellow writer suggesting that we stop beating ourselves up for all the things we didn’t get done this year and instead celebrate the things we did do. I thought that sounded like a stress-busting idea, so why not? I’ll divide my 2015 accomplishments into professional and personal.

 

Professional:

  1. Amazon USI don’t think it’s terrible to say that this one kicked my ass while writing it. Every release has challenges, but this one had extra challenges. The fact that I wrangled this into a book-shaped finished product is kinda amazing. No matter what, I give myself a high five for accomplishing it. (Let’s set aside whether or not I should have accomplished it, because the fact is that I did.) It was Rainbow Award runner-up in Erotic Romance.
  2. Amazon USIndra Vaughn and I co-wrote this book. We started in, hm, March, I think? And we had a finished product out in September. I think Indra deserves a lot more credit than I do because she wrote her parts while undergoing serious life-upheaval that might have undone anyone else. I’m incredibly proud of her and I’m proud of what we accomplished together. I think this is one of the most romantic books I’ve had the honor to write. In fact, I know I shouldn’t say this, but it might be my favorite book that I’ve had a hand in making. It wasn’t without difficulties. Co-writing–no, writing–never is, but, hey, look-it. It’s there. It’s just out there in the world being all romantic and lovely and I love it so much.
  3. www.GIFCreator.me_uJ2MqQYeah, that’s right. Three novella-length installments of a new serial, co-written with Alice Griffiths. Our goal is for each installment to be “worth it”, so each of them is at least 30,000 words, but most are closer to 35,000 words. I honestly have no idea what that translates into with pages. As a writer, I think in terms of words, but I know that it’s not easy to wrangle words into behaving, and I feel like the pacing and beats of the first three episodes of this serial are fun, funny, and ultimately romantic. I’m having a wonderful time with them. Also, look at Dar’s gorgeous covers! I am proud of what we’ve accomplished, but this one is harder for me, since there is still work to be done, and my main stress in life right now revolves around accomplishing miracles with the timing of the next three releases. BUT THIS IS ABOUT HOW AWESOME 2015 HAS BEEN SO…YAY WILL & PATRICK!
  4. Previously released as Love's Nest in 2013. There’s no greater mystery in the kingdom than where Prince Mateo’s sisters disappear to each night. The king is determined to discover where they go and issues a challenge to all the nobles to help him learn their secret. Hoping to protect them, Mateo hides beneath a magic cloak and follows his sisters to an enchanted world of fairies and lusty delights. Ópalo has waited years to finally meet his human lover. Fairies are bound by fate, and Ópalo is eager to embrace his, and plans a future with Mateo. But while Mateo soon succumbs to the pleasures of the flesh, he refuses to surrender his heart so easily. As their worlds collide, Ópalo has to risk everything to win his man forever.Previously released in 2012 as Earthly Desires.I was able to re-release Levity (originally Earthly Desires) and Flight (originally Love’s Nest). Keira re-released Rise (originally Ascending Hearts). I didn’t really have to do much. I considered adding and expanding, but decided that the past is better left in the past, and it was better to move onward. So, these books are out with new covers and the names we’d originally planned.
  5. Le Retour de LeithI worked with Juno Publications to release a French translation of The River Leith (Le Retour de Leith).
  6. I worked with Monica Rivero to release a Spanish translation of Smoky Mountain Dreams.\
  7. 10649056_637038253093061_8696039872764541650_oI attended the Rainbow Book Fair in New York City and had an amazing time meeting readers and re-connecting with other authors and bloggers. It was a wonderful experience and I wish I was going to attend again in 2016, but I’ve got some intense writing goals for the year, so I’ll have to pass.
  8. 1496511_675580195905533_3921520308550706892_oI attended Rainbow Con in Tampa, Florida. Here I am with Eli Easton. I had an absolutely fantastic time with other authors and with the readers who showed up for the event. There’s nothing like bonding with other authors!
  9. beta-reader-superheroI beta read a bunch of books. Like a lot of them. And I think I did a good job at it. At least, I hope I did. I was, if nothing else, honest as hell. And sometimes that might feel like hell. But, hey, yay, I told you before the readers did, so WIN!!
  10. newsletter_1446671813I set up a newsletter! And I’ve sent out a message a month! I’ve enjoyed cultivating recommendations and letting readers know when I have a new release.
  11. I’m sure I accomplished other things, too. But this is good for now. I feel like less of an abject failure, at least. *high fives self*

Personal:

  1. I learned how to cook this year. More than that, I learned to enjoy it. That is huge, utterly massively huge. It’s something I’d never have expected and yet I managed it.
  2. I learned that parsnips are AMAZING and that my life was incomplete without them. Yes, this is related to #1, but PARSNIPS.
  3. My daughter is thriving.
  4. My husband is doing well. Though, honestly, I feel like I should set a goal for 2016 to improve the time we spend together.
  5. I got Christmas accomplished! Well, kind of. I mean, it’s not over yet and it’s possible I forgot something. We’ll see.
  6. I tried very hard not to suck as a friend. I guess my success at that should be determined by my actual friends’ opinion, but I did try not to suck. I feel like I failed sometimes and not because of my efforts, but because of life.
  7. Hmm, maybe I need to do better with personal goals. Like, say, exercise. And being present. And not obsessing about getting books out.

All in all, 2015 was a good year for me. There were some personal struggles because so many people I love dearly are going through hard times, but as far as my day-to-day life goes, it was pretty darn good. So here’s to 2015. You were kinda cool. I loved a lot about you. I wish that you’d been kinder to some of my pals, but I can’t control that. (Boundaries! That’s another thing I’m getting better at as I age, and 2015 was pretty good with boundaries. Most of the time.)

Thank you to all the readers out there! Being a writer wouldn’t be half as much fun without you!

wine_1423468c

 

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

by

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.