Music Monday

Undisclosed Desires, by Muse. This track, along with the pick for next Monday, is the theme song for Machlan and Sam, the main characters in my soon to be released novel, Six Degrees of Lust, and has inspired many memorable scenes.

One more step in the right direction

As everybody and the world know by now, a same sex marriage bill was passed in New York State's Senate and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday night. Thousands of weddings are being planned, and the crowd that will be present during today's NYC's Pride March will have a new reason to celebrate... perhaps the biggest reason to date.

In a country built on the premises of democracy human beings should have the same rights as they have responsibilities. Not to mention, equality is one of those things that, in my opinion, is a matter of common sense. That the GLBT community is still fighting to be recognized as first class citizens is a shame.

The majority of New Yorkers are celebrating this victory today, and I never felt more proud to be one of them. 

I leave you with an image of the Empire State Building illuminated in the rainbow colors. It makes me all misty eyed...   

Heatstroke

As I had already mentioned, the nice people of the M/m Romance Group over at Goodreads.com organized the Hot July Days event. Members had the opportunity to post a picture and a Dear Author letter, and authors and aspiring authors were able to choose the one they liked the most and committed to write a story inspired by it.

This is the blurb and accompanying picture that caught my attention.

Dear Author;

They meet while vacationing on a tropical beach, can their summer romance last?

The picture above inspired a novella, and here's a short excerpt from it.

  

“Holy… shit…” Michael put the letter down and raked his fingers through his blond hair. “Holy… shit!” He got up from his chair and started pacing around the roof, trying to wrap his mind around everything he had just learned.

Richard Bancroft had not only been gay, but also in a relationship with Manuel Guzman before he’d gone and married Grandma Elizabeth; and there was no way that this Mary mentioned in the letter was not his grandmother. No frigging way. “Holy fucking shit.”

Manuel Guzman had been Latino, and going by what Charlie said, a famous baseball player as well. It didn’t get any more jock than that. Still, he had begged Richard not to get married and just run away with him instead. Michael could only imagine the kind of love he must have felt for Richard, in order to be willing to give up everything for him.

And Richard had gotten married anyway.

Had he not loved Manuel? Had he been experimenting with the guy? Did he ever make it to that game Manuel had invited him to? Because, that had been after his wedding, right? And why did he disappear after getting married? Had he changed his mind?

Michael reached for his backpack and took out the plastic folder he had brought with him from California. It contained everything he had been able to find on Richard Bancroft. There were newspaper articles of his movies, his accomplishments, his wedding and the birth of his son, Richard Lewis Bancroft the Third. Michael even found pictures of him and Manny together at the beach, what seemed to be a concert and a baseball game, but everything was dated prior to 1968.

The few news articles that mentioned the wife Michael kept carefully separated from everything else. There wasn’t much information other than her being from New Jersey and twenty years old when she married Richard. But there were also a few pictures.

Mary Bancroft had been a very pretty lady. She also happened to look an awful lot like Grandma Elizabeth did in the few pictures Michael had seen of her from when she was young.

The first time Michael came across a picture of Mary Bancroft he had been struck stupid, and now that he had found Richard’s stuff in her possession, Michael didn’t have any doubts his grandma had some explaining to do.   

Title: Heatstroke

M/M Contemporary

Word Count: 31,858

Tags: Family secrets, lies, angst, intolerance, sacrifice, romance, HEA, sad, emotional

Visual Inspiration Friday

Today's picture represents a scene I am trying to write. Maybe if I stare long enough at it I will be able to put into paper the same anguish and desperation this image conveys.

Too much to do, too litle time

Eight days left before submission deadline and I am nowhere near the end of my HJD story. I also need to work on edits for Six Degrees of Lust and take care of about a thousand things in connection to my real life. You know, the one that doesn't include gorgeous men hot for each other and it is not all that fun *g*

Fortunately, the amount of writing that I can get done if I only ignore all those pesky house chores is outstanding, so guess what's getting neglected this week?

Visual Inspiration Friday

Enough said.

Wonderful Wednesday News

I have a terrible cold, it is a hundred degrees and I feel like I could use three weeks of sleep inside an igloo. I am also behind on every item on my To Do list and I have had a rather emotionally draining morning. Still, it is one of the best days of my life. Want to know why? Because it is finally sinking in.

Yesterday I got the amazing news that Six Degrees of Lust, the first installment in my series, will be published by MLR Press. The first reaction was disbelief, and of course I had to re-read the email twenty times before I allowed myself a victory dance. A very short one, as I had to go back to my computer and read the email another fifty times, you understand. Once I had no doubts whatsoever I wasn't dreaming or high on cough medicine and hallucinating, I called for my kids and shared the news with them. We laughed and cried and hugged, and it was then when I really started freaking out.

An acceptance letter and contract is something authors dream about on a daily basis... or at least I do, and I have to say that receiving it triggered the most complex combination of feelings I have experienced in quite some time. Excitement, accomplishment, pride, anxiety and fear have been front and center for hours and fighting for the spot light, but underneath it all there's also a sense of peace. Of calm and contentment. 

Today I am relaxed and composed; more than ready to start working with my editor and present readers with the kind of book that will grab both their attention and their heart.

So yeah, I feel like I am in a sauna and could definitely do without the stuffy nose and sore throat, but I am also the happiest person in the world right now :-)