Diary of a Gay Nerd by Michel McDonald

I’ve had a hard time putting into words how I felt when I read Michel’s memoir.  Many parts struck a chord in me from my own childhood, though I was far luckier than Michel was and I didn’t have the added alienation of being gay.  I’ve known Michel for several years now, ever since he picked up my vampire trilogy and we started talking.  In that time, I’ve found him to be a very kind, passionate and determined man.  After reading his memoir I have to add brave to that as well and not just for what he endured and overcame.  To be able to write something like this, with such unflinching honesty, takes a rare kind of person.  Michel doesn’t gloss over his own mistakes, but puts them out there just as baldly as the abuse he went through.

I am honored to know such a man and call him my friend.

All Bets Are Off Reviews and Book Trailer

Good morning everyone.  Brrr.  The weather in DC cannot make up its mind.  I think that its really trying hard to be spring and failing.  I wanted to share some wonderful reviews that I’ve received for All Bets Are Off in the last two months since it came out.  Eli and Ash’s story was a hard one for me to write since contemporary m/m is way out of my comfort zone unless I’m writing it with Fae, but I’m really happy that I stuck with it.

Plus I wanted to share with you some pictures I had that reminded me of either the characters or setting as I was writing the story.  Plus there’s a book trailer that the wonderful and talented Voirey Linger made for me at the end.  I hope you enjoy.

January Recap

I cannot freaking believe that the end of January is already here.  At this rate 2012 is going to pass even faster than the previous year.  January was a very crazy month filled with upheaval so I apologize now for not updating more often.  I have scoliosis and starting around the beginning of December the pain got to be constant.  Then a had a few days in the 2^nd week of January where I couldn’t even walk, sitting up for the next week was even painful.  Now after several weeks of chiro appointments I’m pain free unless I’m on the bus.  After 90 minutes of bouncing and jostling, even with wearing a brace, I’m usually achy.  I hope that will ease off soon too.  It usually comes and goes in stages and only gets really bad every two years or so.

Then a little over a week ago I had to call an ambulance for my husband.  He’d been sick awhile, recovering from bronchitis and his bounce-back was slower than we’d both wished.  He’d had an appointment with his doctor the next week for a follow up when he came to me with swelling in his legs.  Terrible swelling.  One of them looked like a Lincoln Log.  There was absolutely no definition to his knee or ankle.  Given his past heart history I wasn’t taking any chances.  His blood pressure was ridiculously high, the oxygen level in his blood low and he had congestive heart failure.

Time In a Bottle

Good afternoon everyone.  I've emailed the winners from the New Year's Day contest.  In the meanwhile, I've been busy wrapping up the second draft of my lastest story Time In a Bottle.  I just sent it off to beta readers yesterday.  I hope to have it polished and submitted by Valentine's Day so keep your fingers crossed.  In the meanwhile I thought I'd share the blurb, the opening bit and a NSFW picture with you.

A New Year and New Beginnings

Hello everybody, welcome to my new home on the web. Fae created it for me. Isn’t it gorgeous? We’re moving off in different directions because we both have a number of exciting solo projects lined up. I’ll leave Fae to tell you what her projects are, but I’m so excited for her that I’m bouncing. Good stuff, I promise you.

As for me, I’m wrapping up the second draft for my ghost story Time in a Bottle. I should be getting it out to beta readers today. And then I’ll work on the blurb and synopsis, as soon as I have the blurb done I’ll post it. I really love Dean and Andrei’s story. When I first thought of it a little over two years ago on my way to South Carolina, I wondered how a story like that could ever be written and told myself that I should look into other projects. Well Dean wouldn’t let me leave it alone and almost a year later he made me sit down and write the first chapter while I was on vacation.

Then I set that aside to finish up the rough draft of All Bets Are Off. I was definitely excited to get back to Andrei and Dean when I was done. I hope to have it submitted sometime during the first couple months of 2012 and I promise to keep you update.

In the meanwhile, here is my Six Sentence Sunday offering from the first chapter of Time in a Bottle.