Tam at Brief Encounters gave a lovely B review to my college-roommates novella Accidental Love. A snippet:
It’s not overly angsty, nor is it overly plot driven. It’s two guys, who despite sharing a small dorm room, finally take the time to get to know who the other is, and over a couple of weeks have to decide if they want to make some changes in their lives.
Thanks, Tam! 🙂
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Posted in accidental love, brief encounters, novella, reviews
I’ve been pretty well knocked flat the past week by one of the nastiest colds I can remember having. It came on quickly and settled into my lungs really well before moving north to lay siege to my sinuses, and it hasn’t let go yet. I didn’t leave the house for five days. Not recommended at all.
Feeling that miserable didn’t exactly stoke any creative fires, either. I did some revision work (on the site here and on some writing), but I didn’t get any new words down. (Darn, I should’ve written a character with a nasty cold. LOL)
I’m starting to feel marginally better—at least, I put in a full day at the office today—so I’m hoping it’ll be uphill from now on. And maybe Derrick and Josh and Sam and Ellery and all those other guys I left stranded will get a little more attention again. 🙂
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Posted in real life
I’m doing a bit of housecleaning on the site, mainly to organize the bibliography a little better. If you find any borked links or can’t find something, let me know in comments and I’ll locate it for you. 🙂
Also, the audiobook of the Never Say Never anthology released! Woot! Now you can listen to all those dirty words from “Stripped” being read into your ear. Oooo. shivers 😉
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Posted in anthology, never say never, short story, stripped
My day job is editing. A totally different type of editing from fiction, but editing nonetheless. So when I read Theresa Stevens’ post at Romance University, it was all I could do to keep from standing up and cheering. (If I didn’t have a lapdesk and laptop in my, well, lap, I might have done it anyway.)
In particular, this passage:
Here’s a sad truth. When I evaluated a submission, the first question in my mind was not, Is this story good enough to publish? My first question was, How many hours of my life will it take to get this manuscript ready? If every other paragraph contains a grammar or usage error, that translates into time that I could be spending on other tasks.
This is why it’s easy for an editor to equate bad grammar with other flaws: arrogance, lack of self-respect, lack of respect for us, disdain for the product you’re creating. If you don’t care enough to distinguish possessives from plurals, then we’re not going to care enough to give you anything more than a form rejection.
In other words, if you don’t worry about your grammar, neither will I.
I have never understood the lack of regard many professional authors appear to have for proper grammar and usage. I’m not talking about off-the-cuff tweets and such (although I still cringe sometimes). I’m not even talking about errors and typos; everyone makes those (me included). I’m talking about failure to take the time to make actual manuscripts as clean and error-free as you can possibly make it, before you submit.
Sure, there are many great storytellers who are terrible spellers or can never remember when to use its vs. it’s. Everyone has foibles. But authors need to recognize their weak spots and do what they can to overcome them, whether it’s studying up on grammar or finding a personal editor who’s a whiz at it to fix things before submission. (Relying on spellcheck and grammar check won’t cut it.) Heck, I’m the one people I know come to for grammar questions, and I almost never submit anything without having at least two other people read it first.
Editors can’t fix everything. Give them a hand, and everyone (including your readers!) will be much happier for it.
Pen image via http://www.sxc.hu
I’m one of those eternally optimistic people who can’t bring myself to be cynical about Valentine’s Day. Never mind that I’ve been single for most of them. Yes, V-Day is way overcommercialized, like most holidays, but I find it difficult to look too harshly on a day whose basic purpose is to celebrate love. Romantic love isn’t even the tip of the iceberg of what’s out there. So no matter what your status—single, partnered, or “it’s complicated”—I hope you have a day filled with love. 🙂
To help you celebrate, here are a few discount offers to go toward restocking your selection of romance reading!
I’ll be tweeting/retweeting any other offers I see turn up during the day, so check @shaeconnor or the Twitter feed at the right side of this page for more. 🙂
(Oh, and while you’re shopping, don’t forget you can still get the Never Say Never Valentine’s Day anthology, which includes my short story “Stripped”!)
Heart image via www.freeimages.co.uk
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Posted in anthology, dreamspinner, never say never, on sale, rainbow ebooks, short story, silver publishing, stripped
My new novella Accidental Love is now available from Amber Allure. The special new release price is just $3.25, so grab it fast! 🙂
Blurb:
College roommates Greg and Keith are polar opposites when it comes to relationships. Greg equates sex with the alcohol and drugs he gave up, while Keith protects his heart by keeping sex strictly casual. At first, neither Greg nor Keith realizes the other is gay, but once they get to know each other better, they feel drawn together, and their developing attraction makes each of them reevaluate his stance on relationships.
Keith starts out thinking he only wants a roommates-with-benefits arrangement, something more than his usual weekend flings but still casual, yet soon he begins to feel more for Greg. Greg’s afraid of what he’s feeling because he has trouble mentally separating sex from the other bad habits that had nearly ruined his life.
Greg’s fears leave him spooked by an impromptu kiss following a game of one-on-one basketball, but that’s nothing compared with how he feels after a dinner date ends with the two men having sex. To help bring Greg back from the edge, Keith opens up his heart, but will it be enough to allow them to move forward together?
A brief excerpt is also available on the sales page. Enjoy! 🙂
Posted in accidental love, amber allure press, fiction, novella, on sale, release date, romance
My next release, the M/M college roommates novella Accidental Love, is now coming soon at Amber Allure! Part of the Hot College Daze series, it’ll be out on Sunday, February 5. Yay!
Have a gander at the blurb:
College roommates Greg and Keith are polar opposites when it comes to relationships. Greg equates sex with the alcohol and drugs he gave up, while Keith protects his heart by keeping sex strictly casual. At first, neither Greg nor Keith realizes the other is gay, but once they get to know each other better, they feel drawn together, and their developing attraction makes each of them reevaluate his stance on relationships.
Keith starts out thinking he only wants a roommates-with-benefits arrangement, something more than his usual weekend flings but still casual, yet soon he begins to feel more for Greg. Greg’s afraid of what he’s feeling because he has trouble mentally separating sex from the other bad habits that had nearly ruined his life.
Greg’s fears leave him spooked by an impromptu kiss following a game of one-on-one basketball, but that’s nothing compared with how he feels after a dinner date ends with the two men having sex. To help bring Greg back from the edge, Keith opens up his heart, but will it be enough to allow them to move forward together?
Posted in accidental love, amber allure press, blurb, coming soon, fiction, m/m, novella, publishers, release date
I’ve added another free short story: Sunny Day (pdf), 3,600 words of best-friends-to-boyfriends.
Click on Free Fiction above for links to all three of my free reads. 🙂
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Posted in Uncategorized
I know I’ve been quieter than usual lately. I had two writing goals for January: finishing a set of commissioned short stories, and getting an older story revised and off to beta.
Goal #1 is complete, and goal #2 is nearly there. I put myself on editing lockdown over the weekend (no reading! no writing! just editing!) and ended up slashing and burning huge swaths of the story, from around 64k to 50k. The machete work is done, so now I have to fix a few spots and give it one last good edit before shipping it to beta. With a week left in the month, I should hit the deadline just fine. 🙂
After that? Well, I’m still still deciding. I have several WIPs to choose from:
And some others that I’ve got in the pipeline in various stages of completion.
Decisions, decisions…
Posted in editing, goals, nano, works in progress, writing
Had this in my head for a week now, so I thought I’d share the love. P!nk, for the record, is awesome in all the right ways.
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Posted in monday music
shaeconnorwrites 