Category: Becoming a Writer

  • Happy Independence Day Release Party & Blog Tour

    Dreamspinner Press has officially released my third novel, Happy Independence Day. The story features the relationship between Terrence Bottom and Cameron McKenzie and is set in June 1969, a few years later than the prequel, After Christmas Eve, and about 225 miles farther north. Much of the action occurs in and around the infamous Stonewall…

  • My New Brand

    A couple of years ago, I naively believed an author’s only job was to write stories. The lucky few who hit the big time could add interviews and appearances to the job description. Turns out, I was wrong. <gasp> There’s more — a lot more. Promotion is a labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive part of the job I’ve…

  • He’s Back…

    Six years ago — for no good reason — I started blogging as the Crotchety Old Man. My musings revolved around things that pissed me off, like pet owners leaving dog poop on my lawn, bad drivers, and poor service. Writing to entertain was a lot of fun and a nice change from the kind of writing I did for…

  • Finding Myself as a Writer

    What kind of books do you write? That’s the first question I get when someone finds out I’m an author. “Writing stories true enough for government work” is my tagline, but says little about my novels. When pressed, I’ll say I write gay fiction which is…er… close enough for government work. My first novel is a thriller. After…

  • Five Steps to Becoming a Successful Author

    On this date just two short years ago, with a lot of encouragement from my friends in the Athens Writers Workshop, I submitted a query for my first novel. I waited for the “not what we’re looking for at this time” message to file with the rejections I’d already received for Glass Houses — my still unpublished memoir.…

  • The Swag’s the Thing

    I’ve attended numerous academic conferences over the last three decades in connection with my day job. But before last year, I’d never attended any kind of Con. When I heard the 2013 Gay Romance Literature Retreat would be in nearby Atlanta, I had to go. One glance and I knew GayRomLit would be nothing like the…

  • Pet Writing Peeves: Pop Culture References

    A good writer makes the reader feel like he or she is a witness to events in the story as they unfold. Keeping the reader’s attention focused on the action and dialogue is the goal. Errors and mistakes, when noticed, take the reader out of the story. Ignorance is bliss. Before getting published, as long…

  • Pet Writing Peeves: Adverbs

    Adverbs top the list of my Pet Writing Peeves. These little words modify actions and usually end in -ly. They’re perfectly acceptable in lots of different situations, but should be used sparingly in novels. Paragraphs riddled with -ly words — like the one above — are fine in blog posts, status updates, conversations, tweets, news…

  • Coming Soon: Happy Independence Day

    Back in July of 2013, I started working on Happy Independence Day, my third novel. The idea was to place several of the characters from After Christmas Eve in New York City for the 1969 Stonewall Riots — the beginning of gay liberation and a turning point for gay and lesbian Americans. Seven months later…

  • Pet Writing Peeves: It

    The members of my writers group will tell you that overuse of the word “it” is one of my pet peeves. Don’t get me wrong. “It” is a perfectly acceptable word. But most of the time, there are better options. Sometimes, “it” is used to refer to another word or phrase that comes later in…