I Did It

I met the deadline yesterday. Now I have to wait nervously to see if they like the full.
Once the book was off to my editor I grabbed my daughter Lexi and we headed out for a pedi...she loves when mom rewards herself and drags her along. :o)

Happy Friday!

Welcome Guest Blogger - Rawiya

SOMETHING NEW ON THE MENU series

BL Morticia tempted us with a comedy fest in Book 1 – SOMETHING FRESH SERVED HOT

Rawiya thrilled us with her humorous take on what to do with your competitor in Book 2 – TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS.

Now we have the latest installment in the ‘Something New On The Menu’ series, Book 3 – SMOOTH LIKE LATTE by Rawiya.

Naughty Nights Press is proud to announce that Smooth Like Latte, an interracial gay male romance, will be available to purchase from All Romance E-books, Amazon and Smashwords on June 8^th.

SMOOTH LIKE LATTE by Rawiya.

Synopsis:

Brendan Walsh is an uptight business executive of works sun up to sun down in the heart of the Loop in downtown Chicago. Due to his relentless drive to succeed, he doesn’t really allow himself time for fun. His idea of this is sitting at home alone, watching the company profits. Since he stays busy, he doesn’t allow any time to get to know anyone. To make matters worse, Brendan’s homophobic, overbearing father has threatened to write him out the will if he doesn’t do everything he’s asked.

In the building, he meets a man by the name of Davori Jenkins, a happy go lucky guy who serves him a cup of latte just the way he likes it. The attraction between them is real from the start. In a surprise move, Brendan leaves his number along with the tip to spark conversation. From there, they build a friendship over drinks and lunch thus drawing them closer.

However, Brendan still hasn’t come out to his father and fears if he does he’ll lose his financial security under the Walsh umbrella. Will he take the risk so he can have a future with the hunky barista?

Warning: This is an m/m interracial romance. Real romance. Some sappiness is ahead with two very good looking men who are searching for that happy ever after ending.

Excerpt:

“Brendan, you must uphold the family name. Nothing is more important than the Walsh name! Nothing!”

The words of Brendan Walsh’s father, Alexander, rang true, like a menacing alarm in his head every single day. Why did he have to be the son Alexander depended upon most? Could it be because the other Walsh brother was completely useless?

In his father’s eyes, Brendan’s older sibling Brian was a disappointment, all because he didn’t want any part of the Walsh family business. Instead of living off his trust fund and becoming the successive CEO to the Walsh Financial Corporation, he’d opted to follow his dream and become a rock musician. That made Alexander extremely unhappy and because of this, the elder Walsh made changes to his will which took away his portion of the family fortune. Brian didn’t care, though; he said no amount of money could bring him true happiness.

Brendan, on the other hand, did like money and security, but the constant meetings, the traveling, and all the responsibilities of being the boss had started to wear thin. He attended college and went straight to graduate school afterward. Then he became top partner at Walsh. It was a lot of responsibility, but Brendan had been well groomed by his dad, who was adamant about not wanting his younger son to become a “useless fuckup.”

“Ugh…” Brendan restlessly turned over. Opening one eye, he glanced at the clock. Six a.m. Time to get up and head in to the office to make more money for the Walsh Empire. Not wanting to move, he groaned, running his fingers through his short, wavy, brown locks. He’d just gotten his hair cut, and it still felt funny. He’d allowed it to grow past his shoulders, but that had only prompted Alexander’s comment that he should “stop looking like a fag.”

“Damn.” If Alexander only knew. Maybe that was just what the old man needed. To see his son for exactly what he was – a man in the closet who desperately wanted to come out.

Yeah, that’ll be the day.

Pulling up the shades, he squinted his eyes into the daylight; the few stragglers out on the street were probably either coming home from or on their way to work. Or were they returning from Valentine’s Day parties in the city? A part of Brendan wished he were doing just that, especially since he’d spent this particular V Day in his Lake Shore Drive condo, reading and comparing sales figures from the year before. That wasn’t his job: it was someone else’s, but he’d opted to do it himself because that employee had someone to go home to and he didn’t. Truthfully, numbers remained his first love, and he’d never known any other.

While he tried to read over the latest figures the night prior, his father called to get him out of his high-rise condo. “Brendan, I’m at the country club with a bunch of friends. You should come by.”

The last thing Brendan wanted was to be around his father on the most romantic day of the year. “No thanks Dad, I’m real busy.”

“Oh c’mon, son,” Alex slurred his words and cut him off. “There’s some pretty ladies here and lots of Scotch. You could walk outta here with the next Misses Walsh. Besides, you need to give me a grandchild.”

Completely annoyed, Brendan rolled his eyes and sighed. “No thanks, Dad.” He promptly hung up the phone.

Oh, he’ll get me for that later.

Too bad I can’t be that bold all the time.

“Pfft.” Dejected, he shook his head and stretched his arms while he strolled slowly to the bathroom. Flicking on the lights, he winced. The coffee-colored marble floor was cold on his bare feet. He rubbed his eyes, thinking how nice it would be to crawl back under the covers and blow off work, but he knew Alexander would bitch if he didn’t show up.

A hot shower was what he needed to warm him up and get him into his daily routine. Turning the small silver knobs, he took off his boxers and stepped in, allowing the hot water to cascade down his body. He ducked his head under the hot spray and exhaled, feeling the warm drops hit his scalp. Several ran down his face, both soothing him and waking him up, as he wanted. In minutes, the sound of whiny saxophones and soft piano melodies filled the bathroom. Like an alarm, he’d set smooth jazz music to play while he showered because he loved hearing it when he woke up.

Brendan wished there was someone to share these morning moments with him. “Maybe someday, I’ll get up the nerve.” He rubbed his newly cut hair and leaned against the marble wall. “When Brendan, fucking when?”

So close to the finish line

Still under deadline…I would’ve finished the book last week. I was on a roll. In two days I wrote over 7k. I was happy, excited and the story moved forward without hesitation. And then I got sick. I woke Thursday morning with a nasty stomach bug at 5am. The baby woke at 5:15…dad had to get up bright and early. *evil grins*

The man does not understand how precious my mornings are to me – my quiet mornings. Thursday’s he normally goes into the office, but he couldn’t. I spent the day in bed and most of Friday. The weekend was busy as are most in the summer months.

This morning I’m hard at work on the wip. I’m writing that final sex scene. Once that’s done I can print the book out and edit. I pray I can get this done by Thursday.

I have guests the next two days and as you can surmise I’ll be in my writing cave. See ya once I hit send to my editor. :o)

Happy Monday! (if there’s anything happy about Monday’s)

In the Writer's Cave

Sorry for not posting much lately but I'm trying to meet a June 14th deadline. I'm about 7k away. I'll be back soon!

Happy Tuesday.

Away

The DH and I are off to NY again this weekend. What started out as a birthday party has turned into two birthday parties and a ballet recital for my god daughter. :o) I guess we’re going to be busy.

Hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Overused Words

I’m reading a The Writer’s Workout by Christina Katz. She offered a piece of advice I found interesting and kinda fun. Substitute overused words. Here’s the example when you want to write “very” change it to “damn”. Just think about how much fun you can have. I know I use really, very and other words a lot. If I were to change them to damn, crap or even vagina it would certainly make for an interesting read. Obviously I’d only do that during the first draft and edit them out on the second.

It’s a great way to get rid of words you overuse or to re-train your brain to use something different.

In other news I’m busy typing away at the first draft of my WIP. I hit the 20k mark this morning. I have about 12k to go before the first draft is done. I need to get it finished because edits are coming soon for Dragons and that will be an intense few weeks.

I have all these ideas floating around in my head and not enough time in the day to write. I’m enjoying the nice weather today.

Happy Thursday.

Contest Winner Announcement

I hoped to post the winner yesterday and well, life got in the way. I was enjoying that extra day with the family. So the winner of the unofficial start to summer contest is: Gabrielle - meingee@yahoo.com

I’ll be sending you an email for your mailing address.

Congrats and thanks to all who dropped in and participated. Look for another print contest at the end of June.

Happy Tuesday.