1. What I’m up to: I’m finishing up a historical baseball story. It’s not officially contracted yet, but here’s the low down: it’s about a dandy sports reporter who is taken with a media-shy rookie player for the NY Giants in 1927 when Babe Ruth and the Yankees are dominating the headlines. (Homosexuality, while not celebrated, was also not condemned in the same way in 1927 that it was after World War II. So my sports reporter is not “out” in the contemporary sense of the word, but everyone kind of knows.) I’m hoping to polish up the ending this weekend.

2. I’m also gearing up to do a little road show for Save the Date, my novella out June 4. It’s part of a Loose Id promotion called “I Do… Unless I Don’t” so I have teamed up with a few of the other authors who wrote gay stories (Dev Bentham, J.A. Rock, Cassandra Gold, and Dominique Frost) for a Big Gay Wedding blog tour. I’ll post dates for that soon, so you can follow along at home.

3. I’m also working on the GayRomLit Writers Workshop now, in hip-deep as it were. We’re in the process of finalizing the schedule, and let me tell you, we have a FANTASTIC lineup of workshops and speakers. So if you were hedging on whether to go, let me tell you: if you are a writer, you should go.

4. Back in New York: I met a friend for dinner in Chelsea last night. We ate at a Thai place and sat next to this very affectionate, handsy gay couple, one of whom didn’t speak English that well, so watching him try to get the waitress to explain what he was eating was kind of adorable. He kept calling the triangular cracker things that came with the tuna tartar “tacos.”

Later, we went down Eighth Avenue to a little bakery for dessert, and while we were chatting over cookies, this big protest march went down the street. They were chanting something like, “These are OUR streets!” One of them ran inside and handed the guy at the counter a flyer. The guy explained that a gay couple had been really brutally beaten after a Knicks game recently. (When I went home and Googled the incident, it turned out that there have actually been THREE really awful gay bashings recently, two near Penn Station and a third in front of a gay bar on Christopher Street. Hence the take-back-the-streets march.) I’m horrified by the gay bashing news; I should probably not be surprised that something like this can happen in New York City, but I am. Silver lining: The tail end of the protest march chanted one of the best slogans I’ve ever heard: “We’re here! We’re queer! We’re fabulous! Don’t fuck with us!” And good on Chelsea residents for showing solidarity that way.

5. I’m allergic to whatever is blooming right now, and my eyes are so watery, I’m worried someone is going to ask what’s wrong, and then I’ll have to come up with some story about how wisteria reminds me of a lost love and I just can’t help but weeping, except actually, there is just not enough Claritin in the world to ease my suffering. Which is a shame, because the weather has been pretty spectacular this week, a welcome respite to the very long winter we had (plus the snow in KC!).

I exaggerate. It’s actually not that bad, save for the low-grade sinus headache I’ve had since Saturday and the fact that the allergy meds are making me kind of groggy, slowing down my writing progress somewhat. Welcome summer, I guess.

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Me at the RT Giant Book Fair (photo by Elizabeth North)

1. Heidi Cullinan dressed as Mitch from Special Delivery and was a QUITE CONVINCING dude. Like, I knew in advance that she was going to do the drag, and then I went to the Romance Pride party, where there was this rando standing outside the door, and it took me a minute or two to realize it was Heidi. (She posted some photos.)

2. So many books. SO MANY BOOKS. I won a bag of books at Cinema Craptastique my first night there and only kept the books from it I thought I’d actually read, but just by virtue of being at the con, 10 books (excluding my own books) made their way into my luggage, and I shipped another 6–8. (The box of stuff I shipped home arrived yesterday, but I’m kind of afraid to open it.) I did not purchase a single book, it should be noted.

3. This year’s RT featured the first ever m/m panel, although frankly, I am all for the integration of all romance, so I kind of hope it’s the last m/m panel. I’d like to see gay romance authors on many kinds of panels next year. (Here’s why: when Tara Lain asked the audience at the m/m panel who had not read an m/m novel, only maybe 2 people raised their hands, so I think the panel was mostly preaching to the choir. But we want new readers, no?)

I mean, sure, at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday, I did get the stink-eye from one reader who asked what I wrote, but everyone else was at least open to hearing about my books. There was a ton of enthusiasm for gay romance, actually, particularly at the book fairs. I sold a lot of books at the Thursday ebook expo (more than I was expecting) almost entirely based on the covers snagging people’s attention as they walked by, and some of my books have unambiguously male/male covers.

There was a great group of gay romance writers who did attend, so we made a good showing. There were at least 15 gay romance writers there that I can think of off the top of my head, probably more like 20.

And authors, don’t underestimate the power of just being friendly and respectful at a con. It goes a long way. I met some really cool people there and also got to meet some people I’ve only corresponded with online, and that was really fun.

4. I rode the elevators with some very famous authors, which was kind of surreal. I had been warned that whole book deals go down in the elevators. Cherry Adair complimented my shoes when we wound up in an elevator together, and that was awesome. I was staying on the 25th floor, so all journeys to my room were long and involved a lot of elevator-related shenanigans (I joked on Twitter that the elevators deserved their own Twitter account based on how quirky they were). At a place where romance authors are treated like rock stars (AS THEY SHOULD BE) sometimes, you wind up sitting in the lobby next to EL James or Jude Devereaux and sometimes you get so starstruck you start shaking as you meet one of your idols (not that this happened to me *shifty eyes*).

I mean, just as a longtime romance reader, RT was great. Like Romance Disney Land.

5. I didn’t go to as many panels as I thought I would—there was so much on my agenda that I just didn’t make it to—but the most informative panel I went to was on diversity in romance, led by Suleikha Snyder, Jeannie Lin, Shawtelle Madison, and Mina Khan. A lively discussion with the audience ensued in which we talked about how people of color are (under)represented in romance and how authors can get it right. The gist was to write characters first.

So, I had a good time at RT. Can you tell?

—

On the flight home, I read an entire Sabrina Jeffries novel (one that I got in one of the, like, 5 gift bags I was handed throughout the week) that I enjoyed. Fluffy Regency romances are my crack, basically. I love them. I read them when I’m feeling blue. I tend to glom on them, reading 5 or 6 in a row. I want to write a gay Regency one of these days.

I had been sort of wondering about the state of historical romance, since I’ve seen fewer of them reviewed lately (but no shortage of them published, it seems) and I got the impression at the Giant Book Fair at RT that the contemporary erotic romance authors (Sylvia Day, for example) were much bigger draws than the five big-name historical writers who were sitting across the aisle from me (Jeffries included). Then there was that post on Dear Author earlier this week, calling for the whole sub-genre to die. To which I said, “No! You will have to take my Regencies from my cold, dead hands!” (I finished the new Sarah MacLean book last night, and it was GOOD.) But I love historicals. I’d love to see more with different settings and different kinds of characters. (I’m working on a gay historical right now, in fact!) I get the point about there being kind of a sameyness to the books coming out now, but I think you could say that about any sub-genre. (Do we REALLY need more post-apocalyptic YA?)

Look, read what you want. If you don’t like Regencies, that’s fine, as long as there are plenty for me to read. And I got a bunch from RT, so neener.

Next up on my agenda: BEA!

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But a few things:

1. I was struck by the role of social media in an environment in which you are basically interacting face-to-face with people you would only see online (or in your dreams) otherwise. Because there was a lot of chatter on Twitter and Facebook through the whole thing.

2. Guys, I signed books at an event in which some of the best romance writers on the planet were also signing books, I had FANS come to my table specifically to see me and not just by accident, and I am humbled that such a thing happened. I mean, Laura Kinsale, you guys. I got to tell Laura Kinsale that Flowers from the Storm is my favorite historical romance of all time ever, and she was totally sweet in the face of all my gushing.

3. I mean, the big name romance writers are treated like rock stars at a convention like RT, and that is AS IT SHOULD BE.

4. Thanks to Mary G. for this very nice shout out in the RT coverage for the USA Today HEA blog.

That’s all I got for now; a week like that will wipe you out, and I was up late last night because I was still so wired, so I’m tired today. I will have more things to say in my weekly Five Things post on Friday, or sooner maybe. But yeah, it was really great. Also great, did I say great? (Synonyms. Hard to come up with when you’re down to your last couple of awake brain cells.)

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1. RT is next week! I’m excited and also a little nervous and there’s still a lot to do to get ready! If you will also be there, I should be easily locatable if you want to say hi. Here’s where I will be for sure:

• Cinema Craptastique Tuesday night: We’re watching a movie I’ve never seen called The Covenant, which I’m told is pretty worthless except for the abundance of homoeroticism and pretty boys. A bunch of authors will be there tweeting about the movie; even if you are not there, you can follow along with the Twitter hashtag #RTmovieslam.

• I’m doing both signing events:
a. Thursday eBook Expo: I got some little cards made up with a QR code that goes to my author page at All Romance eBooks and I’ll have some paper books for sale as well. Even if you won’t be there, I believe the ARe promotions will be available to everyone, so keep an eye on the site. I will try to remember to Tweet about that.
b. Giant Book Fair: I got a spot at the last minute, so I will try not to get lost among the 400-some other authors. I’ll have books for sale.

• I’ll be at the Romance Pride party with bells on.

• I’m doing the FAN-tastic author thingie Saturday. I’m not totally sure what that entails, but there will be prizes and giveaways. I’m in the 7:15 session.

• Confidential to RRW members: we’re meeting Wednesday night and details are on the chapter website.

I also made a list of all the workshops and spotlights and things I want to attend. There’s one on m/m I think on Friday. So I think it will be good.

I’ll try to remember to Tweet my whereabouts, although no promises because I tend to space out about Twitter being a thing at conventions. If you aren’t already following me, my Twitter handle is @katemcmwriter.

2. I am OBSESSING about what to wear. Like, I think for the sake of not carrying seventeen bags to Kansas City, I’m going to have to start narrowing down my costume changes. And shoes, I own so many pairs of shoes. I love excuses to dress up, I’ll be honest. I’m not so much for costumes, so I probably won’t be looking too whacky, but I do love fashion, and, I mean, how many excuses will I have to wear my brand new electric blue Steve Madden pumps?

Who’s a pretty, pretty princess?

4. I’ve been working all week on a historical baseball story that will hopefully see the light of day this fall. If all goes to plan, I will finish the first draft of that this weekend.

5. I’m reading an Amish romance for my romance book club, which could be an interesting experience, although I may have to find the dirtiest, raunchiest book I can to counterbalance all this sweetness. I’ve never read an Amish romance before, so I’m looking forward to the book club discussion. I feel like it’s part of my romance education.

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1. Storytime! When I was 19, my boyfriend at the time took me to Boston for New Years. He grew up in the Boston suburbs—though most of his family was from the city proper and had the accents to prove it—so he knew a lot of people in the area and we met up with a group of his friends. Boston does a First Night celebration with short concerts and comedy shows and that kind of thing all over the city in various venues. It gets crowded, so I think we spent more of that night waiting on line to get into theaters than we did actually watching entertainment. This was long enough ago that my memory is a little fuzzy, but I do remember running across Boston Common in the cold and getting lost down odd side streets trying to find a theater playing some jazz and stumbling into a diner late because we were cold and hungry. Toward the end of the night, we found a good spot to watch the fireworks, and at midnight, my boyfriend kissed me and told me he loved me, and that was the first time anyone had kissed me at midnight on New Years and really meant it.

I lived in Massachusetts for a while, but I’m a New Yorker at heart, and we New Yorkers derive a fair amount of pleasure from ragging on Boston. But when I heard the news on Monday about the bombing, one of the first things I remembered was that First Night in Boston and how magical it was. I’ve spent a lot of time in Boston over the years and that city holds a lot of great memories for me. I watched a lot of news coverage Monday night and couldn’t stop thinking about how things would change for Boston now, how the city was different, how this memory would now be embedded in one of my favorite Boston neighborhoods.

The last third of my upcoming novella Save the Date actually takes place in Boston.

Because, on that night when I was 19, what I didn’t know was that this man and I would spend the next decade either together or negotiating how to be together until we reached a crossroads and finally ended it. I didn’t know that, in the fall of 2012, I’d be getting an invitation to his wedding to another woman. I didn’t know a joke I made about that on a thing called Twitter would turn into this really silly novella about a guy whose ex gets married in Boston. All I knew that night when we kissed at midnight under the fireworks was that we were young and in love and had a whole future ahead of us. Even if the relationship didn’t work out, it’s still a fond memory.

So, I’m thinking about donating some of the proceeds from the sale of Save the Date to One Fund Boston or the Red Cross or something. I feel like that’s really the least I can do for a city that gave me a lot.

2. The bad news has kind of overshadowed the good, which was that I had a blast last weekend at the Rainbow Book Fair in New York. Heidi Cullinan and Ethan Day flew out for it, and we had locals Damon Suede and Tere Michaels at the table, too, and they are all great and I enjoyed myself immensely. The change in venue from last year didn’t seem to slow down traffic much. Well, it felt a little roomier than in past years to me, but people kept pointing out that the room was about the same size, so maybe I’m crazy. But that was a good day.

3. Save the Date second edits went back to my Loose Id editor last night. The pub date for that is June 4th! Also, I posted what I now see is an awkwardly-worded blurb for my next story after that, a short novella called What There Is, to my Upcoming page. A blurb for Save the Date is there, too. There will be updated blurbs and covers and things as I get them.

4. On Tuesday, I had dinner with a friend in the West Village. We ate at a place on Bleecker that serves a few dozen varieties of risotto, then we visited a new bakery that specializes in macarons (we had to check this place out… for science), and then on the walk back to the subway, we passed a little shop that only serves popsicles. I should open a cafe that only serves one thing. Ideas? Maybe a bakery that only makes whoopie pies?

5. Those of you who are attending GayRomLit may be delighted to know that there are still spots left in the writers workshop, which yours truly is now helping to coordinate in my capacity as VP of Rainbow Romance Writers. It’s shaping up to be a pretty cool event. A schedule will be posted to the website once we’ve confirmed and finalized everything.

So that’s all the news this week. Let’s hope next week is a lot less terrible.

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1. Rainbow Book Fair tomorrow! (Holiday Inn Midtown on W. 57th Street, noon to 6pm!) I will be there with bells on. I should be at the Rainbow Romance Writers table most of the day.

2. Would you like to win a copy of Show and Tell? Of course you would. You can do so over at Elisa’s blog.

She looks all innocent, but is actually eeeevil.

4. I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way, and there’s a bit toward the beginning in which Julia Cameron explains things we can do to stop getting in our own way creatively. One of the things she says is, “Stop worrying people will think you’re crazy.” And I thought, “Oh, man, yeah, that’s exactly it!” How often do we inhibit ourselves out of worry someone will think we’re nuts? I don’t know about you, but I do this kind of a lot. So, I’ve decided, my new mantra is Stop worrying people will think you’re crazy. I wrote it in all caps on the whiteboard over my desk. So look for more crazy in the future, I guess? (Actually, I’m mostly applying this to my self-esteem. Stop worrying people will judge me for writing romance, stop worrying people will judge me for writing m/m, stop worrying people will judge me for whatever. I’ll just own it and do what I want. Or something.)

5. I read the new Ty and Zane book this week. The ending, OMG. I’m hopping up and down for the next one. Anyone read anything good this week?

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1. Shiny New Book! I signed a contract yesterday for a short novella due out sometime this summer called “What There Is.” I’ll update the Upcoming page accordingly sometime this weekend, but sneaky sneak preview: The story is about an ex-professional baseball player who can’t play anymore due to injury. He moves into an apartment with a nerdy, socially awkward roommate. There are hijinks.

2. The Rainbow Book Fair is next Saturday in NYC. I’ll be there with a bunch of other m/m writers. Stop by if you’re in the area!

3. Any RuPaul’s Drag Race fans here? On Saturday, I went to a live show in New York that featured 6 queens from seasons current and past. (Pandora Boxx, Mimi Imfurst, and Carmen Carrera representing the past, Alaska Thunderfuck, Ivy Winters, and Jinkx Monsoon represent the current.) Michelle Visage hosted the event, and each queen did a couple of numbers. Pandora did a bit of stand-up in which somehow she randomly picked me out of the audience to make fun of, and that was a little surreal. And I have to say, I am now totally Team Jinkx this season; she really blew me away at the live show. (She did three numbers: first, she came out as Little Edie and sang (sang, not lip-synced!) “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis; then she sang “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd but changed the words to be about gay archetypes—”Try a little twink” etc.—and tossed cupcakes at the audience; and she wrapped up by singing a duet of the title song from Cabaret with Alaska.) The show was super fun, the audience was really lively, and I had a blast. Although, we had standing tickets, and this was how I learned that I am too old to go to concerts where I have to stand for 3 hours.

4. Speaking of RuPaul, this song came up on shuffle on my iPod this morning, and so it is the official song of the day:

5. Baseball season started Monday!!!!!!

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1. Yup, I read Lover at Last. I liked it on the whole, but had some very mixed feelings. I posted a wordy review on Goodreads if you want my opinion.

I have probably a stand-alone post about the increase in m/m stories infiltrating the mainstream romance market, but not the time to write it right now. Generally, though, I find this really exciting, and you know, if fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series are like, “Hey, that was pretty hot!” well, I have some recommendations.

Speaking of series, I now must await the next Cut and Run book, although maybe I’ll take the time to savor that one instead of trying to read it all over two days when I really should have been doing other things.

Hi, yes, I did go to some Harry Potter midnight release parties back before those suckers could be delivered magically to my Kindle.

2. I want to write a series. Maybe I will!

The thing with a series is that I think certain sub-genres tend to work better. Paranormal seems particularly well-suited to series books. So does suspense (especially law enforcement and military stories). I had a crazy idea last fall for a paranormal series about supernatural crime fighters that’s pretty far outside of my wheelhouse but totally the sort of thing I would read. Maybe some day. (I wrote an outline for the series, so this is a thing I may revisit next year.)

Or I could try to write a contemporary series. Do people like contemporary series’ or do you need more bells and whistles to sustain your interest? Anyone have good examples of contemporary series’?

3. Writing updates: Edits are currently going for Save the Date, my romantic comedy novella coming out in June. I finished a second draft of The Stars that Tremble before I took my Lover at Last break. So, Draft #3 ahoy!

4. Baseball season starts next week! My fantasy league did its draft on Wednesday and I have a pretty good lineup, I think, except half of these guys are starting out the season injured. Womp womp. I lucked into my #1 draft pick for hitters (Robinson Cano) and my baseball boyfriend (Joe Mauer… he’s so dreamy) is on the team, too, but didn’t do so well with pitchers, so we’ll see how that shakes out.

5. As a parting gift, relive my trauma with me: I was innocently reading on my sofa last night when my cat trotted in with something in her mouth. At first I thought it was one of her little toy mice, but then I realized that it was a for-real, actual mouse. My cat then proudly hopped up on the sofa and dropped the mouse in my lap, at which time I promptly got up, screamed a whole lot, and hopped up and down. No idea where the mouse went. I hope it crawled back into the wall and will tell all its mousey friends what happens to mice that wander into my apartment.

In the seven years I’ve been in this apartment, I’ve never seen any pests before. Good to know the cat will catch mice. I don’t think she understands they aren’t toys, though.

So that was my week. How was yours?

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1. I had a great time at the Liberty States Fiction Writers convention last weekend. (There’s a photo of me at the book fair.) The convention was fun and very well-organized, definitely worth the trip to New Jersey. Plus I got to hang out with some fabulous authors. (Because of the alphabet, I shared a little m/m corner of the book fair with Tere Michaels and K.A. Mitchell, who are both wonderful. And I’m definitely not just saying that!) I got to see and talk to and hang out with some old friends and I met some new people, and I’d list everyone but I’d probably space and forget someone, so suffice it to say it was good.

2. I attended a few really great workshops at LSFW. My favorite was one K.A. Mitchell did on writing characters that connect with your readers. This is something I already knew she did well, which is always a good thing in a workshop. She talked a lot about personality types and Enneagrams, which I didn’t have much familiarity with. (I bought a book on Enneagrams earlier this week to help me develop the characters in my current WIP, although it’s hard not to diagnose my friends. I’ve been following people around and being all like, “Well, clearly you’re an eight.” Um, sorry, friends.)

It’s inspiring to look at something in a different way. That’s an important takeaway from talking with other writers. A lot of people I’ve met in my travels have varied techniques for developing character, plot, and setting, and even though I don’t think all of them will work for me, I appreciate learning new ideas and techniques. The thing with writing, for me anyway, is that there’s always something new I can learn. Let’s hope I can apply some of this to the WIP.

3. So next up is RT. I’m pulling together everything for that now, including last-minute book and swag ordering. I’m a little intimidated by the size of this convention, but I’m excited, too. Although, actually, the Rainbow Book Fair in New York is the next thing on my public-appearance agenda, but that’s one day and doesn’t involve travel so it feels a little less overwhelming, I guess. That’s on April 13th.

4. In non-convention news, I’ve been busy with my day job and revising The Stars that Tremble. Both things are going well, but I’m having one of those weeks that has been so intense and busy that I am quite looking forward to being able to sleep in Saturday.

5. And it’s still winter. Boo. There were snow flurries in New Jersey on Saturday. It snowed here in Brooklyn earlier this week. There were snow flurries today. Um, hullo, universe? It’s spring now. Catch up.

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1. I leave in a few hours for the wilds of New Jersey for the Liberty States Fiction Writers conference. If you’re in the area, the book fair Saturday evening is open to the public. I’m excited; I’ve heard from past attendees that it’s a fun conference. And I’m really excited about the lineup of workshops and attending authors.

2. Speaking of conventions, I registered for GayRomLit last weekend. I’ll be attending as a featured author. I am super excited about that, too! I’m helping out a bit with the writers workshop, too, and I think that will be a really great event as well.

3. I finished a draft of my opera singer novel, tentatively titled The Stars that Tremble. I still need to write the epilogue and I have a lot of revision work to do, but the first draft is basically done, so woo!

4. I bought a lot of accessories this week; I guess I was feeling too plain. I now own a couple of pairs of sexy shoes and some funky new jewelry. These things make me happy.

5. I’m still reading a lot of nonfiction, but it’s all pretty good stuff. The problem I’m having right now is that I’m reading, like, five books at once and so not finishing any of them. (And then last Sunday, I had dinner at my brother’s place and borrowed another book. It’s a problem I have.)

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