Work in Progress Update & Some Mindless Rambling

Evening, all. :)

My current work in progress, detailed HERE, is coming along nicely. I'm just over 60k+ words. I usually aim for around 75k so not long now to go. Then it's polishing, editing, and submitting. After that I should be starting on the sequel to Chasing Seth.

Just a reminder if you haven't already voted, Chasing Seth is up for Best GLBT Paranormal Romance over at The Romance Reviews, so please head over between now and Saturday March 31st to cast your vote. Vote Here

And Touch Me Gently is up for Best Gay Romance again over at the TLA Gaybies. If you haven't already cast your vote or would like to vote again (you can vote as many times as you'd like) please go HERE between now and Saturday March 31st to vote.

On to some mindless rambling...

I haven't read the Hunger Games and I have nothing against it, but HOLY HELL, am I sick of the commercials! I can't even go to a website online where they aren't pushing it. It makes me NOT want to see it. I feel like they're shoving it down my throat. UGH.

It seems my boss at my day job wants to send me to California for a conference in May... I don't even know if I want to go. I mean the idea of going to California is awesome, but it's not for a vacation, it's for a conference where I am sure to be bored out of my tree. Maybe I'm looking at it in a wrong perspective, but it's unknown territory for me in many ways. 1. Never been to a conference, what the hell do they do at one? 2. Never flown... my first flight was to be in September for a retreat I'm going to and the flight would only be three hours with one layover. I would prefer the three hour flight for my first flight versus SIX hours! 3. They're sending me alone... Really? No one else can go? I'm being sent three thousand miles away from home, on a plane for the first time, to a state/city I've never been to before and I'll be on my own. Could we take a fish out of its element anymore than that? When I went to Orlando for Gay Days on my own, that was a big move for me considering I've never gone that far from home alone. It's just overwhelming and mind boggling. Any advice for the novice in all of that?

I was hoping to have a contest on my blog, but unfortunately the contest I had in mind isn't going to happen because of what I intended to do for it. Apparently the state of Florida frowns on raffles. I wasn't going to sell tickets, just offer up three tickets to every reader who purchased one of my books between March 15th and March 31st to enter a raffle for either a t-shirt or a tote bag with their choice of book covers on it. *sigh* But of course, the state I live in stinks. I'm trying to think of another one which would make it as exciting. :) So keep an eye out for it.

I think I'll stop rambling now, lol. If I keep going, this is going to turn into a monstrous post. Have a good one, all!

J.R.

Chance to Own a Personalized Paperback Copy of Chasing Seth!

The Romance Reviews First Anniversary Party has been rocking and rolling for 21 days now. Today, the 21st day, there is a copy of Chasing Seth signed by yours truly available over at the site. So if you haven't participated as of yet click the link below to join in on the fun and take a shot at winning the paperback copy of Chasing Seth up for grabs.

You can read about the event, publishers and authors joining the event at
The Romance Reviews Anniversary Party!!! CLICK HERE!

Chasing Seth Nominated on TRR for Best GLBT Paranormal Romance!

Wow so many wonderful nominations this month!




Chasing Seth is up for Best GLBT Paranormal Romance over at The Romance Reviews this month! So head on over to vote and to join in on their Anniversary bash where you can even win an autographed paperback copy of Chasing Seth!! TRR Best Book of 2011




Touch Me Gently is once again nominated for the 2012 Gaybies! So head on over and vote as many times as you want between now and March 31st! 2012 TLA Gaybies


Other Exciting News!! Touch Me Gently is now available in Audio Book Format from iTunes, Amazon.com, and Audible! Check it out today! Audio Book Format

Touch Me Gently will also be released in the coming months in Spanish, German, French and Italian! So keep an eye out for them!

Paypal Back Pedals!!

I saw this post today and had to say 'WAY TO GO, EVERYONE!' Speaking up is the only way to stop companies, people, and the government from passing laws or instituting rules which are unconstitutional! We have to stop lethttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifting them dictate how we live our lives! It's none of their business how we choose to spend our money, to live our lives, or to tell us we're wrong for it either!

Want to read about Paypal's new outlook over their policies?

Paypal backtracks on ebook policy

Keep raising your voices, everyone! All of us need to be heard!

Dreamspinner Press, Plagiarism, and Stupidity

Okay, so I tend to glance over things most of the time. It takes me a while to get to the point where I may look further into it. Now, I haven't really read Bear, Otter and the Kid by TJ Klune, but I am a Dreamspinner Press author and DAMNED proud of it. I also can say that Dreamspinner Press DOES NOT CONDONE plagiarism without a doubt in my mind.

My last release, Chasing Seth, was originally written in a totally different manner. After submission and going through the first round of edits, a couple of their team members noticed the similarity between my story and another author's. Now, do not take this as my stealing from another author because that is far from the truth. I wrote Chasing Seth on my own without using another author's work for the plotline. But there were enough similarities that it made DSP editors wary about releasing it without some major editing. Which I gladly did as I do not wish to have the same story as another author in the m/m world or any genre for that matter. DSP would never KNOWINGLY allow plagiarism. I will never believe otherwise.

I read the initial post that started this whole bruha about plagiarism and the many posts on the Yahoo groups I am part of and I want to say I think the writer is an idiot. No offense meant, but to be a professional reviewer of books as you are so obviously attempting to do on your blog/site, you have to set your heart aside and lead with your mind. For you to refuse to review books from DSP because of something which you haven't done more than a cursory investigation into is the most unprofessional B.S. I've ever read.

Read that post here

Do some actual research before you jump to conclusions!


My opinion... as always... does not require anyone jumping on me for it. I just feel very strongly in regards to Dreamspinner Press. They do not deserve to have such a hornet's nest stirred up about them. The slightest bit of bad press can hurt any company, no matter their size. And I think it's extremely hateful, ignorant and rude to spread such filth without having all of your facts and PROOF before you open your mouth. I have personally met Elizabeth from DSP and I know for a fact that she is a person with high morals and integrity beyond which this person accusing DSP of allowing their authors to plagiarize is capable of even understanding or possessing.

Thank you for listening to my rant and no matter what anyone says I will always support and submit to DSP.

J.R.

The Romance Reviews First Anniversary Party!

The Romance Reviews is having its first Anniversary Party starting March 1st! They're going to have lots of prizes to be won including an autographed paperback copy of Chasing Seth from yours truly! Want to join in on the fun? Head on over to theromancereviews.com to join (free!) and starting March 1st, you'll have the chance to answer the fun trivia questions, play games and learn about new authors!

You can read about the event, publishers and authors joining the event at http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php

Work In Progress... Potential Story Lines...

Good afternoon, all! :-) It's almost 5:30p on Sunday. Work tomorrow, but I suppose it's a necessary evil until I can write full time. I'm sure some of you already read my previous post about SOPA/PIPA. There's still debates and comments about the bill going on. I just hope everyone realizes the danger it poses of taking away our rights.

But I'm here to actually give you an update on this year's works in progress, and where I'm heading. At the moment, I'm about 41k words into a story I've been working on for a while now. With a recent brush of someone stealing one of my older works from the site I previously posted on, I don't want to post an excerpt, but I will give a small run down of the story.

Gabriel:
Gabriel Romero works for an agency that assists others like himself. A Deviant. An event five years ago leaves him bitter and cynical, marking himself as damaged with a lot of baggage. He's sent on a mission to retrieve two remarkable young men, one of which will get under his skin so deep he can't tell where he ends and the other man begins.

The picture is a general idea of what Gabriel looks like. He has short dark hair kept in a military fade-style and honey colored eyes. :-)




Alex:

Alex and Jason Ryker, twin brothers, are abducted while on the run from their home town after revealing their abilities in a heated moment. Alex, the quieter and more level-headed of the two, places his trust in Gabriel when the man comes to rescue the two of them. During their journey back to the agency, Alex starts to see the kind, gentle man hiding behind a gruff facade and makes a vow to cut away the thorns to the beautiful heart inside.

Alex's picture is close to what I think he appears in my head. His hair is a little darker than what you see here almost chocolate brown and his eyes are a bright emerald green, not the light green/blue in the picture. I couldn't find anything else that's close enough. :p



I am hoping to have the story finished by end of February for submission, but we shall see how it goes.

The other potential story lines coming up along with Gabriel's story is a sequel to Chasing Seth involving the story of Nick and Thayne. Also looking into redoing some of my older stories that are more young adult for submission since Dreamspinner press is now accepting them. I have another detective story I started writing a few years ago that is almost finished and I think if I edit it and finish it, may be worth sending out for consideration.

So I do have a lot of items in progress, but please be patient with me as my day job tends to leave me brain dead by the end of the day and I sometimes find it hard to focus after work.

Thanks for all your support and the fan mail I receive! I truly enjoy hearing from my readers. :-) Keeps me motivated and allows me to push past the mental block I sometimes find ends up in my way.

J.R.