Aug. 7, 2013

Right-o, so haven't been on Blogspot in a bit.

Been stuck on M&L series, just because Snitch is a much slower book that mostly takes place at a single location.
Started this new project that would be a series of four books. Just romance, no other subgenre, about four guys who are housemates. Finished the first chapter, which is further I usually get on stories that I just end up flopping, so maybe I'll actually finish this first story.

This block at school is coming to an end. Only a week left. Dreading going into the final class--Cake Block. A lot of fondant cakes.
But before then! We still have to get through deconstructed pie (not truly deconstructed, more like pie in a different form), a small catering event, and a mystery basket. These are all plated desserts, so that's more my area.
Then after Cake Block is... externship! Will be dropped in the middle of an uber-popular, super-high end fine dining restaurant and work for three months. Yaaaay? >_<

What's happened since the last post...

I realized I need to do a bit more promo-ing. >o>;
I mean, any amount is more than nothing at this rate.

Haven't really touched Snitch because it's been pretty busy in the real world. We finished tempering chocolate at school (student at Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts), which ended in a box made out of chocolate and filled with chocolate candies. We're now going into plated desserts, which is more my area.

I got an externship/internship lined up for the end of September at a certain fine-dining restaurant in Houston whose original Austin location is generally listed in Top 10 restaurants in Texas. Even if it's an unpaid internship, I want this enough to swallow my pride and live with my parents for those three months. Excited, nervous, and anxious about this whole thing.

MMGoodbookreviews did a review of Kingfisher! 4 hearts!
I'm too thin-skinned to actually read reviews (>_>), but I wholeheartedly thank Portia for this.

There are... other things that I'd like to write that aren't gayrom, but more urban fantasy genre stories that happen to star gay characters that may or may not get into relationships as the story progresses. The emphasis would be on the plot rather than erotic or romantic scenes. Wonder if I'd be able to get into Silver's Silver Stream Press or something. Silver's been great overall to work with and I'd like to stay with them if possible.

Kingfisher release day! :D

Kingfisher came out today~.
Drinking Kingfisher beer. Mostly because I had a craving for it and happened to be passing Specs on the way home from the movie theatre. But the name parallel did factor in a tad.

Went and saw Pacific Rim. It is pure CGI porn--no, not actual porn, but just CG-heavy. Not used to Guillermo del Toro manning works with that amount of computer graphics in comparison to actual photography, but damn does he work that medium well.
What, you mean he didn't actually create monsters and giant Gundams Jaegers just for this movie? :P
But with most movies of his that I've seen, he'll do his best to not use CG. Just look at Hellboy 2. Movie was beautifully shot, and the scene in the troll market had such fine detail--and the only CGI in that scene were the fairies flying around. Everything else was built and costuming.
Oh yeah, Pacific Rim. Visual glory. Idris Elba did indeed own that movie. But I liiiiiked Robert Kazinsky. Him and his little dog. And the scene where he says goodbye to his father. I wanted to cry.
Oh, Gooooood those visuals. <3 Worth the IMAX 3D migraine. And maybe the ticket price.

T-minus one week

Final EIC edits for Kingfisher were turned in as of last night. We should be good to go. And unlike the previous book, I don't have the intense off-and-on urge to strangle my narrating character. Probably because more went into Halcyon than into Lukas. It took far less time to write, but I enjoyed writing the character and there was never really a point where I spouted explicatives and asked, "why the hell are you doing that?" Not that I don't love Lukas and Shadow. But I'd really like to go back and rewrite them. Already. I know this happens to authors sometimes--one of my favorite authors ever has commented that he'd love to go rewrite some of his older stuff, and I'm still convinced that the works of his in question are written art deserving of being on a pedestal. But I'd hoped that I wouldn't feel like this until later on. >___>;

So Kingfisher releases next week. I have a day planned out in my head where I go to eat at Halcyon lounge (aka that place I almost crashed my car in front of because I had to stop and do a double-take at the name) and maybe go see Pacific Rim. And then generally stay off the Internet. Because the ego is delicate with this one.

Snitch is... coming. No double entendre meant. Maybe. I've gotten through the first erotic scene and hopefully that means that it should pick up a bit. My goal is to hit 12,000 words by the end of the weekend. And not forced words just to fill out the word count. Words I actually mean to keep.
Just a bit weird to write because the narrating character has a form of social anxiety, so most of the book takes place within the walls of his house with forced external interruptions once he gets himself involved with "Snitch". And I'm stubborn as hell, so narrator is going to stay socially-phobic and reclusive.

So yeah. Time to continue hiding in my apartment for the rest of the weekend.

New to Blogspot

I have no idea how to use Blogger. So we'll just give it a spin.
I am moving from Livejournal to here because this seems a tad easier for people to navigate (ie: the gadgets or whatever boxes to the right of the posts).

My name is Sam and I'm a fairly new gay romance author. My first work was published with Silver Publishing in March 2013, and my second work is coming out next week (July 2013). :D
I currently go to school in Austin, TX for pastry and baking, yet can barely cook savory foods to feed myself. My children are of the four-legged and eight-legged varieties. I read a lot more urban fantasy than I do anything else, with gay romance (mostly of the paranormal variety), fantasy, and some horror thrown in. I love horror films even if they scare the crap out of me. Scotch is my alcohol of choice (straight up, no ice), though beer is good for the moments when I remember that I have a budget. I pretty much live a hermit's life, only going outside when needed.

I really don't have much more to say about myself.