Divine Magazine's Summer Hop

 

 

 

 

Summer

 

Summers always seemed longer when I was a child, and summer holidays lasted so long you could even get bored and look forward to returning to school. When I became a teacher, I swear those summer holidays were much shorter. Now I’m retired, summer is more of an amorphous blob, stretched over odd days, and certainly not a block of weeks.

Anyone who is my age - mid fifties – and British - will remember the summer of 1976. This summer has reached almost legendary status in this country. We had weeks of hot weather, so hot that fires broke out on the abandoned land behind my house, and also on the common ground nearby. There was a hose pipe ban and eventually water supplies were cut and they delivered bottled water to our estate, or others had to use stand-by pipes. The ground was as dry as a bone and the grass yellow and wilted. But I was lucky. I lived by the seaside in the town of Barry, famous then for Barry Island, Butlins, the funfair, a huge outdoor swimming pool and several beaches. Now, it’s famous for the programme Gavin and Stacey filmed there, and the Island has undergone a recent revival. There are multi-coloured beach huts, new cafes, the funfair has been renewed, and the area has been renamed @BarryBados on twitter. Look up the page and you’ll find lots of lovely pictures of the beaches.

Back in 1976, the heatwave started before we broke up for the summer. My school was huge – nearly 2000 girls with around 300 of us in each year. Towards the end of term, the school was empty. You could have taken a bus to the beaches to round up those kids who were truanting, or mitching as we called it in South Wales. One afternoon, with about twenty of us left in my year group, we had the school pool to ourselves with a few teachers - much more fun than a crowded beach.

Once school had ended, and I don’t know how those poor souls got through their exams in the heat, we spent the holiday at the outdoor pool, or swimming in the sea at the nearby Pebble Beach getting sunburnt on more than a few occasions. In those days our parents waved us off in the morning with our bus fayres and sandwiches. The gang of us would spend all day having fun, finally returning home when it was getting dark, or we were hungry.

But all things come to an end and that summer ended with spectacular thunder storms. Forked lightning flashed across the dark skies and rain lashed down on the hard ground creating waterfalls down the steps near our house. Suddenly, the summer was over and it was time to return to school.

Then summer meant fun at the beach. Now, I’m afraid I’m one of those people who whinge about the excessive heat and not being able to sleep. But it is good to remember those carefree days when I was young and the sun shone brightly every day.

For a chance to win prizes go to Divine Magazine and comment.

For a chance to win an e-copy of either Choosing Home or Returning Home please leave a comment on this blog.

 

Links to the other blogs can be found below

 

 

 

Alexa's New Beginnings	Alpha Book Club	Anna Butler Fiction
Author Susan Mac Nicol	Bayou Book Junkie	BFD Book Blog
Blissfully Bookerized	Boy Meets Boy Reviews	Cathy Writes Romance
Kiki's Kinky Picks	Kristine Cayne	Louise Lyons
M.A. Church	Man2ManTastic	MM Good Book Reviews
Obsessed by Books	Oh My Shelves	Passionate Reads
Rian's Randomness	Sarah Madison Fiction	Velvetpanic

Rainbow Snippet 16/17th July

 

 

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook Group that invites authors to post six sentences of their work each weekend. It can be from anything you like, your current WIP, a recent release, the golden oldie that even you had forgotten you had written, or just a scrap of an idea (as long as it has six coherent sentences). Nothing of your own work worth mentioning? How about a six sentence review of your favourite LGBTQ+ story.

 

This snippet is again from my WIP set on a ranch in the Scottish Highlands. Duncan is showing Connor to his room. It is first draft and totally unedited. I'm sorry but it is more than six sentences - oops.

 

 “Lachie and Lenny sometimes drag me into the village. There is a great inn where we’re having dinner tonight. It serves good food and they have music sometimes as well as the karaoke.”

His face broke into a smile and Connor’s cock stirred or at least tried to, given its lack of room to grow.

“Everyone has to join in.”

“Maybe I’ll give you my special rendition of I am what I am. What’s your speciality? I’m guessing Rhinestone Cowboy. Do you have chaps and everything? I bet you look good in them.” Well, Jenna wasn’t there to tell him off.

Duncan shifted from foot to foot and dug his hands into his pockets. “I’ll leave you to it. There’s hot water if you want a bath. I’d better get over and see if Jenna’s had a look at the mare I mentioned. Lots to do.” Duncan pivoted and hurried out of the room.

 

 

CHOOSING HOME is now on general release in all the usual places and on offer until Tuesday.

Author's Dilemma

Choosing Home is out tomorrow and for the first time I have a book blast and I'm so nervous how the story will be received. I want to talk about Seth but I can't without spoilers. Zac is a much more straight forward character, with less of a past, and time has passed for him, whereas for Seth everything is still raw. Maybe I'll write more when the story has been out a while and I can distance myself from worrying that I didn't do him justice, or tell his story as it should have been told.

Rainbow Snippet 9/10th July

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook Group that invites authors to post six sentences of their work each weekend. It can be from anything you like, your current WIP, a recent release, the golden oldie that even you had forgotten you had written, or just a scrap of an idea (as long as it has six coherent sentences). Nothing of your own work worth mentioning? How about a six sentence review of your favourite LGBTQ+ story.

 

This snippet is again from my WIP set on a ranch in the Scottish Highlands, almost immediately after Connor sees Duncan for the first time. It is first draft and totally unedited. I'm sorry but it is more than six sentences - oops.

 

 

Connor toned down the sashay and walked toward Duncan, hand outstretched. “Yes, thank you for giving me somewhere to lay my head. It’s good to meet you.”

Duncan’s wide eyed gaze panned up Connor’s body until it reached his face. Finally, he spoke. “Yes, sorry. It’s no problem as long as you don’t mind being here among the visitors and the animals, although there’s only us in the main house. The cabins have their own facilities.” He took hold of Connor’s hand in a firm grip and shook it for slightly longer than he should have.

Connor’s libido ratcheted up another level at the sound of Duncan’s voice. He was sure his insides had turned to mush. He wanted to wrap his body around the man and climb him like the sturdy oak tree he was. He had a thing for voices, especially deep manly ones. Old Man River could have him squirming in his seat. He needed to pull himself together.

Duncan smiled. “I’ll get your bags, sir.”

Connor fanned his face with his hand until he noticed his sister’s death stare. Maybe being here was going to be fun after all.

 

In other news, Choosing Home is on general release from Tuesday, 12th July and Returning Home from 26th July.

 

Mobility, My Characters and Me

What do you think about when you are planning to visit somewhere? What do you think about when you enter a room? I’m guessing what you think about and what I think about won’t be the same unless, that is, you have mobility issues and maybe, like me, rely on a walking stick, or need to use a wheelchair.

Going somewhere new for me can be a nightmare. Let’s take going to a pub I haven’t been to before. Now at least, I can do a reccy online. Firstly, I try to check where the disabled parking is in relation to the entrance to the pub, because I can’t walk very far. Google maps is great for this one. Are there any steps? If so how many and how high? Is there a shorter route to the entrance that involves grass? What are the weather conditions? Is there ice? Are there leaves on the floor that I might slip on? Do you begin to see? And I haven’t even got into the building yet. Once inside, how far is it to sit down? Is it a place where you have to stand and wait to be seated, and for how long? What are the seats like? Certain seats force me to sit forward and press on my legs making my knees ache. I prefer to seat on the benches along the back if I can. How much room is there between tables as I don’t want to catch my stick as I manoeuvre between, or risk hitting someone else.

Getting invited to someone’s house is lovely but ….. once again, there is a lot to consider. Can I park near the door? Is there a step. If it is raining do they have vinyl or laminate floor? If you get a rubber ferule wet and depend on it then lean hard, it slips – I know. Then you go into a room. How high is the seating? Will I be able to get up from the sofa?

When I go on holiday, I stay in cottages as hotels are far too complicated. I have to check where the parking is, and all the above, as well as the height of the bed for the same reason as the sofa. I book single story places to make life easier. Older properties can be cluttered. How much room is there to use my stick? If it is narrow, are there other things to lean on? A chest of drawers or a table can be useful, and a wet room is fabulous. Are there chairs in each room I can use, including the bathroom?

At home, I have a chair in every room, except the second bedroom because I don’t go in there very often. I wash up and cook sitting down. My house is modified to suit me, but life isn’t, and that is fine unless I have to venture into it.

When I wrote Seth in Choosing Home, I was very conscious of his mobility issues. Seth, like me has to assess every situation, every piece of furniture, every distance, every landscape. When I was editing a scene, I realised I’d written Seth kneeling, and he can’t do that. I can’t do that, so I had to change the description. Maybe someone who has never had to think about this would not realise. I understand this. I want people to understand my situation, but I recognise there is no reason why it would enter into their thinking. Why would it?  I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, and I accept I can be touchy or impatient. It is a very fine line.

When you have mobility problems, or use a wheelchair, it is difficult to be spontaneous. I ended up in a chair once when I went to hospital and I simply couldn’t get to places because the distances were too far. I had to be pushed around. The porters were lovely, but there were hazards, including my skirt getting caught up around the wheel. Brice, in Returning Home, is an independent rather spikey individual who, with his house adapted to his needs, lives by himself. Seth is new to having mobility problems on top of his already considerable issues, and is still learning to adapt, whereas Brice is two years down the line, but still can be forced to swallow his pride when faced with visiting a place his chair will not go.

Therefore, in these stories, I consider how both men would see a situation, or view a room and its contents. I wanted to reflect how they would see things from how I see things. I wanted to be as accurate as I could. I wanted readers to understand. I’ll be guilty of telling and not entirely showing, or even of repeating the bleeding obvious, but there is a purpose. Neither Seth, Brice, or myself, can take anything for granted. So I hope you’ll forgive this minor rant about the realities of life for me, and through me, for them. No one person is the same. No disability is the same, or how a person copes and deals with it. This is my story, my situation, and mine alone. I feel exposed talking about it, and I don’t want to appear to be whingeing, but as both books are out soon, I thought it was time to get this out of my system.

One of the joys of writing for me is that in my books I can go anywhere and do anything, and by reading the words of others my imagination can soar.

 

 

 

Rainbow Snippet 2nd/3rd July

Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook Group that invites authors to post six sentences of their work each weekend. It can be from anything you like, your current WIP, a recent release, the golden oldie that even you had forgotten you had written, or just a scrap of an idea (as long as it has six coherent sentences). Nothing of your own work worth mentioning? How about a six sentence review of your favourite LGBTQ+ story.

 

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted a snippet. I’ve had visitors and knew I wouldn’t have time and, tbh, I’ve been in a bit of a writing sulk which I’m hoping to emerge from. I do have two books out this month – Choosing Home and Returning Home, but this snippet is from my WIP, again set in Scotland, but in a different location. This snippet is from the first time Connor Sinclair sees Duncan McLeod, owner of a cattle ranch in the Highlands of Scotland. Connor is a clothes designer visiting his sister to finalise ideas for her wedding and bridesmaid dresses, and originally from Scotland himself, but now living in London. I wanted to write a cowboy story with a difference so came up with this. This is a first draft.

 

“Now, remember be nice. Duncan’s a bit of an old school gentleman, always polite using Sir and Ma’am. The visitors love it but he doesn’t put it on. That’s who he is. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say anything rude about anyone even when he’s sorely tried. He doesn’t ever cuss or swear either.”

Connor couldn’t wait to meet this paragon of virtue. Did people like him really exist? The door to the house flung open and a vision strode out. Tall, dark, and handsome, dressed in a sky blue and white plaid shirt tucked into jeans held up by a belt with a buckle which looked suspiciously like a highland cow. The outfit was finished off with real cowboy boots and he carried a Stetson.

“Fuck me.” The words escaped Connor’s mouth before he could stop them. He’d always had a soft spot for a cowboy and he had no doubt he could give this one the ride of his life.

 

Currently, the WIP is at 37,000 words but there is more story to write yet so it should be over 60,000 in the end but we'll see.