Round Up Post - 25th September

Sorry, it’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog. This morning, I’m having a bit of a panic about pulling a muscle behind my right leg as it’s aching. Last year, I managed to tear the thigh muscle behind my left leg which led to me being stuck upstairs and then down when I did it again. I don’t usually mention it here, but combined with my arthritis, my movement has been limited. So, here I am sat on a cool pack on this dull and overcast September morning. I can hardly believe it’s October at the weekend.

Right, enough of that. Lots going on in the world. The mess that is Brexit continues to annoy the hell out of me. More stupid in fighting and no one seeming to have any idea what they’re doing. Then there are the ‘mad’ men trying to lead us to war, which reminds me of kids in the playground. I always described world war one as two gangs of boys simply running out of options and then choosing to hit each other. Finally, the earth seems to be trying to tell us something and it isn’t good. Meanwhile, we’re still trying to put three houses into one and had over twenty bags of stuff collected by the British Heart Foundation with no doubt more to come.

On to the writing news. I wrote words last week, around 4500 of them on my current WIP. This is my age difference story which has a title as well. It’s now up to nearly 32K words, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to be by the end. They have finally gotten past the kissing stage, but only just, and it’s going to take a rewrite because the MCs keep telling me things they didn’t mention at the beginning of the story. Book 2 of my trilogy set in Norfolk is ready to be sent to my beta, and I have ideas of what I need to tackle in the third part which I intend to write when I’ve finished this story. I still have an unfinished story which I left at 20K words hoping for inspiration.

In other writing news, the anthology of contemporary gay romance, Right Here, Right Now is out on

general release 3^rd October, but can be pre-ordered now from Amazon, Pride Publishing and First For Romance. My story, The Matchmaker is a fluffy piece set in South Wales. The story will be released on its own in November with a wonderful cover from Emmy Ellis. I am in great company in this book, so why not check it out?

And onto watching and reading news. I haven’t managed much reading over the last few weeks, but have completed Yanni’s Story by N R Walker. I’ve enjoyed this series but I have to admit to having an issue with ‘daddy’ stories. I nearly put this down on several occasions, but did finish it. Other than this, which is a personal squick for me, the story, as always, is well written and poignant. It also helped me work out a few things about my own age difference story. I’m currently reading two other books. Firstly, The Monet Murders by Josh Lanyon. I love Josh’s work and I enjoyed The Mermaid Murders, but I am finding Sam’s behaviour annoying. I won’t spoiler. I hope it’s resolved, but then again, my favourites Adrien and Jake had their moments of stupid behaviour too. I’m also reading A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. It’s interesting comparing gay romance and gay literature and how they are structured and written. I keep thinking I wouldn’t get away with that huge section of exposition or that info dump, not to mention the use of adverbs. Still, I have enjoyed it and I’m still hoping for a happy ending. Next read will be Memories by Ruby Moone, followed by An Unsuitable Heir by K J Charles, or Romancing the Werewolf (see the fabulous cover) by Gail Carriger.

On our boxset watch, we have finally finished all twelve seasons of Supernatural before season thirteen begins next month. Sadly, I’ve not managed to persuade my fellow watcher of the existence of Destiel – oh well. We are currently keeping up with Victoria, in which nothing much happens, and the next watch will be World Without End based on the books by Ken Follet set in Medieval England, followed by Buffy which for me will be a rewatch. I’ve also nearly finished watching Shadowhunters which I’ve enjoyed mostly for Magnus the Warlock. Also this starts today and I may be a little excited.

That’s everything for now. I hope everyone is well and happy sales to all my author friends out there.

Cover Reveal - The Matchmaker

I'm happy to reveal the cover for my short story The Matchmaker below. This story is one of six in Right Here, Right Now an anthology of contemporary gay romance with great authors. You can get it on early download from Pride Publishing or pre order on Amazon. The anthology will be released on 3rd October.

The cover for The Matchmaker was created by the wonderful Emmy Ellis and the image at the bottom is of Barry Island which appears in the story. Barry is my home town and has recently undergone a transformation which has seen improvements to the beach. You can follow new updates @BarryIsland on twitter. So here is the lovely cover. The story will be available by itself during the last week of November.

If you want to find out more about the story, I've written a blog post for Pride here. It also has some stuff about me and what I'm doing right now.

Hopefully, normal service will return on my own blogging, real life permitting.

I'll be giving away a copy of The Matchmaker nearer the time of general release.

Round Up Blog Post, 4th September

Hello from Lancashire. There has definitely been an Autumnal nip in the air. So, while we wait to see if the end of the world is coming, here’s my update.

Today is an odd day for me. Even though it’s been four years since I had a back to school day, it still seems wrong not to have bought stationery supplies and been mildly excited, that is until the excitement of new classes wore off. My nephew starts infants school this week. I have to say, I’m very glad not to have to worry about education with all the changes to exams as the government tinkers yet again. It is also my brother’s wedding anniversary today. It’s not been an easy year for him and his family so it’s nice to have something to celebrate.

Over the last fortnight, I’ve done the first edits of what are currently called Half Full and Half Time which are 58K and 47K words respectively, though, as I’ve realised I’ve missed a scene, the second one will get longer. I intend to write book three before even thinking of submitting anywhere, especially as my usual publisher is currently up in the air. In other news, I have written some words on my car story – only 4000 but more than I have for a while. It has now reached 21K words and there has been a kiss. I’m sure Riley and Dylan will get themselves sorted at some point.

I’ve managed to read a few books over the last couple of weeks. I enjoyed Illegal Contact by Santino Hassell, although both MCs irritated me at times. Mid Life Crisis by Audra North, a new author to me, was a nice easy read with older MCs, and I enjoyed If I was a Girl by Meredith Russo. This was her first novel about a trans girl. As the author explained, she decided to make the MCs transition much easier than it would have been in real life. I enjoyed the story, although I felt sorry for the character who turned out to be the ‘baddie’, especially when, after her big moment, she disappeared. Now, I’m reading Experiment by Dan Skinner, which is a long read. I’m about 30% through and finding it fascinating, especially with everything going on in the world at the moment.

Next, recent boxset watching has included catching up with the first series of Victoria, which I’ve found to be rather dull, and watching the first series of Dirk Gently. My watching partner found Dirk annoying. It is very quirky, but I’m looking forward to the next series. Next up to watch is Supernatural S12 which arrived today.

Finally, My Highland Cowboy continues to get lovely reviews and tomorrow Right Here, Right Now, is available on early download form Pride Publishing. My story in this anthology is called The Matchmaker in which Tom attempts to bring together his father, Simon, and his carer, Josh. This story will be released on its own in November and I have a lovely cover for it from the wonderful Emmy Ellis who I’d like to thank for all the other covers. I will say this new one has a photograph of the main beach at Barry Island, my home town, on it. I will never forget receiving my first cover for Sporting Chance over three years ago. It was a tremendous moment in my life along with holding my first novel in my hands.

That’s enough for this week. Have a good week everyone and happy sales.