Saturday Surprise: A Teensy Snippet

Oh dear.

We missed out on our Fantastic Friday pic, didn't we?
Can't have that! I'd better quickly post a picture of a hottie! I already had Jared Rackler up here once this week, and the glorious Devon Rhodes as well... hmmm. Oh! I know...

BAM--Sexy Cowboy Surprise!
I thought he'd be rather fitting, as I've already begun the self inflicted torture... er, I mean the JOY that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This years novel is titled "The Right Kind of Cowboy", and is set deep in the anus of Texas.

Borrowing a Damon Suedeism there.
Just because.
Oh hush, and let your eyes drift to the right to feast on the lovely that is over there.

Okay, feeling soothed?
Whew, my work here is nearly done then.

Seriously, there is something verra soothing about letting my eyes linger on his delectable form.... though in all honesty, I think those are gym muscles and not real deal cowboy ones. I'm pretty sure cowboys tend to be a bit leaner, their muscles packed on by the work they do... not so symmetrical and plumply rounded like our fellow above is through the arms and shoulders.

*giggle*
*snerk*
*chortle*

Yep, I have a FANTASTIC JOB. Debating the difference in how muscles are acquired and staring at pictures of hot, shirtless men. LOVE IT.

Later babies. I have to race off and get some writerly type stuff done before the rest of the world wakes up and starts interfering with my muse. He gets so cranky when that happens!

Muah!
Cherie Noel

Fantastic Friday! (from your friendly Minion)

*taps mic*
Is this thing on?

Umm... So apparently, Cherie is swamped today, and it's up to me to blog today! I'm having one of those "Cannot brain today" days, so...just a few quick notes on GRL.

Basically, it was overwhelming.

Honestly, I think I'm horrible at people. I simply cannot just walk up to someone and say hi without a LOT of pep-talking. And here I was going to a thing where there was going to be one -- ONE -- person out of around 500 that I had ever met in real life before.

By the time I got myself to the hotel, I was pretty much ready to completely panic, and I was seriously THISCLOSE to turning around, going back to my car, and escaping back home. Only the fact that I knew Cherie was waiting for me (quite literally) and the fact that I really needed a bathroom kept me from doing just that.

I will admit, I spent a lot of time kind of hiding in my room, but I did try to join in the actual "social" events in the evenings -- dinners & parties -- and not just because of the free drink tickets, although they did help.

What really did it for me was a friend who wasn't even there hooking me up with other friends of his via text message. So I ended up having some really awesome conversations with a couple of really awesome people who managed to make me feel grounded enough to join in on conversations with completely random strangers in, for instance, the loooong line for drinks at the bar at the various parties.

I never really think people will actually connect the me in real life with the me online, so a couple of highlights for me were along those lines -- like, when Anne Tenino realized, about 20 minutes into our really really long and amazing conversation that I'm the Tracy who posts frequently (regularly) on the Lanyon Q&A group on Goodreads about all the far too many projects (dioramas & the like) that my kids have to do for school. (We were supposed to talk hockey, too, but somehow never quite got around to that.) Or when Amy Lane remember the nicknames I use online for my boys -- DinoBoy and VelcroBoy -- but then, Amy Lane's just all-around awesome, and gives great hug. And Katey Hawthorne, who was there as a reader & let me geek out a bit with her at a party -- we kind of monopolized each other, but it was good.

The best thing was Saturday night, when Cherie and I went to dinner with a lovely group of people including Aleksandr Voinov (who is responsible for bringing the two of us together in the first place) and L.A. Witt. I had Lobster mac & cheese, basil rolls (sort of like spring rolls), and fried green tomatoes (I LOVE eating in the South). Then the bulk of the group left and I stayed behind with Clancy Nacht and Thursday Euclid (lovely lovely funny people) for a piece of truly foodgasmic red velvet cake.

It's kind of sad to me that I was so overwhelmed for the first half of GRL that I really only managed to actually talk to about half a dozen people, but they were really good conversations. I didn't feel like I really got my feet under me till Saturday lunch, but I do feel like I'll be more comfortable with the whole experience next time that I'll be able to settle in quicker. Especially if I can meet up early with the people I'll already know by then!

(Also, since next year it's going to be in Chicago... If there's a home game that weekend, does anybody want to maybe see about going to watch the Blackhawks play hockey? My hubby doesn't know it, because he & the kids would probably disown me, but they're my other hockey crush. First and best is the Pittsburgh Penguins.)

Love,
The Minion

Source 

All Hallows Eve: Rocky Horror Style

Busy, busy. Running around chasing free candy and ending up paying for it one way or another... yes, sort of like the folks of The Rocky Horror Picture Show...

It seems perfectly All Hallows Eve to me, so enjoy.

*snerk*

Hey, hey, it's Work in Progress Wednesday! Or, Jaredpalooza!

... except, what I'm working on right now is super-duper sekrit.
Flergle.
Murmph.
... and even Snerldt.
So how about instead, I give you some recaps on the over the top awesome that was this year's GRL?

Okay, my lovelies, hold onto your favorite boy-toy *no, no, NOT Jared Rackler, though I can clearly see why he might be chosen--waggles eyebrows*

Oh, hell, wait a second. Perhaps we should just have Jaredpalooza? Yeah, I can get down with that. Because see, while yes, my buddy Jared is a beauty, there is way more to him than meets the eye.

Jared, the silly otter, will tell you he's shallow. I'm sorry dears, but I gotta blow that nonsense right out of the water. The boy is smart, talented, gorgeous and best of all? He has a beautiful soul. *sorry, Jared baby, I had to say it.*

Time for another gratuitous pic of beauty?

Eh, hold it down in front. I've got a good one! Yes, yes, The Dynamic Duo, Jared and Devon, bringing beauty of face, form and spirit to the sumptuous Dreamspinner "wear your nice clothes" shindig.

**happy sigh**

Are you starting to get my off-beat point here? Besides Jared being a cutie of the first water, GRL was--indeed has been from the very first event in New Orleans-- an amazing,exhilarating, nearly week-long endurance event that rivals the Iron-Man thingy for stamina required, a summer full of Deep South tent revivals for feeding your soul, working a soup kitchen in the poorest place you've ever set foot in for making you feel good about yourself, and a family reunion full of family you actually like and want to see for a splash of "Hey, these are my people!"

But it's even better than all that. Because the sum of Jaredpalooza and GRL is greater than it's parts.

 No, really.

Yes, it's an endurance race. Yes, many *sniffle, hack, glurmpf* many of us come home with various forms of Con-Crud. But oh my word, do we ever come home empty? I know that I don't. Especially not this year.

Why?

Because this year the organizers started something new, with the assistance of the Rainbow Romance Writers. They started a Writer's Workshop that happened the day before the GRL Retreat began. I was hoping to come away from the workshop with a few new techniques. Instead I came away with a whole new worldview. I took two classes. The first was with: Funny Man and Physical Comedy Gal, better known as Zam Maxfield and Ethan Day. They totally rocked the house with their class on writing Rom-Com! I learned, I laughed, I conquered. *oh, hell... that's the wrong tag-line again, isn't it?*

Then I gibbered about what to do. Fortunately for me, Damon Suede was on hand to give me a little guidance. In deep, rolling tones he pronounced, "Git yur silly ass over to the agent thing with Saritza. You couldn't pay for this anywhere else. Well, *pause while his totally real and also completely affected Texas Twang reasserts itself* yep, you could. But it would cost a mite."
No, those weren't Damon's actual words. The accent was his. He took it out of his back pocket and put it on very prettily. No, really.

Like any smart girlie would, I scampered right over to the Agent Saritza class... and was promptly impressed.

I signed up to meet with her later. I signed up to pitch books to various publishing houses, starting with Riptide, because Rachel Haimowitz scares the bejayzus out of me (as a person to pitch to) and I figured if I started with her I'd be able to get through everyone else easily afterward. I was right. The afternoon passed in a whirl of pitches made and accepted and by the end I'd promised to produce 5 new series this year.

*pausing to kick self in arse, and then to high-five the mirror*

Even if I'd left after the first day the gain for me in connections, experience, and possibilities would have be well worth the cost of going.

There was another class that afternoon, Amy Lane's course on characterization--taken after the pitches had melted my brains out of my ears--and this one combined in my head and heart with the Rom-Com class Ethan and Zam had given to unstick a story that's been languishing in the back of my brain for nearly three years.

And that? Was just the beginning. Stay tuned. I'll be back tomorrow to let you in on more of my GRL highlights tomorrow.

Muah!
Cherie Noel

Monday's Mayhem and Foolishness--GRL Style

So, I tried to post a link to the video of my author reading... and it appears it is not working quite like I intended. Soooooooooooo, here's me trying again.

*fingers crossed*

... and I do believe we can call that success! Hoorah! Go on. Get you some.

Holy Guacamole, I'm a Rainbow Awards Finalist!

Hello my beautiful babies! Sorry it's been so long since we chatted. I'm afraid I got caught up with school and the life of being mom to a precocious teen. Hee hee, make of that what you will! Sooooooooooo.... did you note the new addition to the blog? 

Eh?

I know it's likely old news to some of you but I'm still giddy over this... and I didn't make an annoucement here before. Cast your lovely peepers to the right and gaze on the awesome new badge over there. Yeah, yeah... it's the same as the one right at the top of this post! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

*holding breath*

Yes! It's true! I, little ole me, made it to the esteemed Rainbow Awards finals! I am up there with the likes of Z.A.Maxfield, Amy Lane, and a number of other amazing writers. *pauses to shiver* It's nearly surreal for me. 

The book that got me there is my little story set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which is where I grew up. The story was written around the idea of the Mixed Tape, a popular trend in the 80's... you liked a gal or a guy but were too shy to tell them so. Instead you made a cassette tape with songs which expressed your feelings. *today's version is the iPod playlist* So I centered my story around Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time (though that title had already been taken by the talented J.P. Bowie... and it's a damn good story, read it asap if you haven't already)... well, I included other songs, and I'll share them with you over the coming couple of weeks... but today's is the song that started it all. 

And of course, as important as the inspiration is the work of the Editorial Goddess, Kris Jacen, who inspired me to make the story the best it could be. I lurve her more than chocolate. 

Toodles for now, but don't worry. I'll be back tomorrow with video of the Author Reading at GRL. That will kick off a week of memories and shenanigans centered around the insane, sublime silliness that is GayRomLit. Get your hip-waders out and get ready, the bs and good times will be coming at you fast and furious. Heh. 

UPDATE!

Just a quick post to say that after some hiccups (and FINALLY meeting at GRL in Atlanta last weekend), Cherie and I have managed to mostly iron out a few things and we're working on getting the website back up and functional! Cherie has promised me a blog post about GRL (and I'm toying with the idea of doing one from my perspective, too), there *may* (*fingers crossed*) be a video of Cherie's reading, and we're going to do a bit of a site overhaul! So keep your eyes open for all the goodies! (One of the changes will be a page dedicated to me meandering about all the randomness that happens in my life, so keep an eye on that once it happens if you want to have a laugh at me!)