Joy Comes With the Morning

It's Hop against Homophobia time!  This is such an amazing idea and Robin and I feel so lucky to have a chance to bring a focus to this issue.  Obviously, we both feel so strongly about the idea of combating homophobia with information, knowledge, and patient education, so we think the idea of getting several hundred of us together to talk about it is incredible.

Here's how we thought we'd do things.  I decided the only way we could really talk about homophobia and what that means to us now is to share my personal story.  As I told Robin the other day, it's pretty much the most generic 'Gay Person in the Midwest' story in the world, but I think sometimes, sharing something like that is the most important thing you can do.  Not because it's extraordinary - nothing about my life has really been that - but because it's not.  Because there are so many people, I know, who have grown up like I have, who have faced the same things I did.  I wish I'd known that, when I was younger.  Maybe this will be our own little Oprah moment, a way to all sit on the couch and have a drink and talk.

Of course, we also want to give some stuff away.  Everything's better with a give away!  Leave us your thoughts in the comments below, share your own experiences, ask questions, just say hi.  Make sure to include some way to get a hold of you, and you are entered to win this awesome prize pack.

Included are:  A signed paperback of Blood Howl (just in time to read before the sequel, Blood in the Sand, gets a release date announced), your very own whistle necklace (so you'll never get lost), and a dog tag and cling sticker from one of my favorite non-profit groups, the Human Rights Campaign.  (The profits from buying those, just like everything else from the HRC store, goes straight back to the organization.)

We're so incredibly grateful to the organizers of the Hop against Homophobia.  This is a fantastic idea, and we look forward to seeing what other members of the m/m fiction community have to say.  Writing gay fiction, for Robin and I, is one of the most rewarding experiences we could hope to have.  Not only do we get to do what we've always wanted to do - write - but we get to develop characters we believe in and stories we love.  Really, we have it pretty damn good.

Now That We're on the Other Side

Amazingly, it's been a little over two weeks since the release of Blood Howl.  Robin and I were talking about it yesterday, and it seems impossible it's been so little time.  It feels like months since we were sitting up all night, waiting for that clock to tick over, like two impossible children on Christmas Eve.  How incredible, to know that the story we dreamed up, that we worked over and offered out, hearts in our throats, has now actually be read by people we've never met.  More than read, in some cases, people are actually enjoying it.

It still blows my mind.  I know Blood Howl isn't perfect.  Indeed, it's more of an appetizer than anything, getting our toes wet in this complex world we're now exploring fully.  But it is something we are proud of, it is the story we wanted to tell, and we realize we are incredibly blessed to have done been able to share that.  Robin and I are hard at work writing the second in the series, but I found myself, today, taking a little time to think back.

If you've read the book, what's your favorite part?  I'll admit, mine is one that actually wasn't planned out at all.  At least, it wasn't until we were almost on top of it.  The scene at the zoo (and if you've read the book, I hope you know what I'm referring to) really came out of the characters themselves, and Robin and I following along a silly impulse.  Somehow, in the writing, it became one of my favorite moments of the whole book.

So what about you?  Do you have a favorite scene?  A line?  A character?  I must admit, I'm dying to know.  I feel like everyone who's read the book is now a friend, is someone that I share a secret with.  After so many months of my sweet partner and I being the only two who knew these characters, this story, it's dizzying to think that there are others we could discuss it with.

So please, if you'd like, let us know if there was anything that stuck with you.  I'd love to brew up a pot of coffee (tea for my better half, thank you very much, though I'm sure Robin would share) and sit down with you all and talk.

-Alex

Drug Addled Writings

Well, since I'm popping Vicodin like an extra on House (thanks to two very rude wisdom teeth that had the bad grace to grow in crooked and funky), writing has slowed significantly here in the Saxon-Kidwell household.  Never fear, though, we are still deep in the throes of Blood Howl's sequel.  Neither rain nor snow nor pain medication loopiness will keep us from our appointed task.

It does lend to some interesting scenes, though.

(Slight spoilers ahead, maybe, kind of.  If you haven't read Blood Howl.  Which, if you haven't, what's stopping you?  ARe has us featured on the front page, AND we're on sale.  Come on, that's like kismet if I ever heard of it.  Practically begging you to buy it and curl up with a nice cup of tea and/or whiskey, depending on your preferences.  In any case, here's the scene that never will be, along with a little something for my friend Tj Klune.)

So many ideas, so little time...

Totally loving all the prompts over at Dreamspinner Press' Anthology calls.  Seriously, we have so many muses and half-baked story ideas that the big problem for us will be paring it down.

I'll leave you with this thought:

Barramundi.

-Alex

Mission Complete!

Just finished our plotting for the next book in the Sanguis Nocturn canon!  It's kind of a huge undertaking for us, with a lot of moving parts, but we really love how it is coming together.  Now Robin is color coding things, because Robin is adorable when we plot, and I'm just amazed at how quickly we can get our creative visions in line.  We work well together, and it's always so much fun.

The cats are laying right next to me, occasionally rolling themselves across the keyboard if they feel they aren't getting enough attention.  Clearly they're very involved in the process as well.

Totally stoked!  Now we get to move on to the actual writing.

-Alex

Plotting

Two weeks to go until Blood Howl is released!

We've started getting into the plotting of the second book in the series. The plot is flowing pretty well so far, and we're pleased with it. Just some editing on it to go, and resolving the ending, and we'll be all set to start writing the next book.

- Robin

2am

Waking up at 2am with five new book ideas and needing to write them down, in detail, before you can possibly go back to sleep - always fun!

- Robin