Just to prove I'm still alive and well (really!), I'm popping in for a quickie post. My life has not been my own for the past few weeks, so my apologies for disappearing. A huge thank you to all the kind folks who haven't given up on me and who have sent such amazing messages. You guys rock. Seriously.
I do have book updates, but I'll post them when I'm closer to publication. There are 3 (2 gay erotica/romance and 1 hetero erotica) that should be published soon. They are still in the editing process so I'll hold off on posting info just yet. I also have a couple of holiday stories I've been trying to get ready before November. I'm crossing my fingers that will happen. One is the kinda/sorta sequel to Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer. The new story will be in the same world (with quite a bit of Willy and Randy), but it will focus on two new main characters. The other holiday story is about a cute mall elf who falls for the newest mall Santa. I can't wait to update you guys on those stories and the others.
I mentioned in a blog post a couple of months ago that I was going to do a revamp of my blog and add new purchase links, etc. I've not had time, but I hope to do it soon. My books are now all over the place, though. I'll add updated links soon. Promise.
Because I've been so bad about posting, I'm not going to bore you with my ramblings. How about a bit of eye candy instead? I've decided that when I don't have a lot to say in a blog post I'll still do posts with photos and GIFs, because come on! Who doesn't love looking at beautiful people? That's my story and I'm sticking to it anyway. *grin* My theme today is couples. I didn't plan it that way, but that's what I kept going to on my computer and Pinterest.
Note that if you are bothered by two men together, you probably don't want to scroll down. But then again, if you are, you're probably on the wrong blog.
After a lot of thought, I made the decision to remove all my titles from the Kindle Select program. Books in Kindle Select are automatically enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program. Kindle Unlimited is kind of like a Netflix for books. Readers pay around $10 per month and can read as many books as they want without paying an extra charge, as long as those books are also enrolled in the program. Kindle Unlimited was great for independent authors in the beginning. Now? Not so much. I won't rehash my rant from my last post, but I will say that a lot of authors were hit pretty hard when Amazon (without much warning) changed the way royalties are paid to authors who give them exclusivity for 90 days and enroll their (our) books in Kindle Unlimited.
I'm not the type of person who does anything without a lot of research. It took me weeks to finally make the decision to go exclusive with Amazon way back when. That decision was not done lightly, I can assure you. But this last thing by Amazon gave me no choice but to get out of the exclusivity deal and put my stories on other sites. It took all of 2 days for me to make that decision. That may seem quick to some, but I assure you that a lot of thought and research went into that particular decision. All my books are still on Amazon, but they are no longer free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. I felt bad doing it, but I had no choice.
All of my others are on Apple, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Inktera (Formerly Page Foundry), Tolino, Kobo, and a couple of other sites. When I am able to take the time, I'll be creating a page on this blog that lists all the links. My site is in desperate need of a revamp anyway, so when I get the page created I'll post it on the right side where it's easy to access.
I should also point out that I cancelled my reader subscription to KU as well. I subscribed initially to support authors and to discover some who were new to me. To support them in the future, I will purchase the books outright.
What else?
Apparently my last blog post bothered someone, so I will respond to that here (without naming any names).
Yes, you CAN be a Christian and support same-sex marriage, and no, I don't feel that I was intentionally being rude with what I said.
What you said about the southern part of the United States just pisses me off, so it's probably best I leave that alone.
Finding Alex -Alex and Dean were introduced in Saving Travis. It was stated several times in that book that they brought others into their bed. There is no rewriting that story to reflect otherwise now. It should also be noted that Travis and Marc (the main characters in Saving Travis) likely never would've come together had Alex and Dean not taken thirds on occasion.
The Amazon thing is (somewhat) explained above. No, our pulling out of KU does not make us greedy. It means that we feel that we should be treated fairly and with the way things stand right now, we aren't.
You have a right to your opinions about my country. However, your thoughts on our gun laws and everything else aren't relevant to me, sorry. I will not apologize for my patriotism. I will not apologize for being proud of the country I live in. I will also not apologize for showing that pride and patriotism on my blog. I refuse to debate things with anyone in regards to my country, politics, or anything else. My political views are mine and I won't be going back and forth with anyone over them. Those who know me in the real world know where I stand. I won't be discussing it with strangers.
Hopefully that answered all of that.
As for any book updates, I don't really have anything new to add right now. I've worked a bit more on some Christmas stories and I'm in the self-editing phase of a few other shorts. I will update here when something is closer to being confirmed.
I hope everyone is doing well and that there's a great weekend in store.
Until next time,
~Candi Kay
Re: Eye Candy - Who doesn't love a man with long, black hair?
My apologies in advance for the length of this post. I go weeks without posting and when I do, I tend to ramble a bit. Also, my apologies to Optimist for the lack of eye candy. :)
Love Wins & Other -
Unless you live on another planet, you're aware that same-sex marriage is now legal everywhere in the United States. There was a huge celebration all over the place when the ruling came down. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of gay bashing all over the place. I watched people who I have known my entire life go into homophobic rants all over social media. These were people who had always claimed to be supportive up until the United States Supreme Court made gay marriage legal. While bashing the ruling and everyone in the LGBT community, some even threw out "I have gay friends". Well, good for you. You have gay friends. How many times have we heard the same thing from the same homophobes as they attacked people for who they love?
BUT! They have gay friends!
No, people. These aren't your 'friends' if you are constantly bashing them and their so-called lifestyle. I saw a lot of the supposed friends have their feelings hurt on a day they should've been celebrating. I watched two different people on Facebook come back at a couple of these people. It was sad. I really do have gay friends, but you know what? Those aren't just words to make myself look accepting. These people are genuinely important to me and I don't say one thing to their faces and then turn around and say something totally different when they aren't around.
The hate I witnessed is unbelievable. I can't imagine how difficult it is for those who are forced to live it every day of their lives. I identify as a Christian. MY God loves everyone. I sat here steaming as I read one Facebook status after another by these so-called Christians who judged and threw out scriptures about why everyone in the LGBT community and the allies who support them are all going to Hell. These same people conveniently missed the scriptures in the Bible that also condemned a majority of them and things they've done and likely do on a daily basis. But you know how it is, right? It's okay for some folks to go from one marriage to another and to do all these other things that the Bible says are wrong, but DO NOT get married if you're gay and do not support those who do! Give me a break. I've never seen so many hypocrites in one place before. I have two personal Facebook accounts. On one it was constant gay bashing. On the other, the ruling was celebrated, but I was forced to read one post after another bashing my heritage and every person who lives in the southern part of the U.S. I couldn't win either way.
A majority of the time when I see someone acting silly and childish I say nothing. I'm not the type of person to call anyone out. Why bother? They will continue to see things the way they do and why upset myself by sinking down to their level? But I will say this - Get a grip. Grow up. Stop acting like a petulant child. Oh, and I can't not say this... jealous, much?
I graduated from high school a long time ago. When I walked out the door of my high school for the final time I was walking away from teenage drama. You know all I want to do? I want to read. I want to write. I want to spend time with my family. I want to annoy my best friend (lol) in one Facebook PM after another. I want to laugh. I want to enjoy life. What a shame that some are so miserable in their own lives that they feel the need to hurt others. We're not always going to agree on things and that's okay. What kind of boring world would it be if everyone agreed all the time? My husband and I are as different as night and day, but we accept and respect each other. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be with everyone? I'll never understand all the hate and silliness over, well, pretty much everything.
I could go on about all this, but it would be a huge rant, so I'll stop with this -
To everyone who has now officially been given the same rights as the rest of us... Congratulations! I was extremely proud and admit to getting teary when that ruling came down. Now I can sit back and hope to see the same freedoms given to those in other parts of the world in the very near future.
Playing Catch-Up -
I said in my last blog post that I've been pretty much off the grid everywhere. I'm trying very hard to play catch-up, but it might take a little while. My oldest son's birthday is Friday and then we have Independence Day on Saturday, so I can see not much getting done during the long weekend.
Finding Alex -
I've been trying to write a lot lately, but I've had what I call my ADHD moments so whether anything I've written is good or not is something that I really can't say right now. When I'm in a better frame of mind I'll go back into the completed first drafts and hope for the best. I've started Finding Alex (part of the Taking Lance world) three different times, but I haven't been good with any of those. I'm hoping the one I just started works. With it being the final one in the series, I need to be able to bring everything and everyone together from the previous stories and do it right. This has added a bit of possible unnecessary pressure on me. I want these guys to go out with a bang and in a story I'm proud of. If it takes a lot of rewrites to accomplish that, I don't mind. Too much anyway. :)
Alex Inspiration
It should be noted that Alex and Dean bring other men into their bed and it's always done with the other partner. There's no cheating or hooking up away from the other one. It's always done together. There's also zero drama and/or jealousy from either Alex or Dean when this happens. It's just an added part of their relationship. Some people will be bothered by that, so I felt it should be noted long before the story is published. As I've mentioned before (and when they were introduced in Saving Travis), there will also be a rather large age difference between them. Anyone who reads my books knows that I'm a huge fan of books with characters who have substantial age differences. Because of that, I enjoy writing them.
If things go as planned (though it's subject to change as I write) Lance and Rick will be getting married (planned several books ago) and I might even have Marc and Travis doing the same. Expect a lot from the other characters in the series. While the story will be Alex and Dean's, I will be elaborating on a lot of things with the other guys and moving them forward where I hope there are no questions when the series officially ends. I admit that I will be very sad to see the series end. Taking Lance was my first published work and Rick and Lance will always be special to me. I think Lance will likely always be my favorite character. I may or may not revisit all the guys in quickie short stories down the road (for holidays, etc.), but once the HEA is there, it's not going away, nor will I add any silly drama with any of the guys breaking up and coming back together. I could sit here and list a bunch of series that did that and I can say loudly that I am not a fan.
If you read the other stories in the Taking Lance world, you know those were written in first person point of view, with Keeping Lance and Saving Travis alternating between the two main characters. Finding Alex will be written in third. I know it's not always a good idea to change things up like that, but in order to have all the stories told for all the characters, first person isn't doable this go 'round.
Dean Inspiration
I'll tell you something else I'm not a fan of - books with flashbacks. While I'll try to keep them at a minimum in Finding Alex, I will have to add them. In Saving Travis Alex and Dean were already an established couple. There was a bit thrown out here and there about issues the politician Alex had gone through to get where they were in that story and those issues have to be addressed.
I know a lot of folks aren't fans of books with established couples. Like me, you probably want to see the first meeting, the excitement over the first date, the first time they kiss and have sex, and I want to see every detail as they work their way to the happily-ever-after. When I wrote Saving Travis and introduced these guys, there was no intention of giving them their own story later. Well, we see how that turned out. ;) The readers will still be able to see Alex and Dean when they met. Their first date and first time having sex will be detailed. In between all the other stuff (re: Rick, Lance, Marc and Travis), the reader will be allowed to watch as these two unique men were brought together as the couple they are. I've got a sweet spot for Dean for some reason. He wasn't that big of a deal in Saving Travis, but he will be for me. He had to overcome a lot to finally find his true love. Alex plays a huge part in helping him overcome that. Of course, Alex had his own issues to overcome.
This will be the finale of a series I never planned to write. Taking Lance was originally written as a standalone, but I changed the ending literally at the last minute. I wanted to see Rick and Lance together as a couple later, not simply two guys who hooked up (*ahem!* across a kitchen table using cooking oil as lube...). I guess the point I'm trying to make is that while Alex and Dean's back story will be known, I have to give the others their due as well.
Amazon's New (Author) Policy -
I can't end this post without mentioning something that somewhat has my head spinning. I mentioned in my last post how Amazon has changed (as of July 1st) the way they pay authors who are in the Select program (re: Kindle Unlimited). All of my books to date are enrolled in Select and are not available anywhere else as a result. I thought long and hard before I chose to go exclusive with Amazon. I don't do anything lightly. However, all authors who have their books enrolled in Kindle Unlimited are now - if I read the email correctly - going to officially be screwed in regards to royalty payments in the future. Don't get me wrong, the original payment structure was not fair to everyone. I get that. What I don't get is the fact that now (if my calculations are correct), for each download by someone enrolled in KU, authors will get the equivalent of half of a penny for each page read in their books (if you're interested, it means that I'll make roughly 13 cents off each KU download of The Guy in the Coffee Shop, one of my best sellers.... this is based on what Amazon says today I should get based on the 27 pages they came up with). At what point in a book does Amazon consider it to be the first page? I get not calculating the title page, the copyright page and dedication page. How many people actually read those anyway? But what about a prologue? What if - like a majority of short stories - there is no CHAPTER ONE? Meaning that the story is too short to break up into individual chapters.
*takes deep breath*
I don't publish my stories to make a living. Hell, if I solely depended on my royalties to live on I'd have starved to death long ago. However, I do publish with the hope of being fairly treated by the company I'm publishing them through. I purposely charge a relatively small amount for everything I publish, though I've been told that .99 stories aren't taken seriously. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. I can't say for certain because the stories I've published for that amount have done fairly well.
So, what do I do? Do I keep my books exclusive to Amazon when I could be publishing them other places? Do I sit back and wait to see what happens after the first month's royalties come in? At this point I really don't know what to do. I could go back to Smashwords and hope for the best. I could publish individually on other e-tailers. I could do a lot of things, but at the moment I am simply lost. But isn't that the way it always works? You think you have something figured out and then it gets turned on its head?
I'll tell you what will likely be happening soon, as I've already seen it happening since I started typing this - Independent authors will leave the Kindle Unlimited program in droves. If it's not worth it monetarily to them (us!) to keep the books in the program, they will be seeking other options where they aren't being devalued by this large company who knows they can get away with it. Each indie author publishes independently for their own reasons. I have mine. To know that we are basically getting kicked in the face makes us wonder if we should continue giving this huge company an even bigger take from our hard work. Personally, I don't want to basically start all over again and start publishing here and there, but it looks like it will probably be my only option in the near future. If this happens, I will also be unsubscribing from the KU program as a reader. If a lot of the authors I read are leaving the program, is it worth what I pay each month? Probably not. Not to mention that Amazon is likely making a killing off all those Kindle Unlimited subscriptions. They're making so much off them, yet they can't support the authors who are publishing and putting their books in the program. That's not even close to being fair.
Independence Day in America -
If you are American and will be celebrating Independence Day on the 4th, I hope you'll stay safe and remember what the holiday is about. It's not all about fireworks and the beach and throwing meat on a barbecue grill. Also, when you're lighting those fireworks be considerate of people who may've served our country and came back home with PTSD. While the fireworks may be all fun and games to most of us, there are those who are strongly affected by them. PTSD is a very real condition so please be mindful. Also, be careful where you play with those fireworks. Each holiday where they're prevalent I read or hear stories on the news about people getting hurt and fires being started. I live in the country so I have to be on the look out for stray ones on my property as well.
I hope that everyone is doing well and that the week has been good for all of you. Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy your holiday and stay safe. If you're going to drink, do it at home or make sure you have a designated driver. That "one more drink" isn't worth getting behind the wheel and taking a chance.
Below is a video that says it all, in my opinion. While I might not be overly thrilled with the way certain things are done on occasion, I'm still very proud to be an American. Even all these years later, I still get chills every time I hear this song.
I am aware that the SNL clip didn't come up correctly for those who receive my blog posts via email. My apologies. As with that one, if the one below doesn't come through, click the link in the email that takes you to the actual post.
Until next time,
~Candi Kay
P.S. To my best friend in the world - Lots of love. Big hugs. And many, many prayers.
Note that a majority of my posts (including this one) would not be considered safe for work. I found these images on Pinterest. You can check out my page by clicking the button on the right. The boards are pretty self-explanatory. I often add photos and GIFs for my enjoyment. If you have a problem with nudity (of either sex), my blog posts probably aren't for you. With that being said - An actual Facebook message sent to my friend slash editor not long ago -
Randy roared and had to be held back when another reindeer taunted Willy. Willy called Santa Claus a big butthead. A rookie reindeer - a virgin - just got his first blow job and hand job ever and the reindeer (not a rookie) who was responsible for both came all over his back. Master Elf Jason left klutzy Elf Marcus in charge of the workshop while he and Willy were taking care of business elsewhere. Who knows what'll be destroyed when they get back? Remember poor Marcus' concussion from the last story when he heard the reindeer roar? Klutz!
That totally makes sense to both of us and anyone else who has read Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer. This (above) was in regards to the new one (mentioned in my last blog post) that will be taking place in the same world. Like Willy and Randy's story, I'm having entirely too much fun writing this one.
The reindeer in my version of the North Pole are shifters. I feel like I should throw that out there for those who read that above and said "HUH???? What????"
I have to stress that while Willy and Randy (and the others) are in this new story a lot, they do not take center. The romance is between two other (new) characters. There will be updates in regards to what happened after the big party (no spoilers for those who haven't read it). Santa and the missus weren't too pleased with the way certain things played out during their big event. You didn't think they'd just let it go and allow everyone to go on their merry little way, did you? Of course there are new rules in place that the elves and reindeer aren't too pleased with. The new (still untitled) story takes place the following Christmas.
I've also written a couple of things that would likely get me kicked off Amazon if I were to attempt to publish them as they are. I'll either go in and make some major changes or publish them on Smashwords without changing a thing. I had Taking Lance published on Smashwords for awhile before I removed it and made it exclusive to Amazon. All stories after that one are strictly available on Amazon.
Which leads me to something else....
Starting July 1st, Amazon will be changing the way they pay authors whose books are enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program. I'm not really all that knowledgeable of how all that will work long term. I know the gist of it, but at this point I'm not sure how it will affect me one way or another. Roughly 50% of my downloads are from KU. Only time will tell if the new policy will help or hurt me in the long run.
What else?
I've been forced to take a huge step back from social media and pretty much everything else for reasons I won't go into here. A lot has been going on in my real world so I've not had the time to tweet and retweet as I've done in the past. Hopefully, I will be back on track soon. Thank you to all those who have been kind enough to promote and support me even when I've been out of the loop.
You want to know what's really cool? Someone I know outside of my writing read The Guy in the Coffee Shop last weekend and had no clue I was the one who wrote it. Like a lot of others (me included) she had gotten interested in M/M books as a result of Blay and Qhuinn in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and wanted to check out other books with gay characters. I selfishly recommended a bunch of books to introduce her to gay romance with one being mine. She had no idea I'd written it. She really liked it and was shocked when I told her it was my work. That story is really short and there's not a whole lot to it, but it's still one of my faves. It meant the world to me that she enjoyed it without even knowing it was me who wrote it. Now she knows and I've been tempted to send her Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer, but I think she's still too new for that one, don't you? :)
I've again gotten behind on pretty much everything, so if I've missed something, my sincere apologies. I am really hoping that I'll be able to get back to writing, blogging, reading and having more of a social media presence again real soon.
I want to send a big hug to someone very close to me who isn't feeling well at the moment. Much love to you, my friend. You'll kick this in the ass. I don't doubt that for a second. You're the strongest person I know. You got this. :)
With Magic Mike XXL being released soon (and yes, I will be going to see it), I couldn't not add something from my favorite ever sketch from SNL. I remember seeing it when it was live and laughing my ass off. Even now I can't watch the full thing without giggling.
RIP to the two legends who did it first @jdotcdoublee #gotham #gothammemes #gothampost @gotham._
Posted by Jdotcdoublee on Thursday, June 18, 2015
I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry I don't have more to update in regards to upcoming releases. I'll write another blog post when things are firmed up a bit.
I can't recall the last time in my life where I've written as much as I have over the past few weeks. Believe me, that's a good thing. I had gotten a bit burnt out after the release of Saving Travis back in February so I'm thrilled that burn-out is behind me. To the folks who asked about Finding Alex (the final story in the Taking Lance series), it has been put on hold for a bit. I've written around 20,000 words of it so far, but it still has a long way to go. I'll likely pick it up again this month. I needed to step away from that world for a little while.
Some updates -
A new friends-to-lovers gay romance has been officially sent to my editor. It's titled Just Friends and unless my editor completely hates it (which is a big possibility), it will be released in the relatively near future. There are a couple of things I'm still iffy about in the story. If they totally suck, she'll let me know. That's the joy of having someone else in your corner. Nothing I write ever gets published without that second set of eyes. I could go on and on about how important editors or even good proofreaders are, but that's another blog post in itself, so I'll leave it at that. I'll post more updates as Just Friends gets closer to publication. I have a tentative cover done, but it still needs some tweaking so I'm not sharing yet.
I mentioned that I've been writing like a crazy girl lately. Three of those stories are Christmas stories and are all gay romance and/or erotica. I know, I know, you're thinking "It's June. What the hell is she thinking?"
It was written in August or September of last year, but I didn't get to really do anything with it until late November (there's a blog post on here somewhere explaining why). I remember rushing trying to get it ready to be published in time for the holiday and after that, I swore I'd never wait until the last minute again. Thankfully, these stories are basically writing themselves so I shouldn't be rushed later in the year.
Speaking of Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer, one of these new stories takes place in that world. Willy and Randy already have their HEA and there won't be any drama between them (I'm not a fan of books that do that... *ahem! J.R. Ward*). New main characters. New story line. It will just take place in the same North Pole as that story (if you read it, you know what I'm referring to) and all the players from that book will be in this one as well, only in secondary form. I won't be screwing with Willy and Randy's relationship... ever. It will be an adult story with adult kinks and graphic sex and there will be a bit of humor, but I want a specific message to come through (in this case, bullying), just like I wanted the "love is love" message to come through in Willy's story. If it stops flowing, thankfully I have plenty of time to get it where I want it. The second Christmas story is (unlike Willy) contemporary and involves a mall Santa, a couple of rambunctious kids and a cute guy in an elf costume.There's a bit of humor in it and more than a bit of sex. At the rate I'm going with it, it could end up being one of my longer stories.
The third one is a story that is actually already completed - in a sense. It's almost novel-length and was written last year. My editor went over it and let me know it wasn't anywhere near my best work. It was put on hold with the intention of removing the Christmas theme and rewriting it outside of the holiday. I tried that but everything kept coming back to the fact that if I removed the holiday aspects of the story, I'd have to completely rewrite two very important parts - that just so happen to be my two favorite parts of the story. I've gone back into it with fresher eyes to see what I can fix to make it a story I'm proud of. It may involve an almost complete rewrite, or it may not. Time will tell. There's another story that's been complete for awhile, but I'm holding off on letting that one go just yet. There's something about the resolution of everything that is still bugging me. I actually finished the first draft long before Just Friends. I keep hoping to have an A ha! moment telling me exactly what's iffy about it, but it hasn't happened yet. It's another gay romance and there's a bit of an age difference between the two main characters. But then again, most of my stories have a bit of an age difference. It's one of my kinks. I've also written about pretty much everything else you can imagine over the past few weeks, with a lot of those stories being completely outside of my norm. That has been refreshing. I'll update when things are firmed up a bit.
~
A few blog posts back I mentioned I Love Erotica, a new site that brought together a group of erotica authors. ILE is no more. I won't go into details, but as far as I know it's no longer online. A lot of time and work went into it by a lot of people so it was a shame to see it end before it ever really got started, but it is what it is.
I hope to be finishing up some of these WIPs soon and will have more to report in my next blog post. I've got a lot of stuff going on in my real world as well, but thankfully I've been able to keep up with it all (for the most part), on top of writing every chance I get.
My apologies if the font color of this post is weird. Blogger is acting a bit crazy as I type this, so I'm unsure how it will come up in the actual emails to my followers.
Recently I was asked how I got into writing LGBT books. With it being my genre of choice to write in, it was a fair question. I write it because it's what I mostly read. At last count I've read hundreds of LGBT related books - shorts and novels - and I don't see me stopping anytime soon. My reading in the genre opened doors for me that I won't go into here. But on top of those doors being opened, it also had me wanting to venture into writing it. I'm no expert by any means, but I've read enough where I think I do have a clue when it comes to writing those particular types of stories. I'm also very lucky that I have gay authors who support me privately and are always there if I have any questions. Until I wrote Taking Lance last year, everything I'd written was hetero erotica and/or romance. Regardless of what I'm writing, it's a safe bet that there will be a romance in there somewhere. I know there are a lot of people who want strictly erotica in what they read and I respect that. However, I'm all about happily-ever-afters, so if I've written it, it's a good bet there's a sappy romance in there somewhere.
With that being said, my latest release - a two-book bundle - is strictly hetero erotica and would likely not be called romance. It's about Catherine and Drew, a couple married for over two decades. They have a son who they love dearly. The marriage is good. The sex is still good. However, both Catherine and Drew discover that they want a bit... more. For Drew, it's the much younger woman who just happens to be his son's girlfriend. For Catherine, it's her son's friends.
Each story in this bundle is connected in a way. Drew has his story in My Son's Girl and Catherine has hers in My Son's Friends. Don't expect real romance with these two, unless you count Drew and Cat's. It's all about spicing up a marriage that neither even realized needed it. There's infidelity with both, but in the end? They come back to each other. A reviewer stated on Goodreads that they have a 'don't ask, don't tell' type of relationship and I couldn't have said it better. My thanks to Mee for that kind review, by the way. My thanks to everyone who has already read it and who have been kind enough to let me know what they thought about it. It's only .99 for both stories and available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Check it out here. It's only around 34 pages or so.
With that being said, I just completed another story that's kind of similar, but has totally different characters. It's another hetero erotica short about a man who is turning eighteen and still hasn't lost his virginity. He hires a hooker to help him out with that problem, but is shocked to the core when the woman who shows up at his hotel room is someone he already knows well. I've only written the first draft so there's a bit of work to be done yet.
Speaking of my writing, boy have I gotten some writing done over the past few weeks! I had a bit of a burn out (I guess you'd call it) after I published Saving Travis, so to have things flowing again like they have been lately feels pretty damn good. I've completed six first drafts in the past few weeks. They all need a bit of work, but they will all be published eventually.
I can't end this without mentioning my publishing anniversary back in April. 364 people took advantage of downloading Taking Lance for free during the few days it was on Amazon at no cost. Thank you to all who helped me celebrate my one year publishing anniversary and for every single person who contacted me afterward with their opinions of the series. When I wrote Taking Lance way back when, I never in a million years would've dreamed that I'd publish it, much less have several published after that one. So again, I say thank you to every single person who has downloaded one of my books. You guys are why I keep doing what I do, even when I want to throw my hands up and walk away sometimes.
For every mother, I hope you have an amazing Mother's Day on Sunday. My family will be taking me to the beach or somewhere to celebrate. I'm really looking forward to it.
Last week was kind of a whirlwind for me. I was out of state for 3 days and then came home to rush through getting ready to leave the next day for Talladega, Alabama. I live in the South and have done the Talladega (NASCAR) thing a few times before so I was looking forward to this trip (and the race on Sunday). It's seriously 4 days of one big party. It was a blast. That's not what this post is about. On the Saturday night before the big race there's always a concert at the speedway. An amazing performer, Buddy Brown, started the show for Chase Rice to come out as the big deal. With the exception of a bunch of drunk folks surrounding us, the concerts were excellent. What wasn't were a few girls - early twenties, I'm guessing? - who were next to us and did some things that seriously angered me. I'm short and my husband is over a foot taller than me. Concerts are always a challenge for me because of my height. My man makes sure I'm able to see and is kind enough to allow other short ones to stand with us and helps them see the stage as well. It was a group of these girls that this post is about. Chase Rice was about to sing a somewhat sexual song. He asked a girl in the front row to come on stage and dance with him. Performers do that all the time, so no big deal. Beautiful girl. Tall, blonde hair, tight jeans and a thin tank top. She was probably 21 or so and the girl could dance. It was stunning to watch. Her dancing couldn't have been better for that song had it been choreographed. The thing about this woman that had the group next to us getting started was that she is what would be considered full figured. I always hated that term, but that's the only way to describe her. Not big by any means, just not a teeny tiny size zero. This little group of women next to us are what would be called mean girls, I suppose. As soon as the woman was pulled onstage, they got started. Cow. Pig. Ugly. Fat. I listened to these women go on and on. They even tried to start a chant in our section with people yelling these things. The chant (had it happened) would've been "Ew! Cow!" over and over. I'm not naive. I know that these types of people are all over the place, but for me to be forced to listen to that? I was livid, as was my husband. I wanted to say something so bad and was just about to when my husband did it for me. He made an offhand remark (knowing they could hear it) about jealous girls who can't handle when someone more attractive than them gets attention. Rude? Sure it was, but not compared to what they were doing and a hell of a lot nicer than what I was about to say. Had this chant taken off, the woman (even over the music) likely would've heard it. That's how close we were to the stage. This woman was having a blast. How would she have felt had she heard these horrible people saying what they were saying? It would've ruined her night and likely bothered her long after. Words hurt. I know this. I lived it. I developed an eating disorder because one person (who was very close to me) said something about my weight (I was very tiny at that time and this bugged her). You stop and think "Hmm... maybe they're right" and it gets stuck in your head. It's been stuck in my head for more years than I care to mention here. I now consider myself as "recovering" and am not even close to the state I allowed myself to get into back then. However, the mindset is still there and will likely always be. All because one insecure person felt the need to say something hurtful to me when I was a teenager. Who gives these people the right to be so hurtful? It makes you wonder if they were raised that way or if it's something that just happened. I didn't allow these little bitches to ruin my night Saturday night, but it hasn't gone away since I was forced to listen to it. These girls give a new meaning to the "mean girl" thing. Some of you are likely wondering what this has to do with writing, which is what I normally write about. My answer? Nothing. It's just one of those things that I feel should be talked about. What those girls did (and tried to do) is bullying, pure and simple. If there's one thing that bothers me it's when people are so insecure in their own lives that they feel the need to degrade others. I could go on and on about the stats in regards to suicides as a result of bullying, but I don't have to. Watch the news. Get on the internet. Sadly, it's all over the place. I hope the young dancer went on to enjoy the rest of her weekend. I hope that the confidence she showed onstage is there in other aspects of her life as well. I hope she's never forced to listen to what I did Saturday night in regards to her. I never met her and I know I won't, but she kicked ass while the little insecure girls were jealous because the good looking performer's hands weren't all over them. He picked her and I was proud to see it. As for the others? I'm a strong believer in Karma. They'll get theirs someday. I just hate I won't get to see it when it happens. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll be playing catch up for a few days after my crazy week and then I'll update with a post in regards to what's happening in my writing world. ~Candi Kay
I actually have some updates and upcoming news that I'm excited to share, but this post is about something that has seriously angered me recently. The other stuff (upcoming new releases, something exciting I've been asked to be part of, among other things) will be put on a separate post, hopefully within the next few days. Most of you are aware that Google is on the verge of yet another censorship sweep with Blogger accounts. In my real world, I went through this a year or so ago and was forced to switch from Blogger to another blogging site. This was because Google was cracking down on explicit advertisements and such. Well, apparently that wasn't good enough. In the latest version of censorship, us authors (and others) are being informed that we are to remove all explicit CONTENT from our pages or they will be set as private by the powers that be at Google. There has been an uproar on social media and rightfully so. A majority of people use Blogger because it's user friendly. We use it because it's a good way to get our stuff out there. Hell, we use it because it doesn't cost us an arm and a leg to post something. I am against censorship. I'll be the first to rant and rave over books being removed from libraries and schools and what not. I don't want to be told what I can see, read, or whatever when I'm online or when I'm not. When you go to sites on Blogger, you have the option of clicking the box stating you're aware there might be adult content before entering the site or you can click the other one and not continue. I've read a lot of stuff from parents saying that what Google is doing is an excellent idea because it keeps their little ones from accessing stuff they might not need to see. Like Google does? *sarcasm* Here's a thought - if you're so concerned about your 'little ones' seeing adult content, how about supervising them when they are online instead of expecting us to change things just for a select few?
I don't know if what I've published on this site would be considered explicit or not by the Google prude police. I suppose I should go over all my posts (you know, since I have nothing better to do... sarcasm again) to see what might offend someone's little darlings. Over the past week, I've seen well-known authors who have been around for years walk away from sites they've used since they started writing. I've seen reviewing sites freaking out because they have blog tours scheduled over the next few weeks and are being forced to find another option for their reviews and blog tours. A lot of time goes into blog tours, so imagine having several scheduled over a period of weeks while you're trying to transfer everything to a new site. I can tell you from experience that it's not an easy task. This, on top of transferring what might be hundreds (or thousands) of posts. It's utter bullshit. Can you tell I'm angry over this?
I am a parent and I get parents not wanting kids to see things that aren't age appropriate. However, I also know that it's the responsibility of the parents to monitor what their kids see online. I did. Did mine end up seeing stuff they probably shouldn't have at one time or another? Sure they did. We live in the technology age where so-called explicit content is as close as advertisements on TV. But I can assure you that as their parent, it was MY responsibility to make sure they were supervised, whether they were on their computers, phones or whatever. There's a thing called parental controls that can be easily set on all the devices. Apparently some don't feel the need to use them. Speaking of censorship, now we get to mySaving Travis cover - the one I'm leaving on this site and everywhere else other than Amazon. It was up on Amazon for a few hours before it was removed. Why was it removed? Apparently it shows Travis' almost-pubes. Or could it just be the fact that it's *gasp!* a photo of two guys? Look at it. Does that look offensive to you? To have a cover on my Amazon page, I altered it slightly, though I've yet to figure out why I had to. God forbid someone might use their imagination and wonder what exactly is under my name on the book cover. I could also go on about Amazon and how they hide erotica titles (regardless of the sub genre) from their home pages and how just this past week an author buddy of mine had one of their books removed completely because it violated their so-called terms of service. I won't get started on Amazon because that's another rant in itself. Rant over.
I will update with a new post soon. Like I said above, there are a lot of new things coming up in my world. I can't wait to share it with all of you.
I've been slow to update my blog in the past, but I've really been bad lately. There are reasons that don't just have to do with writing. I'm not one to discuss personal stuff here, and I won't be going into detail, but suffice it to say that things have been a bit crazy these past few weeks. I am heavily into editing Saving Travis and a new Christmas short, Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer. Travis will be published (hopefully) mid to late December. Willy should be out in a few days. Saving Travis needed quite a bit of revising, so my apologies to all who have asked when it will be released. As far as Willy is concerned, this story was written in June or July for a submission call for a publisher. The special call looked interesting so I figured, what the hell? I can totally write a story for that. I wrote it and submitted it long before the deadline. 15 weeks, and a lot of run around later, I finally sent a quick message to the publisher advising them to remove the story from consideration. I've dealt with publishers away from my writing and 99.9% of them are extremely professional. This one? Not even close. I should have known not to submit to them. They aren't exactly known for professionalism, but I did it anyway. One message - from the head editor I might add - had a misspelled word in it. I should have pulled the story right then and there, but I waited. After one message after another was ignored, I finally sent the email advising them to remove it from consideration. I've still yet to hear back. I think it's safe to say that another of my stories will never be submitted for consideration to these people. I wasted several weeks waiting to hear back one way or another when I could have tweaked it and published it myself.
A yes or no would have worked for me. This is not me being a bitch because a story was rejected. I had another (to be revised and self-pubbed at a later date) story rejected by a different publisher who showed the utmost of professionalism and showed me in detail what needed to be changed for me to better the story. In regards to Willy, I was in limbo because I literally heard nothing from these people other than one (badly written) response back saying they were going over stories and I would hear back from them soon. That was around 2 months ago. Since then? No yes. No "We're sorry, but your story sucks". No anything. I'm not naming names - that's not me at all - but the way they handled my story was extremely unprofessional. I was on hold all that time when I should have pulled it months before. Live and learn. So, here I am 16 weeks later and I'm trying to get the story ready to be published. My goal was this weekend. That won't be happening because I had a family emergency that pulled me away from everything over the past 7 or 8 days. My son got extremely ill and was hospitalized. There were a few touch and go moments, but he's recovering now. Throw in Thanksgiving and selfish family members who cared more about me hosting the event at my house than my son, and well, you see it's been a rough week or so for me. I'm all good now, for the most part, so hopefully I can get back to normal in my real world and my writing one. I will be working on the final touches of Willy's story today and Sunday (Saturday will be ALL about college football) and am aiming for Monday or Tuesday for it to be published. It's a kinky little gay short. I hope you all enjoy it. I had a blast writing it. I'll have another blog post about it soon.
Another quick note... to all my followers on social media - you guys rock. I've been forced (see above) to disappear for awhile, but everyone has stuck by me and I've even gotten some nice messages asking if I'm okay. I have no words for how much I appreciate all of you. I never could have imagined how amazing the indie community would be on Twitter. I'm in awe and amazed daily. So again, thank you. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoyed yours with your family. If you were brave enough to fight Black Friday sales? I hope you got what you wanted without injury and too much frustration. I was cuddled up with my man enjoying a much needed break from the real world for awhile. I'll be updating with another post soon in regards to Willy the Kinky Elf & His Bad-Ass Reindeer. I want to give those kinky guys their own blog post without them getting lost in the other stuff. I think they deserve it. I hope you guys do as well. Along with the Christmas eye candy, I added Willy's cover. What do you think? ~Candi
Once again I've allowed two weeks to go by in between posts. Life has been crazy and I've been really busy outside of my writing. The last couple of weeks have been a blur, as was last weekend. I'm finally able to slow down for a bit, though I really shouldn't.
I got a new story back from my editor last week and all I can say is this - Thank God I have a great editor! Seriously. I thought the story was okay. Not great, but okay. I was in love with a specific character, and well, she wasn't. :( It took me several days of rewrites before I finally got this guy figured out and I saw exactly what she was talking about. Anyone who thinks they don't need an editor, or a good proofreader or beta readers, should read the comments back and forth between my editor and me. I wonder how in the hell I ever thought that story was good to go as it was. More on that story another time. Want good - free - entertainment? Go to a child's birthday party where three families who don't like each other are forced to congregate for a few hours. I'd laugh if it wasn't a birthday party for a very special little person in my life. Maybe I'll laugh another time. At the moment, all I'll say is that I'm glad it's over.
There's not much more going on in my world worth mentioning at the moment. I (again) had to put real life stuff on hold to take care of rewrites so I'll be focusing on my other responsibilities hardcore this week. I've not done such a great job of it so far. I'm lucky that I have great people in my life who are more than a little understanding when I have my crazy writing days. My man brings me chocolate and my dear friend is the most patient person in the world. Both of which also get my ADHD moments and love me anyway. Who could ask for more than that?
I want to give a huge shout out toOn Top Down Under Book Reviews, who will be celebrating their 2 year anniversary during the entire month of October. I have been kindly asked to be part of the celebration and will offer giveaways of Taking Lance and Keeping Lance, and if it's ready to go by then, Being Karen. There are a ton of great authors being spotlighted throughout the month and I have to say it's more than a little thrilling (and intimidating) to be thrust in the middle of all that great talent. I hope you'll stop by and check it out. I'm scheduled to be there October 24th through the 26th. Don't stop by just for me. When you see the list of all the authors who will be visiting (click the above link), you'll be wanting to stop by every day. Show the authors some love and comment on their posts. You might win copies of outstanding books. I've read quite a few of those authors and I promise you that you can't go wrong with any of them.
My Alabama Crimson Tide football team had their first loss of the season on Saturday. It was depressing to see us lose literally in the final seconds, but the other team outplayed us. I'm bummed, but there's always next week and we have a lot of season to go yet.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I'm off to get back to those adult responsibilities I've gotten behind on. Until next time, ~ Candi Kay
