New Release: Higher Learning anthology from Dreamspinner Press

Just a quick note that I have a new short story out. It's part Higher Learning, an anthology of M/M stories set in college.

My story is called "Bug Boy." Here's the blurb:

Dan Holbrook remembers Jesse Milner as the social misfit from his third grade class—the quiet boy in the glasses who liked to play with bugs. When he encounters Jesse again as a junior in college, the glasses and the bugs are still there, but in every other way he’s changed. Handsome and self-assured, Jesse is exactly Dan’s type, but a decade of resentment over past rejections has made Jesse wary. Dan resolves to do whatever he has to in order to crack that prickly exoskeleton and get close to Jesse, no matter how hard Jesse tries to push him away.

News Roundup: Cyberpunk and Christmas and College Boys, Oh My!

So. Um. I have a lot going on right now.

First off, I have THREE (count 'em, THREE) stories releasing between now and the end of the year.

1- Unacceptable Risk: This novella-length m/f cyberpunk romance comes out December 13, 2011, from Samhain Press, and I am so, so excited about it. Because it's my first m/f book of this length, I'm running a blog tour and everything to promote it, including guest posts, interviews and, most importantly, giveaways. Stay tuned for more news.

2- A Gift of Trust: A contemporary, m/f Christmas short story, due out December 7, 2011, from Silver Press.

3- Bug Boy: This contemporary m/m romance short story will be included as part of Dreamspinner Press's Higher Learning anthology, and it will be out super, super soon – October 17, 2011!

Second, I've recently received contracts on two more short stories. "Seriously" will be included in Going Down, a Cleis Press anthology edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel all about… ahem, er, going down. Y'know. And I just found out yesterday that "Gretel's Lament" has been selected as part of another Cleis Press anthology, Lustfully Ever After, a book of fairy tale-inspired erotica edited by Kristina Wright. Both are m/f stories with lots of heat. I don't have release dates for either, but chances are they'll be out in 2012.

Finally, if you haven't read my FREE m/m short story Heart and Soul yet, you can now read it as part of Don't Read In TheCloset, Volume 1, a free collection of short stories compiled by the amazing people over at the M/M romance group over on GoodReads.

I know I've been posting a bit sporadically, but that's the scoop. It's been a busy season for writing, editing and submitting – and that doesn't even count the major verbiage I've been putting into my novel-writing. Hope the fall is treating you well!

The Writer's Life: So What Do You *Do* With All That Time?

Whenever I talk to my mother, invariably the topic comes around to the fact that I'm currently not working full time and (with my husband's blessing and generous financial support) am dedicating myself fully to this writing thing. And her main response is always, "So what do you do with all that time?"

If she only knew.

Writing full time sounds great, and it is (holy crap, but it really, really is), but especially once things start happening with publishing, there are all these little things that need to get done. I am so, so blessed to have four pieces under contract right now (3 shorts and 1 novella), but man. There's just all this stuff.

For example, yesterday I didn't manage to write a single word on my manuscript, but I sure did manage to kill some time. Things I crossed off on my to-do list include:

• Proofing the galley and blurb for Bug Boy (my short story for Dreamspinner's upcoming Higher Learning anthology)
• Writing long and short blurbs for A Gift of Trust (a Christmas story that will be releasing in December)
• Cold-emailing blogs asking to guest blog in support of Unacceptable Risk
• Keeping up with all the author blogs, book review sites, and writer discussion lists I stalk
• Editing a short for a critique partner
• Editing my own short story so I could send it to a critique partner
• Scouring the internet for calls for submission so I can hopefully keep getting my work out there.

It may not look like a ton, but especially since I'm new to all of this (and terrified of people) all the blurb-writing and editing and cold-emailing seem to take forever, and it's super easy to have a day just fly by.

All that said, I'm really not complaining. I love this life. But seriously, Mom. There is never any lack of things to do.