Weigh-In Wednesday: The Accidental Hiatus

So..... yeah.

I haven't done this in a while. Why? I can't tell you. 

Seriously, I can't say why. 

It's not because I'm some big secret-keeping secret keeper. There's no hidden agenda.  No massive project brewing. 

It's really nothing. Or, probably more accurately, The Nothing.



The Nothing crawled inside my head and made its way to my heart, and took over.

I've been a big blob of 'meh' for a while. 

I haven't been able to do any writing. It's not a block; it's more of a pit. A big black hole (without the cool robots), sucking every bit of light and energy out of me. I get about three sentences in, and I get an overwhelming feeling of 'blah' about everything, then I wind up back on the web. 

And we all know where that leads, right? The evol that is AO3. I found my way to Sterekville, lost for months now. I took a couple of turns and wound up hanging out in Nagronia for a while too. (Don't worry - there will be more blog posts coming discussing these boys. I can't.... I just ... yeah. We'll talk about it later.)

The real problem here....

So, I've identified the problem, and now I need to resolve it. (That's me. I'm a problem solver.)

I'm working on breaking out of Beacon Hills. Stepping away from the Sterek.

I've finished a story for the Goodreads MM Romance Group's Love Has No Boundaries event. It was like pulling teeth, but I'm pleased with the results. 

And Lauren, I'm sorry. You're next, and.... It. Will. Be. Done. This. Month. 

Falcor, will you give me a ride?

Time to pull my head out and get on with the getting on. Where's my luckdragon when I need him? Because this really is a neverending story. All we need to do is keep writing.

~xxx~

Aaron is Coming Soon

Actually, he's not.

Sure, Monkey Wrench comes out tomorrow (get it at Dreamspinner, and you still have time to enter to win it at Stumbling Over Chaos and at Babes in Boyland).

Aaron has always felt like he had to prove himself. He's the little guy, the underdog. Monkey Wrench really is his coming of age. Sure, he's an adult, and a police officer, but he's still very innocent and immature in some ways. See, he understands the mechanics of relationships and intimacy. He's seen his friends pair off, and as a cop, he's seen the ugly side of it as well. He's just never applied the idea to himself. For most of his life, he's been asexual.

If you're looking for hot monkey sex, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. (What? xXx wrote a story without sex? Inconceivable!) Aaron just wasn't ready for it. He's learning about himself. In the end he's happy for now. That's not to say a certain bobcat shifter hasn't piqued his interest.

But that's another story...

~xxx~




Monkey Wrench, A Were Menagerie Story

Twenty-year-old virgin Aaron Thorne has a lot of irons in the fire. He’s on a career-making case investigating a new party drug that induces shifts in werecreatures, and his friend is the prime suspect. Outside of work, a literal silver fox has captured his attention. And just when life start going smoothly for Aaron, a tall, dark, scowly bobcat shifter named Iggy appears and sweeps him off his feet.

After being attacked in the course of his investigation, Aaron starts to feel like he has something to prove. It’s a good thing he’s got all the energy of his shifter animal, the spider monkey. He’s going to need it to solve the case, sort out his love life, and decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Suit Up Sunday - Hangover

We've all been there. Had such a good time, your mind shut itself down from overload. Happy fun times, but not without punishment. The hangover. Here's a tip - it gets worse the older you get. Or maybe it's just me. Today, I'm nursing a work-hangover from way too much going wrong even after the best-laid plans of man and Systems Administrators.

(then again, any excuse to post Bradley "YumYum" Cooper with his pants down...)

~xxx~

Suit Up Sunday - Morning Paper

Nothing like getting up Sunday morning and reading the paper. I can't find my reading glasses, so I may just have to get a little closer.... Much, much closer.

~xxx~

Suit Up Sunday - A Treat

My friend Poppy asked "So what about you? Did any of your teenage crushes influence the type of man you find attractive today? "

I'll admit it: Treat Williams has been a life-long crush of mine. Tall, dark, handsome, and damn, that smile. Slayed for life. 

Most of you probably know him as Dr. Brown on Everwood, but let's travel in the Wayback Machine and visit a time when he marked himself indelibly on my psyche.




My first real awareness came from his part as Stretch, a Corporeal who has severe disdain for eggs, in Steven Spielberg's 1941. What can I say? That jawline in a uniform? Yowza! for this then-ten-year-old.

The same year, he was the free spirited Berger, who underwent a makeover for his friend, in the movie version of Hair.

Just. Damn.


Yes, he was in the awful Billy Zane version of The Phantom, but he rocked the hell out of the 1940s look. 

And he played Jack Dempsey and Stanley Kowalski. 


Good guy?
Bad boy?
Misunderstood miscreant?






Yes, please!


I'll keep my other two lifelong crushes under my hat for now. Maybe next time? :)




~xxx~

Suit Up Sunday - Yes, Sir

He was hot wielding the whip in Spartacus, but sweet jeebus, that smile is even deadlier.

Yes, sir, Doctore. Whatever you say.

~xxx~

Saturday Snark - Shopping with Vin

Here's a little tease from PreCaution, the sequel to Close Encounters, my LiAW story. (You can also download Close Encounters from my website or directly from Goodreads)


Pre was still a teenager and a ward of the state when he went into the experiment with the others. Vin's been trying to be a helpful big brother since then.


---------------------

Since his eighteenth birthday, Vin had been offering to take him out, to help him celebrate the ancient rite of passage, but he'd refused. After meeting the prince four months ago, he'd relented and compromised with Vin. During one of his filming breaks, he'd asked for Vin's advice. Udo had woken something in him, and he needed to release it. Vin had taken him shopping, bouncing around like a kid in a candy store. He pulled things off the shelf and handed them to Pre as the wandered up and down the ailes. 

“Hold on. What is all this stuff?” he asked. 

“Well, this is a plug, and this is a sleeve, and that,” he said with a smile, “that is the Alleviation Station. The Rolls Royce of fuck toys. Self-lubricating, density-sensing sininium core, this sucker can tell how hard you are and give you the ride of your life.”

Pre raised an eyebrow in skepticism. “I don’t think I really need a Rolls Royce. How about a nice, moderate Chevy?”

“Trust me, kid. You want the Rolls. If nothing else, take this. My treat.” Vin slid his cred chip across the counter and paid for it.  “Now, how ‘bout we find someone for you to use that stuff with, unless you already have someone in mind?”

--------------------


Rolls versus Chevy. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.


~xxx~