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Quick Note

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

I probably won’t be doing much blogging here for the month of July, for two reasons:

1. I’m going to be doing Camp Nanowrimo in July (instead of June or August, because I’m a rebel like that). I shall continue posting reviews, which means working full time and part time, reading, reviewing, riding horses, exercising, and writing 1,700 words a day.

2. I’m going to try to make a tumblr post every day, just as a general update, vent frustrations, that sort of thing. It can be found here: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/alexwhitehall. They shouldn’t be long, but if you’re interested in my progress, there it shall be.

Come August (ack!) I’ll give an update on where all my projects stand, as it feels like they are in a constant state of flux! Thanks for your patience.

Writing Update

/ Alex Whitehall / 2 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write up this blog post, but life has gotten in the way. Per usual.

I had a short story accepted for publication, which I’m super excited about. It involves magic and tattoos and shape-shifting. Rawr! More to come as it goes through the process and I feel more secure squealing about it. …and unlike my previous published story, I’m actually super excited about this one and have already started on a “Christmas” follow-up story that is MUCH sexier than the first one. …which is why I’m not writing it at work O.O

Work, job, and reviewing has kept me busy, but I’m trying to set aside time every Tuesday for writing, plus squeezing it in whenever else I can (aka, have energy for it). I have plans for participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in August to get done the re-write of Clockwork Lives, and July I want to finish up 2011’s NaNo project with some scenes I belated realized are missing and expanding some information I just glossed over (important character develop, that doesn’t need to be shown, does it? Oh shit, it does?…)

Which gets me to September when I want to dig into a story idea I have for a submission due November 1. Yep, cutting it close. I may switch the NaNo project out for this one if the muses feel more in line, but we’ll see.

So I have a ton of ideas in the fire (or sitting just outside the fire, waiting for me to light some matches) and I’m looking forward to putting them down on paper (err, files?), though I’m sure I’ll complain enough about it once I get into it.

And that’s it for the moment. Time to put the nose to the grindstone and write about some sexy men!

Rough life, I know.

Or maybe it’s summer

/ Alex Whitehall / 2 Comments

I’m freshly in from a horse event, my skin feels crisp despite a lack of sunburn (yet) and my mouth is dry. Oh sure, I could drink some water. But I’m craving ice cream.

But as I think about the half gallon of ice cream I ate last week, I ponder if it’s the ice cream I really want. Yesterday while out walking, an older woman sitting in the passenger side of the car was eating an ice cream cone. She looked so happy! She had a big grin on her face right before she turned her head sideways and liiiicked.

I’m sure part of the craving is my body saying sugar and fat would be AWESOME right now. But I think some parts of it are tied to wanting ice cream because of the happy memories tied to that food. The special occasions when I had the treat. I want to capture those delightful moments, but alas it’s harder to do when you’re all alone. I find some memories are just better when shared.

Not every morsel of food needs to be cherished, as often it is just nourishment and fuel. But think about those foods you normally eat with friends and loved ones. Do they taste the same–do they hit the spot the same–when eaten alone? Perhaps I should be asking if they satisfy the same way. I’m not saying they aren’t still delicious and great, but I think sometimes we crave something because we crave the emotions that our body remembers from the last time we ate that food.

Or maybe it’s summer and I want a cheeseburger and ice cream.

Insert Angry Rant Here

/ Alex Whitehall / 2 Comments

I normally don’t make posts about things not writing related, but the recent vote in North Carolina to ban gay marriage and civil unions just depressed me.

When an amendment legalizing gay marriage/civil unions is defeated, I feel a little bummed, but hopeful that time will change things. But when I see amendments strengthening the ban on gay marriage/civil unions, it depresses me. Because the rules are there to limit the rights of people. Limit the rights of people in a way that helps no one and harms many.

It just doesn’t make sense to me.

I can understand religious institutions not wanting “gay marriage” because “marriage” is a religious thing, and if civil unions were given the same respect and rights as “marriage” then I’d be fine and happy and whatever. Sadly that’s not the case.

And that’s not really my point, anyway.

I’m a very peaceful, live-and-let-live type. So why must so many people get their noses in the business of others? Why does it matter to YOU if me and someone else want to have all the same rights as YOU?

My brother would say (more eloquently than I will here) that gay rights aren’t limited because everyone has the right to marry someone of the opposite sex and so the law isn’t limiting a specific group from marrying.

Of course, it’s still limiting EVERYONE from entering a partnership/marriage/union with someone of the same sex. (My brother, by the way, says that the government shouldn’t limit marriages to man and woman and that it should only hand out civil unions [or whatever you want to call it], and that it shouldn’t matter what two people want them.)

I guess I can’t understand how we can create boundaries for freedom that do nothing but hurt people. What benefit does the anti-gay marriage group get? Oh, they get the benefit of being “right.” Of protecting the “sanctity” of marriage.

I have a vagina, so that means I can marry a man.

And then fuck him with a strap-on.*

Hate to tell you, but when I get married, it’s going to be a gay marriage no matter what.



* If I wanted to.

Big plates

/ Alex Whitehall / 1 Comment

With one submission out the door and a huge life decision made (for better or worse), I decided I really need to get off my arse with the writing/submitting thing (especially since said decision was related to that).

I know, I know, you’ve heard it before.

This time I mean business. I tapped together a monthly planner (because buying one at Target was expensive considering my needs…yes, I’m that cheap) and jotted in some deadlines and some submission deadlines and, well that’s it. Oh, and I wrote down holidays. Hey, it’s a start!

With MotF out the door, I was trying to focus on PN, but that ol’ Valentine’s day story nudged me and pointed out it was missing some scenes, so I’ve been working on them. Not sure why, but why not, right? So after the V-day story I’ll finish PN (though the ending keeps getting farther away), resume writing CLRewrite and make edits to BiB.

Not all this month. But I would like to get a chunk/all of this done by end of summer.

I’m not even thinking about betas yet.

Into the depths

/ Alex Whitehall / 4 Comments

My writing/editing/general work ethic has been floppy lately. I work full time and part time, so I guess there’s an excuse, but excuses are just that, so bleh.

I’m rewriting CL, although after the first chapter and a half I got derailed by two boys playing piano. Two boys flirting over piano is much easier to write than a man who is heart broken, devastated, and has nothing to live for.

I got the edits done for MotF and submitted it. No idea if it’s good enough. As my bosses have proven to me, I have no sense of my self-worth. 😀 Well, it’s been submitted, so I can’t do much else about that.

I have a few other stories that keep floating on the edge of my vision, one of which needs some major edits so it doesn’t feel cheesy (or any more cheesy than I naturally am), one that is stalled and has great potential but no movement, and I really want to make a submission to the BDSM holiday open call, but the guys are being suspiciously quiet.

That’s it for now. One day I’ll post more than once a month 😀


Rainbow Book Fair

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

I meant to make a post about…well, I can’t remember what anymore (aside from how distracting my new iPod touch is). But instead, I decided to talk about Rainbow Book Fair. It took place yesterday in NYC and I went as a worker bee for Riptide Publishing. So I took two pictures, stood between a table and a pole (comfortably), and repeated the same phrase over and over again 🙂

I also got to meet Amy Lane, Rachel Haimowitz, Jaime Samms, K. Piet, Damon Suede, JP Barnaby, and plenty of other authors I didn’t know, or whose names escape me. Everyone I met was lovely and friendly and it was a great experience, even if by the time I collapsed into bed I was so exhausted I couldn’t sleep at first.

Here is my NYC shot (while on the bus…and I’m only posting one b/c the other is identical, but with my finger added in).

The other shot is of the swag (given and purchased) from the fair:

From Left top: travel mug, four books, two condoms, 1 Dark Soul vol 1 t-shirt, 1 pen light, 1 tube bubble gum lip balm.

In addition to meeting people and doing my job, I also was able to talk shop with some pretty smart people, and it was nice to just be surrounded by queer-friendly book people. A good time, and if you didn’t go this year (and can be in the area next year), I’d recommend it 🙂

Not as Planned

/ Alex Whitehall / 2 Comments

Unsurprisingly, life doesn’t go as planned. Writing sometimes even less so.

My plan to work on CL, really dig into my beta’s edits, and get the show on the road during the month of February was a complete and dismal failure.

First came the Valentine’s story (which is waiting for a friend to read and may be waiting forever for that to actually happen), then I read through my beta’s notes, jotted down some ideas, thought about what she said…

…and then I was stuck. She was really encouraging about wanting to see the story published, but after reading through some of her comments about things she thinks needs fixed, I don’t even know where to begin. Some of them are major changes that will require pretty much re-writing the entire thing (or at least I feel like it will).

This leaves me with three choices: Make the changes she recommends without doing complete re-writes and then find a beta to read the new version; get a second beta to read the current version get his/her input; or re-write the whole damn thing.

I know writers are their own harshest critics, but part of me doesn’t even know the story I was telling in CL anymore. I wanted it to be a steampunk tale of how a man falls in love with his servant and his servant falls in love with him. But along the way it got complicated…distracted. It became something else. And while I don’t necessarily hate the story it became, I’m not sure if it’s the story as I meant to tell it.

Where does the leave the author? Kinda depressed, honestly, although not enough to want to give up on the whole endeavor. CL isn’t dead, it’s just not talking to me at the moment, and I’m not sure leaving messages and texting it every week is going to help. So I may give it to another beta, see what that person says and then decide if I’m hobbling it together or starting from scratch. Both are kind of terrifying.

Meanwhile, I have a short story that everyone who read said it felt like the beginning of a story, so I’m re-evaluating it. Taking notes, trying to get a sense of the characters, and wondering how it would be constructed, because I don’t think it feels like an A to B to C plotted story.

(PS, the image is just an amusing thing. Thanks for putting up with the whining!)

A bit off course

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

Okay, so as February started, everyone on my Twitter list started talking about Valentine’s stories and suddenly I had these two characters who stumbled upon each other. 11,000 words later, their story is either done or just beginning and I’m not sure enough to say. Their romance has a very long way to go and it’s not really a Valentine story, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, yet.

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But of course writing that means I didn’t do much on CL yet. Oops. I did go through my beta’s notes and while she has lovely things to say, she also has some pretty major issues with it. So the plan is tomorrow (since I’m ‘finished’ with the V-day story) to start pulling apart her issues and seeing what can be fixed and what can’t (or shouldn’t change) and how I need to rework it.
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That’s it for now!

Boooyah!

/ Alex Whitehall / Leave a comment

I finished Nano2011! Okay, still need a title and tons of editing, but it’s “done.” This monthly goal thing might be a good idea after all. Now to save it to 6 billion places and tomorrow start looking at CL.

Again.