Today is the day where you can read Alex’s Surprise on Goodreads. In a few days, the downloads will also be available!
Please check it out and tell me how you liked it! Caution, the picture is NSFW!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/12064334-alex-s-surprise-by-chris-mchart-nsfw-6-14
The preorder link on ARe is also up. Downloads will be available on 06/26.
I think it’s time for a general update. So, what’s new?
I finished edits on my DRitC story Alex’s Surprise (Unexpected #1) and it will release within the next ten days. I should get the exact date today or tomorrow. I’m giddy like hell!
The follow up, Saving Alex (Unexpected #2) is with my editor and since it’s the first time working with Harper Jewel, I’m really curious what she’ll say. I’ve set tentatively release date on July 1st, but that depends on the edits. I’ve already signed up with Amazon, ARe and Smashwords, and I’m itching to put up Saving Alex for preorder. It’s an amazing feeling to do all that stuff by myself.
My next project is a story for MLR, which is due in August and editing my novel, Small Steps, so I can submit it. I’m also ready to write Gerome’s story (which would be Unexpected #3) and then there’s the second book to Small Steps which I really want to write…
You see, so many stories, yet I can’t settle on one. A few days ago, I started a workshop (by Rhonda Helms) about deep POV. Now I’m hesitant to write something new since I want to use as much as possible from the workshop, but then, not writing feels so odd, I can’t do that. 🙂
I’m totally behind with my reviews, so I’ll try to catch up there and then I’ll edit Small Steps, in the hope of submitting it in the next few weeks. Wish me luck!
Oh, the picture is the book mark my cover designer made for me. Isn’t it awesome?
My DRitC Story:
Alex’s Surprise
Excerpt:
Alex zapped annoyed through the channels. He lounged on the couch, bored out of his mind. Sam, his best friend and roommate, had taken up the recliner, reading something. Maybe Alex should do that as well? Nothing caught his interest, no movie, no documentation, nothing.
He stopped for a moment at a news report showing a pregnant man. What was up with that?
The man’s stomach was swollen, showing he was at least five or six months along. His hands were cuffed in front of his baby bump and tears were streaming down his face. The camera showed a courtroom full of people, slowly sweeping over the interested men and women watching the process.
Alex turned up the volume, sitting up straighter. What had the man done? And why was he pregnant? He’d heard it was possible, but he’d never encountered someone who’d actually experienced that.
The anchor’s voice came up. “Robert B. was tried for violation of the racial laws. Today’s sentencing was long awaited. No one had heard of pregnant man for years, and there’d been uncertainty about the actual jurisdiction in such cases. B., who’s, according to doctors, six months along, was sentenced to five years in jail. His child will be put in an orphanage until he’s released. The biological father has no legal claim over the child. He will be able to visit his child, but he can’t get guardianship over the baby.
B. broke down after hearing the judge’s decision. Even through it’s forbidden, he clearly hoped the old laws would be overturned. Instead, the judge confirmed that breeding between the races is still forbidden and punishable. With that, back to the studio.”
The picture changed, showing now a woman in a suit, smiling in the camera. “Thanks to our reporter in Washington, D.C. for a summary of today’s events in court. Now to the weather…”
Alex turned down the volume, blending out the forecast. He turned to Sam, who had apparently put down his book to watch the news as well. “Have you heard that? How can they judge someone because he got pregnant?”
“I have no idea? Maybe because it’s wrong? Are these children dangerous? I’ve never met one, or heard of one, for that matter, but I guess there’s a reason it’s forbidden.”
Alex frowned. A new life was precious, not wrong. He couldn’t imagine a child being dangerous, even if it was mixed. Children born from mixed relationship were allowed, as long as one of the parents was female and the other male. Why this didn’t apply to children born form a same-sex relationship was beyond Alex.
This was the first case in a long time, according to the anchor, but he’d not given a reason why the laws were upheld.
“It’s still wrong in my eyes.”
This is the prompt I claimed:
Dear Author,
When I got pregnant unexpectedly and my partner-in-babymaking up and ran off, I figured I’d be alone forever. It was a rough time and if not for best friend I don’t know how long it would have taken to drag myself out of it. I never thought I’d find myself in this position with him. He has been so supportive through the pregnancy and all these feelings I’d never noticed before started blossoming. This is our first time together and I never thought sex could be this amazing— tender and smoking hot all at the same time. I think it helps that he spent so much time wooing me and we were able to fully switch from “friend” mindset to “romance” mindset before we just jumped into bed.
Thanks!
Kathy
P.S. I’d really like to see that initial dark time when he first found out he was pregnant and best friend was there with support and then some of the later wooing. However, what I’d really, really like is a tender hot sex scene with a heavily pregnant MC that isn’t all about writing an M/F love scene and just making one participant male. Please make these two MCs equal and avoid differing power dynamics in the bedroom (no BDSM).
This is the picture to my prompt, although I cropped it to make it safer for unsuspecting eyes. You can find the link to the original picture below this post
I liked it, even if I’m usually set in writing contemporary. It was a challenge to write it, and I hope I did well. I’ll leave it to your judgement 🙂
Snippet coming soon!!
Goodreads Link to prompt post (NSFW!!)
I recently took a plotting workshop by Rhonda Helms. Since it helped my a lot to increase my daily word count, I decided to tell you a bit about it.
I’ve read a ton of books about plotting. I never got the hang of it. Somehow, I always tried to fit my plots into the structure taught in the books, and I ended up meandering around, writing, deleting, going back, fixing things, re-fixing the fixed stuff…you get the drift. It was like looking for a certain address when I had no idea which country I was in. I got stuck. I got blocked. I lost the fun. And, most importantly, I lost my characters. They ambled along, but neither of us had a clue what we wanted.
Of course I had some idea of what the story was -or should be- about, but I had no idea how to write it.
I forced myself to go on. To write even if I had no idea where this would lead. I hated writing. I was glad if I managed 500 words on a good day.
That was when I heard about the plotting workshop. I signed up immediately and threw myself into reading the book Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon. Rhonda told us to read it before the class started since we’d need it.
I won’t go too much into detail of the workshop itself, since you need to do it yourself if you want to learn it. We covered brainstorming, the plot points, how to fill out the scenes, how and where to add the subplot. Subjects were also characters, their goals, their motivation, and the conflict keeping them from reaching their goals.
Of course, there is no class without homework, so we did an outline of our stories and posted it for everyone in the group to see (I was freaking nervous). We got into the motivation of our own characters. We basically plotted an entire story with subplots, characters and everything else. All I had left to do was write it.
Some of our pantsers had a really hard time, but it was worth it. (At least in my eyes) Rhonda went through every one of our plots and gave feedback, which helped a lot to see flaws. It made me realize why I had fought so hard with a story that simply refused to work. It took me months to write a couple of thousand words. In the end, I gave up on that story. Not the idea, don’t get me wrong. I like the idea and I will write the story-but in the way it’s meant to be. In a way I have fun while writing it.
I still don’t like plotting. I might never like it. But before I start a story, I sit down and do my homework. My GMC and my plot. I outline everything, the plot points, the length, the chapters… I don’t line out every scene until the end, but only a few ahead. That’s enough for me and allows my characters to change a story if they need to. But I can add some foreshadowing and lead up to certain events since I know what will be coming in a later chapter.
I still manage to surprise me (I managed to add a very important character out of the blue in my last story) so outlining is not stifling my creativity. What it does is giving me a direction. I now write 1.5k on a bad day, 3k on a good. (Good and bad doesn’t say anything about my writing itself, only about how tired I am as I’m writing at night.)
I have fun again. My characters talk to me and have fun as well.
This is why I sit down, take two or three days to outline and then write. I wrote a 65k novel in exactly six weeks. I still need to edit it (typos and small tweaks), but basically, the story is done. I might add some foreshadowing or flesh out one scene or two. But I don’t have to get back and see where I took a wrong turn or where I have to change the whole story.
For that, I’m grateful to Rhonda. And believe me, I already told her I’ll attend the next workshop.
If you’re interested in the workshops, I’ll post updates here.
What do you think about plotting? Do you do it?
I’m curious. Let me know.
Chris
Since I got tagged on facebook to reveal 7 facts about my writing, I thought I’d share with you here as well. Let’s start:
1. I was a complete non-plotter until I took a workshop about plotting. Since then I’m plotting and have increased my word count to 2.5k a day. I usually was happy if I managed 1k, so that’s a huge improvement.
2. Thanks to plotting, I recently finished my first novel. I wrote 65k in 6 weeks, which still amazes me. And it’s pretty coherent, with only very small tweaks necessary. I love it.
3. When I’m writing, I’m in a very strange headspace. It takes me a couple of sentences to get in there, and then the words flow.
4. If I’m in the right headspace, I get out about 1.5k in an hour.
5. Sometimes when I reread my own stuff, I’m wondering where this came from. It’s like another person wrote it. (I mean this in a good way.)
6. I’m writing on my couch, wrapped in a blanket, rock music playing in the background, although I don’t actually listen to the music.
7. I usually have to title for my stories until the very end. Sometimes I find it while writing, but it also happened that I finished a story and the title was still ‘novella’.
I’m hoping you’re all in the Christmas mood already! I certainly am, and I made my wishes for this year. Wanna hear them? Read on!
What I wish for:
Lot’s and lot’s of hot men coming to my mind and telling me what I need to write about them. Like this one. He certainly needs his story to be told.
And I wish that this present I got myself will help me write all the stories in my head. 🙂 I love whisk(e)y, but I admit that I got this one because of the name. Although I know it’ll taste great, too. 🙂
On a more serious note, I will donate a part of my royalties from December’s sales to Lost-n-Found Youth in Atlanta, GA. So I’m hoping a few more people want to pick up one of my books and help support homeless GLBT Youth.
I wish you all Happy Holidays!
Chris
Please look up Scorching Book Reviews for more participants of this Blog Hop!
Welcome to our Midwinter Flash Blog Hop!
My flash is featuring the characters from my last release, Grenzen.
A Winter Weekend
“Hey Ryan.” Julian pressed a kiss to my cold lips. “Wow, is it that cold outside?” He was running around in a T-shirt in the warm apartment, while I was still wearing my parka. I pulled him close, so the cold would seep through the thin fabric of his shirt.
Julian shivered in my embrace.
Yes, it was really cold outside. He had opted to stay at home while I ran some errands today. Normally we did this together, but not today.
Julian waited while I got rid of my parka, and my woolen cap, and then he pulled me into the living room. A fire was roaring in the fireplace. I stepped close to the flames and held my hands as near as I dared.
Julian stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle, pulling me backwards against his chest. “What do you think—“ he murmured in my ear, “let’s get away a few days?”
“Next week?” He had some free days then.
“Mmmhh.” Julian’s lips found a path down my neck to my shoulder. I shivered under the beard stubble running over my skin. The distraction made it hard to think.
“Where do—“ I paused, tried to find the right words, “do you want to go?”
He raised his head a little, stopped the kissing for a moment. “I’ll surprise you. I kind of already booked, so all you have to do is to say yes.”
I laughed, then moaned as his lips and teeth found my skin again. “You already booked?” Without asking me if I could get a few days off?”
“Yeah, but you’ve been working a lot of overtime the last months, so I figured you’d get off a Monday. I just booked Saturday to Monday, so it’ll be one day, not more.”
He got back to his task of driving me nuts with his lips. One of his hands pressed my hip a bit back, and his hard-on made contact with my ass. He rubbed against me, letting me feel how aroused he already was. Not that I was doing better, my own lust already close to the surface.
“Come on. We’ll go to bed.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He shivered and his lips stilled for a moment on my shoulder. “You know me entirely to well.”
I chuckled quietly. “Yes. And you love it.”
“That I do.” He turned me around and kissed me. His tongue in my mouth, his hands roaming hot over my body, and I already started to float. Subspace was close these days, but given how often we played, that was no surprise.
“Come on, I want you naked.”
I nodded and he led me to our bedroom.
***
A few days later when we drove south, away from Nuremberg, I still had no idea where we’d go. It wouldn’t be something far away, as the time was too short, but since the only thing he told me was to pack a couple of nice clothes, I had no clue what he had planned. I would know soon, though.
Julian drove, like always. I was not going to learn how to drive a stick on icy streets. I was from Arizona. We didn’t have ice-rain or snow back home. And we had automatic cars.
We talked about a lot of things during the drive, his job as a teacher, my new one, the colleagues, all the everyday shit. On the inside I was dying because of curiosity, but I bit my tongue. Julian wanted to surprise me. I wasn’t going to spoil the fun.
We passed Munich and an hour later, we were close to the Alps. I had seen them the day I arrived the first day in Germany, but the times after that it had been to cloudy to get a glimpse.
Now they loomed close, much bigger than from the airport, and much more important, they were full of snow.
He isn’t going to…? Skiing? No, please not.
Julian was already tackling the first slope. How the hell was I going to survive a weekend skiing? I had seen it on TV, but I had never tried it. Hell, the first time I saw snow was a few months back when I came to Germany.
I was so lost in thought how I could tell my boyfriend that skiing was not a good idea without ruining his weekend, that I completely missed the drive into the mountains. I looked up when he pulled into a parking lot, next to dozens of other cars. People in snowsuits walked around, their steps looking strange and stiffly because of the heavy boots. Since they were carrying their ski over their shoulders, the shoes must be the ones you’d need to drive them. Fuck. Not good.
I was going to look like an idiot.
“Come on, let’s check in.” I couldn’t ignore the gleam in his eyes as he watched the other people skillfully drive down the slope, snow flying in every direction, and then, with one last, hard swing, come to a stop a few feet in from of the fence.
I followed Julian out of the car and into a cozy looking house. He exchanged a few words with the woman behind the counter and she pointed in a few directions. I had no idea what they were talking about, so I tuned them out.
A few minutes later, Julian led me to a room on the first floor. He dropped the bag he had been carrying on the bed, and ordered, “Strip.”
I did, I knew better than not to obey. And I was in the mood to play, so I would follow his order to the word.
I got rid of my clothes and stood shivering in the room. He stepped close, kissed me, his tongue playing with mine. I got hard, my cock perking to attention. But instead of doing something about it, Julian stepped back and handed me clothes out of his bag. A snowsuit. Shit.
“Julian, I can’t ski. I have never tried it.” I looked at him, waited for him to register my words.
But he smiled at me. “I know. I figured you didn’t. That is why I made a different arrangement.”
Different? How?
“Just put on your clothes and then we’ll see, okay?” I did. He wouldn’t disappoint me. And he wouldn’t be disappointed in me, then.
We emerged a few minutes later, both in snowsuits, caps, mittens and warm shoes. Julian led me through the house to the side entrance, where a man with a caterpillar vehicle waited. I stopped when I spotted the sturdy wooden sleds attached.
“They are going to drive us up the hill, we can have a drink or two in the cabin up there, and then we’ll drive the sled back down. It’s really fun!” He smirked, probably because of my expression. “Did you really think I’d make you ski?”
“Mhh.” I blushed.
“Come here, you.” He kissed me full on the lips. “Let’s have a day sled-driving, and tonight I have planned something else for you.”
I smiled. That was my man.
If you want to know all of their story, Grenzen is available at all the usual distributors. On the My Books page are all the links. 🙂
A part of my royalties from December’s sales go to Lost-n-Found Youth in Atlanta, GA.
Don’t miss the great stories of the other bloggers in this Hop!
Please welcome J.T. Hall with her His/Her Erotic tale ‘Juliet’s Orders’ on my blog today! I already had the pleasure of reading it, and I can only say: ‘Check it out!’
Blurb:
Brainy but beautiful Juliet has an annoying problem–her college classmate Russell keeps bugging her for a date. He’s a jock, brash and arrogant, and he has absolutely no idea that he’s playing with fire. For Juliet has a secret. At school, she may be the class nerd. But by night, she likes to spank and discipline men.
They embark on a bet. Juliet will have to dress sexy and put on a show at lunch. In return. Russell will have to follow all of Juliet’s orders for an evening.
What happens next, however, is that Juliet discovers that underneath all that bravado, Russell may actually be a decent guy. Maybe even decent enough to keep.
Excerpt:
By lunch time, Juliet was ready to string Russell up by his balls. She wished she had a recorder for all the one-liners thrown in her direction, everything from “Can you bend over and pick that up for me?” to “I wanna be your daddy and you can be my little girl.” She’d explained to all her friends and even several non-friends that it was all for a bet. Still, it didn’t stop the comments, and it certainly didn’t stop the looks.
And now she had to turn it up a notch and make sexual noises.
True to his word, Russell was waiting for her in the cafeteria when lunch time came around. Juliet ignored him and ordered herself hot dog, fries, and a decadent slice of lemon merengue pie. She threw him a look as she strode over to his table and sat down across from him.
He looked her over and sighed happily. “I love my life. So how’s your day been?”
Was it her imagination, or had he combed his hair since their parting after first period? She pulled the hot dog out of the bun and ate the bun by itself. “Wonderful. It’s probably going to take me months for anyone to take me seriously again. Maybe even years.” Her deadpan tone matched the look she gave him as she took a sip of soda.
For a second he looked concerned. Then he laughed and waved a hand at her. “They’ll forget it in a week. I mean okay, you may get more offers for dates. But I’m sure once they see your librarian look again, they’ll just think of you as the book nerd.”
She popped a few fries into her mouth. “Okay. So I’ll have you wear a skirt. People will forget it in a week.”
That shut him up. He glared at her. Juliet grinned, and then picked up her hot dog. Keeping her eyes on him, she ran the tip of her tongue around the top of it. Ire was quickly replaced by shock and then lust. “So are you ready for my performance?” This was actually rather fun. It might even make up for the dirty comments from people.
“Um…yum,” Russell choked, reaching for his soda.
Juliet took that as a yes. She sucked half the hot dog into her mouth, and drew it out again. She did this a few times, watching as color flooded his face, and made some low moans. That attracted the attention of a few guys at the end of their table, who turned to stare at them. She smiled sweetly.
Then she bit the dog in half, chewing noisily. Russell winced and turned a little green and she had to swallow quickly to avoid laughing at him. Yeah this was getting fun now. She popped the other half into her mouth, ate it, and then made a little forkful of the lemon merengue pie. “Oh God! I love pie.” She groaned loudly, taking the bite and licking it off the fork. She kept her eyes on Russell the whole time. It wasn’t so bad if she didn’t have to look at who else was watching them.
Russell took a long drink, his eyes locked on hers. The table blocked her view, but Juliet was willing to bet he was starting to get a boner. She took another bite. “Ohhhhh…” She made a little mewling sound at the end, licking her fingers. She was getting into this. Leaning back, she touched her neck as if warm, shaking out her hair.
Then onto the next bite, really putting on a show. “Yes! Ohmygod so good…” She moaned louder, and this time she heard a wolf whistle from somewhere across the room.
Buy links:
http://www.amazon.com/Juliets-Orders-His-Erotic-Tale-ebook/dp/B00PHH9GII/
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-juliet039sorders-1674396-147.html
Meet J.T.:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JTHall7
A totally awesome review of Grenzen!
http://helenasheat.blogspot.ie/2014/12/grenzen.html
and the only picture of me at the Hat Party:
Have fun!
Chris
Chris McHart 