Two months ago I finished a m/m mystery. I typed away, I edited, I agonized over the fact that I couldn't think of a decent title. There are only so many idioms about running in the English language, and none of them seemed to fit. I pulled a random sentence from the book, slapped that on as a title, and, with the help of a couple of beers, finally worked up the courage to hit send. Weeks passed with a minimum of nervous bouncing. More weeks past. Dreamspinner Press, the publisher I submitted to, advertised a six to eight week response time and so, as six weeks approached, I began nervously checking my email while I worked on finishing up the original version of Graffiti.
When eight weeks came and went, I assumed that no response meant no thank you. I started cleaning up Graffiti, but that didn't last, and soon I had to face the daunting task of looking over my submission to Dreamspinner and trying to find a way to make it stronger.
I decided to rip the m/m mystery apart, to turn it into two contemporary romances and to forever avoid even thinking about writing suspense again. I outlined both, got twenty thousand words into the first revision, and then remembered I hadn't checked my email since Monday... and there in my inbox was an offer for the original. But by then, I was so excited about the revisions. I was torn between wanting to jump up and down and squeal and wanting to hit my head against the wall. Squealing won :)
So now, my first book, tentatively titled A Casual Weekend Thing is under contract! Here's my own version of a blurb for it:
Christopher Hayes is a San Diego homicide detective who has devoted his entire life to the job he loves, until a gunshot wound threatens to end his career forever. His abusive brother’s suicide buys him a few more weeks of leave to heal, but it also forces him to confront the past he’s spent his entire life running away from. Doug Heavy Runner left the life of an openly gay Miami police officer and returned to his home on the Salish-Kootenai Indian Reservation when his mother got sick. In the two years since she passed away, he’s carved out an empty, miserable life as a small town deputy sheriff, relying on out-of-town one night stands to keep him sane. When he meets Christopher, the two share a wild night that is so incredible Doug breaks his own rules and allows a one night stand to grow into a weekend of amazing sex.
When a gruesome suicide brings his weekend lover to his home town, Doug can’t help but want to be with Christopher again. While the two explode in the bedroom, they forge an easy, comforting companionship that makes them both hope for more than a casual weekend encounter. While they’re enjoying each other, an arsonist burns down the home Christopher has inherited from his brother. Doug and Christopher are the only suspects, and soon they discover that Christopher’s brother has set them on the trail of a psychotic pedophile. When Doug’s investigation into the disappearance of a potential victim goes horribly wrong, Christopher finds himself at the mercy of the killer they’re hunting. If they can both survive, they might just find the strength to admit that their casual weekend thing has grown into something more.
