Enlightenment

If you've been following me on Facebook, you know that I'm working on a story that is going to have a female-to-male transsexual character. I was fortunate enough to have two very nice young gentlemen contact me on Facebook. One, I interviewed via Facebook Messenger, and the other was a local man that I sat down with and had coffee. Both interviews were very enlightening.

I have to admit all I've known about transsexuals has come from what I've seen in the media. Chaz Bono and Caitlyn Jenner's stories. I've read a few books on the subject so far, Beyond Magenta: Trans Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin and Queerly Beloved: A Love Across Genders by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall.

When I was interviewing my two new gentlemen friends, I mentioned that I was amazed that there were a lot more stories about male-to-female trans than there were about female-to-male trans. They both said that it was safer that way because society seems to be more comfortable with males becoming females than it is with females becoming males. I think this is true. I think generally people consider a transwoman less threatening than a transman.

After discussing my friends' stories and what they've had to go through, it made me realize just how dangerous it still is to be an LGBTQ person, especially for transsexuals. As LGBTQ people we constantly have to decide how out we want to be. If we are out, we are still having to keep coming out every time we meet a new person. If we are not out, we have to fear being outed every time we meet a new person.

Even within our own community, there are still a lot of prejudice. I'm not sure if this true with men who were married before they came out, but I know with women who were married before they came out, they are often not considered true lesbians because they accepted the straight privilege first. I know lesbians who would completely shun a former friend who became a man, and bisexuals are shunned by both the straight and the gay community. If you are gay, there are other gay people who insist you have to be out, regardless of the consequences.

Even though I've learned a lot talking with my new friends, it's left me with difficult decisions for my character. Will he have top and/or bottom surgery? Will he be out about who he is? How will his family react to his new identity? At this point, I haven't decided what he's going to do, but I hope that I can tell his story in a way that makes his character relatable and loveable. 

Expanding Availability

I'm working on formatting all my books to go on Smashwords so they can be distributed through different markets. I'd kept them strictly to Amazon because I was making pretty good money in the Kindle Unlimited program. Well, do to the fact that my book, Suddenly could still be found online in different places that I couldn't find but Amazon could, I cannot put a book in the unlimited program for a year. This really pissed me off, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Now my books will be available through other online retailers like Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony, etc. Eventually, they will be available on my website. It's just a lot of work and a lot of time. The Wrong Place at the Right Time is the first book I'm publishing on Smashwords. I hope to have them all on there over the next couple of weeks.

Question Posted to Goodreads

Back in February someone posted the question, "Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?" I guess I didn't get to the question in enough time because it's not there anymore. My favorite fictional couple of all my books is definitely Jamie and P. J. from Suddenly. They are my favorite partially because they are from the first book of mine that was published, and because they are such a cute couple. I had so much fun writing them.

I'm working on another young adult lesbian romance that I hope to have out later this year. It also has two characters that I've been working on in my head that I think I'm really going to enjoy developing. I will be posting more about them as the story develops.

I hope whoever posted the question gets to see this blog post, and I hope that's the answer they were looking for.

So Far Behind

I've been chasing my tail for months now and still have not caught it. ;) I've got so many irons in the fire I can't seem to get any of them completely forge. I am over half way done with The Preacher's Wife which is a companion book to Standing Her Ground. The Preacher's Wife was the book I'd started before Standing Her Ground, but I just couldn't get it to flow. Now, it's really coming along.

I, also, have a new adult thriller I'm working on and a young adult/new adult romance in the works. On top of that I'm trying to get the next book of the Suddenly series going on. Speaking of Suddenly, because my original publisher did not get all of the ecopies of Suddenly taken down, Amazon has banned me from making any of my books available on Kindle Unlimited for a year. Which I am furious about.

I'm going to make all of books available in other places like Kobo, Barnes and Noble, etc., but it will just take a little time to get it done.

Right now you can read Standing Her Ground (The Truth About Her Son), Judge Not (Don't Judge Love), and the ongoing story of The Preacher's Wife for free on Inkitt.  https://www.inkitt.com/manage-stories?ref=v_330f6c84-06a1-4aeb-ae05-0a9f74c57fc3