Fall Into Reading 2012: Wrap-Up

Fall Into Reading 2012Hard to believe it’s December 21 already and time to write my Fall Into Reading 2012 Challenge Wrap-up!

Back on September 21, I set a challenge to read 8 books which would finish out my 2012 Reading Challenge on GoodReads as well.  In October I didn’t think I had much luck meeting the goal because of NaNo.  But I not only met the goal, I exceeded it by reading 14 books.

The Books

Cinder
Man, Oh Man!  Writing M/M Fiction for Kinks & Cash
Rock Your Plot: A Simple System for Plotting Your Novel
All Bets Are Off
Bound By Honor
Fatal Shadows
Bound by Law
A Dangerous Thing
Mugging the Muse: Writing Fiction for Love and Money
The Hell You Say
Death of a Pirate King
The Dark Tide
Ice Hockey Made Simple: A Spectator's Guide
Ethan, Who Loved Carter

The Wrap-Up

Looking over the 8 books I thought I’d read over the three months, the only one in common with this list is Cinder.

Four of the books I read over Thanksgiving weekend. FOUR. And once I started Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English series, I couldn’t stop until I finished all five.  Ethan, Who Loved Carter I read in a single night. Once I started I couldn’t seem to stop.

Of these 14 books, my favorite was The Dark Tide, largely because it was the last one in a 5-book series and I was very happy with how it ended. 😉  It’s a mystery series, and I’ve never really read mystery before. I know why now…I’m not all that fond of it as a genre.  The characters in the books, however, had me captivated from book 1, page 1. I am looking forward to reading more of Josh Lanyon’s books,  perhaps even the mysteries because I love the way he writes characters.

In January I’ll do a full wrap up of all 56 (and counting??) books I read in 2012.

Six Sentence Sunday: Dinner With the Family (December 2, 2012)

I can’t believe NaNo is over already! This is my final Six Sentence Sunday for my NaNo Story, Shots on Goal.  (At least until revisions, maybe?)

This is another scene from Brett’s point-of-view. Every Sunday, he and his sister Sharon are expected to attend dinner with their parents.  Brett is also tasked with various  manual labor jobs around the house.

“Pop, it’s not like when you played. We train full time in the off-season, too.”

“When I was your age –” he stabbed the air between them with his fork “– I was still pulling my full weight at the farm during the off-season. Least you can do is help around the house once a week.”

Sharon sent Brett a sympathetic glance, but it only lasted a second before she had to remind one of her children that Sunday Dinner demanded “our very best manners, always.”  Brett felt somewhat better knowing that the impossible standards were shoved upon both of them, even if they were old-fashioned and sexist.

The tentative summary that will be re-written after revisions:

Brett has just weeks left on his contract with his minor league team to prove he deserves a spot in the NHL when a wrong move aggravates an old injury. When he learns the figure skater he’s admired from afar is also a skilled massage therapist, he sees a chance to save his dream.

Jeremy loves dancing on the ice, but his dream to be a professional figure skater died before it began.  To keep his massage therapy business alive, he’ll need to take on more clients, which leaves less time for preparing for the upcoming skating competition.  So when Brett offers to pay Jeremy double for his treatment, saying no is difficult even though Jeremy usually refuses to treat male athletes. Especially huge hockey players who sneer at gay figure skaters.

As Jeremy’s hands work their magic over Brett’s muscles, Brett must break through Jeremy’s walls and convince him  he’s not the homophobic jerk he appears to be…while also hiding his injury from his coach and his sexuality from everyone but Jeremy.

Hope you enjoyed the little snippet. Be sure to check out the other Six-Sentence Sunday participants!

Six Sentence Sunday: NaNo Week 3 (November 25, 2012)

Being out of town for two weekends in a row makes for low activity on the blog. I’m way behind on my NaNoWriMo story, but I’m continuing to plug away. And so, I have six more sentences to share for Six Sentence Sunday.

The last two weeks have been scenes from Jeremy’s point of view. Although Brett and Jeremy are both heroes of the story, I consider Brett to be the “more” main character. Here’s six sentences from his point of view:

(And remember, it’s NaNo — that means it’s fast-drafted and unedited!)

Jeremy’s hands on his back have always felt good, but Brett could swear they felt extra good today. Not only did the pressure on his aching muscles help to work out the tension, but every touch sent chills down Brett’s spine. More than once he shivered under Jeremy’s fingers.

“Everything okay?” Jeremy asked.

Brett moaned in response. He loved that he could tell Jeremy was smiling just by the way he said it.

 

The working title is Shots On Goal  and the tentative summary is

Brett has just weeks left on his contract with his minor league team to prove he deserves a spot in the NHL when a wrong move aggravates an old injury. When he learns the figure skater he’s admired from afar is also a skilled massage therapist, he sees a chance to save his dream.

Jeremy loves dancing on the ice, but his dream to be a professional figure skater died before it began.  To keep his massage therapy business alive, he’ll need to take on more clients, which leaves less time for preparing for the upcoming skating competition.  So when Brett offers to pay Jeremy double for his treatment, saying no is difficult even though Jeremy usually refuses to treat male athletes. Especially huge hockey players who sneer at gay figure skaters.

As Jeremy’s hands work their magic over Brett’s muscles, Brett must break through Jeremy’s walls and convince him  he’s not the homophobic jerk he appears to be…while also hiding his injury from his coach and his sexuality from everyone but Jeremy.

Hope you enjoyed the little snippet. Be sure to check out the other Six-Sentence Sunday participants!

Six Sentence Sunday: NaNo Week 2 (November 18, 2012)

During November, I’m participating in Six-Sentence Sunday and sharing some of my NaNo story.  I had been planning to write a young adult novel involving a robotics competition.  Then 12:01 AM November 1st, after the magic of Halloween had come to an end, I suddenly decided I didn’t want to work on that story after all.

Instead, I decided to pick up on an old short story I had wanted to write a couple years ago and expand it into a short novel.  It’s an adult romance, not young adult.

(And remember, it’s NaNo — that means it’s fast-drafted and unedited!)

He had Brett now, and Brett was three hundred times better than Seth. A better kisser. A better talker. Brett could even skate, dammit!

Not a better dancer, though, Jeremy thought as Brett leaned against him, making him stop his movements. Or wait … was Jeremy leaning against him?

(Jeremy is a little bit drunk. Heehee.)

The working title is Shots On Goal  and the tenative summary is

Brett has just weeks left on his contract with his minor league team to prove he deserves a spot in the NHL when a wrong move aggravates an old injury. When he learns the figure skater he’s admired from afar is also a skilled massage therapist, he sees a chance to save his dream.

Jeremy loves dancing on the ice, but his dream to be a professional figure skater died before it began.  To keep his massage therapy business alive, he’ll need to take on more clients, which leaves less time for preparing for the upcoming skating competition.  So when Brett offers to pay Jeremy double for his treatment, saying no is difficult even though Jeremy usually refuses to treat male athletes. Especially huge hockey players who sneer at gay figure skaters.

As Jeremy’s hands work their magic over Brett’s muscles, Brett must break through Jeremy’s walls and convince him  he’s not the homophobic jerk he appears to be…while also hiding his injury from his coach and his sexuality from everyone but Jeremy.

Hope you enjoyed the little snippet. Be sure to check out the other Six-Sentence Sunday participants!