Mad Ramblings From A Mad Gay Man...

     So… what’s been goin’ on y’all? Have you had a good week?
     Here we are again… Monday. Yay! I can only imagine how many of you want to hit me about now. He he he… 

     This is going to be one of those times when I have no specific theme in mind, so I’m going to just kind of ramble along and see where this ends up.

News Alert! Hello New York City!

If it snows, I'll be so pissed!

     I will be arriving in New York Thursday afternoon. I’m going for the Rainbow Book Fair. This will be the first time that I’ve done this event and I’m really looking forward to it. There will be so many great M/M authors there as well as many other genres. I can’t wait to experience this wonderful event. I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about it, so I figured I should give it a try. So anyone who is in or around New York, why not swing by and say hello.

Rainbow Book Fair

524 W. 59th St. (Just west of 10th Ave.)

Saturday, April 9, 2016 12:00 p.m. – 6 p.m.

     I will have copies of all my backlist available (in English). So stop on by if you’re going to be in the area.
     Even though I will be out of town, I will do my best to keep up with everything, including my daily Facebook coffee posts. But if I miss a day, you’ll know I was either on the run or… well shit happens sometimes.
     What else…
     This past week I found out a few things about Smashwords and the distributors they deal with. One in particular stood out, mainly because of the sales report I saw. Scribd is one of those that I’d never heard of. I think I may have mentioned it last week. Well, I dug a little deeper and I was really surprised that I’d never heard of it. Looks like a pretty good deal if you ask me. Granted, I’ve not used it, and I don’t see myself signing up for it anytime soon. I’ve got a To-Be-Read file I mile high as it is. If there is anyone out there who uses Scribd, I’d like to hear from you.
     I’m really proud to announce that most everything in my back list is now available on many distributor sites. Thanks to The Aussie Tart (TAT) for having the patience to persevere to get this done. I’d never have the patience to do it. Honestly, I’d probably have thrown the computer out the door before I even got one book done.

     Here is the list of retailer where you can find my stuff…

Amazon, Apple, Baker & Taylor Blio, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Flipkart, Gardners Extended Retail & Library, Inktera, Kobo, Library Direct, Odilo, OverDrive, Oyster, Scribd, Smashwords, Sony, Tolino, txtr and Yuzo.

     Frankly, I’ve never heard of most of these, but hey, they are carrying my books and many other wonderful authors, so I figured I’d go ahead and list them.
     Now, while I was exploring these retail sites I noticed a fellow author who is also listed there. Damn, but this author is productive! I’m talking hundreds of books. I can only bow, take my hat off to him, you know what I mean. Wow… just… wow. At first I felt dwarfed by this giant of a writer. It didn’t last long though. In reality, I’ve only been doing this for three years, so I’m still a newbie. Then I thought about it some more and went back and looked again. Hmmm…
     Now do not get me wrong, I’m not putting down anyone or their work. However, the biggest thing I noticed is that my books, most of them anyway, are two or three times longer in length. One is almost four times longer.

     How I work…
     This whole writing thing is still new to me I guess. I try and take my time to make sure I get it right. By that I mean, I try and let the characters tell their stories. This is one reason why doing an outline of a plotline doesn’t work for me. My characters have minds of their own, and there is no sense in me spending the time with an outline when they take over and do whatever the hell they want to anyway. Pfft… I have no control over them. Pisses me off sometimes, but hey, that’s the way it goes.
     I may only turn out a book a year, but I do put a lot into it. I also have to remind myself that I’m the publisher. I get to do it all. I don’t have a publisher that is taking care of the cover, the promotion, the book keeping, the editing, formatting and the printing. All this… stuff takes time. A LOT of time.
     Now I don’t feel so bad. Go me.
     What's new...
     As some of you may know, I just finished a book. Yeah… it’s one of those that I’d been working on for a long while. While I was writing My Hero: The Olympian, I’d sometimes get stuck and then I’d jump over to this one for a while. I would have gotten it done sooner, but sometimes life just gets in the way. I’m sure most of you know how that goes. Anyway, I hope to have it out by the end of May. For now, all I’m going to tell you is the title: Life After Living.
     There are a lot of funny parts in this one, but a good deal of the humor is what I'd say is a coping mechanism. Personally, I think it is a topic that needs attention. I really like to push myself and thus, taking you, the reader, along with me.

     Anyway, I’m working hard on getting it ready for release. I’ll let you know when I’m close.

     Oh…
     I got an email from a reader recently asking me if some of the foods I talk about are real recipes. In this particular instance it was the Peanut Butter Chicken dish. Yes, it is real, as are the other foods I talk about. I was a Chef for many years, and a total foodie. I can’t help it if it bleeds over into my writing.
     I guess that’s about all I’ve got for this week. Happy Monday. Go forth and conquer. Be kind to one another, help those who can’t help themselves or are less fortunate. I did my bit this week. Did you?
     Have a grrreat week, y’all.
     Max