Celebrating 10 Years of Publishing

Today is a big day for me. Exactly 10 years ago I took one of the biggest chances of my life and hit publish on one of my stories for the first time. There aren’t enough words to describe how terrified I was to put myself out into the world like that. I’d been writing for years, but I never shared my stories with anybody – until Taking Lance. I allowed my best friend to read it, and the rest (as they say) is history. I’ll forever credit her for every single book I ever publish. If she ever gets tired of me and dumps my butt as a friend, I’ll still credit her for everything. 😉

Goodreads says I’ve published 25 books total since then, but I didn’t manually count them before typing this. That doesn’t even count my pen name stories that I’ve published.

My original plan to celebrate my publishing anniversary was to write a quick update telling the readers what Rick and Lance are up to these days. Unfortunately, a serious health issue prevented that. I’ve recently spent close to a week in the hospital, with 3 of those in ICU. While I won’t say I’m 100% right now, I will say that I’m doing better. I could say it wasn’t anything serious, but it damn sure could’ve been. I had a bad internal infection that could’ve easily turned into sepsis had my husband and doctor not insisted I go to the emergency room when I did. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s the gist of it.

I’m a very private person when it comes to my real world. I’ve discussed my ADHD and migraines in blog posts, but there are other issues I’ve never gone into. I’m happy to finally have a diagnosis, but I’m also frustrated because there’s no cure or real treatment for it. It’s not fatal, just frustrating to have to live with. Even so, I’m doing better now thanks to the hospital stay, antibiotics, and my husband and sons who have taken good care of me.

With that being said, no Taking Lance update. I had really hoped to do something special to celebrate my 10th year, but unfortunately that’s off the table for now. What I’ve done instead is make the Taking Lance complete series available free on Amazon today only.

I can’t tell you how much I adore Rick and Lance, Lance especially. Those were my first guys, and they’ll forever hold a special place in my heart. Just note that their stories were written before I started writing M/M almost exclusively, so don’t go into these books expecting more of the same. It’s not there. There’s a massive age gap, and lots of sex with others on-page. Rick is bisexual and hooks up with quite a few women and men before he and Lance are exclusive – often at the same time. Once they’re exclusive, no others are brought into their beds.

If that’s not your cup of tea, please don’t read it. Shoot me a message and I’ll gladly send you an e-copy of one of my other books, your choice. This does not apply to the Purrs series that has been put on hold.

Thank you to every reader who has picked up not just the Taking Lance series but any of my books. Without you I wouldn’t still be doing what I love a decade later.

Thank you BIG to my best friend who fell in love with Rick Preston long before I did. 😉 Lots of love, my friend. Also, a big thanks to my husband who may not understand it, but he supports it anyway.

You can find the link for the full series on Amazon here. Remember, it’s free today only.

Until next time,

Candi

Eros Freebie & Cupid Pre-Order

Hi, all.

To celebrate Cupid (Love Gods, #2) being published on February 1st, Eros (Love Gods, #1) will be free on Amazon on January 31st and February 1st. It’s also in Kindle Unlimited. Cupid will be in KU as well. You can find Cupid on Amazon here if you’re interested in pre-ordering.

Cupid takes place a year after Eros ends. With Eros and his man (Psyche/Sy) being important to Cupid’s story, they are in it quite a bit, as is Aphrodite. For that reason, I would consider Cupid’s book as more of a continuation of the first book. Other than Peit, a couple of other new characters are introduced in Cupid, Mercury and Venus. Venus is… well, let’s just say she doesn’t have a nice bone in her body. As for Mercury, he’s amazing and flamboyant, and I absolutely adore him. Maybe someday he’ll get his own story. I had way too much fun writing him to let him go. No doubt he’ll definitely be demanding more page time.

Cupid is loosely based on the Roman mythological god Cupid. I stress the word loosely, as this is a contemporary story with the main characters both being male instead of male and female. A lot of liberties were taken in my interpretations of Cupid and Peitho, the secondary characters – including Eros, Psyche, Aphrodite, Venus, and Mercury – and the story behind them. Nowhere in my research does it even hint that Peitho (a Greek goddess) and Cupid were an item. That’s simply a product of my imagination.

In my fictional world Cupid and Eros are two separate gods.

Any similarities to actual Roman or Greek mythology are minimal.

While I’ve always had a fascination with Roman and Greek mythology, I am by no means an expert.

I hope you enjoy Cupid and Peit’s story!

Check out the blurb below.

Cupid is the Roman god of love and desire. Unlike his Greek counterpart, Cupid only shoots his magical arrows for true love. Their differences don’t end there. In contrast to Eros, who hooked up with any guy he could before being reunited with his beloved Psyche, Cupid is waiting for his happily-ever-after, not a happy-for-right-now. Despite the challenges of remaining a virgin for more years than he’s willing to admit, he refuses to take that final step until he meets his one and only. Finding that forever love, however, is a challenge. Cupid could easily find a man for sex, but the one he secretly desires most is forbidden.

Peitho is the Greek god of seduction and persuasion. Bringing others together is a piece of cake. Helping himself get the man he loves is a different matter altogether. Not only is Cupid Roman, but swatting him like a flying insect during their first meeting didn’t exactly win Peit any favors. In Peit’s defense, he had no clue it was Cupid at the time, and Cupid is quite small in his true form. Nevertheless, the human version of the hot god made it clear he was not interested, not to mention that Cupid’s all about following rules. Hooking up with Peit would be breaking the biggest one of all.

Everything changes when Eros asks Cupid to take on one of his assignments, which he rightfully declines. Despite knowing it could cause major problems, Eros can’t be swayed. When Peit is enlisted to help change Cupid’s mind, Cupid’s well-ordered world is suddenly thrown into chaos. It’s one thing to be tempted by the gorgeous Greek god. To fall in love with him could be disastrous.

Cupid is book two of the Love Gods series. Although Cupid could possibly be read as a standalone, it’s best to read Eros first to understand the backstories and secondary characters who are key to Cupid’s story.

Happy 2024!

As I get older, it seems that time goes by much faster. I feel that way every time we ring in a new year. This one is no different.

2023 wasn’t the worst year for me, but it wasn’t the best either. Health issues had me putting a lot of things on hold whether I wanted to or not. Even so, I’m determined to make the best of 2024.

I wrote quite a bit in early 2023, but I had to walk away due to the above-mentioned health issues. Now I’ve been going back into all those stories and finishing first drafts, and cleaning up the ones that are complete. There’s also Cupid, that I’ve been dragging my feet on for way too long. I honestly don’t know why I’ve held off on publishing it when it’s literally been complete and ready to go for a couple of years now. I think it’s because Eros was published in 2016, and this is a sequel of sorts.

It will definitely be published on February 1st. I’ll be making Eros free on Amazon for a day or two first so readers can get familiar with the characters and back stories. Unlike Eros that was one of my shorter stories, 73 Kindle pages, Cupid has approximately 44,000 words.

As much as I’d like to say that Cupid is a standalone, I highly suggest reading Eros first. Eros is in this one a lot, as is his mother, Aphrodite.

I’ll gladly send e-copies of Eros to anybody who asks before I do the free promo on Amazon.

I also have ARCs of Cupid for those who are interested.

I did some traveling during the year, something I’ve missed. My husband and I spent time in a lot of states we’d never been to before. It was seriously one of the best road trips we’ve ever taken.

Since that trip, I’ve read a lot. What I read varies. I love reading gay romance and erotica, but I’m also big on true crime and the occasional horror story.

Christmas was fun. My oldest son and his longtime girlfriend visited from the other side of the country. Unfortunately, my son had COVID without realizing it until he got here. He’s fine, and none of us got it, but I felt bad for him. It was his first time home in a long while, and he didn’t feel well. I was also able to spend time with my other two sons, another of which flew home from his out of state job.

Do you guys do New Year’s resolutions? My birthday is not long after January 1st – it was last week, actually – so I have goals that I hope to accomplish every year, but I’d never call them resolutions.

My writing goal for 2024 is to get off my butt and actually publish a lot of the books I’ve had hiding away for so long.

You can see what I’m working on for this year in my last blog post here.

The only thing I’d add to that is the Hooper Lake series, that I went back into a week or so ago. A few things have clicked that didn’t before, so I’m eager to finish it. It’s five books about five adopted brothers, two of them identical twins. It’s the twins’ stories that gave me fits. They went through a lot as children, things I have to be super sensitive about in how I write them.

Willy and Randy from the Willy the Kinky Elf series will celebrate their tenth anniversary in 2024, as will Rick and Lance from the Taking Lance series. Rick and Lance were my first guys in my first published story in April of 2014. It’s doubtful I’ll revisit Rick and Lance’s world to celebrate, but I will definitely be writing a quick short with Willy and Randy. I’ve really missed those guys, and I’ve been asked to give an update on my version of the North Pole since the series ended over three years ago.

I’m always writing something. If I was asked right now, I’d never be able to throw out a number of how many completed and unpublished stories I have on my computer, nor could I ever begin to count how many works-in-progress are on there.

I have ADHD, something I’ve blogged about in the past. While I do take meds for it, it’s still there. My mind tends to wander – and I seriously hate rereading what I’ve written sometimes – so I tend to bounce from one WIP to another. When I finish a story, I push it to the side and go back to others I’m working on, or I’ll start something new. In my head, I know I need to publish the completed ones before moving on to the others, but my brain’s just not that disciplined. I wish it was.

My #1 writing goal for 2024 is to try to focus on one story at a time. Don’t get me wrong, walking away for a little while is always good. It’s good because when I go back into a story, it’s with fresher eyes, and I see things I didn’t see before. Unfortunately, I bounce from one to another, as I said. And I’m SO critical of my own writing. I don’t have beta readers or anything like that. Usually only my best friend reads my stuff before it’s put out in the world. Sometimes she’s not able, so I’m the only one to see it before it’s published. That’s a lot of pressure.

After Cupid is published, I’ll be focusing on The Right Time (tentative title), and hoping to get it published soon. When I can mark that one off, I’ll hopefully move onto another completed one. I may even make a list and pick one at a time to work on. Wish me luck because I suck when it comes to focusing on ONE THING for too long, in this case being my completed and unpublished books.

Those who have ADHD understand. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. The worst part of my ADHD is usually hyperfocus, but it doesn’t always apply when it comes to my writing. That’s a good thing because then I’d literally never get anything else done.

What’s the weather like where you are? Ours is all over the place. One day we’ll have the A/C on, and the next, we may be running the heater. This week will bring temps in the teens, something my part of the country doesn’t have very often. Hopefully we’ll be back to the warm temps in the coming days.

One thing I can’t not mention is the retirement of Alabama Crimson Tide’s beloved coach, Nick Saban. We fans may have expected it, but that by no means made it easier. He took our program to heights we will likely never see again. Here’s hoping that Coach DeBoer, our new head coach, has a good run. I couldn’t imagine the pressure of stepping in after the (literal) greatest to ever coach the game. True fans will support him. We’ll also remember the players who felt that $$$ was more important than tradition. There’s looking out for yourself, and there’s what one former player in particular did. To those in the former, I honestly wish them well. To the last guy, I hope he sees that the grass isn’t always greener.

There are so many people celebrating our coach’s retirement more than they’re celebrating their own teams. I guess that says a lot about how great of a coach he is.

I hope you all had the best of holidays, and I’m hoping you all have the best 2024!

Until next time,

Candi