The story opens with scenes from an AIDS charity bike ride that runs from Boston to New York, similar to one I have done to raise money for The Center for the past two years (and have signed up to do again in 2012). All of my author royalties from Bicycle Built for Two go towards my fundraising efforts for the ride, which happens each September.

To date, Bicycle Built for Two has contributed $324 to the cause (that accounts for royalties earned through March 2012). Thanks to everyone who has purchased this novella to date and helped provide fund for the Center’s critically important services.

As I mentioned, I’m doing the ride again this year (for 2012 it’s called Cycle for the Cause). Please help me reach my $4,000 fund raising goal by picking up a copy of Bicycle Built for Two or by donating online. Thanks!

1) I’m excited to say that Neutral Zone is back in the hands of beta readers for the first time in over a year. This last round of revisions was lengthy, and included using the techniques in Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel course. I think the book reads better now than it ever has before and I’m looking forward to what the beta readers have to say about it. Five people have it, a cross between writers and people whose opinion I trust. While it’s being read, I’m working to hone the blurb and the summary so after any additional revisions I make based on comments back from the betas, it can be ready to submit. Many thanks to the readers–Ben, Cheryl, Connor, Michael B and Michael O.–for agreeing to read and give that most valuable feedback.

Speaking of the blurb, here’s the one I’m using at the moment. It’s still subject to change, but it does give the basics of what the story is about:

Simon Roberts is a hockey playing high school senior looking forward to moving on to college and, hopefully, a scholarship to help him pay the way. His senior year is turned on its head from the start, however, when he discovers the crush he has on one of his teammates is actually mutual. Like any secret, the one Simon shares with Alex Miller doesn’t stay quiet long enough and the two have to deal with a coming out publicly while trying to stay on course to the state championships and college. What price will Simon pay for falling in love with his teammate?

2) “Friday Night Snacking,” which has languished for over a year now, recently got read by a publisher friend and, for the first time, I’ve got some actionable feedback that should help this vampire/werewolf/human story see the light of day. It’s too early to say for sure, but the feedback I got makes sense. Now it’s a matter of revising and I’m getting started on that this week.

3) Speaking of beta reading, I had the honor of reading the second book in Michael Offutt’s A Crisis of Two Worlds series. I read the first one, Slipstream (my review | Goodreads), earlier this year ahead of its May release. Reading Oculus was unlike any beta reading I’d done before. As a fan of the first book, I was excited to see where the story was going and to purely read for the enjoyment of it. But I couldn’t just read on that level since I had an important beta reading job to do too. I can say that loved where Michael took the story and I look forward to reading the final version of Oculus when it is completed.

4) Back on March 24, I attended the annual Rainbow Book Fair at the LGBT Center here in NYC. As usual this was a great event and, as usual, it was bigger this year than the previous. It’s good to see how LGBT publishing continues to grow with more publishers attending each year. The fair was a chance to meet up with Andrew Grey and Zarha Owens from Dreamspinner Press, J.M. Snyder from JMS Books and Ken Harrison from Seventh Window Publications (it was particularly great to meet Ken in person after so many Tweets). I didn’t have anything out, or “coming soon” for the fair this year, but the goal is to have something for 2013.

5) I haven’t forgotten about the news I shared at the start of the year either… The Adventures of Jake #1 is coming this summer from JMS Books as a standalone e-book. I should have more details in another month or so, so please stand by for those.

1) Bicycle Built for Two became my best selling short story so far. The most exciting thing around that is that the royalties I’ve earned so far–just under $250–will go towards Braking the Cycle. Forty-two dollars went to the cause for the 2011 ride, and the rest of it is going into the 2012 ride. That account for the first two quarters the story was out. Later this month I’ll get a new royalty statement, which should include the third party sales, such as though Amazon. I’m looking forward to seeing how much more will go to the cause.

2) The Adventures of Jake #1,which appeared as part of Nerdvana in 2009, is going to become a stand-along e-book later this year. My new year opened with JMS Books contracting to publish the story. I’m excited to work with J.M. since I’m a big fan. Plus, it will be great to pump some new life into this story that I really like. More details on the release as I get them.

3) So far I’ve been focused on writing pretty well during this first week of the year. I’m determined to keep that going as I want to wrap up work on the Neutral Zone novel and get it out for consideration.

I don’t know what more to say than that. I was checking the web to see what bits of news about Bicycle Built for Two I might find. I’ve seen a couple reviews/rankings on Goodreads, which is always fun to see. But tonight I found the Google listing for the novella in Amazon’s Kindle Store.

The rankings the book had made me happy too (although I have no comparison to know if this is the expected ranking for a book in it’s second day out). As I write this, within the Kindle store it has got these standings:

• #21 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Fiction > Romance
• #26 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Fiction > Gay
• #44 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Gay & Lesbian

This makes me a happy author…and hopefully everyone who has purchased the book, and contributed to these rankings, are enjoying it!

I’m looking forward to seeing reader reaction to this story over the next few weeks and months. Hopefully they will fall in love with Jason and Ben in the same way that I did while writing it. I’m also hoping the story will put some good money into the coffers of Braking the Cycle. Not only are my royalties from the story going to the charity, but I hope that readers are inspired to donate as well…or even better, to get on their bike and do a charity ride.

Once you read the story, I hope you’ll come back here or visit the book’s page on Goodreads and let me know what you think.

Here’s the official blurb: “While on a three-day charity bike ride from Boston to New York City, Jason Karn makes an unexpected stop to help a fellow rider having trouble with a flat tire. Ben Stewart is new to long-distance rides, and Jason takes him under his wing. The mutual attraction is obvious even before they make it to New York City, but there’s a minor roadblock: Ben lives in Chicago. Flying back and forth seems like the only option until Jason comes up with an idea that will bring them together permanently—if they can work out the details.” (As with my other Dreamspinner titles, this does contain adult situations.)

Paul Richmond did a gorgeous cover for the story that captures Ben (the red head) and Jason out in a fall Connetcuict-esque landscape. (In fact, I’ve cycled down a very similar looking road.) I’m thrilled that he’s the artist for my first story to get a cover all its own.

As I’ve mentioned before, all of my author royalties from this novella will be donated to Braking the Cycle, which benefits the HIV/AIDS services at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City. My fundraising is going well this year so far, with three months to go. Please help the cause if you can–buy the novella when it comes out, tell your friends to buy it when it comes out and, if you’d like, you can also directly donate to my rider account.

It’s always exciting to get a contract and I’m particularly happy this sold. The story is a romance between two guys who meet doing a bike ride that’s based on Braking the Cycle. All of my royalties from the story will be donated to the charity (and that’s true for not only this year, but for the life of the story).

I’m glad I was able to get something out rather quickly after The Dancer and Sexy Big Man too. Dancer got some good reviews and I’m hopeful that the readers from that story will want to pick up the new title. Coming up in a few days I’ll get the sales report from Q4. I’m curious to see how Dancer performed in sales and to see if it bumped up sales on 2009′s Rivals.

My latest quandary is if I should write the story that’s been gnawing on my brain for the past week or if I keep focused on my novel revisions, which is what I’ve been doing most of this month. I may put the novel aside when I finish the current revision task, write up the first draft of the new story and then going back to novel revisions while I let the new story rest a bit before I start revisions on it.

I have to admit, it is fun having to decide between two such fun and engaging tasks.

Of course, I’ll keep everyone posted as Bicycle Built for Two works its way through the publishing process.

// via JeffAndWill.com //

Dancer has also yielded some good reviews.

Lydia at “Michele ‘n Jeff Reviews” said: “Not only did the world in which Dancer and Sexy Big Man take place come alive, but the author was able to show the instant and strong connection characters Todd and Nathaniel felt for each other in such away that it seemed real, rather than forced.” Thanks, Lydia, for the “four kiss” review!

Right here on JeffAdamsWrites.com, Jambrea left this comment: “I love So You Think You Can Dance. It is my all time favorite show. So when I saw that you had a book out with a dancing show I HAD to get it and I’m so glad I did. I loved this book! Thank you for writing it.”

Over on Goodreads, Leaundra Ross gave the story a five star review, saying “This was really a sweet story. Wish it would have been longer. I guess you could say it was ‘short and sweet.’

It’s been great getting reader feedback on this book, whether its good or something other than good. Rivals also didn’t generate much in the way of reader feedback either when it came out so it has been fun to see some feedback trickle its way onto the Internet.

Meanwhile, over the past couple weeks I’ve finished the draft of a new story, which is tentatively titled Bicycle Built for Two. It revolves around two guys who meet during a bike ride from Boston to New York City. The story just went to my beta readers this morning. The plan is to get it sent out within the next couple weeks to see if it can find a home.

// via JeffAndWill.com //

“The Dancer & Sexy Big Man” takes place inside a reality dance competition where a technician, who also happens to be a fan of the show, ends up meeting and getting to know one of his favorite dancers. As a lover of the dance competition genre (I never miss So You Think You Can Dance and wish it would do two cycles a year like Dancing with the Stars does), this was a fun story to write. To play around with the “what ifs” that presented themselves in bringing a dancer and a technician together had a lot of possibilities and I like where this story ended up.

You can read more about the story over on Dreamspinner’s blog. On the DSP site you can read excerpts of both “The Dancer & Sexy Big Man” and “Rivals.”

While you’re there you can also check out Andrew Grey’s latest release, Taste of Love. Andrew can always be counted on to tell a good story and the blurb on this one sold me right away. It just released this week so please give it a look as well.

Elsewhere in the my writing world…

I’m working through another lesson in the “How to Revise Your Novel” course so that Neutral Zone becomes the best it can be. This one is interesting focusing on the promises you make to your readers. I’m curious to see how many I made and how many I kept across the 200+ pages.

Will and I are two weeks away from starting National Novel Writing Month and working to create our first co-written story ever. I’m excited!!!

I’m also pondering a new short story (or maybe novella…not sure yet). The idea is just forming, but I’d like to write something that is set inside a bike ride like Braking the Cycle. We’ll see what comes of this over the coming weeks.

// via JeffandWill.com //