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 //

The story is a romance set inside a So You Think You Can Dance type show. After publishing a hockey-themed story last year it was only a matter of time before I did something around dancing. In this story it’s not two dancers who make a connection, but a dancer and one of the show’s technicians. It was fun to write and I’m excited it publishes soon, especially with Dreamspinner because I had such a good experience with “Rivals.”

Besides this story coming out, the plan is to spend the fall working hardcore on Neutral Zone and getting some serious revision work done. The spring and summer was mostly about prepping for the Braking the Cycle ride so the fall and winter are going to be about novel revisions.

/ via JeffandWill.com /

This coming Saturday I’m attending the Rainbow Book Fair and will spend the majority of the day at the Dreamspinner Press table with fellow Dreamspinner authors Andrew Grey, Felicitas Ivey, Marguerite Labbe, Carolyn Topol, and Clare London (they are currently scheduled to be there, and maybe some others too).

There’s a lot going on at the fair with panels (including one with Martin Wilson, one of my favorite YA writers), readings (Andrew Grey is reading from one his books, among other LGBT authors) and of course there’s the exhibit space where authors and publishers will offer of their books.

Last year I just went to browse and meet some authors, so I’m excited to attend as an author this year. If you’re in the neighborhood on Saturday please drop by.

Meanwhile, I’m working on something for Dreamspinner’s Making Contact anthology, which focuses on sci-fi stories. I haven’t tried sci-fi in years so I think it will be fun to give it a whirl. I’ve got an idea already and two months to write it so I should something to show by then.

I haven’t talked about it in a while, but the dance competition story is still in the works. It’s gone on the back  burner for a bit while I’ve worked on stories that have deadlines associated with them. This story is coming together quite well though and I just got new comments from Will that I’m going to work on to solidify it further.

I’ve come  up with a new use for the Kindle. Since it has built in audio capability, I have it read stories to me as part of the final editing phase. It’s great to be able to hear the words to make sure everything sounds good. It also allows me to hear things that, due to some mild dyslexia, I miss when reading on screen or paper. The “Necking” story was the second story I’ve done this with and it’s going to become part of my standard revising process going forward.

Of course I’ll keep everyone posted on the status of the new story. My fingers are, of course, crossed for an acceptance.