A BonyDee Challenge, part 1

The Challenge

Please read the main blog post before reading mine.

Basically, BonyDee Press had created a challenge that April and I are a part of and here’s my take on coming up with the idea.

One night April and I were chatting, like we do almost every night. I can’t remember anymore how it came up, but it did. I think it had a lot to do with me starting to write YA and going through all my old manuscripts.

You see, I saw this book once it was an accordion book, it was one story written two ways, a female MC on one side, the you flipped it and read it the other way and it was the male MC. And I loved it. I even had an idea straight away, “what if it was about cheating” but more…what if both side were written by two different authors. Only I didn’t know any back then and so it sat in a thought bubble in the back of my mind until this day.

If you’ve read April’s post first you’ll understand how the conversation actually went, but that doesn’t matter, what mattered was that we got pumped, this idea, sparked with us both and so we had to write it out.

And hey if it gave us an idea of how co-writing a book would turn out then that was even better.

Sadly its’ shown that other than these types of things, or if we wanted to write a massive fantasy were she’s a human and I’m a dragon, our writing styles are way too different for us to ever be able to write a book together (I have the same feeling with NJ too, which is truly saddening to me). On the plus side when we do our next one (which is already in the making you’ll get a much longer run up of it as we’ll know what we are doing from the start).

I’m so excited for it. I’m excited about the topic, though its cheating so I know straight away not everyone’s going to read it, but I think it works. I think it’s cheating only in the mind of Jonah in a way that you’ll understand. They weren’t officially dating, and I know, but still, if we lose readers for this one it’s better to know that now than when you read it, right.

I love April’s version, I love my own, I think they work well together and separately. For those of you who don’t like reading the same thing over, you don’t have to worry she’s writing the time straight after the event I’m two months later. We’ve even made sure not to add similar events into our stories. Tho, in saying this, it was entirely accidental. As I’d not read hers when I wrote mine. Though afterwards there was no adding or subtracting scenes to get them having the same things.

Anyway, hope I perked our interest and not ruined any chances of you reading it *uncomfortable chuckle*, you should def go see what April has to say, now, before I make it worse.

52 Weeks of Acknowledging Me

Welcome to week two, I have to preface this with the fact that I won’t be just saying things that I’m proud of myself about, but things that has also changed my life. Things I have pondered, things that have changed me as a person, for the better. Just facts about my life and who I am. This is about me realising I’m more then I am, but also for you guys to learn about me as well.

But before we start I’d like again, to welcome anyone who has a question for me, whether about me or my writing, anything you’d like to know, please comment and I’ll answer your question next week.

How I Met My Partner

This isn’t anything new, so if you’ve read this about this before, feel free to move on. I met my partner…what 12 years ago, we were working at Cole (a large supermarket chain in Australia, if you don’t know). He did night stocking and I was on register mostly working nights, or at least 2pm to 11pm.

I caught his eye or whatever a romantic comedy would call it. He spoke to me, I was shy and he made me uncomfortable. I didn’t like going down his isle when he was there, because he’s smile, and probably look at me like he wanted to shove me against the shelving and have his way with me.

Did I mention I was shy and it came around mostly with people who liked me?

Anyway, one day he started chatting with me. Or at me, I’d nod, say a few words, mumble really, blush (remember above?!), and one thing led to another he ended up with my mobile number. I had apparently said he could get it off one of the chick’s I was work friends with.

Anyway, so he starts messaging me and I replied thinking he was someone else. We hit it off even though I thought it was someone else, though if I was being honestly I wasn’t 100% sure at the time, but I was having fun. 

I feel I need to preface this with at this time in my life I don’t believe I was ever truly sober, which is a horrifying thought on lots of levels I’m not going to get into at this point.

Anyway, it got to the point that he started talking to me in real life, or he was, but the more we texted the more we talked in the real life.

Anyway, a few months after chatting I turned 18 and realised he wasn’t the person I thought he was and realised he was who he really was and, well, I told you we’d been chatting for a while now, right?!

So we went out just after my 18th and when I say went out I’m going to allow you all to believe it was a date and not getting drunk and nearly fucking in the back of my car while someone else drove us around.

Anyway, things weren’t perfect from the get go with us and we very nearly broke up. Honestly, we were at two different points in our life and I wanted out, only instead I fell pregnant. Did I mention the not remembering being sober in those days?

We ended up getting back together, because he gets me and I get him and if I’m honest with myself the only reason we weren’t working back then was because he wanted the family and the settling and I wanted a life. I wanted…I wanted nothing to do with children and I hadn’t for a long time. I wanted to be one of those childless women and my life wouldn’t have been fine.

One kid turn to two. I didn’t want an only child and I didn’t want to be spending my whole life looking after them, so I got two out in just over 2 years. There was going to be a 3^rd but my daughter fucked me up big time. I had a hard time carrying her and decided that was it, I was done, and if he wanted another kid then he’d have to go knock up some other chick.

I wasn’t joking. Never have been about that.

At the end of the day, though, we work. We are in this life together and not just because of the kids, but because we have made it this far. Hell we’ve been together for 12 years, which I know isn’t long, but we aren’t the type of people to suffer just because of someone else’s, if it didn’t work we wouldn’t still be here.

We have made it through 8 years of just each other. And I’m not joking, 8 years of the only person I talk to was family (my sister once a week) and he had his work mates who he couldn’t stand. We didn’t have the internet, hell, we didn’t have a computer until my mum upgrades and even then we couldn’t afford the internet.

We went through our first son getting a major surgery at 4 weeks old. The 2 weeks of sickness leading up to that point and the doctors telling us he might not survive being put under. We went through another surgery with him at 6 months, this one less stressful as we knew he’d wake back up (my son was born with a Clift lip). We made it threw me nearly dying when giving birth to our daughter and then again a few weeks later as I suffered the consequences of Swine Flu.

We made it through him losing his job, being forced out more than actually getting fired and having to work out what the fuck we were going to do, because he just couldn’t be there anymore, we wouldn’t have even been able to afford him getting to work every day.

4 deaths on my side, and soon we’ll deal with his mother as she deteriorates into dementia. We will live through the next 10 years as we have these last.

We are the type of people who don’t change the other, just listens to the bitching. He didn’t blink when I started writing, and when it turned into MM romance he just congratulated me and was happy for me. Giving me space when I need it.

We are perfect for each other and we are at the stage were saying that makes me cringe but it’ll come round it always comes back around. I’ve been though it once and will probably be through it again before we are at the stage were children aren’t the centre of our world and it becomes so much fucking larger.

At the end of the day he doesn’t try to make me anyone but who I am. He doesn’t try and change me, to stop me for being who I was meant to be, and that’s loveable all on it’s own.

So that’s it, not sure it really told you much, as I didn’t get into how awesome he is and all that other bullshit, we are just people, living in a house with 2 kids and we are still together, we are still both alive. That’s pretty awesome.

Anyway, it’s an accomplishment even if you don’t see it and one I never really take the time out to realise.

Huh, over used the word anyway, in this post, sorry ‘bout that, lol.

If you have anything from me you’d like to know, drop me a line either here or email me at beeheeley[at]gmail[.]com

NieStar Tour: Guest Bailey Queen with Compromised

Hi there!

I am delighted to be guest blogging on Unrandom Randomness. It's such an honor and a joy! Thank you for having me!

My name is Bailey Queen, and I am a new author to the MM Romance universe. I've written before, under a different pen name, and my current catalogue has a smattering of romance and erotica titles, some MF and some MM. MM Romance is my favorite genre, and I am loving life writing in this universe right now and getting to spend time with so many great people!

I was asked, "Where did you get your inspiration for these characters? How did you come up with this story?" Great questions! You see, I take a dartboard, and I tack some names up, some plot points, etc., and then I take a blindfold… JJust kidding.

I actually like to build my stories wholly from my characters. I started with Ben. Ben is very near and dear to me. I know many Ben's in my life, men who have left parts of themselves and their souls behind somewhere, thanks to conflict, war, or agonizing pain. They've cut something of themselves out, trying to never feel that loss, that emptiness, ever again.

For Ben, eight years of service in the military during the height of the Iraq War, including rough and brutal combat tours, have weighed heavily on him. On top of that, Ben had his heart ripped out, and the compounding effect of the loss and pain brought Ben to a complete halt. His heart and his soul froze, and he refused to feel anything, anything at all, ever again. He moved on with his professional career, entering the FBI, but his soulless approach to life dragged down everything he touched.

He's tired, tired of trudging forward and tired of persevering. Ben guards himself with rigid barriers and harsh silence.

And then there's Tanner. I created Tanner by listening to people's desires. We hear, all the time, people wishing and dreaming for a different life. For something more exciting, more adventurous. Occasionally, some of us do have that kind of life, filled with adventure and intrigue. At the core of our lives, though, we always want the same thing—someone to share that life with.

Tanner is a man who, on the face of it, seemed to have everything. A dazzling career, a jet set lifestyle, a long string of lovers. Tanner was a former flight attendant, and he spent much of his life living in exotic locations and exploring the globe, and spending his nights with different men as often as he pleased. On the surface, Tanner's life seemed be a dream. Wouldn't we all want that? Adventure, travel, lust, and great sex?

There's a hole in Tanner's world, too, though. He's missing the heart of his life, and while jet setting and exotic lovers are fun and fascinating, Tanner wants more. He wants the apple pie life. The morning after, and everything else. Bedhead and a shared closet. He wants a partner. When tragedy befalls his family, Tanner moves home and tries to set up a new life for himself, going back to his roots as a rancher in small town Pennsylvania.

He's confident, but quietly so, comfortable in his skin in a way that we often wish we were. He's lived, and he knows what he wants.

Ben—frozen in place and too rigid and hurt to move forward from the pain in his life—crashes into Tanner — a man who wants to find his partner and his equal—one night, with devastating consequences. What could *possibly* go wrong when these two men collide?

That one meeting—a single, stolen night—could have been the end of their story, but darkness from Tanner’s past rears its head, and Ben is called back to Tanner’s small town for the murder investigation. As the bodies begin to pile up, Ben and Tanner circle each other warily, both men wanting—and needing—something from the other. Both men are torn in half—Tanner by his past coming back to haunt him, and Ben by the force of the investigation, and his role as a lead FBI agent. Could the man he, almost inexplicably, is falling for be the murderer they seek?

What I hope worked for you in this story is the sizzling sexual tension, the cautious circling of the two men as they negotiate both each other and their own souls, and watching as they work together for a future where Ben and Tanner might be able to find space for each other inside their hearts and souls. I loved writing this story and sharing Ben and Tanner with you.

Thank you for having me!

Compromised by Bailey Queen

Published 11th of January 2016

Contemporary Erotic Romance

Murder in the country.

A one-night stand that refuses to end.

Ghosts from the past that return to haunt.

Moving Along

“The cold woke him. Mike wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t especially frigid, it was the type of chill you experienced while sleeping in an air-conditioned room without a blanket. It probably wasn’t even the temperature that shook him awake, but the fact that it was a different sort of chill than anything he’d ever felt before.”

— WIP, 2nd edition My Outside My Inside

This weekend I sent back edits on My Outside My Inside, this one is cleaned up completely but other than a bit added to help tie the series up better. I’m hoping to have them both back by the end of the week, or at least book 2, I’m not so worried about the first one, really it’s a re-release and is mostly being done, because one it needed it, but two I want to make them a bundle and put them into KU. However, I’m not sure if that’s allowed…I’ll have to read them up and see.

I’m also working on the tour post for the Encounter Space series, which starts up on the 20^th – so I need to get cracking as I haven’t even done the graphic’s for it.

I also doing a last read/beta edits on The Way Life Turns which will be going to April to do the same thing and then start full edits. We are also getting the promo of this set up this week so it’s just about scheduling and promoting. I’m getting excited about this one again.

And if I have time left over, though I doubt it, I’ll be starting on Second Pack of Cameron: Tentative Steps Forward, as I really want to get to that, but I’m at the point of trying to get everything else organised before I get lost in the story.

Though saying that I’ll need to get some of the promo stuff for The Way Life Turns if we are going to take it on a tour or not. Have to ask April, see what she says.

Well that’s it for me this week, what’s you’re looking like?

IndiGo Tour: Guest RP Andrew with Buy Guys

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Read This Week

The deal with all those books I’ve read this week