Today’s the day!

It was SO hard not to announce this ahead of time, because I’ve been itching to share this story. Thanks again to Jenna Jones for the amazing prompt, and to all the tireless volunteers at the Goodreads MM Romance Group who make Don’t Read in the Closet an event to look forward to. Thanks also to my betas, you guys rock!

So, the story. As soon as I saw the prompt–the amazing pic paired with a lovely bit of poetry (which I wildly misinterpreted!)–I heard a voice in my head. The narrator is Theo, and he has a walk-on part in my upcoming novel The Nesting Habits of Strange Birds. I didn’t realize he had so much to say or I might’ve made plans to tell his story, but I was taken completely by surprise. So, after a quick check with my publisher to be sure she was okay with me giving away a part of the story she contracted–I was off.

“Better Than New” opens later in the same evening Theo appears in Strange Birds, and the jerky thing he does is in the book. After that, though, he’s completely on his own. I think he did an excellent job in carrying a story. I hope you agree.

Here’s the original prompt I had to work with–I hope you’ll check out the story. I’m so proud of it. You have to be a member of the group to read the stories, but with over 200 prompts this year it will probably be worth your while (besides, it’s free :)). Click the book cover above to go directly to my story or click here to get to the group’s home page.

STORY LETTER:
Dear Author,

Please use this excerpt as a prompt:

O’ God it’s wonderful
to get out of bed
and drink too much coffee
and smoke too many cigarettes
and love you so much

― from Steps by Frank O’Hara

Jenna

Stay tuned for updates about The Nesting Habits of Strange Birds, scheduled for release in August by Dreamspinner Press.