A Hard Habit to Break - the Book

April 1, 2011
A to Z Blogging Challenge

Day 1 - A

Most writers set up a personal blog to promote his/her work, and as a way to reach the reader on a more personal level. Publishers have blogs, forums, chat lists, etc., but each publisher has strict rules regarding those venues. A personal blog affords the author the freedom express themselves from A to Z.

I'm kicking off the A to Z Blogging Challenge month with a promo. You'll see a few of those during the month of April. Approximately one-fourth of the entries will be promo, which means you get seventy-five percent personal stuff. Not a bad mix from where I sit.

So here we go! As I head out the door to finish out the work week, I leave you with something from A Hard Habit to Break to warm this chilly spring morning. Read yesterday's blog for a little more about why I blog. Have a great day! - KC

A HARD HABIT TO BREAK
Available now at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other online booksellers. 

As the reigning stud of the local gay club scene, every guy in the county knows Travis Templeton, and vies for his attention. Travis wears his crown lightly, careful not to break any hearts. He knows what it’s like to really love someone who doesn’t love you back-at least, not in the way you want.

Heath Kelley made the biggest mistake of his life the night before his best friend Travis left for college. One small action snowballed into years of silent misunderstanding and empty distance. When Heath accepts a transfer that sends him to his hometown, he doesn’t know Travis has moved back home, too. It doesn’t take long for the men to reconnect.

Admitting they never stopped thinking of each other as “best friends” is easy. Forgiveness of past sins is easy, but confessing their secrets comes harder. When Heath discovers the truth about Travis’ private life, the newly repaired bonds of friendship are stretched taut.

It’s time for Travis to choose – the love of his best friend, or a life of being second best.

EXCERPT

“How much time do you need? A day? A week? How much time have we already wasted? I don’t need more time. I need you.”

My knees went weak as gooseflesh shivered across my backside. My cock hardened, eager to lead me to mistakes I knew I’d never regret. Travis’ arms tightened around me as he drew me to him. His hoarse voice was low in my ear as his erection pressed to mine. Soft lips caressed my neck and left me unable to think, or breathe, or believe.

“Tell me, Heath. Say the words.”

I wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear, amazed I could force the words out. “I need you, Travis. I always will.”

We stood in the middle of his brightly painted kitchen, clinging to each other like two drowning men who’d suddenly found a rock to hold. I was aroused, but infused with a great calmness. My thoughts raced, yet everything was clear, all doubts stripped away. I would stay in his arms until we fell from exhaustion if he’d let me.

His lips were on my cheek, soft and seeking. I turned my head, and his mouth found mine, suddenly hot and searing. I licked his lips and they opened, his tongue stroking into mine with barely leashed hunger. My ass collided with the edge of the counter as his pelvis arced into mine. Back and forth, we tasted and tested, leading only to relinquish control so we could seize it again.

My body ached with need, my cock full and pounding in tandem with my heart. I’d never let a man have me—I’d always topped—but now I wanted to do something different. Something more, that I would only ever give him. I slipped my hand between us and slowly pulled down his zipper. Travis shifted his weight and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor beneath him, and we both went a little wild.

None of my fantasies had prepared me for the reality of finally touching him. I fought his efforts to get his T-shirt off, wanting the same thing. I had to give up and let him do it, then his hands were against my skin. My shirt sailed over my head, and we were bare chest to bare chest.

The tiles were cool under my sweating back. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his erection, stroke his shaft and feel the silky foreskin glide over his glans. I’d always envied him that he was intact and wondered just what I was missing without a foreskin. I yanked at the snap on his jeans and it gave way as his hand pushed my pants and underwear off my hip.

Freed of the constraining denim, my cock rose into his warm hand. His breath was warm on my skin an instant before his teeth scraped my nipple. A wet swipe of his tongue soothed the spot, then he suckled at me, pulling a long, low moan from my very soul. He wiggled his hips, and his cock finally sprang free of his jeans and into my hand.


A HARD HABIT TO BREAK
Available now at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other online booksellers. 

KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

The dreaded writer's bl....bottleneck

August 15, 2010

I parked my butt in my office this weekend, intent on writing. I did write - all the way to about 3,000 words. If only those words had all been on the same story!

The Muse can be a fickle little thing. Even after spending so much time with her, she's often a mystery, but I think I may have figured out something.

I read a lot of blogs, and writers everywhere address writer's block. No one wants to come down with it since it's often resistant to standard cures. A writer can re-read their favorite books, take a little vacation, sit and stare at a blank screen until the ice breaks- whatever it takes. For me, the solutions are as myriad as the causes.

Experiencing either a total lack concentration or complete tunnel vision locked on one unsuspecting target, I have to figure out which pole I've gone over to before I know what to do to break a block. Complete focus is the easier of the two to manage. I simply take a walk, ride my bike - anything but write. It clears my head and allows my thoughts to reorder themselves back into some semblance of coherency. Lack of concentration is a harder row to hoe.

I never know for sure what triggers these little episodes of scatterbrainitis. Stress is such a catchall, but I'm sure it has a lot to do with it. And we all know modern stress is killing us, breath by breath. I'm sure if I could afford to retire, I'd be soooooooooo much calmer. (So buy more KC Kendricks books, please!)

This weekend, I realized part of my lack of productivity stemmed from not knowing what project I wanted to work on next. I'm signed up for two PAXes with deadlines of December 1, 2010, and March 1, 2011. I have another adventure for Fallon and Sundown started, and I'm developing a new series that ties the threads together through one or two central characters, much the way Theron and Austin did in the Southern Cross series. So with all this floating around in my head, it was no wonder I couldn't focus.

I decided to use that energy in as positive a way as possible. I opened each folder, one at a time, and went through all my notes, adding whatever flowed quickly out. As soon as the train of thought broke, I closed the folder and moved on - to the sum of 3K words! Writer's block busted wide open!

Do I want to work this way all the time? NO. I don't think it's good for me personally to reinforce this little problem I have with my attention span. But now I understand that sometimes the block isn't a block - it's a bottleneck. Now I have an easy, productive way to forge ahead.

Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out a simple problem.

KC Kendricks
Visit my website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
Join my mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys
Read my personal blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com

Night Train to Naples by Carolina Valdez

July 14, 2010

When the PAX group at Amber Allure firmed up the "That's Amore" offering, I knew I'd have to get it, and I knew Carolina's story, "Night Train to Naples" would be the first one I read. Show me a title that says a night train to anywhere, and I'm there. Maybe it was all those black and white movies I saw as a girl, although I don't think I ever glimpsed anyone that looked like Alex.

Just remember that between now and July 17, 2010, you can get this PAX at the unheard of price of $14 and change. Seriously! The new release discount will be in effect until Saturday.

Here's what Carolina said when I asked her what were the first words Alex said to her. I love it when a character speaks so clearly to the author.


My title--NIGHT TRAIN TO NAPLES--came to me first. But who would be traveling at night, and why? Alexandros Nicolaides appeared to me, saying, "I am Greek and a diamond courier. I'm big, blond and powerful, and my beauty is the transcendental beauty of an immortal. Yes, I am Vampire. And I am gay."

About Night Train to Naples:
After seven-hundred years, Alexandros Nicolaides has adjusted to life as an immortal. Employed by a New Orleans diamond courier, the gemologist travels to Italy in the hope of gaining a new customer for that business. On the night train to Naples, he confirms what he’s suspected—someone is following him.

Human Dante Rocco has his reasons for tailing the tall blond. Unaware he follows an immortal, he’s in for a bad shock. When Alex rescues him from thugs and evil, a hot, urgent sexual bond flares between these two rivals for the courier account. As they struggle with the reality of their relationship, they discover they’re now the ones being pursued—by an unstable, vengeful vampire.

Buy link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/NightTrainToNaples.html
PAX buy link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/AP_ThatsAmore.html

KC

Independence Day, books 1 & 2, by Christiane France

*** Christiane France passed away in 2019. Her books are no longer available**

Back in my grandmother's day, the written word connected one to distant friends. The mailbox at the end of the lane was a lifeline to the outside world. And that world was smaller somehow. The letters my grandma exchanged with much-loved yet distant cousins are full of family tidbits, flowers and fabrics.

Today, the written word still connects us, but it is read on high definition, wide screen monitors, not ivory vellum. Saving a letter in its original, pristine condition is a click away. No longer do we need to scan through several letters to refresh our memory about Aunt Bessie's gall bladder. Letters are neatly filed, and searchable by our operating systems.

The Internet has delivered pen pals of this new media. Making friends who live far away is easier than at any time in our history. Christiane France is one of my new cyber friends.

Chris is a fellow writer, one of the original authors to be published at Amber Quill Press. Being a nice lady, Chris welcomed me to the company back in 2008, and we've corresponded ever since. Having read and enjoyed Independence Day, I posed the question to her, "What was the first thing Nick Gregorio said to you?" This was her reply:

"Independence Day was my contribution to the Blockbusters Pax. I'd played with several titles and ideas, but then Nick Gregorio appeared out of the blue and said, "I've played second fiddle to Al Martinsen's ambitions for entirely too long. Now, I'm making a stand. Either he moves to Vegas so we can be together, or we're done."

I love it when the characters tell the author what to do!

Thanks to Chris for agreeing to be on Between the Keys, and sharing her conversation with Nick. Independence Day, volumes 1 & 2, are just two of Chris' many titles. Check her out at Amber Heat and Amber Allure.

KC

Available now! A Hard Habit to Break

April 11, 2010

New releases are always a Big Deal to me. I don't know if others who have been writing for a while still get excited - and nervous - over them, but I do. A lot of hard work goes into the creation of a story. It's not easy to pull pure thought from the air and transform it into a properly formatted, grammatically correct, politically correct, spellchecked, twice edited, cohesive and still entertaining story that reflects the author's original seed of inspiration.

Whew! That was a mouthful! Or a keyboard full, depending on how you look at it.

After all the hours of typing, after all the hours of struggling to define the core of the story, it passes from the author's hands and becomes, as defined by contract, "the Work." And I guess if the writer hasn't withered with exhaustion after all that, it's still a Big Deal when the story is finally released.

Without a further poor attempt at wit, here's the promo on my latest Big Deal.



A HARD HABIT TO BREAK

As the reigning stud of the local gay club scene, every guy in the county knows Travis Templeton, and vies for his attention. Travis wears his crown lightly, careful not to break any hearts. He knows what it’s like to really love someone who doesn’t love you back-at least, not in the way you want.

Heath Kelley made the biggest mistake of his life the night before his best friend Travis left for college. One small action snowballed into years of silent misunderstanding and empty distance. When Heath accepts a transfer that sends him to his hometown, he doesn’t know Travis has moved back home, too. It doesn’t take long for the men to reconnect.

Admitting they never stopped thinking of each other as “best friends” is easy. Forgiveness of past sins is easy, but confessing their secrets comes harder. When Heath discovers the truth about Travis’ private life, the newly repaired bonds of friendship are stretched taut.

It’s time for Travis to choose – the love of his best friend, or a life of being second best.

Excerpt:

The ghost of his lips slid coolly over mine like they had so many times over the years, a phantom whisper that raised gooseflesh on the back of my thighs and buttocks. Travis fixed me with a stare far colder than my memories. His angry, hurt voice froze my insides.

“You had what I wanted, Heath. You were normal. You dated girls. You fucked girls.” He sucked in a deep, difficult breath. When he spoke again, the anger was gone, but not the hurt.

“Then you kissed me and brought the very thing I hated right to my bed. How could you do that to me? Why didn’t you tell me you were really gay?”

Stunned, my knees wobbled, and I leaned back against his car before they gave out and I ended up on the pavement. Never had I imagined he felt such self-loathing. I hadn’t seen it, but then I’d been just seventeen. Liking some girls muddied the water for me, and I never thought of myself as anything but straight, back then.

What I felt for Travis was special, outside everything, and everyone, else. He was my best friend. I was a senior in college before I dared put a name to my sexuality, and begin to accept what it meant. I took a chance he wouldn’t shake me off, and grasped his elbow. He trembled under my fingertips.

“Travis, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. How could I?”

He shivered, like he had a sudden chill. The anger left his beautiful eyes, to be replaced by a great sadness.

“I’m sorry, too, Heath. I didn’t know how to tell you. I thought you’d hate me.
I thought you’d run away from me, and then I ran away from you.”
My chest ached. Thirteen years lost.

“I could never hate you, Travis. There was a lot I didn’t know about my teenage self. So much I didn’t understand.” I took a deep breath. “The truth is, I’m bi.”

His eyebrows drifted up. He blinked. I nodded and rolled my eyes at him.
“Don’t look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language.”

Travis swallowed, hard, his Adam’s apple moving convulsively. “Um, sorry. Not that you’re…Your mom… I mean, I thought… is Dani a man or a woman?”
It was my turn to blink. “How’d you hear about Dani?”

“Your mother mentioned her.”

Fuck.

“Well, buddy, Dani is a guy. Daniel.”

“That’s not what I heard, man. Your mother thinks you had a live-in girlfriend.”

I snorted. How was he going to handle this bit of information?

“Well, Travis. Dani is fucking hot in a skirt, and on the telephone, it would be easy to jump to several conclusions.”

He blinked owlishly. “I see.”

I doubted it. Dani did standup comedy in full drag regalia, and it was damn funny.

Travis slumped against the fender beside me, our shoulders brushing. “You still want to go get that pizza? I really have to eat something so my glucose level doesn’t bottom out on me.”

That sounded like my old friend. “Do you still run for fun?”

Travis treated me to a real grin. “Yeah. Gotta feed the machine. Do you still run?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t the same without you. Maybe I can get back into it, though. What do you think? Will you help me start training again?”

He looked pleased as he nodded. “Sure. It’ll help us get to know each other again.”

I leaned a little closer. “So, you’re not going to blow me off?”

Travis drew back like I’d struck him. Too late I realized the double-entendre. I grabbed his arm.

“Oh, no. No, man, I did not mean I wanted…I meant you weren’t going tell me to go to hell and then run away again.”

His eyes narrowed. “What? I’m not good enough to give you a blow job?”

We’d veered into very murky waters, the potential for disaster suddenly and exponentially increasing. We’d just reconnected, and the only thing that kept me from throwing my arms around him and never letting go was fear he’d bolt again.

As for blow jobs, I’d go to my knees for him anytime he snapped his fingers and pointed at the spot, but I didn’t dare tell him that for the exact same reason. “Lord, Travis. Let’s not talk about sex just yet.”

To my surprise, he chuckled. “Heath Kelley, backpedaling. I’m amazed I lived long enough to see it happen.”

“Laugh all you like. We can talk sex over lunch.”

Travis turned to me, arms crossed over his chest, his hip against the car.

“No, Heath. We won’t talk sex. You’ll always be my best friend. Hell, you’re more than that. I’ve missed you so much.” He paused and took a deep breath.

“Sex is off limits, Heath. I don’t want to talk about it with you, and as friends, we’re not going to do it.”

He might think that, but I knew better.

A HARD HABIT TO BREAK
Available now at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other online booksellers. 

KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com