I Was Daydreaming Anyway

Welcome to my writing blog! My first novel LODESTONES will be published by Duet Books on September 8th, 2015. Herein you will find images and quotes that I find inspiring during the writing process, as well as my writerly ramblings. If you have any questions, my ask is always open! @_naomimackenzie on Twitter.

[ericbbittle]

I thought it was time to take a picture of my interlude press book collection 💕 The only ones I haven’t read yet are the ones on top! ☺️

[interludepress]

💕📚💕 What a collection!! Thank you!!! 💕💕

[duetbooks]

The 2016 Duet Books Collection

The Star Host by F.T. Lukens Set Me Free by Kitty Stephens Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee Hold by Rachel Davidson Leigh The Rules of Ever After by Killian B. Brewer (Special Edition benefiting @thetrevorproject and public libraries)

[naomimackenzie]

Help Interlude Press donate LGBTQ YA books to libraries & support #TheTrevorProject with the #1000BookChallenge http://thndr.me/6Rbn3X

[interludepress]

Now Available to Pre-Order: Sideshow by Amy Stilgenbauer

She wanted to flee, to turn and run from the tent as fast as her feet could carry her, but no matter how many times she sent her legs the signal to run, they stayed firmly rooted.

Summary

Abby Amaro wants to sing at La Scala Opera House, but she’s a good girl, and in 1957 good girls get married. Still, when she receives her first marriage proposal, she freezes, knowing the way her suitor makes her feel bodes trouble. When he won’t take no for an answer, she flees, joining up with a traveling carnival.

Thanks to a burlesque trapeze artist and the world’s saddest clown, Abby bides her time and fits in until she can rejoin the world she knows. She doesn’t expect a sideshow strongwoman named Suprema, who captures her imagination. As the carnival makes its way across the Midwest, Abby learns much more than she had ever imagined—about herself, about her identity, and, most importantly, about love.

Price: $15.99 print / $6.99 multi-format ebook Release Date: August 25, 2016 Details: Trade paperback, 6"x9" ISBN: 978-1-941530-01-6 print // 978-1-945053-02-3 ebook US/Canada:  If you place both the print and ebook versions in your cart and order before August 25, 2016, you will receive the multi-format eBook for free with the discount code SIDESHOW. International: Order the print edition by October 25, 2016 from your favorite book retailer and receive free multi-format eBook by submitting a copy of your receipt to [email protected].

About the Author

Amy Stilgenbauer is a writer and aspiring archivist currently based in southeast Michigan. She is the author of the novelette series, Season of the Witch, as well as the Young Adult novel, The Legend of League Park. Her short story, “The Fire-Eater’s Daughter,” was included in Summer Love: An LGBTQ Collection published by Duet, the Young Adult imprint of Interlude Press. When she isn’t writing, Amy enjoys all things bergamot and tries to keep her cats away from her knitting.

[abandonedstructures]

Decayed and abandoned typewriter. I don’t think it’s salvageable [740 x 566]

[interludepress]

Why are LGBTQ YA Books Disappearing from Library Shelves?

We’re at the American Library Association Convention this weekend (#ALAAC16) talking not only about our upcoming IP titles, but also about The Thousand Book Challenge campaign in support of @thetrevorproject​ and public libraries. But we have also had a good opportunity to listen to librarians talk about what they see and what they need for their LGBTQ readers—especially at school libraries. 

And they’ve had a lot to say, some of it heart-warming, some of it heart-breaking, and all of it reassuring us that we did the right thing when we launched Duet Books for LGBTQ-YA fiction one year ago.

There was the school librarian who said that it wasn’t uncommon for library staff  to remove security strips from LGBTQ titles, knowing that teen readers might feel uncomfortable checking the book out. “The books disappear—and then mysteriously show up on a table a week or two later,” she said. This little act of compassionate rebellion really made us smile. You rock, librarians.

Others told us about the challenges of securing funding for books about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and other queer characters. Administrators argue that there is no demand for the books because they aren’t checked out as often as bestsellers. The LGBTQ YA titles are actually read to the point of disrepair—in the library. Several librarians told us that they assume that kids don’t want to bring the books home. “(The administrators) only look at the numbers,” one said.

Overwhelmingly, librarians told us that they need more: More LGBTQ Young Adult fiction; more quality books that are well written and treat the readers and subjects with respect; more cover art that is age (and school) appropriate. 

These stories reaffirmed why we have undertaken The Thousand Book Challenge, a dual philanthropic campaign to raise funds for @thetrevorproject‘s life saving efforts on behalf of LGBTQ youth while donating one thousand copies of a new, special edition of @killianbbrewer‘s The Rules of Ever After. Interlude Press will not make any money off the donations made to this campaign. By sponsoring these books with your tax deductible donations, you will help add to library collections for teen readers and help The Trevor Project fund its crisis intervention and suicide prevention efforts.

[vintageanchorbooks]

Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye (via vintageanchorbooks)

[colorel11]

©*I*

[aurorz-deactivated20191219]

[victoriousvocabulary]

HELIOSIS

[noun]

1. exposure to the sun.

2. sunburn.

3. sunstroke.

Etymology: from Greek hēlios, “sun” + -ōsis, suffix denoting a process or condition.

[Christina Chung]

[interludepress]

2016 Publication Calendar

We shared our entire 2016 publication calendar in our Publisher’s Spotlight this morning at #RT16.  We had hoped to share it live with you via Periscope, but wifi would not cooperate, so instead we’ll share it here.

April: BLACK DUST    by Lynn Charles

Fifteen years after a car crash claimed the life of their friend and ultimately destroyed their relationship, former lovers reconnect and take a second chance at love.

THE BETTER TO KISS YOU WITH    by Michelle Osgood

The moderator of an online werewolf role-playing falls for the enigmatic woman who lives upstairs, who seems to know more about this community than she had realized.

May: IN THE PRESENT TENSE    by Carrie Pack

When a man wakes up and discovers he has been time traveling and is now married to a woman, he searches for his high school boyfriend and a cure for his rare condition.

June: SET ME FREE    by Kitty Stephens

When an affluent college-bound boy falls for a young artist, he must choose between the life that’s been mapped out for him and the chance at true love. YA fiction from Duet Books. 

DANIEL AND ERIK’S SUPER FAB ULTIMATE WEDDING CHECKLIST  by K.E. Belledonne

Their wedding approaching, a man gets caught up in the demands of a cheeky wedding planning app. Will his Groomzilla ways interfere with their happily ever after?

July:  INTO THE BLUE    by Pene Henson

Two surfers, friends since childhood, face changes in their relationship—and new feelings for each other—when one of them earns a chance to pursue his pro surfing aspirations. 

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU    by Zane Riley

(Cover Reveal Coming Soon)

In the sequel to Go Your Own Way, Will and Lennox navigate the tumultuous waters of a new relationship and their plans for the future.

August: BURNING TRACKS    by Lilah Suzanne

In Book Two of the Spotlight Series, Gwen and her wife Flora adjust to their new life in Nashville, as Gwen’s work with music superstar Clementine causes her to second-guess her relationship. Meanwhile, Nico and his partner, reformed bad-boy musican Grady, face future-based uncertainties of their own.

SIDESHOW    by Amy Stilgenbauer

After spurning the affections of her ex-boyfriend, a woman seeks refuge with a traveling carnival, where she finds community and falls for the sideshow strongwoman.

September:

NOT YOUR SIDEKICK    by C.B. Lee

The daughter of superheroes unknowingly accepts an internship with the town’s most heinous supervillain, uncovering secrets… and a budding attraction to her fellow intern. YA Fiction from Duet Books.

CERTAINLY, POSSIBLY, YOU   by Lissa Reed

In Book Two in the Sacre Coeur series, the focus is on Sarita, the pastry shop’s head decorator, and the pretty ballroom dancer whose cheerful charm sets Sarita on the path to making all of the choices she’s been avoiding.

October:  IDLEWILD    by Jude Sierra

Set against the backdrop of Detroit’s revival, Idlewild is a love story between a widower who tries to bring the gastro pub he started with his late husband back to life, and the pre-med college graduate he hires to help him. 

HOLD   by Rachel Davidson Leigh

After his sister’s death, a young man returns to high school and discovers he suddenly has the power to stop time. YA Fiction from Duet Books.

November: LUCHADOR    by Erin Finnegan

A young exótico wrestler in Mexico City’s professional lucha libre circuit charts a course to balance ambition, sexuality, and faith to find the future that may have been destined for him since childhood.

FLYING WITHOUT A NET    by E.M. Ben Shaul

A secular Israeli software engineer working in Boston falls in love with a gay Orthodox Jew and sign language interpreter. Will they be able to start a life together despite religious ideology that conflicts with the relationship they are trying to build?

December: The Heart of All Worlds, Book 2:  THE KING AND THE CRIMINAL    by Charlotte Ashe

In Book Two of The Heart of All Worlds trilogy, a compromised ancient spell puts Sehrys and Breiden’s happily ever after, and the destinies of others, into question. Meanwhile, Firae confronts his own expected legacy when he must rely on the very criminal he was pursuing to help him get home alive.

[larmoyante]

We’re all lonely for something we don’t know we’re lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we’ve never even met.

David Foster Wallace (via larmoyante)

[duetbooks]

Now Available: The Star Host by F.T. Lukens

It was freeing and frightening.

His consciousness raced along the circuits and he could fix it. He could fix everything. He found the tangle of wires in the artificial gravity system and bypassed it. He found the broken circuits in the air recyclers and with a pulse of power, refurbished them. He saw the static in the com system, a physical entity, and he cleared it away with a brush of his metaphysical hand.

The longer Ren floated through the ship, the less connected he was to his physical body. And if he thought about it, he didn’t need his body. Why would he need his body? He was free here. He moved around with ease, the wires and the systems his route, and the more he pushed, the more he felt the other ships too. They were nearby, on the edge of his perception, and he could go to those, he could jump to the other ones and repair them too.

He could.

He could.

* * *

Summary

Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among the neighboring drifts. When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.

He finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet, and an eventful ride on a merchant ship, Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home. Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.

* * *

From Duet Books for LGBTQ Young Adult Fiction

International: Order the print edition of The Star Host by May 3, 2016 from your favorite book retailer and receive free multi-format eBook by submitting a copy of your receipt to [email protected].

ISBN: 978-1-941530-72-6 (print) // 978-1-941530-73-3 (Multi-Format eBook)

Pages: 258

Price:  $15.99 US print*/ $6.99 US multi-format eBook

The Star Host is available at the IP Web Store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple’s iBookstore, All Romance eBooks, Smashwords, Book Depository, and an indie bookstore near you. 

* * *

About the Author

F.T. wrote her first short story when she was in third grade and her love of writing continued from there. After placing in the top five out of ten thousand entries in a writing contest, she knew it was time to dive in and try her hand at writing a novel.

A wife and mother of three, F.T. holds degrees in psychology and English literature, and is a long-time member of her college’s science-fiction club. F.T. has a love of cheesy television shows, superhero movies, and science-fiction novels—especially anything by Douglas Adams.

Connect with F.T. at authorftlukens.wordpress.com on Twitter @ftlukens, on Tumblr at ftlukens.tumblr.com and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/ftlukens.

[amyoung-deactivated20171003]

There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.

Beatrix Potter (via authorcblee)

[railroad-girl-in-germany-deacti]

[osgoodmichelle-blog]

I’ve invited fellow 2016 debut author @ftlukens​ to come and chat with me a bit about our writing and publishing process!  We are both new authors with Interlude Press, having submitted our novels during their Open Submission period in June of last year, and I thought it’d be fun to discuss how we got to where we are now.  This post will be focusing mostly on the work and writing leading up to submitting a complete manuscript, and we’ll have a second post on FT’s blog next week about what happened once we began the publishing process.  

Michelle: The Better to Kiss You With is my first original novel, and I’m so glad that it is being published with Interlude Press!  I’d been following Interlude since their inception in 2014, and admired how they were working with fan authors and artists, and doing it in a way that was very respectful of fandom and fanworks while allowing authors and artists a shot at doing something original.  Though I’d written for pleasure for many years, I had never written a full-length original novel before.  When Interlude announced in February of 2015 that they would be looking for new novels in June, I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to write for them.  The Better to Kiss You With was written in about three months, and submitted with days to spare.   How did that work for you, FT?  Did you have The Star Host already written and were looking for a publisher for it and Interlude fit the bill, or did you also write yours in response to their open call?  

FT: Hi Michelle, thanks for inviting me to your blog to talk about The Star Host. I have to say that my story is much like yours. I had been following Interlude Press and was impressed with how they handled their product and how they supported their authors. I knew I wanted to be a part of IP and was thrilled when they announced their open submission period. I wrote my novel over three and a half months and submitted on June 19th. It was the fastest I had ever produced that many words, but it was worth it.

FT: Michelle, since we were both on a very tight deadline to get our novels finished and submitted during the open call, I’m sure you were writing like crazy to get it done. I know I was! Did you hit any snags? How did you keep the motivation going?

Michelle: Oh man—I actually spent the first month working on an entirely different story!  I wasn’t getting anywhere with that idea though, so one day I just sat down and started writing something new, a story that had been growing quietly in the back of my mind.  The scene I wrote ended up being the first chapter of The Better to Kiss You With.  Once I’d let myself write what my subconscious actually wanted to write, everything went much smoother.   One of the things I had to learn while scrambling to get my novel written was that I needed to pay attention to my mental health.  I’m an extrovert, but because the image of the tortured, solitary writer is so pervasive in our society I had convinced myself that I needed to say no to a bunch of social things—forgetting entirely that being social is exactly what recharges my batteries!  It turned out that if I went out to pub trivia I worked that much harder on my novel the next night, as opposed to turning down the invite and sitting at home wishing I was out with my friends.  How about you?

FT: I am a planner by nature and I had the word counts and plot lines all laid out. I knew what word counts I needed to hit by specific times. I began writing in March. In April, I started a new job halfway through the month and I knew that would really slow down my writing. So for the first half of April, I wrote 3,000 words a day. No matter what. By the end of that month, I had about 55k of the novel. The last 20k was the hardest. I was working. I had an infant plus my two other children, and the new day job was draining. Those last few chapters dragged on forever. But I just kept pushing. The biggest helps were my husband and my best friend. My hub knew what I wanted to accomplish and helped me in every way that he could. My best friend kept encouraging me and waving her pom poms of doom until I finished.

Michelle:  What kind of editing process did you have for your manuscript before you submitted it?  

FT: Being as I finished during the open submission call, I didn’t have a lot of time to get it all looked over before I sent it in. I did have two beta readers though. And after I took a little bit of a break after finishing (a few days), I went back in and banged what I could into shape. Then I sent it off to my two friends. They are folks I’ve known for a long time in fandom communities. One of them is a grammar queen and the other catches my quirks and is wonderful at plot. Between the three of us, we managed to make The Star Host into a story I was really proud to submit.

Michelle:  Thank goodness for beta readers, eh?  I had my partner Elizabeth look the story over initially when it hit 30,000 words.  I found that without being confident in the plot I wasn’t able to write the ending, so she read it and gave it back to me with her notes—thankfully, not too many.  After that I ended up re-typing the whole thing, which carried me straight to the finish.  She read it over once more before I submitted it to check for obvious typos and grammar, and that was it!  

FT: When all was said and done, how did it feel to hit send on the manuscript?

Michelle: Haha, so good!  I couldn’t believe that I’d actually done it—there were a few times throughout the writing process where I was convinced I wouldn’t make the deadline, and I seriously considered giving up.  But I sort of knew that it was now or never, and that kept me going.  Actually sending it in was exhilarating, because I knew no matter what happened after that, I’d met this incredible goal I’d set for myself.  

FT: Yes, I agree with you. It was amazing to hit send. It was a little nerve-racking and a little exciting. But I was also so relieved that I managed to finish in time, and was proud of myself for creating something that I felt was good enough to submit.

Michelle: What happened when you found out that Interlude had liked your book and wanted to publish it?  I received the email while I was at my day job, and saw the preview of it on my phone.  Because all I could see that it was an email from Interlude Press and that it started “Thank you so much for submitting…” I texted Elizabeth before opening it and said “I just got a response back & I’m sure they rejected me.”  It wasn’t even a month after I’d sent my novel in, and I was certain it wouldn’t be good news.  I gritted my teeth and opened the email, only to find that they wanted to publish it!  I immediately took a screen shot of the email and texted it to her, and then called her.  She hadn’t even had the chance to read it before I called. Then I sent the same screen shot to like six different friends because I was so excited, and actually this Christmas one of them blew up the picture and had it framed for me so I have it hanging on my wall :)

FT: I was at work, too. I glanced at my phone and saw I had an email. Then I saw it was from Interlude. That first line was such a rickroll! I read it and thought I had been rejected. But the next line said they loved the book. I immediately left my office, walked to my car, and called my husband. I don’t even remember the conversation other than me squealing in his ear. When I went back into my office, I showed one of my work friends, but that was it. I sat on the news until I had the call with the IP team. Then I casually texted my brother and about thirty seconds later he called me and yelled at me because that wasn’t the sort of news you send in a text. :)

The Star Host is a young adult sci fi adventure novel, featuring a M/M romance and a bisexual protagonist.  It comes out March 3, 2016 and is now available for pre-order!  For updates on FT and The Star Host you can follow her on Tumblr, Twitter, Goodreads, and Wordpress where we’ll be chatting next week about working with a publisher.  

The Better to Kiss You With is a new adult paranormal romance, with queer girls, werewolves, and gaming, that comes out April 21, 2016.  You can find me on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads where I’ll be posting updates and info!

[wordsnquotes]

I dream of lost vocabularies that might express some of what we no longer can.

Jack Gilbert, “The Great Fires”  (via wordsnquotes)