It's Tough Being a Bisexual Writer

Okay, I’ll admit that title is misleading. I am a writer, but I am not bisexual. However, when it comes to writing, I can relate to some of my bisexual friends. I can practically hear you thinking, ‘Uh, Trish, that doesn’t make any sense’.  Let me see if I can explain.

When I first started writing, I was strictly writing male/female romance, meaning all of my stories had a male and female couple falling in love with each other. That is also the type of story I liked to read. It was rare for me to read non-straight fiction, but one day I found myself reading male/male romances and enjoying them as much as their male/female counterparts.

With as many of these m/m romances as I was reading, it wasn’t long before I wanted to try my hand at writing them. In the beginning, it was adding gay characters as secondary characters. Later, it was writing a m/m book in an otherwise all m/f series. One book would be m/m and the other three would be m/f, and I would usually put the m/m book in the middle after introducing one or more of the characters in earlier books, hoping to get readers invested.

Now, I’m writing an entire five book m/m series. I haven’t stopped writing m/f romance though. I intend to keep writing both. I’m not the only author who does it, but you know what I’ve discovered?

Some readers refuse to read m/f or m/m books, no matter how much they love an author. If they like m/m, that is all they will read. Just today, I saw a question in a Facebook readers’ group asking if skipping a m/f/m book in an otherwise m/m series would cause any issues with understanding the events in future books that were only m/m. That reader absolutely did not want to read the male/female/male romance simply because of the female being a romantic and sexual partner for the two males.

Because of this, there are some authors who write both m/f and m/m romances but use different pen names for each trope. I don’t use a pen name, never have. I know a lot of authors do, but I never saw the point. All of my books, whether they are m/m or m/f or even m/f/m are going to be written under my name. Readers that despise one or the other can choose not to read those books. I’m okay with that, but I want to make a couple of things clear.

This is not a phase. I like to write books for both the m/f and m/m audience. I’m not going to pick a side. I’m perfectly happy as an equal opportunity writer. I’m not secretly happier writing m/m and just unwilling to admit it. I enjoy writing m/f as much as I do m/m. Each satisfies me in a different way.

While I would like it if all of my readers loved all of my books, I know that’s not realistic. Everyone has their preferences, and I’m not out to change them. I just hope you’ll do me the same courtesy and not abandon me for liking both tropes. Just read the books you like and let others do the same. And for those of you equal opportunity readers, thank you for supporting me no matter what.

That's Inksane

No, that title is not a misprint. That's exactly what I meant.

If you follow me on social media, you know that for the last few months, I’ve been talking about my latest book. Other than the fact that it’s a male/male romance and will be the first in a five book series, I haven’t shared many details. Well, that changes today.

I didn’t plan to write this book or series. Earlier in the year, I’d mapped out the six book series that I wanted to write. Each book has a synopsis, three have completed covers and two have been written and released. I was all set to write the third book when it happened.

An idea for a new series popped into my head. Once I did the outline, the characters for the first book became insistent. The story would not stop trying to write itself in my head, leaving me two choices. Either write the story or face losing what I’d come up with so far. I chose to write the story.

As of today, that story has been written, the cover has been done and it’s been formatted. Best of all, the book is already up for pre-order in the Amazon store and will be released 10/16/18. And for you Kindle Unlimited subscribers, you'll be happy to hear, I'm putting this one in KU so you can read for free.

The book is called Going Insksane, which also happens to be name of the tattoo shop where one of the main characters works. It’s not just the name of Heath’s business. It’s the story of his life.

For the last five years, Heath Mitchell’s only priority has been running a successful tattoo shop. Relationships haven’t been on his radar, but as his thirtieth birthday gets closer, Heath realizes just how lonely he is. Like an answer to his prayers, Ned Nice comes into his shop. Despite the instant attraction between them, a dark secret in Ned’s past makes him afraid to get too close to Heath. Ned isn’t the only one with secrets though. Heath is hiding a secret so big it could be a deal breaker. Can Heath and Ned find a way to overcome the demons of their pasts, or is it insane to even try?

Going Inskane is the first in a five book series, there will be a larger gap between releases than readers are used to from me. I still want to finish the last four books in my New Beginnings series with Slade's story being the next one scheduled for release. In order to do justice to both series, I will be alternating releases. After Slade's book is out, then it will be time to release the next Ink book and so on and so forth.

I’ve never tried to write more than one series at a time so this will be interesting. And I sure didn’t plan it this way, but I’d say that Going Inksane is a topical title for this undertaking.