SQUEE!
Pardon the ear splitting screeches, but we're so happy to have today's guest here! Please welcome Meghan Maslow to the clubhouse (again) as she regales you of something touching!
And stick around because she has party gifts to give away!
Blushing for My Art
Meghan Maslow
Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t embarrass easily. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve blushed in the last dozen years or so. It’s a rare event to see me flustered and tongue tied and blushing. Very rare. But not impossible. . .
I have a new fantasy romance that came out at the end of September. By Fairy Means or Foul was a blast to write and I enjoyed every minute of it. While I’m a relative newcomer to the LGBTQ romance scene, I’m not a newbie writer. I write mystery under another pen name and have been doing so for many years.
Unlike many writers, I don’t expect my friends and family to read my work. Most of them aren’t my audience. My mother-in-law, for example, loves suspense, but can’t stand any sort of magical or fantasy element in a story. My mom isn’t going to read a horror story. Period. She doesn’t enjoy them. So, if I wrote one, I wouldn’t ask or expect my mother to read it. She does, however, LOVE a good mystery and she enjoys a good romance. She’s read almost everything I’ve ever written.
It gives me a warm fuzzy that she bothers. My dad enjoys a good mystery and/or suspense read too, though he mostly reads non fiction. When I received my first copies of By Fairy Means or Foul, I sent one to my mom. It’s right up her alley and I suspected that she’d really enjoy it.
So when my phone rang one Sunday morning and I saw my parents’ phone number pop up, I was sure it was my mom telling me she’d finished it. (We’re all voracious readers in my family – I come by it quite naturally). Imagine my surprise when it was my dad. . . to tell me he’d just finished my novel.
My dad doesn’t read romance. At. All. He doesn’t hardly ever read fantasy unless the buzz is so great that he decides to check it out (a la Harry Potter). Not only had he taken the time to read it, but he’d called to say that he LOVED it. My lovely husband happened to be sitting next to me when I answered the phone and he overheard my dad telling me this. His eyes bugged out, his jaw fell open. I think I stammered out something akin to a “wow, thanks.”
Then my dad proceeded to analyze the text, compared it to Vonnegut and Piers Anthony, and asked me when the next in the series would be finished. I admit it. I floundered.
And then I felt it. The dreaded blush. I’m pretty sure it started at my toes and zipped its way to the very top of my head. A tomato had nothing on me. Nothing.
Perhaps it was because it was so unexpected – both the gesture and the praise. I knew that he enjoyed my mysteries. My parents have always been in my corner. So that wasn’t the issue.
Maybe it was because my DAD read my fairly explicit SEX scenes and as progressive as I am, there is something that squicks me out about including my father and sex in the same sentence (I just shivered with revulsion typing this!). Maybe I’m not as mature as I like to believe.
Most likely, it’s because each piece I write tells a story (obviously), but also tells the reader something about me. Writing is an intimate act and there are bits and pieces of me in whatever I write. I guess I just wasn’t prepared for my dad to see those particular pieces.
Even though it made me feel loved and so, so supported. And lucky.
And yet even now a month later when I reflect on it, I can feel the telltale blush. I suspect I’ll be feeling it for a while, though I’d better get over it because book two in the series is on its way. . .
See our group review HERE if you need more proof why this fantasy novel is awesome!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The giveaway is open until 12:00AM (EST) on 12/5/17. Shortly thereafter, we will contact a winner!
Please respond to the winning notification within 48 hours or we will choose another winner. Good luck!
Don't miss entering in our month long unicorn giveaway HERE! It ends 12/1/17!
Well, that was intriguing. And I'm happy for you that your dad loved the book you've written though you know that it's not exactly right up his alley. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I was happy as well, but it still makes me blush when I think about it. :)
DeleteOh wow, it's wonderful that your dad gave it a read but I think the idea of sex and family has it's own ick factor for everyone but especially when it's a parent. It's awesome you've got the support of family =)
ReplyDeleteYes! You get it. Sooo weird. Nice. But weird. :)
Deletelove paranormal. love Greg Tremblay narrating.
ReplyDeletelooking forward to listening soon.��
He's amazing! He does such a great job on this book! (He even did a few of the voices better than the ones I heard in my head while I wrote it -- that's how amazing the guy is!).
Delete