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Happy birthday, America! It’s a glorious day for this wonderful country. Those of us lucky enough to be part of it should take a moment to cherish the freedom that helps enrich our lives so much. It’s a freedom that helps us prosper. It’s a freedom that helps us explore. It’s a freedom that’s downright sexy when you think about it. So I hope everyone takes some time to appreciate that today. Stay safe, have fun, and celebrate the freedoms that make America great.

It took a little longer than I had hoped, but I can finally say it. I have completed the first draft of my next book! I did it just in time for the 4th of July holiday no less. Given the content and subject matter of this book, I’d say that’s more than appropriate. Why? You’ll just have to read to find out.

Now comes the biggest challenge, which is revising. This is the part of the writing process that tends to reveal just how well I’ve thought things through. There are times when I’m re-reading a manuscript where I want to bang my head against the wall. It’s amazing what seems like a good idea at the time, but is actually really fucked up when seen with a fresh set of eyes. That’s why it’s so important to catch these things before submitting to a publisher. I never assume that I get everything right the first go around. It’s never wise to assume you’re that good.

I always intended this story to be fairly brief, but concise. It has a very specific theme to it and I didn’t want to get too elaborate this time around. I want to save those elaborate ideas for when I have an audience, however long that might take. I’ve got a long road ahead of me, but I hope this book will mark another step in that journey.

As I’m finishing up my latest book, I find myself reflecting on an underappreciated element of romance and erotica. In most narratives that involve two people coming together, either romantically or sexually, the steps leading to that moment  get the most attention. However, the moments after tend to be just as revealing, if not more so.

Think about it from the perspective of having just seen an awesome concert, gone on an awesome roller coaster, or seen your new favorite movie for the first time. The experience that comes right afterwards can be just as meaningful as the experience itself. It’s a profound moment, of sorts, when we wrap our brains around what just happened. All the thoughts, emotions, and perceptions that go along with that experience change us. Those changes help give impact to the experience as a whole.

For the story I’m writing now, I’m putting extra emphasis on the impact that the story will have on one particular character. It’s an impact that, in some respects, needs to happen for some people. We all go through our lives and experience turning points in our lives. These moments force us to reassess our understanding of our world. We see the world in a new light. We think about things in a new way.

This impact is important because our brains just aren’t wired to reassess and rethink our experiences. It’s natural to become content with the way things are and oppose any inclination to change it. That’s why it often takes something jarring, shocking, or overwhelming to change our perceptions. Romance and erotica will do that to someone in any number of ways. Some are good. Some are bad. Some exist in that vast gray area in between.

With the story I’m telling, I like to think there’s more emphasis on the good. However, I don’t intend to ignore those gray areas either. There’s something to be said about experiences that affect us so significantly. It’s a powerful feeling that can affect us for years to come. I hope to capture that feeling with this story.

Quick update on my latest project. I’m happy to say it’s nearing an endpoint. I always find that to be one of the most exciting parts of a book. There’s nothing like that feeling you get when you complete a story, step back, and look at what you’ve created in its entirety. I won’t say it’s like sex, but it’s still pretty satisfying.

I’m still a ways away from submitting this to a publisher. Just finishing a book is the first step. Granted, it’s the most important and often the most time-consuming, but it’s still only part of a larger process. I’ve never written something that didn’t require some level of revision. I’m not talking about correcting grammar or punctuation either. Even great stories require polish at some point. Sometimes a scene needs to be tweaked. Sometimes a character needs to be fleshed out. Sometimes a setting needs more imagery. The opposite is also true. Sometimes things need to be completely removed. Sometimes it’s tedious, but it helps add to the satisfaction.

I’ll post more info on this story as my work continues. I still haven’t settled on a title yet. That may change before I start submitting it to publishers. Once that occurs, the hardest part begins, which is waiting. Thankfully, I already have another story in mind and that should keep me busy in the meantime.

Got some exciting news over the weekend. Thanks to some friendly Twitter chats, I chatted with someone who works for ComicsVerse, a website dedicated to the in depth analysis and cultural exploration of comics. The chat went well and I’ve been asked to contribute to their site. It’s a new, up-and-coming site so it’s not like I’m joining a subsidiary of Random House, but it’s a chance to interact and exchange ideas with others who think like me. As such, it’s a chance I hope to take advantage of.

It’s a promising opportunity. In addition to writing romance and erotica, I’m a huge comic book fan. In many respects, comics and the narratives they create has inspired a lot of what I’ve written. Some character concepts in books like Skin Deep were inspired by some of my favorite comic characters. Those who are familiar with that world will see the signs when they read the book.

Like any medium, comics also utilize many romantic themes. Most are familiar with Superman saving Lois Lane or Spider-Man saving Mary Jane Watson. However, these themes sometimes become more mature than what we see in movies or Saturday morning cartoons. The past two decades in particular have explored those mature themes, but only to a point. They’ll never utilize the same level of erotica that I use in my stories. However, the potential is there and it’s potential I think is worth realizing.

I’m not sure what will come of this. I’m also not sure of how it’ll help my career, but I’m eager to find out. I’ve been browsing the ComicsVerse website. They do have an appreciation for romance. They even dedicated several podcasts to the subject. Anyone who is interested in romance should check it out. Comics are evolving as an art form and romance is part of that evolution.

Top Couples in Comics Podcasts

I came across this article recently and it got me thinking. It asked a simple question. Is marriage still worth it? It’s a provocative title. It’s also a bit misleading once you get into the content, but the question itself raises other questions that are worth contemplating.

Forbes: Is Marriage Still Worth It?

Before anyone can answer that question, it’s important to point out context. Marriage today is very different from the marriage of the past. In fact, the whole concept of marrying someone for love is a fairly new phenomenon and there have even been periods in history where marrying for love is seen as detrimental. For most of human history, marriage relationships were business arrangements or social constructs meant to help stabilize society, roles, etc. Considering that for most of human history, people toiled in fields or factories, it makes logistical and economic sense. Society, like any living institution, adapts to fit the conditions its in.

However, conditions have changed. Situations have changed. The fundamentals of society have changed and will continue to change. And yet many people still cling to notions that the traditions of the past still function in this new and constantly changing present. I see it play out in so many romance stories. The deep, passionate, one person loving another until the end of time is almost universal. I don’t doubt there’s a place for that and always will be, but as society evolves, I think there’s room for alternatives.

What kind of alternatives though? Is it possible to create an iconic romance story with such an alternative? I ask this as someone who has written most of his stories about classic romance dynamics. Two characters fall in love, overcome obstacles, and come together. However, I did break that tradition with The Final Communion. This book actually did something different in the end. I won’t spoil it, but it didn’t stick to the formula and I found it oddly satisfying in many respects.

So now I find myself considering other stories that utilize very different forms of romance and relationships. I also think that as society evolves, more and more of those alternatives will find their way into romance and erotica. I think the next couple of decades will be very telling. The pace of change in society is accelerating. At some point, we as a people will have to change with it and that includes our concepts of romance.

As I finish up one story, I’m already hard at work planning another. With each story, however, I have important decisions to make before I even type the first word. One major, often overlooked, detail is the point of view I use for the story and which character’s view I favor. Stories involving romance and erotica are often told from a character’s point of view. It’s often vital in order to convey the necessary feelings and emotions.

In some of my earlier stories, I used third person for the most part. I didn’t just use it for one character though. In both Skin Deep and The Secrets of Sadfur Island, I alternated among the characters. With Skin Deep, I often alternated between several. It did get chaotic at times, but for that story, it was necessary. There were multiple perspectives from multiple characters that each helped tie the story together.

In later stories, I tried to simplify the perspective to help streamline the story. Both Jackpot and Holiday Heat are told from the perspective of one particular character. That can be limiting in some ways, but it’s also more genuine and less confusing. No matter where anyone is in the story, they know whose perspective they’re dealing with. They know whose thoughts, feelings, and emotions are guiding the story.

Perspective or not, those two stories were still written from a distant third person point of view. To date, I’ve only done one story entirely from a first person point of view. That story is The Final Communion, which was told entirely from within the mind of Grace Maria Goodwin. That story offered some interesting challenges and some unique benefits. Writing from one character’s perspective does help personalize the story a bit more. It also helps make for some interesting interpretations of erotic and romantic moments. I’d definitely be interested in hearing some feedback from readers who have read this book compared to my earlier works.

I bring this up because while I’m not yet done with my next self-published book, I am already contemplating my next story. I’m not sure whether I’ll continue to tell the story from a single third-person perspective or whether I’ll give first person another shot. It depends on how I choose to develop the story. I still have time to make that decision, but it’s a decision I want to make soon. I’ve got a lot of ideas and I’m eager to put them into a book.

I’m always looking to improve my craft. With every story I write, I want it to be an improvement over its predecessor. Writing isn’t a skill you master. It’s a skill you’re always working on, always trying to improve in any way you can. In that respect, I do seek out advice wherever I can. Recently, I found this video that offers some nice insights. Hopefully, these qualities show in my next project.

I’ve been writing stories about romance and erotica for years. Since I was a teenager, I’ve tried to conjure epic stories that inspire passions. However, there’s no story that I can tell, or any writer can tell for that matter, that compares to real life sometimes.

It’s true. Love is far from dead. Every generation likes to think romance and love is in decline. I believe it has always been strong and will continue to be strong, regardless of trends in culture, technology, or politics. Love evolves and changes with the times, but its core power remains the same. With that in mind, here are 10 amazing love stories, courtesy of Listverse, that should help remind everyone that romance is as strong as ever.

10 Amazing Stories of Love That Will Break Your Heart