Hey everyone! I’m excited to share my journey as an M/M contemporary romance writer with you. I am just getting started, but would not have made it this far without my friend, Sam Burns. You are the best! Thank you so much for all of your guidance so far.
I met Sam in the fall of 2018 and started reading M/M romance shortly after. It is now about 95% of what I read and I have discovered so many new authors and favorite books. I am so grateful for meeting Sam and being introduced to all of these fabulous authors and their stories!
After seeing Sam and her love of writing as well as joining sooo many readers’ group on Facebook, I began to dream of becoming an author myself. I enjoyed writing stories as a kid, but never believed it was something I could really do. How would I get started? How could I afford to begin my career? After graduating high school, getting a degree in education, and teaching for a few years I realized that it was not the right fit for me. Since then, I’ve had a couple of jobs in medical fields. I still currently work in the medical field while writing in the evenings and on weekends. One day, I dream that I will be able to work from home with my husband and our two doggies. Until then, I will keep learning, reading, and writing as much as I can.
So far I have an idea, a first scene written, a basic idea of my two main characters (with photos for inspiration of course!), a photo of an adorable Shih Tzu named Bob, and a few more scene ideas on virtual notecards. It’s not much, but I have started! I treated myself to a Mac and the Scrivener software to start this journey and am so thankful to have these tools.
Before I get too far either writing or outlining, I wanted to have a better idea on where to go next. Based on Sam’s recommendation, I am starting with the book, Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels (How to Write Kissing Books Book 1) by Gwen Hayes.
I’ve only read the very beginning, but the author’s style seems like she is your pal chatting with you, the book seems pretty short and straightforward, and you can visit her website for a Scrivener or PDF template. I am looking forward to hearing details about each beat. As I read this book, I hope to complete the outline for my first M/M romance novel.
Stay tuned!
<3 Katie