Here are some things I’m working on …
My books often take a great deal of research (Day in the Sun took over a year to get the details of the 1930s) and then writing, editing, rewriting, and so on. I have two books that I’m sending around to interest agents; my goal is to be signed and have a mainstream publishing deal. However, some of my short stories have appeared at BigClosetTopShelf (not responsible for site content) and readers have requested full-length Kindle versions of the stories. In those cases, I edit, revise, and expand the original, sometimes significantly. The plot and characters were good, but maybe things could be, um, improved? So here are some requests from readers:
ONE WORD AND ONE YEAR
This is one of the most-requested ebooks from BCTS readers. My YA books usually deal with a protagonist who has always known their gender identity isn’t congruent with their body, but in some others, the protagonist discovers their dissatisfaction with their lives is due to underlying gender incongruency.
This is the case with Mark. With a single word, his world changes. His best friend Taylor is convinced that he is a girl, and over the course of the next year, first Mark and then his family must come to terms with the fact that he is transgender.
PIRATES
A loner becomes involved with his high school’s production of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta; not as an actor, but the prompter—and even then he’s alone in the booth. Then he’s asked to help plan the wrap party, and he instantly feels much more natural among the girls than a boy should—but maybe he’s been acting all along …
CHEMYSTERY
Boys will be boys … until they aren’t. It was a youthful prank, a dare; a fairly innocent attempt to find out about a new video game results in three friends being caught trespassing. They thought the building belonged to a game developer, but why are there military types—very scary military types?
And then the boys start to change, becoming less boyish at first and then more girlish. They are undergoing a metamorphosis, but for how far, and for what purpose?