A friend of mine who writes M/M romances (Jane Davitt; I highly recommend her novel Room At The Top, which she wrote with Alexa Snow) pointed me to this post by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books about a chapter of RWA banning same-sex romances from their annual contest.

What I find rather baffling is that this ban takes place because some members of the chapter are ‘uncomfortable’ with such material, even in sweet, sex-less romances, while at the same time the rules state that “We recruit judges nationwide and even worldwide”.

So… the members who don’t care for this genre wouldn’t have been asked to read or judge it… but the fact that they personally don’t like it means that the genre is banned?

It’s one thing for a reader not to enjoy a particular genre, whether because of the setting or gender of the characters. Everyone is entitled to their reading tastes, and whether they mirror their attitude in ‘real life’ or not is not for me to judge.

It’s a different thing altogether for an organization to discriminate against said genre. I’m not a member of RWA. If this behavior is accepted in this organization, I don’t think I’ll ever care to join. What I did instead was sign this petition.

A week or so ago, Megan at Riverina Romantics posted about M/M romances and asked her readers to share their opinions. Here’s the answer I posted about why I write M/M… and why I’ll keep writing it.

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When I first started writing, way back then in my fanfiction days, I was strictly a het writer… but I would sneak to the ‘other side’ and read M/M stories, too worried about what anyone would think of me reading them to dare leave feedback for the authors. And then one day it hit me. What was I worried about? I was reading stories that told about love, and relationships, and heartbreak, and okay, *sex*, but all these were the same things I wrote about in my stories. The gender of the characters didn’t change anything.

With much trepidation – and it turned out, to the happiness of my readers – I popped my M/M cherry and started writing both M/M and M/F to the point that, today, I write both without ever thinking twice about it. I think most writers focus on one or the other, but for me it’s never been an option. I enjoy both too much.

I know some of my readers might not appreciate my M/M – I know it because I’ve heard from some of them, especially when I write a threesome and my heroes ‘play’ with each other as well as with the heroine. In Living Out of the Box, in particular, one reader was really upset that the hero, Anando, seemed to enjoy bottoming for another man under the heroine’s directions. I am sorry when that happens, but I’d never NOT write a scene or a book because of fears I might turn off readers.

The one limit I have is that I don’t write full F/F stories. (I’ve had very minor glimpses of it when the story called for it, but nothing major.) It’s not because I have an issue with two women together, but rather because of the way I write. I’m a very visual person, and when I write I ‘see’ the scene in my mind. It’s just a lot more fun for me to mentally ogle characters with dangly bits (or not so dangly if you know what I mean… ) than to imagine characters with boobs. I’ve got some of those and some days they’re more trouble than they’re worth

Just under the deadline, a few words about my writing week.

I’m still working on Before The Edge. To win the little competition I’m having with my friend, I must finish the first draft by February 15th. I think I’m at 2/3 of the story by now, so that should be no problem. Oftentimes, this is the point where I start doubting myself, my story and my writing, but so far I’m still pretty happy with it all. I guess it helps that I love Brett and Lisa so much.

This week, I also continued working on the first chapter of One Last Lullaby as well as plotting further chapters. I’m going slowly, but on purpose. Jacob is older in this than in Fangs & Lullabies, and I want to get his voice right.

The other thing I wrote this past week was flash fiction: two short pieces that take place during the first part of the new series I’m planning. I’ve figured out the series’ name and the title for the first book… but I’m not ready to share quite yet Stay tuned to know more soon!

This past week, I’ve set aside everything to focus on one work in progress: Before The Edge. I entered a little friendly contest with a dear friend, and we’ve given each other a month to finish a project. The one I chose is BTE, a prequel to On The Edge that shows how Brett and Lisa first met before Leo came along. It’ll be a short story, somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 words I think, and I’m about 1/3rd done. Brett is being absolutely adorkable and I just want to pinch his cheeks. Lisa… wants to pinch a very different part of his anatomy

Before the contest started, though, I did work on One Last Lullaby. Let me just say this: the first chapter starts with a sword fight between Andrew and Jacob… and ends with Andrew and Nicholas in bed… Why, yes, I am a tease, didn’t you know?

I have also finished the edits for His Sire’s New Pet – but should I include that in my Writing Wednesday? Since I’m making the rules, I guess I will! There’s always a moment of self doubt after I’ve looked at a story for too long, but that doubt was nudged back when the first reviewer said she enjoyed the story. I can’t wait to see what she thought of it… and what you guys all think!

And alright, if you’re my friend on Facebook you know I lied when I said I set everything aside to work on Before The Edge. I was browsing through old files the other day, just looking at ideas of stories that I never wrote and probably never will write, and one of those ideas shifted into something else – something that I will definitely be writing. I’ve been feverishly jotting down notes about the heroine and the two heroes, about their world, and how its magic works, and how they are going to grow closer, fall apart and find each other again other the course of 8 or 9 novellas… Oh, this is going to be a FUN one to write!

Tomorrow, back to The Edge for Brett and Lisa’s second date