National Coming Out Day

When I was a kid (just saying that makes me sound like an old lady. Grey hair on my head has nothing to do with it. Lol.) Anyway, when I was a kid, I had several gay friends. I toured with a singing and dancing troupe, al la Young Americans (and no one will know who they were, either!) and out of the thirty guys, more than twenty of them were gay. At that point in time, (the late seventies; see? Old.) coming out was potentially dangerous. Families could be a whole lot less accepting back then, too.

My friend Danny was this small person. In fact, when I read Rick R. Reed's book Big Love, Truman reminded me of Danny. He was slender and blond and so, so sweet. I loved Danny. We'd been getting ready to go on tour and suddenly Danny just wasn't there. Our director didn't know where his was, his really close friends didn't know. It was a week before we found out. Danny had been caught by his father with another boy, and his mother threw him out of the house. There weren't cellphones then and someone thrown out of the house, with no money, nothing but the clothes on his back.... I wish this story had a happy ending, I really do. But it doesn't. Danny hung himself in his dad's garage.

I'll never forget finding that out for as long as I live. I remember where I was, what I was wearing even. It changed something fundamental inside of me, like a switch was flipped. I think my future was set in that second. It made me a different person. I made my other friends swear to me they'd never do that, that they'd find a way to me before they did. I think it even made me more open to my husband. He was openly bi-sexual and from the moment I met him, I couldn't have cared less. We even checked out the same men and laughed about it. Patrick was the love of my life, his sexuality was a very minor part of that equation. My daughter used to bring her gay friends to come out to me, because she knew I was a 'safe zone' for them. One young gay couple came to cuddle on my couch, because they knew they could. But this isn't about me, not really.

The point of this long monologue? Today is national Coming Out day. For anyone coming out today? Good for you! I'm glad the world has changed enough that there is even something called 'national coming out' day. I hope it's a positive thing, that it's a safe thing. I hope if it isn't, you'll reach out to a friend and let them help you. There are families bogged down in a misunderstanding of Christiand teachings or political doctrine that still make coming out a scary, dangerous thing. Be safe, please. Be happy.

Above all else, be proud. Know that somewhere in Eastern Washington there's a middle aged lady who writes gay romance who is really proud of you.

Yeah, it really is that random.

I love Fall. Actually i love all of the season except summer, but Fall is my favorite. And, surprisingly, it has nothing to do with pumpkin! I love the colors. Having grown up in Southern California, we didn't really get fall colors. We had green, and then we had dead. But up here, fall is stunning. There are neighborhoods with massive trees that change into the full fall color palette, and I love to drive through them, listening to the leaves crunch under my tires, feeling the brisk change in the simple feel of the air. That's another thing that I noticed up here; there is an absolute change in the way the atmosphere 'feels' when fall is slipping in. I'd always heard that 'fall was in the air' but never really understood it.I do now!

I'd love to be able to say that when I sat down to write my new book, David, Renewed, I chose to place it in fall because of -- reasons. That would be a bald faced lie. In the same way I knew A Reason to Believe would take place during winter, which is to say, I didn't. I knew it started Christmas Eve because that was just how the story came to me. I hope my stuff is character driven, and those characters wanted it to be snowy. And yes, I know that sounds weird. I've come to the place where I just accept that weirdness is an integral part of my makeup. I hear voices telling me stories. Nothing is ever as calculated as 'this book will be my FALL book'. Nope. David loves fall, therefore, fall it is.

David bought a lovely house in the neighborhood where he grew up because in his mind, it was the perfect place to spend fall. It said 'home' to him. The giant trees above were turning to the burnished shades of fall, he could visualize huge pots of burgundy and burnt red mums on the steps leading up to the porch, he could imagine a porch swing with cushions in earth tones, accented with bronze and orange. The colors of warmth. The colors of home.

If this book is about anything, it's about that feeling; the desire to find our home base, to find something, someONE who gives us that and to find our joy there, our peace there. We might fall in love with the sexy, but we stay for the belief that the person who catches our heart is our home. All of my characters are searching for that, ultimately. I had that, once. It was worth everything it took to get it. When I write my stories, my main characters are all looking for that. And once they find it, they're striving to believe they deserve it. If there's an over-arcing theme to what I write, I guess that's it. Finding that place where we just fit, and doing what we have to in order to hang on to it.

Coming Septermber 21, 2016

David, Renewed

Blurb:

To Pre-irdeerWhen interior designer David Snyder buys a beautiful century-old house in eastern Washington, he is reeling with heartbreak and looking for somewhere to put down roots. Unfortunately his new home comes with a laundry list of problems: electrical, plumbing, heating… things David knows nothing about. When his mother offers him the business card of a local handyman, David pictures an overweight, balding man in his fifties. But Jackson Henry couldn’t be further from that stereotype.

Dark-haired, muscular, and handsome, Jackson left a large construction firm in Seattle to take care of his sick mother. However, his hometown still has an active “good old boy” network, and finding employment in construction is almost impossible for an openly gay man. Determined to persevere, Jackson takes odd jobs as a handyman. He’s exactly what David needs—in more ways than one.

David isn’t ready for his attraction to Jackson, not considering the way his last relationship ended. But as the two men get to know each other, it becomes clear that the heart often knows best, and it rewards those willing to listen.

To pre-order - https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/david-renewed-by-diana-copland-7541-b