Welcome to January’s Birthday Blog, with a post – or maybe more – a day for your entertainment and fun :).

Today’s guest is BECKY BLACK. Please show your appreciation for the post if you enjoy it, and all the author’s links are below for you to take forward. Watch every day for any Rafflecopter giveaways, and don’t forget there’s ALSO a Grand Prize Draw at the end of the month for ONE lucky commenter.

Many thanks for dropping in, and have a great January!

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Today is the 5th anniversary of the release of my first published book, M/M romance, Liar’s Waltz, on January 4th 2011. The  5th anniversary is traditionally wood. (Stop snickering at the back there.) What a fun time that was. Well, aside from the fact I was recovering from both a trapped nerve and a stomach bug, I hadn’t been able to see family for Christmas, the weather was appalling, and I was trying to make the tax office understand alien concepts like “author” and “royalties”. But otherwise, yes, it was a great time!

There’s nothing quite like the first book release. All the time leading up to it you keep waiting for someone to tell you it’s all been a mistake and they’re not really going to publish your book after all. The publisher sends you edits, and a cover and you fill in forms about how they should pay you, and yet it still can’t be real, can it? Until that day it’s out and there it is on websites with a button saying “Buy” beside it. And later the publisher sends you money – at which point even the most doubtful author is forced to concede that, oh my god, they actually published my book and people bought it.

Now here I am five years later with 19 sales under my belt  (18 released and one pending) and wondering how that happened. Wondering where I found the time to write all of those stories.  So what do the next five years hold for me? Well, let’s stick with 2016 for now. The last couple of years I’ve started to strike out a bit with different types of stories, including F/F, because while I’ve nearly always had prominent women characters in my stories, writing M/M meant I didn’t get to write women as the lead characters, and I was starting to miss them. My next release in February is an F/F story and I have plans for more.

But fear not, the fellas won’t be neglected. I’m currently editing the sequel to Patient Z. I thought I was done with Alyn and Jarvez of the Red Dragon, but no, they’ve got more to say. I’ve got ideas for sci-fi, for contemporary, for fantasy and paranormal and even historical. For series books and standalones. For low heat and for erotica. I just have to continue finding that time to write them. Five years goes faster than you’d think.

Enter the draw at the link below. All Rafflecopters drawn on Jan 31.
Becky Black Rafflecopter giveaway

Win a free download of MAPPING THE SHADOWS by commenting on this blog post! Click on the giveaway above to leave your email address. The winner will be drawn on Jan 31.

Mapping the Shadows

Blurb

Ash Bowman is lost. Two years ago he and his cop partner, Evelyn, walked in on a murder in progress that left her dead and him maimed. He left the force and became a private investigator, but business is suffering because of his obsession with mapping the Core of the space station Fraxin Yari, where Evelyn’s ghost haunts him as he prowls the dark corridors.

Journalist Gabe Whitfield is on a mission to learn the truth behind that same murder. He doesn’t expect to stay on Frax after he finishes the job. But meeting Ash Bowman changes his plans. He came to the station a man without ties. He isn’t going to leave the same way.

Despite initially mistrusting him, Ash can’t resist his attraction to the fiery Gabe. Gabe responds, though knows he shouldn’t when Ash is one of the subjects of his investigation. But they come to trust each other and join forces to find the answers Ash had almost forgotten he was still seeking. If they are to have any chance of happiness, Gabe must help Ash lay the ghosts calling him back again and again to the deep darkness of the Core.

Published by Loose Id
Cover art by April Martinez
More details here.

Author Bio

Becky lives in the UK and her writing is primarily fuelled by tea and rainy days. After spending far too many years only thinking about writing she finally started putting words down back in 2003 and hasn’t stopped since, still trying to make up for lost time.

Links

Website – https://beckyblack.wordpress.com
Email – beckyblackbooks@gmail.com
Twitter –  http://twitter.com/beckyblackbooks
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/elizabethc.fb
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4557505.Becky_Black

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Follow the month’s posts at your leisure:

Jan 01: RJ Scott on her inspiration for a new series in 2016.
Jan 01: Temple Dragon on giving for free during December.
Jan 02: Chrissy Munder on an author’s passion for paper planners
Jan 03: Meredith Russell on inspirational cop series.