lgbt organizations

Because Life – An Update

September 15, 2013 By Brandon 2 Comments

To those who have come to expect more frequent postings from me, I apologize for failing to post anything of substance lately. Simply put, it’s been one of those hectic periods in which the demands of life have left little time for blogging, writing, or simply keeping fans updated.

So here we go, an update to keep you updated because I have no time to update regularly.

Book 2 of the Cold series, Heart of Timber is in its final stages.

Within the next few weeks I’ll be sending it to the beta readers, editor, and cross-checking facts with my consultants. I expect the novel to come out mid-October, but we may hold it until after GRL.

GayRomLit 2013 in Atlanta.

I won’t be there. In fact I won’t be in town at all. I had planned to meet many of the authors I talk with regularly and several fans that asked about having coffee/lunch. This will not be possible. Pride is also a nonevent for me.

10,000 Books Sold

We are just shy of having sold 10k books. As an indie writer with no time, no Facebook page, and no marketing budget, I think this is phenomenal. Each one of those sales is directly due to the encouragement and persistence of my fans. They have helped spread the word and have aided us in raising awareness (and $$$) for homeless LGBT kids. Thank you so much.

Works in Progress

Readers have asked me about putting a special page up for WIPs. If you’d be interested in seeing this, let me know. The main reason I don’t have one now is that I have many WIPs in various stages. I do not know when (or if) they will come to market. Both the muse and the demands of life dictate on what gets worked on and when.

However, next year I plan to have at least one of the LGBT Sci-fi series novels available. I will be backing off on the MM Romance for a while, but the muse really wants me to work on a romance story based in Croatia. (She usually gets what she wants first.)

Fundraising for Homeless LGBT Youth

LGBT Fundraising MM Romance To date, fans have helped raise over $3000 for homeless kids through various programs related to my writing/books. We also have a new fundraiser going on through Razoo with a long term goal of $25K. Some have said this is an unrealistic, I don’t believe that. There are too many people who still don’t know about the plight of homeless lgbt and the fundraiser is just as much about educating them as it is about raising money. Currently, we’re just $146 short of our short-term goal of $1000. Donate.

Maybe A New Publisher?

I have discussed submitting future work to an established publisher with J. Time currently spent on other aspects of self-publishing could be better spent actually writing, and working with a publisher would free up a lot more time for me. J and I are still looking into it.

Have Questions?

If you have questions or comments the best place to ask is in our Goodreads group. If I’m not around, my fans are always happy to engage. [Caution: They’re a feisty bunch. 🙂 ]

The hardest lessons

August 30, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

“You can’t save everyone.”

These were the hardest four words I ever heard in my life and they were given to me by a spiritual mentor who picked me up from the floor and held me after I heard the news of the suicide of a very close personal friend. I have never gotten over the death of my friend, but her death prompted change in my own life and in the lives of others that were touched by her presence.

This month, Lost-n-Found was informed of the death of a young man who approached them for help, and then left the program because he didn’t think he could stop doing drugs. I don’t work directly with the LnF board, or any of the volunteers. I’m just one of those spreading the news about the work they do. But I know personally how something like this hits you. Hard and below the belt. [Read more…] about The hardest lessons

Sometimes You Have to Make Your Own Light

August 16, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Welcome friend and MM Romance author DP Denman to the blog with an important post about finding hope.

I read a story recently on a new website called YouthResource.org. Ok, so they’re not exactly “new” but they’re new to me. The online resource run by LGBT youth for LGBT youth isn’t flashy or impressive but it addresses the basics from how to come out to your parents and topics like HIV. It also has sections where youth involved in the peer program can share their stories. One of them ended a tale that I know glossed over the worst parts by saying, “Sometimes you have to make your own light at the end of the tunnel but you don’t have to do it alone.”

Those simple yet inspiring words cut right to the heart of what groups like The Trevor Project and Lost-n-Found Youth are trying to tell LGBT kids. It’s difficult to be a teen and sometimes things happen that you never expected and would rather not deal with but that doesn’t make it hopeless. [Read more…] about Sometimes You Have to Make Your Own Light

UK Writers and Publishers Coming Together for LGBT Youth

July 5, 2013 By Brandon 2 Comments

My friend and fellow author Elin Gregory and I share passions, LGBT youth and history. And while I don’t write historical fiction, she does it wonderfully. ~B.

Many thanks, Brandon, for agreeing to host me on your blog.

One of the big problems for an historical novelist is how much information to dump into your text. Whatever makes it into the final version has no business being there if it doesn’t move the story along, so sometimes hard decisions have to be made. One of the hardest decisions for me, while writing On a Lee Shore, was to cut out a lot of the text involving a very minor character – Will, the link boy. [Read more…] about UK Writers and Publishers Coming Together for LGBT Youth

LGBT Youth Prostituting for Survival

July 2, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

From the Front Line: A weekly post about what Lost-n-Found, a Homeless LGBT Youth organization in Atlanta, deals with on a daily basis. Names are changed or removed to protect the youth.

From the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

Often when we talk about LGBT kids prostituting themselves for survival, people automatically think of some kid standing on a street-corner waiting for a john to cruise by and pick them up. And while that does happen, too often there’s a more insidious form of prostitution going on behind the guise of a safe place to stay. [Read more…] about LGBT Youth Prostituting for Survival

MM Romance Fans for LGBT Youth

June 28, 2013 By Brandon 3 Comments

It has begun. We have had enough. We are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teachers, bloggers, writers, grandparents, cops, firefighters, marines, plumbers, construction workers, life guards. We are people. We are romance fans. We love the ideal that everyone gets a happy ending, even though we know how unlikely that is in real life. We are on the corner with a Kindle, hiding in the coffee shop with a Nook, waiting at the office so we can get back home and read that HEA.

We have seen LGBT kids beaten, abused, jailed, institutionalized, screamed at, berated, and raped for being different. We have seen them stepped over, stepped on, pushed aside and pushed away. We have witnessed their tears, their agony, their desire and need just to be loved.

We are tired of the desolation of our LGBT Youth

This post begins our campaign to raise awareness and funds to help end homelessness among LGBT Youth. Join us. Spread the word, use the logo above and link it to our fundraising effort. Tell us your story about your interaction with LGBT homeless youth, tell us about your own efforts to help, or tells us your story AS a homeless LGBT youth.

You don’t know what these kids are going through?

Read how one child was locked in a basement for being gay, how another was simply abandoned. That’s just a start, just a small drop in the bucket of depravity that youth organizations hear every day.

Not a romance fan? You don’t have to be to understand that 500,000 homeless lgbt kids on the street is absolutely ridiculous. Join us in this effort to raise awareness and funds.

Our first goal is to raise $25,000 for Lost-n-Found in Atlanta. Every single penny donated to this all volunteer organization goes directly to aiding lgbt youth, and for as little as $10 you can help get one kid off the street for a day. Donate here.