The Finish Line… For Now
GearShark Issue #2 coming soon
Note from the AUTHOR
If I were asked to describe this book in one word, I would choose beautiful. To me, this book is beautiful, underneath the racing and the cars. Underneath the one-liners and the French fries.
Basically, if you lift the hood of #Junkie (Like that car analogy I slipped in there?), you will find something beautiful.
I’m going to be frank.
(And why did my mind just yell franks and beans! God. I need to get a grip.)
This book challenged me in ways no book ever has. I didn’t think I could write this book. I wanted to write it. I really wanted to.
This story wasn’t really words inside me, but a jumble of feelings. I kept saying to people (well, only a couple, because let’s face it. I sound crazy), I can feel this book inside me.
So while some books rattle around in my mind and play behind my eyes like a movie, this one was different. I felt this one deep in my heart.
Never in a million years did I think I would be wrapping up my first M/M book. I never even thought about writing a M/M book other than to think I couldn’t do it. How could I write about something I’ve never experienced?
I mean, sure, I write about lots of stuff I’ve never actually experienced, but this was different. This needed to have the depth of truth to it in an emotional way. Not a this is a fiction book kind of way.
Get what I’m saying?
So in that sense, this book challenged me as a writer as no book has before.
Trent has been with me since #Nerd. He was born in my head eight long books ago. I’ve been with him for over a year. The thing with Trent is to me, he was always kind of in the background. He was kind of mysterious. He never really showed me much of himself.
And then I figured out why.
People asked me about him and Drew. They asked if there was more than just friendship between them. At first, I was like whaaat? But then I realized. Oh. This is what he was keeping from me. This is the reason Trent has always kept himself in the background. It was almost like he was scared to come out. Even to me.
I thought about that for a while. I really thought about it. Could I do this? Could I tell Drew and Trent’s story the way it deserved to be told? I thought about all the other M/M books out there, of which I’ve read one.
That’s right. One. How could I write about something I’ve never really read about or had experience with? But they kept whispering, and those whispers literally went right into my heart.
Sometimes when I was writing, I had to press a hand to my chest. Sometimes this story hurt to tell. I feel like this is more raw and there is more angst in this book than a lot of my others.
I have no idea if this M/M book is like any others out there. I worry about that. I worry the new readers who aren’t familiar with my writing or with me will pick this up because it’s their preferred genre and it won’t be what they’re used to.
People have asked me: What books are you using as a guide for your first M/M book? They ask me what kind of research I’m doing for my first M/M book.
My answer always kind of shocks them.
I’m not. This is MY version of M/M. This is the story that was in MY heart, and these are my boys. It may not be like the rest of the books in the genre, and up until this point, I worried it wouldn’t be okay. But it is.
Because like Drew, I don’t want a label.
And like Trent, why should I go with the traditional when this book is anything but?
I’m proud of this book. I know some people won’t like it, and that’s okay. But at the end of the day, to me, this book is beautiful because it’s about two men who found love in the most unexpected place. The kind of love most people spend their whole life looking for.
And I for one can’t wait to see where they go next.
(How about that cliffhanger…?)
Don’t worry. I won’t make you wait long for Issue #2.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for giving this book a try.
See you next book.
XOXO,
Cambria