Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Welcome Lily Sawyer

Greetings! Welcome to Michael's where I'm happy to have on Lily Sawyer with an interview today! Please enjoy her virtual sitdown!



 How long have you been writing?

I've been writing since about 1998

What made you decide that you wanted to put yourself out there to publish?

Life is about taking chances, so I decided to go for it.  Try my hand at writing original stories.

Before you started, had you done any fan fiction? If so, what fandoms?


I started in Star Trek then Kung Fu the Legend Continues and finally Brokeback Mountain

 Are you in agreement that writing fan fiction is a great way to practice one's craft, why or why not?

Definitely a great way to get your feet wet, go through the trial and errors intrinsic with writing and getting critiqued by fellow writers.

What is our opinion on the "chicks with dicks" analogy?  In your opinion is it wrong for your males to be emotional or romantic?

I think to suggest that how a man loves can be equated with how a woman processes emotions shows that we're still living under the false assumption that men have to be 'STRONG' that for the longest time they were raised that to show emotion was to show weakness.  To me for a man to be emotional or romantic shows strength of character in lots of ways. I don't see it as a weakness for a man to show his emotions.

Your first published book?

The Finest Thing (from Dreamspinner Press)

What books are you reading at the moment?  it's okay to give a fellow author a plug!  
 I'm reading "Jump First" by Edward Charles and "'When Memory Fails"  by DW Marchwell    Both available from Dreamspinner Press

What are you working on now?   I'm currently working on a story entitled  "Four Doors Down."    It is WIP,  I'm still working on plot.  It's slow going.

As a fellow fem in the genre, what’s your stance on the difference between male and female gay writers?

I think that male writers relate to the feelings between two men better than a woman can. We can only imagine how it feels to be intimate between two men.  so I think from that perspective they have a 'leg up' on us to speak.    But we woman can certainly hold our own telling romance stories.


What is it about gay fiction and or romance that pleasure you to write it?

It all started with a need to change the tragic ending of Brokeback Mountain.  and then exploring the challenges faced by gay men in today's world that both challenges me and gives me pleasure.  I am a romantic at heart and I love a good HEA story.

Fun questions
Name one celeb that you wish was gay and why?  Jake Gyllenhaal, he and Heath Ledger portrayed gay cowboys so realistically, brought those characters of Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar to life so convincingly I wish he was really gay.

Your favorite gay TV show or Movie?  Brokeback Mountain

Favorite character in one of your books

Jaran Walker, my merman from "Catch of the Day" 


Blurb

Sam Warner is busy working in his flower shop creating beautiful
arrangements to celebrate all the happy moments in his customer's
lives. He only wished he had something joyful to celebrate.

He was in a relationship until the day he came home to an empty
apartment and a 'Dear John' letter. Hurt and alone he decides he
doesn't want to be in another relationship ever again. But fate has
stepped in and he meets Matt Doyle, the bartender at a local bar.

Can Sam give love a second chance?


Excerpt:

The Corner Pub was crowded for a Thursday night and several large TV sets were
tuned to baseball games. Sam Warner loved baseball. He decided to take a break
from his flower store up the street and wandered in. Settling into one of the
comfortable seats to watch the game, he couldn't help notice a dark haired man
tending bar. He wore a black t-shirt with the bar's name emblazoned onto the
front. He must be a new guy because Sam didn't remember seeing him before.

One of the other patrons sidled up to the bar and asked, "Hey, Matt, give me
another beer, will you?"

Matt, so that's his name, Sam thought not able to keep his eyes off him.
Something about him made Sam want to go over and say hello. He needed a refill,
and seeing that as an opportunity to speak with him, he got up and wandered
slowly over to the bar.

"Come on, hit a home run!" A burly guy was screaming at the screen jumped up
just as Sam arrived at the bar, and his beer landed all over the front of Sam's
green polo shirt.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." The man grabbed some napkins and dabbed the beer.
"Let me buy you a drink."

"It's okay." Sam smiled reassuringly, and the guy disappeared back into the
crowd. He looked over at the bartender. He could tell Matt was trying to hide an
amused smile as he offered him a roll of paper towels.

"Here, use some club soda." He handed Sam a glass filled with the bubbly drink.
After getting most of the stain out, Sam put the wad of paper towels on the bar
counter.
The bartender threw them into the trash, leaned over and said, "I'm Matt Doyle,"
and held out his hand.

Sam accepted and looked down at their clasped hands, his blond hair falling
down, partially covering his eyes. Sam's brown eyes looked back up into Matt's
blue ones.
"Mine's Sam Warner." He managed to get out without embarrassing himself. He
could feel his palms sweat. Something about being near Matt made him nervous.

"Pleased to meet you Sam," Matt took a glass and poured some beer from the tap
and placed it on the counter in front of him.

Sam looked up and smiled. "You must be new. I've never seen you before."

Something was going on between them, and Sam hoped it wasn't wishful thinking.
Not that long ago he'd been in a serious four-year relationship that had ended
badly. Ever since then he'd been reluctant to date again.

"Yeah, I just started a week ago. I used to work at Daffy's over on Second
Street."
"I've never been there."

"You're not missing much. The drinks are watered down, and the pay was lousy."
Matt restocked the shelves behind the counter. "So you're a baseball fan?"

"Oh, yeah been a fan ever since my dad took me to a game when I was seven years
old." He didn't know why he was telling this man his life story. Maybe what they
said about bartenders being like your father confessor was true. Matt certainly
was not only easy to talk to, he was easy on the eyes as well.

"Who do you like?"

"Don't laugh but I like the Mets."

"Those guys? So you like routing for the underdog." Matt chuckled.

"Hey, what can I say? My dad got me hooked on them, couldn't stop telling me
enough about when they'd won the World Series." Sam gazed at Matt over the rim
of his glass.

"I'm not knocking it. I think rooting for the underdog is admirable." Matt's
smile lit up the room, and it made Sam's heart skip a few beats.

"Really?" Sam asked shyly.

Matt smiled back. "Sure is."

Sam noticed how late it was. He decided not to stay to watch the end of the
game. He needed a good night's sleep to start filling more flower orders in the
morning. "Well, I better get going."

"So soon?" Matt sounded disappointed. "It was nice meeting you, Sam."

"Same here." He turned around and walked toward the door but stopped when he
heard Matt's voice.

"Hey, there's a game here on Sunday afternoon. Think you can make it?" Matt told
him.

"Nah, I'm busy, but maybe sometime next week?" Sam was reluctant to tell Matt he
was a florist. He didn't want Matt to think he was less of a man because of his
choice of jobs.

"I'll catch you another time." Matt said .

"I'll be back," Sam walked back to the bar and leaned in close to Matt and met
the blue eyes with his own. "Count on it."

"Night, Sam."

Sam felt Matt's eyes on him as he left. He left the bar feeling better than when
he'd gone in. He wasn't sure if this was going to turn into anything, but he
wasn't going to close the door on that possibility.

buy link: http://www.secretcravingspublishing.com/LilySawyer.html



Also, Im at Lily's today, please stop in

8 comments:

S.Lira said...

TY for being here Lily!

Julie Lynn Hayes said...

Good interview, Lily! Although I have to disagree that two men have better insight into male love than a woman. I believe that there are some things that transcend gender, and love is one of those. I believe that you love a person for what they are inside, not for what their genitals are.

I wish you the best of luck with your books!

lily sawyer said...

Thanks for having as a guest on your blog. Thanks for adding the BBM photo to my interview. I love Ennis and Jack

Pommawolf Emeraldwolfeyes said...

I made it! LOL. I was hoping I could get the page to load but Bloggers is being a pickle to me today....*S*
What a great interview, and one of my favorite authors Lily.
I love the cover on this book as I think I commented on another blog awhile back. But I love the first meeting of Sam and Matt in the blurb. So subtle and sweet. I can't wait to read this book as I love emotional stories, and think men do have deep emotions, but don't often show them as people believe it makes them too vulnerable. I just know the best stories are the emotional ones for me....*S*
I loved "Falling" by DW Marchwell. And would love to read When Memory Fails myself...*S*
Thank you for the wonderful interview and the excerpt....*S*
I love visiting this blog it's such a wonderful experience and I find such wonderful things....*S*

Darcy

pommawolf @hotmail.com

Pender Mackie said...

Hey Lily, nice interview. I'm looking forward to reading this.

desitheblonde said...

wow a man who lost a love and now want to try a new one the cover of the book is great and then i hope you will do more on them they will go high on my list of want want and then i l blog on it all over twitter with over 2 000 followrers

Blak Rayne Books Blog said...

Wonderful interview Lily! It's nice to get to know you a little better.

S.Lira said...

Wow, thank you to everyone for visiting. :D