Life is a Challenge

Hey all,

It's time for another guest blogger. Today I have the honor of introducing Viki Lyn, a fellow Aspen Mountain Press, Samhain, and Loose Id writer who writes manlove romances. Here is a bit about her, taken from the GLBT bookshelf.

Viki Lyn is a successful writer of edgy, erotic, sexy man love. Sparked by a keen interest in yaoi, also known as Japanese Boys Love manga, she began her own love affair with male/male romance. After reading and collecting whatever she could get her hands on, she created the popular Yaoi Rose review site. Once she wrote her first man love romance, she was hooked. Inspired by the reality that romance between lovers is a hope more than a guarantee, Viki’s characters are fiercely independent. Her stories are an eclectic mix but it is always romance that drives the story to its final happily-ever-after.

Please join me in welcoming Viki to the blog!!!!

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Hello!
For those who don’t know me, I write male/male romance under my pen name – Viki Lyn. I went from writing historical romances to m/m romance about a year ago, my first m/m published in June 2009. So I’m celebrating my one year anniversary!

Many of my friends and family and readers asked why I made the switch.
I’ve been writing for about ten years. I began with shorts that were awful. Then I challenged myself to writing longer stories that were equally awful! I still have them buried on some CD stashed under my desk. But even though I was terrible at writing, I wrote more and more, and slowly began to improve. I really enjoyed the process so I got serious -- took classes, joined my local chapter of RWA so I could meet other authors and learn the business side of writing. In 2006, my first book was published by Samhain, a 1960’s het romance set in San Francisco. From there I wrote a WWII trilogy and a 1913 romance.

Writing is quite a journey, and I found myself stymied after publishing my 6th novel. I was bored. Ugh. Not such a good thing for a writer with an Aries sun sign!
I needed to reinvent myself and kick-start my writing career – so I did some soul-searching. I gave myself permission to take three months off from writing. I spent that time doing the things I love – reading, watching movies, traveling, spending time with friends and family...

I’m a big yaoi fan (Japanese boy’s love comics) and have over 300+ in my collection. I also collect DC comics, and especially drool over Dick Grayson (the first Robin, then Nightwing, and now wearing the mantle of Batman, although Bruce Wayne will return one of these days!) Okay, so I read Batman/Nightwing slash, too. *red in the face* I’ve always enjoyed reading m/m romance and mysteries. I had lived in the gay district in San Diego before moving to Arizona, and our neighbors, a wonderful gay couple became our best friends. They had a loving relationship of several years before one partner passed away. I wanted to write a HEA story dedicated to them, and well, for me, gender isn’t an issue in a love story. Once I wrote my first m/m romance I was hooked.

My other love is traveling and visiting sacred sites. I’ve always been interested in ancient history, mythology and spiritual places and my art had centered on spiritual themes. So, to incorporate this into my writing, I tried my hand at writing paranormal/fantasy. One of my most awe-inspiring trips was visiting Malta and the World Heritage Neolithic temples. My husband couldn’t go at the time so my oldest sister joined me (I have three sisters, and they are my biggest fans!). We had such fun together, first visiting Positano, Italy, and climbing all the zillion of stairs to our amazing hotel room with an incredible view of the Amalfi coast. I actually lost weight on this trip!

Then we took a flight to Malta. The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum (4,000 BC to 2,000 AD) was the highlight, an underground temple sensuously carved out of rock. It was an amazing experience to walk along the ancient pathway through arched chambers and burial rooms. The rock was alive with an inner glow. From this experience, something inside of me changed, and I carried this feeling back home. Someday I hope to express this amazing experience into a book.

I can’t believe it’s already June. It’s a busy month. If I don’t change some of my bad habits I might not meet all my goals this summer. I have to get organized! Yeah, really, I do. I’m a panser but find that sometimes I need to rein in my characters, or more truthfully, rein me in.  I’m willy-nilly all over the place when writing!

Challenges are good, right?

Thank you CJ for letting me post today and ramble on…
Viki Lyn

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Thanks, Viki for coming. It was interesting to see how you got to where you are and I envy you your trip to Malta.

For more information on Viki and her work, go to her website at: http://www.vikilyn.com or her blog at http://vikilynromance.blogspot.com

I'll be back next time with a selection of recipes and drinks I enjoyed while I was overseas. I think you'll enjoy them too!

Hugs to all,
CJ England

Follow Your Dreams

http://cjengland.com/secondchances
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