Countdown to GayRomLit 2016: A Guest Post by Supporting Author Tina Blenke

We’re so pleased to welcome GRL 2016 Supporting Author Tina Blenke today as we continue the countdown celebration for all of you who are attending in Kansas City this year. If you are going to be there, be sure to pay attention to the little something special Tina will have for you.

Welcome, Tina!

I’m excited to attend my third GRL and my first time as a Supporting Author. I thought I’d share a little bit about my storytelling process and finding time to write around a full schedule.

Starting a new story is always exciting and just a little bit frightening. I’m entering a new world with new characters and personalities in an unfamiliar setting. Dialogue is easier for me than inner monologue so I tend to start chapters with characters describing what’s going on in their lives. How they describe their world and interact with each other is important in understanding the story that’s unfolding and I love how it all plays out in my mind and is transformed onto the page.

Having a full time job and the primary bread winner is a blessing and a curse, especially when the writing bug hits me and I need to get the words onto the paper as soon as possible before they’re lost to the wind. I keep a notebook next to my desk at all times to capture those notes quickly as I’m doing my day work. If it’s the middle of the night, I use the Notes app on my iPhone. In fact, I’ve written a few intimate scenes pecking away at the screen in the very early morning when we’ve had houseguests. My third method for capturing notes is by using the Dragon dictation app in the car. Typically, I work from home but my work office is over an hour away so the dictation app is great for capturing those important notes in the car.

Transferring all those notes and bits of dialogue into Word is a good time to add the setting, mood and details to set the scene. It’s the best part of storytelling and my favorite part of the process.

I’ll have copies of my latest novel Life Worth Living available at GRL and if you have a copy or can show me that you have a copy of any of my other works, I’ll have an exclusive item for you. Hope to see you there!

About Life Worth Living

Publisher: Wilde City Press
Release Date: 9 December 2015
Length: 177 Pages (Kindle)
Category: Contemporary Romance
Purchase Links: Wilde City || Amazon || ARe || Kobo || B&N
Blurb: Jake has been in love with Quentin throughout college, studying the sexy science major from afar. Quentin has been in the closet his entire life, keeping his sexuality a secret from his political right-wing family. A summer romance brings the two men together but when Jake is attacked before graduation and then later in his home, the truth about the violence threatens to tear the men apart forever. Only when secrets are finally revealed can Jake and Quentin discover a life worth living.

About the Author

Tina Blenke Tina is a retired Air Force brat and has lived in several states as well as a handful of countries. She has always had a soft spot for literature and is a voracious reader. When she isn’t writing, she can be found cuddled up with a good book. Though Tina adores a thrilling novel with sappy lovesick heroes, she is terrified of things that go bump in the night. This makes for quite a complicated relationship with zombies, something that she just can’t get enough of.