Back to the OT grind

I'm back into ...Owen Taylor, again. Jake's moving forward like he knows what the hell he's doing. I like that. The story's begun to set...and everything seems aimed at the resolution we've decided on. This time, I'm not stopping until I've got a full first draft. It's time to stop my piddly nonsense.

What's interesting to me is, Jake's letting himself be more vulnerable...about Antony, about the relationship between himself and his uncle, about his growing attraction to Dion who represents everything he's missed out on in life. He's also digging into his anger about what happened to him and why...and it's changed the ending, slightly.

I almost wonder if some of my problem was thinking I had to fit the story to Create Space's middle-class requirements. It's not going to be a simple mystery story; there's raw sex and violence in it, and Amazon's into another fit of censorship, so that could be a problem. Plus, I'm at the point where I flat out do not trust them -- not only about the numbers of sales but as regards my writing. I could see them dumping all of my books because they have gay leads in them. And don't think that's beyond the realm of possibility; something like it happened in Canada.

Canadian customs, maybe 12-15 years ago, determined that any book with a gay lead that had any suggestion of sex in it was pornography and not allowed into the country. Some Andrea Dworkin freaks agreed with them; they even wanted any straight book with sex in it banned, as well. It turned into a nice little mess, which Canada quietly backed away from.

So now...Amazon, the biggest distributor of books in the world, has twice been stampeded into dropping books by one person complaining about the books solely because of their titles and the content in their synopses. I was thinking I'd have to just give my stories away via my website, so they'd at least get read and I wouldn't have to worry about censoring anything in them.

But I've since been turned onto Smashwords and Lightning Source, who will make my books and electronic downloads for minimal cash outlay. I still need to investigate them, more, but it's a start. And I'm sure other organizations are available for the same purpose, once I really dig into looking.

So the hell with Amazon. I've already begun the process of divorcing myself from them. By the end of the year, we should be done, completely.

Meaning I'm free at last...and freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...which makes no sense but sure sounds right when Janis Joplin sings it.

BTW -- this is post # 1500...wow...