March | 2015 | Darrah Glass

I had said A Willful Romantic (GQ Book 3) would be out mid-March, and I LIED, because it is now the downslope of March and I don’t have a book for you, and I know there are a few of you who are looking forward to it (and I love you for it), so I’m sorry for the delay. It is almost ready, though, and I am really excited to share this one, because I think it is the most fun so far. If you’ve enjoyed the first two, I’m pretty sure you’ll love AWR. Oh, and there’s a Martin story, too, of course.

I have certain unavoidable demands on my time in what remains of March, and I’m waiting on another person (whose patience I have certainly taxed), so I don’t know if I’ll finish up before the end of the month, but it won’t be much longer than that. THANK YOU for your patience. I still plan to put out the fourth book in June :)

(my idea of a hot ginger is on the scrawny side) — (my idea of a hot ginger is maybe a little on the skinny side)

So, in addition to the series I’m currently putting out, I’ve got all these notes and fits and starts of future stories, and I can’t help but notice that certain things come up again and again.

Tall, dark and handsome.
Hot gingers.
Severe Nordic blonds.
Twins.
New York City.
Cross-dressing.
People who are perhaps a little neurotic.
Elaborate world-building.

The GQ books do indeed include all these elements by the end of Book 4.

It’s not as if these common themes are a surprise to me, of course. I’m well aware of my obsessions. These elements don’t all show up in every single story, and my expanded casts have a wider variety of hair and skin colors, but the above tend to be the features of the stories I tell myself.

The Mr. has a fantastic idea for a contemporary paranormal story that would require writing burly, macho dudes doing stereotypically male things, and it would probably sell really well, and I might end up writing it after all, but right now it seems so far out of my wheelhouse. I keep wondering where would I put the flamboyant people and the descriptions of outfits?

If you write, what do you know to be your common threads? If you’re a reader, what details or themes make you want pick up a new book?