With the anticipation of my new novel, STEALING WISHES, due out next month, I feel like I'm already on a virtual marketing campaign putting all my blogs and communities to good use....MySpace, QueerWriters, AfterElton, Amazon, and my own website. I've probably written a novel's worth of posts and comments these past few weeks, and even added my own lil book trailer to the YouTube world.

It's been five years since my first book, THE OTHER SIDE OF WHAT, and everywhere I go online and in person, people are asking me if it took that long to write this next book. The answer is no. So, where have I been these past 5 years then, and what the heck have I been doing? Well, I met my current partner of five years, John, just three months after THE OTHER SIDE came out. I took 2004 off from the pen and paper (um..keyboard and monitor?), and used most of that year to promote the book.

In 2005, I began writing another book which quickly went to the back burner while life was catching up with me. I was close to turning 30 and had started a new day job. In 2006, I started another book that was itching to get out of my brain. In the fall of that year, John and I bought a house. Back to my so called life while we moved and set up our new home for us and the five pets. A corner of the dining room became my new office and in May of 2007, an obsessive compulsive character I called Blaine popped into my head and started talking.

Blaine is a coffee barista suffering with OCD who enjoys reading Isherwood and taking photos. Why coffee, you ask? Well, what are two things lots of gay men obsess over (outside of hair, clothes, nails, shoes, porn, the gym...). The perfect cup of coffee, and the perfect date, right? I wanted Blaine to obsess about turning 32 (just as I did this year). Somehow his whole life starts revolving around that magic number. He even lives in Apartment #32! So in the Spring of 2007, I sat down and started typing out Blaine's World (HA!) which was originally going to be called 32 and Counting. It was the first book I'd ever written straight through from beginning to end, and finished it entirely in a record time of 4 months. Wow! Talk about a climax!

Blaine likes his simple, yet complex, life - working for his best friend, Sallie, in a coffee shop called The Latte Da. Sallie is Blaine's fag hag, and they do everything together because neither one of them is seeing anyone. But one day, Blaine comes to work and learns that Sallie has met a man. But Sallie's new beau has a gay best friend, Edward, who Sallie is intent on setting up with Blaine. Blaine obsesses over whether or not Edward will be Mr. Right or not. "Who cares?" Sallie says. At least you'll get laid!

In the meantime, Blaine begans to obsess over the sexuality of his artsy tattooed coworker named Auden, who tells Blaine about a photography contest being held at the art school. Blaine sets out to take a winning snapshot to enter into the contest, while his blind date with Edward turns out to be a success! But, Blaine soon realizes he has nothing in common with Edward, outside of their common love for Isherwood. And Blaine's perfect unvarying world is about to spiral out of control when he skips a beat in his daily routine.

Now called STEALING WISHES, I've written Blaine's story to be a gay romantic comedy. Romance is typically a market dominated by women. Gay romance is often coined as being Erotica. STEALING WISHES is a nice mix of both, except very light on the erotica and heavy on the cream and sugar! The coffee shop feel to it was a nice metaphor for what we all crave....a perfect relationship! Ever stood in line at Starbucks and watched someone try to order coffee? A plain black coffee doesn't exist. Our tastes are complex - half caf nonfat soy mocha lattee with extra foam! Wow! Someone who orders that demands respect! Who knew that caffeine could determine social status? But relationships can be just as crazy and even more complex...and we all obsess about it.

So there you have it! It's been a year since I first sat down and started writing STEALING WISHES, so I'm quite proud of it. Besides promoting the new book, I'm back to trying to finish those other two books I mentioned which I started years ago. Let's hope it won't be another five years...but I'm not obsessing about it.

-Shannon Yarbrough

www.shannonyarbrough.com

Author of the new book, STEALING WISHES, due out next month