Jaime Samms Breaks Out of a Rut on Moving Day
Jaime Samms talks about change and how it can be a good thing sometimes, even when it’s terrifying.
I spent part of the morning this morning looking through old blog posts, thinking it would be so much easier and quicker for this post to just recycle something I wrote about one of my older releases. That’s the point of this whole thing, after all. A half hour later, after the distraction of reading a bunch of posts….it turned out not so much.
What I did notice was that in years past (and I was a little shocked to see that it has been years. When did that happen???) I had a lot more to say. Like, about everything! Not sure why that it, but it was interesting. I don’t talk a lot about much of anything on here anymore, except my releases, and occasionally, a friend’s release, or what I’m reading. It isn’t that I don’t have opinions any more. Maybe just that I don’t have time. I’m maybe too wrapped up in what’s gointg on on this side of the screen to pay a lot of attention to what’s going on on that side. The web has lost its fascinatione for me, maybe.
In short, I’ve fallen into a rut, and it’s shocking how gradually that kind of thing can happen without a person even noticing. Or maybe it more that the net and I have become the kind of old, comfortable friends that fall into a pattern. You know how it is. A friend with whom you talk about the same old things, do that same old activities, and it’s comfortable and reliable, but not terribly exciting.
What if the same was true about a couple of guys who’ve known one another since childhood? What if the rut they were in wasn’t a particularly healthy one but it was comfortable. Predictable. Safe.
What if one of them didn’t want predictable comfort any more? What if one of them was a little bit terrified to leave safe behind? What if neither of them really knew how to say any of this?
I give you Moving Day. It’s not a new release. In fact, it’s a pretty old one, but it’s still one of my favorites, because it encompasses something that used to be a decided part of my life when my own marriage was young: change. I used to be good at change. I’m a little bit terrified of it now. But it is upon me again as I make the definitive move from part-time author to full time writer. It’s a scary transition, but I feel my wheels turning again and the world opening up in front of me as I rise out of my own rut and chart new territory.
Blurb: Mike Paloso has lost count of the number of times he’s helped childhood friend Jay Charles move. Jay’s never had much of a home to call his own, content to follow his boyfriends around, but each break-up means a new pad, until the next guy comes along. This time, it’s different. There’s been no break-up, and no new pad. Instead, there’s one hell of a fixer-upper, and not just the house Jay’s inherited from his latest, late, beau. This time, Mike has to find a way to repair Jay’s broken dreams and mangled heart.
With every reno, there comes some demo, but Mike’s not sure he’s ready to dismantle his life to rebuild Jay’s.
Excerpt: The next morning, honking horns drew us from the tent at a barely decent hour. I crawled out, stood, and snapped and cracked out the kinks. The tent would have been comfortable for Jay and I. With Brian’s enormous frame stuffed in too, I could only say it was a good thing we were all friends.
“Rise and shine, my beauties!” One of the twins jumped from another silver and red pickup, this one with “Jackson’s Contracting” written across the back window in clean white script. The truck was brand new. Brian beamed at it paternally.
“It really is lovely, Bri,” I muttered, clutching the coffee handed to me by a too-exuberantJacksonbrother.
“Don’t give me that. You know you want one.”
I smiled and ran a hand over the box lip. It really was a nice truck.
“Your straight is showing again, Mickey.”
I slid a look at Jay where he sat on the mat in front of the tent, tying his sneakers. It was good to see him grinning up at me.
“Sorry, Jay. Can’t help it. I yam what I yam.”
He popped up and adjusted the pj trousers riding low on his hips. A twin handed him coffee, and he settled back against the box. His too-long black hair fell in his face, the morning sun shimmered over his bowed head. I swallowed a little convulsively when his tongue darted out to lick at the dripping coffee along the lip of his cup. Brian shook his head at me. He knew my state of ambivalent sexuality accounted for my perpetual single-dom and wouldn’t believe I was content.
“You really should get you one of those too,” Brian whispered in my ear as he passed. I would have belted him, but he was too quick and out of range before the thought penetrated the remaining sleep fog. I let it go when one of his brothers rattled a tool box out of the truck bed and pulled forth a pry bar.
“Please tell me I can start my day with some demo.”
2 Responses to “Jaime Samms Breaks Out of a Rut on Moving Day”
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First, let me say, “Congratulation!” Scary? Yes, but well worth it, and you certainly deserve the move to full-time author. You are always so eloquent.
Good luck!
Marci
i loved this story! Your characters are always so vividly drawn, as much by what they don’t say as by what they do. They’re fallible and realistic – and therefore very sympathetic. Sexy, too! 🙂