Friday 28 September 2012

Pablo Michaels - The Boys Club

Today I'm happy to introduce Pablo Micahels, a fellow Naughty Nights Press Author. Your blog is populated with many entries for Tantalizing Tuesday, something I enjoy and participate in as well. Do you ever have trouble finding a picture or a story? Which is harder, the words or the photo?

I love participating in Tantalizing Tuesday Teasers. It gives me a chance to write when I don’t have time and also read what other authors are creating. The biggest task for me is to find photos. If I find one in my limited gallery, the words just seem to flow, so much I have to edit and limit my words to two hundred. A few of my entries are going to be stories to continue, like “I Miss Him”, my current work in progress.

I understand. I tend to alternate between stories inspired by photos and searching for photos to fit the piece I have. The former is infinitely easier in my opinion. What gave you the push to submit for Boys Club? What made "A Night in San Gregorio Beach" stand out to you among your other writing?



The Boys Club and my story, A Night at San Gregorio Beach”, is one of many stories written by talented authors who contributed to this gay anthology. I originally wrote this piece when I was writing full-time back in 2005 and published with scribd.com for free. Over the next few years I rewrote it, refining the details. I submitted “A Night at San Gregorio Beach” to Naughty Nights Press, when Penny Peterson and Gina Kincade urged me to offer some of my early stories. I was friends with Penny and Gina when they published stories and poetry In Between the Sheets and The Mistress Journals, long before Naughty Nights Press was created. Thanks to Penny’s editing, Naughty Nights Press published my story in “The Boys Club”. If a reader finds my writing a bit rustic, that’s my best communication and style in words. And “A Night at San Gregorio Beach” is one of my prime examples of my style in writing. San Gregorio Beach is a real private beach. My husband and I love to go there in the summer to this day. I spend my time observing and write while I’m there besides doing naughty stuff in the privacy of our own driftwood condo in the sand.

Sounds fantastic. I live in land-locked Alberta and our beaches are few. What do you do when you aren't writing? How does that help you when writing?

I hate that question, because my time spent away from writing deprives me of what I enjoy doing. I work part-time gardening to help my family survive, cook, clean, laundry, garden, shop, and do all the chores to keep our home afloat. When I sit down to take a rest, I think about the story I’m writing and discover new ideas to explore in the plot. Gardening is an escape for me. I believe nature is part of everyone and enjoy what it has to offer. I love to travel which gives me a chance to read, write and observe how other people interact.

You just hit on two things that inspire my writing, the outdoors (including gardening) and travel. In a recent interview, I read your first short story was published in 1986. How has your publishing experience changed since then? Do you prefer the business now to then, or were those 'the good days'?

Back in 1986 I wrote furiously from a simple Brother word processor. I submitted all my stories, poems, and novels from The Writer’s Market Guide, paying postage for sending and return. Almost all were rejected. I felt very discouraged and I only had one friend in the city who shared an interest in writing. He snubbed me when I published that story in 1986. We still communicate but he has moved onto the visual arts. Being published back then in print was overwhelming. Today most everything is published as e-books. Personally I prefer to read paper than by a smart phone, laptop, Kindle or PC. But publishing today has opened up the market beyond the limits realized in 1986. As the industry progresses, I don’t know what the future has. I still like to browse in a book store, though very few are still in business. To answer bluntly, I don’t know what era was better for publishing. I’m still waiting to see what happens in the coming years.

That's fair. As mentioned above, I'm happy to be a Naughty Nights author with you. I agree that the team is fantastic. What is the biggest boost you've gotten from being a part of their company?

I was honored when Gina and Penny invited me into Wicked Wanton Writers. And then when I was offered a chance to be a part of the Naughty Nights Press family, I was overwhelmed. I submit exclusively to NNP now, after the disaster of my self-published novel. Although Gina is my boss and very devoted and dedicated to all the authors that publish with NNP, but both she and Penny have been the closest of virtual friends. We share our personal issues, both problems and joys, with each other, with me expressing mine probably a tad too much. Naughty Nights Press has given me the energy and skills to write again.

I agree, the supportive family mindset is definitely a huge benefit to publishing with them. Thank you so much for opening up and telling us a bit about yourself and your writing. If you have any questions for Pablo Michaels, please leave a comment!

In real life Pablo Michaels has and is primarily a loner. He was born gay. He loves and protects his legal husband of four years; they have been together for sixteen years. When he worked at the local public library in high school, he smuggled out adult fiction and non-fiction, discovering a disenchanted perception of gay life. Coming from very domineering conversationalist’s family and friends, he withdrew to express his life through words he wrote. He devoted his life, while working full-time and part-time at another job in San Francisco in the 1980’s, to write and submit his stories, novels and poetry. He found his true voice for the craft in 1990 when he began an unfinished novel. He still yearns to finish, “The Deer in the Forest”. He diverts his nervous energy into perfecting the voices that drive him into this craft he loves. He believes god is present in all human beings, plants, nature and the universe, and if given the chance, they will speak to a true romanticist’s heart and soul, and Pablo is a genuine romanticist.

The Boys Club, from Naughty Nights Press, can be found on Amazon, Smashwords, and AllRomanticEbooks. Pablo Michaels blog is http://pmmanmanromance.weebly.com/blog.html and he can be found on Facebook and GoodReads.