She Welcomes Jamieson Wolf to The Blog

Today, I have the honor of hosting Author Jamieson Wolf at the site to discuss his newest book, Hard, and some writing process items. My fantasy author, Sandy Lender, was supposed to assist me in preparing this interview for Sunday, but she's so scattered these days that she failed to do so. That means you all must please join me in offering Mr. Wolf a warm welcome today.

Nigel: Good morning and welcome to the blog, Mr. Wolf. You'll have to forgive me for using caution with your name. I have personal reasons for it. Now, I know I've interviewed some lovely characters of yours before, but I don't think you've been a guest at this site before. Could you tell me a bit about where you're from?

Jamieson Wolf: Hello, Nigel! Don’t worry about the name thing, I know Lord Drake well, having read and loved Sandy’s two previous books. I’d be afraid of using my first name if I had known someone like the sorcerer!

I was born in Ottawa Ontario Canada and I live there today. Even though I frequently go away, I always come home.

Nigel: Sandy tells me it's cold there.

Jamieson Wolf: That would be an understatement. Just last week we had our first winter storm. We got roughly thirty centimetres of snow in one day and temperatures of minus fifteen degrees Celsius; and that’s nothing!

The worst we had last year was seventeen inches in one day and the coldest I can remember was minus sixty something degrees Celsius with the wind chill. Obviously on that day, I stayed home with a good book.

Nigel: Interesting. Maybe that's why she's avoided going there so far. Now, as I said, I've only interviewed your characters at this site before, but I get the impression, from what I've read of your new book, that there's quite a bit of yourself poured into one of the main characters. What can you tell me about this gentleman and how much he mirrors you?

Jamieson Wolf: Well, much like any writer, there’s a lot of me in what I write. The character of Owen Wolfe, for example, first started to appear in my short stories. Then he appeared in a novella I wrote for Cobblestone Press. Then he appeared in The Written Word series. Now he’s appeared in the Hard series.

But what most people don’t know is that Owen is me.

Whenever I was writing a short story that was based off of a true event, or writing a short story based around something that happened to me, I used Owen as my mouth piece. Later, as I got to know Owen, I realized that he was me and wasn’t me. As I continued to write, he continued to grow as a character.

Now he is more what I want to be, rather than what I was or what I could be. Usually, if you’re reading one of my novels or short stories and Owen appears, it means that the story is either based off of a true event, a dream I had or I’m saying something I’d like to say, but feel more comfortable saying it behind the guise of fiction.

Nigel: No kidding. So this story is based on true fact?

Jamieson Wolf: Hard is indeed based off of true events.

When I was a randy young lad, I did indeed look at pornography magazines with my male chums. Name one guy that doesn’t when he’s younger (never mind when he’s older). But I always found myself looking at the guys in porno magazines.

I knew at a fairly young age that I was gay. I was brought around to this realization with a little help from my best friend at the time, a young man I will call Jason (that’s not his real name, in case you were wondering).

As young men are wont to do, we did explore each others bodies. We even pressed our crotches together, much like Owen and Daniel in Hard. But the true-life story ended much more horribly than the novel I wrote.

One afternoon, while Jason and I engaged in what could loosely be called an extra curricular activity, I got hard. Even worse, I got hard while we were rubbing crotches together.

I remember the look on Jason’s face when he realized I was hard. And the way the look deepened when he realized it was not the pornography magazines that were making me hard; it was him.

“You're hard,” he said. There was a note of accusation in his voice.

”No I’m not.” But he knew that wasn’t true. So did I.

The damage was done. Jason and I kind of drifted apart. We no longer hung out after school, we no longer talked. But I would see him from time to time in the hallways of our high school. Each time I saw him, I got a feeling that made me warm inside and slightly sad at the same time.

Years later, I realized that I was more than likely in love with Jason at the time. But I didn’t really know what love was. Heck, I didn’t even know what being gay was, not really. I just knew I was different; I just didn’t know how different.

When I sat down to write Hard, I had only one thought in my mind: what would have happened if my own story had gotten a happy ending? What would have happened if things had gone differently?

And the story of Hard was born.

While I was writing it, it was impossible not to think of Jason. I think of him every now and again and wonder what ever happened to him. He was the first boy I ever loved but, thankfully, not the last.

I can only hope that he’s found happiness as I have; and that he thinks of me every once in a while not with shame, but with pleasure.

Nigel: What a tragic story! But you've found real happiness in your life now, haven't you? Are you willing to share a bit of what real life is like, a bit of your bio, for visitors?

Jamieson Wolf: I’ve been very fortunate. I’ll give you a bit of an informal bio. I live in Ottawa Ontario Canada with my cat Mave (who thinks she’s people) and my husband Robert.

Robert and I met when I had completely given up on men. I had decided to check out some personal ad’s on line and was in the mood to fool around. I don’t mean bodily, I just mean hurting someone as I had been hurt.

But there was something about Robert’s eyes in his picture. I answered his personal ad and we chatted online for about two weeks before talking on the phone. It turned out he had lived literally right down the street from me for years. We had been shopping at the same grocery store, going to the same 7 Eleven; but we had never met.

Well, when Robert opened his apartment door for our first date, all I remember is his eyes. I fell in love with him then, I think.

Nigel: I think that’s the story we were waiting to hear today. I’m pleased for you. Now I must ask you a few writing questions. For instance, how much of your time do you spend writing?

Jamieson Wolf: Not as much as I would like. I work full time Monday to Friday doing work I love, but it’s not writing. I usually write for about three hours every evening and more on the weekends.

Nigel: And how much of your time do you spend marketing what you've already written?

Jamieson Wolf: I would say double the time I spend on writing. In fact, during this book tour for Hard, I haven’t written at all. I’ve written blog posts, but they don’t count. I’m craving, needing to write. I haven’t written in a week! This is causing me to be crazier than normal.

Nigel: And do you find yourself irritated by the amount of time marketing and promotion takes away from your writing time?

Jamieson Wolf: Oh, I get irritated about it, sure, but I know that as an author promoting myself is as essential to my writing career as the act of writing is. Most people don’t realize that writing, and all the elements of it, is a job. You have to be dedicated and want to get your name out there.

So sure, I’d love to be writing all the time and leave the hard stuff to a PR company. But then I wouldn’t be challenged and I certainly wouldn’t be having any fun.

Nigel: Can you offer any advice to visitors concerning the balance between the creative writing time and the marketing/promotion time?

Jamieson Wolf: I would say try to find a balance.

Normally I promote for an hour a night and then spend the rest of it writing. Obviously during a virtual book tour, things are a bit different and the balance is thrown off, but on a normal day, just promote when you can and write for the rest of it.

Promoting can be simple too. If you don’t have time for a lot of promoting, make sure to use Twitter and Facebook; easy and simple to do.

Nigel: You realize I'll be sharing that insight with Sandy because I think she spends entirely too much time away from the creative writing. I have many tasks for her in that arena and I thank you for your advice there. Now, I must let you get back to your writing. Mr. Wolf, it's been a pleasure to share some time with you. Could you let our visitors know how to track down your newest book before you go?

Jamieson Wolf: It’s been an incredible pleasure talking to you Nigel! I can’t wait to read your third adventure, Choices Meant for All. When you’re talking to Sandy Lender, tell her that I was very upset at the cliff hanger ending of Choices Meant for Kings. I know you’re supposed to leave the book open ended but still!

Readers can buy a copy of Hard (and read reviews and excerpts) by clicking here:

http://www.breathlesspress.com/erotic/hard.html

Nigel: Wonderful. I encourage everyone to look up Breathless Press. Thank you for sharing your insight with us today.

Tags: Jamieson Wolf, Breathless Press, Hard, self awareness