What have I gotten myself into?

In a fit of obvious insanity, I signed up to read at the Hot Night Critique event at the upcoming Romance Writers of America spring fling conference here in Chicago.

What does this entail, you ask? Me, standing up in front of God knows how many people, reading an explicit three page m/m sex scene out loud then getting feedback on it.

[facepalm] What was I thinking?? LOL!

This was the most popular event at the last Spring Fling, drawing more than 200 people. Since I want to get my name out there this seemed like a good way to do it. And in a spectacular way, too, since as an m/m author I'm going to be in the vast minority at this event. Thought I'd get up there and shock a few people! And maybe open up a few eyes.

Like our Dreamspinner shirts say: "The only women who don't like gay romance are the ones who haven't read it"

It will be very interesting to see the reaction I get when I announce my characters are two men. Will some people get up and leave or will they afford me the same consideration as me sitting through a dozen m/f scenes? I'm interested in possibly joining a local RWA chapter and I thought this would be a good way to feel these women out, if I'd be accepted.

My final choice is a scene from Burnin' for You after sending it and one from Out of the Shadows to several of my friends, asking which they preferred. My hot firemen won! It happened to be my favorite of the two scenes as well.

Wish me luck next month!

What's on the little screen and the big screen

• Did anyone watch the pilot episode of Crisis on Sunday night? I was interested in it because 1.) it's filmed here in Chicago and 2.) it stars Gillian Anderson (hello, Scully!).

It BLEW ME AWAY. What freaking brilliant writing. I couldn't believe all the twists and turns that kept my jaw dropping throughout the entire episode. Definitely looking forward to this every week.

• I also checked out the first two episodes of Believe. It's…okay. I love the girl playing Bo. She's very mature for her age. But the show itself is very formulaic - Bo and Tate on the run, come across someone in trouble, help them, move on before they get caught. Repeat. Not sure how long this is going to keep my attention.

• For all the Ripper Street fans on my list, did you see the commercial during last week's episode that said "Ripper Street returns to the BBC"? Woot! Love that they're already advertising it's been brought back from cancelation. I assume that because only a few months went by before Amazon stepped in and funded another season that all of the actors will be returning, that no one found another job that quickly.

• Over the last couple of weeks I've seen a few movies - 3 Days to Kill with Kevin Costner and Non-Stop with Liam Neeson. Liked 3 Days but Non-Stop was awesome! Who knew that a movie filmed entirely on an airplane could be so tense and riveting! I was impressed. Love that Liam Neeson has reinvented himself as an action hero.

• This weekend I'm planning on seeing the Veronica Mars movie (I was a Kickstarter backer). Can't wait! Please oh please let Veronica throw Piz to the curb and ride off into the sunset with Logan! It's only showing at AMC theaters so it's a bit of a hike to get to one but it happens to be in the direction of our favorite French restaurant so a yummy dinner awaits us afterwards.

• I also want to see Divergent, which starts this weekend. I read the book last year and enjoyed it. It was also filmed here in Chicago. When I found out that Theo James was staring in it I knew I wanted to see it. I loved him in the short lived BBC series Bedlam and then on Golden Boy as well.

And that's pretty much it from me right now. What have you all been up to?

Happy Hump Day, everyone!