Gay Figure Skating – #Olympics – The Frozen Closet – #Newsweek #JohnnyWeir #sochi2014

Timothy Goebel, the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, agrees. “I’d like to see progress. People doing harder stuff and going faster – that’s the whole Olympics theme. Not prettier outfits and more theatrical.” Goebel was the first figure skater to land a quadruple Salchow in competition as well as three quadruple jumps in a single program.

via The Frozen Closet – Newsweek.

But….who watches for that? Really? I mean, that’s not going to win them more audience/viewers. Sorry, but figure skating fans like pretty things, and they don’t mind pretty boys. And let’s just face it, bro dudes don’t see enough balls or blood or dudes rubbing up against each other, or smashing into each other, or copping feels that are known as “fouls” in figure skating. Sorry.

So give figure skating fans more of what they actually want instead of more of what you want them to want! If I could count the number of times I’ve seen an iteration of “I miss Johnny Weir” or “It’s just not as exciting without someone like Johnny Weir” since this Olympic season started…well, let’s just say I’ve heard it a lot. And which name will be remembered longer? Weir or Lysaceck? I promise it will be Weir.

Training Season can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, ARe, and Smashwords. And also on iBooks.
Unquestionably talented figure skater Matty Marcus is willing to sacrifice everything for his Olympic dream, but his lack of discipline cost him the gold once before. Now the pressure’s on. He needs a coach who can keep him in line, but top coaches don’t come cheap, and Matty can’t afford to stay in the game no matter how badly he wants to win.
When a lucrative house-sitting gig brings him to rural Montana, Matty does his best to maintain his training regimen. Local residents turn out to be surprisingly tolerant of his flamboyant style, especially handsome young rancher Rob Lovely, who proves to be much more than a cowboy stereotype. Just as Matty requires a firm hand to perform his best on the ice, Rob shows him how strong he can be when he relinquishes control in the bedroom. With new-found self-assurance, he drives himself harder to go straight to the top.
But competition has a timetable, and to achieve his Olympic dream, Matty will have to join his new coach in New York City, leaving Rob behind. Now he must face the ultimate test. Has he truly learned how to win—on and off the ice—during his training season?

Johnny Weir Is Too Pretty and Snow and Frozen Lakes #figureskating #johnnyweir

These very short videos are so beautiful. If I could embed them, I would, but I can’t. So, please follow the link and see the gorgeous Johnny Weir skating on a frozen lake as it pours the snow. So beautiful.

Video One

Video Two

The next one doesn’t have pouring snow, but if Johnny was any prettier, the world might end because no one could handle it.

Video Three

Click through to JWeir’s instagram account.

Any Other World: Training Season #johnnyweir #mm #romance

My upcoming novel, Training Season, is a romance featuring a male figure skater and a rancher. The story has existed in various stages and forms for a few years now, but it has only come into its own in my latest sweep of edits and additions. It is turning into something that I feel rather pleased with, if I do say so myself, and I look forward to sharing more information on it soon, including a lovely cover designed by the always wonderful Dar Albert. Expect that cover reveal soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to talk a bit about the initial moment of inspiration for this novel. The spark originated from watching the following video. It is a fanvideo, a montage of Johnny Weir’s performances over some of his earlier years, set to the absolute perfect song. It was the combination, and the impeccable editing, that really engaged my mind and made me start to ask some really important questions. Such as, what does it look like when you work hard at something with no guarantee that the outcome of years and years of work will pay off? (Hello, I am a writer, I think I understand this quite well, actually.) Or what does it look like when someone keeps screwing themselves over because they just don’t believe, deep down, that they deserve it? What happens when they meet someone from outside of their world who gets them, sees them, and loves them anyway?

Other questions came up, too, but those were the very first ones, and they were all due to this little fanvid right here. Oh, Johnny Weir, you are a divine mess at times, aren’t you? And, yes, he is, in part, along with some other skaters and some people I know in my day-to-day life, the inspiration for the character of Matty Marcus–God’s gift to figure skating, and victim of his own worst impulses.

Enjoy the video. The way it makes you feel is pretty much what this book is about. The emotional base of it stemmed from this video.