Johnny Miles Teaches Us to Samba

A picture is worth a thousand words. It's been said often enough because it's true.

I have a rather impressive collection of nice photos just like this one on my FaceBook account. Numerous m/m authors who know me there have commented on just how inspiring any given photo can be for them. So I gathered up some of the best of them, photos and authors, and created a group called Inspired Writing.

We post a photo and then see what kind of story it inspires. I really enjoy seeing the multitude of different ways any photo can be interpreted. All of my original works to date, with the exception of "Controlled Fall," were inspired by photos posted in Inspired Writing. A photo posted by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group inspired "Controlled Fall." I'm still photo driven.


So it's safe to say that each of my stories has it's own muse or set of muses to give me a reason to pick up that metaphorical pen and set their story to paper. Some times they are reasonable and other times they get miffed at me if I take time off for sleep. Since muses don't need sleep, they don't understand why I am slacking off instead of listening closely to their tale.

Johnny Miles is also a member of Inspired Writing. He found inspiration in another photo and wrote "Learning to Samba." I have been privileged to get a taste of his initial manuscript and can tell you that his finished novel is going to be amazing. I am looking forward to August 16th when I can get my copy from LooseId with bated breath.

His story touches on many things. Learning to deal with loss and moving on with one's own life chief among them. It's also a bit of a family story that doesn't just confine itself to our two heroes. He explores some family issues and how one shouldn't allow assumptions to limit one's choices.

And of course, it has it's erotic moments, showcasing the men's adventurous spirits. Personally, I think Johnny was rather brash in his younger days.

Since I didn't have an actual photo of the samba, much less a m/m version of it, I chose this photo for it's similarity to the sensual aspects of the samba (the bedroom variety). I wonder if this will inspire Johnny to write anything else?