BEST DAMN JOB IN THE WORLD By Laura Baumbach

I've been writing m/m erotic romance professionally for 16 years. I've seen a lot of changes in the romance community and publishing industry over that time. Most have been for the better; some were a long time coming, and others were not so good.  

My name is Laura Baumbach. I'm a life-long reader, a published romance author for sixteen years, and a publisher celebrating a successful decade in the romance business. 

At one point, my writing was published by six different romance epublishers with many of the titles put out in print from them as well. I've enjoyed a varied and exciting career that eventually led me to start my press, ManLove RomancePress aka MLR Press. We publish over 120 authors and have an editing staff of over thirty people, formatting department, social networking director, and a roster of talented artists for cover art.

It wasn't easy getting to the place I am today.  Fifteen years ago I started out fighting to break down of barriers that prevented m/m erotic romance from being even considered a part of the romance community. In the early days, I and others like me fought for equality within the community especially where contests and reviews were concerned.

We joined RWA, participated in the community, attended conferences – where we weren't always welcome, working from within to achieve real change. We paid the price of everything from public humiliation to personal snubbing. But we continued our labors.

Our hard-won success is measured by how accepted m/m erotic romance is today. How easily the newer writers to this category of romance take for granted that reviews are theirs for the asking, that entrance and winning of romance chapter writing contests, or entry into the RITAS, like their counterparts in heterosexual romance, is their expected right. They neither know nor care that those things were not available to others in this field a decade ago. They reap the fruits of previous m/m authors labors and pain without knowledge of the cost.

It's the way of the world. The new rarely appreciate the old.

But now it is time for the new to help carry the torch for m/m romance. To continue to assure equality and acceptance for their category of romance as a community united. Or to pick that torch up when it gets dropped. When discord and bickering split a community into fractions.

Let us never lose sight of the goal of every romance author writing commercial fiction for their readers. We write about love, romance, and happily-ever-afters. We need to bring that rush of effervescent emotion to our readers, to brighten their world for a few hours, and to give them characters to take to their dreams at night.

I like to think we are here to spread a little magic into the world. And if we, as m/m romance authors, manage to make a positive impact on increasing acceptance and tolerance of one another (no matter what letter of the alphabet represents our true selves) in the process, then I'm pretty sure I have the best damn job in the world.  ~ Laura

BIO: Laura Baumbach, Author, Owner/Publisher -- Laura is a graduate of Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA with a degree in Nursing. For thirty-four years she specialized in critical care and emergency trauma nursing. Now retired, Laura devotes herself full time to publishing and writing. She honed her business and people management skills as a hospital department head and supervisor which she puts to good use in the publishing industry. MLR Press was founded in January of 2007.

Laura is also a Romancing the Genres Alumnus. We are honored to have her back as a guest.

http://www.laurabaumbach.com/ 

An Update from Laura Baumbach, MLR Press

Laura Baumbach

Hello Everyone! 

It's been awhile since I've been here so I was excited to get the offer to post again and let

readers know what I have been up to lately.

I'm Laura Baumbach, author and publisher of M/M erotic romance. I have writing m/m romance for 15 years. I've blazed a few trails for the category of romance including creating a co-op marketing group for authors in the m/m category, Manloveromance.com, and founding the first RWA chapter for authors of GLBTQ romance, Rainbow Romance Writers. In recognition of my efforts over the years, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE named me 'a pioneer of the 'm/m genre' in their Oct. 2010 issue.  

I became a publisher in 2007 with my small press, ManLove Romance Press aka MLR Press, publishing some of the very best established authors and discovering new ones. The press is my way of bring the category of romance I love most to a place of recognition and respect in the romance community.

This year MLR press is sponsoring a number of m/m centric events including UK Meet GLBTQ Fiction event in Nottingham June 6-8. I'll be sponsoring and attending the Gay Romance Northwest Event (GRNW) in September in Seattle and the Gay Literary Retreat (GRL) in Chicago in October this year. There are a lot of advantageous events to attend each year but budget and family life limit my travel. Husband and kids come first before work, especially at my age.

 

I'm working on a new novel, a romantic suspense, tentatively titled REESE (I’ve included a tentative cover)

and working on the sequel to one of my earlier releases, MEXICAN HEAT, titles Tequila Sunrise. I'm hoping to get a lot of work done over the summer when things slow down a bit. It's unusual for me to work two stories at once so I'll anxious about the results.    

You can see all of my published work at my website 

It needs another update when my web guy has time but you can find lots to keep you busy there.

If you are attending any event I'm at, please stop by and say hello! I'm always interesting meeting people with an interest in our category. 

The Attraction of the Unknown

Or why mystery is such a draw to many readers. I'm a victim of it myself. I LOVE a well-written mystery. I will by pass any number of other genres to get my hands on a mystery, especially if it is by one of my favorite authors.

As a child my favorite author was Alistair MacClean. I was obsessed with his work, acquiring every title, even the later ones that weren't quite up to the same level as his earlier stories. DRIFT ICE STATION ZEBRA, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE-- cool mysteries wrapped around a spy novel-- and so many others. I'd look forward to each new book with the same excitement Christmas morning brought. It probably isn't a surprise to know I majored in Criminology when I first started college a lifetime ago. 

And I haven't changed. Cozy mystery, hard-core detective novel, amateur sleuth, I love them all. I send more time watching old Herecule Poirot, Morse, Inspector Lewis, Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes on PBS channels than I care to admit. I'm attracted to the challenge of figuring out the solution to the puzzle, gathering the clues along with the sleuth, interviewing the suspects and making character judgements to ferret out the bad guy. I like to see the hero win the day, right the wrong, put the world back in balance, heal the wounds of the ones that suffered. And it's probably not a surprise that I finished college as a Nursing major. <g> Weird how our inner core reveal themselves. 

  

How to make a man

Or Creating Characters

When a story idea first comes to me it’s usually inspired by a phrase or a single action – like watching a leaf float down from the sky and thinking about all the things it briefly touches as it glides from branch to branch, bumping a twig, a birdhouse in the tree, a park bench under the tree or landing for a short time on a statue’s outstretched arm. Kind of like a person drifting through life and all the different strangers he affects by his touch.

Anyway once that story idea hits me I begin to visualize the man my story will center around. I think his personal qualities—good and bad—form before with his physical attributes for me. Maybe he dazzles his lovers with striking vibrant, blue eyes or freezes his enemies with the icy coldness of his pale blue/gray stare. I have to know his personality before I can choose his eye color. Is he hard-hitting, business-like or a warm, welcoming man?

And usually the story line—if I plan the story first as opposed to allow the character of my story to determine the story outcome—will tell me the type of main character I need to pull a successful story line off. A shy, conservative architect who loves evenings at home with a good book and has a secret passion for knitting is not going to be a likely hero of a rough and tumble adventure. Not that it can’t happen but it would stretch believability a bit for some readers.

So once I have my story line, I imagine the man who is capable of accomplishing what I want done.