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So, I figure to close, I'd talk about future projects and my hopes for the future. First, I think every author dreams of being contracted by a New York Publisher, and I would like to have at least one book published by someone like Avon or Berkley, but not right now. I have a five year retirement plan that so far is working nicely.

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Faith keeps me going. Faith that one of my stories will touch a reader’s heart and bring them enjoyment. For me, success isn’t measured by royalty checks but by the comments of fans and readers.

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For those of you that write, do you remember you very first critique? The one where you expected the reader to gush all over your literary genius? I guess I was lucky. My first critique came from loving hands, ones that knew how to feed a little information at a time.

All readers are invited to check out these blogs to learn more about a WIDE variety of books. Learn about books based on many different types of information - hero, heroine, setting, author background, fictional best friend, villains and much more.

To use any of these blogs - click on the link, click on "how to submit" in the top corner of the blog and follow the instructions. I ask that you send the questions and answers as an RTF file. It is also good to send a jpg file of your book cover - no PDF files for the cover art. When you complete the interview, send to nikki_leigh22939@yahoo.com with the blog title in the subject line and I will add you to the list for that blog.

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When Celestial Dragon first came out, I had two very strong supporters, Kat Hall (the chief reader for Champagne) and Phyllis Campbell. It never ceases to surprise me when they mention my book and claim its merits. I guess you could say I learned loop etiquette from Phyllis.

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I grew up hating to read. I know. Tragic. But it wasn’t discovered until I was in fourth grade that I had astigmatism, which gave me headaches. Too late. I was a stubborn child, and I’d already associated reading with pain. I was determined to read as little as possible.

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The holiday season inspires so many emotions – elation, faith, charity, hope, passion and humility, that I thought it might be fun to address each key word in relationship to writing and my own path. Today, I get to talk about elation and the joys of being published.

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This is an appropriate time of year for me to be giving thanks and recognizing the generous friends I have in life. A lot more happened along the road than what I’ve shared here with you. Some of too complex for a brief blog, some of it best left to bad memories, and some of it just too boring to mention.

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I am Laura Baumbach. I write M/M erotic romance and I also publish it. I own MLR Press, LLC, a small print press devoted to M/M erotic romance and gay fiction, with a primary but not exclusive focus on romance and mystery.

I’ve talked about my career from fanfiction reader to writer to slash print published to M/M erotic romance professional author all the way to avid promoter of the genre and on to publisher. I believe very strongly that this genre deserves a place in the romance community and on bookshelves across the world. Enough to stake my writing career, my savings and my future on it. I believe in my abilities and I trust the talents of the staff and authors working with me. I have an outstanding team of professionals helping me make the press a success.

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Once we got started the potential for new ideas and projects opened up to us. A series titled Partners in Crime was created. It required another writer be paired with Josh to produce a mystery romance anthology twice a year, so Sarah Witte joined us. William approached me about doing a project with one of his colleagues, Wayne Gunn, a unique novel combining gay erotica fiction and historical personalities. It was a risk but the title netted us a Lambda finalist place in literary history in 2008.

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After a few unrewarding experiences with my efforts to go back into print, I had some hard choices to make about my canceled book contracts. ‘A Bit of Rough’ was still very popular even after two years and ‘Out There in the Night’ had its own paranormal audience. Considering their sales ranking on B&N before they were canceled, I felt sure they would continue to do well if they got back into print quickly. But no new publisher was going to make room on their roster for re-releases and definitely not as quickly as I knew they needed to be out again to keep their audience.