Please welcome J.B. Warrick to This Writer’s Life…
TWL-Why and when did you decide to become an author?
I’ve always wanted to be an author, and although I’ve worked as a creative in theater my whole adult life, I found it hard to finish novel-length works. Way back in college, I had a short story published in a pro mag (a sweet if clichéd story about a prince falling in love with a dragon shifter who had abducted a princess – I was doing dragon shifters before it was cool!), but for about twenty years after that I didn’t really get any fiction writing done. I’d gotten decently far in a few novel attempts, usually stalling out around 20k words, but I wasn’t able to really figure out my process until November of 2023, when I finished my first full length novel.
TWL-What’s a typical writing session like for you?
As much as I aspire to be a writer who knocks out seven or eight thousand words a day, generally I’m shooting for two thousand, three thousand on a good day. I’ve had decent luck with twenty-five minute sprints, and I try to write for three hours a day if I can. Sometimes that’s at home on my couch, but that’s only if I’m feeling particularly focused. Usually heading out to a coffee shop and hunkering down there helps me get my mind in the right place. There’s something about the bustle all around me that is really stimulating.
TWL-What have you learned most from being a writer?
That everyone is different! And that I don’t need to conform to anyone else’s process or goals to be fulfilled. I love writing the way I write: setting a publication date and moving heaven and earth to reach it with an excellent product. It is NOT for everyone, but it activates the competitive side of me that I mostly keep hidden in my real life.
TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?
The biggest struggle has been accepting that I need down time after I finish a novel. My conception of myself is that of a (particularly fashionable) robot, so I don’t always love that I’m actually a human being who needs processing time. But without that period of not writing (usually about a week, but it can go longer), I start to edge close to burnout. And honestly, usually my brain is just like “absolutely not” when I try to skip the rest phase and it shuts everything down.
Also, marketing.
TWL-What’s been your biggest victory?
Getting that first novel written. Even though I have yet to publish it (I think part of me is afraid to go back to that draft and see all the things I did wrong), it was proof of concept for myself as an author. If I could get a first draft done in six weeks without serious mental strain, I could do it consistently going forward. It showed me what was possible.
TWL-If you could give advice to your pre-author self, what would it be?
Keep going! Also, WRITE GAY ROMANCE. One of the reasons I was having trouble finishing was that I was trying to write epic fantasy, and it’s a genre that doesn’t play to my strengths, no matter how much I loved it as a teen and young adult. If I had thought back a little and realized that my favorite authors as a teenager were ones with strong queer romance elements (I reread The Last Herald-Mage by Mercedes Lackey about a million times), I might have gotten there sooner.
TWL-What writing tip would you offer to a new author?
Do it your way. Lots of writers have lots of advice, much of it good IF it works for you. But for every piece of advice, I have a friend who does the opposite and is still an excellent author. Take the time to figure out your process. Breeze through your first draft or edit as you go. Revise a hundred times or just do a quick cleanup. Outline every tiny moment or jump into the deep end without your floaties on. Only you can figure out what kind of writer you’re going to be.
Bio:
Hi! I’m J.B. Warrick, author of MM and MX paranormal romance and romantasy.
From an early age, sneaking peeks at my mother’s Harlequin romances, to the voracious reader I am today, I’ve always adored romance novels. I’ve also always been a huge sci-fi and fantasy nerd.
As a gay, genderqueer adult, I finally realized the whole world of queer romance out there! Once I started writing, I couldn’t stop. I quickly became engrossed in a world of vampires, shifters, angels, demons, and more. It brings me so much joy to share that world with you.
When I’m not writing, I exist as an enby goddex in New York City. I love the city, where the negatives (everything is so damn expensive) are balanced by incredible positives (Broadway, opera, museums). You might run into me at brunch, wandering around MoMA, or high up in the cheap seats at the Metropolitan Opera.
New Release: The Baritone’s Rival: An MM Fated Mates Vampire Romance
Price: $3.99
Tropes: vampire, fated mates, bi-awakening, rivals to lovers, open door
Available on Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/Baritones-Rival-Vampire-Romance-Impresario-ebook/dp/B0DSM1TLX2/
Blurb:
Two rival opera singers. One vampire, one human. Both running from the past.
Oscar Acosta’s abusive ex-boyfriend is dead, and his old vampire coven is gone. Now all he cares about is winning a coveted spot with the prestigious local opera company. His stiffest competition is Trent, an adorable fellow grad student with a linebacker’s build who he is definitely not crushing on.
When Oscar’s ex turns out to be not-so-deceased, sending several vampires to kidnap him, Oscar is forced to reveal his own vampire identity to his classmate. Can he trust Trent or should he keep him at a safe distance?
Trent Erickson is on his own with no safety net. He doesn’t have time for partying, especially not with a privileged trust fund nepo baby like Oscar. Trent’s not going to let some rich flake steal his star spot onstage, even if the guy stirs up feelings in him that he doesn’t understand.
But when he witnesses three savage vamps attacking Oscar, Trent’s own hidden history rears its ugly head. After all, he knows more about fighting vampires than any human should.
The Baritone’s Rival is a 60,000-word rivals to lovers, bi-awakening, fated mates vampire romance with a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhanger. It contains an ambitious opera singer and the closed-off vampire who falls for him in spite of himself. It also has steamy scenes and the violence you might expect from a vampire story. It is a standalone novel in an interconnected series. Not suitable for readers under 18.
Social Media Links:
Bluesky (my most used account): https://bsky.app/profile/jbwarrick.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbwarrickwrites/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jbwarrickwrites
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jbwarrickwrites
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086553187617
Website: https://www.jbwarrick.com/
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