Hello everyone. I’m T.A. Chase and I write M/M romance for Totally Bound and various other publishers. (In case you didn’t know who I was) I’m thrilled to be here today.

My recent release at Totally Bound is Walking in the Rain, book five of the Rags to Riches series. This one features Dayton VanHooren, junior US senator from New York and Mickey O’Leary, a man working three jobs to help pay his brother’s medical bills.

They meet at Adrien and Ion’s wedding reception (Remove the Empty Spaces and Close the Distance), but it’s when Mickey’s walking to the train station in the rain that Dayton offers him a ride and a relationship is started.

I want to talk titles today. Basically all the titles in the Rags to Riches series are lyrics—or variations of lyrics. A lot of my titles are lyrics or phrases from songs or poems. I get a lot of inspiration from those.

Remove the Empty Spaces, Book One, is a variation of a line from Tonight sung by Enrique Iglesias. Very sexy man and song. The actual lyric is “let’s remove the space between you and me.” A little long for a title, so I reworked it to mean the same thing, just in a shorter phrase.

Close the Distance, Book Two, comes from Close the Distance by Go Radio. The song doesn’t really have much inspiration for the story, but I liked the line and thought it worked well with Remove’s title.

Following His Footsteps, Book Three, is a variation on the lyrics of Pat Green’s song, Footsteps of our Fathers. This one does work within the plot of the story since Winston is worried about becoming like his father and chooses not to continue in the tradition of his parents.

Anywhere Tequila Flows, Book Four, is a line in Galleywinter by Pat Green. It fits Sidney’s personality since tequila is his favorite alcohol. But I love how I’ll be driving along listening to these songs and random lines/phrases will jump out at me. I end up coming home and adding them to my spreadsheet of titles. I might not have a story idea to go with it, but I know at some point in the future, I’ll find something to work with that title.

Walking in the Rain, Book Five, is from All I Want to do is Make Love to You by Heart. It started out as Lonely Boy in the Rain, which is the actual lyric, but we needed something with movement since the first four titles had titles that suggested movement in them. So I went with walking. It gives me the same feel as the song does, so I was happy with it.

Barefoot Dancing, Book Six, which will be out in November is a lyric from George Strait’s A Better Rain. I took that line, ‘barefoot dancing in a better rain’ and wrote a scene that works with it. Since the main characters in that book meet on the beach.

As you can see, music plays a big part in my writing process. I listen to it while I write, plus I get inspiration for story ideas and titles from the songs I listen to. I also use lines from poems—or really any kind of phrase or saying that touches me in some way.

Thank you for having me today. I hope you take a minute to check Walking in the Rain out.

Blurb for Walking in the Rain, book five in the Rags to Riches series:

Sometimes fate brings us the right person to make our world perfect.

Dayton VanHooren is a United States senator who doesn’t really like his job. He’s been too busy to date, much less pick anyone up for sex. Being openly gay means he doesn’t have to worry about scandal, but he’s looking for something more than a good time.

Mickey O’Leary can barely think, he’s so exhausted. Working three jobs to help pay his brother’s hospital bills keeps him going and helps him forget about how lonely he is. Mickey would like to meet a nice guy who won’t run at the first hint of Mickey’s problems.

A wedding reception and a thunderstorm are catalysts to bring these two men together. What can they do when they discover the perfect man for them but fall in love?

Like the sound of Walking in the Rain? Buy it here: Totally Bound

Author Bio for TA Chase:

There is beauty in every kind of love, so why not live a life without boundaries? Experiencing everything the world offers fascinates TA and writing about the things that make each of us unique is how she shares those insights. When not writing, TA’s watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest.