It’s
been a while, hasn’t it? Since I’ve been able to say we’re only a few days
ahead of the release of a new BOATK book. Far longer than I actually planned it
to be, but life gets in the way. You
probably know that now, how life got in our way, so there’s no sense in
rehashing it. We’re looking forward, Eric and I.
Still, it’s been a while. When Who We Are ended, I knew I was going to
set the boys aside for a while so I could focus on other things. It may
surprise you that I knew the story for the third book, even when I was
finishing the second. Okay, maybe not
the whole story, but I knew the bones
of it. I knew how it would start. I knew where it would go. And I knew how it
ended. It was all the filling in that I wasn’t sure of. But, like with the other
two books, there’s never a lot of meticulous planning when it comes to the
BOATK books. With them, I write and see
what happens. Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t write any other books like that. The book I’m working on now I have pages upon
pages upon pages of notes for, given
that it’s the biggest project I’ve taken on to date. It’s dark and fast and twisted and crazy and
I fucking love it. But we’ll talk about
that book(s) another day.
It might also surprise you to know
that you’ve actually already read part of BOATK3. At least, a small part. The shorts I released, Just Breathe and Word
of the Day, are part of the third book in the Bear, Otter, and the Kid
series. I wrote them as a way to say
thanks to my readers. But I also wrote them to continue to tether myself to the
BOATK world. And when the time finally came to start writing the book, I knew
that those shorts were a part of the much longer story.
And so I put my fingers to the keys
and wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote what turned out to be the
longest, funniest, saddest, angstiest book in the series. Of course, that is just my opinion. You’ll have to form your own.
The Art Of Breathing is divided into
three parts. The first of which shows Tyson from a young age, growing up until
he graduates High School at the age of sixteen and has to make a decision about
his future. Part two is him coming home
for the first time four years later. Many of you have repeated that part of the
blurb back to me with something akin to horror (…he returns to the coast with four years of failure, addiction, and a
diagnosis of panic disorder trailing behind him… ADDICTION? FAILURE? PANIC
DISORDER?!?!? TJ KLUNE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??????????? Does that sound about
right?). Trust me when I say it makes
sense for Ty, even though it’s hard to see him go through it. And panic disorder is almost a forgone
conclusion, given his propensity for the bathtub. It’s just the earthquakes, given a proper
name. The third part is…well. The third
part is where Tyson learns the art of breathing.
Some warnings. This is a slow burn romance, probably the
slowest that I’ve written. But I think
it’s also the most well-earned. The reason for this is two-fold: first, Ty and
Dominic can’t be Ty and Dominic until Ty figures out who he is. It’s just not possible. For all that he’s
been through, and for the reasons he’s stayed away from Seafare, I didn’t think
it made sense for any kind of immediate relationship. That’s not how these characters work.
Secondly (and probably the one I cackle
the most gleeful over), is that I wanted the tension to build. And build. And
build until you’d be screaming if (when) something finally does happen between them.
More and more with my own reading, I find myself relishing the build-up,
the dance, the anticipation. There’s always a bit of a let-down when that part
is over, because there’s something magical about two people skirting around
each other’s edges.
The sex in this book is minimal,
probably about the amount of BOATK. I
don’t write erotica. It’s not my cup of tea. Honestly, if I thought I could
have gotten away with it, I would have written out all of the sex scenes in
Into This River I Drown. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with erotica, or explicit sex scenes. Many writers out
there are wonderful at it, who juggle sex and plot very well. Sex scenes bore me, however, for the most
part. You know how sex works. You’ve read it before. But unless you have an emotional connection
to what you’re reading about, then what’s the point? It’s that build up. That
dance. That anticipation. I love
that. I hope you do too. But still,
there’s a bone-sesh. Or two. You know.
For reasons.
Ty will make you want to pull your hair
out. I guarantee that. In the first two
books, he was precocious, manipulative, endearing, fierce, and way beyond his
years. But underneath all that, he was
still a child, and that fragility showed through. Now, he’s almost twenty years old. He’s precocious. And manipulative. And
endearing and fierce and way beyond his years. But he’s also a teenager, so
that means he’s fragile. He flip flops. He meanders. He’s hesitant and unsure,
brash and sarcastic. He grew up, but he’s still the Kid.
The Art of Breathing was always meant to
be a sort of reverse Bear, Otter and the Kid. Instead of having someone come
home to you, it was going to be coming home to
that someone. There are obvious
parallels between Bear and Tyson’s stories, and I loved playing off those. People who know the first two books well will
find little easter eggs sprinkled throughout.
This is not going to be an easy book
to read, however. It was not an easy book to write. There is humor here, and
lighter moments, but this book is about the heartache of growing up. The heartbreak of growing apart. The need to
find your way home again, and be able to stand there on your own two feet. I needed to make sure Tyson could stand
before I let him go again. Because that’s how it feels every time I finish a
story about this funny little family: like letting go. It hurts. I hate it.
They’re on my mind constantly. It’s not going to be easy when we eventually
have to say good bye. But like all
things, it’s inevitable. Their word of
the day.
So.
By the time you read this, the book will be nine days away. I hope you’re excited. I hope you’re ready to
see them all again. Creed and Anna. Their son JJ. Their parents. Mrs. Paquinn,
in her own way. Dominic. Some new faces. Some old friends.
And Bear, Otter, and the Kid, of
course. For those that have come with me
this far, I hope it feels like coming home for you as much as it always does
for me.
There is love here. And life. And laughter. (And even a road
trip!) But there is going to also be
pain and sadness. Anger and fear. And
death, because that’s also inevitable.
Because that’s how life works. That’s how we know we’re alive. How we know who we are.
But there will be happiness. I
promise you that. In the end, there will
be happiness. It’s something I have always believed. And now, more than ever, it’s something that
I will always hold on to.
So. I know there’s a lot of
anticipation for this book. I’ve been very fortunate about that sort of thing
in my short writing career. It’s not
lost on me, and I am grateful for it every day.
There’s pressure to deliver, but I thrive under pressure, and I think
I’ve done that here. This story may have taken two years. But it came when it
and I were ready, and I think you’ll see it was worth the time it took.
In
nine more days, I’ll let Tyson take over, because he’s got a story to tell you
about how he learned the art of breathing.
And I can’t wait for you to hear it.
Tj
PS: Also, the title of this blog post is interesting, don't you think? Sure, it could be just talking about my expectations and yours and nothing else. Certainly not hinting at anything all. Right?
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