The Making of Matt (28 page)

Authors: Nicola Haken

BOOK: The Making of Matt

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Acknowledgements

Okay, fasten your seatbelts, grab some caffeine, this could be a long one!

So, I’ve had a rough year. I’ve been sick, I’ve been down, I’ve been a whiney-ass mare. This book took
so
much longer to write than I planned or expected, so if you’ve made it this far THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me, for not forgetting about Matt.

There were times when I genuinely didn’t think I would write again. The author switch broke. I couldn’t concentrate. I didn’t
want
to concentrate. I disappeared from social media, I stopped writing, stopped reading, stop thinking about the stories in my head.

You know what changed all that? My readers. Friends who I’ve never even ‘met’ in
real
life. People didn’t forget about me. They continued to message me. They emailed me. They
cared
about me. I crawled out of my hidey hole and posted a quick status on Facebook and I was overwhelmed with comments from people, readers,
friends
, who hadn’t forgotten about me.

As Matt’s mom would say, they made my heart smile.

I plucked my head out of my arse, cranked up my music, and took a pen to paper. I wrote just a couple of sentences. The next day a whole paragraph. A week later I’d written a chapter. I posted a teaser. People got excited. So
I
got excited. I could do this. I
was
doing it. And now, here we are. Matt has his story, and it’s my favourite one of all because this was the story that made me fall in love with writing again. It made me remember
why
I do it, reminded me of the all special people I have met, the friends I’ve made, and just how lucky I am to have so much support.

So, guess I should
actually
start acknowledging people!

As always, I hate this part. Not because I’m not grateful to everyone who has helped me get where I am today, but because I’m ditsy and might forget to mention someone who’s really important to me.

First up is the lady I dedicated this book to. Denise Shirley Carter. You are a very special friend and I feel honoured to know you. I tried to disappear and you wouldn’t let me. You stuck with me. You listened. You made me smile. You know the difference between the
author
me and the
real
me and for that, I have no other words than I love you. Thank you a thousand times over.

Emma Clark. You are so shit you have become
da
shit. I sometimes can’t believe I haven’t known you all my life! And I
really
can’t believe I only met you because you happened to stumble on one of my books! Now, I’m landed with you for life and I doubt I’ll ever get rid of you. I’ve accepted that and decided to embrace it rather than wanting to move to another country and change my name ;-) As Matt would say, you’re motherfucking awesome. I don’t know what I used to do with my evenings before I met you! I must’ve been so lonely! Thank you for listening to my shit, for our mahoosive bitch-fests, and even for being shit. I’m going to say this only once, I’d be lost without you. I love you. But you’re still shit.

Paula Agnes. You know how important to me you are, so all I can say, again, is thank you. You know the deepest parts of me, you’re
always
there for me, and I hope you know I’m always there for you, too. Thank you for your friendship, girl. It, and
you
, mean the world to me.

Oor Janie. You are one of the good ones. I love your enthusiasm. I love how hard you pimp me, and
all
the other authors you love. You are very special to not only me, but the whole of our genre. Thank you for checking up on me when I went MIA. Thank you for caring, for not giving up until you got a reply outta me! You are one of the most genuine, positive, people I have ever ‘met’. Thank you for being my friend, and for being you.

Sanna Solin. You work so hard to pimp out your favourite authors and I’m truly honoured to be one of them. Thank you for your dedication and for everything you do for us. I have lots of love for you!

I should start this by saying Matt was never supposed to have his own story. He was most definitely never meant to fall in love with another man! But my readers fell in love with him. They saw something in him that I didn’t and I can’t thank them enough because I can’t see another path for him now. He has a special place in my heart and I owe it all to the readers who joined in on a random thread in a book group. Ange, Emma, Denise, Theresa, (and damn I’m sure I’m missing some out but the thread was over a year ago and I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning!), this book is for
you
. I didn’t see it, but
you
did, and I owe this whole story to you guys.

As for Matt getting his measuring tape out? That’s all on Ange Yiakoumi! Thank you Ange. Thank you for your support and encouragement, and for falling so deeply in love with Matt. Without your initial comment, this story would never have been born. Matt’s six and three quarter inch dick is dedicated to you, lady!

You still with me? I’m nearly done I swear!

Now for my beta readers! I have the best in the whole damn world. Emma, Paula, Keeley, Denise, Theresa, Janie, Jackie, Danni, Lisa and Karen. THANK YOU! Thank you for lending me your keen eyes, for loving my stories, for being there. I love you all to the moon and back and I’m insanely grateful to each and every one of you. I feel lucky to know you guys, and relieved I don’t have to send my baby out into the world without having your approval first!

Karen, especially, you have been with me since pretty much the beginning. You were my first ever beta reader (once I found out what they were!). Thank you for your support, encouragement, and your friendship.

There are so many amazing bloggers out there that I won’t even attempt to mention by name because I
know
I will leave someone out and I would spend my life wanting to punch myself in the face for it. I
adore
every blogger who has supported my on my journey. Without them, authors would be nothing. We owe our success to their hard work. Work that they do for no other reason than they
love
to read. Well
I
love
you
. All of you. Well, maybe not
all
. As in every walk of life there a few arseholes dotted around ;-) But on the whole, I’m overwhelmed by the tireless and amazing support I have received from the blogging community, and if I’ve ever thanked you, talked to you, or even liked one of your posts, know that I love and appreciate you.

NICOLA’S COCKYBITCHES! This one’s for you guys! I set up my secret group purely to make friends who are as filthy-minded as I am. Some have read my books, some haven’t, but it’s not about that in there. It’s not
just
about the gay porn and the hot men. It’s about friendship. You guys kept that group going when I wasn’t there and I can’t thank you enough for sticking around. Thank you for being in there, for being my friend, and for posting pics of delicious men with big meaty cocks! I fucking
adore
you guys in there. I love you, my bitches!

As always, thank you to Reese Dante for another beautiful cover which I am so proud of I could pee my pants. I
love
your work. I’m in awe of you and your skills. It is a pleasure to work with you!

Yo, readers! Yes,
you!
I’ve mentioned a handful above but I want to thank every single one of you. I remember releasing my first book like it was just yesterday. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I’d never heard of a book blogger or a beta reader. I didn’t know any authors and the only person I knew who liked to read was my sister-in-law, Keeley. When I sold my first book I’d never experienced such a rush of excitement, of gratefulness,
pride
, in my life. I want you to know I still get that to this day. That single sale has turned into thousands over the last two years. I don’t know who they all are and I probably never will but, regardless, every single time someone clicks I feel the same rush that I did the first time. It continues to blow my mind every single day. I’ll never get used to it, never take it for granted. I am beyond grateful to every single person who has ever taken a chance on me. Thank you.
Thank you
. Thank you
again
.

I’d like to finish by thanking my fellow authors. There is a lot of drama in the book world at times, I’ve been on the receiving end of some of it, but you know what makes it all worth it? The
good
ones. The authors who rally behind one another, celebrate with each other, care about people – their fellow authors, their readers, the bloggers who support them.

That brings me on to Kindle Alexander. They’re two people, a team, a duo, but I’m going to refer to them as one because I start confusing myself if I don’t! She might read this, she might not, but I want to thank her anyway. My imaginary cock is permanently hard for Kindle. The first full length m/m book I ever read was a Kindle Alexander one. I didn’t know the genre existed until then. I fell in love with it, with her writing, her characters...I fell in love with
her.
I wanted more. I
needed
more. So I picked up another, then another, until reading it was no longer enough. I wanted to
write
it. It took me a while to build up the courage to enter this genre, but it was the best decision I ever made. I have met some of the most wonderful people through it. People who I now consider some of my closest friends. Whether she realises it or not, that’s all on Kindle. She introduced me to this world and I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave. Kindle Alexander is my superhero. She is possibly the only author I think I would possibly drool on if I met her in person. Not only is she an amazing writer of beautiful stories, she is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking to. She’s real. Kind. She cares. She supports people for no other reason than she’s a
good
person. Kindle, I admire you. I am in awe of your words. I
love
you. Gushing over, I shall await the restraining order in the mail ;-)

Well, that’s a wrap, folks. If I’ve forgotten to mention you, which I probably have, it wasn’t intentional. I’m a dick, but I
love
you. If we’ve ever spoken or interacted in any way, if you’ve liked one of my posts, written on my wall, met me at a signing, know that I am grateful and I wouldn’t be where I am today, doing what I love, without every single one of you.

Now, enough mushy shit. Go Google some cock or something, and, as Matt would say, ROCK ON, MOTHERFUCKERS!

About the Author

Okay, as usual let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first. I live in Rochdale, UK, with my husband and four little shi- um, I mean angels. We have a dog, a cat, and the odd fly in the summer. Now for the things that make me me! You guys seemed to like my list last time, rather than me rambling on for a few paragraphs, so here we go again. A lot of it’s the same, but I have some new ones since we were last here!

1) I am a tattoo-a-holic.

2) I am a Pepsi Max-a-holic.

3) I am a gay porn-a-holic.

4) I am a Matt Bomer-aholic

5) I am a potato-a-holic – mashed, chipped, baked, roasted, boiled…I NEED them in my life.

6) I like saying a-holic.

7)I had my tongue pierced yeeeears ago and then took it out when I ‘grew up’. However now I’ve realised I’m never going to grow up and want it done again (but don’t tell my mum ;-) )

9) I don’t like even numbers.

10) You didn’t notice I just missed out number 8

11) I can’t eat with metal spoons. Not for a medical reason, just because I’m weird.

12) I have a filthy mind and an even filthier mouth (make of that what you

wil
l
)

13) I want a penis of my very own.

14) I am a Twihard and PROUD.

15) I am a Gleek and PROUD.

16) I love One Direction and I am not so proud.

17) Music makes me happy.

18) I swear way too fucking much

19) My favourite colour is purple.