Indie Author Weekly

134: Excerpt from "Gaming the System" polyamorous romcom

October 19, 2021 Sagan Morrow Episode 135
Indie Author Weekly
134: Excerpt from "Gaming the System" polyamorous romcom
Show Notes Transcript

Do you enjoy getting teasers and sneak peeks of fun romantic comedies? Well, that’s exactly what you’re getting on today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly!   

Gaming the System  romcom back-of-book blurb:  

What comes after you get to “have it all”?  

Since Emma discovered polyamory several months earlier, she knows she’s getting a unique opportunity to eat her cake and have it, too. And yet, it hasn’t all been fun and games. Sure, she gets to have the two men she loves in her life… but she also needs to handle their insecurities and juggle two intense relationships simultaneously.  

Does she really have what it takes to make polyamory work? Is it time for John and Carlos to finally meet each other? And besides that… is she ever going to be ready to come out as polyamorous to the other people in her life?  

An adventure in romance and polyamory, “Gaming the System” explores the thought processes and relationship strife that can come along with adopting new identities and lifestyles in your late 20s. The struggles and joy in the early stages of a polyamorous lifestyle are both represented in this contemporary new adult romcom.  

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This is the podcast for indie authors, aspiring authors, and curious bookworms who want the inside scoop, tips and motivation, and behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books.   

TUNE IN NOW to hear an excerpt from "Gaming the System" (AKA Book 2 in the Polyamorous Passions romantic comedy series)...   

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Hello and welcome back to Indie Author Weekly! This is the podcast for indie authors, aspiring authors, and curious bookworms who want the inside scoop, tips and motivation, and the behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow (or @Saganlives on Twitter & Instagram), and I’m a productivity strategist and an author of polyamorous romcoms.

Now, do you enjoy getting little sneak peeks of fun romcoms? Well, that’s exactly what you’re getting on today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly!

But first, don’t miss an episode: You can now get all Indie Author Weekly podcast episodes plus book and writing updates delivered directly to your inbox each week at SaganMorrow.com/behindthescenes—link is in the show notes.

Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Today, I want to do a reading from the second novel in my Polyamorous Passions romcom series, Gaming the System.

Gaming the System was published in October 2018, and there are now 7 books published in the Polyamorous Passions romantic comedy series. As I mentioned a few episodes ago, I didn’t actually start doing this podcast until I’d already published the first three books in this series… so, normally I like to read an excerpt from each novel leading up to their release day. That means you can go back through the podcast archives here on Indie Author Weekly to get excerpts from my most recent four books in the series… but, until Episode 130, I hadn’t done readings from the first three books in the series! So we’re remedying that—you’re getting a little taste from Book 2 today.

Also, a little update, if you’ve been following the ongoing saga from the past few episodes… I finally have a desk in my new condo! So today, I am recording this episode from my little office space in the corner, with some lovely views of the mountains surrounding Kamloops out the window. I’m obsessed with my desk—it’s covered in a beautiful marble design that ties the room together SO well, because we have white walls and grey floors. I’ve even got my colour-coded sticky notes on the wall to organize my plan of action for the next 8 weeks—my new office is coming together nicely! 

Of course, we likely still won’t have much else on the walls for the next while, hence the probable slight echo you’re hearing. Anyway, if you want to see a photo of my gorgeous new desk, then I’ll include a picture on the “secret” version of this podcast, which you can sign up to get access for at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast. Link is in the show notes.

Okay, getting back to Gaming the System, AKA Book 2 in the Polyamorous Passions series, which is what this episode is all about—because we aren’t just here to talk about my desk today...

Here’s the back-of-book blurb for this book, just to give you a little context about the novel: 

What comes after you get to “have it all”?

Since Emma discovered polyamory several months earlier, she knows she’s getting a unique opportunity to eat her cake and have it, too. And yet, it hasn’t all been fun and games. Sure, she gets to have the two men she loves in her life… but she also needs to handle their insecurities and juggle two intense relationships simultaneously.

Does she really have what it takes to make polyamory work? Is it time for John and Carlos to finally meet each other? And besides that… is she ever going to be ready to come out as polyamorous to the other people in her life?

If you like the sounds of that, you can grab your copy of Gaming the System at your favourite e-bookstore, or visit SaganMorrow.com/books — link is in the show notes.

By the way, I actually did a full author commentary of the first three books in this series on Episode 61 of this Indie Author Weekly podcast, so if you’re curious to learn more about this series, that’s a great starting point.

Okay! Without further ado… here’s an excerpt from the fourth chapter of Gaming the System, Book 2 in the Polyamorous Passions romantic comedy series…

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Emma felt restless. John’s trip was extended and Carlos had been a little too busy with work to spend too much time with her. 

Isn’t that the point of having two boyfriends? she thought to herself drolly. When one isn’t around, the other will be!

Intrinsically, of course, Emma knew that wasn’t true. She knew that was ridiculous. That wasn’t the point at all. Still, she couldn’t help but selfishly wish they were available when she wanted them to be.

Truth be told, not having either of them around was giving her too much time to think through everything.

"This is what you wanted," she said to herself out loud, bowl of popcorn wedged between her body and the edge of the couch while her cat Frank nestled on her other side. It was giving her that alone time she had thought she so desperately craved. A chance to figure out what it was she wanted. It was an opportunity to decide how she wanted to approach this whole convoluted situation of juggling two men, and whether or not to “come out” to the rest of the world about their unusual lifestyle. 

It turned out, having the time to sort through all of her issues wasn’t what she’d wanted after all.

No, if Emma had it her way, she’d brush the whole thing under the rug. Leave it to someone else to deal with. For someone who prided herself on getting stuff done and dealing with issues as they arose, this was one issue she didn’t want to deal with.

And now she had to face the music as to why she’d been avoiding it for so long.

Now that Emma was forced to do so, she could see she was afraid of what would happen if—when—she told the world about her polyamorous lifestyle. Once something was out there, you couldn’t take it back. And if this changed everything with the people she loved… her parents, for example… then how could she ever go back to the way things used to be? 

If they judged her for it, it might be one of those hurdles they would never get past.

She valued her close relationship with them too much to let that happen.

And what about her career? Yvonne adored her, it was true, but if Yvonne didn’t like the concept of polyamory, she could take Emma off cases, or even fire her. Emma had no idea just how liberal of a person her boss was—they’d never really talked about their personal lives or value systems. It wasn’t the kind of thing that came up in general workplace discussions. Sure, they’d gleaned little bits and pieces of each other here and there, but even though Yvonne seemed decently progressive, would she be progressive enough to not have an issue with Emma’s lifestyle?

Emma didn’t know much about what her rights were in this particular instance. Of course, she knew at the very least, she couldn’t get fired just over something like her polyamorous lifestyle. But if her boss found out and didn’t like it, Emma could have privileges taken away from her, or she might slowly get shuffled out of the company. There were ways around outright firing a person.

It was something she should really talk to John about, Emma mused. He was a lawyer, after all. He’d know how they should best handle this whole situation.

Her phone let out a ding. Speak of the devil—it was John.

“Hey babe. How are things,” he’d messaged her.

Emma smiled. She messaged him back, the TV show she had on forgotten about as she told him about her day and asked him about his.

When several minutes passed before he texted her back, she impatiently texted Carlos, feeling the need for some kind of contact with the men in her life, some kind of affirmation.

Carlos, it turned out, was in a much more chatty mood… in the form of sexting. Emma was soon getting hot and bothered while texting him, just getting ready to pull out her vibrator when John texted her back to share about his day.

Her evening had just become a lot more interesting.

Emma knew it wasn’t just the little thrill of excitement that went through her at the idea of flirting with her two boyfriends which drove her to this kind of lifestyle. But that didn’t mean she didn’t also enjoy this aspect of it. There was something nice about being adored by the two men she adored.

That is, until she accidentally sent the nude photo she’d taken of herself for Carlos to John by mistake.

“Woah! That was unexpected. Guess you’re missing me,” John wrote.

Emma chewed on her lip. Okay, it could have been worse, she reasoned with herself. So you sent him a nude by mistake. What’s the big deal? You’ve sent him nudes before. He’s seen you naked.

It was fine. It wasn’t a big deal at all.

...Except she hadn’t intended to send that particular photo to John.

Emma hesitated. Should she send it to Carlos anyway, like she had meant to? Would he want her to send him the same photo she’d just sent to John, regardless of whether it had been an accident? Was this the same kind of situation as calling them both by the same silly nickname?

Emma wasn’t entirely sure, and she also wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to find out. But it was a really great photo—it captured all of her angles. So… why not send it to Carlos?

He’ll never know, she decided, and before she could second-guess herself, she was hitting the Send button.

***

There you have it! An excerpt from chapter 4 in Book 2 of my Polyamorous Passions series, Gaming the System. If you want to find out what happened next, be sure to grab your copy of Gaming the System from your favourite e-bookstore, including Kobo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others, or just visit SaganMorrow.com/books.

All right. That, my friend, is a wrap for today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly. Access the show notes for this episode, including all links and additional resources, at SaganMorrow.com/podcast.

Thank you so much for tuning in. Please take 2 minutes to rate and review Indie Author Weekly on Apple Podcasts—I really appreciate your support. 

Until next week, this is Sagan Morrow, signing off the Indie Author Weekly podcast.