GUEST AUTHOR: MEG BAWDEN #mmromance #mmholidayspirit #giveaways

 
Today my guest is Meg Bawden. Meg is an author from Queensland so has a very hot Christmas! She’s also a talented cover designer.
Don’t forget to check out the giveaways. Two winners have the chance to win a prize!
 
 
I love Christmas and always look forward to it. What’s your favourite holiday of the year and what makes it so special?

Christmas is my answer as well! I love it because that’s one of the most important times of the year where our family gets together, sits around the table and have a BBQ. Family is an important thing to me and there is nothing better than for us to be together. We’re the kind of people who invite others who don’t have a family to celebrate with as well. We’ve always had one or two people join us. It’s just an amazing time of celebration.

Your family sounds wonderful and welcoming. Do you and your family/friends have any special holiday traditions?

Not really. But then, what I may consider a normal Christmas event and not an actual tradition, others may not. On Christmas morning, we’d choose someone to hand out everyone’s presents. Once gifts have been handed out and opened, we clean up and then have a big, hearty breakfast of fish, pork, Christmas ham, bacon, etc. We’d do the meal again for lunch and then dinner as well.

What’s the worst present you’ve ever received?

I don’t think I’ve ever really had one before, or not that I could remember. I know I’m a very hard person to buy for and my family tries very hard to get it right, but sometimes they don’t and that’s okay. I think if I had to think of anything specific…I’d probably say clothes. Hahah. What they buy isn’t always what I like and clothes bore me. Like, I don’t care about looking fashionable.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

An Xbox one. To be honest, I don’t get much time to play it anymore. I’m struggling with finding time to write as it is, but I was so surprised and so bloody happy when I unwrapped the xbox. Best. Present. Ever.

What’s your biggest gift giving disaster?

I haven’t really had one for a holiday, but for a baby shower, I gave my friend a baby dress that someone else had just given her. It wasn’t such a disaster, but more a disappointment.

I know that feeling – finding the perfect gift then, big letdown. 🙁 What’s your biggest gift giving success?

Again, not specific, but I remember one Christmas I spent a lot of money of presents. Every time one of my family members opened one of the presents I bought them, they shouted in excitement. I made good choices that year. LOL.

If you could be granted one special gift for the world for the holiday season, what would it be?

Peace and acceptance. I don’t see how hard it is not to hate 🙁

Christmas carols. Yes or no?

Yes! I LOVE Christmas carols and I love hearing them on the radio and singing along with them.

Do you watch Christmas movies? If so, what’s your favourite all time holiday movie?

Miracle of 34^th Street. Best Christmas movie ever!

I love reading stories set in the holiday season and I especially like seeing stories set all over the world. I love seeing how others celebrate and I love reading about guys getting their special holiday happy ever afters. Do you read holiday romances? If so, do you have a favourite you’d like to recommend to your readers?

I absolutely love holiday romances! But to be honest, I don’t think I’ve read too many. I don’t read nearly as many books as I’d like to anymore. If I had to think of one, I’d probably note one that I’ve recently finished and loved: Alone for Christmas by Ashley John.

Another story to add to my holiday reading list. Thanks! What inspired your current holiday story?

My Secret Santa Billionaire is based on a daydream, I suppose. How amazing would it be to have someone, a secret Santa, gift you awesome, expensive presents? It makes me sound so materialistic. LOL. But everyone would have had that daydream of a billionaire falling in love with them, at least once in their life, right? I know I have. More than once.

Tell us a little about the main characters in your holiday story.

My two main characters are Beckett Henry and Asher Holden. Beckett isn’t a huge fan of Christmas since his dad committed suicide. He blames holidays on making his father depressed due to not being able to give Beckett and his brother the presents that other parents give their children. So he certainly isn’t a fan of Secret Santa. He hates it, actually, and isn’t impressed when he starts receiving expensive presents from a Secret Santa.
Asher is the opposite. He loves Christmas, although he doesn’t really have anyone to share it with because the only time he sees his sister is when she wants money. He has a lot of money and no one to spend it on. Asher can be very demanding, but he’s a sweet guy once you get to know him. Interesting fact: he’s lactose intolerant.

Tell us a little about the favourite book you released this year?

North to Zombieville would have to be my favourite. It was my first novel and while it was a hit and miss with readers, it’s the story that will always be the most important to me.

Share a favourite holiday photo.
I don’t have one 🙁 My family aren’t actually big photo people and if you try and take a photo of them, they’d freak out. Apparently they have as much self-consciousness as I have: none. Lol.
Share a favourite  holiday recipe.

My family aren’t big cooks. We mostly buy food or pick easy food to cook like bacon. However, I have to say that my favourite food that we cook all year around is my potato bake. It’s simple, but yummy, and we always have to cook it for Christmas. All you have to do is slice up potatoes and layer them in a dish. I use a Masterfoods recipe base (It doesn’t matter what flavor) and mix it with 500ml of cream and add it to the potatoes. Then, add chopped bacon and put it in the oven until potatoes are soft. Simple and easy!

Do you have a favourite YouTube clips of a holiday song to share?
Because it never gets old!

I’ve never even seen this clip and loved it. Thanks for sharing!
The end of the year is often a time for making New Year’s Resolutions. Do you have any you’d be willing to share? After all, they do say you’re more likely to achieve a goal if you share it 🙂

My main priority is to write every day. It’s something I haven’t been able to achieve this year, so that would definitely be my New Year’s Resolutions.

What does 2017 hold for you on the writing front? What can your readers expect to see from you?

Hopefully a lot more books. Both self-published books and books from DSP. I have plenty of premade covers to write stories for. Haha. I’m also dipping my toes in MF under a different pen name.

There are many people who aren’t as fortunate as me and this time of year is always a time where I reflect on how lucky I am. It’s a time for giving back and I do so by supporting my favourite charity (Twenty10 who provide support for LGBT youth) financially and with their Christmas Hamper drive. Is there a favourite charity or not-for-profit organization you’d like to call out and raise the awareness of?

Twenty10 is one of the important charities to me as well. I’d also like to raise awareness for RSPCA, which is very close to my heart as I’m a huge animal supporter. I volunteered there for a while before I ran out of time.

 Check out one of Meg’s books…

Blurb

Beckett Henry doesn’t believe in giving or receiving Christmas presents. Growing up in a poor family, he’s had to see the guilt on his parents faces every year when they couldn’t provide him and his brother the fancy toys the other kids received. Not to mention the teasing from the other kids every January. The only bright spot of the holidays was when Asher Holden visited them and they all played together without any toys.
Asher is his brother’s best friend and they’d all grown up in the same neighborhood. He’s had a crush on the other man since puberty, but he’s never had the guts to say or do anything about it. Now, Asher is the owner and CEO of Holden Marketing, the company Beckett works for, and a relationship between them will never happen. Not only have they been friends for too many years, but there is a strict company policy against inter-office dating. He couldn’t imagine what they’d say if their CEO dated the creative manager’s P.A.
With the Christmas season fast approaching, Beckett is getting ready to get the following weeks over and done with when he gets a surprise—a Secret Santa present arrives on his doorstep! As more presents start to arrive, Beckett struggles to figure out who could be sending them, or what to do with them.
Will Beckett be ready when his Secret Santa is unveiled?

Buy Links

Amazon

GIVEAWAYS

Meg is giving away a prize to two winners! One with a copy of My Secret Santa Billionaire, and the other being as The Alpha’s Birthday Gift, an MPreg, shifter, short story (releasing on December 13, 2016.)
To enter just comment on this post and a winner will be randomly chosen after 26th December.

About the author

Meg Bawden was born and raised in North Queensland, Australia. She’s loved stories since before she can remember and has always enjoyed creating characters of her own, even if it did begin with drawing faces on toilet rolls and giving them names. Writing has always been a passion of hers and she’s loved the M/M genre since 2004, the first book she read being Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez.
Writing M/M since 2007, Meg has never had the confidence to attempt publishing her own stories, but in 2015, she decided that it was all about to change thanks to the amazing friends she’s made in the M/M genre and their support and encouragement. So watch out, world, Meg Bawden is coming out to have some fun!
FB: https://www.facebook.com/meg.bawden
Twitter: @megbawden

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