In 1998, Gina Holmes began her career penning articles and short stories. In 2005 she founded the influential literary blog, Novel Journey. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in Southern Virginia. Her debut novel, Crossing Oceans, is a Christy finalist, INSPY, and Inspirational Readers Choice winner. Her latest novel, Dry as Rain, releases September 2011. To learn more about her, visit www.ginaholmes.com or www.novelrocket.com.

My sophomore novel releasing this September—Dry as Rain—was originally a third person, dual point of view (POV) book written half from the wife’s POV, half from the husband’s. I didn’t think I was ready to write an entire book from a male POV. I am, after all, a woman. I would have to do much research to get it right and I was up for all that . . . until . . . my publisher wanted it to be first person, all from the husband’s viewpoint. They said I wrote the man’s point of view better than the woman’s. What does this say about my estrogen to testosterone levels? I’m not sure and don’t guess I really want to know.

Not wanting to throw a year’s worth of work away, I figured I’d better at least give it a try.

Did I get it right? I don’t know. I’ll have to find out from the male reviewers. My husband read every word. I’d get an occasional raised eyebrow with, “He’d only say that if he were gay.” So, of course, I changed that problem area, but all in all he gave me a thumbs-up.

He was instrumental in some of the scenes where he would add a detail here or there that I never would have thought of, paperclips stuck to the back magnet of a dealership plate or the smell of new tires on a showroom floor.

Particularly tricky were the scenes between my main character, Eric, and his best friend, Larry. I know how women relate, but I’ve ever been able to observe two male friends with no one else around. So having a guy who’s willing to say yay or nay on a scene was a lifesaver.

Following are the tidbits of masculinity I traded my girly thoughts with. Are they true of most men? Gina shrugs. They were true of my main male character, though.

1. Men have an ego. They compare themselves with other men, differently than women compare themselves to other women. We size up her beauty, figure, talent, and intelligence. My male character sized up his competition literally by size first, followed by job, income, and attractiveness.

2. Men’s eyes are drawn to flesh like women’s are to beauty. I’m apt to look at a beautiful vase, a pretty flower, a sunset. He might also admire those things, but there’s a stronger magnet in those high-heeled legs strutting by his table. My main character describes it this way: “My eyes were drawn to flesh like metal to magnet, if my Aunt Edna showed some skin, I’d have to look whether I wanted to gouge my eyes out after or not.”

3. The best defense is a good offense. Okay, maybe I’m paranoid, but I’ve noticed that at least the men who’ve been in my life abide by this philosophy. Catch them doing something wrong, and in less than a minute flat they will turn it around into something I’ve done. No matter what he does, I end up being the one to apologize. I gave my character this defense mechanism.

4. Not all men are womanizers and cheaters. Maybe not even most, but there are plenty who are. My main character commits adultery, but his best friend would never have done it. Why does my main character cheat? His wife stops touching him, looking up

to him, respecting him, and, he thinks, loving him. He succumbs when a woman he works with looks at him like he was the man he used to be. For him it came down to loneliness and needing admiration that he’d lost from his wife. Yes, there’s remorse and redemption, of course.

5. Live and let die. Women will feel weird around their best friends if they’ve fought. They might not talk for months, and if they do, most likely one of them is profusely apologetic. Men? At least my male character? He and his best friend duke it out literally, and the next day they’re having lunch. Talking about it? Umm . . . that’s what the roughhousing was for. ’Nough said.

6. Sports. Yeah, they like them. My main character watches his favorite player make a killer layup and feels as happy as if he’d been the one to make it. Women don’t tend to do that.

7. Feeling the pressure to succeed for the entire family and sometimes missing the boat. My main character, Eric, gives up a life his family loves near the ocean to give them the so-called American dream. A McMansion, luxury car, private school. It takes losing his wife to realize relationships are more important than how much is in the bank.

8. Love makes the world go ’round. I think men want true love as much as women do. My main character certainly does. He misses it when he loses what he and his wife, Kyra, had. He describes the loneliness as quite literally killing him a little more each day.

Okay, that’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but it’s a lot of what ran through my mind as I wrote Eric Yoshida in Dry as Rain. I’d love to know how flawed or correct my thinking was. I’m writing my fourth book from another male’s viewpoint, so I welcome suggestions and additions to this list.