Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

So, I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately. The fall premiers have kicked off, and I’m procrastinating on a major level to avoid writing my next novella. Yeah, yeah, I know. Bad Crystal.

I’ll get to it and make it in on deadline, I promise. I’m in the worst part of my teaching semester at ye olde university, so getting myself to write a little and not collapse the moment I get home from work is a challenge.

What have I been watching and what does it have to do with writing?

Well, it’s inspiring my characters, actually. Who knew?

First, I’m loving on Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. Why? Because unlike a lot of the guys you see on TV, he pulls off manly. I mean, he’s buff and does dirty stuff for my entertainment. Nice.

The next is Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild. I don’t know why, he’s just hot. And all my heroes are hot. So…he’s totally inspirational. It’s research, I swear!

Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Trading Spaces. He’s a carpenter, he has style, he’s a goofball. And he looks good without a shirt on. *happy sigh*

And finally, the whole cast of hot chicks on L.A. Ink. They’re sexy, they tattoo people for a living, and their work is fun to watch happen. This is totally inspiring the new hero I have in mind, who’s going to be a tattoo artist.

See, my TV watching procrastination habits are all for the good of my writing. No, really, I mean it.

What, you don’t believe me? Would this face lie to you?

So, I’m doing a nice fluffy Saturday post Nothing too deep! That quote in the subject line was actually by…anonymous.

I like books, I’m also a big fan of movies. The escapism in it all.  It’s a couple hours of mindless bliss, but it doesn’t stop there. No, I love going to the movies and picking up….quotes. I’m a big fan of banter and witty dialog. I try to use it in my own writing and look forward to it when I’m watching a movie.

It can also be a way of bonding with friends–sort of an inside joke. Back in my days at college, the group of musicians I hung out with would banter around movie quotes that came from several movies. But the one that sticks out in my mind most is Billy Madison. No, this is not a particularly fabulous movie. Though I probably watched it enough to recite the entire script by heart. To this day I still love to say, “I’ll be your snack pack.” Or even to just be silly/annoying: “Shampoo is better. I go on first and clean the hair. Conditioner is better. I leave the hair silky and smooth. Oh, really, fool? Really.”

There’s also my favorite romantic comedy quotes. Like in French Kiss when Meg Ryan says, “Oh, this problem.” and curls her finger downward to demonstrate the inability to ‘keep it up’.  Or when Kevin Klein says, “When people tell me they are happy my ass begins to twitch.”

And my newest favorite quote from a funny movie is in What Happens in Vegas. Completely random quote, but I fling it around now when the circumstance calls for it. “Seriously? I, like, threw up in my own purse.”

Those are the funny ones. There’s also the romantic ones that get used more than a $2 hooker. But I’ll be honest and say, “You had me at hello.” Makes me want to projectile vomit. So doesn’t do it for me. Here’s one that does it for me. Anyone know which movie this is from? 

”I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Deep, wistful sigh. Love that movie. So what’s one of your favorite movie quotes? I’d love to hear!

Shelli

http://www.shellistevens.com

No, I don’t mean a list of places you can procure discount coupons to Michaels or JC Penney’s.

If you’ve been in a relationship, you might have heard of “The List.” It’s a list of either celebrities or characters who if they showed up out of the blue and offered you a smoking-hot night of steamy illegal-in-forty-seven-countries sex, that you’d have a free pass from your spouse or significant other to go for it. Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about and others of you think I’m insane. But seriously—I know tons of people who have “The List” in place at this very moment. Still don’t believe me? Ask around—you’ll be surprised.

Now, of course, the general assumption is that you’ll never ever meet these people on your list, so it’s not really an issue. It’s just the fantasy of it.

For example: My husband’s list consists of Alyssa Milano (Phoebe from Charmed) and Jennifer Love-Hewitt (Melinda from Ghost Whisperer). And my list consists of Matthew MacFadyen (sexy British actor of MI-5 and Pride & Prejudice fame), Han Solo from Star Wars, and Captain Jack Sparrow. No, not Harrison Ford or Johnny Depp, not that I have anything against either of them, but it’s the characters they portrayed that are on my list, not the actors themselves.

I think, and my husband and friends who also have “The List” agree that everyone has secret fantasies, and there’s nothing warped or perverted about it. And in fact, in a trusting, monogamous relationship, acknowledging these fantasies is healthy. I’m not offended that my hubby has hot and sweaty fantasies about Alyssa and Jennifer. Hell, if I was up for a female fantasy partner, either one of those ladies would definitely make me strongly consider shedding the shackles of heterosexuality for one steamy night. And, in fact, as a writer, if I’m being picky about it, every time I write a sex scene, I’m doing a little bit of a group thing anyway—and I don’t just mean when I’m writing F/F scenes. I have to get inside those character’s heads—both female and male to write convincing sex, so, hey, I guess I already have a VERY active fantasy life!!

But I digress…

My husband also has no problem with me having Matthew on “The List”, or even Han Solo or Captain Jack (especially since the last two aren’t real). And in fact, the only time hubby even frowned over it was when he realized that when I base my hunky heroes on Matthew, I write with a picture of Matthew on my computer, for reference and inspiration. But to hubby’s credit, he got over that quickly and knows that I’m happily married and committed to our relationship. So, in light of that, he’s open-minded about me sharing some virtual fantasies with Matthew and my various and assorted characters.

Now, I do, actually hope to meet Matthew MacFadyen one of these days, and I’d love for him to star in a blockbuster movie made from one of my books. (Call me Matthew—I’ll send you signed copies of a few likely books…lol!) However, since both Matthew and I are happily married to other people, “The List” will come to naught. Because as much as I drool over Matthew’s public actor persona, A) I love my husband and would never do anything to jeopardize that, and B) I’m sure once I got to know Matthew, I’d find that he’s a real person who, just like my husband tends to leave his socks on the floor and has his share of other annoying male habits…lol! AKA, there would be no more fantasy!

But, since I’m a writer, I do truly enjoy my fantasies. And, also, as a writer, I enjoy hearing that I’m not the only one!!

So, it’s your turn. Do you have “The List”? If so, are both you and your spouse/partner fine with it? If not, why not? And, the juicy part—who is on your list and why?

Come on…DISH! You know you want to

Cassie

by Kate Pearce

So last week I was wittering away on another blog about introducing m/m elements to erotic romance novels and how everyone is doing it. I also mentioned my book “Antonia’s Bargain” as my jumping off point toward finding exactly the kind of hero I wanted to write about-not the classic Alpha male or the Beta, but a man struggling to come to terms with his unique sexuality in a time period when being different could mean severe punishment or death.

In Antonia’s Bargain we first met Peter Howard, a man who enjoys sex and spent seven years in a Turkish brothel along with his best friend Lord Valentin Sokorvsky. Peter’s not your usual hero. He’s in love with Valentin, has been addicted to opium and is bored by both his sexual reputation and the variety of sexual pleasures available to him. In Simply Sexual, we see him having to come to terms with Valentin falling in love with a woman and now being considered an occasional diversion in their marriage bed.

Simply Sinful changes narrators and allows us to see Peter’s side of the story and we soon realize (hopefully) that Val has got him all wrong. Peter’s not weak and during the book he’ll prove it as he has to face a personal crisis relating to his very identity, and delve into the deep currents of an established marriage he is invited into.

I loved writing this book. Peter was so different to the average romance hero and the couple he interacts with, James and Abigail Beecham develop in surprising ways as well. When I sent the proposal to my editor I asked him if it was okay if there was no woman in the first three chapters. Surprisingly, he was fine with that and I went on from there.

Here’s a little piece from the beginning of the book:

Look Ma! No girls!

I originally intended to write this book as a true menage a trois, but the further I got into the story, the more each individual characters sexual tastes changed, and by the end, things came out very differently. You’ll have to read the book to find out what I mean I don’t plot, I don’t keep notes and I only write down a page of where I think I’m going to end up about two-thirds of the way through the book so trust me, the ending is sometimes as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone else.

Today was a good day because not only did I get a box full of books from Kensington to lick, which is always a thrill, but I found an early review from Romantic Times for Simply Sinful which gave it 4 stars and said:

Pearce provides an interesting twist to the standard “love lessons” plot in this story where both the husband and wife receive erotic training from a master. With historical detail, strong character development, a slight mystery, caring relationships and smoking hot sex, there is something for everyone. The action includes threesomes, M/M and sex toys, as well as light bondage and discipline.

Summary: Abby and James were forced to wed at a young age, but have lived apart for most of their 16-year marriage. Wanting a child, Abby wants James back into her bedroom, but both have troubling memories of their prior relations. Enter Peter Howard, who spent a number of years as a slave in a Turkish brothel. Peter is attracted to the couple and believes he can tutor them in the numerous ways to enjoy passion. These intense encounters result in a happy ending — just not what everyone expected. (Aphrodisia, Nov., 304 pp., $13.95)

The best thing, is that Kensington offered me a contract to write two more in the ‘Simply’ series. #3 Simply Shameless is already written and due out May 09 and I’m currently writing the fourth, as yet unnamed, which will be out Nov 09.I suspect Valentin and Peter will be turning up in these books whether I want them to or not. Sometimes I love being a writer.

Here’s a link to Amazon UK and US, just in case I’ve inspired you to go and pre-order.

I can’t think of a question to ask you all-perhaps you’d like to ask me one?

Kate x

No, I wasn’t procrastinating, nothing like that. I had a perfectly good reason to be plowing through my bookcase a few weeks ago. A new couch was about to be moved into my office and to do so, said bookcase had to be moved. So then I decided to weed through some of the old stuff and in order to make sure I didn’t want to keep certain writing research books, I had to skim them.
Okay, now that hopefully you’re all buying into this essential activity, what I wound up holding onto last was a ten year old book on how to write horror. I write erotica. I used to write category romances and Native American historicals, not horror. But–confession time–I’d love to give horror a whirl. Unfortunately, my last name’s not King or Koontz and reality said, “Vonna, there ain’t a chance in you know what that you’ll get horror published.” So why am I holding onto the book?
Because tapping into my characters’ fears is an incredibly exciting way of getting down to their essence.
Okay, let me think about that for a moment. A new idea is perculating and when sleep wouldn’t come last night, I asked what my still-growing hero and heroine’s greatest fears are. For the heroine, its going to be being lost. As a child, she was left alone (not sure how that came about) in the middle of a forest. As a result, she struggled to get past that trauma by becoming intimately familiar with the wilderness. This will tie into the hero’s need for her. Of course she’s not about to reveal that old fear to this powerful man who is forcing her to guide him against her will. Ah, I’m getting a chill just thinking about what happens between the two of them when what she believes is her greatest weakness is revealed.
So what about our fearless hero who right now has a lot of Konan the Barbarian in him. You know the type, bred and trained to risk his life in service to his king. Whatever’s required of him, he’ll do it in service to the man he considers a god. He’s not afraid of death, considers it a badge of honor to die in service to his country. (Hey, he was brainwashed, ain’t his fault). What he does fear is helplessness. What if he can’t fight? What purpose does his existence have?
My still-birthing characters aren’t afraid of monsters who come out at night, snakes, lightning storms, etc, etc. No, their personal horrors are much closer to the heart. And those vulnerabilities are what, eventually, hopefully, will bring them together.
As for me, probably the thing I’d be the most afraid of is cave exploring. Going into the dark to who knows where with who knows what crawling around? Not gonna happen!!!!!!
Okay, gentle readers. What bumps around you in the middle of the night?
Vonna
www.VonnaHarper.com

Every week, on Sunday evening, I make a “do list.” Yes, that’s pretty anal and obsessive for someone who’s a creator, but the truth is, I don’t know how I’d manage my life without that list.

Once upon a time I had a regular day job. A management one, with long hours (often I’d go into the office at 7:00 a.m. and not leave until 7:00 p.m.), and sometimes I’d bring work home. But there were boundaries. Work was work, and the rest of my time was my own.

Now, I’m a writer and the reality of my life is, very few boundaries and a heck of a lot of juggling. Whatever happened to simply watching TV? Now, while my favorite shows are on, I’m signing bookmarks, then running to check email during commercials.

There are always so many balls in the air, they’d come crashing down without the magic list to keep them in control. Or, at least, to give me the illusion that I’m exerting some control over my life.

I’m not whining, believe me. I’m thrilled to be a writer. And my life is way easier than so many authors’. There are writers with full-time jobs, huge family commitments, health issues, and all sorts of things that I don’t have. I’m healthy, and that’s a biggie. I have one pretty independent and supportive guy, three balconies full of plants, a couple of day job contracts, some minor family issues, volunteer work with some of my writing groups and . . . well, that’s about it.

Of course writing is a whole complicated career in itself. There’s the business end, and thankfully my wonderful agent Emily Sylvan Kim takes care of most of that, but of course we consult, and especially at contract time. And of course there’s the bookkeeping, which I do myself. And the website, with monthly updates. And the monthly contest and e-newsletter. The blogs, like this one. The conferences (I’m attending THREE in October: Moonlight & Magnolias, Emerald City, and NJ’s Put Your Heart in a Book) and workshops (including the monthly Romance Writing 101 sessions I organize for my local RWA Chapters). The ads, bookmarks, mailings and other promo activities. Especially when there’s a new book coming out, like UNWRAP ME at the end of this month.

And then – oh gosh, I almost forgot! – the actual writing, which is what it’s really all about. And it involves brainstorming, research, writing, discussing my drafts with my critique group, revising, revising, reading aloud and yet again revising. Submitting, then editing, proofing galleys, and so on. At this particular moment, I’ve just finished one book, am halfway into a novella that’s due October 15, and am researching the next book. I have – no, I don’t even want to count – a huge number of characters and plot points racing around in my head.

And, like I said, my writing life is straightforward compared to many authors’, even though on most days it seems pretty darned complicated to me. All the same, it’s way more fun than living a normal life, as far as I’m concerned!

Have you ever acted on impulse? I’m not talking about sneaking an extra cookie when no one’s looking, or tossing a handful of candy bars onto the conveyor belt at the grocery store. I mean an act of wicked indulgence, with an audience.

While in public, most of us (writer’s especially) tend to curb the urge to actually commit an outrageous act of daring. Even though we’re very good a thinking them. Instead, we weave them into our heroines and heroes, living through them just a little bit along with our readers.

But, writer or not, once in a while we need to shake things up. Get our hearts to skip a beat and smile like we ate the biggest canary on the face of the planet. Well, last fall I did just that. And it was fabulous.

Let me explain…

The day was perfect–gray, windy, a touch rainy…just right for a Highland festival. But the weather was merely the perfect backdrop. Bagpipes, bodhrans, and whistles filled the air, adding excitement to the day. The Clans were called. The games ceased, temporarily, and men assembled to parade across the grounds, kilts swishing with each step, chests forward, banners held high.

The Highland Festival and Games had officially opened. Much to my delight. Now, just to let you know, I’m half Irish, but there is a wee bit o’ Scots running through my veins and my husband decends from one of the oldest Scottish Clans still in existence. So each year we go, set up a booth, break out the banners and swords and chainmail. It’s a grand time.

Then came a call – judges were needed to determine which single, kilted man had the “bonniest knees”. As a writer of historicals, Scottish and Viking and other time periods of old, I went all giddy inside. Now I had never actually seen the contest take place, only heard the cheers from a distance and watched the winner announced.

Little did I know.

At the urging of my family, yes, even my husband, I volunteered. I can do this; I can look at bare male knees peeking out between wool stockings and plaid tartans to pick the nicest pair. Duh. Well, imagine my surprise when I, a willing volunteer, found myself pressed into a chair and blindfolded. I was to judge all right, but not by sight. I had to judge by feel.

My face turned red, matching my hair. My freezing cold hands began to shake, but inside, the butterflies of anticipation took flight. Hey, I had permission to do this. In fact, with even the kids urging me to volunteer, you could argue that they had twisted my arm.

One by one a line of young, single men paraded in front of myself and several other ladies, standing patiently as each pair of female hands blindly reached forward, at best in their general direction, to “squeeze” their knees. Scots men are brave.

The smile never left my face.

Now what has all this got to do with writing? Well, aside from a great deal of fun, I dared to act. I chose to do something I would never ordinarily do – and with an audience no less.

As writers we tend to linger in introverted, creative worlds. But we do need to live life in order to create more believable characters. Don’t pass up a chance to smile, or laugh, or cry. We will be better for it, and so will our characters.

And know this, you can take great joy in feeling your way through.

~Annalise Russell

www.annaliserussell.wordpress.com

Life is truly a series of ups and downs. It so often seems that with each up must too come a down. Well the last week has been no exception. Fortunately, the downs seem to have passed over and only the ups remain. You just have to love it when the good outweighs the bad, huh?

So first on the list of the goods was receiving cover flats for Escape To Ecstasy. The bad side was they came with page proofs. Technically, proofs are not a bad thing, as they mean publication isn’t too far off. But they do mean stopping my current project to read through them. Ah, but that is part of the job, so I won’t complain about it. As for the flats, I LOVE this cover! I saw a mini black and white of it about a month ago in the Kensington catalog for early 09, but this was my first view of the real thing. It’s truly gorgeous!

The hot guy in a low-riding towel is a plus to be sure, but what I love just as much is the awesome color scheme and the background picture which actually captures my story’s setting. Now you would think all covers should do that, or at least convey something about the story within, right? But the reality is not all of them do. Maybe even not many of them. And, too, the cover copy was quite nice itself.

One thing the copy didn’t mention is that Treah, the second hero, owns the escape resort in question and that his leading lady is an old flame not truly a resort client. Then also for Chris, the emotional battle he faces over a tragic past. These to me are central plot points, but I do accept that with the hot stuff, they like to market the hot stuff content first and foremost.

Now with all this gushing, I should have a cover pict to share, right? Well I don’t yet. But I can tell you where to find one and to read all about the cover copy, too. Check out Escape To Ecstasy’s page on the Kensington Books’s site. Then when I get home from the weekend on Sunday, I will add much larger cover art and some steamy excerpts to my author site.

Some other good, recent news, is that I received my contracts for the next firefighter anthology, due out next fall. This one I get to share with truly amazing fellow Aphrodisiacs–Susan Lyons and Rachelle Chase. I will be getting to work on my story for this anthology next week, so if you belong to my newsletter group, expect an excerpt soon!

Then yesterday brought another new contract–wahoo! The details of this one aren’t quite ready for prime time, but I am thrilled about them and will be sharing all about it at the first allowed opp.

Of course other good news is that I am about to enter the third trimester of pregnancy. Getting very excited to add another baby girl to the family (won’t digress on the getting very huge part), and too for taking 8 or 10 weeks off from the day job. Now wouldn’t it just be incredible if the baby was a sleeper and I got to spend some of that time writing? A girl surely can dream. The other kids are also back to school, which is always a nice thing in a bittersweet sort of way. I do love fall but the winter months can do wonky things to my body to be sure.

That’s about it from this end. How are things on yours?

~ jodi

www.JodiLynnCopeland.com
SWEET AND SINFUL, Aphrodisia ~ In stores now!

I know some people think a happy ending separates romance from women’s fiction, but what separates romance from literature?

No, it’s not subject matter. Anthropologists say that life can be distilled down to sex and food. So, romance writers and authors of literature cover both of those. Okay, maybe Aphrodisia authors cover more sex than food but…

It’s not writing style either. Okay, maybe not all of us write like John Updike, but we can wield a competent sentence. Even a fragment. Particularly if it’s an artistic fragment. Like these.

So what is it?

Let me show you…

Does this woman look like she writes romance? I think not. This is the summary of her accomplishments from Wikipedia:
“Her many awards include an NEA Fellowship and five PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. She won a book award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) in 1991 for Floating in My Mother’s Palm. She has also written many reviews for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. For many years, she taught creative writing at Eastern Washington University. Her recent books include Stones from the River (1994), Intrusions (1995), Tearing the Silence: On Growing Up German in America (1998), The Vision of Emma Blau (2000), Hotel of the Saints: Stories (2001), Sacred Time (2004), and The Worst Thing I’ve Done (2007).”

She’s also one of my favorite authors.

Now, take a look at this face. Does it look like she writes literature? Or romance. You tell me.

Also, one of my favorite authors. Plus, she cracks me on on AuthorTalk. Can you imagine Ursula on AuthorTalk? Yeah, me neither.

Now take a look at this face… Literature or romance. Oh, this is so easy.

Yeah, you guessed it. Literature. She won the Booker Man for her book, The Gathering. Is it about food and sex? Yep. According to Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia!), “Her writing explores themes such as family relationships, love and sex, Ireland’s difficult past and its modern zeitgeist.” See? Sex and food. I particularly love BBQed zeitgeist, but I understand most people like it completely baked (unlike my post!)

Okay, I have one more face for you… This one is more difficult. Literature or romance.

Gorgeous. No doubt. AND she won the RITA for one of my favorite books. Beat that Anne and Ursula.

Okay, I want to show you one more picture. The question is a little different here. Which is Lucinda Betts in this photo?

So if you managed to read this whole piece, you deserve a prize. Leave a comment, and I’ll pick a winner or two to receive a blatantly-not-literature book by yours truly.

My bad-boy hero, privateer Damon Delacroix, encouraged me to rethink a lot of things as I was writing “The Captain’s Courtesan” for the September antho, THE PLEASURE OF HIS BED. Seems the perfect thing to discuss on the Aphrodisia blog, so while I’m in real-time church today, you can be pondering these things in your hearts!

1) Bad Boys don’t live by other peoples’ rules. They make up their own as they go along. Think how many apologies that saves them! How many expectations they don’t spend their lives aspiring to! Sounds terribly liberating, not?

2) Bad Boys don’t ask permission. It never occurs to a BB that he needs anyone else’s permission or approval. He knows what he wants and he goes after it. Sounds way simpler than the life path most of us follow.

3) Bad Boys have the same philosophy as dogs: if you can’t eat it or hump it, piss on it and walk away! None of this “fixing” stuff, or that “pleasing” that so many of us Good Girls were taught from our bassinets onward. It’s not that BB’s don’t care about other people. They simply know that some situations (and people) are beyond hope or are way too high-maintenance, and they choose not to get entangled. They do not choose, however, to get humped and eaten and then pissed on…which is how some of us Good Girls spent a lot of our younger years.

4) Bad Boys don’t live by the clock or the calendar. Instead, they live and work by gut instinct, usually at things they excel at. They can be extreme workaholics if a cause/career merits their time, or they can appear to be doing nothing at all–and look damn good doing it! This is because they aren’t stressed about time. It’s all theirs to spend as they please…kinda like their money. The older I get, the more I admire this philosophy!

5) Bad Boys don’t apologize, nor do they agonize over the broken hearts they leave in their wake. More than likely, the ladies in question lived by those expectations, rules, clocks and other stuff, above, which was what made them think they could domesticate a BB in the first place. It was their wishful thinking, not the BB’s, that told him it was time to go to the c-store for smokes and never come back. If more women acted that way, they wouldn’t become one of those broken hearts in a guy’s wake.

Given a choice–and we ALL have the choice–I want to come back for my next life as a Bad Boy. Better yet…I intend to adopt more of their attitude RIGHT NOW! What have I got to lose??