When I am not writing (and even when I am) I like to play around on the internet. Facebook, Twitter, I can check these sites hundreds of times in any given day and be thoroughly entertained every time. What can I say, I am easily amused.

My latest indulgence is Pinterest. At first I didn’t get it. I mean, pin things? What does that even mean? What kinds of things? Most of the people I know said they used it for “recipes.” I’m not that kind of girl, so it immediately lost any appeal for me. It was only recently that I discovered other time wasting joys with it.

For example, I recently set up a little board filled with pictures from the WIP I am currently working on. I picked out the hero, the heroine, the secondary characters. It was great fun and shockingly, it was also very helpful. Suddenly I had a real, sharp visual on the people and places I was making up and it really helped me focus on their stories.

As a pantser, it usually takes me a while to learn my people’s stories, discover who they are. But I’ve found with this new and fun visual aid, that process has become much easier. What we look like has a lot to do with who we are and with a solid vision now in mind, I am finding it easier to imagine how these people would react in the terrible and wonderful situations I throw them into.

And it gives me something pretty to stare at when I am staring off into space, waiting for them to tell me what comes next.

Do y’all use Pinterest? What kinds of things do you do with it?

After powering through the month of April with over 20k written, and FINALLY finishing the sequel I’ve been working on for ages, I thought I would be re-energized.  I figured after such a great run, I’d want to sustain my momentum, at least long enough to edit the manuscript and finish up another novella I put aside for months to work on the book I just finished.

Instead, I fell into another dreaded slump.  D’oh!

Of course, with only 8 days left until summer break at the Evil Day Job, and a ton of things to finish before that happens, I have a lot of other things on my mind.  It seems like every afternoon when I get home, the time gets away from me.  Hubby and I work out, I make dinner, and BOOM!  It’s time for bed.  I’ve been neglecting writing, reading, and pretty much everything else.

I could just wait until summer break begins to try to get back into the writing groove, but I don’t want to do that.  I’ve got a release date for the book I just finished already, and I don’t want to have to move it later.  I’m going to try to get into the edits before break starts, and maybe even finish them.  In order to do this, I’m going to have to work a lot on the weekends, when I actually have large chunks of time to work with.  I’m also going to try to think of some little rewards to give myself if I meet goals, which will be small at first.

Anyone have any other suggestions on how to get myself going again?  The last thing I need is for this slump to linger as long as the last one did!

Cassandra Gold

Gay romance with a heart of gold

www.cassandragold.com

Nanny State: Lesbian Kink by Giselle Renarde

Are we all having mid-90′s SNL flashbacks now?  Should I sing a few bars?  And dance?  Maybe  not.

This post originally appeared as a guest blog chez Sommer Marsden, but I thought I’d revive it because I’m not done talking about smut… or my new release, Nanny State–a kinktacular lesbian sextravaganza.

If you ask me, Nanny State is SMUT with a capital S (and M… and U and T).  It’s a story driven by some of the kinkiest sex I’ve ever written, and some of the most intense discipline.  It’s a story built around sex and control, a stern landlady introducing university-aged Summer to extreme kink.  It’s deliciously dirty, start to finish.  To me, that’s smut, and I rejoice in this label I’ve adhered to my yummy little book.

But one night I happened to refer to Nanny State as “smut” in front of my girlfriend, and she was taken aback.  My Sweet happens to be a grammar geek and editor extraordinaire, so she helped me shape Nanny State into its current and final form.

“Nanny State isn’t smut!” she said. “It’s fun and (something) and delightful!”  *I say (something) because I know there was a word in the middle of that statement, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was.  This is what happens when I don’t write things down.

Anyway, I put up a counter-argument.  I said sure Nanny State was smut. There’s sex in every chapter of this book, and the sex is what drives the narrative forward like a locomotive engine.  To me, that’s smut.

Sweet disagreed.  When she thinks smut, she imagines poorly-written wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am drivel.  “There’s a lot of sweet stuff in Nanny State.  There’s strong characterization.  That’s not smut.”

This is sounding a whole lot like the recent “erotica versus erotic romance” debate that became instantly relevant when All Romance ebooks split its shelves between those two categories, giving moral primacy to a very specific sort of story line narrowly delineated by the progression of a love relationship and its culmination in the promise of a future together.

Strangely enough, by those standards, Nanny State fits the “erotic romance” category.  Well, if you ignore the fact that there are ultimately 3 women who form this “happy couple” and one of them takes on a very maternal role over the other two. And the fact that the budding relationship between Summer and university peer Kira begins when Summer offers Kira money in exchange for sex.

You’d never see it in the beginning, but a strong love develops between all three women in this book.  The love comes via sex, discipline, control, rebellion, age play, and ultimately abandoning ego concerns to give oneself over to another.

I’m pretty sure every author will tell you every so often they write a book that seems to come out of nowhere.  They didn’t plan it, it was way out of their comfort zone, but at the same time it seemed to write itself.  Nanny State was one of those books.  I’m a pretty prolific author, but this book got me excited.  I remember sitting here writing 3 words and then bouncing in my chair, clapping my hands, and saying, “Oh my god, that’s so hot!”

And, to me, that’s smut.  It was so hot, so dirty, so beyond my own kink zone (especially the extreme age play–Summer and Kira even dress up as babies and suckle Nanny’s breasts) and yet so fascinating that it got me excited.

My sense is that “smut” is a word we erotica authors are beginning to reclaim. Not all, but some, and that’s always how it starts out.  My Sweet is “of a different generation” (that’s my polite way of calling her an old lady LOL) and we often come up against linguistic comfort zone differences.  For instance, I identify as queer, whereas she cringes when she hears the word, because of its connotations prior to being reclaimed.

What is SMUT these days?  Is the word well on its way to being reclaimed, or does it still spell CRAP in most people’s minds?  Does love, or even a story line, preclude a book from being categorized as smut?  Or is smut just code for hot sex in any context?

What do we think, people?

Hugs,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!
—
Giselle Renarde is smutifying the world one story at a time.  Her latest release is Nanny State:

Nanny State: Lesbian Kink by Giselle Renarde

When Summer moves in with her mother’s friend, she expects to be treated like an adult.  Fat chance!  Victoria exerts control over every aspect of her life, protectively setting parental controls on the television and demanding Summer come straight home after her university classes.
Everything changes the day Victoria catches Summer watching some very kinky lesbian porn.  The landlady soon becomes the ‘Nanny’, coaxing Summer into the big bed for play time.
The unlikely couple embarks upon a series of naughty adventures, from suckling to discipline to diapers.  But what happens when Summer wants to include a girl her own age?  Will Nanny punish the wayward girl or accept another charge into their uncommon household?
Warnings: This title contains graphic descriptions of lesbian sex and threesomes, age play, spankings, discipline, domination, and other fetish activities that may be considered objectionable to some readers.

Buy Now from eXcessica: http://www.excessica.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=540
or Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Nanny-State-Lesbian-Kink-ebook/dp/B007Q1H1NK/ref=pd_rhf_pe_p_t_1
or any number of other retailers.

For more information, check out: http://donutsdesires.blogspot.ca/2012/03/new-release-nanny-state-lesbian-kink.html

Though my work has been published for years, with the imminent release of Photo Finish, the first book of my Teach Him Tonight series, I feel like a publishing virgin. This is my very first step into independent publishing, and I’m excited and nervous and far from being my usual blasé multi-published author self.

Independent publishing means taking charge of the whole enchilada. Writing the book is enough of a challenge, or at least that’s what I always thought. But as the indie pub I’m also arranging for edits and cover and promo—and then there’s the grand adventure of whipping the book into the correct format for each of the various platforms.

Luckily there’s a lot of information available and other writers are hugely generous about sharing their expertise. There’s a great community feeling of exploring a brand new frontier—shaping it and growing it as you go.

In addition to beta readers and generous friends, I have to give a great big shout out to my wonderful, techno-geek DH Lee, without whom I’d be so far up the creek that ten paddles wouldn’t help. Lee’s been slaving over the computer and confusing directives to bring Photo Finish: Teach Him Tonight, Book #1 to the light of day.

Here’s the blurb Team Photo Finish cobbled together:
———————————————————————————————————     Ambitious attorney Cassandra Harrell is primed to battle her hot, hunky opposing counsel Alex DeLuca—a.k.a. Alexander the Great—in the courtroom. Though she fantasizes about getting him into her bedroom, she’s determined to avoid this bad boy distraction and focus on her career.

Alex spots the author photo on the back cover of a steamy romance and recognizes Cassandra. Who knew the desirable but icy lawyer had such a fascinating sensuous side? When he teases her about the book at a deposition, she furiously denies any connection.

Her sister wrote the book and, for a prank, used Cassandra’s photo. Outraged at Alex for embarrassing her in front of clients, Cassandra plots a revenge lesson. This teacher comes out on top until her student raises the stakes—and the heat.

———————————————————————————————————
As I write, it’s just become available on Amazon for the Kindle! We’ll be sending Photo Finish to the other platforms as soon as we can catch our collective breaths.

For up-to-minute info on all my writings, please check www.MardiBallou.com.

Thanks so much! —Mardi

After another long stretch in which my writing was sooooo sloooooow (4400 words in January, a pathetic 2800 in the entire month of February), I’m finally back!  I wrote 14k in March, and I’m shooting for 20k this month.

It’s great to have my motivation back, and I have a couple of things to thank for it.  First of all, I’ve really focused on finishing the sequel to Healer.  The characters have been very vocal lately, telling me what they want and all about their pasts.  Ideas have been flying, and I was actually able to outline the whole story (a vague outline, but still…).

The other thing I have to thank for my recent writing resurgence is the influence of other writers.  The members of The Romance Room organized a BIAM (Book in a Month) writing challenge for April, just in time to help kick-start me.  I signed up and set a goal of 20,000 words, with 5k each week.  I have to check in at TRR with my progress weekly, which will keep me on track.

Also, I’ve spent a lot of time chatting and brainstorming with a writing buddy of mine, Qwillia Rain.  She’s been invaluable to me while I’ve worked on the Healer sequel.  She’s helped me through several sticky plot points, asked me questions that led me to character motivations, and been a whip-wielding taskmistress when I get whiny or lazy.  On top of all that, when I get to a point where I need a set of fresh eyes, she makes time to read my scribblings and provide useful advice.

My own ideas and motivation have definitely helped me to put myself back into writing high gear, but that on its own isn’t always enough, at least not for famed procrastinators like myself.  In the words of a famous band, I get by with a little help from my friends. 

Cassandra Gold

Gay romance with a heart of gold

www.cassandragold.com

Sometimes the hardest part of writing can be coming up with an idea for the next story. Especially if you’ve been writing for a while and have some books out there for readers to buy; you might feel like you’re under pressure to come up with something to top, or at least match, your last story.

I’ve found that I have the hardest time coming up with ideas when I try too hard. If I’m writing to a prompt or for a specific submission call, I often end up stumped because I have to think of something that fits that structure, and that isn’t always easy. If I realize that it’s been a while since I sent something to one of my publishers, I sometimes get stuck trying to think of something to write for them because I’m feeling the pressure to get something done.

But when I’m not under pressure, I sometimes have too many ideas. If I’m not actually trying to think of something to write, the plots just flood into my brain. I’m sometimes asked where I got the ideas for my books. Some of them have origins I can easily identify; others, not so much. They’re just suddenly there, waiting patiently for me to start typing.

The best books I’ve written have come from seemingly random things. My brain tends to take things and twist, turn, and flip them on their figurative ears, and I have a lot of fun with that. For me, that’s the best part about writing; I can take something that may have been done a hundred times before and put my own spin on it.

That doesn’t mean I know where the ideas come from all the time, though. Sometimes I think there must be a fairy that goes around sprinkling authors with idea dust. And sometimes it misses.

So, as of right now, I have two projects out in the ether and I am waiting to receive wonderful news of acceptance from my various editors. In the meantime though, I don’t quite know what to do with myself. I’ve never been very good at waiting. I need something productive, distracting, and most importantly, time consuming to do until my inbox chimes. I suppose I could…

Clean the House

I tried this one yesterday but it didn’t work out so well. Cleaning is a lot of work.

Chill Out and Watch a Movie

Unfortunately, I’ve already seen everything Hugh Jackman is in. I guess I could watch that bucket scene again though.

Write Something Else

Of course this is the obvious answer, but I find it hard to concentrate when I am checking my email 57 times a minute.

What do you do when you are waiting to hear about your submissions?

Story Basics. It should be something everyone knows. I mean, most people who want to be writers READ. That’s actually one of the reasons they want to write – they LOVE READING.

So why is it that otherwise intelligent folks forget the basics of storytelling? Because it seemed appropriate, I have listed a few of the things I figure out first before I do anything else. Even though I write by the seat of my pants, if I’ve got these five elements in place, I’m good to go (and rewriting is becoming minimal, the more I do these).

1. KNOW YOUR HEROINE. Know that woman, know all her aches and pains and the color of her toenails. Know whether she prefers to be on top, on the bottom, or somewhere in-between. Know if she’s knee-deep in credit card debt, or if she’s too squeamish to kill a spider that’s about to attack the sugar bowl. Above all, know what she does for a living, and what her dreams are.

2. KNOW YOUR HEROINE’S SPECIFIC STORY GOAL, MOTIVATION, and WHAT’S STOPPING HER FROM GETTING HER GOAL. Without this, sorry. You don’t have a story.

2. KNOW YOUR VILLAIN (if there is one).  He is the hero of his own story; he deserves to be as complex and well-thought-out as your heroine. He, too has GOALS, MOTIVATIONS, and SOMETHING STOPPING HIM.

3. KNOW YOUR HERO, and HIS goals, motivation, and what’s stopping him from getting what he wants. (Hint: most of the time, these three [or maybe just the H/h] have the same goal – and only one of them can have it.)

4. MAKE THE GOAL SOMETHING CONCRETE. In other words, the goal CANNOT BE “to find love” or any derivation thereof. In a romance, Love is the REWARD for your characters for going through the hassles you put them through. It is the surprise in the box of Cracker Jack; the toy in the cereal; the cherry on top of the banana split. They’ve come through incredible odds…won their main goal…and also found Big L Love. HAPPY ENDING! (Or happy-for-now ending, if you’re not writing plain romance.)

5. KNOW YOUR ENDING. Often, a book that starts out promising fails to deliver a satisfying end. Not that the characters don’t come together; they do. Not that the story question wasn’t answered – it was. But still…the ending lacked that, “ahhhh….lovely” sense when you finish the book. If you know your ending, you can build toward it – and  then reward both your characters and your reader with that lovely “ahhhh…” For romance, Nora Roberts still is among the very best for satisfying endings. Those endings are what make me re-read her books.

Okay, so that’s it for this month. If you haven’t yet checked out DEMON SOUL yet, I hope you do – you can find it at Amazon, or at Crescent Moon Press as well as Kobo and Barnes & Noble.

Plus, I’ve got a fun blog – come find me at http://christine-ashworth.com – I dish about wines under $10 on Fridays!

It’s March, which in some parts of the world is the month of St. Patrick’s Day. One thing often associated with the day is four-leaf clovers, which are supposed to bring good luck. So when I was trying to think of a topic for this month’s post, that’s what I came up with.

I don’t know if I believe in luck. Some people say authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer are lucky because their books have generated so much buzz–and so much money. I’ve seen authors in romancelandia leaping over me to become best-sellers for their publishers or even on Amazon and other third-party sites, while I plod along in “Karenna-who?” territory even now, three years after my first published romance and after a total of 19 stand-alone romances, plus a couple of freebies and a few stories in anthologies. Are those authors lucky?

They are successful, depending on your definition of success. I don’t know if they’re lucky. There are a lot of factors involved in making a name for oneself in this business. Those authors who are leap-frogging me are strong at promoting themselves. They’re very social, and I see them all over the internet talking to other authors and to readers. They put money into their promotions, including offering large prizes such as hundred-dollar gift cards for contests. They form connections with other authors who cross-promote them. They get reviews and do interviews and guest spots on all the biggest romance sites. And most of them write good books. (I have seen some who have reached a level of success that I drool over despite having poorly-written or poorly-edited books, but I won’t get into that. And I won’t name any names.)

Does that mean I don’t write good books? I don’t think so. My editors certainly don’t seem to think so, or I wouldn’t have had the number of books published that I have in the past three years. (I’m exclusively published by publishers; I haven’t self-pubbed anything at this point, though I may be doing so in the future with a couple of books I’ve gotten rights back on.) I’ve had reviewers and readers praise my books; I’ve also had reviewers and readers pan them. But the positive reviews and comments outweigh the negative.

However, I recognize that I’m not as good at promotion as those authors who are making the money. I’m a shy person by nature, and it’s difficult for me to put myself out there. I tend to find two or three groups and stick to them because they’re comfortable, rather than popping in and out of dozens of groups. I was brought up never to ask for anything, so requesting reviews and/or guest spots is something I’m still getting the hang of doing.

I believe that success, however one measures it, is the result of hard work and belief in oneself and one’s product. In other words, in my opinion, we all create our own luck.

I see some authors on Twitter measuring their progress by chapters.  You know, “I have to finish this chapter,” or “I want to get three chapters written today.”  I don’t do this – at all.  My goals while I’m writing are generally scene or word count, and I don’t think in chapters at all.  My stories are never constructed around chapters.  To me, chapters always seem arbitrary. (Uh… James Patterson, anyone?  Although I don’t know if they’re so much arbitrary in his case so much as a standard issue for every second page.)

Adding chapter breaks is the absolutely last thing I do.  Seriously, it’s the very last thing on my check list before I submit a manuscript.  About every 15-20 pages, I’ll look for an acceptable pause and stick in a chapter break.  Mine are *definitely* arbitrary!  Since my books are primarily e-books, the chapters seem entirely unnecessary.  In print, they’re convenient places to stop reading, but for some reason, they mean almost nothing to me in e-format.  End of scene, end of page, whatever.  It’s easy for me to pick up where I was in a e-book.

I remember one piece of writing advice, and that was to put a chapter break in the middle of a scene.  I tried to do this once, but it seemed so painfully contrived, manipulative and overly dramatic that I couldn’t follow through.  I mean, if I’m going to have a break, I don’t want it to interrupt the flow of the story.  But perhaps I’m in the minority.

So, authors & readers… what’s your opinion on chapters?  Are they an integral part of your process?  Do they affect your enjoyment of the story or convenience of pausing?  Are chapters obsolete, or is it just me?

KC Burn