Annette Mori's Blog, page 20

The Art of Teasing

I enjoy teasers, there’s no secret about that. But I’m still not sure if I do this well or not. Teasing takes many forms and not all teasing is good. Now…you know I did a little research on this because I thought it was an interesting topic to explore. Off the top of my head I can think of five types of teasing: 1) Verbal in the form of flirtation; 2) Sexual…which has so many varieties; 3) Book promotions; 4) Brain teasers designed to keep your mind sharp; and 5) Teaser bets.

I wasn’t very interested in the last two noted above, so I’m only going to talk about the first three. Unfortunately verbal teasing which is usually intended as a flirtation or because one person likes another enough to joke around with them, can go awry rather easily. I like to write that kind of banter in my books, but verbal teasing can go down a bad road quickly and turn into bullying. So…what is the difference between good teasing and bad teasing? It all comes down to intent and how it is perceived by the other. Perception is a very difficult thing to navigate because no two people will perceive something exactly the same. Teasing about something that a person might want to change, especially something about their physical appearance can get a person in hot water in a nanosecond. Women are notorious about talking about their eating and dieting habits, but to tease a woman about that is usually riddled with traps. It might feel like the right thing to do when a person masks a painful experience with a joke, to tease them and keep the topic light, but that can also be a path to serious hell. Joking is a coping mechanism for many. It is certainly part of my toolbox, but there are times when serious subjects require serious conversation and timing is everything. So be cautious when teasing someone as they opening up to you.

Sexual teasing is the ultimate foreplay and often starts well before you get the person into the bedroom or up against a wall as we often read in romance books. Honestly, have you ever had sex with someone up against a wall? Personally, I prefer a nice soft bed! I wanted to know how many different ways there were to tease a woman and most of my search offered ways to tease your man…ugh! But I did like this one article that provided a few hints including: talking about your fantasies, using sex toys, touching new parts of the body that you don’t normally pay attention to (my favorite is the inside of my arm, and my clavicle), bringing unexpected elements into the bedroom, such as food (chocolate sauce) or a camera. For most people, edging is the ultimate way to tease…keeping the other person on the edge for a long time before allowing them release.

Book teasers are a lot of fun to select, but there are times when they are misread without context. I’ve fallen into that trap before and because I know the intent and my book, it’s harder for me to see. Hopefully this past week I’ve chosen teasers that entice y’all to read my latest book, but if I’ve totally missed the mark, maybe simply reading my blog will remind you of this book (Sculpting Her Heart) that I am particularly proud of. Although it’s gotten a slow start, I am hoping that with increased reviews, which so far have all been positive, others will decide to give it a chance! Want to check it out or any of my other books, you know the drill, click on one of the links below! Don’t forget to check out MyLesfic.Com for the two latest sale books from Affinity, Free Spirit by Erica Lawson and Death Is Only A Beginning by JM Dragon.

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Love/Hate Relationship

I don’t know if I’m like most authors, but I have a love/hate relationship with my books. And…if I’m perfectly honest, the hate usually overshadows the love. This mostly happens after I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing and re-reading the blasted thing so many times, I often lose count! Of the twenty-three books I’ve written, I can honestly say I’ve only fallen completely in love with three, because of the passion I had for the main characters in the stories. One of those books won a Goldie award, another was a Lesfic Bard finalist, the third is my latest book, Sculpting Her Heart. In my humble opinion these three are my best works to date.

Normally I don’t share the back of the book synopsis in my blog, but I want to offer you Sculpting’s blurb to help you understand how I fell in love with one of the main characters, Zari.

Zari Woods has achieved almost everything she set out to accomplish, despite overwhelming challenges. Except for one crucial goal—a girlfriend. On the surface, it appears as if she has everything, fame, money, a supportive best friend, and loving parents; but, to a person on the neurodiverse spectrum, a loving woman is an elusive and magical creature. When Frankie moves into her neighborhood, Zari starts a quest to climb that final mountain. Frankie is beautiful, kind, patient, and seems to genuinely enjoy spending time with Zari despite her quirks. Unfortunately, Frankie already has a girlfriend. Sort of. It’s complicated.

Frankie can’t believe she agreed to an open relationship with her girlfriend, Sam. That was the last thing she wanted. Her morals do not align with Sam’s. At all. Her growing attraction to Zari challenges Frankie’s perspective on her current relationship and her last-gasp effort to repair the ever-increasing divide. Will Frankie make the hard decision to let go of something clearly not working for a chance at real love and choose to bring Zari her heart’s desire?

Now to give you a taste of who Zari is…let me share a short passage…

I pushed the curtain aside because I heard my neighbor’s car. She was pulling sacks from the backseat and used her hips to close the door. She’d filled her arms with bags. I approved of her efficiency. She could have made several trips instead, and that would have left one arm free to close the door. A lot of other people would have done that. She looked over in my direction, and I hurried to close the curtain. I needed to call Jillian and ask her what to do. I tend to scare strangers, and I didn’t want to do that with my new neighbor. I decided she was definitely girlfriend material but only if she was a lesbian or bisexual. Or perhaps gender nonconforming. That was a contemporary option that worked to my advantage.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Jillian. “She’s home.”

“Hi, Zari. Who’s home?”

“My neighbor.”

“And…”

I’ve learned from Jillian that when she says and without following that one word with more words, she needs additional information.

“I think I’m ready to meet her. She has sufficient attributes to be my girlfriend.”

Jillian’s laugh came through the tiny speaker too loudly. “First, make sure she’s into women. Remember, no going after straight girls. Have you practiced your smile yet?”

“No. Should I do that first?”

“Maybe. But first, I have to ask why you think your neighbor is worthy of being your girlfriend?”

I understood enough that the question pleased me. Jillian’s probe had a subtle message, and I rarely pick up on subtle. She was telling me I’m allowed to have a girlfriend, and I don’t have to settle for just anyone.

“She’s efficient and pretty.”

“Well, then go out and buy a ring. You should ask her to marry you.”

“It’s too soon for that. I need to date her for at least a year before considering that level of commitment.”

“Sarcasm, Zari. We’ve worked on this. I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh, right. Sarcasm is hard when I cannot see your face.”

“Good point. My bad. Okay, here’s what you’re going to do. Bake some of those awesome chocolate chip cookies and bring those over to her. You can welcome her to the neighborhood with fresh-baked goods. And don’t be weird. No matter what she says, do not cite a bunch of random facts about anything.”

“What will I say to her?”

“Keep it simple. Say something like ‘welcome to the neighborhood.’”

“Should I tell her my name, or is it too early?”

“Yes, doofus, tell her your name and let her know you live next door. Then offer to help her settle.”

“How would I help her settle?”

“I don’t know. Maybe something needs fixing, or she needs help to move furniture.” Jillian sighed. That was my cue that she’d reached her boiling point of exasperation. I had to get the rest of her advice out quickly—in case she tells me she has to take care of something, when I know she doesn’t. I’ve gotten much better at recognizing untruths.

“I can do that. Especially if I research it.”

“Don’t tell her you need to research it. You can do that on the sly.”

“How?”

“Tell her you need to get your tools or change into work clothes or something. Hey, Zari, I have to go now. Patty needs help with dinner prep.”

“Okay.” I hung up the phone and made my way to the kitchen to begin baking. I would bring the cookies over after breakfast. Tomorrow is a Saturday, and statistically, more people are home in the mornings on Saturdays. Not Sundays, because twenty-three percent of Americans attend church every week, even though that attendance is not only on Sundays. I’d still have better odds of delivering cookies on Saturday and meeting my pretty new neighbor.

Hopefully the blurb or the scene I’ve shared entices you to consider getting Sculpting Her Heart. This is a book and a character I hope people will love versus hate! Of course you can also still check out all my other books. By the way, I think The Panty Thief is still on sale! Also…check out MyLesfic.Com for two other sale books from Affinity, The Case of the Beggars’ Coppice by Erica Lawson and Charlie by Erin O’Reilly.

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Cancel Culture

It is ironic how cancel culture is thrown out there derisively, calling out those who dare to expose injustice, misogyny, systematic racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Isn’t publicizing their hatred for cancel culture effectively doing just that, trying to cancel a culture of activism? Since this is a fairly new battle cry for the right, I needed to do a little research on how this came about. I wanted to know the difference between boycotts, doxxing, shaming people into political correctness, or other forms of activism that have been used for years. In some instances a form of this has been around for centuries. Is the battle cry against cancel culture the newest way to combat what started to become effective? Here’s what I learned.

Apparently, “calling out” people on their bad behavior which led to boycotts, embarrassment, turning a person into a social piranha wasn’t enough and “cancel culture” was born. Doxxing was a way to find those reprehensible souls, and social media became the preferred avenue. Trolling was another way to cause angst and harm. But calling people out, boycotting, and other forms of making their misdeeds was not enough. Nor was an insincere apology and cancel culture was born. Calls for cancelling programs, books, TV shows, movies, or resignations of high profile deeds or people became more prevalent in the last decade.

The earliest use of the phrase that I could find appeared on Twitter from Myles McNutt, a TV critic and assistant professor at Old Dominion University, who coined the phrase in February 2014 to refer to the cancellations of TV series. He didn’t get a whole lot of press or likes on his tweet. Many people link the #MeToo movement with cancel culture. Celebrities seemed to propel the term into the mainstream around 2017 and it really gathered steam in the latter part of 2018 with a spike occurring according to Google Trends Data.

If meaningful social change occurs with cancel culture, I’m all for it. I’ve often advocated for boycotting and other methods to spur action, but I am very worried that whatever is done to call out bad behavior will somehow be turned into something negative because those in power do not want the light shined too brightly on them when they behave badly. We also need to be very careful about labeling certain things as cancel culture and spreading lies like the ones that have been going around about six Dr. Seuss books and Mr. Potato head. People who don’t want you to look too closely at their behavior, will often try to get you to examine something else to keep the bright lights off of them. Don’t let them! Facts first.

I’m not bothered by cancel culture as long as the facts and information are vetted carefully. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. But, cancel culture is not the only way to seek needed change. We have many tools in our toolbelt. Of course, as a writer, my favorite tool is writing subtext into my books. If you want to check that out, you know the drill, click the links below! By the way…just to let y’all know…coming soon is my newest book, Sculpting Her Heart. Look for it on April 1st.

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Sales…Sales…Everywhere…Sales

I don’t know about the rest of you, but every time I hop onto Facebook, there’s another sale to check out. The explosion of lesfic/WLW romance and fiction is nothing short of amazing in the last ten years, but now there is an explosion of sales. I would imagine this emerging marketing tool for publishers and independent authors is a means to get noticed. As a reader, I’m thrilled. Almost too thrilled because I simply cannot keep up. Combined with Kindle Unlimited offerings, I have so many books in my queue, I’m not sure how I will ever catch up. I’m constantly juggling what to read next.

I’m an avid reader of the I Heart Lesfic newsletter, as well as religiously checking out the weekly MyLesfic.com sales. Both catch my interest. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Mega Sale happening this month from I Heart Lesfic, keep your eyes peeled, because it’s happening. I am proud to say that my publisher Affinity Rainbow Publications is offering up several books. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention The Panty Thief, which is one of mine, but I also want you to take special note of all the others. I am so proud to be associated with Affinity. We aren’t as big a publisher as some others that people are aware of, but damn there are some great writers and books that haven’t gotten the respect they deserve.

So…without further ado, here is a montage of all the books on offer from Affinity! All will be on sale for $2.99 down from $7.99…so be sure to take advantage of the sale. There aren’t too many days left! https://iheartlesfic.com/ihl-march-mega-sale-page-2/

And…don’t forget about my other books…you know the drill, click the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

Proud to be an Affinity Rainbow Publications author!

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Bodily Functions

Beware! Today I’m going to talk about something rarely discussed in either polite society or included in WLW novels…bodily functions. Rarely do our authors ever discuss taking a piss or god forbid having a bowel movement. Now, I know, I get it, that’s just gross and unnecessary. It rarely moves the story along or is any way pertinent to the plot. And yet, it is as necessary as food to our survival. So why am I talking about this today? Because as one gets older, the topic becomes less taboo. Older women talk about having a good bowel movement. My grandmother did. As I ponder writing a story about a retired couple who buys a ghost town and sets up a retirement community for aging lesbians, I think I might have to write a scene featuring bowel movements. Yup! I would sooooo go there.

The other reason I thought of this and surely this will change your opinion of me…is that several nights ago, I had a dream about having a satisfying bowel movement. Now here’s where TMDI (too much damn information) comes into play. Lately, I’ve been having a bit of trouble in that area. It reminds me of my grandmother. True story coming…My grandmother used to eat prunes every day. She was a prune pusher way back when I did not have an issue. Turns out there was a reason for that. She tended to get clogged up and it got so bad my mother learned that she was digging her stool out with a spoon and her constipation ended up landing her in the hospital. Now, I know this sounds desperate and gross, but the other day…I won’t even finish that thought. But, here’s the thing, our embarrassment over talking about poop could actually be dangerous.

According to a study released in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, constipation is on the rise, causing more frequent visits to the ED. Yup, I am not kidding, people go to the emergency department because it can result in that much pain.. As much as 12-19 percent of the US population suffers from constipation. In that group, infants and the elderly were most likely to be seen in the emergency room. I’m not afraid to admit that a good poop can almost be as satisfying as good sex, especially if you haven’t gone in days. A lot like sex. If you haven’t had any in days, weeks or months, the return can be quite satisfying! My favorite childhood book to give to my nephews was Everyone Poops. If you’ve never heard of it, definitely check it out! So, authors, readers, throw away your hang-ups and join the senior population who is now old enough not to give a shit (pun absolutely intended) about polite society and will readily talk about bodily functions!

As far as books go, I do incorporate this on occasion into my books. Not the actual description, but I often weave it into joking between characters. So, if you want to read how I’ve done that without grossing people out…you know the drill, click on the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

Proud to be an Affinity Rainbow Publications author!

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March Madness

Of all the months in the year, March seems to have a lot of trivia and history attached to it, starting with its name. The names of the month originated from the Roman calendar and were derived from gods, emperors, festivals and numbers. The first four months had a mostly religious origin. March is named for the god Mars who was the god of war. Interesting that is what armies do…march on their enemies.

Besides the name of the month, March has so many interesting sayings attached to it: March Madness, March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, beware the Ides of March. There are competing stories behind the term March Madness. As is relates to basketball, some say the term began in 1908. While others say the phrase was coined in 1939 by the Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939. The other origin of the term, beginning in the 1900s refers to the uncharacteristic behavior affecting people in March that can only be described as a form of madness. Finally, some believe it can be attributed to the tumultuous weather characteristic in March which brings us to the next saying. Again, there are different origins for the saying. Some believe it is related to astrology referring to the positions of the constellations (Leo the Lion and Aries the ram or lamb). Others link the saying to proverbs written by Thomas Fuller’s 1732 in his compendium, Gnomologia; Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British. Of course the obvious meaning is that the month starts out like a roaring lion with harsh weather and ends like a docile lamb. This, I know for a fact, is not true as many years it is the exact opposite, especially with climate change affecting our weather patterns.

Finally, there is the last saying. Ironically, this saying has a non-threatening origin. Kalends, Nones and Ides were ancient markers for dates relating to lunar phases. Ides signified the first full moon of a given month, which usually fell between the 13th and 15th. Thus the Ides of March signified the new year, which included celebrating and rejoicing. Most people know the phrase from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, when a soothsayer warns Caesar. In roman history March 15th is when Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate by sixty co-conspirators led by Brutus. I think our current Senate may have learned a thing or two from the Romans.

March always means the start of spring to me and I eagerly welcome the milder weather, regardless of when it comes. For us, this often happens in early March. We’ve had a few days of sixty degree weather in these early days of March and I, for one, have welcomed this! Just because the nice weather is around the corner, doesn’t mean we all stop reading cuddled up next to our fireplaces if we have one. Personally, I enjoy reading in the sunshine. So…want to pick up a great book and begin your springtime reading, you know the drill, click the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

Proud to be an Affinity Rainbow Publications author!

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Obsession…

I have a dirty little secret. No, it’s not that I have obsessive compulsive disorder (mild case…not like my mother) because that is well known. Although, my wife disagrees with the mild part. She thinks it’s a bit more pronounced! My obsessiveness has taken me to a place I never thought I would go. In the past, I’ve always deleted or skipped those ads for games. In fact, the first thing I used to do when I got a new laptop was delete all the preinstalled games that used to comes in a nice tidy package with new computers. Remember that? I know. I am dating myself. I don’t think they do that anymore.

I cannot tell you how many times I have deleted messages from people inviting me to play, “fill in the blank.” But, you know my obsession with cats…Well…I kept seeing these ads on Facebook for Kitten Match. Oh boy did they suck me in. There’s a lonely little kitten kicked to the curb in pouring rain or snow in the ads and the ad broke me. I capitulated and downloaded the stupid game.

Needless to say, I’ve been obsessed with playing this game to absolute distraction. When I receive thirty minutes of free lives, nothing else exists. My wife could be having an affair right in front of me, and I would not notice. She’s joked about sending me to therapy for my addition. She may be on to something.

I now have all eight kittens that I am taking care of. I’ve bought them toys, new outfits, cleaned up the dilapidated house they live in. You name it. I am committed to my eight kittens that I’ve adopted. They never lack for food, water or a clean litter box. Yup, all of those things are accomplished by playing these little games to get gold coins, bombs and boosters to help you accomplish the games. At this point I have played 305 games and am remodeling the last room in the house for my little kittens. I’ve even taken several pictures of my adorable kittens!

I often write about addiction and obsession in my books because even though I joke about a lot of things, these are serious issues. In the upcoming March Madness sale, my book The Panty Thief will be offered for sale. There is both obsession (medical school studies) and addiction in that book. In addition, a book that is near and dear to my heart…The Dream Catcher will also appear sometime in the future in a MyLesfic.com ad. Although The Dream Catcher doesn’t quite deal with OCD, the main character is bi-polar and obsessiveness does go hand in hand with bi-polar disorder. Hopefully you will take advantage of those ads. For other books still on sale or on Kindle Unlimited…you know the drill. Click on the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!  Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!  Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

Proud to be an Affinity Rainbow Publications author!

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Mother Nature is Pissed…

The artic chill has a lot of people scratching their heads. For those who don’t understand the difference between weather and climate, you might hear rude comments like, “so much for global warming.” The reality is that Mother Nature’s two sons, Climate and Weather are working together to teach us a few lessons. And, her daughter, Global Warming is laughing her ass off at our expense. I did some research to help explain this. First, let’s clarify all the terminology because weather, climate change and global warming are three completely difference concepts that work together to create the misery we feel on an increasingly frequent basis.

Global warming is the scientifically documented rise in global temperatures as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gases are mainly: 1) Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil), with the biggest culprits cars and manufacturing; 2) Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil or from the result of livestock and other agricultural practices that result in the decay of organic waste; 3) Nitrous oxide is also the result of agricultural and industrial practices, combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste, and wastewater treatment plants; 4) Fluorinated gases are the lesser known emissions as a result of various industrial processes.

Climate Change is the increasing changes to measurements related to climate over a long period of time. The main measurements include: temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns.

Weather is short-term atmospheric conditions that are profoundly affected by global warming and climate change.

It seems counterintuitive that global warning would cause the snowstorms in Texas. But scientists are placing the blame on climate change. Scientists have been documenting the affect of carbon on the planet for years. The following facts may not seem earth shattering, but they are how global warming has impacted climate.

The earth’s average surface temperature has risen about 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century.Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice each year between 1993 and 2019, and Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons of ice each year.In the last century the sea level rose 8 inches

So, how exactly does this work? Simply put, the rapid heating of the Arctic pushes frigid air from the north pole much further south, possibly all the way to Mexico. Now that is some scary shit. Along with fires in California, Hurricanes in the south and Caribbean, and Tornadoes throughout the country, now we have to deal with winter snowstorms in Texas. Are we paying attention yet?

I love my hybrid car, but I know that really isn’t enough. We have to do more or these weather events, compliments of the dynamic duo – climate change and global warming, will not leave any part of the world profoundly unaffected. Weather will continue to beat our asses down.

I’ve always chosen charities to help LGBTQ+ youth, but perhaps I should consider other charities that will have an impact in our fight against global warming and climate change. I’d love your input on where I should donate proceeds of the next book I write for charity. In the meantime, hopefully you will choose to check out my books, two of which (Artist Free Zone and Compound Interest) still support these charities: The Trevor Project and It Gets Better. You know the drill, click on the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

Proud to be an Affinity Rainbow Publications author!

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Celebrating Valentines Day

Of all the holidays, there are two that I take a less than cynical approach to…Thanksgiving and Valentines Day. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that my wife and I don’t even exchange gifts anymore for Christmas. We barely acknowledge our anniversary, sometimes forgetting until the end of the day. But, I guess as a romash author, it’s kind of a requirement that I still wish to recognize Valentines Day. Although, this year my wife asked if I wanted the traditional Christopher Elbow chocolates that she has been ordering for me since the very first year we got together. I declined because I am still working on shedding those vacation pounds. Believe me it is a sacrifice, because the picture below is what I’m missing!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever written about the history of Valentine’s day or shared interesting facts about this holiday, but if I have…simply ignore this blog. I suffer from CRS (can’t remember shit), so you’re going to get this information again even if I have done a previous blog sharing those same interesting facts. So…without further ado…here’s what I found.

Valentines day began as a feast to celebrate one St. Valentine and maybe two who died on February 14th. Both Decapitated. The legends on these two are decidedly more romantic, with stories that were probably not true, such as: the saint performing marriages for young lovers in secret or the saint as a prisoner falling in love and sending a note (a Valentine) while imprisoned. The reality was that the third century in Rome was not a good time to be a Christian.Fast forward a couple of hundred years and you come across a theory that the origin might come from a Pagan celebration called Lupercalia. Certainly not appealing to me…but it entailed a rural masculine cult sacrificing goats and dogs that turned into an urban carnival. The festival had half-naked men wearing thongs from the skins of the goats streaking through the streets (yup, hard no). I knew there was a reason I avoid thongs at all costs besides the fact that I view them as butt floss. Pregnant women believed the men would bring them healthy babies via this ritual. Thank goodness that Pope Gelasius stopped the madness in 496 A.D.Some believe that the love-themed holiday began in the era of Chaucer when he declared February, the feast of St. Valentinus, after writing this in his “Parlement of Foules”: “For this was on seynt Volantynys day. Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.” Apparently, English birds paired off to produce eggs in February and nobility started sending love notes during the bird mating season. Soon this caught on with English audiences. In fact, Shakespeare’s lovestruck Ophelia referred to herself as Hamlet’s Valentine. This caught on quickly and Englishmen and women began using February 14th as an excuse to write poems and such to their love crushes. When the industrial revolution came along, the result was mass-produced illustrated cards and cheesy poetry. Soon after, Cadbury, Hershey’s, and other chocolate manufacturers began marketing sweets for Valentine’s Day. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. She is known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” with her elaborate creations designed with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures.Valentines Day is the second largest card-sending holiday.Where did Cupid come from? Most believe that the Roman God Cupid originated in Greek mythology from Eros, the God of love. Eros, a handsome cad messed with the emotions of Gods and men, using golden arrows to instigate love and leaden ones to cause the opposite reaction.

Now…I’ve developed my own story on the origins of Valentines Day that I wrote quite early in my writing career (2nd story I ever wrote). That short story can be found for free on the Affinity website. Here is a link: The True Story of Valentines Day. And…because I do love this holiday, my latest book will be on SALE for $1.99 for seven days starting today! Check out the latest MyLesfic newsletter where Inspiration Takes a Vacation and other great books are on sale in honor of this great holiday! Oh…and don’t forget to check out my other books…links are below as usual.

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Dry February

Yup, I know…usually people do dry January after indulging on New Year’s Eve. But, you know me, I can’t do anything like a normal person. However, I do have my reasons. And…technically it isn’t really all of February that I will abstain from consuming any alcohol. Having just come back from Mexico and an all inclusive resort, the first two days of February did include consumption of alcohol on the beach. We traveled on the 3rd, so I was able to start my dry February three days into the month. Although, with the fire drill at the airport, I was tempted to get a drink at 9:00a, breaking my hard and fast rule of no alcohol until noon. More on that later.

Normally, I don’t participate in these kinds of cleansing routines, but I really feel the need to do this after eating and drinking myself into at least ten pounds of extra weight. I don’t really know the exact damage done because I haven’t been brave enough to climb on a scale. Since we were extra vigilant about masking and other COVID precautions, I didn’t drag my ass into the gym to expose myself to others that I knew would not wear their masks or maintain a healthy distance.

So…what was the excitement on the return to the states? The day we arrived in Mexico, we learned that to get back into the US, we were required to have a negative COVID test. After much angst and research on the Internet, we were prepared to pay big bucks for our test and travel to town to get a test. And then, the travel goddesses smiled upon us when the hotel sent an email stating they were contracting with a lab to provide free COVID testing to guests. Not only that, but if we had tested positive, the hotel would have put us up for 14 days for free! We scheduled our tests after a little confusion over where to get an appointment. While the test was not a lot of fun (I thought the swab reached my brain), it only took about 20 minutes from check in to test. We got the results the very same day (that evening). Here’s where things took and interesting turn that affected my ability to return to the US. Biggest lesson learned: Always listen to my wise wife. She checked her negative form to make sure they spelled her name correctly and everything else on the form was accurate. Seeing my wife checking her form, I thought I better check mine. Normally, I wouldn’t have even done that…a mistake, of course. I checked my form and they put my wife’s birthdate instead of mine. My wife wanted me to go to the concierge and get that corrected, I thought I could explain it at the airport, stating they had put the wrong date, showing it was my wife’s. Yeah, no. They would not accept the form at the airport. But, again, the travel goddesses shined, although the lesson was clear. I’m a doofus and my wife is always right! They had a mobile lab at the airport and for a mere $17.00, I got another COVID test. This was was even more unpleasant, because they swabbed both nostrils. I’ll admit, I cried afterward. Yup, I am a wussy, too.

During my stay in Mexico, I was always obsessing over my Amazon stats and again, I should have listened to my wife, because she predicted I would break even well before we arrived back home, and she was right. Bottom line is that I am very happy with the response to Inspiration Takes a Vacation. Maybe you will decide to join other readers and check out my latest book. You know the drill…click the links below.

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On Kindle Unlimited!Love Forever Live ForeverArtist Free ZoneThe Thanksgiving Baby CaperThe Book AddictThe Book WitchCompound Interest – Lesfic Bard Action/Adventure FinalistOn Sale!Locked Inside (Goldie Winner)Out of This WorldAsset ManagementThe Organization Join Mailing List Amazon Author Page

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