Sierra Cartwright's Blog, page 2

Mark your calendars for Claim - out Nov 28th

Sierra Cartwright
Excerpt:

She still craved him… The sight of a collar in her boyfriend’s drawer had stunned Sarah. Panicking, she had fled. But no other man has ever been his equal.

Two years ago, the woman he’d hoped to collar and marry disappeared. So Reece McRae is stunned to find his former girlfriend on her knees, behaving as the submissive he’d always wanted.

Is it too late? He should refuse her, but an undeniable sexual attraction consumes him.

Sarah had been under Reece’s spell from the moment she met him. When she found a steel collar in his drawer, she panicked. The idea of a lifetime of his relentless demands, sensual and otherwise, suffocated her.

In the years they’ve been apart, she hasn’t met his equal. Now, convinced one last night will vanquish his memory, she sets out to seduce him.

The Reece she returns to is even more determined to have his way. Is she now strong enough, brave enough, to surrender to his love?

Guest Blog on Ranae Rose's Site

I had a great time being interviewed by the super talented Ranae Rose!  We were chatting about my Clandestine Classic: Jane Eyre. My interview with Ranae

Ranae has also penned her own Clandestine Classic: Wuthering Heights All of Emily Bronte's beloved original text is there, but Ranae has added her own, oh, so sexy spin. Check it out!

Mark December 17th!

"Bared to Him" is so successful that it will be released soon as stand-alone book, prepared for all common e-Readers!
Mark December 17th in your calendar to be the first to download and read this hot novella.



This story has been previously released as part of the Bound to the Billionaire anthology by Total-E-Bound.

Excerpt: Bared To Him

“Is that what you really want, Myka? For me to make things easier for you? Or do you want to confess to me that you played with yourself last night while you thought of me?”She gasped. Before she could formulate an answer, he spoke again. “How many times did you come, Myka?”The dialogue in the novel had been one of the things that turned her on most, but now that Phillip Dettmer, the Phillip Dettmer, was being so blunt, she found herself flustered. “Just once,” she said.“Did you use a toy, or just your hand?” “Uhm… A toy.” The word sir was on the tip of her tongue, and she almost, almost, used it. She’d never had that kind of inclination with any man before, but then she’d never met a man this powerful, this self-assured, this unyielding.“Tell me more. Where were you? What were you thinking of?”Thank God she hadn’t returned his call from the office. “Last night I took a bath.” She paused, but he didn’t fill the silence. She sensed he’d wait her out, no matter how long it took. Nervously she continued, “I had a glass of wine and I read for about an hour in the tub. You know, the book I had in the elevator.”Again he said nothing.“Then I went to bed with my vibrator.”“Continue.”With her free hand she pushed hair back from her face. “I was thinking about scenes I’d just read, but my imagination took over.” Admitting all this was embarrassing. Part of her wondered what she was doing. Myka reminded herself that she’d sought him out. “I was tied up.” Before courage could completely desert her, “I imagined a sharp slap between my legs.”“On your pussy?”“Yes.”“Say it.” “I imagined being slapped hard on my pussy.”“And then you came?”“Yes,” she admitted.“Has anyone ever done that to you?”“No. Never.”“And would you like to have your pussy spanked hard, Myka?”Oh. God. She could barely breathe. There was something about the tone of his voice—seductive and firm that undid her, seeming to send a bolt of electricity through her.“Answer the question, Myka.”

Cover Reveal: Bound To The Billionaire

Here's a sneak peek at the cover for the anthology version of Bound To The Billionaire. What do you think?

Beyond Mommy Porn

A delicious bite of summer
Ah…summer.
Long days, dining al fresco with a cool beverage, the chance to be outdoors.  And the chance to read some truly divine, naughty books.
As you’ve no doubt heard, the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon is sweeping the country. A recent article by ABC News used the term, Mommy Porn since the demographic is married women over thirty.
There are many of us who have been reading and writing BDSM novels for years. If you’ve just found the darker side, welcome.
If you’ve been reading for a long time, you may be looking for some other authors to try. Fortunately there are many.
Most of us who write BDSM subscribe to the Safe, Sane, and Consensual credo. Some of us color a bit outside those lines.
But in e-rom (erotic romance), you’ll generally find a satisfying, emotional read with hot, graphic sex and actions that will leave you breathless.
I was fortunate to be in two anthologies with the talented Cherise Sinclair and Belinda McBride, Doms of Dark Haven and Doms of Dark Haven: Western Night. It was a kick to be paired with two talented writers to have a very different approach to BDSM.
To get you started, here’s a few BDSM books I personally recommend…
Orion by Roscoe James: http://www.loose-id.com/Orion.aspx
Dos Lunas by Belinda McBride: http://www.amazon.com/Dos-Lunas-Lucky-Red-ebook/dp/B004C43HKU
Black Wolf (a m/m pairing) by Belinda McBride: http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?upt=book&ubid=1479
Owning Wednesday by Annabel Joseph: http://www.loose-id.com/Owning-Wednesday.aspx
Make Me, Sir by Cherise Sinclair http://www.loose-id.com/Masters-of-the-Shadowlands-5-Make-Me-Sir.aspx
The Diablo Blanco Club titles by Qwillia Rain, including: http://www.loose-id.com/Diablo-Blanco-Club-Rite-of-First-Claim.aspx
Woman in Chains by Bridget Midway: http://www.loose-id.com/Woman-in-Chains.aspx
When you’re ready for more, let me know….

Get In The Zone Today!

Here's a sneak peek at In The Zone, book one of the Zones series from Loose Id!

The lovely Alani Dane, professional submissive has a thing or two to learn, and Master Nathaniel absolutely will be the one to teach her.

When he catches Alani yawning during a scene with one of Zones’ more prestigious members, club owner Master Nathaniel Stratton takes her bad behavior as a personal affront.

Although he’s seldom in the country, the club’s success matters to Nathaniel and his partners.Nathaniel vows to personally deal with Alani, fraternization be damned.

The dangerous enigma that is Master Nathaniel alternately thrills and terrifies Alani. At heart, she’s no man’s submissive, she’s a masochist who craves beatings that will send her into subspace, make her forget.

And she swoons under the bite of this dom’s punishing leather belt. Nathaniel is determined to make her the perfect sub and shatter the emotional barriers she’s erected to keep her safe. But in a battle of wills, dominance, and submission, there can only be one victor, and Nathaniel will win, as soon as he puts Alani in the zone.

After you read this one, let me know whose story I should write next!

Happy reading, and always walk on the wild side....

Tennis, Anyone?

I have a real passion for world-class sports, whether it be the Olympics (and I was fortunate enough to attend the Winter Olympics earlier this year), World Cup soccer (or football, depending where you live!), and, most recently, US Open tennis.

There is something spectacular about watching people, athletes, who are the best in the world at what they do. And it's fascinating to see the different approaches, the different strategies these talented men and women use.

But they all have something in common, something that inspires me…dedication.

An athlete doesn't show up on game day and hope for the best. They train, they practice, they learn, they change their approach. When things are going wrong, they still have to hang in there, even if the world is watching.

It's easy to say that someone has natural talent, as if that explains success. Tennis legend Andre Agassi's father had him hit 2,500 tennis balls per day, equaling nearly one million balls per year. His father believed that if Agassi hit a million balls a year, he'd be unbeatable.

Did Agassi have talent? No doubt. But what lessons did he learn from hitting one million tennis balls a year?

All of us can learn from this.

We, too, have to train, practice, learn, change our approach, hang in there when the going gets tough.

It took me over ten years to sell my first book. There were moments of horrendous disappointment. There were small victories, like awards for contest wins. But the biggest factor in finally publishing was in showing up every day, day in, day out, and doing the work necessary to succeed.

As writers, we can train by reading other great books, by reading how-to books, by doing the exercises recommended by other writers. We can practice and stay sharp by showing up at the computer, even when we don't want to, when we're tired, "don't feel like it," even when it's more enticing to watch television or "chill."

It we want to stay relevant, we have to be responsive to the marketplace and write the kinds of stories that readers want. It may be necessary, published or not, to change our approach, write better, faster, stronger, deeper, with humor, with emotion. What worked in yesterday's competition may not work in today's.

Does raw talent help? You bet it does. I've seen authors with amazing talent sell the first thing they write.

But I also mentioned that part about when the whole world is watching. If you get a bad review as a writer, you can't hide. It's out there on the Internet for the whole world to see, forever.

No matter how much talent we have, no matter how much success we enjoy, we still need strategies to regroup and move forward. Some tennis players will put a towel on their head to block out the crowd and regain focus. For my writing, I use a "whining buddy." When I have bad news, I'm allowed to whine for twenty-four hours, but only to my buddy. I don't put it on Twitter or a blog. I then go back to what works…writing, rewriting, revising, learning from the experience, practicing my craft, changing my approach.

I appreciate watching the best of the best. I admire their dedication to do what it take, living it, breathing it, thinking about it, dreaming about it. And I am inspired.

Time to write…

On Being A Writer

I grew up wanting to be a writer.

I had all these cool ideas of what that meant. Endless pots of coffee, maybe smoking and pacing. It certainly meant living in the Florida Keys. It meant being rich, successful, agonizingly creative. I'd probably be reclusive unless I had to meet my amazing fans at book signings. I'd certainly dress artisticly, maybe even wear tons of jewelry. I considered I might need to also have mood swings in order to be considered "great."

For the record, I don't live anywhere near the ocean, let alone the Keys. I wrote ten books in ten years before finally selling my first one. (Talk about the starving artist cliché. Only it isn't a cliché!) Then, I had this picture that the publisher would want me to open the box under my bed that had all my rejected manuscripts! I'd be an overnight success. Imagine, all those books and my adoring fans! Palm trees and margaritas, look out!

Okay, so all those books were rejected a second time. (It wasn't painful enough the first time!)

The thrill of signing with a New York agent and that first contract was amazing. The pain of subsequent rejection and iffy cover art brought me back down to earth. Factor in an unfavorable review of my debut novel from a national magazine and I was devastated.

In the amount of time I've been a professional writer, I've heard a lot of writers (okay, including myself), wondering why we continue to put in the time and the effort, especially when we get knocked off balance by a story that just won't come together, characters who won't behave, rejections, or an editorial request for more revisions. Even worse, a book we believe in might see mediocre sales or punishingly bad reviews.

I once heard a multi-published, New York Times bestselling author say, if you can quit, do. Another author who is also now a Times extended list bestseller has packed up her office several times over the years, given away her trusted copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, sold her computer equipment, quit, quit, quit the business.

I've had friends walk away for years after painful critiques, after being
unable to deliver manuscripts their editors were satisfied with. Some authors I know refuse to accept multi-book contracts because of fear, of jinxing the next book, of not being able to go to the creativity well and pull out yet one more compelling storyline, for fear that next book might not be good enough.

Some writers wonder why they bother at all.

After all, it's easier to smile through an eight hour shift and say, "Would you like fries with that?" I waited tabled for five years while I was getting my writing legs on solid ground. Waitressing was difficult, with screaming children and masses of crackers smashed into the carpeting beneath a high chair. But at times, it was easier than being a writer. At least, with a day job, I didn't stay up all night tossing and turning as an idea remained elusive. I didn't take a walk on the beach and hear voices in my head. I could turn off a waitressing job. I cannot turn off writing.

So, why do we do it?
Maybe because no one else on planet earth has that story to tell. No one else comes up with those characters, those conflicts, that plot line.

We have almost all experienced someone developing a similar plot line or an identical title. But no one puts together the same characters, same conflict, same plot at the same time in the same way.

We have stories to tell that no one else can.

I remember being in a hospital waiting room with a book. The book took me away from the pain of waiting, of not knowing. It made the hours somewhat more bearable. And more than anything, maybe that's why some of us continue to do it, despite the lack of benefits, uncertain income, long hours, potentially bad reviews.

Our stories can take people away. We can make them laugh, make them cry, make them care, even if only for a little while. Each story will continue to be unique because we are.

We write not only because we can, but because we have to.

I Am Woman…and I Am Grateful

I was having a glass of wine with a girlfriend in Olde Town, Arvada, a quaint historical area near my Denver-area home.

We were talking about how fortunate we are to be Western women. In many parts of the world, we wouldn't be allowed to go out to a café alone, sit back with a cabernet, enjoy the sun, and talk about whatever we wanted to. We had serious discussions, and we laughed, and we counted our blessings.

One of the biggest freedoms we sometimes take for granted is the opportunity to live in a more enlightened age than our ancestors. (And here's to future generations who will live in an even more enlightened age.)

Did you know…?

In 1873 Congress passed a law that banned birth control information as obscene.

That well into the 1960s, most US states had laws against contraception?

Margaret Sanger, after having lost her mother at age 50 (and 18 pregnancies!), decided there had to be a better way. Sanger was arrested for mailing out her magazine, the Woman Rebel. The magazine discussed contraception and there, was illegal. The troublemaker went on to open America's first family planning clinic. It was shut down within ten days.

It wasn't until 1938 that a US judge lifted the obscenity ban on birth control. But contraception remained illegal (even more married couples!). Believe it or not, it wasn't until 1965 that that the Supreme Court of the United States overturned laws that prohibited contraception among married couples.

Are things perfect now…? Definitely not.

Women continue to struggle and fight. Some are still being rebels and writing aobut things that would have formerly been banned.

We are women, we are resourceful. We will continue to talk and educate ourselves and our sister friends. We are part of the leading edge who encourage others to ask for what they want and be bold in it!

That rebel, Margaret Sanger, outlaw writer and pioneer that she was, went on to form the American Birth Control League (which eventually became Planned Parenthood).

I feel fortunate to be a Western woman in 2010. Here's hoping that the continued efforts of brave men and women everywhere will make it better to be a woman worldwide…soon.