C. Margery Kempe's Blog: Lady Smut, page 180

Yo Peeps by Gerri Brousseau

It's that time of year again, a time of new beginning, new life, new growth … Easter.  Christians celebrate this holiday honoring the resurrection of Jesus and those of the Jewish faith celebrate Passover.  No matter your faith, it is this time of year when we look forward to getting that which we long for, that one item that in and of itself is the epitome of Easter … what am I talking about?  Why, Peeps, of course.

Whether you love them or hate them, everyone in the US knows what a Peep is.  I went to our beloved Wikipedia to find out more about the history of those little sugar chicks.  What I found was that Peeps are only sold in the US and Canada … hmmm … those in other countries don't know what they are missing (or how safe their stomachs are).  These sweet little chicks are made of marshmallow, sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and carnauba wax … ewww gross.

These concoctions were made by Just Born candy manufacture founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by a Russian immigrant named Sam Born.  Way back in 1953 … ahem … that's a long time ago … Mr. Born brought peeps to automation.  Prior to that they were all hand made … can you imagine having a job hand making Peeps?  And in 2009 the first Peeps & Co. store was opened.  Those sweet little chicks did make someone a lot of money.  The sale of Peeps is a $28 Billion (yes Billion) Dollar business.

There is actually an annual "Peep off" competition held the Saturday after Easter when the contestants vie for the prize by eating the most Peeps in 30-minutes.  My stomach aches just thinking of that.  Some newspapers even have Peep photo contests!  Those little Peeps sure are quite the celebrities. But one of the things I think they are most noted for is that they explode in the microwave.  It is said these little darlings are indestructible.  It is claimed the eyes of these little creatures will not dissolve in anything, and the Peep itself proved to be insoluble in acetone, water, diluted sulfuric acid, or (hold on to your stomach) sodium hydroxide.

Knowing all this, I have to wonder what America's fascination and/or love affair is with Peeps?  Knowing many of you will be opening or giving Easter baskets tomorrow, my question is will there be Peeps in those baskets?  Have you ever eaten a Peep?  And lastly, have you ever micro-waved one?

Filed under: romance

What A Writer Needs, Part 9 – Encouragement

Writers needs encouragement.  They need to go to workshops that make them feel all fired up and inspired to write  (CTRWA Fiction Fest).  They need successes along the way, and they need to celebrate those successes.  What constitutes a success?

__You wrote today!  YAY!

__You wrote a couple of times this week!  YAY! YAY!

__You wrote several times this week!  YAY! YAY!  YAY!

__You wrote almost every day this month!  (Go out and buy something small.)

__You wrote for several months! YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  YAY!

__You have finished a manuscript!  (Go out to dinner)

__You have edited and proofed the manuscript until it shines.  (Go to a movie.)

__You have sent the manuscript to publishers or agents.  (Buy a new outfit.)

__You get rejected. (Go out with some friends that inspire you and have a great time.)

__You keep sending out that manuscript and have started another.  YAY!  YAY!  YAY!  YAY! (Susan gives you a cyber chocolate bar!)

__You get published!  (Take a weekend and only do fun things.)

I could go on and on, but I think you have the idea.  Please, comment and tell me how you celebrate to encourage yourself on to success.

–Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: Helping Other Writers, romance, Susan Hanniford Crowley, What A Writer Needs, What inspires you?, Writer's Life, Writers Conferences, Writing Topics, writing workshop

Writing the Heat by Gerri Brousseau

Does writing a love scene make you giggle?  Make you blush?  Or are you really into it?  When I wrote my first novel, there came a point when the love scene needed to be written.  I had heard other authors talk about how when they wrote a descriptive love scene, they just laughed and thus, all the "heat" in their books occurs behind closed doors.  When I got to that point in my story, I started to get nervous wondering if I would falter, laugh, blush, or simply write a steamy scene.  Days passed as I mulled the scene over in my mind.  As it has been said, writers are a lone breed who spend a lot of time within the worlds they create.  This is no different for me.  I spent days thinking about the scene.  Would it be too much heat?  Not enough heat?  And the most nagging thought, will I feel ashamed knowing one day my friends and family might read it?

When I could put it off no longer, I sat at the laptop, placed my fingers on the keyboard, closed my eyes and started to type.  For me, an intimate act between two lovers is just that … intimate and only between them.  In other words, for me, sex is not a spectator sport.  Could I bear having the world look into my most intimate thoughts?  Well … I typed it.  No blushing, no giggling, just the words describing sensual love making appeared on the page.  To my amazement, the words flowed out of me without hesitation.  Was it personal?  Yes and no.  The characters are my creation, and so what happens to them it is personal.  Yet, it was not me in the intimate act, it was them.  Am I going to be embarrassed when my family and friends read it?  I don't know.  Probably not because I would hope my readers, no matter who they are, would be caught up in the story and not thinking about me and my personal life, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  But, in the meantime, I write the steamy scenes when they are called for in the book.

As a writer, how do you feel about writing the heat?  As a reader, do you think about the writer's personal experience when you read the steamy scenes?

Filed under: romance

The Writer Inside of Us

How do you know you can write? What a question! Still, it is something I believe we writers come to ask ourselves time and time again. For many of us, those first attempts at writing are baby steps. A bit of dabbling here or there but we aren't truly sure we have it in us to write a full-length novel. And then we do it. And it's the most amazing feeling of accomplishment, but what now?

For many (myself included), we continue to learn more about the craft of writing. So much that we realize our first novel is not the kind of quality work we are ready to unveil to the world. But it gets better as most everything does with practice. And before you know it, you are craving time to write. Yet despite all of this, the day will come when you question whether you are meant to write or whether you have got it in you to keep writing.

A writer by nature is a lone profession, which is why it is so important to build a network of authors and critique partners. Without them, doubt creeps in, shaking your belief in yourself that you can actually write.

So that brings me back to my main question. How do we know we are meant to write? Maybe you find yourself daydreaming scenes and storylines all the time. Or you have characters acting out lines in your head. Or you can't wait to sit down and write. Or maybe you just like to tell stories. Whatever your impetus, be open to it. Release the writer inside of you.

Happy Writing this week!

 

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life, Writing Topics

Guest Post – Like Zombies with Your Romance?

by Cari Silverwood

I have zombies in my latest release, steampunk erotic, Lust Plague. Why write zombies into a romance?

Is it so I can have them do kissy kissy and similar naughty things? Eww. No! It has been pointed out to me – and quite sensible this objection is – that zombies have rotten bits and pieces, and the odds of something falling off during coitus or whatever is gi-freaking-normous.

Is it because they add a certain 'je ne sais quoi?' As in an, 'I don't know?' For sure, just as sure as I'm going to google that French saying back there for the right spelling before I post this. Zombies aren't what most would call pretty, but being able to write in the scary details of a zombie who's chewed off his own lips gives me a writerly conniption that borders on being an orgasm. I love me some gory descriptions.

What else? Why zombies? Umm, I think because I liked letting Sten and Kaysana pop some of them clean in the center of the forehead in a great action movie way, without having to worry too much about angst-ridden sadness going round and round in my people's heads afterwards. How often do you need an 'OMG I just killed a poor zombie' before it gets old.

Gun barrel pointing the way, she turned, scanning the flat roof. Four dead male zombies sprawled near the wrecked gyrocopter. At one corner, a five-yard-high metal-braced tower had a weather cock spinning atop. Storage bins, not much else. Where was Emily?

"Go slow, Sten. Some might be only half-downed." She hefted the revolver, ready to pop one into anything that moved, that shouldn't.

"Sure." Heel, toe, heel, toe, he worked his way past the four zombie corpses. None stirred. "Brains are gone. They're good and expired."

 

I mean, get over it already. It was dead anyway. You just made it deader, or something. Sure I had them be a teensy bit sad at the former human in the zombie, then I let them both kill some more. Seriously though, if you put death in a romance it is difficult to get the two lead characters thinking about hanky panky. I hedged my bets even more with the lust plague of course.

A few hundred yards of walking and they emerged from under the tree line into the night sky. Only stars above. No burning airships despite the faint smell of smoke. He felt relief. So many odd things had happened.

"Don't suppose you want to give me a weapon, Sten?"

"Nope."

"We'll be meeting zombies. I promise not to shoot you."

"I'll consider it." She expected a weapon? Heaven and hell. He wasn't that nuts. Maybe when indignation wasn't coming off her in waves every time she looked at him.

She snorted, turned away. "Fool. Come on. Looks like a farmhouse up there." She pointed. Up a slope, through a field of some tall crop, the silhouette of a building showed at the peak. Light flickered across the crop, washing the field in yellow and orange as if it were some strange golden sea.

"I'll watch your tail. Just keep wriggling it like that."

"I've been known to gouge out the eyes of men who ogle."

He grinned, then followed her into the crop. The stalks rustled and scraped against them as they pushed through. Squeaks and chitters from foot level told of some small nocturnal critters. Kaysana didn't balk. Tough woman. After all that had happened, here she was taking point, armed only with her gorgeous body.

He sighed. So many curves, so many angry words. He'd fix that somehow. Once he decided on something, it happened.

Yes, they did get naughty despite the world going down the drain, but I made sure it was fun!

My light-hearted take on this may make you think Lust Plague is a comedy. It's not, it's very erotic in a BDSM-ish way, as well as romantic, angsty, and stomp-alicious in action, though Sten does have his moments with his dry humor. I loved my Sten. His laidback way of looking at life kicked things up a notch here and there as well as annoying the hell out of Kaysana.

If you get around to reading Lust Plague I hope you find as much joy in watching the two of them save the world while falling in love as I did in writing them do it. Happy reading!

 

So, zombies and romance? Horror and romance? What do you think? Can it work?

Filed under: romance

Weekly Paranormal-Scope

There's confusion in the universe.  One moment it's hot and the next cold and raining.  Nature reflect the confusion of so many, and change is around the corner.

While I'm not qualified in any way to read neither stars nor planets, I am intimately linked with the paranormal in the world.   In many ways, so are you.

The week ahead for:

Aries

A wolf howls a warning.  Be cautious this week.

Taurus

Gnomes love bathtubs.  Don't ask me why.  Bubbles can be very relaxing.

Gemini

Unicorns are very pretty but can be deceiving.   Learn from this.

Cancer

Werewolves love to surf.  It's in their blood.  You too quest for fun.

Leo

Elves love s'mores.  I think it's because they love licking fingers.  Watch out for new fun.

Virgo

Mermaids so more than sunbathe.  They're into buying shoes.

Libra

A festival calls your name.  Pixies party hard and enjoy good food.  So should you.

Scorpio

Take it easy.  You deserve it.  A nap every day for a week will invigorate your energy again.  Orcs do it.

Sagittarius

Where there's one vampire, there's usually two.  They've started barbecuing.  You don't want to miss this party.

Capricorn

Dragons are big, powerful, and loud.  Cherish this new friend.  You'll go far together.

Aquarius

Shapeshifters are all about museums.  Broaden your mind with a day trip.

Pieces

Dragons are partial to cake.  You'll learn how to soothe that savage beast.

–Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: Susan Hanniford Crowley, Weekly Paranormal-Scope

Fools for Love

 by C. Margery Kempe

Happy April Fools Day: the traditional time of jokes and spoofs to amuse or annoy everyone around you. People who never indulge in practical jokes the rest of the year often find themselves thinking about ways to fool one another. Legs will be pulled, yarns will be spun.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

William Shakespeare

Many consider those in love to be fools. That's what keeps them from the fray. I know many folks who despair at ever finding love, or at finding again once they've lost it. There's no real secret to it, though many have made themselves rich writing self-help books suggesting men and women are from different planets or that there are a lot of rules that need to be maintained in order to find romantic success. One writer even suggests that you can learn it all from romance novels!

The truth is you just need to be willing to risk it: to be willing to look a fool. So many people are afraid to try, especially if they have lost at love. A heart with scars is more healthy than one that has never felt the cut of disappointment: hardier and more flexible. The fairy tales we are told of love have to give way to the messy reality of it, but it doesn't usually happen without some pain and error. Anything worth doing well takes practice (like sex, a related topic). We cannot love well without learning how it is done. Some people are lucky enough to grow up with good role models — parents who love one another and show it, families that are happy — but a lot of the world learns from bad examples.

Even with the best intentions we make mistakes. Not everyone has good intentions: some see love as a game or a competition. They fear falling themselves, so they try to push others instead. It can all go wrong, but that's the price we pay. You can only learn by doing; you cannot have the joys of love if you do not risk your heart. As frightening has heartbreak can be, it is not as bad as living without love or the possibility of love.

Be a fool: risk it.

I'm thinking about this because I'm in the middle of writing the sequel to Chastity Flame. After finding love in the first book, Chastity has tried to convince herself that she can do without love. Given the choice to give up her life as a secret agent — the only life she's known — or else give up love, she's decided it has to be love that she relinquishes. But can she stick with that decision? She's finding it more and more difficult every day.

At the swanky Hotel G in Galway

Filed under: C. Margery Kempe, Characters, contemporary romance, Emotions, erotic romance, inspiration, Kit Marlowe, Romance suspense, What Are You Reading?, What inspires you?, Writer's Life, Writing Topics

What A Writer Needs, Part 8 – When The Family Helps with Research

Now available in Kindle.

Somewhere along the way in writing my vampire series, my family, and in particular, my husband decided to help me with my quest to know all things vampire.One of my daughters focused on books and that why I have THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VAMPIRES, in addition to several bookshelves with everything from reference case studies and histories to series that other authors have written.My husband felt it was his personal mission to find every vampire movie under the sun—um, under the moon.   One particularly bad movie called "The Holiday Express," and featured Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Salvalas. There's nothing like crating up a vampire and putting him on a trans-Siberian train to create mayhem.  It had all the ingredients of a fascinating tale, but it came off campy.  I don't think they meant it that way.

Actually I learned a lot on how not to tell a story this way.  So the family was very helpful with this aspect of my research.  How have those close to you helped you with your research?  Please, share with us.

Oh, one more thing:  Today is World Backup Your Computer Day.  Remember whether you use online storage like Dropbox or flash drives or a portable hard drive or sent to a trusted friend, backup your computer.  Have your information in another location.  Writers often have backups in several locations.  Don't forget!  It would be terrible to lose the great research and your book too.

–Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: Helping Other Writers, romance, romance novels, Susan Hanniford Crowley, vampire books, vampire movies, vampires, What A Writer Needs

Background Music by Gerri Brousseau

Can you imagine going to see a movie that has no music in it?  I'm not talking about a musical, like The Sound of Music, I'm talking about music in the background.  You know how they always play suspenseful music when the woman is creeping through the dark and creepy house and is about to open the door the killer is hiding behind … yeah, that kind of music … the soundtrack.

When I'm writing, I always have something on in the background … like the radio, my I-pod, or even the TV.  The other night while I was sitting with my lap top, happily typing away, the TV happened to be on.  The movie Twilight was on.  Now, I've seen it so there was no chance of it getting me so distracted that I couldn't keep my mind on my work, so I left it on.  It was then that a very funny thing happened.  My mind began to focus, not on what the characters were saying, but rather on the background music in the movie.  (As an aside, this movie has some pretty good music in it)  It got me thinking about music used in movies, and even more than that, about how I think of scenes I'm writing as I'm writing them.  How differently would I write them if I could imagine background music?  And if I could select the music for certain scenes, what would I pick?

When I write, I see the scene in my mind as if a camera were panning in.  I SEE the story unfold in my mind as if it were a movie being shown upon the big screen and hopefully make my readers see what I see.  But could I take my writing a step further by imagining the background music that would be in the film?

So now I ask my fellow writers, when you write do you see your story playing out in your mind as if you are watching a film?  Can you imagine the background music?  To readers, when you are reading a novel, do you imagine it being played out in your mind as if you are watching a film and do you imagine background music?  Do you ever say (or think) "Do Not Open That Door!" as the unsuspecting victim reaches out and places her hand upon the door knob and only you, the reader, knows the killer is in that closet?

Filed under: romance

Workshops for Writers by Gerri Brousseau

This past weekend (3/25) I went to The Conversant Writer Workshop.  It was held at a lovely B&B in Mystic, Connecticut.  The weather had turned cooler again and it was raining, but the old inn had logs crackling in the fireplaces and the setting was cozy.  The group attending was small, but it was always intended to be that way.  This was great in that it offered a more intimate setting giving the presenters the opportunity to engage more with the group.

The workshop offered three presenters, all of whom had much to offer.  Each presentation offered something for every participant no matter their genre or their stage in their writing career.  The intimate size of the group gave rise to discussions on topics and some brain storming on others.

This was a wonderful day spent honing my craft.  I encourage my fellow authors to jump at the opportunities of taking a workshop.  Don't be leery of taking a workshop in a small group setting.  This small group seemed to have an almost magical quality as if being held together in the palm of someone's hand.  Perhaps it was the cozy inn, perhaps it was the fireplace burning, or perhaps it was just that … the magical quality that seems to exist when writers get together and help other writers.

There are many opportunities to attend workshops, and I encourage you to do so … even if it is on-line.  Hone your craft, sharpen your writing tools, and create your masterpiece.

Have any of you taken a workshop recently that has made a difference in your writing?  Have any of you presented a workshop recently?  Please share your positive experiences with us.

Filed under: Writer Workshops