Kianna Alexander's Blog, page 12

The Dirty Girl Mud Run- Say What?

So this weekend I’ll be taking part in the Dirty Girl Mud Run. Yes, yes I know I was like “What?!!!” when I heard about it. First the name caught me totally off guard, then it got me curious and then I agreed that the name was quite fitting. Anyway, this Saturday hundreds, maybe thousands of women will converge for a day of running an obstacle course that won’t test the limits of endurance so much as it will courage and determination. Basically the “Run” will actually consist of running, walking, climbing, splashing, bouncing and crawling- yes crawling. Ha! Now, of course, you may be asking what in the world am I thinking. Trust me, I've asked myself; and the girlfriends that talked me into doing this, that very question.
In the end though, the proceeds go towards supporting Breast Cancer Awareness and I am so very thrilled to be taking part in something for such a cause. Checks can always be written and will continue to be. My hope is that by putting myself through this obstacle course, the importance of the cause will be forged by a connection in my mind brought on by the exertion it will take to do more than simply write a check.
While I AM looking forward to a long shower to wash off all the grime; followed by a long soak to soothe the muscles that will soon be screaming my name, I am very much looking forward to stepping outside my comfort zone and doing something I’ve never tried.
To learn more about The Dirty Girl Mud Run and to find out when it may be coming to your area, visit the website: http://godirtygirl.com/about

Wish Me Luck!!!
Al

Life, Love, me and my Muse

Hah! My muse has a great since of humor and at the same time she can be very vindictive, stubborn and mean. On more than one occasion I've been ready to write. Computer on. Note book open on the side. Pens, chocolate, beverage. Writing music playing softly. Everything's a go. But where oh where is my muse. Is she on vacation? Or just hiding in the shadows waiting to see how I was going to respond. Other times I'm in no mood to write. I just want to curl up in the recliner with a good book and She wouldn't let me. She keeps needling me until I wrote sometime. Write! Write! Write! Geez what a nag She can be. And then there are those times when I had made it perfectly clear which direction my WIP was going to go, who was going to do what, when, why and where. However, She had different ideas. Like I said, she can be very mean when She wants to. The funny thing, though, She always gets her way and the book is better for it. So when you wonder who I'm going to kill next the answer is no one. It was my muse. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope you enjoy my muse's latest release. It is the sequel to Sleeping Beauty. And remember, my muse is always awake, alive and plotting Her next... Where Yesterday’s Promises Excerpt Hook glanced at the darkened sky and the trillion stars peppering it like diamonds on a black velvet blanket and then toward the woman standing on the porch, a look of confusion on her face as well. Her body silhouetted against the softness of the light only tightened his resolve more. His body tightened with just the thought of holding her. She was the only one who calmed him… his beast when his skin itched the way it did when he wanted to run, to shift and couldn't. Times like now. He never understood why or how she had such power over him. Tonight he desired… no, wanted to feel her soft skin under his hands, her mouth against his lips. Each time he saw her, was near her, the need became more volatile. He wondered if she ever knew, understood what she did to him. His skin grew taunt just thinking about it, about not having her the way he wanted. He shook his head, turned back forward and started the engine. He pulled his car from the curb in one quick burst of power when his foot pressed the gas pedal. Loose gravel spun from under the wheel. He cursed to himself when the red light caught him. Hook glanced at his wrist watch, pulled his cell phone out and dialed Father Kenny’s home number and hoped he was in. Father Kenny, the keeper of the wolf as they’d grown to call him knew their secrets, their dark places and the light. He was the one person, not Lycan they could go to in time of need. Kenny picked up on the third ring. “Kenny. Hook. Need you over at De’s.” He hung up without further explanation. Hook thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he waited for the light to turn green. He’d thought briefly about running it as an eerie feeling slid across his skin and prickled the hairs on his arms. He tried to shake it off as nervous energy left over from Demetrius’ call. He glanced to his right, then his left. A woman sat in the black SUV in the next lane. She stared at Hook with determination etched across her face. Most people would look away when they are caught. She didn't. She just sat there and stared. Her head slowly nodded, but Hook knew it wasn't to any music. The light turned green and she sped off. He sat there another moment wondering who she was. She looked at him as if she knew him. Did she. If so, from where? Her face was not one you would forget. Rich dark chocolate wrapped in braids with eyes that could melt the paint off of a wall were dark and mysterious. The light changed again and Hook hit the gas and slipped through just as it turned red. The anxious nervousness he’d felt moments before now knotted his gut. Something was wrong. Deathly wrong.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

Ladies, are you looking for a way to get your man’s attention while the game is on? I’m going to suggest you offer another sport that is just as invigorating as football.There are no rules and the score depends on him. Here are the instructions. Make sure your man is nice and comfy, lying in the bed with the remote in one hand and nice cold beer in the other.
Put on his favorite team jersey–nothing underneath (very important). Place a chair next to the bed, the straddle it. Pull out, The Heart. Turn to page 248. Began reading at, “You like hard things between your legs, don’t you”

Continue reading as long as you allow your hands to demonstrate the words. The moment you feel your man’s eyes on you, increase the speed of your reading, for you now has his undivided attention. Be forewarned, at this point, he is about to make a move, so prepare yourself.
When he asks, (and he will ask), “Baby, what are you doing?” Don’t look up! Simply reply, “I’m reading you a bedtime story.” Continue reading as if he never said a word. Now…..wait for it…… When he grabs you and throws you on the bed, drop the book, put your hands up in the air and yell, “TOUCHDOWN!” 

It's football season. There is just something about the contact sports that takes our men minds away. Don't try to fight it. Accept it. Create a contact game that both of you can play. After the Superbowl has been played, prepare yourself for The Heart TV Series. 
Enjoy the night! You’ve just become a part of a Iris Bolling love scene. Just sharing!
Until the next time,Iriswww.irisbolling.net

Writers, Wine and Word Counts!

What to do, what to do, when the three W's pounce upon you...

The three W's...what are they?

Writers, Wine and Word Counts...

As an author, I find that writing comes fairly natural, but a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon is nice to have upon the desk. When the task of a word count dangles over my head like fairy dust, it's good to have motivation (and one heck of an outline) to guide the thoughts.

Even if you're not sure what your topic will be, brainstorm. Let the thoughts flow and allow your mind to do a circuit overload upon things that have been brewing. Then, take a sip of wine. Ahh...how relaxing!

Some people are under the belief that all writers work in "caves" and hide out with nothing but solitude. Not this writer. I work around televisions, conversations, activity and the like. When I need to draw out something sensual, music is my assistant. I've come to find that the busier I am, the more productive I become.

It's okay to take a night off! Sometimes, you're just not feeling it and why fake the funk? That's when you make no progress in the task. This is the perfect time to read something outside of your arena. Let your mind go and you'll find that the effort was not in vain.

 Always remember, write what you feel and abandon the numbers. The more authentic you are to your story, the happier your readers will be. Don't worry, the numbers will take care of themselves.

Until we meet again...it's back to writing "Connections" for me!


Loretta R. Walls aka Embue
www.nucherte.net

The end of a real romance

Usually, I wake up Sunday mornings ready to watch the talking heads get me ready for some football. With a super sized cup of coffee, my bluetooth keyboard, I'm writing and watching. But I over slept on Sunday, September 15. I'd stayed up writing the night before and I said I'm sleeping in. Then I noticed a missed call from my sister at 9:45 a.m. 
That was odd. 
I called her back and got a heartbreaking jolt. My cousin had been murdered. He was 42. In the prime of his life. And as quiet as it's kept, he and his wife were going to be the basis for a romance I'd been thinking about writing. My plan had been to take them to dinner -- I was even going to let my cuz eat pork! If you know me, you know that's big. I wanted to know all about the beginning of this love story. I wanted to know what made their eyes sparkle when the look at each other. This was going to be the one time when I wasn't going to have to turn a real person into a villian in my book.  
Last month, I attended their vow renewal ceremony. This month, I'm going to his funeral. It does not compute. You know how you read a romance novel and the hero is always kissing the heroine's hand or holding her hand while they walk? Or have you ever read a dinner scene where he feeds her from his plate or wipes a smudge from her cheek? Yeah, that was my cousin and his wife. Not only was he a great husband, but he was a phenomenal father. My heart aches for my little cousin. I'm 36 and I don't understand this senseless act. How in the hell do you explain to a nine year old that some coward used a gun to take her daddy away? 
It's hard for me to sit still and not think about him. It's hard to believe that a man who was so loved and loved so much is gone. I might play a tough girl on the Internet, but this right here has me ripped up. Not just for me, but my cousin's wife and kids. I'm praying for their strength and peace in this horrible time. 

Guilty or Not Guilty

As most of you know, I write interracial BDSM erotic romance. When some people see that, it gives them the squick factor, the hmm-not-for-me thing. My very first full-on interracial BDSM romance novels, not just secondary characters, was Corporate Seduction. That one I wrote without thinking of any consequences or that readers would be turned off by the story. Overall the story was a romance. Why should I worry?

The next story I published was the one that made me nervous: Love My Way. That one. This was the first story that when I wrote the words "The End" I was a little nervous. The premise was that a white Dominant searched for his next submissive through a reality TV show. The 14 contestants were of different ages and races. Some African American, Asian, Latina and white. Since this was a TV show, and I had it set in a contemporary time setting, I had to make it real, which meant that people would comment on the fact that a white Dom looked for a submissive who may end up being African American. Once the book was released, I was relieved when the feedback I got from readers were positive. They understood that, just like with Corporate Seduction, this story was a romance. So why do I worry?

So what story made me feel guilty? Woman In Chains. This was a contemporary interracial BDSM erotic romance about a former Navy SEAL Dom who saves abused submissives and slaves. He saves one slave and when he can't turn her over to a new trainer, he has to keep her in his house. When she fights the saving process, the only way he can keep her is in a makeshift jail cell in his house. The story was originally published three years ago through Loose Id. I asked for my rights back last year to tweak it and re-release it on my own. Then Ariel Castro situation happened.

As soon as I heard the story when it broke that this sick, twisted man kidnapped three women, kept them chained and locked up in his home for more than ten years, I immediately thought of the plot of my story. How could I release a romance that seemed ripped from the headlines despite the fact that I had written it three years before this story broke? Just like with my other stories, I had to remember one thing: it's a romance. As far as my story, there's a huge difference between Ariel Castro, may he suffer in Hell, and Dak Ricci, the hero from my novel. Dak actually likes women. It's the reason he saves them from bad relationships.

Strangely enough, the whole reason I wrote this story had to do with the movie "Black Snake Moan" with Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci (probably why my hero's last name is Ricci also). I liked the idea of a man who tries saving a woman who does not want to be saved, but you, as the audience member or reader knows that she needs him and he needs her. As I was writing the story, there seemed to be a lot of kidnapping cases going on. First was the African-American woman who was kidnapped and tortured by a white family and their friends in West Virginia. In my novel, I referenced that incident. Then within a few weeks of that story coming out, another story in Belgium (I believe) broke about a man the media dubbed as Horror Dad. This sicko kept one of his daughters in the basement of his house and created a whole separate family with her. I believe he fathered at least four children with his daughter while his wife (yes, the mother of this girl) lived upstairs in the main house. Still wasn't sure if she was aware of what was going on. Please Google if you hadn't heard that story. So at the time I wrote the story, I had a lot of things to reference, which is creepy and sad. But what I write, what I love, is romance. I may shock, but I will always bring you back around to something normal.

My guilty feeling quickly turned into a not guilty resolution. I have a good story. When I have it properly tweaked, it will be re-released again. Hopefully without the stigma of that case.

Now I need to get back to work on some more BDSM stories. No stigma. All love.

Stay sexy,

BridgeT
www.BridgetMidway.com

Sunday Bonus Post: Celebrate Your Awesome

Hey, y'all,
Now, normally, we don't do this...
LOL. Every now and then we shake things up and deviate from the regular schedule. Just keepin' it fresh, folks.
Today, I want to talk about all the things we do as women. A lot of you know exactly what I'm talking about. We hold down our careers, keep our households running, raise children, and love and care for a mate. If that wasn't enough, we are then awesome sisters, friends, and confidantes to the people around us- always providing a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to cry on.
It really is amazing when you stop and think of all the things we do. How can we forget this iconic magazine cover, or dispute the truth of it?
Bottom Line: We do a LOT!
But what amazes me even more than how MUCH we do, is how little credit we tend to give ourselves. I know this is very true for me. Confessional Moment here: I am a perfectionist. There are times when I'm just not satisfied with what I've achieved in a day, or in general. In these moments I feel inadequate, anxious. I compare my home's level of cleanliness to what I see in a magazine, or my wild and impetuous kids to someone else's docile and obedient ones. I shake my head that my writing career isn't as far along as I want it to be.

You know what they say. The first step to solving a problem, is realizing there is one. So, I'm taking a pledge for myself, and if you struggle with perfectionism, maybe you'll join me. I'm going to step back, stop counting the things I didn't do, and look at those I did. My children are beautiful, inquisitive, and well cared for. My house reflects the love and fun that occurs inside it everyday. And my writing career is going where it's meant to go- I can see the shift happening all around me. Things are lining up just fine.

So celebrate your awesome. When you have done your best, leave things alone and treat yourself. Get a massage. Grab a giant chocolate bar and bottle of your favorite wine. Veg out on the couch with an awesome book. However you do it, celebrate the beauty of who you are, and everything you are to the people in your life.


Until Next Time,
Kianna

PARENTS WITH PASSIONS...

PARENTS WITH PASSIONS...




So everyone knows I LOVE to write. The awesome ladies that you see contributing to this blog LOVE to write. We almost live, eat and breathe it daily, nightly… What you may not know is that many of us are moms. Some of us have kids that are still in the home which means they still need us very much- our time pretty much belongs to them. The rest…or a great deal of the rest belongs to our passions.While making dinner one afternoon, I thought of devoting my blog entry this time around to discussing those passions. I was rushing around the kitchen putting everything together and it dawned on me just how much of my world centers on my writing. Moreover it dawned on me how much of my world centers on my being a mom. When I compared the two, I was very delighted to discover that the greater portion revolved around AlTonya Washington- the mom.
I think that managing that time between work and family can be a challenge for anyone. For parents with passions that extend beyond the daily grind of a 9-5 job that management skill takes on a whole other meaning. Speaking for myself, I know that I could never ‘manage’ that balance were it not for certain expectations I set in place for me and my child back when he was just starting elementary school. He walked into the room one day obviously needing to discuss something very important: His LEGO collection. Anyway, he saw me writing and for a few moments I was so involved in whatever scene I was trying to put down that I didn’t notice him there in the doorway. I caught sight of him as he was leaving and called him over. It almost broke my heart when he stood there and apologized for bothering me. BOTHERING ME?
I knew right then that it was time to put those expectations into place. I told him that ANYTIME he needed to talk or just wanted to sit with me or a hug (I put that one in place for meJ) that he was to come on in. I needed him to understand that when we’re home together nothing is more important than the time we spend together.  As parents, our responsibility is to support our children: emotionally, spiritually, and financially. Unfortunately, kids many times resent that responsibility especially when it means Mom or Dad might miss their game or time answering a homework question or just being there for those hugs. Since I also work outside of the home, I never wanted my child to resent my extra responsibilities that draw on my time inside the home.
Truth be told, I enjoy those little interruptions which provide the much needed mini-breaks (and comic relief) that all writers can benefit from every now and again. The interruptions are starting to wane as my son gets older but he does drop in every now and again to check on me, play around or discuss something important: The latest video game he downloaded. LOL!

After All This Time

About a year ago I wrote this message and today it's still true. After All This Time After all this time, 23 years to be exact, my sweetie, we’ll refer to him as Mr. R., still knows how to make me scream. See, you need to clean up your mind that is not what I’m referring too. I’m a moaner, not a screamer. LOL! On to what I want to share with you. After all this time, I’m still amazed that Mr. R can still surprise me with his compassion, sense of family and understanding of how to love.  From the moment I met him, it was clear that the man had the ability to make me laugh when all I want to do is cry. After all this time, Mr. R and I still wonder at how our family has grown. He has two sons, I have one. A few years after we became a couple, we inherited four other children. We did everything as a family. Vacations, baseball games, holiday dinners, you name it we did it. Never once did he say, I’m taking my boys. He would say, “Load the kids up in the car. We’re hitting the road.”  When it was time for college, anyone that wanted to go went. Never once did he ask how we are going to pay for. He simply did what was needed to get tuition paid. The man was and is about family.    After all this time, it still amaze me how Mr. R is still teaching me how to be compassionate toward others. Any of my friends will tell you, if you say you need something done in Mr. R’s presence, he is going to get it done himself, or he will connect you with someone to get the job taken care of. My girlfriend went into the hospital to have surgery. He knew I couldn’t get away during the day to visit with her and I did not want her to feel like she was alone. Mr. R went to the hospital; made sure she had decent food for lunch and kept her company until I arrived. She appreciated the company and I appreciated Mr. R for being compassionate to her needs and mine.After all this time, it still amaze me how Mr. R’s eyes still have the same affect on me as they did the day we met. That his smile still sends a punch to my gut, that his thighs still make me shake my head and say, ‘Thank God for men’.  His hands are still warm and soothing when he rubs my body down with oil. That his kisses still stir the juices and his body still satisfies the urges.     After all this time, it still amazes me how Mr. R understands that making love begins with all the things he does in and out of the bedroom. The love he shows day in and day out with the touches, the looks and the smiles gives me the warm and fuzzy that leads to hot and heavy later.  After all this time, it still amazes me how much love Mr. R has to give.  
Sharing a little part of me.  Until the next time, Iris www.irisbolling.net   

Daring To Dream...

In this crazy world we live in, many things can distract us from pursuing our dreams. It all starts with an idea, a thought, some random thing that is said in a conversation to spark such audacity.

Once that envelope in the brain has been opened, what will you choose to do?

The option of being rejected and hearing the word "No" is more likely than being encouraged to dare yourself beyond the usual.

After all, it is a mindset--your mindset.

I want to encourage you today. Carry a notebook with you and write out your dreams. Rely on your smartphone, tablet or other electronic device to keep up with your comings and goings? Take advantage of them and make notes, too.

Having the will to dream, to accomplish something, anything is passion within itself to fuel the energy to execute.

Keep your circle small, everyone is not meant to know your dreams. Be exclusive and remain focused.

Plan, pray and execute, by all rightful means!

Here's a line from one of my favorite songs by the Sounds of Blackness that always keeps things in perspective: "As long as you keep your head to the sky, you can win! Be optimistic!"

In closing, I wish you well in the dare to dream and forthcoming fruition.

Rule your dreams!

--Loretta R. Walls
Author of "The Majestic Dynasty" #nucherte