Asrai Devin's Blog, page 6
September 6, 2012
Shades of Enjoyment
So I’m nearly done the first book of the Fifty Shades Trilogy.
I like the story. The base story, is good. Boy meets girl, boy likes to tie girl up, girl resists her own sexuality and enjoyment. Some of the discussions after a “scene” are great. Ana’s confusion over her feelings regarding being spanked for the first time. She enjoyed it, but that confuses her. Christian encourages her to enjoy it and just try to sit with her feelings. All good stuff.
Ana annoys the living shit out of me. Her inner goddess and subconscious talk to her so much, I’d swear she has multiple personalities. Her inner goddess is a crazy bitch, by the way, doing the meringue with salsa steps and then a cheer leading outfit with pom poms. And her subconscious is a judgemental bitch. Calling her a ho and a hooker for accepting a car, a computer and clothing. It’s distracting me.
If Christian talks one more time about her biting her lip, I might delete the book. WTF? I know he’s some kink master of the business world, but seriously, how hot can it be? Why does it have to come up every five pages? The book is very repetitive. The lips, his mercurial moods, her worrying about how Christian might react to her speaking with a male. I know it’s supposed to make him look extremely possessive, but he just looks like an ass. No one wants to be with an insecure partner like that. I know, I’ve been that insecure. You just wind up making your partner really unhappy and ultimatly yourself. Maybe this is why none of the fifteen have stuck around?
And I dunno, how does he have this much free time on his hands if he has that much money? Doesn’t he have like a hundred companies to oversee? Shouldn’t he spend a little more time at that? I know CEOs make an obsecne amount of money, but I think they also read an obscene amount of reports and tell lots of people what to do. Instead he flies on a whim to see Ana while she is visiting her mother (which she asked him not to do, ass) and then buys the company she works for.
The sex is so-so. The build up is sad. Heat and/or dampness grows in her belly or down there, which I take to mean her knees.
The other thing I don’t get is why Christian doesn’t warm her up to S&M. She’s a virgin, never dated anyone and certainly never been tied up and spanked. He’s a really crappy Dom if he thinks the best way to secure her is to go full out crazy S&M on her ass (literally). Introduce her slowly to the ideas and the rules, and then once she knows what is going on THEN give her the contract. Not hand her the contract, a laptop and say “research this online”. The Internet is full of crappy advice and half-truth and a lot of opinion.
Story good. BDSM has it’s moments and I like the idea. Characters; annoying as hell. Which stands to reason, they were based on Bella and Edward, who annoyed me as well. For the most part, it does not live up to the hype.
Are you or have you read 50 Shades of Grey? What did you like? What did you dislike? What did you love? Did it turn you into a blushing, damp eighteen year old?
Tagged: 50 Shades of Grey, Ana, BDSM, Cheerleading, Chief executive officer, Christian, Grey, Pom-pon
September 4, 2012
S-E-X
On a list of things we aren’t supposed to discuss, sex is pretty high up there.
Usually we have the idea that the Puritans were against sex, as were they against sex in the Victorian Ages.
Turns out both cultures were into sex. I’ll link to the cracked.com article about it, but I found other evidence if you google “Puritans and sex” you can find out yourself. Basically, Victorians liked their porn and Puritans were all for sex between married couples and Jesus. And even then they didn’t stick to the rules. There was a lot of impromptu weddings because someone got knocked up.
A lot of people do have a lot of issues surrounding sex.
For a lot of people, sex is related to power.
Long standing is the “joke” of women withholding sex to get what they want from a man. Men are supposed to want sex all the time and always be thinking about it. Women aren’t supposed to want sex, sometimes even enjoy it.
Abuse and rape is all about power. The abuser has power over the victim. Part of becoming a survivor is reclaiming that stolen power.
I digress.
Sex is also a tender subject between partners. What if your partner thinks you are weird? What if they laugh? What if they reject you? What if your partner wants to fulfill your every fantasy?
Do you have hang-ups around talking about sex? Any reasons why you’d like to disclose?
Tagged: Asrai Devin, discuss sex, Jesus, Puritan, sex, Sexuality, talking about sex, Victorian era, Victorians
September 3, 2012
Interviews!!
So, I have the best fans in the world. I know everyone says that but I’m serious.
A reader, who had thought about starting a review blog, responded to my request for reviews in exchange for free books, started a review blog.
And then she read all three of my books and reviewed them.
Summer Fling (gosh this has a new cover I commissioned but have not put up yet!! How embarrassing, it’s gorgeous!! And since i’m on my laptop I can’t even fix it, the file is on the desktop).
And then she didn’t stop there. She also interviewed me. Little ol me. http://everyturnofthepagereviews.blogspot.ca/2012/09/my-interview-with-asrai-devin.html
I forgot things. Like indie authors and saying thank you. No wait I think I covered that. i am so grateful and I want the reviewer to review tons of more books, especially indies, so I want to promote the heck out of her.
August 30, 2012
Social media is not for marketing
We see this all over the media and on blogs.
Social Media does not help you sell things.
And I’m kinda like DUH!
Social media is for interacting. For making friends, having conversations, getting feedback, responding to feedback, CONNECTING.
It is not passive. People are not sitting around waiting to be told what they want on social media. They are engaged.
It is not for marketing. Not for small marketing. People who have an established brand like Kim Kardashian or whatever, they can use twitter to sell. For the small and medium sized peeps: very little chance.
You are not going to sell to thousands. Social media moves too fast for that. It’s like a bunch of ADHD people on speed.
If I don’t know you, I really don’t care what you have to say. That’s why spammers don’t get anywhere. I don’t want to read your blog, I don’t want to read your novel, I don’t want to have anything to do with you.
I have a core group of friends on twitter and around the blogs I connect with on a regular basis. I talk to people about Dragon Age and other video games. I have a group of writers. I have my editor on there and I tweet how happy I am with her edits. I realized a few weeks ago a good friend went MIA and I am sad and a bit worried as he had a bit of depression (going to send him off an email). I have far too many hashtag searches.
And I do get tweets from fans. (Okay the best thing about this whole writing gig is I get to say I have fans. Me. Who woulda thunk it?) I get to thank them for reading, talk about characters, and let them know when a new book should be heading their way.
If I wanted a quick way to market, I’d buy an advertisement on Facebook. But I’m not in a hurry. I am sticking around and writing more words everyday. And as I sit at home writing in my room late at night while my family sleeps I realize it’s a lonely business and meeting with people on twitter and Facebook fills the social gap.
Tagged: Asrai Devin, Business, Dragon Age, Facebook, Kim Kardashian, Online Communities, people are silly, Social media, Social Networking, Twitter
grr argh
I am finally through the backlog of 1000+ blog posts in my RSS feed, everything I missed while I was away. Which admittedly wasn’t a lot, I could have skipped 90% of it, I commented on several and I have about 10 that I need to look at in detail and a half dozen or so of funny or charming videos I want to share with people eventually.
Anyway, I am subscribed to my own blog, yeah it’s like that!, and I came across Monday’s post.
Half the post disappeared.
I found the semi-focus of my life. SEX!! And relationships. Look, I love sex. I have struggled with sex. I still struggle at times. But it’s the recurring theme, the thing that draws my interests together. Romance, spirituality (yes sex can be spiritual), writing, video games, reading, marketing, life. It is what I intend to shift the focus to on this blog. I think I need a new log line which makes me sad. I love being the Maven of Mischief, but it’s not really who I am here, not what I’m writing about.
I also mentioned my erotica “smut” blog, and the BDSM stories I used to write and how I planned to resurrect Slave. Not to be confused with Chantal, because I confused them. (Links are NSFW, text based sexual shorts or flash fiction). And maybe some other erotic romance themed shorts. After I finish writing out an idea I’ve had for years.
So anyway, there it is.
How are you? Are you ready for the end of summer?
August 27, 2012
The state of the world
Well, I am still busy catching up on my RSS reader backlog. Under 400 now. Not a lot to report.
The Damn Fine Words writing contest is open again. You have until Sept 3rd to submit your entry. This time they highlighted this is geared towards business owners who need to write better for their business. I might throw my hat in. I haven’t decided.
I am still waiting for Love Can’t Wait to show up on B&N. Come on Smashwords.
Problogger had a series recently on niche blogging. And it brought it up in my mind again. I love the idea, but I find it hard to tie myself down. What do I chose? They had 3 suggestions video gaming (love, but I don’t have the money to spend buying a new game every week, nor the time to play a new game every week so I could review it. Maybe I could just have a Bioware focused blog?), pets (nope, I can’t wait til I have no pets) and weight loss (I’m underweight from nursing but I eat like shit so I could go that direction).
Tagged: Asrai Devin, Bioware, Mass Effect, niche blogging, sex and candy, Smashwords, Video game
August 22, 2012
Self epublishing: the good and the bad
So my newest book featuring Amy Black (if you recall Doug Black from previous books, this is his younger sister) and Scott Jones. Amy is in the middle of a messy divorce from her professional hockey cheating bastard of a husband. She meets Scott Jones at the bar and they have a one night stand.
The following morning, Amy discovers he’s not her ex’s team mate, but her brother’s best friend. When she needs a favour to board her cat temporarily she turns to Scott. And when he gets injured, he asks her to pay in kind. Before long Amy is wondering if moving back to Ontario is in her best interest.
Before I get to the rambling and cover, I give you ze links. Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/217328
amazon: http://amzn.com/B0090C838A
It is a bit higher on Kobo because of my paranoia about Amazon price match, I set a bit higher price so I wouldn’t have an issue. If you want the 2.99 price go to Smashwords.
Everywhere else, I don’t know yet. Keep looking for it.
So the good is that I can now upload directly to Kobo and have it appear in 72 hours instead of sometimes a month or longer. Amazon takes 12 hours to approve.
The bad is, being Canadian, I still can’t upload to B&N. Which actually is my biggest source of sales. I got a review back from Smashwords premium catalogue and the cover wasn’t right, so I’m hoping it’s good now and I can get approved ASAP. I’ve heard of people taking over a month. I think Complications over Coffee took ages. Anyway, I digress.
The delay with Smashwords to sony, apple, and Barnes and Noble, makes me wonder if I should send out a newsletter announcement right now or wait til it can be found more widely.
Really drives me crazy because I suspect I have a large percentage of my tiny email list who is B&N buyers, who will have to wait if they want a copy from said retailer. And then I have to rely on them remembering to download me. I dunno about you, but if someone tells me do something later, I forget.
Tagged: Asrai Devin, books, contemporary romance, new book, New release, self epublishing
August 20, 2012
My take on fan fiction
what Nick thinks about fan fictions xD (Photo credit: ♥//BrendaJonas)
I’m going through my 1000+ posts on Google reader that I got behind on over my vacation and then writing a new first draft to get these characters out of my head.
I know you all are thinking: Mark them read and move on to the new stuff.
Granted I’m skimming, but a few things have caught me my eye about fan fiction. My guilty pleasure is reading Dragon Age fan fic. Passive Guy had some comments from various authors back in July about how they feel about fan fiction. I found on fanfiction.net, one fine day, that certain authors have requested users not be allowed to post their fan fiction.
On the other side, there are content creators who encourage and occasionally even spotlight Fan Fiction of their works.
I came across Colin Falconer’s post about where Shakespeare got his idea for Romeo and Juliet.
Basically, old man William wrote fan fiction. The poem he based his play on, “The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet” by Arthur Brooke was written about 30 years prior, based on another piece of work written 30 years before that. I found an essay comparing Shakespeare’s version to Brooke’s version. http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/inside/articles/articles-vol4-i3-how-romeus-became-romeo
If Shakespeare had done this in modern times, there would have been an outcry. The characters were Brooke’s intellectual property, no wait, he would never have penned his poem because he stole it from someone else.
It started me thinking about how almost everything Disney has ever done has been derivative, excepting they used fairy tales whose origins went so far back no one knows where they first came from.
My most recent first draft was inspired by a piece of fan fiction. Of course, it doesn’t resemble the original work whatsoever. Other than a May-December type romance and a love triangle. But I’ve read fiction that doesn’t resemble the orginal other than character names and maybe characterization.
I’m considering writing some fan fiction, but it is alternative universe. I could just as easily write it with other character names, give it an orginal title and cover and no one would be the wiser as to where it came from.
If anyone wants to write fan fiction using my characters, feel free. Just let me know where so I can squee about it.
What ‘s your opinion on fan fiction? Do characters belong to the creator? Have you ever been so inspired by characters or plot you didn’t want to the story to end?
Tagged: Arthur Brooke, Asrai Devin, Colin Falconer, Dragon Age, Fanfiction, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, writing
August 13, 2012
Best friends: Aman
So, I think I have thanked her in most of my acknowledgement pages in my novels. If I haven’t, she should have been. She was the first one to read Second Chance Romance and tell me I was not crazy and that I should share it with others.
She’s beta read every piece of fiction I’ve released so far and a few I haven’t. Well maybe just one I haven’t. She’s also helped me with titles and covers. Every writer should have such a champion.
We’ve known each other FOREVER. At least Kindergarten, perhaps before through various quite complicated things. We grew up in a small town together. Her aunt was my mom’s best friend as a teenager.
It was at her birthday party that I had my first cigarette. I did not start smoking because every damn year I had a cold and I couldn’t tolerate any smoke. Well that and my mother would have killed me. Another birthday may have been the first time I drank, but my parents were much more lenient when it came to drinking. (I have other stories with other friends).
She knows a lot of my secrets. And I know hers. Some of hers. Most of hers? I’m not sure. I’ve never counted.
We’ve had our ups and downs, but we still get together as often as possible. She only lives 7 blocks away. Though she’s very busy being a career woman and at the beginning of a new relationship with a very sweet guy. (He wrote on her Facebook that she was the beginning of his happily every after, or something like that. I KNOW right?).
So chicky, I love you. Thanks for being there for me. I’ll try not to be too jealous of you when you are in Italy.
August 10, 2012
Help me out: sharing with family
When I got my cover for Second Chance Romance I was so freaking excited that I shared it on my personal non-author Facebook profile. Everyone was excited about it. When I saw my aunts this summer they questioned me about this whole self-publishing business: hiring editors and cover artists, and how they could read my book.
That’s all well and fine.
Someone told my grandmother, 82 years old, about my book. She calls me up the day before the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday. (Had to sneak that in) and congratulates me. And then she asks where she can get my book. Since she can barely operate a digital clock, she doesn’t own a computer. And I plan to do a createspace version but I haven’t yet. I told her I’d bring her a copy when I got one done up, but it would be a while.
A while later I texted my mom and told her about this incident.
Me: So Grandma called and she wants a copy of my book.
Mother Dearest: Oh Shit. What did you tell her?
Me: that I’d get her a copy when I did print, but it would be a while.
[long break while I mention this incident to someone else, who says my Grandma will be proud of me]
Me: Grandma does know I’m a grown woman now.
Mom: you’re right there.
Aside to readers: she has 10 kids, she has had sex. She reads quite a bit. I think she can handle the grown up parts. Not sure about the anal sex and vibrators, but you never know. It’s not strictly smut, it’s a romance with explicit sex.
So, should I share Second Chance Romance with Grandma?
Would you share a novel with explicit sex with your Grandmother?
Tagged: Anal sex, Facebook, Grandma, Grandparent, sharing with Grandparents, your Grandma had sex once
