Laura Roberts's Blog, page 72

Make the most of your writing: join a local writers group

I recently took the plunge and joined a local writers group called San Diego Writers, Ink. They offer writing workshops and meet-up groups for writers, as well as regular “Room to Write” drop-in sessions that work great for keeping a regular writing date with yourself. I figured I needed the boot to the bum, as I’ve been neglecting my writing time recently, even though I know that I’ve got a bunch of projects I want to get finished.

As an added bonus, my husband is also happy about this development because now he gets to have Friday mornings to himself for composing music in his studio — without having to use headphones to keep it quiet.

The sign I made for my husband’s studio door

In addition to SDWI’s other programming, this weekend they’re holding their annual “Fall for Writing” conference. At just $120 for members ($140 for non-members) to take up to 10 sessions, it’s a steal of a deal. I’m tempted to drop in for a few of the classes, like “Low Cost Ways to Promote Creative Projects” with Janene Roberts (no relation) or “Flash Fiction and Short Stories” with Lisa Kessler to help improve my short game and start winning more Iron Writer challenges.

If you’re interested in a free online class that’ll help you learn to write flash fiction that doesn’t suck, I would also recommend Holly Lisle’s aptly named “How to Write Flash Fiction That Doesn’t Suck” class. I just started on the week one exercises, and it’s been super helpful so far.

I’ve also been accepted into MJ Kelley’s virtual writer workshop, starting this October, so it looks like I’m joining writers groups left and right! This should be just the motivation I need to keep putting my writing higher up on my daily To Do list, even when it’s not paid work. Plus it’ll be awesome to read work from my fellow critique partners and get a chance to see what other people are working on.

So now I’m curious: do you belong to any writers groups — local or virtual — and if so, what attracted you to the group?

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#InternetSlowdown: The battle for net neutrality and what it means for YOU

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled Hump Day Reviews for this important announcement from Fight for the Future and Team Internet!

If you woke up tomorrow, and your internet looked like this — on every page — what would you do?

Imagine all your favorite websites taking forever to load, while you get annoying notifications from your ISP suggesting you switch to one of their approved “Fast Lane” sites.

Think about what we would lose: all the weird, alternative, interesting, and enlightening stuff that makes the Internet so much cooler than mainstream Cable TV — stuff like THIS SITE! Worse, what if the only news sites you could reliably connect to were the ones that had deals with companies like Comcast and Verizon?

On September 10th, just a few days before the FCC’s comment deadline, public interest organizations are issuing an open, international call for websites and internet users to unite for an “Internet Slowdown” to show the world what the web would be like if Team Cable gets their way and trashes net neutrality. Net neutrality is hard to explain, so our hope is that this action will help SHOW the world what’s really at stake if we lose the open Internet.

If you’ve got a website, blog or tumblr, get the code to join the #InternetSlowdown here: https://battleforthenet.com/sept10th

Everyone else, here’s a quick list of things you can do to help spread the word about the slowdown: http://tumblr.fightforthefuture.org/post/96020972118/be-a-part-of-the-great-internet-slowdown

And for another easy and important way to take action:

Go to http://www.fcc.gov/comments
Click on “14–28″
Comment “I want internet service providers classified as common carriers.”
Be sure to click “confirm”!

Don’t let big corporations tell you what to do. Keep your freedom of speech FREE!

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Sherlock’s Scandal: An interview with Suz deMello

Suz deMello is the author of seventeen erotic novels plus a number of short stories and articles on writing. Her latest, Sherlock’s Scandal, is a sensual homage to everyone’s favorite consulting detective. I recently had a chance to ask her a few questions about her writing process and literary influences. Here’s what she had to say.

How long have you been writing erotica, and what inspired you to get into this genre?

I’ve been writing erotica for about ten years, and was propelled into the subgenre when my line at Harlequin, Silhouette Romance, was eliminated. I also had a hellacious case of writers’ block which made slipping into another slot at HQuin more difficult. Fortunately, my good friends Lisa Marie Rice and Vanessa Hart told me that they’d been writing erotic romance for the online market and doing well, so I decided to give it a try!

What gave you the idea for your latest book?

My latest story, Sherlock’s Scandal, is a Sherlock Holmes fanfic, and was inspired, of course, by Holmes. He was my first crush, as odd as that sounds. I’ve always been attracted to brainy, aloof men. The brainy part is good; the aloof part, not so smart.

Who are some of your favorite erotica writers or other literary inspirations?

I love Lisa Marie Rice’s writing – it’s so emotional and sensual. I love the way Portia DaCosta handles D/s relationships – too often, writers confuse Alpha and asshole, but she never does. Natalie Dae is another writer whose work I admire. I used to edit her over at Totally Bound – what a privilege.

Describe your typical writing routine. Where do you usually write?

LOL, a routine???

I wish.

My primary job is taking care of my mom, who’s in her 80s and has Alzheimer’s. She’s pretty high functioning, but also time-consuming, though in a happy, fulfilling way. So I try to squeeze in the writing when I can. I’ve also never quite gotten over the writers’ block, though it’s not as bad as it used to be.

How many words or pages do you write per day? Do you keep set hours? What does your workspace look like?

So no, no set hours or daily page count. Here’s a pic of my workspace. I tidied my desk a bit last night so it’s neater than usual.

Do you have any favorite foods or beverages that help keep your creativity flowing?

Darjeeling tea, dark chocolate, and red wine.

Do you have any writing superstitions or rituals when starting a new book?

Yeah, I sit at my desk, open my computer and start to write.

What do you think makes for a good erotic story?

Interesting, likable characters and powerful emotional conflicts always make a good book. Erotica is no different, except that it has to include a lot of well-written lovemaking in scenes that contribute to the story rather than distract.

What’s your favorite euphemism for genitalia?

People don’t like the c-word, but I don’t care. Cock and cunt work for me.

Want more from Suz? Check out her website at suzdemello.com and read her blog at TheVelvetLair.

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Author meltdowns and the FAQ page: How to handle dumb questions with grace

A certain indie author — someone whom I’d personally never heard of before a member of one of the indie groups I belong to on Facebook posted about her — has apparently been having a very public meltdown this week. This author, who shall remain nameless to prevent further bad behavior on her part, apparently posted to her Facebook page something to the effect that she was sick of getting incredibly dumb questions from her readers, and that people ought to look to Google before shooting her any more ridiculous emails about Amazon products or her own book series.

NUCLEAR MELTDOWN!

As someone who regularly receives some really odd (and even flat out dumb) questions in my inbox, I thought I’d give this angry author a bit of helpful advice.

You don’t have to reply. There’s this amazing receptacle included in all email programs called “the trash.” You just select the offending message and drag it to the virtual wastebasket and voila, problem solved! For repeat offenders, there’s another invention that comes in handy: automatically redirecting all further messages straight to the trash, totally bypassing your inbox. In Gmail, it’s super easy to filter messages by email address, so you never even have to see the offender’s name again. Works wonders for your blood pressure.
If you do reply, you can use a form letter. If you seem to be getting a lot of the same questions over and over, from different people, write a response once and then save it. You can cut and paste it (or just call up the saved draft) and send it off to anyone who asks you that question in the future. Saves tons of time and typing.
You don’t have to write a(nother) book. Hey, you’re an author — you already wrote a book, congrats! And now people are curious about it. Great! But there’s no reason you have to write a second tome just to reply to an email. Keep it short and sweet, maybe send the person to one of your blog posts? Sure, we authors are busy, but that doesn’t mean we need to be rude.
Pre-empt obvious questions with an FAQ. This particular author was apparently most bent out of shape by the fact that readers were asking in what order her book series was meant to be read. This calls for the handy dandy section of any website known as the FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. For instance, if someone wanted to know in what order they should read Naked Montreal, I would tell them that part one is called Naked Montreal: Sex and the Underground City , while part two is titled Naked Montreal: Porn Stars and Peccadillos . I’d load this info in my FAQ, along with some other questions I get a lot (“How do I reach you for an interview?” maybe, or “Will you review my book?”), and answer them politely. In fact, I’m writing up my FAQ this afternoon, because seriously, why don’t I have one already?
If you’re really that upset, seek help. Guess what? As an indie author you ARE in customer service. Your customers are your readers, and you need to be nice to them and help them out — even if it’s Amazon’s screw-up, not yours. Shit happens; roll with the punches. Maybe look into hiring a virtual assistant to help answer your emails, or even a real-life personal assistant that’s eager to interact with your fans. If you can’t handle the pressures of the celebrity author lifestyle, you should probably seek out a refuge in the woods with no internet access — a place where you’re totally unreachable except to the most intrepid of fans or trespassers, and where you can shout “Get off my lawn!” while shaking your shotgun in the air. Or, you know, maybe look into getting some therapy for those anger issues? Fans ask questions because they LIKE YOU. Don’t make them regret their decision by acting like a douchecanoe.

Hey, I get it. I’ve been asked “What’s a PDF?” and wondered whether I was being punked. I’ve been asked if I would personally tutor someone in the bedroom (for free, no less), just because I write sexy books. There will always be dumb questions, and there will always be dumb ways to handle them. Let’s just try to remember that behind even the dumbest of questions lies a human being who’s trying to understand life, the universe and everything – and if all else fails there’s Hey Let Me Google That For You.

How do YOU handle dumb questions? (And please, don’t say “There are no dumb questions.”)

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Hump Day Reviews: Pet to the Tentacle Monsters! by Lilia Ford

I’ve heard that tentacle porn is huge in Japan, where erotic manga circumvent live-action porn censorship by doing everything that real men and women can’t. Personally, I’ve never investigated this particular fetish, as I must admit that I’m not the target audience for groping tentacles in my fiction. Even the Futurama movie The Beast with a Billion Backs (featuring a tentacled cartoon alien) grosses me out. So the thought of something extraterrestrial with slimy, grabbing arms – possibly dozens of them – grabbing and probing me is just not an idea I’m comfortable with. It’s kind of my worst-case rape scenario, actually, and that’s just not something that will ever be sexy.

Therefore I must admit that when I downloaded a review copy of Pet to the Tentacle Monsters! from NetGalley, it was more for the sheer spectacle than out of a true desire to see anyone getting jiggy with an octopoid space creature.

I was curious to see what tentacle porn was really all about. And boy, did Pet to the Tentacle Monsters! show me a thing or twelve!

Though I’m still not sure to whom this particular story appeals, I will admit that some of the sex scenes were curiously arousing. Not arousing enough for me to want to act them out, but Lilia Ford’s kinky descriptions had me wondering what human beings in such situations might be able to do to one another.

So what’s the dealio?

Benji, a newly-minted 18-year-old human living on an alien-invaded Earth, is bored with his life in captivity. He’s sick of food rationing and doing chores around the refugee camp (where the aliens have apparently forced humans into servitude) and trying to be good, so he takes a friend’s motorbike for a daredevil jump across the nearest irrigation canal. Big mistake! The levee breaks, flooding his community’s crops, and the Enforcers — helmeted police who take their names super seriously — decide Benji must be punished.

Thus begins his life as a sex slave to the tentacle monsters.

In addition to man-on-alien (or, more correctly, alien-on-man) sex, there’s plenty of BDSM with tentacles in place of ropes, whips and chains, as well as blindfolds and ball gags. Benji’s initiation follows a pretty typical path, if you simply replace the multi-tentacled alien he dubs “Black” with any D/s Master. But when “Silver” enters the scene, the domination levels are kicked up a notch.

Though the aliens aren’t technically of any specific gender, Ford describes Kitty — a pink alien that sparkles when happy — as female, while Silver and Black are both male. Since Benji only has sex with Silver and Black, this story is definitely a M/M tale of domination, submission and the beginnings of a truce between humans and tentacle monsters.

So what of tentacle porn? I’m pretty sure I won’t be searching out more of it anytime soon, but that’s not to say that this story isn’t well written. Ford is obviously a very skilled writer, to ultimately cast tentacle monsters in a sympathetic light — despite their thirst for human sexual humiliation and subservience. The ending in particular demonstrates that the scenario is not what it first appears, and offers some plausibly sci-fi explanations, with Benji cast in a more heroic role than first we feared.

All in all, I found the story to be an interesting take on the world of BDSM, particularly the suggestion that sexual play can bring about world peace, as well as a fun throwback to the sci-fi pulp stories of yesteryear. If you’ve been looking for something wildly different in the realm of erotica, this story should definitely be on your list.

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Why reality TV is great for writers

Some people hate reality TV. They complain that it’s the downfall of civilization or even humanity itself. Personally, I just have to laugh.

Grammarly even suggests reality TV kills books. Calm down, drama queens!

For one thing, there are so many different kinds of reality TV shows that it’s impossible to say they’re all categorically bad — or even that you refuse to watch them. Reality shows aren’t just the voyeuristic kind like Big Brother or The Real World, where they throw a bunch of strangers in a house together and watch the drama unfold. Not all of them are about gossippy Real Housewives or celebrities with first-world problems. In fact, you probably watch a lot of reality shows without realizing they’re considered reality TV. Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, for instance, is a reality show. So are most modern-day contest shows, like The Biggest Loser, Dancing With the Stars and Cutthroat Kitchen. And if you’re into adventure and excitement, you’ve probably watched some survivalist reality shows like Doomsday Preppers or Bear Grylls’ Man vs. Wild - or maybe even that old favorite, Survivor.

In short, reality TV is everywhere. And though some view it with disdain, I have to admit that I love reality shows.

Why? Because reality TV is great for writers!

Not only will you learn a lot about all different kinds of human behavior, but reality shows can also give you a crash course in just about anything you’d ever want to write about. Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs, for instance, is an amazing resource for writers in search of unique, unusual and often underpaid jobs that real people do. But just about every reality show I’ve watched has given me great glimpses into other people’s careers, which is priceless for developing realistic characters.

For students of human nature, the histrionics of more dramatic shows like Basketball Wives and Jersey Shore can help inspire over-the-top characters and great off-the-cuff responses to just about any situation. (Or even The Situation!)

If you’re looking to perfect your dialects, reality shows are a goldmine. You’ll find Louisiana drawls on Swamp People, exotic accents and cooking jargon from around the world on Top Chef, and both east and west coast slang on The Real Housewives franchise.

Even when they’re bad, they’re good. Think, for instance, of the Duck Dynasty brouhaha. Whether you love or hate the Robertsons, their redneck comments really got people talking.

And perhaps you caught PBS’s spoof posters, parodying the “sad” state of TV? Their fake reality shows included Married to a Mime (“She’s got plenty to say”), Bayou Eskimos (“Their life is heading south”), Knitting Wars (“It’s sew on”), Bad Bad Bagboys (“Cleanup in every aisle”) and The Dillionaire (“Life’s a pickle”)?

Frankly, I’d love to see some raging grannies duking it out in the yarn aisle, or a show about a pickle king. After all, that last one’s just ripe for puns — another tool in the writer’s arsenal.

The bag boys, however, may be pushing it. Then again, wouldn’t you be curious to know more about what really goes on in the produce aisle after your neighborhood grocer’s automatic doors slide shut for the night? My husband used to work for a local supermarket — and boy does he have some scary stories!

In the end, I believe reality TV is as good — or bad — as you want it to be. Personally, I’ve learned a lot from reality programming, and maybe that’s just because I’m a naturally curious person. But I also agree with reality TV producer extraordinaire Troy DeVolld, who says “Life doesn’t just tumble through a lens and spill out the other side of a cable as a series of engaging stories any more than a potato left to its own devices is likely to magically transform itself into potato salad.”

The stories you see on reality shows are still written by writers who have to focus your attention on something interesting and entertaining. If they fail, the show flops. If they succeed, it keeps on going as long as there are people willing to watch it.

So what do you think of reality shows now? And will you admit you’ve got a favorite — if only as a true student of the writing craft?

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Passionate about passions: An interview with Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan is “simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature,” according to Susie Bright. Her BDSM romance novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in Erotic Romance, and the third book in the trilogy, Slow Satisfaction, debuted this week. (Check out my previous post for an excerpt!) I got a chance to ask her a few questions about her writing, and here’s what she had to say.

I know you’ve been writing erotica for a long time, but what first inspired you to write in this genre?

If you go back in my old spiral-bound notebooks, all the way back into my childhood diary entries, I always wrote about sex. Even when I didn’t even know what exactly I was writing about. I have some wacky scenes from when I was 12 or 13 involving alien abduction, and then there are the erotic stories I wrote for friends in high school, where I’d pair them up with the famous celebrities they had crushes on. At the time I had no idea I’d still be writing erotic stories later, professionally! But all my attempts to write fiction or even science fiction without any sexual element pretty much fell flat. As soon as I accepted that my muse is an erotic one – back in 1992 – the stories have ben rolling smoothly out of my pen ever since.

When it comes to Romance with a capital R, though, I would have started writing it much, much earlier if romance had been ready to embrace either BDSM or fantasy and science fiction elements. In 1991–1992 when I was starting, at that point “paranormal romance” wasn’t yet a category and the only place I could really carve out a place for the erotica I wrote was within science fiction. (And even that was considered breaking the mold.) Novels of mine like The Velderet are romances, but they were published as erotic science fiction. In 2008, when ebooks were starting to explode, though, my agent encouraged me to try writing for a romance publisher. I dusted off an idea that had been sitting in my notebook for over 10 years waiting for an opportunity to come to light, and that became the book Mind Games. I was so nervous about whether people would like it! I had never been like that about a book before. But then reviews from romance bloggers and websites started to come in and they were raves! That convinced me, yes, I can and should write romance!

Your latest book is part of a trilogy that seems like it draws inevitable comparisons to 50 Shades of Grey. How do you feel about such comparisons, and how would you say your work differs from that of E.L. James?

I know almost anyone reading Slow Surrender read 50 Shades first, because so many people read that book. Knowing that, I very consciously took some similar elements to invite the comparison, and then went a different direction. The biggest departure is that from the similar starting place – rich dominant male and inexperienced female – I take it in what I felt was a more realistic direction. In 50 Shades, the BDSM is something Christian Grey is driven to do because of the demons in his past, and as love heals him, his need for kink diminishes until it’s gone. That’s the opposite of the way most real-life BDSM love matches go! Usually the more deeply in love the two people fall, the more trust they have between them, the MORE intense and frequent the BDSM play gets, not less. A reader said to me recently, “You make trust sexy. You write trust porn.” It’s true! I play with the line of consent and trust all the time, the same way an experienced dom does with a sub, to lead the scene to a satisfying conclusion.

Who are some of your favorite erotica writers or other literary inspirations?

It’s kind of funny. I didn’t really start reading erotica until after I started writing it. The only erotic book I remember finding hidden in my house when I was a kid was a bookclub edition of The Last Tango in Paris, and I remember my best friend and I trying to figure out what was going on in the infamous “butter” scene! We were too young and naïve to know, and there was no Internet to provide answers for curious minds then. Most of what I read growing up was science fiction and fantasy and I wanted to be Roger Zelazny when I grew up. After I started writing, I discovered the work of Pat Califia, whose book of BDSM short stories Macho Sluts was absolutely fantastic, and Angela Carter, whose erotic literary fairy tales felt like they came from a similar dreamscape as mine.

Describe your typical writing routine. Where do you usually write? How many words/pages per day? Do you keep set hours? What does your workspace look like?

“Usually” is not as usual as I would like. The closest thing I have to a routine is when I write between midnight and three AM. It’s the only time it’s quiet, even new emails aren’t coming in, and my brain is at its peak. On those nights, after dinner, I take a cup of hot tea upstairs to my office and all three of my cats come with me. We joke that it’s “cat office hours” because they will each get in a separate chair in my office. Me in mine, to do my work, and them in theirs to do theirs: which is to say groom and nap! When I’m on a deadline and need to put in more hours than that, I will often go to a coffee shop in the afternoon, too. Once a week I have lunch with a fellow writer and then we go to a coffee shop to put in 1–2 hours of writing time. But I’m writing this right now from the Starbucks in the Charlotte airport. To keep up my word counts I’ve learned to love writing on planes, on trains, in lobbies, in airport lounges, you name it. Anywhere I can put a laptop in my lap, I can work.

Do you have any favorite foods or beverages that help keep your creativity flowing?

I am a tea addict. Actually, I weaned myself off recently to prove that I could! But I love good hot tea. Everything from lightly roasted Chinese oolong to Japanese matcha to first flush Indian darjeeling. It’s great because I have to get up from the keyboard every hour to 90 minutes to brew a new pot and that is what cured my repetitive strain injury. The doctors kept saying I needed to take regular breaks. Tea prep forces me to! So that’s win-win.

Do you have any writing superstitions or rituals when starting a new book?

Every book is different. Some books want me to handwrite a lot of notes into a notebook or diary, some want me to leap right in before I know what I’m doing! I think starting a new book is like getting to know a new cat. You think you can predict how it’s going to go, but although there are similarities, it’s different every time. Each book has a personality and you learn to work with each one.

I do have one ritual for when I FINISH a book, though. I get a black feather tattooed on my arm each time. My arm is starting to get kind of crowded now.

What do you think makes for a good erotic story?

The best erotic stories make the reader feel like they’re there and it’s happening to them. If the reader isn’t sucked in and feeling that immediacy, then they’re just a voyeur. And that feels icky and weird. You want the reader to be so convinced by the point of view and the language and the action that even though what’s happening in the story might not be something the reader would have predicted would turn them on, it works anyway. I get a lot of fan mail of the “I never thought I would like _____ (fill in fetish, kink, or type of sex here), but I liked yours.”

What’s your favorite euphemism for genitalia?

In contemporary fiction try to stay away from euphemisms unless I’m writing a humorous story. Even within the context of a really hot story if a writer cracks out a metaphor or simile for private parts it can come out as a joke. And you can make almost ANYTHING into a euphemism for genitalia. Here, I’m in a Starbucks, let’s see what we could use for a genital euphemism that I can see from where I’m sitting: That guy over there is really working the sugar shaker. She’s got her hand on the cream Thermos. She just put a stir stick into her corn muffin. No really! I’m not making this up!

What I do sometimes when I’m writing a piece that has fantasy or science fiction elements is I go with something that is the slang of the world we’re in. The Prince’s Boy, for example, it’s a high fantasy set in a pastoral kingdom where I’ve established they have cattle. So there are a lot of “milk” terms used commonly in the sexual language of that culture.

I just discovered from reading your website that you also write a lot about baseball. Do you think there’s any relation or cross-inspiration between your baseball writing and your erotic writing? And should erotica authors embrace or discard the baseball analogy for sex?

Someone asked me recently what my “tag line” or “brand identity” is. Given that I write about so many things, I couldn’t come up with something as pointed or clever as, say, a vampire writer who says her books have “bite.” One suggestion I made was “Passionate about passions.” Sports fandom is one of the only totally acceptable passions we have in US culture, especially for men. I actually combined baseball and romance in one book that was re-released recently, The Hot Streak! But for the most part I keep those two worlds, my baseball non-fiction and my erotic fiction, separate. They satisfy very different needs. As for the baseball analogy, I would say unless someone wants to sound like they’re in middle school, drop it!

For more from Cecilia, check out ceciliatan.com, or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

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The challenge of criticism: snark, entitlement, Steve Almond and me

There’s a really interesting essay by Steve Almond in the Sept/Oct issue of Poets & Writers. It’s called “The Problem of Entitlement: A Question of Respect,” and it talks about tearing other writers down.

Steve describes his view of the difference between snark and entitlement, which I found helpful distinctions. He says:

Snark is a conscious attempt to cast aspersion for narcissistic reward. Writers who use social media, or other public forums, to dis other writers are seeking to convert resentment into attention. It’s a tool of self-promotion.

Entitlement, on the other hand:

…operates at a more basic and often unconscious level. It’s a kind of defensive snobbery, a delusion that the world and its constituent parts–whether a product or a piece of art or a loved one–exist to please you.

Although he frames his essay in terms of creative writing workshops and students who rip on writers they hate, he also mentions that snark and entitlement exist throughout our ranks. Every time someone badmouths another more famous writer, it’s some combination of the two.

Ultimately, of course, neither of these temptations serve us as writers. As Steve puts it, people can either “get over their sense of entitlement or, at some point, abandon writing.”

I found Steve’s example from Tobias Wolff quite illustrative as well. He quotes “Bullet in the Brain,” a story about a burned-out book critic, which rang true for me as a reformed (and formerly burnt-out) book critic. When one loses the pleasure of reading — or, indeed, of giving praise and respect to a fellow writer — it is time to take a step back and reevaluate what you’re really doing in critiquing another’s work.

My husband often tells me I am too harsh a critic. I like to think I just have high standards and aim for greatness, and therefore want to bring everyone up to my level. But when he points out that I am being overly critical, I try to go back over a piece with a specific need to find something I enjoyed. It is so easy to lose that lust for literature, and to skip over the parts that work simply because they work. “The writer already knows this part is good,” critics think, “so why tell them what they already know?”

Whenever I get stuck in a review, and realize I’m leaning much more heavily toward negativity, I stop and remember a playwriting instructor I had in my university days. This professor would invariably give his students — myself included — extreme benefit of the doubt, comparing our novice attempts to some of the great dramatic works, and it was a technique that worked well.

Part of his goal in offering these comparisons was likely to prove he knew what he was talking about, as he was extremely well-read in both French and English literature. His allusions also subtly suggested we seek out those works for additional study, since we typically had no idea such works existed and hadn’t read them in class.

The other part that worked was the way he put us in the company of those great writers, giving us a chance to see ourselves as drawing from the same well. To praise our works as being anywhere near the same league as those famous, well-known playwrights made us feel as if we were on the right track — and reminded us that others before us had dealt with similar problems in life and in writing.

Aren’t we all, in the end, standing on the shoulders of giants? And if we seek to tear those giants down, what do we truly accomplish — aside from denying ourselves the same dazzling view?

Thanks, Steve, for this reminder to always be mindful of our words, particularly when we critique.

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Book release: Slow Satisfaction by Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan’s latest erotic romance novel, Slow Satisfaction, releases today. This is the conclusion to her Struck by Lightning trilogy, in which BDSM-loving billionaire James has finally pushed Karina beyond her limit – not her limit for kinky sex play, but for his extreme secrecy. She has had enough and breaks things off.

But James won’t give up on Karina and he will do whatever it takes to get her back. He’s ready to share his deepest, darkest secrets, but is Karina ready to hear them? When James is blackmailed by an unscrupulous music industry executive, he must give in to unreasonable demands or risk exposure of his and Karina’s secret sex life… a sex life that keeps getting hotter!

Will Karina and James’s love be strong enough to withstand the many obstacles being thrown their way?

Excerpt

James’s eyes were serious, even as his face and body were relaxed and languid post-orgasm. “Did I convince you to give me another chance?”

I considered. “You at least earned the chance to tell me what I don’t know.”

He took my hand in his, like he had so many times before. This time he kissed my fingertips, his eyes closing as he did. “I have a lot to tell you. More than any single interrogation might reveal.”

I squeezed his hand. “I shouldn’t have to interrogate you for the answers.”

He sucked in a breath. “No. Of course you shouldn’t. There’s so much I need to tell you if you’re really going to get to know me.” He reached up and traced the curve of my cheek with his fingertip. “Yet I feel like you know me better than anyone.”

“I do know you,” I said. “I just don’t know the facts about you.”

His gaze shied away from mine. “Many of the facts are sordid.”

“Says the man who put a six-inch dildo into me and walked me around the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

“I mean much more sordid than that.” Now his face had completely clouded over.

“I want to know, James. I need to know. I have a right to, if we’re going to be together.”

He nodded, though his eyes were closed. “I know. I agree. That still doesn’t make it easy for me to open up.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Except during sex.”

“As you well know. Were you serious about what you said before? I would sincerely give you a piece of my past for every time you give me…” He kissed my fingertips again. “Anything. Sex. Your body. Your submission.”

Even though we’d just had sex, I felt a thrill go through my loins. “I wasn’t suggesting it lightly.”

“I want to be sure. Sometimes we say things in the heat of passion that seem less than wise afterward.”

“But sometimes we get inspired.” This could be the perfect solution, I realized. “I know the time you’re the most open is when we have sex. That’s the time your answers will be the best. Of course, if we do this, I could still revoke my forgiveness at any time.”

“Of course. Just as you can revoke your consent at any time. I understand, Karina. It’s the Thousand and One Nights, only this time I’m Scheherazade, telling the stories.”

I touched his face with my fingers, feeling like a weight was slowly lifting from my back. Maybe we were going to make this work after all. The fact that he was willing to try so hard made a huge difference in how I felt. And I wanted him. The part of me that had been needing him and pining for him all summer was quelled by the knowledge we could do this.

I sat up and discovered I’d been lying on something. In the dim light I could still recognize what it was. “These look a lot like a pair of panties I used to have.”

“That’s because they are.”

“You’ve been carrying around my underwear?” I turned to look at him.

Lying beside me on the pillow, he wore a familiar expression: serene and a bit bemused. “You left them in the limo once. Did you think I’d throw them away?”

“I never really thought about it before.”

“If I left a pair of my underwear behind with you, what would you do?”

“Yeah, I see your point. I’ve got a handkerchief of yours I keep in the—”

His expression changed suddenly, his eyes widening and his lips parting in slight surprise. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

I felt myself blush even though I wasn’t keeping anything a secret. “Um, partly anyway. My roommate—”

“I know. I met her at the spa that day. Becky. She knew the Lord’s Ladies.”

“Yeah. And she got one of the handkerchiefs you threw from the stage at Madison Square Garden. It matched one I got from you.”

To my surprise, James smiled. He sat up and kissed me softly. “If I believed in fate, I’d say that was a sign. What are the odds?”

“And are they better or worse than the odds of being struck by lightning?”

His smile turned into a laugh. “Was that a pun?” In a flash he pulled my legs onto his lap, spanking me playfully several times. I couldn’t help it, it was like being ambushed by tickling. I kicked and giggled and shrieked.

I wriggled free, hug-tackled him, and ended up on top of him in the center of the bed, kissing him all over his face. “I’m still mad at you, you know.”

“If you say so,” he said. “By the way, I agree with your mother. This is a nice dress.”

“She bought it for me today. She wants to meet you.”

“What have you told her about me?”

“That you’re rich and good-looking which is what she cares about most. My sister wants to meet you, too. They know you’re an art world type but that’s all.” I was coming to my senses a little, now that the intense pleasure of the orgasm was receding and the play-spanking had woken me up. “And if you’d really put the rock star stuff behind you, that’d be all they need to know. But that sounds like a big if.”

“A very big if.” He nodded slowly, his face sobering again into his usual mask.

That would not do. The biggest question he still hadn’t answered for me was the story of Ferrara Huntington. It was the biggest thing that I thought could still be a deal-breaker and send me out of here a single woman. I leaned down and nuzzled his neck, as if the subject were closed for now. He smelled delicious, igniting all my cravings again. I nibbled behind his ear. He arched under me, his cock not yet ready to harden again, but the rest of him responding just fine. He pulled me down beside him, kissing me back and exploring my neck with his mouth.

Hadn’t we just finished having sex? I felt my insides melting again though, my desire rising like a tide. Maybe my body felt we should make up for lost time.

Making out was nice and I enjoyed the feeling that we were in no hurry. When had we ever done this, kissed for the sake of kissing? I lost track of time. Minutes ticked by in my haze of affection, pleasure, and relief. Yes. We needed this kind of connection, too. Affection, exploring each other, letting chemistry take over.

My hands roamed his back, his sides, his hips, until one of them strayed between his legs and I sucked in a breath as I met the scorching hot stiffness there.

There was no reason to wait. There was so much we had to talk about. “You’re ready for more?” I teased.

“With you, Karina, I always am.”

Purchase Your Copy

You can buy Slow Satisfaction from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Indiebound, or Goodreads.

About the Author

Cecilia Tan is “simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature,” according to Susie Bright. Her BDSM romance novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in Erotic Romance.

Tan is the author of many books, including the ground-breaking erotic short story collections Black Feathers (HarperCollins), White Flames (Running Press), and Edge Plays (Circlet Press), and the erotic romances Slow Surrender, Slow Seduction, and Slow Satisfaction (Hachette/Forever), The Prince’s Boy (Circlet Press), The Hot Streak (Riverdale Avenue Books), and the Magic University series (Riverdale Avenue Books). Her short stories have appeared in Ms. Magazine, Nerve, Best American Erotica, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and tons of other places. She was inducted into the Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame for GLBT writers in 2010, was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Leather Association in 2004, and won the inaugural Rose & Bay Awards for Best Fiction in 2010 for her crowdfunded web fiction serial Daron’s Guitar Chronicles.

She lives in the Boston area with her lifelong partner corwin and three cats.

Find out more at ceciliatan.com, and connect with Cecilia on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

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#MarauderMonday: Ninjas in your kitchen

Clearly there aren’t enough ninjas in my life, and the universe is trying to send me a sign. One of my Facebook friends posted this today:

I have a birthday coming up in October, so add it to your shopping list!

Here are a few more ninja must-haves for the killer kitchen:

Ninja cookie cutters: Because cute cookies are a must, but these can also double as weapons if you sharpen the edges just right

Image via Almost20.com

Ninja mug: Scalding coffee doubles as a weapon — but if you see this ninja coming, it’s already too late!

Available from Amazon

Ninja salt & pepper shakers: Secretly replace the salt with MSG and the pepper with iocane powder and see if anyone notices!

Available at Amazon

Ninja bento: The ultimate surprise in your brown bag lunch!

Available at Bento & Co.

Ninja apron: Okay, so the true ninja wouldn’t need this Tactical Chef Apron, but sometimes you just need a bulletproof vest and someplace to stash your gear when you’re grillin’

Available at ThinkGeek

Ninja BBQ set: The perfect accompaniment to your apron — and just as deadly

Available at Amazon

Ninja corn skewers: For some reason, these come in a 2-pack of “Ninja vs. Pirate” skewers, but as we all know NINJAS RULE, PIRATES DROOL — especially when it comes to corn on the cob

Available at Amazon

Ninja mug + shuriken coaster set: Because as we all know, ninjas never simply drink tea — they’re always ready for a fight!

Available at Firebox

And of course no kitchen would be complete without a ninja cake:

Image via A Finger in the Pie

What kind of ninjas are lurking in your kitchen?

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