Cynthianna's Blog, page 8

Writers--share your thoughts at The Bernie Blog

I've taken on yet another position--I'm now the editor at The Bernie Blog. Check it out here:

http://bernie2016.blogspot.com

We now have a "How to Submit" page. Please read it and consider sending us a piece. Here's the submissions link:
http://bernie2016.blogspot.com/p/how-to-submit-to-bernie-blog-and-other.html

Thank you. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

To all the Canadians--I hope you had a good Canada Day yesterday. To all the Americans--have a great Fourth of July holiday weekend! To everyone--be safe and enjoy your summer (or winter)!

The Good Ol' Boys & Days of Summer--My Sexy Saturday excerpt

Welcome to this week’s My Sexy Saturday blog hop. The theme is "A Good Ole Sexy Time" and it's about…well…normal people. You know, the boys next door, the good ole boys, the boys of summer and everything in between. There is nothing more sexy than a man at the beach or getting done with his chores or doing his best at any task. 

Just because a guy seems "normal" doesn't mean he can't in reality be an extremely wealthy businessman who's considered the ultimate catch according to all the celebrity magazines. When Ronnie (short for Veronica) meets Dave Darden for the first time, she doesn't realize that he's actually the owner of a chain of discount stores. He doesn't come across as a man in a suit who's afraid of getting his hands dirty. Oh, no, he's the exact opposite! And here she thought moving away from the big city to open her own arts-and-crafts shop in the Ozark country was going to keep her away from wealthy, handsome men...

Country Boy, City Girl
http://www.mojocastle.com/country-boy-city-girl.html

Veronica "Ronnie" Hawthorn has found peace at last in the Missouri Ozarks town of Green Springs, excited at the prospect of running her own arts-and-crafts store in an old farm house. But when city girl Ronnie "falls" into her handsome neighbor's arms, she is surprised to discover that country boy Dave Darden is one of the most eligible bachelors in America.
"Readers will not be disappointed...You will be rewarded with a down home love story that will long be remembered."--Bridges Magazine
An excerpt from Country Boy, City Girl...
 
It feels good to be up to my elbows in mud again.
Ronnie sighed. Self-imposed pressure faded away as the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of the clay hitting the table surface over and over again lulled her into a blissful state of relaxation. The overwhelming strain she had endured these last ten months was forgotten as she vigorously kneaded the firm white clay in her small, yet capable, hands.


"Small hands, big heart," her mother had told her time and time again. Mama's heart had been big, too, but not strong enough to survive her last heart attack. How Ronnie wished Mama could have live long enough to see Natalie born.


Now was not a time for regrets. The stiffness in Ronnie's shoulders, the small pain at the base of her neck which usually signaled a tension headache coming on, simply vanished as she and the clay became one. A woman alone starting a new business venture, Ronnie felt every bit as malleable as her chosen medium.


Her full, rosy lips came together in a hum as she worked the clay ball over and over until the last of the air pockets were worked out. She rolled it over one last time, then unceremoniously plopped it onto the center of the wheel. She adjusted her work apron and sat down on the low stool, tucking a few stray blue-black hairs behind her ears before wetting her fingers in the jar of slip. A moan of pleasure sprang forth from deep within her as she sank her thumbs into the clay's cool center, gently nudging and pulling it to form the sides of the bowl.


Today was the first day of her new business and she wanted to always remember it as a happy one. The pitch of her humming soon matched the whine of the electric potter's wheel, tuning out troubling doubts and painful memories. The dusty, earthen aroma of the clay transported her thoughts back in time. She could almost pretend she was still in art school, long before she met Jim, fell in love, got married, had Natalie and buried her desire to become an artisan under a "soccer mom" facade. The Green Springs Arts and Crafts Gallery opened a new chapter in life for both her and Nat. Ronnie made a silent vow--this story would have a happy ending.


The haunted-house creaking of the back screen door instantly alerted her to another's presence. A little girl's giggle gave her would-be assailant away.


She grinned. Silly, Nat! She's sneaking up on Mommy to play "Guess who?" It was nothing short of miraculous. In the few short days since they had moved from the city to Green Springs, Natalie had left the sadness of her father's recent death behind and rediscovered her childhood. Ronnie couldn't wait to spring a surprise of her own on her playful six year old daughter.


Ronnie bent further over her work, pretending not to hear Natalie's approaching footsteps as they were heralded by the squeak of the old farmhouse's pine floorboards. Squeak, squeak, squeak. . . She stifled a laugh and kept her eyes focused on the clay, her reflexes readied for her own response. She sprang into action the instant a tickle of warm breath brushed against the back of her neck.


"Got ya!" Ronnie cried, spinning around on her stool, grabbing her attacker by the collar and planting the biggest, wettest, sloppiest kiss she could manage.


 Z-Z-Zap!

A jolt of electricity raced from her lips and traveled along the nerve highways of her body, awakening places inside she had believed were dead and buried along with Jim. Her eyes instantly flew open. 

Surprise! These lips didn't belong to her daughter!


Stunned, Ronnie pushed with all her might against the stranger's wide shoulders but found herself held fast in his powerful embrace. She began to pound against him with her fists but her actions only caused him to crush her womanly curves closer to his muscular chest. His tongue entered her slightly parted portal and enticed an immediate response from within her, frightening in its intensity. Her mind was spinning so fast that she toppled off the stool and landed like a bag of clay into the newcomer's formidable arms.


It seemed an eternity before the stranger lifted his lips from hers, releasing her from his daring grasp. Ronnie melted onto the floor, her power even to protest this despicable interloper's brazen behavior vanquished.


"If this is how you greet all your male customers. . . then I'll lay odds this place turns a profit its first month..."

Country Boy, City Girl is  available from Mojocastle Press, Amazon, ARe and wherever fine ebooks are sold!

http://www.mojocastle.com/country-boy-city-girl.html

Please sign up for my monthly e-newsletter (fill out the form on the right sidebar). This month I'll be giving out links to FREE e-reads and other ideas for summer reads. Enjoy!

Have a great My Sexy Saturday blog hop! http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com
 

Special Moments That Inspire Love--Read My Sexy Saturday Excerpt

Welcome to another edition of My Sexy Saturday. This week's theme is "My Sexy Love" and is about those special moments that inspire romance. Well, for every couple in the universe there's going to be the one unique special moment that sparked their love for each other, isn't there? Think of all the zillions of possibilities! That's what makes the romance genre so much fun to read and write. ;)

Love wasn't even part of their game plans, so how did single mom Cassie and out-of-work Mike know they were destined for each other? What special moment inspired them to reach out and take a chance on love? Find out in this short excerpt from The Fixer-Uppers.





The Fixer-Uppers
www.devinedestinies.com/the-fixer-uppers

"An exceptional writer with a flair for humor." --Romance Reviews Today


Can a single mom find happiness on a blind date--or at least dinner with a male who can cut up his own food? Cassie and Mike believe they're "in like" not "in love." But when down-on-his-luck Mike is evicted, Cassie takes him into her home. Mike starts fixing everything from window screens to her two boys' broken hearts. Will Cassie let him fix hers?



Excerpt set up: Mike tries to stop Cassie from going on a date with another man. He finds her ironing her dress for the evening and does his best to convince her to stay home--with him.




Cassie felt warm all over. The room seemed to be swaying beneath her feet. She coughed to clear her suddenly dry throat.  “Yeah, it’s a nice robe.” The room began to spin as she breathed in deeply the masculine scent of him. “I don’t wear it around much since it has the tendency to slide off me at the most inconvenient times.”  
Mike’s lips lightly brushed against her earlobe. “Show me,” he whispered.

Cassie’s knees turned to liquid. She knew she had to get a grip on herself, turn the conversation around somehow. . . But she couldn’t. A moment later the acrid smell of burning cloth brought her back to reality.  “Mike?”  He nuzzled her earlobe again. “Hmm, yes?”
She opened one eye slowly. “I think we’ve ruined my dress.”
“I’ll get you a new one.” He took the iron from her and yanked the plug from the wall.
“What’ll I wear tonight then?” she moaned.
 He put the iron down and slowly turned her to face him.  “Remember? I like what you’ve got on now.” Pulling her closer, he gently kissed her lips. 
Find out more about Cassie and Mike's special moments in The Fixer-Uppers, available from Devine Destinies Books, Amazon, All Romance eBooks and wherever fine ebooks are sold! Have a great My Sexy Saturday blog hop!
http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com


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Blurbs In Bloom: Losing Who

Blurbs In Bloom: Losing Who



Losing Who is featured at Blurbs in Bloom this week!  Check out the excerpt at the link above.

I Pirated a Book

 Sponsored by 50 Shades of Great(ness)
I Pirated a Book
Lyrics by Cindy A. Matthews (Sung to the tune of I Started a Joke by the Bee Gees)
I pirated a book Which started the author crying But I didn't see That the joke was on me, oh no Downloaded the book Which started the hackers laughing Oh, if I'd only seen That the pirates had me I looked at my files Running my hands over my eyes I fell out of my chair Hitting the screen from things that I'd seen ‘Til my machine was fried Which started the hackers laughing Oh, if I'd only seen That the pirates had me I looked at my files Running my hands over my eyes And I started to cry Hitting the screen from things that I'd seen My device’s totally fried Which started the authors writing Oh, if I'd only seen, oh yeah That the pirates had me, oh no That the pirates had me, oh…
(Copyright 2015 by Cindy A. Matthews. Please do not re-post without my permission. With apologies to the incomparable Robin Gibb. Can’t you just hear him singing this in his emotion-filled falsetto?)
Why this filk of a classic Bee Gees’ song? The idea came to me one evening after a fellow author shared a link to a book pirate site where thousands of books (ebooks and print)  were being pirated. Guess what? Every single title that I had ever published (fiction, non-fiction, and children’s) was being pirated there. From my dwindling sales, I never realized how popular I was!
If you don’t know what “pirating books” (or ebooks, films, songs, etc.) means, it means that someone or some group of persons has stolen the electronic files of my books and were posting them without my permission or my publishers’ permission. Stolen books given away for free don’t make the author any royalties. This means the writer/publisher isn’t getting paid for the stolen copies. This is lost revenue that the government never gets to tax.
And before you make the argument that libraries “give away free ebooks all the time,” remember that libraries pay for their ebook copies. The library has purchased the rights to have the ebook on their electronic shelves for check out for certain number of downloads, and then they have to repurchase the ebook—like a worn out print book would need to be replaced. You can see that pirate web sites and libraries aren’t the same thing.
 To put it bluntly, pirate web sites aren’t legal and pirating books is outright theft. You wouldn’t walk into a Wal-Mart, Penney’s or a Target store and start jamming things into your coat pockets and walk out without paying for these items, would you? That sort of activity is called shoplifting, and when they catch you doing it they arrest you. The same goes with ebooks…They should be bought and paid for via legal channels, not stolen or pirated and given away without the expressed permission of the authors/publishers. (If you don’t get caught with the pirated materials, they can’t prosecute you, right? Read on and find out how you'll be punished. It’s worse.)
So, what does ebook piracy mean to me as an author? It means that people feel they can steal from me and other authors with impunity. Pirated books aren't counted as sales by my publishers, so I don't get paid for these lost copies. Authors are being robbed every minute of every day, and it's almost impossible to stop. Once you tell the pirate site to stop listing your books illegally and to remove them immediately, two more will pop up in its place and do the same. It's never ending. The only way it will stop is if readers will voluntarily stop pirating books and sharing pirated books.
Now you know why I don't write more books—I can’t afford to do so. I have to work several jobs to keep the heat on in the winter and food in the pantry. I hope you realize how hard things like this hit home to a struggling author. My books are obviously good enough to steal, but you don't want to support me in my career, huh? How would you feel if you were a carpenter or a hair stylist or painter and people came to you and wanted free products and services? You'd be upset. You wouldn't be able to support your family if people expected free things from you constantly and refused to pay you for your time. It’s no joke when people rob you, is it? 
Same here. 
Think before you pirate. Support your favorite authors—and your starving friends who are authors. Buy our books! I promise it will be worth your while. How so?
Recall what I mentioned earlier about shoplifting and punishment… When you think about it, you pay on average a couple of dollars (usually less than ten bucks) for an ebook file purchased from a legitimate web site, right? If you think that’s too expensive, think about all the wonderful viruses/trojans/and phishing scams that will be downloaded directly to your computer or computing device whenever you download an ebook from a pirate web site. 
Yes, you can receive a lot more than just a “free” stolen ebook installed onto your device! For example, the pirate site where I found my books listed recently was riddled with malicious viruses according to several knowledgeable sources. It was riddled with things that can hack into your computer and steal personal information such as your credit card numbers, address, social security numbers… Identity theft, anyone?
Pirated ebook files are far from clean or safe, and your computing device will pay the ultimately penalty when it seizes up and fries as my song says. It’s only a matter of time. “There’s no honor among thieves,” as the old saying goes. Every pirated download is like engaging in unprotected sex with a stranger, and the next virus could prove deadly. How much money will it cost you to fix your virus-riddled computing device? Hundreds of dollars or more, and in the end, you might simply have to throw it out and replace it. Talk about expensive!
And all because you wanted to steal a two dollar book instead of purchasing it through a legitimate site… The joke is on you, and the malware hackers are laughing their butts off all the way back to China, Russia, North Korea or wherever their thieves’ den may be located. You fell for their bait!
Feeling smart now?
Remember: Friends don’t let friends download or share pirated books. Not if they want to remain friends, that is. Don’t let your song become a sad one—resist ebook piracy.
You can legally pirate this book. I'm giving it away FREE.   


  Click on this link to download.

Crafting Great Story Openings (Story Hooks)

Overwhelming.

If most people could sum up their typical day in one word, overwhelming might be at the top of the list.

Think about your typical day. You have places to go, people to see, bills to pay, children to feed, spouses to listen to, bosses to deal with, appointments to make, and other unexpected diversions (some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant) coming at you from all sides. You really could use a break to relax and unwind, but it’s got to be a quick one because you don’t have much time. You have things to do!

What does the mad pace and constant rush of our current culture got to do with writing fiction? To put it succinctly—everything. A writer doesn’t have much time to get the twenty-first century reader hooked into a story before the reader realizes he/she has a million other things to do and puts the book (or Kindle) down to go tackle the to-do list. If you want to entice readers to pick up your book and keep turning pages—even when the kids are yelling for supper—then you’ve got to create a strong interest in your story and characters quickly using a bare minimum of words.

“But wait,” I hear some of you saying. “I have to tell the reader all about this wonderful world I’ve created first. I have to tell them about the planet’s terrain and the weather conditions, and the fantastic hairstyles they all have, and how the price of coffee affects who they vote for to become their supreme dictator…” 

I have just one word of advice about this sort of thing: Don’t.

The opening lines and pages of a story have one purpose only—to grab readers by the heartstrings and make them care about a character and the circumstances this character finds himself or herself in. If you’re using the opening pages to describe the weather, how are readers supposed to come to care for your character and his/her story? The reader wants to connect immediately with a character and experience his/her pain, joy, fear, or anxiety. The details of the setting can wait. Get us cheering for a character first.

One of the best ways to hook a reader is by starting in the middle of a scene that illustrates the character’s “journey”—a physical and/or emotional journey. In other words, the character from the very first line is about to take an action or make a decision that will change the course of his/her life. It can be as big as saving an entire star system or it can be more intimate like deciding whether or not to go on a blind date (the premise of one of my novels). Whatever the action, don’t start at the “absolute beginning” and list all the minute details, but rather start somewhere in the middle of the scene closer to the point when the character makes the decision that will propels him or her on a journey.  What's missing from this pretty picture? Maybe it's a "who"? 
You need a character in your opening scene, not just scenery.
Let’s say your heroine has already decided to go on the blind date. The first scene could show her getting ready for the hero to arrive at her front door, and he’s more than an hour late. Think emotions. What is going through her head right now? Fear? Boredom? Frustration? Did he back out at the last minute? Was he killed in a car accident? There are many emotions your heroine could be feeling, so choose one and start with it. Here’s the first line I’d go with:

“Some blind date he is—how dare he keep me waiting!” 

There’s a hint of frustration there, isn’t there? And possibly a little fear or worry. But as you can tell, I didn’t describe what my heroine is wearing or how she fixed her hair or even give her name. All those things can wait. The first line doesn’t need details—it needs to help your reader identify with a character and feel his/her emotions as if they were the reader’s own. If you’ve ever felt stood up while waiting for your date to arrive, I bet you can relate.

My next paragraph might be:

Rachel stomped her foot and growled at the back of her front door. It had been at least six weeks since her co-worker caught her in the break room crying over Billy dumping her. Why had she allowed Maddie to set her up on this stupid blind date with her bumpkin cousin who didn’t seem to own a watch? Did she really seem all that desperate?  On Monday morning, Rachel vowed to give Maddie a piece of her mind!

You’ll notice that a first scene doesn’t need to tellthe reader tons of background information. By showing the reader what is happening in the hearts and minds of your characters, the back story will come through. Keep in mind that fiction writers aren’t “storytellers”. In reality, writers are “story show-ers”.  If you showyour characters living their lives through their words and actions, you will never need to tell how they feel or bore readers with dry details. Your readers will experience your story through the character’s emotions and reactions to the situation. Your readers will live the scene through your characters…

And then you’ll have hooked them into your fictional world and the fascinating characters who inhabit it and the relationships they experience. The soup may boil over and the boss may keep texting, but your readers won’t want to put your book down because they have been caught up in a whirlwind of emotions and feel as if they’ve truly come alive inside your story. Now, that’s a great hook.



For more easy-to-follow tips on how to impress an editor and get your manuscript published,  read Defeating the Slushpile Monster.
  Available for the Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/kindleSlushpile and in print at http://tinyurl.com/slushpile
If you're looking for a freelance editor, send me an email with the subject line of "Editorial Services" at cynthianna@hotmail.com  








P.S. If you get a chance to review any of my books, thank you. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to leave me your opinion, good or bad. If you do a review, send me your email address and the link to the review so you can be entered into a special drawing. I promise the giveaway will be an exclusive for readers like you.

P.P.S. It's not too late to sign up to the Triple C Newsletter (sign up box on the right side bar). Subscribers will receive a free ebook!

Have you lost your mind? An excerpt from Losing Who

Welcome to another addition of the "My Sexy Saturday" blog hop tour. This week's theme is "Their Sexy Talk" and it's all about how lovers relate to each other. Hmm... What one couple finds "sexy" made be very different from what another couple finds romantic, but it takes all kinds of people to build a world, doesn't it?

Here's a  seven paragraph excerpt from my latest release from Mojocastle Press, Losing Who. When you're forced to wipe the memory of your lover in order to save her world, what can you to say to convince her that you still care about her? This is the dilemma alien time traveler John Smith faces with his human girlfriend Cici in this excerpt scene.




Losing Who
Book 3 in the Loving Who series
 
Cici Connors is losing her mind—or is she? John Smith vows to return her memories, but will his sci-fi convention only attract an invasion of Earth by artificially intelligent life forms?  


From Mojocastle Press   http://www.mojocastle.com/losing-who.html 
Also available at Amazon, All Romance eBooks and wherever fine ebooks are sold.

(Excerpt set-up: A telepathic conversation between lovers John and Cici, wherein he tries to explain why he had to blank her memories.)

The time lines…They got a bit muddy. We had to undo them and start afresh in order to keep the universe from exploding. You’re sensitive to how the time lines flow, Cici, but you’re not one of us who can step totally out of time and look at them objectively. So, you’ve got to trust me on this point—you know me from before, and I’ve come back for you against the wishes of my own kind.

Some of what he was relating to her mind made sense. Cici had felt these past few days as if she’d been yanked out of time and thrust back into it at another spot against her will. She sensed that the clock had been turned back and that she was reliving the same days again, only this time with a slightly different cast of characters in a completely different situation. You’re risking your own safety to be with me? she wondered.

I am. I’m risking your safety, too. That’s why I wanted to confess as soon as you seemed able to deal with this knowledge. If you want me out of your time line, I’ll go, Cici. But before I go, I wanted you to know that it wasn’t my idea to leave you behind in the first place.

You want to be with me? Cici felt tears burning beneath her eyelids, but she couldn’t find either her eyes or her tissue to wipe them away.

My kind doesn’t know what romance or love means really, but I think I’ve learned more about it since we met. It’s why I came back for you.
 
Damn… You’ve wrecked my cynicism. She felt the warmth of a sun upon her cheek like a kiss of an angel. Anything is possible, isn’t it, John Smith?

She heard a soft chuckle then, It is when you love someone, Cici Connors. Love makes all things possible. 
 

Losing Who is available from Mojocastle Press   www.mojocastle.com/losing-who.html 
Read more excerpts from the Loving Who series at my fiction web site: www.cynthianna.com

Book 1 Loving Who                                                                       Book 2 Leaving Who

And don't forget to sign up for my e-newsletter--I'm giving away a FREE ORIGINAL EBOOK to all subscribers featuring a story with John Smith and Cici Connors. (The sign up form is located on the right sidebar. I just need your email. Thanks!)
Have a great My Sexy Saturday!
http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com

We'll be seeing you at ConCoction and Millennicon!

http://www.mojocastle.com/losing-who.htmlIt's not often you get to crisscross a state and attend two sci-fi conventions within two weeks... Thank heavens! I just hope my health--and the weather--holds out. (Here that, winter? Be gone!)

But winter is nearly over and hubby AJ Matthews and I are rarin' to get out there and meet some fellow fans and talk about science fiction and writing. We'll be at Cleveland ConCoction March 13-15 and Cincinnati's Millennicon March 20-22. We'll be on quite a few panels, so they'll be plenty of opportunities to chat.

I hope to take some photos and post them here and in my new and improved newsletter upon our return. So, don't be shy! Let us know you want your photo in the newsletter/blog and I'll snap it. My digital camera takes a fairly good shot with enough lighting. But if you shoot a photo with your camera/phone you can always email it to me.
I haveprint copies of Loving Who and Leaving Who that I plan to autograph, at ConCoction. The third book in the trilogy, Losing Who, has been released this week in e-formats, too. Finally, I've completed the alien time traveler's John Smith and human companion Cici Connors' storyline...

...Or have I? I'm working on a story involving John and Cici that will become a free ebook gift for all my newsletter members. So, what have you got to lose? Sign up for the "Triple C Newsletter" below to receive your free book. And we'll be seeing you soon in the Buckeye State! O-H-I-O!


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Support Your Local “Pornographer” or Why Does Blogger Call My Blogs “Porn”?

  Here's my upcoming book cover. Are you shocked?

You think you’re an average citizen following the rules of civilized society and then something hits you from out of the blue to convince you of your true criminal intent. Yesterday I opened an email from Blogger (Google) saying that my blog has “adult content” and that it can be taken down (or made “private” against my will) so that no one can see it but me unless "sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video" aren’t taken down by March 23, 2015.

Okay, my romantic fiction book covers feature mostly clothed individuals and any “skin” you see on my erotic-romance covers is legal at any beach or poolside in North America. My publishers make extra-sure our book covers aren’t breaking the rules of decent society so that Amazon and other online retailers won’t list our books. What’s the deal?

I went to a Blogger forum to ask for clarification. “Why were my particular blogs targeted for this treatment?” I asked, and this is the answer I received:

The policy is designed to remove porn from Blogger.  It's a fuzzy policy.

Several questions from me (and others) later, and there was no one who could tell us what “pornography” our blogs contained or what Google means by “porn that it wants removed”. Frustrated, I stated, “I think there's just blatant censorship happening here.” And the reply to my statement was:

            No, there really is a problem.  You just make sure that your blog does not contribute.

I’m not saying that there are no blogs on Blogger that contain images or text that could be considered in violation of pornography laws of local jurisdictions—because there are millions of blogs out there and I’ve seen only a handful—but I am saying that indiscriminately labeling blogs with “adult content” as “porn” is painting a picture that many bloggers are somehow social deviants and possible criminals who produce “porn” for an unsuspecting audience. Does this mean our readers are “deviants”, too?

I don’t know about you, but I despise being labeled with a word that carries so much hate and negativity such as “pornographer”. I hate not being able to defend myself and my writings against a faceless corporation who gladly takes our advertising revenue but tells us what we can or cannot post. Why am I and other bloggers being labeled “guilty until proven innocent”? Isn’t Google located in the United States of America? I thought it was “innocent until proven guilty” here. My mistake!

I take the statement, “Make sure that your blog does not contribute,” to mean that at least some of my blogs contain “porn” and, essentially, Google is prepared to censor all blogs it feels qualifies as such. So, what is exactly constitutes “porn” for Google, Inc., and how are they measuring these “adult content” blogs for “porn”? Are they using a computer algorithm or program? A human being with half a brain? A political group with an agenda?

And what exactly is “adult content”? Adults read romantic fiction, so all romance novels could be labeled “adult content” in the broadest sense, including my PG rated books, but so could true crime novels with horrifically graphic murder scenes. You wouldn’t want your children reading those sorts of stories, would you? And non-fiction about war and war crimes…ugh! That’s not G rated stuff, is it? 

Why am I hearing the Rev. Lovejoy’s wife from The Simpsons crying, “Think of the children!” over and over in my head? 
Why aren’t parents doing their jobs and keeping the kids off the computer and away from things they shouldn’t be seeing until their old enough to understand them? Why is Google so anxious to play “Net Nanny” for these lazy parents? Will they make money off of the exercise?

The more you think about it, the more abusive and potentially dangerous this new policy of Blogger sounds.

Do you believe Google, that is Blogger, has the right to censor blogs just because they (or whatever or whomever they’ve hired to screen blogs) consider them pornographic? Who gets to decide how narrow or how broad the definition of “porn” is when it comes to freedom of speech?

Please leave your comments below. And please sign up for my e-newsletter on the sidebar so we can keep in touch because you never know… This could be my last public blog post. I’m a “pornographer”, you know?

Please join my new e-newsletter mailing list

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 Because I miss creating and sending out my monthly e-newsletter full of  my latest book release news, excerpts, contest events, Q & A for writers and other fun stuff, I've started a new mailing list with the very cool MailChimp program. SORMAG publisher and all-around promo-diva, LaShaunda Hoffman, informs me this is the way to go nowadays to connect with readers. And if the smart and savvy LaShaunda says it works, I believe her! ;-) So, please sign up below and feel free to tell your friends, too. Thank you.Subscribe to my "Triple C" mailing list today!* indicates requiredEmail Address * First Name Last Name Powered by MailChimp