Cate Ellink's Blog, page 47

Wildlife Wednesday - Koel

This is a male Koel. I've featured the Koel before but with the juvenile/female photo, you can see it here.

I've never seen a male before, but I was doing something outside and I heard a bird land on the bird bath (and there is a smidgey bit of water in it even though it looks empty!). I snuck over to have a look and couldn't believe my eyes - a bird I didn't know! So I went very quietly inside and got my camera and the lovely thing waited for me. So I shot off a heap of photos, then I went inside to the bird book (my well-thumbed bird book!).

So I thought catbird or spotted drongo, but they weren't right. I rang and chatted to Dad because he'd sent me an email about catbirds which had them on my mind. But he agreed it wasn't right. So while I yarned to Dad I flicked through my book and lo and behold, a Koel! Dad and I are familiar with the female/juvenile Koels with their striped tails, but neither of us had seen the male.

So that was my excitement for that day - capturing an image of the male Koel...and adding another bit of knowledge to my wildlife brain.

Do you have Koels near you?

Sunday Story - the life of an erotic writer

I need to have a little rant today...about the slurs erotic writers cop all the frigging time. Not just from non-writers, but from writers too - and within the romance community. You'd think we were writing about horrible, awful things instead of something that is normal and natural. It's almost as if they think sex is shockingly disgusting (and therefore we are too) yet I can prove most of the whingers and complainers have actually had sex (they have natural-born children - can't have more proof than that).

People who write erotic romance, can actually write. It's not that all our stories contain is sex. We tell a story, we add sex into that story. We have all the skills of a 'normal' romance writer, with the added skill of writing a fully depicted sex scene.

People who write erotic romance are entitled to be published and publicised, have readers, have series, have support from publishing houses. We aren't a lesser entity because of what we write. We're writers. We write stories.

And contrary to popular opinion, we can write stories where the sex is minimal, or even non-existent. There are quite a few erotic authors with 'sweet' stories too, and some who write in two or more sub-genres (one being not erotic). So we don't need to have sex in our stories, we choose to. If you'd like us to write something that's 'sweet' then all you need to do is ask politely - no need for nastiness or assumptions that we're incapable.

People who write erotic romance are illuminating a shadowy side of life - sex lives. Society tries to hide from sex, or snigger about it, or be shocked by it - but erotic writers are taking a stand and saying that we're proud to discuss sex. It's a natural facet of life that doesn't need the shadows and innuendo and crap.

So next time you're going to sneer at someone, think about what you're actually saying and showing. Sometimes you're a hypocrite - especially when your child is proof that you've had sex at least once!

If you prefer me not to speak about sex, I'm more than happy to discuss other topics. I've been doing so for many years and am quite capable of holding a conversation without 'corrupting' you, or even mentioning sex.

I'm an erotic writer. I write about sex. I have an imagination. I tell stories. And I'm bloody proud of what I do.

Phallic Friday - long hair

Sometimes I like men with long hair - there's something wild and untamed about it. They're bucking society's standards and pleasing themselves. Bad boys :) There are a lot of them as the heroes in romances, so I can't be alone in my thoughts.

But there's also a fetishism about long hair. I don't have that fetish, although I do have long hair. Some men like to watch women brush/comb their long hair. Others like to do the brushing/combing. Sometimes it's not the brushing/combing but the movement of the hair, or the hair wrapped around them, spread over them, tickling or touching them.

Hair fetishism need not to be confined to the hair on a head, it can also be for pubic hair, chest hair, underarm hair, leg hair, fur. It can be for long/short, wet/dry, thick/thin, various/particular colour of hair. Pubic hair extensions can also be a fetishism (merkins anyone?).

There's also haircut fetishism where the cutting of hair, or the paraphernalia associated with that, causes the sexual arousal.

My dancing man had long hair, and one of the girls who works at the club has really long hair (below her butt). Peri has long hair too but not that long.

So I'm going to play with a few of the hair fetishisms in the story. The hot male with long hair, who's a lot wild and quite a wickedly sinful Dom. He's going to intrigue Peri after the dance scene. She's going to question why he's such a popular person at the club. She'll be thinking of his physique, actions and manner, but also his appearance and how much an impact that has on people.

She's going to watch while the long haired lady uses her hair in scenes with men and women - brushing, combing, flicking, washing. She'll watch as the participants react and beg to touch. She'll wonder if she can do the same even though her hair is only to her waist. And she'll wonder about her past.

Then I'll investigate haircut fetishism. One of the long haired people will have their haircut short, or shaved, by someone aroused by this. Or maybe a crowd of people aroused by it...I've only got a draft so far, so it's not very good yet.

Then maybe contrast the person's appeal when they had long hair vs short hair...see if their appeal changed, or if it was only with certain people.

Who thought you could get so many story lines from a single fetish? Have you got any ideas for me?

Wildlife Wednesday - Black Flower Wasps

More unknowns...I told you last week I thought it was deliberate, that the insects are ganging up on me!

These ones are beautiful and intriguing. And Mr E noticed and commented on them, so they must be more than your average beetle!

In the front yard we have a strip of agapanthus instead of a fence. Close to the letterbox is one bed, then there's a small gap to the other bed (no idea why, they were there when we moved here!). These blue-black beetles with bright blue-purple wings are zooming around the bed closest to the letterbox and not the other bed. Why? Who knows!

I stood out there trying to get a photo for a while (10 minutes or more) and took maybe 20 photos before I snared these 3 (by putting the camera on sports mode). These bugs do not stop. Well, one did, for about a second near my foot but all I got was a photo of grass.

They're not small, maybe 3 cm long. They're extremely noticeable ... but almost impossible to see clearly. There are about 5 of them out there and they've been there for a week.

I've never seen anything that colour before, or that size.

Not even sure what to Google about them...but I'll try blue bug. I'm not even sure if they're a beetle or a bug or a fly. The photos don't clearly show a hard carapace (shell) that might cover the wings, so it may not be a beetle, but often you can't see them in flight.

Oh, good grief! I think blue flying bug found it for me!

I first found this on a gardening forum - Midgin, they are Black Flower Wasps (Discolia soror) their wings are iridescent blue.
They are native solitary wasps and at this time of year you often see them hovering around compost heaps and lawns, they also feed on nectar.....the female wasp burrows onto the soil to locate beetle larvae..(curl grubs etc) which she stings then lays an egg on, the larvae of the wasp then has a food source until the following season when it emerges from underground, so are useful predators to have around.
They can sting but are usually not aggressive.

Then I found the Victoria Museum had information - 
The flower wasp most frequently seen in the back yard of most Victorians is. These wasps will most likely be seen flying just above ground level and in particular flying near or around compost heaps, wood heaps or dead stumps of trees. They can be easily recognised by:their wings, which have a distinctive, metallic, blue-purple sheentheir size, which is usually 2.5 to 3.0 cmtheir colour, which is predominantly blacktheir wing veins, which do reach the margin of the wingtheir antennae, which are short.WOW... I love Google :) I love doing this post so I find out what these things are. I'm off to ogle them again now!

Phallic Friday - erotic dance

One of the first fetish ideas that came to me was dance. What do you think of when I first say "erotic dance"? Well, mine was rubbing up against a
guy who was wearing not a lot... you can probably blame my interest in Manpower in my younger days and my friends.

There are a few forms of erotic dance - like stripping and pole dancing - but I'm interested in the one-on-one form, which could include lap dances and private strip teases, but doesn't for this story.

For this story I'm developing a scene from a few past ideas and events.

Years back, a friend told me that you could check out a man's package if you danced right up close to him - yes, I think we were drunk at the time, but she was right. Dance right up close and grind your hips against his and you certainly can check out his gear if there's good chemistry happening. Have you ever done that? Or was I led astray by my friends? :)

When I was young, there was a magazine, Australian Women's Forum, that was something like a cross between a woman's magazine and playboy for women. I subscribed. One month's issue had this incredible photo spread of a guy, who was wet, near naked, really exquisitely muscled, and in my favourite image, kneeling on some rocks or the sand or something (who cared about the background when he caught my eye!?). Turned out he was Jamie Durie and he was in Manpower. I made a promise to myself that I'd see him for real. Some months later, or even longer, Manpower were coming to the town I worked in. I was probably the last person anyone expected to gather together a bunch of women to go to Manpower, but that's what I did. I think half a dozen of us went and I admitted to my crush. Not only was the show amazing, but Manpower were having photos afterwards with groups of women. We went...and god love those girls...they had me plonked on Jamie Durie's lap. That photo adorned my office wall for years!

So, my scene in this book is going to use a guy built like Jamie Durie at his Manpower peak (maybe bigger), and a bit of dancing like he did with Manpower, but with my heroine doing some package checking moves. Do you think that could work?

Here's a little extract from the first draft of the scene:



I dance close to him, lured by his movements. We touch. A brief slip of his fingers against my arm but it’s like lightning. My body jerks to a halt. My arm burns. I resume dancing but I’m addicted to his touch. We brush each other more. His hand against my arm. My fingers brush his chest. His hand slides over my hip. Mine curves over his thigh. It’s now a heady dance of touching and not touching. Of closeness and distance. My lust burns strongly. My body tingles with passion. I want to be covered by this man. I want to be smothered by him, moulded against him, cradled in those powerful thighs. I dance around him. Circling faster and faster. Closer and closer. My breasts scrape against his back, my nipples rock hard from the contact. My breath jams in my throat but I keep moving. I dance in front of him and he catches me. His arms around my body. I’m pulled flush against him. My nipples aren’t the only thing rock hard.His arms are like vices. His chest burning hard muscle. His thighs trap me with ease. His cock scores my stomach. And still we writhe together to the tempo. I’m held captive but still moving. It’s thrilling. I’ve never felt so alive. I rub against his chest until my nipples are at the point where I can’t tell if it’s pleasure or pain I feel. I moan and he leans me backwards over his arm. My cunt’s pressed against his rock hard thigh. My breasts push upwards, straining against the now oil-covered pink lace. Warm air drifts across the aching peaks. I writhe. I’m pressing down on his thigh, stretching my legs so I can open my labia and seek release. But it isn’t enough happening. I can’t press down hard enough.My nipples scream for attention but all that touches them is air and the warrior’s gaze. Both are hot and neither are enough. I squirm against him, trying to press my clit against his hard thigh muscles but the way I’m bent stops the access I need. It’s not enough. Not nearly enough.It’s so long since I’ve felt this alive. This close to release. As I press downwards again, arching so my breasts strain further against the lace, the warrior growls. His eyes dark seconds before his mouth opens and his tongue pushes out to lap his lips. An aching throb bolts through my body. I want his tongue on me.He lowers his head. So slowly it’s torturous to watch. His eyes widen as he draws close to my breast. I wait. Holding my breath. Straining. Dying.Heat. Hot breath. Warmth. Moisture. Pressure. Ahhhh. He sucks my left nipple into his mouth. It’s exquisite. My body relaxes as that tiny moment of release comes. Relaxation isn’t for long. He laps my nipple with his tongue. He sucks it into his mouth and laps. He bites. Sucks. Pulls. Teases. Flicks. Rolls. Twists. It’s wickedly beautiful torture. My left breast aches with pleasure. My right throbs with need.I rub on his thigh. The soaking moisture making a slippery surface for my movement. I can’t find release but the pleasure-pain balance is perfect. I’ve never experienced it before. Never been tormented to longing. Never been seduced to frenzy. And I’m frenzied. I need to come.

Wildlife Wednesday - black ladybird

Okay, call me paranoid, but I think critters are coming into my yard just to frustrate me! I have more bugs I've never seen before and have no idea what they are. Do you think it's a revenge of the insects?

Today's specimen is a black ladybird. Usually the ladybirds I see are black with lots of orange spots...but this one is black with a couple of yellow spots.

So, off I go to Google and investigate!

Gardening Australia is going to enlighten me today with their fact sheet on lady birds. You can click the GA link to go there, or I'll summarise.

There are 100 species of Ladybirds in Australia!! Holy cow.

There are four common garden species. And the one in my photo might be this one:
The fungus eating ladybird has very bold black and yellow colouration. Both adults and larvae feed on mildew fungus, which is a really common problem in gardens.

Oh, CSIRO has a ladybird page. It's here.

CSIRO says there are over 500 species in Australia on ladybirds!!!

They lay eggs, some species up to 100 eggs. Once hatched, they have larva and pupal stages that don't last very long (only a few days to a fortnight) before they become the adult beetle we see. Males mate within a few days of emerging into an adult. Copulation can last 15-60 minutes, and sometimes hours or days (that's some serious sex time for a tiny beetle!).

Oh...this site is a dream. They have images to compare species.

And this isn't a fungus-eating ladybird. So it's something else judging from the images. But I can't tell you what because I got distracted... OMG! One of the images you can choose is penis. Of course I clicked - and it's fairly safe to do so as long as the word penis doesn't bother you. You can click here.

Some of the shapes are beautiful. Like some intricately carved piece. Some species more elaborate than others. Oh my! Naughty Ninjas, I'll send this to you!! Naughty Nature at it's best and most beautiful!

Okay, I'm off to examine more now. Enjoy :)

Sunday Story - Forbidden

I am such a Charlotte Stein fan after being pushed her way by Ainslie Paton and Rhyll Biest, and her latest book, Forbidden, landed on my iPad even though I tried to resist. I blame Ainslie, who wanted to talk to me about how good it was!!!

And it is. It's so so so so so deep this time that the girl speaks funny and you still go with it! And CS never drops out of voice. It's amazing.

It's the type of book I have to read in one sitting though so I get the whole picture without break...plus it's rude when someone's talking in your head to stop them! (Please don't say I said that! I sound mad).

This is the sexy priest book that CS had tweeted about. Being raised around priests, this has always been an interesting subject for me, especially after I was banned from The Thorn Birds in my youth (not that a ban meant anything to me except I had to be sneaky and read fast).

I know this is unbelievable, but when I was about 18, I cooked for a weekend retreat for a bunch of guys who thought they wanted to be priests. (Please don't ask why my parents let me cook for a weekend live-in retreat for 20 men - and me, on my own!!) The guy running the weekend was a family friend and a priest (which is why I was there) and he jokingly called me "Mother Confessor". I had guys in the kitchen constantly. They were all in their 20s or so, and they talked. I heard about girlfriends they said they didn't have. I heard about sadness, broken hearts, unhappy childhoods. Lordy me! I could tell you who would make it through and who wouldn't - or shouldn't. It was an astounding thing to be a part of.

This book made me remember such times. God, I spent an inordinate amount of time at the seminary - even celebrated my last exam drinking beer with seminarians on the top deck of the building. LOL! How I ended up writing erotic stories is kind of an unexpected path after that kind of a childhood, isn't it?

Anyway, the latest Charlotte Stein book hit a chord with me. The dark sexy priest who tried to help a girl filled with the devil! Try it...I doubt you'll be disappointed!

Phallic Friday - sexual awakening

I've started writing a new book - all about sexual awakening. So on Phallic Fridays, I'm going to explore something to do with the story, to see if I can get some facts, some ideas and think out the ideas.

So the idea is that a woman, Peri, starts work in a Fetish Club. She thinks she's quite experienced with sex and she's submissive. I hope she'll discover a world she didn't know existed, and learn that she's not submissive at all. I also want it to be a bit confronting to Peri, for she'll realise she's been abused, not educated, in the past.

It probably won't be a comfortable book, but we'll see how I go.

I want to investigate some popular and not-so-popular fetishes and think about what makes them work for people. I want Peri to react to them positively or negatively, but above all respect and try to understand them.

So what kind of fetishes/sexual explorations are there? I've done a few Internet searches to find some popular and odd ones, and this is the list I've come up with so far:

erotic dance
long hair
mutual masturbation
dominance-submissive (power balance)
teasing and leave hanging (ie no orgasm/release)
role play
cross dressing
shoes/stockings/feet/toes
latex/rubber/leather
whipping/spanking
binding
golden showers and scat play
watching people sleep
teddy bears and fluffies
nappies
immobility/mannequins
rape and other extreme D/s roles
shaving/hairlessness
group sex/swinging
voyeurism/exhibitionism
piercings
tattoos
touching strangers surreptiously
pain
messy/dirty partners
cuckolding


I'm not sure I can deal with all of these. I have a whiteboard with my list...but who knows what my characters end up wanting me to explore!

So if you have anything you think I could add to my list for exploration on Phallic Fridays, please let me know. And make sure you have your say each Friday when I try to explore a different topic.

Wildlife Wednesday - ants and aphids

I took this photo the other week in my garden just because the ant made a great contrast with the begonia. Then when I downloaded it, I noticed the aphids on the petal at the back.

I've no idea what sort of any this is...but after last week, I'm just pleased to know it's an ant!

The Museum of Victoria has some good ant info, you can find it here.

Ants live in a highly specialised society. A queen is the centre of this society and there are workers (sterile females) and reproductive males. The workers keep the society functioning--they feed the queen, tend the young, protect and build the colony, as well as growing it as required. The males are there solely to fertilise the queen. She's lays eggs, and lays eggs, and lays eggs!

Makes me think being a worker is hard work but not a bad job. At least you get to see the world, and do things other than just focus on reproduction! Or maybe that's not so bad...hmmmm...at least there's a variety of males...

Happy Australia Day!!

I thought I'd post some photos of what I think is great about Australia! Have a great Aussie Day :)The Pinnacles - and other fabulous locations
Gorgeous fish
Long drives and funny wildlife
Whales
Rock Wallabies that blend into the rocks
Blue-tongue lizards
Emus!
Country racing and the Race that stops the Nation!
Nice shady verandahs
Echidnas - more weird wildlife
Beautiful locations, like Lord Howe Island
And footy and cute footy players for all tastes :)