Liz Everly's Blog, page 143

I’m a Monster–A Monster! 10 Reasons Why We Like Cuddling Monster Dudes

If you build it, maybe you can have sex with it? Dr. Frank N Furter was a DIY sexual genius.

by Madeline Iva

Craving large hairy hands on your hot bod for this spooky holiday? That’s right we’re talking monsters today — sexy paranormal hotties, and even old skool howling towers of misery that wanna cuddle.

Ultimately, us intelligent, quirky gals find monsters eternally appealing.  Here are the top 10 reasons why:

1) I Feel Pretty if monsters are ugly, then we’re automatically pretty by comparison.  No monster ever told his girl she could stand to lose a few .

2)It’s A Matta of Ethics–Your monster dude has probably killed people in the past (hey, it happens). Well don’t that make you look good? You can go from being the woman with cheeto crumbles on her shirt to Mother Teresa–if only by comparison.

So you didn’t pay your taxes. He’s killed people. Polish that halo and wear it with pride.

3)Because Life is a Box of Chocolates–Left Out in the Sun for Six Hours.  Face it, life is a lot more messy than Harlequin romance care to admit.  Sometimes we feel drecky.  Untidy.  Parking tickets, those hairy legs (yours not his), and when was the last time you bought new underwear? However Monsters have a whole other level of mess  going on in their lives.  When they’re pursued by a howling village mob they won’t really mind your unwashed sheets.

4) Oh the humanity! – No monster worth his salt is complete without a big set of bedroom eyes.  Those puppy dog glances pierce your soul with their humanity.  You can’t help but recognize and respond to it.

Those puppy dog glances pierce your soul with their humanity. You can’t help but recognize and respond to it. Except for Mr. Fishy here.

5) Lower the bar — Maybe you’re too picky? Dating that monster might just shut the pie hole of your own personal peanut gallery.  No frenemy’s gonna say he’s out of your league if he’s recently served Satan in hell.

6) Stepping Outside the Box:  Hooking up with a monster is the ultimate in unconventional relationships.  The added bonus is it’ll drive your folks crazy.

7) Childless or Child Free? Monsters don’t seem to procreate — and that’s okay.  Vampires can’t have kids either.  Unless they can.  But mostly, no, they can’t.  This doesn’t really bother a lot of heroines as far as I’ve noticed.  (Hmmm.)

Scott Speedman in Underworld…yummy werewolf guy.

8) Beauty & The Bling Monsters are often wealthy…Census records indicate there were zero homeless monsters in 2012.  QED: Most monsters are a good catch. In financial terms that is.  As long as deep down, you know, they don’t want to kill you.  (I’m talking to you Edward Cullen.)

9) Wild Thing. I think I love you — phantom of the opera, vampires, werewolves, frankenstein, demons, mutants (and all X men types in general) all they need is love.  Monsters are sensitive, mostly, I guess.  They certainly emote. They want to connect, even if it’s only in terms of grunting a lot.

10) Kiss His Boo-Boo & Make It Better– Monsters need nurturing.  Yet all they encounter are haters aka society.  You can repair the flaws of an unforgiving world by showing your favorite boo-beast the best side of human love.  Don’t be fooled; despite his difference your monster man ultimately craves acceptance.

I wanna hold your hand. Fine, just don’t rip my arm off like last time.

Now it’s your turn reader — What’s your fav kind of monster? Do you like them pretty on the outside and bad on the inside or vice versa? I hafta say sometimes I don’t mind a little big n lumpy–especially if he bears a strong resemblance to say, Javier Bardem or Liam Neeson.

Meanwhile, put that candy back in the bowl–it’s for the kids. Follow our blog instead — For zero calories you can treat yourself to some LadySmut fun every day.

Indecent As I Wanna Be

By Elizabeth Shore

I received a comment recently on a post I wrote about Gladiators from Lance Brewer of an organization called “Friends of Decency.” The Friends’ mission, according to their website, is to “stand together to promote decency.” And, as part of their efforts, they encourage banning books that they consider offensive. Now, Lance here strikes me as a rather misguided chap – after all, he’s asking an erotic romance writer to join him in banning books – but hey, I figured I’d find out exactly what indecent books have the Friends so up in arms.

Turns out, the top five current crop includes such miscreants as The Hunger Games, Twilight, and The Help. Yes, The Help. Say what? If you’re like me, you’re asking yourself why these books tower above all others in their egregious depictions of indecency. What’s so offensive about Twilight, for example, that I should exorcise it from my shelf? And seriously, The Help? According to the Friends, it’s because those books contain and/or promote such indecencies running the gamut from sexuality, lesbianism, “sassy” characters, defiance of authority and, in the case of Twilight, satanism. Sexuality and sassiness and satanism? Oh my!

To be clear, I’m hardly going to object to people not wanting to read erotic romance because they’re not comfortable – for whatever reason – with the kind of storylines, descriptions, or plots in those types of books. Hey, different strokes for different folks, right? For plenty of people erotic romance is too graphic, not compelling, or just plain “not their thing.” That’s OK. But Friends of Decency stating that what we write is “indecent” makes me want to stand up, get all sassy (doh!), and wave a scolding finger in their judgmental faces. Who you callin’ indecent, Friend?

The definition of “decency” declares it to be: “behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality and respectability.” So if someone is labeled as “indecent,” so goes the thinking, her behavior would therefore be immoral and disrespectable. And that’s where I have a beef with the Friends.

Yes, our characters have sex. Lots of it. And we writers give readers a detailed play-by-play. Our characters also fall in love, are respected by their partners, and have clear consciences guiding them in the differences between right and wrong. Is it “indecent” if two women love each other? If two men do? If writers choose to provide titillating, arousing descriptions of lovemaking, should a group like The Friends of Decency decide that such books are immoral and should never see the light of day?

Not to sound like Captain Obvious, but there’s a huge free speech implication here as well. I’m sure the Friends of Decency would strongly object to someone telling them they can’t spread their message, just as we object to them telling us that we can’t spread ours. Moreover, to judge something as “indecent” solely because it promotes sexuality no doubt has Sigmund Freud rolling in his grave. After all, sexual repression, Freud argued, is the cause of many problems in Western society.

So Friends, call me indecent if you want, but I’m going to call you ignorant, foolish, and missing out on a lot of great books. Furthermore, because I’m just such a sassy gal, I might even re-read Twilight. After all, Halloween’s coming.

Stirred up? Feeling like a rebel? Then don’t forget to follow us for more of our naughty posts.

Step Back Bloodsuckers: A New HOT Vampire is in Town

By Liz Everly

If you’re a regular reader of Lady Smut, you know I have a love-hate relationship with vampires. In fact, here’s my earlier post about them. Vampires are so much a part of my psyche that I recently wrote a short story featuring vampires. It quenched my obsession for a time.  There have been so many sexy vamps in my life—maybe yours, as well? But on Friday night, the NBC’s new series Dracula debuted with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula…be still my beating heart, and um, a few other places as well. Fanning myself right now.

I first saw Jonathan in The Tudors, where he played King Henry with such passion and eloquence. The series was a hit—and I’m betting a lot of that had to do with him, though the rest of the cast was brilliant. But what can you say, right?

So, back to the new Dracula. (Sorry, I was a wee bit distracted there. but can you blame me?)

The new Dracula is set in Victorian England. And this Dracula has a mission of revenge.

Dracula’s enemies, known simply as the Order of the Dragon, are the whole reason the he’s come to Victorian England; and several of them already gotten a taste of his revenge.

Jonathan is exactly how you’d expect him to be as Dracula — cold, calculating, smart. and smoldering. Ohmigoodness, there was a scene in the balcony at the opera with Lady Jane (Victoria Smurfit). Um. Well. Before he even so much as kisses her, her skirt is hitched, he grabs beneath it, and she gasps. It was so hot, I felt like I might have been violated, and I didn’t mind one bit. Grin.

As a series opener, I thought it offered promise. It dragged in a few places—but I am oh so willing to give it another chance. Even with a bit of dragging, it held my interest and is better than most TV I’ve seen lately.

With Halloween coming on Thursday, I’m sure many of us are thinking about vampires, right? Along with other dark menacing figures. Halloween is my favorite holiday. Can’t wait to go trick or treating with my kids and neighborhood. The day after Halloween, Nov. 1, check on my blog. I’m a part of  the “Hungry Hearts” blog hop and we are giving away many FABULOUS prizes. See you then!

In the mean time, subscribe to Lady Smut so you don’t miss one delicious post.

Losing the Fun in Fandom

Here at Lady Smut, we’re not just writers of romance, we’re fans of it too. Many of us started writing stories and novels out of love for what we’d already read in the genre and a desire to contribute our own yarns. Writing, like many creative expressions. is a passion – it has to be because it sucks more times than not and if you’re not passionate about it, if you’re not compelled by some indefinable crazy to put words down on a page, or characters on a stage, or paint on a canvas, you’ll never stick with it.

I suspect it must be quite rewarding when people find your creation worthy of their own fan enthusiasm. But when does fandom reach a level of mania that strips out all the fun?

The most recent dust up about fandom surrounds the YA book Allegiant, the third and final installment in author Veronica Roth’s dystopian trilogy. While I haven’t read any of Roth’s work, I’m fascinated by the fan meltdown over her controversial ending. Roth has endured bodily threats among other objections to her killing the main character at the end of the series, much as Charlaine Harris endured over Sookie Stackhouse’s choice of lover when she ended that series. There have been similar reactions to the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series in their day as well as other hotly loved books.

Mind you, fans are essential to the commercial success of any creative endeavor. But lately, fandom, in general, has become its own ouroboros, eating its tail with an overblown sense of entitlement and demand. These days, fans seem as likely to turn on a show or author for not fulfilling their ideas of how the narrative should go as they are to celebrate the objects of their devotion. Full disclosure: I am again the argument of my own scorn as I’m just as likely as the next fan to write a few thousand heated words in my upset about a show or book’s direction, but to date, I’m pretty sure I’ve never threatened anyone’s life.

Over at bookriot.com, Kit Steinkellner has an excellent post about fandom called Hell Hath No Fury Like a Superfan Scorned tied to the over-the-top reactions to Allegiant that I thought could easily apply to all modern fandom in general.

“The fans that made the book the success know they are responsible for this success. So many stop seeing themselves as mere fans and begin to see themselves almost like a board of directors, shareholders in a company, people whose demands must be met. The problem is, their demands do not have to be met. They feel like partial owners, but they are really just readers. This discrepancy between perceived power and real power is jarring.”

A Flavorwire.com post on the same stated it this way with an eye on the youthfulness of Roth’s main audience:

“This is one of the costs of commercial fiction, of course; if you view your books as “serving” an audience (read: customer base) it is hardly strange that they in turn feel entitled to all the usual treatment from a proper returns and complaints department. “

I’m a fan of many things and I regularly geek out hard over books and movies and television shows. I can be (and have repeatedly been) disappointed for having invested in a book or TV show that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to and can (and often do) express that dislike.  I can (and do) express ways I wish a show or series will continue, but that doesn’t give me the right to demand the creators do it my way or threaten them with bodily harm when they don’t. For example, I’m less than pleased with the fact that Helen Fielding has reportedly killed off Mark Darcy in her latest Bridget Jones installment, but I don’t deny her right to do as she will with her own characters. I’m not going to buy the book, but that’s the risk she ran in choosing a move that was bound to be controversial. People are now harassing the writers of the show Castle on Twitter over a perceived slight about a cut romantic scene (that’s what the DVD extras are for, guys!). My love for The Twitter is no secret, but the false intimacy created by social media is, I think, a direct contributor to this sense of potentially fatal fan entitlement.

My first and to date only experience being in a fandom is my association with the television show Lost Girl that’s come out of the extensive recaps I write on the show for heroesandheartbreakers.com. It’s been an education, I can promise you, and I’ve definitely seen threats made in one way or another against the producers and even the actors by virulent factions of the fan base. But it’s a television show, not a blood sport, and some reactions to which I’ve been privy have made my head spin with their depths of WTFery. There’s been many a time when I’ve wondered if it’s all just gone too far to be any fun any more.

What do you think? Is there a responsibility by an author or showrunner to give fans what they clamor for in the narrative or with the characters’ journeys and relationships? Or has fandom run amok in its increasing demands for a voice in how beloved series should continue and/or conclude? Where should the line be drawn?

Be sure to follow LadySmut for more such scintillating scenarios.

The Devil You Know … Still Can’t Make You Do It

By Alexa Day

It’s the time of year for celebrating all things dark and scary! My favorite holiday, Halloween, is Thursday, and this year, I find my thoughts turning to Eternal Bad Boy #1: the devil. He’s not my usual fare. Sure, the devil brings lots of cerebral heft to everything he does, but that’s because he is pursuing his own agenda at the expense of everyone else’s. And he’s, you know, the devil. I do respect the occasional moral boundary from time to time.

He might be problematic as a hero, but the devil has a lot to offer the fictional world of erotic romance as a complicating factor. He’s been around long enough to be jaded and unimpressed with the “piece of work” that is mankind. He lives outside the moral code that seems to bind the rest of us. He enjoys the sensual fruits the world has to offer without consequence. And why not? He can afford to live like there’s no tomorrow because he answers to no one, and he wants us to live that way, too.

The devil’s only power is seduction. Despite the popular saying, he can’t make us do anything. He can only make us choose to do things. To do that, he has to make certain choices seem very, very attractive. He has to make wrong look oh-so-right.

Sometimes the devil just makes expensive look right. It just depends.

To do that, he’ll use his vast worldly expertise. He knows what we on Earth want in our mouths or in our hot little hands. He knows where the black and white lines of our conscience blend together in spectrums of gray. He’ll pit his sexy strength against our personal weaknesses, and he’ll wait.

Before long, the world is consumed by the pain of not having our heart’s desire, and we’re starting to think the way the devil wants us to think. Just one time. Who would ever know? Why shouldn’t I?

The prospect of forbidden pleasure, the anticipation, and finally the moment when temptation turns to reality – it’s all part of his diabolical world. And it’s all so much fun to write! I love exploring how far a character is willing to go to get what he wants. I love testing them with things they shouldn’t want in the first place. Most of all, I love making all this torture worth their while. In erotic romance, the wages of sin can be downright delicious.

So who’s making bad look extra good these days on the big and little screens? What would make you sit down for an infernal negotiation? I don’t care how intently Willem Dafoe gazes at me, he’s not getting my signature in exchange for a Mercedes. I’m looking hard at a student loan — for starters. Think it over in the comments, and be sure to surrender to the temptation to follow Lady Smut.

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

Photo by Dollen

By Liz Everly and the Lady Smut Bloggers

Hello, Sexy! Do you feel the chill in the air where you live? Here in Virginia, it’s time to wrap up in soft, warm blankets and indulge in some hot cocoa, perhaps. Ah, autumn!

The Lady Smut bloggers have been scouring in Internets and choosing some of our favorite blog posts to pass on for your reading pleasure.

Enjoy!

From Liz Everly:

Jody Hedlund on the writer’s voice.

Chick Swagger, one of our FAVORITE blogs, on the size of “bananas.” hehehehe.

The Honest Courtesan on sexual repression.

Trudy Doyle on how to write a query letter.

From Madeline Iva:

Sex is apparently better after 50– the nitty gritty on why from Health Magazine.

Ellora’s Cave thinks so too.  They’ve put out a call for romance stories about “Va-Va Boomers” –AKA the over 50 set.

How to be a Preppy Girl.

We’ve got the beat–but across the pond they’ve got the love. Check out  Harper Impulse –a new e-pub imprint at Harper Collins, UK.

Japanese Men & their Virtual Girlfriends.

Age of the Algorythm – this fab visionary article from new media guru Jane Friedman from the mag SCRATCH is a must read for all authors.

Mind the gap: Ranking “The Gender Gap” in terms of inequality throughout the world.

Oh no they didn’t! It’s time to sign up for BDSM Writer Con — Erotic romance queen Joey Hill is a featured speaker.

From Elizabeth:

It’s the ultimate in “performance art” – gay college student ditches his virginity for all to see by having anal sex in front of a live audience.

Not getting it down below? Try these subtle ways to get him to head south.

DIY time – building a vibrator!

Spooky Times: A Halloween Excerpt

The lovely Ida Lupino

by C. Margery Kempe

We all had hoped to have a Halloween-themed anthology of novellas out this year, but we’re still in the process. I thought the spookiness of the season would give me a reason to give you a little taste of “The Lying, The Witch and The Wardrobe” my sexy seasonal offering, just to whet your appetite:

We must not look at goblin men,

We must not buy their fruits,

Who knows upon what soil they fed

Their hungry, thirsty roots?

~ Christina Rossetti, The Goblin Market

[Our heroine Jeanie just lost her job and has temporarily moved in with her mother]

Jeanie sighed. Look at this room! If she hadn’t taken down the now-embarrassing posters of her teen pop star crushes, the room would look little different from when she was in high school.

Maybe even junior high, Jeanie realised with a sinking feeling. Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something useful, she scolded. Rubbing her eyes to dry them, she hopped up and went over to her altar. Clearly her mother had dusted it, but the half-burned candles had a neglected air, so she stuck them in the cabinet below and got some fresh ones out. Crossing the room she opened her red bag to remove the figures that had graced the altar in her flat in Springfield. Freya, Kali, Brigit and Bast looked much more at home here in her old room, circling around the Ganesh statue her father had bought for her birth. The elephant-headed god always remained here, a spiritual anchor to her home.

With a lifetime of practice, Jeanie cleared her mind and focused. I am here, I am present, the magic is in me. She lit a candle of welcome and thankfulness and prepared to set her intentions. For a moment, she faltered, then fell back on her standard mantra: I am ready for the opportunities the fates bring my way. Let me be open to the possibilities.

That simple act of faith made Jeanie feel immensely better. She set about putting away the rest of her clothes and things with a pleasant song humming in her head. After all, she was home, the apples were ripening in the orchard, summer still held its golden sway. In fact as the morning wore on, the room was beginning to feel a bit too warm.

Jeanie stepped out into the hall to open the door to the ‘jumble room’ as they always called it. Getting the stubborn window open in there would get a cross breeze going and cool things down much faster.

It took a few tries to get the sash up. The wood had swollen in the summer heat. Chances are no one had tried to open it yet this year. Her mother and grandmother both had rooms on the lower floors. Jeanie propped the window open with the little stick kept on the sill for that purpose and then looked around the jumble room. It hadn’t changed much either. For years it had accumulated anything out of season or unused and on its way to being discarded.

Yet even here, the neatness of the house continued. Snow boots were lined up on racks. The various seasonal decorations were carefully stowed in neatly labeled boxes. Jeanie smiled. In any other house, this room would be an overstuffed chaos. The only discordant note came from the seemingly ancient mystery of her childhood: the antique wardrobe that stood like a sentinel between the two windows.

Jeanie approached it, feeling the anticipatory thrill of intrigue work its way up her spine. She knew the story well: it had belonged to her grandmother’s grandmother, Lizzie. It was made from the oak of a single tree. In their family, oak and apple had always been intertwined with family legends. Their orchards were watched over by mighty oaks hundreds of years old. Jeanie had wandered among them since she could first walk.

But this wardrobe retained its eerie appeal. It had belonged to her grandmother’s grandmother, but it had been sealed by that woman’s best friend and sister, Laura. Jeanie traced the red wax seal that bound the ribbon around it. Although wax, it did not give way to knife or nail, which Jeanie and her friends had all tried at various times.

The blood red wax bore a hand print, Laura’s she had been told. Jeanie traced it now. It very nearly matched her own hand’s size. As familiar as the shape of it had been all her life, the mystery of it pricked her curiosity as much as ever. Not least because Laura had disappeared without a trace.

Old magic, powerful magic: what took her away? They only knew what Beatrice’s grandmother had told her family, that the young woman had been taken by the goblin men. Jeanie shuddered. The goblin men had been part of her childish nightmares after she had begged to know the story. The animal-headed grotesques in Arthur Rackham’s illustrations Jeanie memorized with a delighted horror then regretted as they tromped through her bedroom in the dark.

She looked up at the top of the wardrobe where the legend was carved. There is no friend like a sister, the carved letters announced, in calm or stormy weather. What secrets did the enchanted box hold? Why had the goblin men stolen Laura away? Even back in the nineteenth century such news would have brought out the doctors and skeptics. Goblins indeed! If Jeanie hadn’t grown up in a family of witches, she supposed that it would be very hard to believe indeed.

Not that she had seen any goblin men: her mother was of the opinion that the worlds that contained other beings like goblins and the fae no longer intersected with their own. “Technology and the hustle bustle of modern life,” Gabriella said, when Jeanie had quizzed her for the umpteenth time. “Why, I expect that’s what drove them away. Though now and then I almost think I can hear the bells of that other land in the distance.”

“Do you ever seek it out?” Jeanie had asked, full of the boldness of the very young.

Her mother had laughed. “No, child. What would I find there that I don’t already have here?” Then she enveloped her in a fierce hug until Jeanie wriggled free with a child’s thoughtless impatience. My father’s death was still a raw wound then, Jeanie realised with a start. Poor mama.

Maybe that’s why Jeanie dreamed of goblins that night despite the comfort of her familiar old bed. The unsettling images woke her just as the first light of dawn approached, startled and at first uncertain of her location. Jeanie rolled away from the sunlight’s persistence and tried to organize her thoughts…

10 Bad, Bad Things

Great title, great cover. Buy it already!

by Madeline Iva

1) When you had too much to drink and end up vibing the hunky guy in your group.  Even though you think he’s an asshole.

2) Watching True Blood just so you can sing along with the theme song BAD THINGS by Jace Everett.

3) When  you’re not looking at Jared–the hunky asshole–or talking to him–or even sitting across from him, but you still feel sparky-sparkies flying between the two of you to the point where you have to wonder if everyone else can tell.

4) The erotic romance BAD BAD THINGS by Lolita Lopez.

5) When crossing from your table to the women’s room feels like being on a ship crossing the high seas.

I wonder if you wonder.

6) When Walter and Phyllis start behaving badly in DOUBLE INDEMNITY–but Walter’s totally up front about it.

Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean.

Walter Neff: I wonder if you wonder.

7) When you walk into the bathroom just in time to hear Jared’s girlfriend say to someone, “Madeline knows Jared is my boyfriend, right?” and you feel soul cringing embarrassment :(

8) When it’s time to drive home, and somehow, the last seat is shotgun—on Jordan’s lap.  So you climb on, looking past his nose while he’s looking past yours, but the sparkies are filling up the entire car, completely swamping those seething waves of fury from Jared’s girlfriend buried in the backseat somewhere.

9) When you’re trying not to notice the, um, emergency brake you’re sitting on, so you try recalling the book titles on Good Read’s list of Best Bad Boys Erotic Romances to distract yourself.

Young girls being *very* bad.

10) And when that doesn’t work, you try thinking about your favorite bad girl movies like WILD THINGS, SPRING BREAKERS, KILL BILL, RUN LOLA RUN, GHOST WORLD, and BODY HEAT, but exit the car to stagger home weak-kneed, confessing to your gay friend that you were helplessly vibing Jordan.

And then your gay friend says, ”Oh, but I’m so drunk I was helplessly vibing him too. Could you tell?”

So you finally get to laugh with relief and feel better—Because there’s no balm for being really really bad when you didn’t mean to–except being in the company of a really really good friend.

Thanks for reading my pretties! Follow our blog to get more ever-lovin’ Lady Smut goodness.

Drowning In Social Media

Like Kiersten Hallie Krum, I attended the New Jersey Romance Writers of America annual Put Your Heart In A Book conference last weekend. It was a great time. I met new friends, connected with old ones, and learned lots of new things. One of those things I learned is that I will never, ever have time to myself again for the rest of my life. And, fellow writers and readers, neither will you.

As long as I have time left on this earth I can forget reading for pleasure. Forget watching The Walking Dead or indulging in moments of guilty pleasure with shows on the ID Channel like Wicked Attraction or Southern Fried Homicide. Forget eating, or sleeping, or talking to my DH. If I’m lucky, maybe – just maybe – I’ll squeeze in time to breathe. Why did my schedule suddenly become so jammed with activity every second of every day? Blame it on the overwhelming, mind-number amount of social media tasks that we writers need to do in order to promote our books, ourselves, our blogs, our websites. There’s so much going on nowadays that my eyes first bugged out of my head in horror before they glazed over and I hung my head in defeat, certain that no matter how hard I try, I will forever be drowning in social media.

Used to be that writers just wrote. We thought up stories, put them into tangible form, and sent them off to publishers. Usually they were rejected but sometimes they weren’t, and on those happy occasions we were offered a book contract. Back in the “old days” a writer’s publisher would send him or her on a book tour. Then they stopped footing the bill for that so we writers put those tours together ourselves. Nowadays the thought of signing books in bookstores brings with it a wistful touch of nostalgia, like getting a letter in the mail. Instead, interspersed with writing the book, we’re updating our websites, our blogs, our Facebook, our Pinterest. We’re linking our blogs on reddit, we’re joining tribes on Triberr. We’re digg-ing stuff, we’re posting on Tumblr, we’re updating our goodreads. And like the morning birds outside my window, we’re constantly Tweeting.

Author Laura Kaye gave an excellent presentation during the conference regarding online promotion and what authors need to be doing. As she says, “Social media only distracts from your writing career if you see it as not central to your writing career.” She ties that sage advice into her six book promotion goals for authors that are all tied to sales, name exposure and recognition, and building your brand. Her presentation was by far my favorite of the conference (and that’s saying a lot, because the conference was packed with fantastic advice). But here’s the thing: I came away from Laura’s presentation so overwhelmed that I felt a little bit like a deer in headlights: absolutely paralyzed by the thought of everything social media-wise that I need to be doing.

Hell’s bells, it’s tough to keep up. Social media is like electronic equipment. Just when you plunk down the money to upgrade your ____ (fill in the blank: phone, laptop, iPad, etc.) a new version comes out the very next day. Argh!!  I mean, I blog, I tweet, I update Facebook, I’ve joined a couple of tribes, I link stuff to reddit. But I’m not on Pinterest, I’m not on digg, I do nothing with Instagram or Flickr or Delicious. And then there are the sites I’ve never heard of. Tagged. Ning. Weheartit.com, anyone?

You’ll probably note that I’ve hardly mentioned my website. I haven’t launched it yet but am very close. I just need to find the time! Maybe once I  add a few more books on goodreads. Or upload some photos. Check in with foursquare. Tweet. Post to Facebook. Answer email. Oh yeah. And write.

Anyone have some good suggestions with keeping up with it all? If so, please share, ’cause I’m drowning. And don’t forget to follow us. That’s another social media-thing you’ll want to do.

Quick and Dirty: My New Reading Attitude

Trying to decide what to read can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. I think there’s a lot of people like me who firmly believe the adage, “So many books, so little time.” My stack grows as I get to know even more authors personally and I want to check out their writing.

Oooo, I hate to be disappointed in a book. Sometimes, it’s just that the book isn’t clicking with my current mood and if I pick it up a few months later, I love it. But others time, there ain’t NO helping it. I recently posed a question on my Facebook page and received more responses to it than I think any other post. How long do you give a book until you give up on it? I was seven chapters in to a book and feeling guilty because I just didn’t want to read any more. One highly esteemed writer said: “Some writers can lose me in the first sentence.” Whoa.

So, I’ve decided to be a bit more discriminating in my reading. If I’m not absolutely hooked by the first chapter, I’m tossing it. And I’m passing on my reads with my new attitude to you.

I’ve recently finished Sylvia Day’s REFLECTED IN YOU, the second book in her Crossfire series. This was a book I could hardly put down and I’ve enjoyed this series so far. I think Sylvia just might be one of the best contemporary erotic romance writers I’ve read. If you’ve not read her Crossfire series, place it on your list right now. Her books are truly the best kind of erotic romances for me because of the emotional depth of her characters. Amazing stuff—and great sex scenes.

Here’s a few books that have recently passed my new test—a one chapter read and YES, I want more. I’ve gotten all of them on Netgalley.

CRAVE: THE DINING CLUB by Marina Anderson. My next book that comes out is called “CRAVINGS,” so you know I had to check this out. This is not a food-centered book, as the title might suggest. This is more like a long short story or novella and it’s one in a series of books about a very interesting sex club. The writing is sharp, the story is interesting and kinky, and I’m definitely planning to read more.

CONTROL by Charlotte Stein, another one of my favorites. for me, Stein is like the erotic romance writer’s writer. She should be ten times more famous than most the the ER romance writers out there. This is one very gifted writer.

Here’s the blurb for it: When Madison Morris decides to hire an assistant to help run her naughty bookshop, she gets a lot more than she bargained for. Two very different men are vying for the position…and a whole lot more.

Andy excites her into grasping control, while Gabriel shows her how freeing it can be to just let go. Soon the lines are blurring and Madison is no longer sure who’s leading and who’s following. In the midst of kinky threesomes and power plays, can she’ll have to finally decide what–and who–she really wants. (Pub date Jan. 7)

I had a hard time setting this aside to move on to the next one. This is staying on my iPad until can get to it. It looks like this may be a re-issue of an earlier book, with a better cover. Has anybody out there read the other version?

CAKE by Lauren Dane This one is a fun and sexy read. It’s only 100 pages and it definitely meets my criteria of wanting to read more after one chapter.

Here’s the blurb on this one: She won’t be satisfied with just one bite….

Art student-slash-bike messenger Wren Davis pursues what she wants. And what she wants now is Gregori Ivanov, rock star of the Seattle art scene. With his tattoos, piercings and sensual sneer, Gregori is the ultimate bad boy. Wren’s gotten to know the man beneath the body art, too–and it only makes her crave him more.

But Gregori loves women like he loves cake and champagne–intensely, but only for the moment. And after Wren experiences just how scorching sex with Gregori is, she’s determined to show him that just one taste won’t be enough…

It might look like I’ve just added a whole lot of reading to my pile, but there were several that did not pass the test. How do you manage your reading? How many chapters do you give a book before you give up on it?

And I should mention, to begin the countdown to the release of CRAVINGS, I’m offering one of my own quick and dirty reads over on AMAZON for free this week–until Friday. RIPE FOR YOU –check it out!