How much reality do you want?

As I write, I've been trying to decide where to draw the line between fantasy and reality? That's something with which authors have always struggled, but writing erotic romance complicates matters even further. From the beginning to the end of a book, the author has tough decisions to make.

Let's start at the beginning.

With the first appearance of the hero, you're probably thinking: Mmmhmm, he's a hunk. And he is that way because, in our fantasies, the men are tall, muscular, intelligent, with good teeth, a great ass, and a package to die for. So that's what the author gives you.

Reality…well, let's just say that reality doesn't always live up to the fantasy. In the books I read, I definitely want the fantasy guy.

Next there is the romance itself. Face it, most people don't fall in love and commit to each other within a matter of days. But unless you want a book too heavy to lift, the time from first meeting to head-over-heels love has to be seriously compressed.

Then we get to the actual sex scene. We'll ignore how many times this hero gets it up in a night; very few people will complain about a little exaggeration there, right?

But should the guy wear a condom? Now there's a question. Having to slow down sizzling action to sheathe that extra-large erection in rubber can be frustrating for more than just the hero. Hell, just the retrieval of a little foil package can pose problems. Think about it…our hero has to find his jeans (probably kicked under the bed), dig through his pockets (is that where that drill bit went!) and return to a rapidly cooling heroine. Not very romantic. And then, after hot monkey-sex, when your couple just wants to snuggle, they have that annoying, messy piece of rubber to get rid of.

I drive my ever-patient editor insane when I have my characters using condoms. I get notes like this: "When does he put on a new condom for their second bout of love-making? He takes another one off at the end of the scene."

Have you noticed how paranormal romances authors avoid the whole condom problem by simply saying werewolves don't get human diseases? The lucky dogs.

So those are the issues an author has to solve in a standard romance. Unfortunately for me, I not only write romance, but I write kinky romance -- BDSM -- and that opens a whole new toy bag of questions.

Anal sex. Fun for some, not so much for others…but lubing up? The thought of going without can make the most hardened submissive cringe. Authors who consider condoms optional would give up their keyboards before skipping the grease. Yet others ignore that step, feeling it's too jarring.

Then there's safe, sane and consensual, the unwritten law of BDSM (and for heaven's sake, none of you better ignore it in real life any more than you'd skip using a condom). In an erotic romance where a reader want her dreams of romance and hot sex fulfilled, where does a BDSM author draw the line? Just as the timeline for a normal romance is compressed, can the evolution of trust between a Dom and his sub be accelerated?

Can some of the essential communication be skipped in favor of the wonderful dream that, yes, your Dom can read your expressions, your body, your mind. How much common sense should intrude in a fantasy of forced submission and complete domination?

It's a balancing act.

In my book, Club Shadowlands, the balance swings more toward fantasy; Master Z really can tell what Jessica wants…and needs. He has her bound and taken before the reader can draw a breath. Looking at the book from the standard of safe, sane and consensual, I worry a bit. And yet, from a sheer erotic romance standpoint, I say, oh, yeah, it works.

So, readers, tell me, do you want the fantasy or the reality? And authors, where do you draw the line?

Cherise

www.cherisesinclair.com

A little good news

Anne Murray has a song "A little good news." I started thinking about it as I thought about what to write for my blog post here.

It's been a rough two weeks for me. I know it's not been terrible, others have it much worse, but still, it's been tough. I sent out my newsletter yesterday (a day late *sigh*). I wasn't whiny...but just posted about how life has been hectic.

A few people took time out from their day to write me on my blog and in email and send out comfort shouts. And that meant the world to me.

If that isn't good news, I don't know what is. Definitely perked me up to have people share notes with me. Made life seem a little brighter. And that's what it's all about.

So what's your good news today? Let's brighten the world a little bit all over.

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com

Revelations

No, this isn't a profound post about deep thoughts or a dissertation on the Bible. Rather, it's to let readers know--if they don't already--that I'm working on another book in my Heaven Sent series.

Now, I feel the need to warn the m/m fans that this book has girl cooties. I know, I know, how dare I! Well... sorry. But I really did feel that Gretchen, the band's manager, needed an HEA. She's taken care of the boys through nine published stories, she deserves her slice of the pie. But, to try and assuage those fans of m/m, I'm giving Gretchen TWO men. Yeah, baby. Can you say m/m/f? Of course the men are into each other. But I realize some won't want to read it anyway. That's okay. It's more of an interim story than part of the main arc. I finished the main arc with Genesis. What follows is a new series for another band, the Indigo Knights. I hope to start that series sometime this year.

Presently, Revelations it's going well. So far, Luc, Reese and Johnnie have shown up in person. Brent, Hell and Darien have shown through a conference call. So at least all of the band has been accounted for. Revelations takes place during the hiatus mentioned in Genesis.

I've promised to turn in the manuscript by the end of this month.

How Many Calories in Sperm?

Hi everyone,

Barbra Novac here.

I had my cholesterol checked two weeks ago, and yup- You guessed it! Chronic fatal heart disease running through women and men on both sides of my family (I have a grandfather that dropped dead on a sports field at the age of forty) has caught up with me and my rank was a whopping 6.2. Maybe not danger levels, but a sharp rise from where it used to be, now that I am approaching the age when these things take hold.

Gripping my cell white knuckled and with my heart rate rising at an alarming rate, I phoned my father - the man who beat this hereditary disease and did all the long term research. He told me get onto the rice bran oil (not too much) and to consider doing the Atkins diet.

So, naturally, filled with the fear of an imminent demise, I am doing both. Which brings me, in a very long winded manner, to my point on the blog today.

With Atkins, you have to count your carbs and calories every day. I have no idea yet if my cholesterol is down, but I had another, rather startling revelation.

After an enjoyable bit of quality time with my husband, I wondered how many calories are in sperm? Had anyone done this calculation? Should I be writing it down and counting it as a part of everything else I have consumed in my day? Is it full of proteins and sugar? Most importantly of all, is it full of carbs? Here is some of what I gleaned from the ever helpful internet.

The actual amount of semen per ejaculation is 1 - 2 teaspoons. Number of calories per teaspoon is 7 (phew! It's on the diet!). Now 5% of this ejaculate is made up of sperm, and there are about 100 million per teaspoon full. This quantity is because the quality of sperm is very low, very few sperm are strong enough to actually fertilise an egg. The amount of quality sperm decreases dramatically as a man grows older.

The average amount of times a man will ejaculate in his lifetime is 7,200; 2000 times of which are likely to be from masturbation. In a lifetime he will ejaculate approximately 14 gallons of ... ejaculate. He will send all these teaspoonsful out into you or his hand at 28 mph. That's good , because to fertilise your egg, that little fella has to travel 3 to 4 inches and remember he's not that hardy! Once he gets there it will take him 2.5 seconds to fertilise that egg and change both of your lives forever. The sperm lives (from development to ejaculation) about 2 ½ months. A sexually active man will spend approximately $100 a year in condoms.

A man will have about 11 erections a day and nine of those will be while he is sleeping. His hormone levels are at their peak at dawn and dusk, which explains why he always wants to do it first thing in the morning and in the afternoon while you are fussing over homework and getting dinner ready. 60% of men claim they masturbate, 54% masturbate once a day, and a whopping 41% say they feel guilty when they do!

That's not the end of what I found, but it's the end of room for this post. I didn't end up finding the carb count, so I am going for zero, and keeping it deliciously on the menu!

Happy snacking!

Barbra

Barbra's book Double Crossed is available through Loose Id here. Look out for her new novel, Honest Masks due for release early February!
www.barbranovac.com

5 Things You Can Do "Write" Now to Promote Your Name Recognition

I received an email the other day. It came in the form of a "Book Recommendation." I'm going to be merciful and not share the author's name, but here's a snippet.

I have never been very good at self-promotion, so a 2009 resolution to work harder at has produced this message. Apologies for the spam, but it is the only way... I would be flattered at least if you would take a moment to look at...

If you guessed that this author recommended his own book, you guessed correctly. You guessed with much more accuracy than Mr. X who apparently thinks (rather touchingly)in this day and age when everyone I know bitches about too much email, and too much spam, and too much Blatant Self Promotion, that because he's having problems promoting himself, none of the rules apply.

Wrong Mr. X. Not only did I not go check out your book, I blocked you from the friend list of whatever group that was.

But I feel for Mr. X. I do. We've all been there. There are so many of us out here flogging our books in the quickly shrinking cyberspace. What can we do to make readers notice us? How can we convince them that ours is the book to take a chance on?

Well, first of all -- and this is the lesson no one wants to learn -- it takes a while. It doesn't happen overnight. And by "not overnight" I mean that it can take years. With promotion, you're going for a cumulative effect. It has to build up. You have to try different things.

But while you're trying different things, avoid doing the rude stuff that everyone tells you not to do -- because although you may be feeling desperate and what-the-hell! believe me...this stuff does not result in name recognition the way you would hope.

So here's 5 absolutely inexpensive but practical ways to increase your name recognition to potential readers. And this stuff does pay off. In the long run. There is no short run.

1) Make sure your email name/addy is that of your pen name. It's called name recognition, folks. So why on earth are you posting on discussion lists as KrisandBobMarciano when your pen name is Amber Galore? It's going to take readers twice as long to work out that KrisandBob are actually Amber -- and that Amber writes stuff they might want to read.

2) Simplify your sig file. Think of your sig file as your business card rather than your resume. For one thing...your resume isn't as impressive as you think. For another, people with impressive resumes don't go around waving them under other people's noses. For a third thing, the longer the sig file, the less chance anyone is reading it. Never mind that a lot of people find long sig files annoying (which is why mailing lists often put limits on the length), the eye just naturally skips over a jumble of titles and publishers and links. You don't want an invisible sig file, you want to make it simple so that a potential reader might actually click and go to your website. Make the link(s) in your sig file live, and change your sig file regularly. Keep it short.

Example
========================================
http://www.joshlanyon.com/
http://jgraeme2007.livejournal.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoshLanyon


3)Take part in online chats and discussions, but don't introduce yourself to a group by saying you've written a book they're all going to love to read. Most of the time you're talking largely to a group of other writers -- who are about as entranced and awed by the idea of yet another writer joining to flog her/his wares as you are thrilled by the idea of sitting down to read the phone book aloud. Seriously. Get over yourself. Would you burst into a room and shove your book under someone's nose? If you join an actual discussion list (I don't mean one of these promo list thingies) then be prepared to discuss, to take part, to join in conversations. Otherwise you're not only wasting your time, you're annoying people.

4) Quit spamming your "friends." Come on. The first three book releases you had, we were all excited for you, but the fact that you're still emailing people WHO HAVE NOT SUBSCRIBED TO YOUR MAILING LIST -- people you don't talk to at any other time -- to tell us how superduper thrilled you are...? You're not even convincing yourself at this point -- let alone us. Or do I mean...let us alone. Either way, this is just bad manners. Stop. If I wanted to be on your mailing list, I'd have joined your mailing list.

5) Write every book to the absolute best of your ability. As much as we'd all like to think that the fault lies with our stars -- and the fact that our publishers can't afford to spend a bunch of money promoting us, the fact is, not every book is going to click with every reader. Just because it was published doesn't mean it's going to take off for you or be a big hit if you can just get people to read it. People may read it and think...okay. Fine. Next. That's pretty much what happens. Most books are enjoyed but don't...change anyone's life. Some of your books will be more popular than others. If your books are consistently high quality (or they have that storytelling something that can't be defined, that sometimes has nothing to do with good writing), then you will begin to build your readership.

Feel free to share your own tips for building (positive) name recognition.

Club Shadowlands is out!

Her car disabled during a tropical storm, Jessica Randall discovers the isolated house where she's sheltering is a private bondage club. At first shocked, she soon becomes aroused watching the interactions between the Doms and their subs. But she's a professional woman--an accountant--and surely isn't a submissive . . . is she?

Master Z hasn't been so attracted to a woman in years. But the little sub who has wandered into his club intrigues him. She's intelligent. Reserved. Conservative. After he discovers her interest in BDSM, he can't resist tying her up and unleashing the passion she hides within.
---------

I'm so excited to be here! My first book with Loose Id, CLUB SHADOWLANDS, is out today!

This story actually arose out of another book where I'd been exploring beginner's nights at a private BDSM club. The heroine lost her date and ended up with an experienced Dom instead.

And I ended up being fascinated with the owner of the club, Master Z. I wondered, what would it take to intrigue a man who's been in the lifestyle for years? A tough, sarcastic submissive…or a vulnerable one? A gorgeous, willowy woman…or a round, soft one?

I had fun writing this book. I hope you like it!

Cherise
http://www.cherisesinclair.com/

New Year's Resolutions

My local writers' group, made up of an mixed bag of ladies, meets once a month for good food, good conversation, and a little writing talk. We generally spend time in Jan. putting forth our writing goals for the year. In the past, I've zeroed in on my various obligations to publishers, and I suppose I'll do some of that if only to keep me reminded of who I owe what.

But I've decided to go deeper this time, to concentrate on personal challenges so hopefully I'll continue to grow as a writer. I've been in this business for a long time and suspect I've become complacient with regards to the basics of the craft. I believe I know how to structure plots, how to craft a 'can't put down' opening, how to show character. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately in terms of growth, I had a devil of a time meeting my last obligation with Kensington. Not only did I jump into the story without a clear goal in mind, I rushed my characters. Darn it, I know better. For me, a book needs time to marinade. I don't accomplish that by jotting down a few highlights and then set the story aside to grow on its own. Ain't gonna happen. What I've long done and should have done this time was fall back on my old trick of writing myself a lengthy stream-of-consciousness letter. No one will ever see those musings wherein I blather to myself about such oddities as character backgrounds and the directions the plot could or couldn't go. It's during that letter that I learn amazing things about the landscape I'm painting. So anyway, I didn't this last time, and my resolution is not to let that happen again. I hate jumping out of a plane without a parachute. That said, I'm not big on detailed synopsises, but I do need to have a solid idea where things are going to end up.

Here then is my resolution in a nutshell: spend the necessary emotional time with that blip of imagination that started the whole thing before writing Chapter One so it'll become a fully realized book.

I'm happy to announce that I'm off to a good start. I've begun a new novella I hope my Loose-ID editor approves of. Although I don't know everything about it, I have written that blithering letter to myself and it has become the map I need to reach The End.

And while I have your attention, come Tuesday, my latest Loose-ID story Devil Man will be available on the publisher's new and snazzy web site. I think the cover's fab. Anyone agree?

Vonna

www.VonnaHarper.com

Who are your fav authors, books and covers?

Did you know that the yearly Preditors and Editors polling is currently going on?

Vote here for your favourite authors, books and covers for 2008.

And if your favourite isn't there, get entering!! (Your fav author will love you for it!)

Planned Outage

Loose Id will be off line for the next 24-36 hrs. This is a planned outage as they swap hosts, and also install the new website.

Personally, I'm all a twitter to see the new website.

Oh, and speaking of twittering, I found out today one of TBTB at LI is twittering: https://twitter.com/loveunleashed.