C is for Carrie and Cinnamon

Betcha can’t pick just one. This is a continual problem I encountered when trying to figure out possible topics for this blog series.

When I got to “c” (I didn’t get very far, did I?), I wanted to write about Carrie, my twenty-something streetwalker in my soon-to-be-published erotic romance by Sizzler Editions, an imprint of Renaissance E Books. But I also was drawn to cinnamon. Now, I love cinnamon. The smell evokes so many wonderful things for me, and as I wrote Streetwalker, I found I had given Carrie a characteristic scent. A bit of cinnamon about her intrigues Harlan Ledbetter, the male madam of a high end brothel she bargains with for part-ownership.

This was inadvertent. I was halfway through the book when I became aware of what I had done (or, rather, what Carrie had done; I remain convinced she wrote this book, and I only channeled it for her.)

But when I came to the realization of the cinnamon scent associated with her, I determined to create a cinnamon perfume. Hey, I could market that along with the book, right?

I’d dabbled with perfume creation a long time ago, so I figured, how hard can it be. I will make this, wear it to book promotion events, everyone will notice, and I can sell “Carrie-the cinnamon scent that harnessed Harlan”. Yeah. Right.

On both counts. Does she really harness Harlan? And why in the hell is this perfume burning my skin and creating little blisters. How unattractive is that to my future customers?

Sigh. Back to the lab (well, my bathroom sink), to try again. I’ll let you know when “Carrie”, the cinnamon-scented perfume is available.