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.

B is for The Big, Fun Sexy Book of Sex

I get two “b’s” for one today! The Big, Fun Sexy Book of Sex.

Put together a sexy TV star, Lisa Rinna, and a sex counselor, Dr. Ian Kerner, and how could you not produce a book that attracts attention?

The Big, Fun Sexy Book of Sex is, well, all of these. I mean with chapter topics like:

Foreplay, Not “Boreplay”

Why Porn is So Popular

Comings and Goings: Ejaculation Issues

From No Go to the Big O

The Ten Step Sex Workout

         The Match Game: Your Libido Type

how could you not love this book?

What kind of lover are you? A Thrill Seeker? A Comfort Creature? If you're opposites, can you meet in the middle?

But this is not just an entertaining sex manual that pulls no punches. The research and insights from the research make this a compelling read on a whole other level.

Pick up The Big, Fun Sexy Book of Sex, 336 pages of interesting stuff about getting your mojo on . . . or back on!

A is for Anticipation

Today’s letter should be “C” for CRAZY! Am I crazy to do this A-Z blog challenge? Twenty-sex, er, -six blog posts in April??? Yes, probably, but that would be no surprise to friends and family!

But today is the beginning of the blogging, and beginnings mean anticipation. I love starting things (not so good on the finishing if I get bored along the way). So today is Anticipation.

Remember the Carly Simon song that includes these words?

“Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin' “

I am filled with anticipation. My cup runneth over with anticipation.

For what, you ask? (another “a” word, by the way)

Looking forward to 25 more blog posts? Well, not so much. No, I am anticipating the publication of two novels. I have been a full-time writer for four years. And this year is my breakout year. This is the year I am officially validated--in my eyes--as a professional writer.

I’ll be telling you more about what’s coming up, but for now, let me say that I an anticipating publication of my first erotic romance. Streetwalker (first book in the “Sex Sells” series) will be out an an e-book this spring from Sizzler Editions (an imprint of Renaissance E Books).

A very different book is anticipated for publication from another small press (to be named later). Mission Impastable is the first book in the culinary mystery series, “Dinner is Served”. If you like you mysteries in a sort of cookbook, you’ll love this one.

What are you anticipating? Both the large and the small engender a shiver of delight. Revel in your anticipations.

Who Doesn't Love a Challenge?

I did NaNoWriMo in November 2012 for the first time. It was a hoot. I succeeded and ended up with a credible entry that I am in the process of re-working.

Each February at my foodie blog (www.sharonarthurmoore.blogspot.com) "Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time", I do a Month-of-Recipes. A year ago it was a Month-of-Soups. This year it was a Month-of-Chicken.

So when one of my FB writing group friends mentioned the Blogging A-Z April Challenge, how could I not sign up to be part of the ultimate blog hop???

The way it works is each of April (except for Sundays), I post a blog entry connected somehow to the alphabet letter of the day. For this blog, "S" is easy, right?

No, not that "S"; I mean the other "S"--Streetwalker, my first book in the erotica romance trilogy to be published soon by Sizzler Editions.

So come back soon to see what I'm up to here, but for sure bookmark me for April. You just never know what an alphabet letter is going to trigger for me!

Peek-a-Boo Time at the Grammy's

CBS, outraged, do you hear me, incensed at the inappropriate attire worn to past awards events, issued a directive to attendees to button up and cover up and show up camera ready sans skin.

I’m sure the concern was for their health. It is winter, after all.

Here are some snippets from the e-mail sent to attendees:

"Be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered."

"Thong type costumes are problematic." (Missing hypen not my fault!)

"Avoid sheer see-through clothing."

"Avoid exposing bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack."

“Avoid outfits that could expose female breast nipples."

"Be sure that the genital region is adequately covered so that there is no visible

'puffy' bare skin exposure."  (Huh?)

Now who could forget Jennifer Lopez’s dress at last year’s Grammy’s? So maybe they had a point, yes?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/09/opinion/obeidallah-cbs-grammys/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7  

Still, the guidelines were clearly aimed at women. Now admittedly we have seen few men flaunt convention to bare it all for art; still, blatant sexism is just wrong.

Stars being stars, I wonder at the conversations with their designers to see just how far that envelope could be pushed. Clearly, some stars did that, or they didn’t get the memo, or they didn’t read the memo, or maybe they just can’t read. Beats me!

Some of the dresses from this and other award shows could easily show up in Streetwalker (soon to be published by Sizzler Editions) at Harlan’s salon as his whores wait to be tapped for the evening. Carrie described the attire as x-rated prom dresses.

So, Carrie and I viewed the various outfits worn to the Grammy’s last night, and we identified a slate of envelope pushers. Who flaunted best and who were just wannabe’s?

The Also-Rans, in our opinion, were Miranda Lambert for some breast plunging, but, not so much; Solange Knowles and Jennifer Lopez for lots of leg action, but not really enough to take the prize; and, Ashanti for some leg and breast action, but ultimately she was more tacky than taunting.

http://music.yahoo.com/photos/2013-grammy-awards-red-carpet-report-card-slideshow/

Who flaunted best? It was a tie! Kelly Rowland wore gauzy see-through patches over her body, accenting her, ahem, assets. And Kimbra donned a tulle, gauze, and sequins number that left us, well, without words.

http://music.yahoo.com/photos/2013-grammy-awards-red-carpet-report-card-slideshow/

So how well did that work out for them? What do you think?

Why now is the question? What pushed CBS to relay a dress code to the stars? Is America really unable to tolerate these extravagances, these absurdities that celebs choose to wear? These are performers, after all. They are ALWAYS on when in public. And clearly some want to keep that edge that brings them fame and fortune.

Carrie and I really don’t care. It’s an extravaganza, and if folks are offended, fine, turn it off or change channels. As long as they are not forcing themselves on me, I can make a choice to watch or not. Live and let live.

That said, we did find ourselves attracted to a few gowns we really liked. Here is our “Best Dressed at the Grammy’s” List and a couple of their dresses to show off our good taste (and theirs)!

We really liked the classy and classic look of the gowns of Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kathy Griffin, and Faith Hill.

http://music.yahoo.com/photos/2013-grammy-awards-red-carpet-report-card-slideshow/

What about you? What were your faves and hates?

"Character is Destiny." (Heraclitus, 544-483 BCE)

I am participating in NaNoWriMo this month, so I may get erratic with these blog posts. Never fear, if that happens, I’ll be back shortly.

Follow my progress with The Quick and the Dedd at my “Write Away” blog at www.samwriteaway.blogspot.com

I modified a blog post from February, 18, 2010 on on character and characters. Original post at  www.samwriteaway.blogspot.com

Thursday, I am traveling to Iowa for my brother’s wedding, so I will post again in a week.

I took classical Greek in college. I loved it, sort of like doing word puzzles. What letter is this squiggle, what is the meaning of that series of squiggles? One thing I learned was that spacing between words and punctuation were relatively modern conventions meant to make literacy more accessible for larger numbers of people. 

Since few Greeks learned to read, it was assumed they could figure out the meaning of the text. Admittedly, Greek was a highly inflected language (word endings signaled part of speech, verb tense, etc.) so an ancient Greek kid just had to attend to those things to make sense of the sentences.  

I guess. I used to be a first grade teacher and someone who worked with struggling readers, so there had to be some problems with that theory (or why invent spacing and punctuation).

I digress. Heraclitus was a pithy kind of guy, lots of quotes are attributed to him. Like the one above. Tammy Greenwood (Two Rivers), one of my session presenters at a Southern California Writers Conference session used the quote of this blog title as she discussed a topic many conference sessions addressed. 

At heart, a novel is about characters. The plot is just a device for showcasing their human frailties and strengths. The humanity of the characters is what keeps us reading, not that they solved the problem in this book, or didn’t. It is the quest to solve the problem that reveals those aspects of the characters we can relate to, or not.

Tammy said, “Getting to know your characters is your main job as a novelist.” Until you know your characters as well as you know your best friend, you can’t reel in the reader with characters who don’t jar. That got me thinking.

Even when the reader doesn’t know what a character will do, once the action is revealed the reader knows it was an appropriate action. One of the roads the character could have taken on the way to resolution. And, if it is not a consistent action, the author reveals something about the character that justifies an act seemingly out of character (so to speak).

I am thinking about some of my WiPs that are giving me fits. In every one (so far), I am struggling because the characters are the glue holding my great story premise together, not the propelling force that will move the action forward. So, looks like I am going to be spending a lot more time in conversation with Alli, Isabella, Carrie, Lucinda, and oh, so many others. 

Character IS destiny. Who they are, what they need, how they react. That is what makes a novel compelling.

More Relationship Quotes and a Writing Tip

Hey, Authors! A few posts ago I gave some relationship quotes to build stories around. Well, here are some more I have collected. Surely one or more of these will resonate so you can create a viable story premise.

To turn one of these into a story premise, try these steps:

1)   Select a quote that speaks to you. (I know, that is so woo-woo! Just do it!)

2)   Identify the characters that first come into your mind for the roles in this relationship.

3)   Describe each character’s perspective on or relationship to the quote in 25 words or fewer. (Do you know that most people misuse “less” and “fewer”?)

4)   Where is this happening and when? What is the relationship of the characters to the where and when?

5)   Write down five “what ifs”: (Using the first one below) What if a woman’s boyfriend doesn’t come home one night? What if he called later to say he was in trouble and couldn’t make it there? What if the reason he didn’t come home was that a love child showed up at work hunting for her father? What if the woman saw her lover and his child, not knowing of the relationship? What if the child is malevolent and wants to hurt her birth father?

6)   See how that worked? If you don’t have a story idea going after 5 what-if’s, maybe you should choose another line of work.

So read, enjoy, and speculate with the relationship quotes below. Can’t wait to read your book!

Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need.  ~Margaret Mead

Man is a knot into which relationships are tied.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942, translated from French by Lewis Galantière

If you want to feel rich, just count the things that money can’t buy. ~Proverb

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.  ~Swedish Proverb

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.  That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.  ~Emily Kimbrough

If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more. ~Erica Jong

Don't smother each other.  No one can grow in the shade.  ~Leo Buscaglia

For lack of an occasional expression of love, a relationship strong at the seams can wear thin in the middle.  ~Robert Brault

Sometimes it is the person closest to us who must travel the furthest distance to be our friend.  ~Robert Brault

Assumptions are the termites of relationships.  ~Henry Winkler

Life is like a moustache. It can be wonderful or terrible. But it always tickles. ~Nora Roberts

I like her because she smiles at me and means it.  ~Anonymous

Hope is a waking dream. ~Aristotle

Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.  ~Miles Franklin

In the end, who among us does not choose to be a little less right to be a little less lonely.  ~Robert Brault

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.  ~Frederick Buechner

Present your family and friends with their eulogies now - they won't be able to hear how much you love them and appreciate them from inside the coffin.  ~Anonymous

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.  "Pooh!" he whispered.  "Yes, Piglet?"  "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.  "I just wanted to be sure of you."  ~A.A. Milne

I felt it shelter to speak to you.  ~Emily Dickinson

Are we not like two volumes of one book?  ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

Trouble is part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough.  ~Dinah Shore

Lust is easy.  Love is hard.  Like is most important.  ~Carl Reiner