December 9th, 2012 | 3 Comments »

What, you may be wondering, makes an advent calendar “bad”? Crumbly chocolate? Surreal pictures? Glitter that flakes off too easily? Windows that won’t open unless you use a penknife?

Oh, there is something much, much worse.

An advent calendar that does not have all the days. I know! I hear your gasps! But such a thing has happened to me this very year. Our advent calendar — which may look exactly like the one pictured above — has no window for December 7, and again no opening for December 16. And yes, I’m sure. We’re not talking about a very big piece of real estate, and two frantic, incredulous adults turned that thing inside out (metaphorically speaking — we couldn’t, after all, risk accidentally opening any other windows), and believe me, days 7 and 16 are simply not there.

Well. Let us move quickly on to a more cheerful topic, namely what makes a good advent calendar. A good advent calendar has all the days! And fun prizes and surprises. And I just happen to know of a good example: The Smutter’s Advent Calendar. This one offers something different every day — a book teaser, a joke, a prize, a quiz, perhaps — with each day sponsored by a different erotic writer or business. Tomorrow, December 10, is my day. If you can answer the quiz questions correctly (google allowed!) you could win a free book. But it’s only good on one day, December 10; after that, the envelope closes back up. So be sure to stop by, not only on December 10 but on the subsequent days as well.

I promise they’re all there.

That link again: http://advent.smutters.co.uk

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December 5th, 2012 | 19 Comments »

***NOTE*** This blog post is part of Blissemas; if you comment at the end, you are entered into a competition to win a Kindle Fire! Whoo hoo! Instructions at the end of the post.

I love holidays. And I love traditions. Like Thanksgiving! What’s not to love about a huge meal with friends and family? Well, all the cooking, I suppose. OK, and some of the food. Like I never really liked mashed potatoes. They’re just too … mashed, somehow. And while I like cranberries in oatmeal cookies, I don’t like that solid jelly stuff that comes in cans. And then once I went vegetarian, the turkey wasn’t so appealing, and so neither was the stuffing and gravy . . . oh, and the getting ready. All that cleaning! And so little time! Because you have to have Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon, because it’s a tradition. And you have to have it on Thursday, which is tough because you’ve been working like a crazy thing during that shortened Monday-Wednesday work week, so you’d be exhausted by Thursday even if you didn’t have to polish the silverware and vacuum the back rooms in case someone does wander back there, and oh, you’re out of vacuum cleaner bags, and the only store open is on the other side of town, because everything else is closed on Thanksgiving, and then you haven’t even started on the bathrooms and can you really be out of underwear? Where the hell did all your clean underwear go? Why couldn’t Thanksgiving be on a more sensible day?

I have a secret.

It can.

Mine is.

Yup, every year, we have Thanksgiving on Friday. Wednesday evening, exhausted from work, we have a simple dinner, maybe rent a video and polish some silverware or get the spots off the glasses (which were certainly put away last time with no spots, don’t ask me how that happens). Thursday we sleep late. And then get up naturally, rested, and have all day to casually cook and clean. By the time Friday afternoon rolls around, we’re actually ready. Not panicked. I have underwear and everything (on me, not for the guests). Are some guests double-invited? Makes no difference, their other dinner will be on Thursday. Because that’s a tradition.

And you know what else? We can eat whatever we please. Really. If we don’t have turkey and mashed potatoes, we’re not gonna get hounded by outraged pilgrims. We can have an entirely Middle Eastern meal — and we have. Or Mediterranean. We can serve those foods we most enjoy. And we’ve never, ever had a guest complain.

That’s the thing about holidays and traditions for me. They’re supposed to be joyous. If you all hate Aunt Margery’s jello-marshmallow salad, why the heck are you still eating it? If you’d rather have chocolate cake than pumpkin pie, who says you can’t? You’re free to make up whatever traditions and customs you please. Your mandate isn’t “Dinner must be served at 2:00.” Rather, it’s “Have a nice meal with people who are special to you.” Doesn’t matter if that food comes from a microwave or a restaurant, or if your guests are not related to you by blood. Or even if you don’t have any guests at all.

Same for any other winter holiday. Do you hate opening presents on Boxing Day? Then declare yourself American and open them on the 25th. Do you wish that grown-ups as well as kids could have Christmas stockings? They can, you know. Declare it a tradition, and hey presto! It’s a tradition for you. Hate cooking a Christmas ham? Then don’t. Do you think your New Year’s Eve party would be more fun if you didn’t have to cook? Declare it a potluck.

You probably can’t please everybody. My son was not fond of our Christmas tradition “No present-opening until after breakfast.” But that rule was so I could have my coffee. Without that coffee in me, nobody would have a fun day. Trust me on that. But you can talk sensibly with family and friends about those traditions that you’d all like to keep, and those that are particularly stressful for some members (someone may hate hanging lights, for example, more than someone else enjoys seeing them). Make new traditions. “From now on, it is our tradition to dance naked tango on Christmas eve!”

To enter the Blissemas drawing for a Kindle Fire, simply leave a comment on this blog about a) a holiday tradition you’d like to do away with; b) a holiday tradition you enjoy and want to keep; or c) a holiday tradition you’d like to start. (Like if you win a Kindle Fire, you could start a tradition of giving yourself an ebook every December 6, in honor of this blog post!) Oh, and it’s one entry per blog. If you write me about 17 traditions you’d like to axe, you don’t get 17 entries. You just get one. But you’re welcome to write about all 17 if you need to. Don’t forget to visit all the other Blissemas blogs to get more entries!

And have happy holidays. Really!

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December 4th, 2012 | Comments Off on December Goodies

It’s that time of year! For exciting things! Not just your kids home on vacation underfoot and long lines at the post office, but blogs and giveaways and special prizes.

There are two you should know about: Blissemas, and the Smutter’s Advent Calendar. Here’s how they work.

For Blissemas, you visit a different erotica blog each day until December 24th. They’re all featuring holiday-themed posts — recipes, erotic shorts, holiday thoughts, something like that. You leave a comment on the blog post, and you’re entered to win … a Kindle Fire! Which is not a bad prize. You can visit a different blog each day, or stop in just sometimes, but the more days you comment, the more chances at that Kindl e you get.

The Smutters Advent Calendar has daily prizes. You turn up on the site, open the little envelope for that day, and carry out the task–answer a question, or visit a blog, or something of that nature. And you might win a prize! Even if you don’t win a daily prize, you’re entered into the grand prize drawing. The grand prize is a whole pack of erotic ebooks and gift vouchers and fun stuff. I’ve got a day reserved for the 10th, with a prize for everyone who successfully answers three quiz questions.

Happy holiday season!

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November 5th, 2012 | 2 Comments »

I have to admit, whenever I think of co-authoring I think of this brilliant piece (which I thought was Dave Barry? but I couldn’t confirm that online):, from a supposed college writing assignment on collaborative short story writing:


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At first, Laurie couldn’t decide what kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much, her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon-4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie, with whom he’d spent one sweaty night over a year ago.

“A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,” he said into his trans-galactic communicator, “Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far….” but before he could sign off, a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship’s cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon-4.

“Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,” Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her.

She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth– when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. “Why must one lose one’s innocence to become a woman?” she pondered wistfully.

Little did she know, but she has less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu’udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race.

Within two hours after the passage of the treaty, the Anu’ udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the earth’s atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion which vaporized Laurie and 85 million other Americans.

The President slammed his fist on the conference table. “We can’t allow this! I’m going to veto that treaty! Let’s blow ’em out of the sky!”

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic, semi-literate adolescent.

Yeah? Well you’re a self-centered, tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of valium.

Asshole.

Bitch.

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Ha ha ha. Right. But what’s it really like? Katie, One half of the hot new erotica-writin’ duo of Willsin Rowe and Katie Salidas, both firmly established authors in their own right, talks about co-authoring their new domination & submission series Submission Therapy:

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For me, writing is a powerful thing. I am the creator of a world and people that until that point had never existed. I rule over this world with a mighty pen and control the fate of the creations within the pages. But, along with great power comes great responsibility. It’s not enough to play god. I have to develop a story that is not only worthy of being read, but also able to be read (published). That often feels like a daunting task. Roadblocks of writer’s block and time constraints often have me feeling frantic that a story will never see itself to completion.

Even with the stress involved, the power of being “the creator” is nice little perk. I often find myself falling in love with the world I’ve created and using it as my escape from the everyday stresses in real life.

That escape element makes writing an intensely personal endeavor. The world I create is my world. It belongs to no one else. I spend a lot of time and energy into develop that vision as I work my world into a readable and enjoyable story. In that world, I grow my characters from seeds of inspiration, and watch them develop into actual entities. Their thoughts and feelings, their lives, their interactions, they all become real within the confines of that world.

Because of this intensely personal nature, Writing is not a craft that often lends itself to collaboration. Collaboration means giving up control, it means letting someone into my world and trusting that they will not abuse their power while in it.

In that respect, choosing to work with a partner is a lesson in Submission.

It’s not always an easy lesson. This world I’ve created is personal. It’s an extension of myself. Letting someone in is a deeply intimate act. Once inside, they will have the ability to manage and manipulate my characters. They can do so much damage.

Just as the Dom/Sub relationship relies on trust and faith, so too does the co-authoring partnership. You have to trust that the partner you are working with has a vision and goals that match your own. That both of you, no matter how you might differ on opinions, are working toward the best story possible.

It’s never easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

I’ve never been one to relinquish control of anything. I’m more than OCD in my writing. I don’t like having to listen to others opinions. I don’t like people telling me what I should and shouldn’t do with my characters.

Much like our character, Natasha, I like to control it all. And much like Natasha, I find myself feeling heartburn and stressed out over stories that I can’t seem to see to fruition.

But, as I have learned, there are some benefits to letting go of some control.

Writer’s block, being one of the biggest road blocks becomes much smaller an obstacle when there are two writers battling against it. When stalled on a story and I simply cannot find the solution, I’ve learned that if I let go of that control, that need to make this story 100% mine, and to trust in my writing partner, the answers become clear. Sometimes he might have the answer and next step in the vision, and sometimes, just through chatting about the story, the solution presents itself.

Does it always work smoothly, no, but having a partner I can trust, and letting go and trusting him has proven itself to be very beneficial. And at this point, we’ve put out 3 and we’re working on number 4 with many more stories to come.

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Curious about the results? Submission Therapy currently has a 4.8-star rating on Amazon… check it out!

Billionaire CEO of Blakely Incorporated, Natasha runs her empire with an eagle eye for every detail. She’s an obsessive, compulsive, micromanaging hard-ass, consumed by the need to control every aspect of her life and her business.

But underneath that seemingly strong façade, Natasha is a swirling mess of anger, anxiety and sexual addiction. Only her therapist, Dr. Benson, knows how close she is to burning out…or exploding. He insists on a radical form of treatment – Submission Therapy – knowing that it’s her only hope.

Skeptical but intrigued, Natasha agrees to attend the first session. What she finds there is an erotically-charged environment that will forgive none of her habitual bad behavior. And a steely-eyed man who seems to read her every desire – even the ones she won’t admit to herself.

Will Natasha learn what it means to submit? Or will she allow her brittle pride to rob her of what she truly needs?

And then buy one here. Yes! Submit to Submission Therapy! You know you want to. And thank you, Katie Salidas, for guest blogging for me today.

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Katie Salidas is a Super Woman! Endowed with special powers and abilities, beyond those of mortal women, She can get the munchkins off to gymnastics, cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and swim lessons.  She can put hot food on the table for dinner while assisting with homework, baths, and bedtime… And, she still finds the time to keep the hubby happy (nudge nudge wink wink). She can do all of this and still have time to write.

And if you can believe all of those lies, there is some beautiful swamp land in Florida for sale…

Katie Salidas resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mother, wife, and author, she does try to do it all, often causing sleep deprivation and many nights passed out at the computer. Writing books is her passion, and she hopes that her passion will bring you hours of entertainment.

Blog  http://www.katiesalidas.com/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Salidas-Author/214780936916

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=58814031&trk=tab_pro

Twitter  http://twitter.com/QuixoticKatie

Publisher http://www.risingsignbooks.net

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September 13th, 2012 | 4 Comments »

I just loved this story — which is the story of two submissive people in a happy marriage. I liked it for a lot of reasons, but a main one is this: the man and the woman  are different. Does that seem obvious? Well, it isn’t clear in every erotica book I’ve read, that’s for sure. From my experience, men and women submit a little differently, and they dominate a little differently. And yes, of course there are endless variations that depend on individuality and not just gender, but I still see some commonalities — such as men preferring a little humiliation, or women wanting more reassurance. Although Gregory Allen’s characters might talk about doing to each other what they wish they could have done to them, they don’t in fact behave that way — they really do give their partner what he/she needs. And I love that.

I liked too the look at what could be called “service topping” — topping or dominating someone because they want it — which is enormously difficult. What the bottom wants, after all, is to give the top pleasure. So if the top isn’t deriving any pleasure, the encounter doesn’t “work.” It’s no fun to have sex with someone who’s just going through the motions as a favor; you need a partner who is engaged and ultimately satisfied, no matter which end you’re on. That can be tricky to achieve in a relationship with conflicting or non-compatible desires, but I don’t know that it’s any easier in fiction — any easier to write convincingly, I mean. But Bottoms in Love succeeds there.

But enough from me. Let’s hear what the author has to say about how this story came to be written. And, if you leave a comment on this post within a week (so, deadline: Friday, September 21), you’ll be entered to win a free copy of the book!

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I hesitate to tell story origin stories because I think some people enjoy the romantic notion that a story comes from some mystical place and the author is simply the medium, and when is a better time to indulge in romantic notions than when reading a story? The origin story for Bottoms in Love has the potential to sound especially clunky because it involves that unromantic aspect of the writing life: finding the time. The original idea for Bottoms in Love came in a single scene. I planned to write a man spanking a woman who was begging for more, but from the vantage point of outside the bedroom. From there, I wanted to establish them as a married couple, with kids, making it all work and even enjoying some kinky play on the rare occasions they got the chance. Then I planned to enter the bedroom and have Carter pause, with the flat of his hand raised behind her, just as Lindsey’s craving to receive a hard spank was at a peak, and say, “If I spank you hard, do you promise to spank me hard next?” Lindsey would answer, as if this were not the first time her turn at playing the submissive was interrupted by her husband’s worry over getting his turn, “Yes! I promise. Just please, spank me!” Carter would oblige.

I liked the story idea and I had every intention of writing it, one day. But the idea wasn’t quite compelling enough to interrupt my other projects, so it went to the back of my mind. While there, it expanded, and a week or so later, I started writing, but I backed it up to how it got to be Lindsey’s turn first. So I wrote what turned out to be the opening of Bottoms in Love, with Carter losing yet another coin flip and having to have his way with his beautiful wife when he desperately wants his beautiful wife to have her way with him.

The original version would have been a decent short story with a nice twist, but I consider it a lucky coincidence that I didn’t have time to sit and write it because that brought Bottoms in Love into existence. And maybe mystic forces were involved because while I was considering where to submit part 1 as a standalone story, I finished part 2. Just then Sharazade pointed out that Oysters and Chocolate was just starting OC Press. So I sent the completed story to Jordan and Samantha and it got to be part of the launch of a brand new publishing house, which was an incredible honor.

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Good fortune all around, I’d say! And don’t forget to comment on or before September 21 for a chance to win a free ebook of Bottoms in Love. If you don’t win, though, you can still pick up a copy here from Oysters & Chocolate.

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