Tweet Tweet Pt 1 Or Why I'm Blogging About 50 Shades Of Grey

Twitter has been good to me lately. I've been able to connect with writers/authors/people that I wouldn't have had an opportunity to meet otherwise. Among those people, is Jaid Black of Ellora's Cave.

Late one night, Jaid blogged about the Time magazine article regarding the whole Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. Like me, she found the article offensive for a number of reasons I won't get into here, except to say, I was impassioned enough to tweet my own similarly-minded opinion to let her know she and I were in agreement.

I said (the article), Does so many hard-working erotic romance authors a HUGE injustice. :\

For the record, Fifty Shades has created a mix of strong opinions. As an author, I’m happy E.L. James has had success with her books. Her success has helped draw readers to the erotic romance genre. On the other hand, I feel she and her handlers have done little to make certain the media understand the genre that’s been so good to her was already doing just fine on its own.

Jaid asked me to leave the comment on her blog. I was more than happy to do so and expanded my opinion there since Twitter only allows 140 characters.

What follows is my comment…

A lot of things about the Time article offend me, but I'm glad Jaid dispelled some popular myths about the erotic romance genre. I've been writing in the erotic romance genre for years. Like so many, I’ve worked hard to achieve my writing goals (and do on a daily basis) and sadly, the media with the help of E.L. James do nothing to help garner respect for the genre or the authors. Disrespect for the romance genre in general is nothing new, but Time’s latest article on the subject hits below the belt.
That would be bad enough but they’ve also insulted us. Take their assessment of our heroines. “She may not be textured or well written or particularly particular in any way, except in mouthing off and making demands and getting what she wants." Anyone who reads quality erotic romance knows that is flat out FALSE. It suggests that erotic romance authors aren’t good writers, that they don’t know how to write sympathetic heroines and furthermore that the heroines of erotic romance are nothing more than mouthy bitches. Whether Time realizes it or not, the article has a subtly sexist tone I find reprehensible. 
Time did all erotic romance authors a HUGE injustice by dumbing down and misrepresenting what we take seriously. If they couldn’t cover our genre accurately, they shouldn’t have covered it at all.
Shame on Time magazine!

PDA Or Public Displays of Awesomeness

It’s been years since I’ve seen fireworks. While out walking the dogs, my husband and I heard the usual pop pop pop and crackle of illegal fireworks. Or at least, we assumed they were illegal, since we could hear them too well for them to be any of the legal local firework displays. 

We got back inside and we heard them again. I looked out my office window. A beautiful spray of color erupted through the air. Fireworks! I raised the blinds and stood for a while, watching each bloom of red, green, white, yellow, blue, purple and orange fill the night sky. 

We figured out we must be far enough south that we were able to see one of the legal displays.  What’s better than looking out your window and seeing a fireworks display? No crowds, no sweat, no traffic.

I’ve forgotten how much I love fireworks.

Sexy Tea

Okay. So this post will only be somewhat relevant to Persephone Jones, erotic romance writer. But it is erotic. At least I think it is. Either that or I'm totally perverted. Whichever. :)

I love tea. Like some people love coffee. Thus, the inspiration for this post. Enjoy.

Check out the graphic art on the box of  Lipton Brisk sweet tea. No, I mean--really check it out. There's chicks on it. Chicks with wild, crazy, bedhead. (Is that one word or two?) And they don't look like they've been sleeping. Know what I mean? Let's have a closer look.

 Look at Right-Side-Of-The-Box-Chick. Eyes shut, mouth open. Dude. There's dew on the leaves pointing directly at her mouth. And did I mention the bed head?

And this one? Left-Side-Of-The-Box is practically cross-eyed.

Lookie. Tea porn. Heehee!
Like I said, orgasmic tea. Think the marketing folks at Lipton did this by accident? *Snort*
Kinda puts me in the mood for some tea...

*In all seriousness, the design belongs to one Tristan Eaton of www.tristaneaton.net. Very talented guy. Three cheers for the sexy tea, Tristan!

Dedication

I wrote my first dedication today. I dedicated my story "Heart Of Stone" in the upcoming Ravaged anthology by Breathless Press to my husband, Jason. :)

And here it is...

For Jason. Your love and support means everything to me.

 Love you, sweetie!

WIP #5 Of 2012

Vamps. Werewolves. Ghosts. Roadtrips.

Stay tuned!

Ravaged Anthology

I haz cover joy!

There is no better way to finish a week than to receive a beautiful cover for your newest book. 

My editor just sent me the cover art for the Breathless Press Ravaged Anthology coming out in August. 

It's a thing of beauty, I tell ya. Congrats to all the authors and here's to good sales! *Lifts a glass of digital champagne to everybody*

WIP #4 Of 2012

Apparently, vamps are in for 2012. The singing kind. Got a sweet rock star vamp WIP brewing in the 'ol mental crock pot. I missed my deadline. Again. (Unsheath sword and plunge deep.) But I'm not altogether unhappy about that. The WIP blossomed into something pretty amazing. And I'm thinking of creating a little universe for myself wherein to play.

The muse and I are happy.