Let's talk about Sex

Thinking about Thursday
 

Let's Talk about Sex

Now that I have your attention, excuse me a moment while I make a private comment to my husband.
 
Honey, if you are reading this: you can go back to watching hockey, it isn't going to be what you hope!

For my writer friends, let's talk about sex. My apologies to all of you who now have a Salt and Peppa Song stuck in your head. Let's talk about sex, baby. Let's talk about you and me...


Anyway, I am  wondering if  writing about sex is not in my skill set. Don't get me wrong, I am far from prude and have no problem reading about it. 
 
But, when I start writing I can only come up with about three synonyms for moan and even less for particular body parts. Therefore, my scenes are less than...enthralling ( I was going to say climatic, but the pun felt too juvenile). 


As an aspiring romance writer, this is a problem!

To quote Roni Loren, whose erotic novel Exposure Therapy comes out in early 2012 :  

"The best way to learn to write sex is to read a heat level above what you're writing and

then when you get to your own book, what you're writing feels mild compared to the other stuff."

That is great advice and, as of now, finding a heat level about mine shouldn't be difficult.

One of my mother's comments about the first (and only) manuscript I let her read was, 
"There wasn't enough sex to make it a romance novel. You should add more." 


That was creepy in itself. I don't know which is worse, having a mother who would be embarrassed at how erotic your book is or having a mother who doesn't think it is erotic enough....(hmm, guess I will save that question for my next therapy session.)

Honestly, I am not worried about what people think about me writing sex scenes. I am worried about what people will think about me writing bad sex scenes.

Romantic suspense is my niche and there are successful authors who write without it. Wendy Lyn Watson 's mystery a-la-mode series, for example. Warning: The way Wendy describes ice cream is like reading about sex!




So, what do you think? 


Can a romance novel (or in my case, romantic suspense) that is not historical or inspirational be sexy, hot and most importantly, sell without explicit sex? 

What do you prefer in your reading/ writing?

Do more readers want to see the bedroom door swing shut and leave the rest to the imagination? Or  have the entire fantasy played out before them?  


As always, thank you so much for stopping by! I look forward to reading your comments.


Have a great weekend!

Dancing with Words

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday:

Dancing with Words

Featured Author:

LINDA GRAVES

 Linda Graves, 

author of the newly released  

Shimmying Faith.

Dancing with Words

First, a big thank you to Dawn for inviting me to share the story of my writing journey. Like many writers, I began at a very young age. In elementary school my stories were simple, usually about horses. As a city girl, it was my greatest desire at the time. However, life got in the way and writing fell by the wayside as other interests took over. My passions moved to include softball, choir, band and drama by middle school. Those love affairs continued until long after high school until another passion swept me into its grasp.

In college, I discovered Belly Dancing. Middle Eastern dance swallowed me whole. For thirty years it was the joy of my life. During that time I married and had a family. I love them dearly, but it was dance that moved my soul. I loved every aspect of dancing, the performing, the teaching, the costume design, the choreographing. Like choir, band and drama I loved the entertaining.

After a few years, I became co-director of Scheherezade’s Fantasies. For the next eighteen years, even finding enough free time to read a book seemed to be a near impossibility. When a few years ago we disbanded the troupe, I found I had tons of free time to fill. While chatting with my teenage daughter and one of her friends about boys, I started telling them the PG13 stories of the many zany dates/relationships I was involved in during my twenty-six single years. They convinced me to write them down, which turned out to be my first completed manuscript, Trying on Shoes.

I knew little of the art of writing, only the art of entertaining. Still, I was excited about the new form of entertainment that had presented itself. After attending a lecture by Candace Havens at a nearby library, I realized that romance was the direction I wanted to head. As much fun as my dating life had been, reality was who would be interested in my love life? So I decided to break up the ‘Boyfriend’ stories and weave them together to make some interesting, and of course totally “fictional” characters to grace my overactive imagination.

Over the years, dance has given me a gaggle of fun, rather unique experiences. When maneuvered around to protect the not so innocent, then combined with the boyfriend stories, I had plenty of fodder for tons of stories. Now that I had material, my next step was education.

I began taking on-line writing classes and non-credit college courses to improve my craft. After less than a year, I submitted my first completed manuscript Shimmying Faith to more than twenty publishers. I knew little about them, but ignorance is bliss. Several months after receiving multiple, “Interesting concept, but not what we’re looking for.” or the simple form rejections, I finally opened an email that said, “Congrats! We would like to offer you a contract.”

Needless to say, after ten or so minutes of jumping up and down and heart palpitations I settled down to read the email. Yes, they really wanted it! Even with the still much needed editing they wanted Shimmying Faith. Now, eight months from that most welcomed email, I am a published author with Whiskey Creek Press.

The classes, blogs and conventions are always there to help me hone my craft. I am somewhat A.D.D. so I have at least ten manuscripts in the works. My erotic Raqs Rory, is in the ‘submit’ process, my paranormal Jaguar’s Dance is in rewrite. I’m lovin’ my current venue to entertain. Now my favorite thing is to get my groove on, Dancing with Words!

Linda Graves

http://lindagraves.com

Check out SHIMMYING FAITH’s book trailer on YouTube

Linda, thank you so much for sharing your journey with us on Tell Me Your Story Tuesday.  

*If you are an author (published or still in waiting)  I would LOVE to feature your story.

  Email me at writerinwaiting (at) gmail (dot) com*

 

Guess Who's Coming to Visit?

I completely missed Thinking about Thursday this week. Wow, sometimes life can really just attack you without mercy!
Sorry about that.

Anyway, I am excited to announce that Tuesday my friend and now published author, Linda Graves, will be the very first guest blogger for Tell Me Your Story Tuesday!

Linda's book Shimmying Faith which combines romance and belly dancing is now available through Amazon as well as Whiskey Creek Press . Check out the book trailer here

Check back Tuesday to read Linda's journey to publication.

Until then you can find her at www.lindagraves.com
 
Have a terrific weekend!

See you Tuesday!

Tell me your story-NYE Style

Okay, so it isn't Tuesday, but I wanted to do a Tell Me Your Story post anyway.

New Year's Eve style.

I having been trying to conjure up my best memory of New Year's Eve. Difficult, because most of them blend together in an alcohol-induced haze. The overarching themes from my younger years involve  friends, a karaoke machine and lots of drinking in the back bedroom. Unfortunately, a good portion of it is preserved on video.

Must destroy all copies before my children are old enough to see...

One NYE that will always make me smile centers around sneaking a friend's underage brother  into a bar in New Mexico. He didn't drink, just hung with us.That same night,  I vaguely remember running the table on a friend's overly-confident (read : cocky jerk)  fiance while everyone thought I was too toasted to stand up, much less focus on the cue ball.

At midnight, everyone else kiss their future husbands, I kissed three gay men. 

The New Year's Eve Kiss-at-Midnight thing as never worked out well for me.

Case in point, at the time of one of the aforementioned parties, I was seeing two different guys (one for fun, one for keeps- I thought) and heavily flirting with a third ( because this was college and he was just hot!).

All three made an appearance at the party.


Fun Guy~ stopped by long enough to try to persuade me to leave with him. Stayed less than fifteen minutes. Wasn't there at midnight, but called at 2 am because he hadn't found anyone better to bring in the New Year with. Yeah, he was a winner.


For Keeps Guy~ Came by for a while. Had been drinking since noon. Drank more with me and inexplicably left at about 11:45.


Hot Guy~ Asked me to go outside with him when For Keeps Guy left so we could "talk some place private" *Promising* Made me sit in the front seat of his freezing truck while he confessed his undying love for my roommate and asked me to help set it up so he could kiss her at midnight.


Yet, another year I kissed three gay men.


So, tell me your story. What is your best New Year's Eve? What is your worst? 




Happy New Year!

It is what it is...

Thinking about Thursday


Like everyone else today, I am thinking about 2011. As I mentioned in my previous post 2010 was "less than stellar". Honestly, I am  uneasy about 2011. It is already not going to be the year I hoped for and it hasn't even started yet.

One of my mother's more annoying phrases is "It is what it is." This is her frustrating non-response to anything unpleasant. Recently, I saw an addition to this phrase that changed it completely for me.

It is what it is but it will be what you make it.

So, the question for today is:
What am I going to make it?

I have three basic goals for this year.

1. Find a critique group/ partner.
    I have to let someone with objectivity read my work. It is just time.

2. Attend a writing conference.
    I am aiming for DFWCON in February. 

3. Query.
    Even if it is just one email. Just to prove I can.

Hold me to these, please. I am a people-pleaser. I don't mind letting myself down, but if someone else is holding me accountable, I almost never let them down.

So, what you about you? What are you going to make 2011? 

Happy New Year!

Unsatisfying

2010 just wasn't my year...for anything. If you want an example of the sordid details, you can read my review of the summer here. But, basically, it was an unsatisfying year. --> I had the word "crappy", but put it into dictionary.com for a more civilized  word.

Unsatisfying is a perfect description.

Unsatisfying because I expected  more. Much, much more.

I knew the changes to my job would be challenging. I didn't expect them to be overwhelming to the point of (metaphoric) suffocation. 

I wanted to focus on my writing, but life, kids,my mother and other randomness pushed it aside.

And as I wrote earlier this month, I am still right here.

BUT WAIT!

Before you call me a therapist or click unfollow because "Wow, she is depressing."

I am confident it is going to get better.

I look at the possibilities before me for 2011 and I am beyond excited.

I have two manuscripts ready for the Great Expectations contest.
I am going to the DFW Writer's Workshop Conference.
and I may just quit my day job after reading this post by JM Tohline.

So, 2010 wasn't it for me. Not at all. But 2011 will be here in a few days. Bring it on!

Next Thursday, I will be listing my goals for 2011. Please drop by so you can hold me accountable later!

Thinking about ... Thursday

 Today, I am thinking about...
Where to begin?
I am pondering a complete rewrite of the opening scene in my entry for the Great Expectations Contest. Based on feedback from the last contest, I may have started at the wrong place. I love some of the lines in the scene as it is. I hate to lose the character interaction, but it is mostly back story presented through a cast (no, really, they are doing a theater production) of characters.

A judge suggested starting at the next scene and including the information from the first by using introspection. I am not real clear how to do that. 

I am also not sure I will have enough to time to completely rewrite it the way I think it should go. After all, it is the holidays!

So, that is what I am thinking about today. What about you? Have you ever moved your starting point and it worked out for the best? Can you give some suggestions on using introspection without it becoming a "telling, not showing" problem? What is on your mind about your writing?