But the bane of this process?  The space right in front this picture window. I swear it’s messing up the feng shui of the room almost as badly as the upright piano off to its left.  The piano, I can do nothing about. My spouse wants to keep it, a family heirloom, and to say he’s been giving and kind about the books about the house would be a gross understatment on my part. Sometimes, one must give back in equal gesture.

click for enlarged image

So, the window.  I’ve decided I want to put a work table there to provide a place to sort books, keep research files (in piles, most likely. LOL!), and house other in-progress sundries.  If I could squeeze some small bookcases into the setup, all the better. I think I’d like to keep its length to equal the broad span of the picture window because of surrounding furniture, but everywhere I look for possibilities, I’m underwhelmed.  A prime example: IKEA work tables.

I suppose I have images of finely constructed home libraries in my head — you know, the kind you’d find in books about the subject — and I’m not really that way. I’m far too practical and price-conscious.  But I’m willing to entertain ideas, so let me put it to you: What would you do? Have you seen any interesting work tables in your home design adventures?

I don’t have space measurements at this time (I’m on the road, traveling), but I will when I return home. The only restrictions I have are no dark woods, white, or all-metal tables. The room’s woods tend towards maple in hue.

So, ideas?

(P.S. I’ll provide a pictoral tour of my library once the reorg is finished.

A decade previous to this date, I embarked on writing short erotic fiction. Dozens of my stories appeared in major anthologies from Cleis Press, Alyson Books, the now-defunct Venus Book Club, Berkley Heat, and more. I celebrated every by-line and cherished every opportunity. But something was missing. I was one of those authors that the larger mainstream publishing world overlooked. I was an early blogger and diarist about sex and my sex life, yet no book deal came my way. I had a couple of novels in the can yet securing an agent was a multi-year exercise in futility. I watched the romance market embrace a certain level of eroticism in their publishing lines… but it did not speak to me in a way that was authentic to my experience or even paralleled the intensity of erotic writing I had done. Let me tell you, I felt left out in the cold.

Until Lori Perkins blew me away by inviting me to submit Ravenous Romance. She remembered my writing and publishing creds — something every writer prays for — and just when I questioned whether to continue on, she gave me the very outlet I needed to journey on. I had a whole new reason to celebrate and cherish opportunity. Since then, Lori and her partners have brought two of my novels into e-print. They’ve asked for several more, including one that is shaping up to be an opus of a lifetime. And, most soulful to me, they’ve allowed me to write from the erotic edge. Not once have they asked me to softball my erotic portrayals.

Today, all of us Ravenous Romance authors are celebrating our good fortune. We’re ecstatic. And our publisher is celebrating, too, by offering all full-length ebooks to the reading public for a mere .99 cents. Go, check it out, and if you’re fond of my writing, look in the Wicked Pleasures section for more kinky fiction.

Happy anniversary, Ravenous Romance!

Over the summer, my college-aged, production-savvy daughter helped me assemble an exciting DVD/CD promotional package, specifically geared to the erotic romance/erotica reader. It’s a DVD/CD package that has book trailers, author commentaries, and book excerpts of all my novels.

My novels are exceptionally kinky and probably not for the faint-of-heart. But if you’re an adventurous, open-minded reader and game for interesting twists of erotic extremes, then you might enjoy my work.

If you’d like one of these babies, simply email me at debrawriting at cox dot net, provide your snail mail address, and I’ll send you a DVD/CD combo at no cost to you. (Adults only, please.)

I absolutely promise to regard your snail mail address as sacrosanct. I will not share it and if I have future offerings, I will contact you first via email.

I hope you’ll check out this freebie of mine. We had such fun putting it together and I’d like to pass our enthusiasm to you!

But What’s Hot isn’t all about me. I share the spotlight with fellow authors Earl Sewell and Kat Martin. Somehow, All Romance eBooks rounded us up during Book Expo America, a HUGE cattle drive of a publishing industry event. Talk about expert wrangling!

If you can’t make the actual 9:30 show, not to worry. You can download the podcast and enjoy it at your leisure. Be sure to check out their previous shows as well!

It seems I can’t work at my laptop for any significant length of time without eyestrain in the form of blurred vision. Now, I don’t think anything pathological is happening to my eyes. I suspect it’s simply a matter of needing trifocals for my work. My laptop sits in arms length away from my eyes, which constitutes the mid-range vision that trifocals provide. And since my current prescription doesn’t compensate for that, I get blurry-eyed pretty easily. Next week, I’ll see my optometrist and press for the appropriate solution.

Struggling forward, I’m trying something new to keep up with blogging. I’m using voice-recognition software to compose my posts. For the most part, the software works well, but the real adjustment is in thinking out loud. I’ve been composing at a keyboard as a writer for thirty years now, dating back to when I was a technical writer right out of college. I had access to word processor before secretaries did. Heck, I had access to word processor before personal computers existed in the workplace. So to suddenly compose aloud is a far bigger cognitive shift than I expected.

Consequently, it’s almost impossible to write fiction aloud, so I’m trying it for blogging where the stream-of-conscience thought process is more conversational and far less intense.

We’ll see how this works out based on how often I blog. More entries means I’m making the adjustment fairly well; less entries means, well, less success. I’m going to give it a try because ultimately it may help with everything from blogging to e-mail to writing letters to my family. Here’s hoping!

And I’ll let you know when the new eyeglasses are on order.

I haven’t visited central Illinois since I was a young adult, and it’s like rediscovering a part of the country I never developed a decent appreciation for in the first place. I enjoyed reconnecting with my dad and visiting with relatives. The weather was perfect, although the region had just come off a long bout of heavy rain. Farmers were still waiting for their fields to dry out and everyday the past without planting was a day of increased worry. By week’s end, we did see tractors out working so the situation had improved greatly.

We did a lot of Lincoln outings, visiting his house in Springfield and, to my surprise, learned that his father and stepmother had ultimately settled not far from where my mother grew up. I think we’ve now officially visited more than half of the official National Parks places associated with President Lincoln.

Returning from Illinois, I had only the slightest of breaks before I was off to attend Book Expo America. As American publishing’s premier trade show, it’s really something to behold. You might want to visit my other blog, Pursed Lips, to see what I came away with there.

Returning from BEA, I spent two weeks writing a new book proposal, a task that consumed me until I completed it. And wouldn’t you know it, but no sooner did I finish it then my son moved into his first official apartment. (Can you say “help me move, mom”?) It’s a big step for him, having lived for several years in independent living programs as a disabled young man. The lease is in his name along with his electric and soon to be established Internet accounts.

So that’s what’s kept me away, but now all’s said and done. I’m back and ready to blog.

I’m also pleased to share word with you that erotic author Louisa Burton, known for her Hidden Grotto books, kindly hailed my book for evoking

“a world of sacred sensuality and dark intrigue that’s sure to appeal to those with a taste for erotic fantasy.”

Louisa’s books are wonderful reads and I’m grateful to earn her nod.

training-desire
Enjoy the video and, if it leaves you so inclined, check out Training Desire!

First, I was absolutely surprised to discover wild-with-enthusiasm fans. I mean, I knew women read romance novels, but as a reader, I was very picky with the genre and therefore very isolated. Plus, I never ran into other readers in the romance section of my local bookstore, something that never happened in the SF/F section. But I quickly came to appreciate romance’s fandom and was completely smittered with their bright enthusiasm. You see, my personal fan involvement was, before this, limited to SF/F and a wee bit of /H where geekdom ruled. Ladies, you’re quite a different bunch from the fandom of my prior knowledge!

When I looked to promote my novels with Ravenous Romance, I quickly discovered that romance fans had captured Yahoo groups as their preferred on-line communication and socializing vehicle and remain loyal to it, despite the newer, bigger, better tools of the so-called Web 2.0. Because they use an older method, I knew they had banded together years and have been together ever since. I’m still blinking my eyes in amazement at the volume of traffic any one Yahoo romance group generates!

Last, I because exceptionally sensitive to the romance reader’s demand for affordability. You see, I come from a family of book collectors and readers. Spending good money on books was never frowned upon or discouraged. Upon my mother’s death years ago, everyone agreed I should have her library of poetry and fiction — which takes up three tall bookcases. I have my parents’ joint Shaker library, several dozen books that command a wide three-shelf bookcase. Our SF/F/H collection? Four tall IKEA bookcase. The erotic and erotic romance collection? Two ROOMS.

So money has never been a huge object. Sensible shopping, however? A must. But that’s another story for another day.

Most romance readers, I’ve found, are far more frugal than me. But they’re every bit as voracious in their consumption. To stretch a dollar and feed their habit, they buy and sell and trader among themselves. (You should see the second-hand market on ebay!) They eschew the trade paperback. They buy electronic books. The only other reading circle I’ve seen who come close to this kind of savvy sharing are senior citizens, either at local town centers or bridge groups. And they don’t binge read the way romance fans do!

So, yes, this is an appreciation. Especially because this old dog learned a new trick from y’all. Thank you.

Think Jacqueline Cary (Kushiel’s Dart) meets George R.R. Martin (Song of Fire and Ice series) meets Anne Rice (Beauty series).

Mira’s world is an omni-sexual landscape where pleasure is ordained by the great goddess, Rangtha, and the people of her kith house cater to her worshipers in every way imaginable — without prejudice towards orientation or taste.

Which means there’s plenty of het, m/m, and f/f couplings. And that’s before Mira loses here virginity. Imagine the possibilities in future editions! Wonders await us all.

Born into the pleasure world of Kith House, Rangtha in the fading city of Nameda, Mira is poised to enter the ranks of the revered pleasure-giver. Her only goal is to serve her goddess, Rangtha, by giving her virginity to a worthy recipient.

Yet she’s an innocent, unaware of the strife that surrounds her. Rival mentors pit themselves one against the other. Rapacious citizens exuberantly bid for hers virginity. And shadowy factions — for good or for ill — see Mira as the symbol of the future.

Rarely has one so innocent had to stand up to dangers so blatant. But rarely has Nameda seen the likes of Mira, a celebrant determined to fulfill her goal according to the ways of her goddess.

Training Desires. Spinning Mira’s world into existence has been one of the most exhuberant writing experiences of my life and I hope you’ll help me make Training Desires a Ravenous Romance bestseller so I can continue to sping her world, and other equally exciting realms, into existence.

Because we all deserve pleasure.