A question of…morality?

I belong to a writer’s group and every year they have a big contest to judge the work of their peers (koff) and drama is never far behind. Every year there is teeth gnashing, hair pulling – you name it – and I can only roll my eyes so much before it becomes too much effort to do even that much and I’m reaching that point now.

So on the email loop for said group the conversation has turned to…the contest. One of the authors mentioned some judges were sending back books (meaning they won’t read them for judging) that were Erotic Romance not because it wasn’t to their liking – it was a question of MORALITY.

Rut-row (ScoobieDoo imitation)

I cannot tell you how sick and tired, tired and sick, weak and weary I am of the mentality that writing sex is immoral. I’ve got news for the woman who wrote this – if it weren’t for sex she wouldn’t be here. (I know, its like telling a child that the Easter Bunny doesn’t exist but sometimes life is just tough and you’ve got to take like a big girl)

I don’t think those who write sweet or inspirational romances aren’t having good sex. I also don’t believe all ‘moral’ people wait until marriage to have sex. Why would someone pass judgement like that on erotic romance? Saying you don’t like it or don’t read it is one thing, saying it is a question of morality is completely different. It carries the implication that the author of the comment is morally superior to those of us who enjoy writing and reading ER.

It just makes you shake your head doesn’t it? I feel sorry for her – she must lead a very small life and only feels better when she’s looking down on someone else.

One of the most important lessons my father taught me was that no man is superior to another, period.

Free eBooks!

Come and get ‘em…..

http://www.harlequincelebrates.com

I Read Romance

There is a great romance website (www.ireadromance.com) and they are starting up their own chat list and guess what…they will talk about BOOKS. What a concept, a romance list actually talks about books. No drive by author promos, no random promotional companies spamming you with ads…

The grand opening is Friday and I will be one of the featured authors! So stop on by because I’ll be posting exclusive excerpts from Educating Jane Porter and Rites of Spring, the second installment in the Coven series.

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/i_read_romance/)

Love Romances & More Award

I just received the fabulous news that Winter’s Daughter took second place in the Love Romances & More Best Book 2008 awards for Best Mystery / Suspense. I am utterly thrilled to have been nominated let alone taking second. (It was a tie with Josh Lanyon & Sarah Black’s Partner’s In Crime)

I cannot convey to you what this book means to me. Writers are always encouraged to write the book of our heart and Winter’s Daughter is just that book. Of all of my characters Syn is the one I feel the most deeply.

I’m hard at work on the sequel, Rites of Spring, and this is Syn’s younger sister Chloe’s story.

For more information on Winter’s Daughter -http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599989867?ie=UTF8&tag=homeofjcwild-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1599989867

Upcoming Workshop

PR Isn’t a 4-Letter Word

Self-promotion. Say the word aloud in a room full of authors and watch a fingernails-on-the-blackboard shudder run through the crowd. Promotion can be a scary drain on time and finances. But there are also many entertaining and often free opportunities to get one’s name in front of readers.

Marcia James and over 20 PR-savvy guest lecturers—Melissa Alvarez, Dianne Castell, Kate Douglas, Carol Ann Erhardt, Karen Harper, Susan Gee Heino, Donna Hill, Linda Keller, Laurie Kingery, Karen McCullough, Donna MacMeans, Janice Maynard, Beth Morrow, Jenna Petersen, Patricia Sargeant, Barbara Satow, Jenn Stark, Jennifer Stevenson, Kay Stockham, DeNita Tuttle and J.C. Wilder—will present affordable author self-promotion strategies from author branding and press kits to blog/chatroom opportunities and niche markets.

The speaker fees will be donated to Best Friends Animal Society (http://www.bestfriends.org/), which has the largest no-kill animal shelter in the U.S. For workshop registration information, go to the Yosemite Romance Writers’ site: http://www.yosemiteromancewriters.com/6.html – you have to scroll down to find it.

Misplaced Treasures

Yesterday I was in my closet – you just never know where I’ll turn up – and I found a case of book from my keeper shelf. Well, in this case I guess I’d call it a Keeper Closet because I have so many Keepers that it would take an entire room to display them all.

So who was in my Keeper box? Old Sharon Sala including the first McCall titles, three Debbie Macomber titles and…Elizabeth Elliott. I knew EE from the CompuServe LitForum back in the mid nineties. She wrote three books, Warlord, Betrothed and Scoundrel, then vanished. If I remember correctly, there was an illness in her family or something of that nature. If you can find these three books – BUY THEM. They are beautifully written medieval historicals that combine romance with some of the grit from those times. I love medieval titles and just seeing these little gems again made me smile.

It also caused me to remember why I started writing in the first place. I love everything about romance novels. The adventure of finding love, the meshing of two lives, the trials and the victories and most of all, overcoming whatever obstacles face them.

Happy sigh.

As I poured through my misplaced treasures – you should’ve seen me just running my hands over my beloved books and grinning like a fool – and I started thinking about how much romance novels have changed over the past 15 years. When I started writing in the ninties, erotic romance was the exception not the rule. The only authors writing ER was Susan Johnson, Thea Devine and Bertrice Small. I’ve always written ER starting with my first book, One With The Hunger. In reading it now, you’d probably think it was tame but back then…girllll….I got so much crap for that knife scene. Reviewers said I was glorifying violence against women, that I wrote kink….blah blah blah.

In ER now if the couple doesn’t use some sort of toy then people don’t think its hot enough. Spanking or menage rules the day along with GLBT (specifically m/m) and straight sex (no kink) seems to have faded into the background. What’s going on here? I love ER or I wouldn’t write it. But when I started looking through my Keepers (and I have hundreds) not a single one was an ER title. Somewhere I have my stack of early Susan Johnson’s – it was her books that convinced me it was okay to not only write the naughty stuff but to enjoy it too.

But romance isn’t about SEX. Can you believe it – I said that and the sky didn’t fall. Who knew? Sarcasm is the next hot accessory in fashion…

Sex is certainly a component, but it isn’t the end all be all of a romance novel. More and more I’m seeing books that are high in sex and low in plot or the ‘sex as plot’ books. When did the character arc turn into a guideline rather than the rule? I like sexy books, but none of my keepers are the hot stuff. Why? Because good sex doesn’t equate to a solid, lasting relationship. Would you love your spouse any less if they couldn’t have sex?

Looking at my career, in general, my writing has become hotter and hotter. I never write anything that I don’t love, period. But in working on my latest project, I caught myself looking for ways to inject more heat in to the manuscript. The plotline does lend itself to being very sexy but love scenes should work to move the plot forward – not for titilation. Love scenes should explore character and work to cement the bond between the characters not to increase the sex count. The interesting thing is I couldn’t figure out why the book was giving me fits. I was fighting writing it, it felt so forced and just plain wrong. Yes, writers do get sucked into trying to write to the market. I’ve seen it happen many times and it sa great way to kill a career. If you don’t write what you love, you will burn out pretty fast.

My solution? I emailed my editor to ask for more time and she agreed because she’s a goddess. I then went back to the manuscript and tore it in half – three weeks worth of work now gone. But its okay, is what the book needed. The last thing I want is to write something that not only cheats the readers but also the characters. I love, love, love romance novels and in finding that box I now remember WHAT it is I loved and why I started writing.

So what books are in my Keeper box?
Sharon Sala – Chance McCall, Queen
Dinah McCall – Jackson Rule, Dreamcatcher, Tallchief
Katherine Kinglsey – No Sweeter Heaven
Elizabeth Elliott – Soundrel, Warlord, Betrothed
Robyn Carr – The House on Olive Street

WLW: Updates

Yes, I know it isn’t Wednesday…but I didn’t manage to post yesterday so git over it.

It was a good week – I lost two more pounds. Even more exciting is that is, right now, as I type I’m wearing a pair of jeans that I haven’t been able to fit into in more than a year. Now THAT is what I call progress.

So far I’ve lost a grand total of 38 pounds but honestly, I don’t see it. I know I feel much better, have less pain in my knees, have more energy, but I don’t see it when I look in the mirror. A friend said my face was thinner and my response was ‘That’s nice but a smaller face will only make my belly look even BIGGER.” LOL!

That’s why I’m excited about wearing the jeans. I could wear them this time last year, but breathing was optional and if I was bending over – it was impossible. Now I’m not going to say they are totally comfy now – but I can breathe this time around so I’ll take that as a victory.

So who caught Oprah on Monday? One of her guests was Erik Chopin from The Biggest Loser 3. In total, he lost 214 pounds and now, three years later, he’s gained 107 pounds back. IMO, Erik is the reality of weight loss.

Statistics say that 95% of people who diet and lose weight will gain it back. In most cases, they will gain what they’ve lost and thensome. That’s certainly been the case with me. I’ve lost at least 600 pounds in my lift and I’m still 200 pounds overweight. Did I weigh 1000 pounds? Nope but sometimes it feels like it.

It started in high school. I was around 230 and I was 5 foot 11 inches. (I say that because I’m SHRINKING DAMMIT!) I lost 70 pounds by not eating and taking diet pills. Three years later I was in the mid two hundreds…went to Weight Watchers and back then the scales only went to 250 and they made me feel like crap because they had to jump through hoops to weigh me. I’m still not a WW fan but if it works for you – go for it. Lost weight…gained more back… In my early thirties I went to Jenny Craig…lost 90 pounds…gained more back…I think you get the picture. I think I’m like most people when it comes to weight loss. We’re of the idea that once we get ‘it’ and we lose the weight then we’re done – the problem is cured. Oh how wrong we are.

After watching Oprah and Erik’s conversation I have finally (well hopefully its the LAST time) decided that weight is something to be managed like a serious illness. People can live with AIDS or Lupus or CFS because they work their lifestyle to take their illness into account. They actively work to be healthy, to stay healthy, to get enough rest, take vitamins etc.

Weight loss is something to be managed, not overcome. I will never be free of needing to watch what I eat and chances are neither will you. Sucks doesn’t it? But here is the deal – embrace it now because if you wait until after you’ve lost weight then gained it back plus another 15 – you’ll be kicking yourself hard like I did. And that really sucks.

So how was your week?