HOLIDAY CHEER!

From our corral to yours, Happy Everything!

Ride the Wave of Success

by F. Solomon


One of the coolest things about this blog is that you do have four writers here, and a writer is a person who writes, which is a definition that has been given to me at moments when I doubt that I am a writer (even though I am in the midst of working on NaNoWriMo and that means that I have been writing!).

The three other horsewomen have been writing as well; and it is with a great deal of pleasure that one of us has made it into the creme de la creme!  It is always with great anticipation and with supreme satisfaction that Rachel Kramer Bussel's erotic anthologies fall into my hands. Women in Lust, her newest anthology from Cleis Press, has been awaited with greater anticipation and even more pleasure because a horsewomen is in it!

The story “Ride A Cowboy” is one of the sexy stories in the Women in Lust anthology, and boy is it ever. Remember being a child and looking for all the good bits? Well when you read a story by Del Carmen you do not even have to skim a bit, she just delivers the goods!

From the explicit intention given in the first sentence, you are ready for the ride that Rita and Nate are about to go on. Instant chemistry, the tension, the electricity. And the first draft of it, which the infinitely feminine and ladylike Del Carmen asked the rest of us to read -- was practically perfection. Even though it was her first time writing erotica, she definitely did not stay a novice for long! The precision with which she went about it -- writing erotica like mad--and getting it done on time and sent out for possible publication in a RKB anthology was rewarded. “Ride a Cowboy” was bought and is now published.

I have had the pleasure of having another talented friend get into a few RKB anthologies and...the joy that fills all of us to see a Horsewoman get in is triple!

Ride, Horsewomen, ride indeed. We are happy to ride along with our very talented Del Carmen, whom you will keep seeing more of.

To learn more about the Women in Lust anthology or Del Carmen, please visit the following sites: http://womeninlust.wordpress.com// and http://www.mydelcarmen.com/.

  

READY, SET....WRITE!

by Maria Ferrer

November 1 is D-Day. The first day of National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. And the challenge is on – 50,000 words in 30 days.

The secret to winning this challenge is to write, write and write some more.

Don’t think.

Don’t edit.

Just write.

Write whatever comes into your head --- dialogue, narrative, lists, et al. If your character is thinking of a song, of a poem, of a blog post, then write it out. It will keep your writing juices flowing.

Remember that EVERY word counts.

Don’t cross out any words.

Don’t delete anything.

Just write.

And, don’t stop to do research or track down references. Make a note in your manuscript that you have to research this and that and keep writing. You can do the research later.

You want to write as many words as possible every day. The mathematical formula states that if you write 1666 words a day, you will reach your goal of 50,000 in 30 days. But let’s be realistic, some days you’ll write 1666+, others you’ll write 166.

It doesn’t matter how many words you write per day. It only matters that you make the 50,000.

So, don’t get discouraged.

Remember that every word counts.

And write, write and write some more.

Good luck. Happy Writing.♥



READ Maria's "10 Easy Steps to Prepare for the NaNoWriMo" by clicking here.




Maria Ferrer has entered the NaNoWriMo four times and has won twice.  She's looking forward to her third win.  Maria has shared this article with her RWA chapter as well. The more the merrier is her philosophy.

PREPARING FOR THE NANOWRIMO IN 10 EASY STEPS

 
By Maria Ferrer

You are a writer. Like the Girls Scouts, you must be prepared for when inspiration strikes.

Inspiration is arriving on November 1st. November is National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). The challenge is 50,000 words in 30 days. Here are 10 easy steps to help you prepare for the big NaNoWriMo launch:



1. Stock up on chocolate. Cupcakes and champagne work just as well.

2. Throw away all the red pens in the house. If you are using a computer, throw away all the ink cartridges. No printing, no editing. Editing is not allowed at any time in the next month.

3. Clean the house now, because household chores are a no-no in November. You need your time to write. Unless of course, you need to clean to be inspired. Then don’t clean now; let the dirt accumulate until you need inspiration.

4. Buy lots of cereal, spaghetti cans and TV dinners. The family needs to eat; You have the chocolate.

5. Buy fat notebooks and lots of pens and pencils. If you are techy savvy, buy your netbook / iPad/ computer now. Work out all the kinks and make sure you know where all the power cables are.

6. Mark your territory now. Fill it with your writing must-haves. For example, around my writing spot I have the remote control for the radio/CD player; a coaster for my large bottle of water; a paper block and Donald Duck mug full of pens and markers. The other junk on the table doesn’t bear mentioning.

7. Buy a big “DO NOT DISTURB” sign for your door. A big pit bull works just as well.

8. Keep the boy toys handy. Sex is research. Costumes optional.

9. Register at the NaNoWriMo website by October 31: http://www.nanowrimo.com/.

10. Buy more chocolate. You are going to need it!


REMEMBER: You are a writer. You can do it. Join me. ♥

Maria Ferrer has entered the NaNoWriMo four times and has won twice. She prefers her chocolate with peanuts and Veuve Clicquot champagne.   Maria has shared this article with her RWA chapter as well.  The more the merrier is her philosophy.


COMMENT: Do leave a comment and let us know if you are entering the NaNoWriMo this year. If so, tell us how you are preparing for the big event.
  
 

SEPT 18: BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

  
Join us in supporting our friends at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 18.  It's at the Borough Hall station.  For directions and list of events, visit  http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/.


Visit the Big Heart Writers booth and meet the following authors:


10:00 am -12:30 pm

       Jean Joachim

       Christina Conroy

       Allie Boniface



12:45 - 3:15 pm

       Long Island Romance Writers of America

       Mingmei Yip

       Tara Haff



3:30 - 6:00 pm

       Hope Tarr

       Leanna Renee Heiber



Rain or Shine, Join Us.  

  

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11

By Maria Ferrer

I remember hearing the news from a train conductor as I was riding in to work.

I remember coming out of the train station to find an empty coffee kiosk and people gathered at the corner.

I remember the anger that someone would dare bomb us again.

I remember the pride in knowing the towers were hit but hadn’t fallen.

I remember the black cloud of dust roaring in anger across the sky as first one and then the second tower fell.

I remember the shock, the pain, the fear, the debris, the soot and the long walk home through darkness.

I remember the phone calls from family and friends anxious to know my status.

I remember my own calls to family and friends eager to know theirs.

I remember the lost.

I remember the heroes.

I remember the search posters that papered everything and everywhere.

I remember the roll call.

I remember the two beams of light soaring into the skies on the anniversary.

I remember that I’m proud to be an American.

I remember that there are still men and women fighting for our freedom.

I remember to thank God that I am here and my loved ones are safe.

I remember that I must live each moment as it were my last.

I remember.

Do you?

Close Encounters of the Chocolate Kind

by F. Solomon


Deleting the "Sent From My iPod" message that automatically appears on the bottom of e-mails I send, while juggling a Clover-brewed Grande Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from Starbucks, so I can begin this post on the train, you would think I forgot where I had been....

Tonight was my prelude to even more encounters of the chocolate kind; tonight was my Yoga + chocolate class at Pure Yoga West. Pure, reputed to be the best yoga in the city, did not disappoint, and I am certain I have never been in a sexier yoga studio. Plush seating and Eastern symbolism were rampant, but I chose to settle on my mat in the empty studio way before the class started to embrace the entire yoga experience, especially the quiet beforehand....

The class was led by Dave Romanelli, whose mantra is not to get caught up in things that interfere with enjoying life--enjoy the moment. I connected with him on his website, where he explained missing a crucial moment at a ballgame when he left early to get home earlier--what was the rush he questioned? His class was very intense, as I read online it would be.  My body is still responding to the poses he had us hold as he told anecdotes. I am thinking these poses are challenging-- has he forgotten about us during the anecdote?! No, he was connected with us at all times, challenging, pushing. At one point, he said not to be mad at him, that we could get out of the pose at any time, as well as the fact that happy people are perfectionists and lazy people generally are not happy. My cross training in different types of yoga helped develop my stamina so even when it burns--as Dave said some poses would--I held up pretty well.

As this amazing class wound down, the sensory overload kicked in! Dave came around and rubbed a special therapeutic lavender oil on us that he gets from Arizona. I keep lavender at work on my desk so I felt very at home.  (I just sniffed my arm and it is still redolent with lavender oil.)

Then the cherry on top, indulgent pieces of Vosges Haut Chocolate, which is amazing. As Dave pointed out, we are lucky enough to have storefronts in the city. My last two trips to the Met were punctuated by trips to Vosges Upper East Side location. Eating them the way the package instructs, while having it described to us outloud and the chocolate's notes dancing on my tongue...my eyes closed...ahhhh...
My body and tongue remain stimulated by yoga plus chocolate, and it is only the beginning--stay tuned for another encounter of the chocolate kind coming soon....


Photograph by F.Solomon

The Myth of Being A Writer

by F. Solomon

Often being a writer, or being introspective about myself as a writer, usually involves me thinking that I do not write enough, and beating myself up about time that I could have been writing and was not. Thinking that if I prioritized time that I could really finish something. The story that I have been writing in three states and still am not sure if I am in the middle or what is going on....

Enter my friends, who romanticize me being a writer and I have to admit that being a writer for me is like having a bit of fairy dust on everything I touch, taste, see, smell or hear. Everything can be inspiration, I really am a sponge. And my friends--my non writer friends--act like I really am a fairy. It is a charmed existence.

Wandering in museums, a friend of mine sends me an e-mail of a couple in a black and white photo. Surely this couple would have, in our modern times, described their relationship on Facebook as it seems complicated given the caption beneath the photo, and indeed the photo was worth of a story, something that I could make up!

And so there I am in the International Center of Photography looking at their amazing Elliot Erwitt exhibition with the cool black and white photo sent from my friend. The same friend who allowed me to lead as we were walking streets in Chelsea and I am taking photos as I go for the story that I have dragged through almost four states now.

A co-worker of mine tells me "train stories" to inspire me. Today's story of a woman telling the very intimate details of a one night stand did inspire me. Many of her stories have inspired me; plus, I have my own train stories. I watched a couple last week on the train; well, I assume they were a couple. His very avid approach to her. Her train leaves as she looked at him; resisting a kiss and then very definitely accepting, and then kissing him! I was mesmerized and am sure that that scene will come back to me at some later time.

A conversation with another friend, in which I told him something that he thought was surprising, led him to accuse me of making up a word! I said I am not making this up, and he said that I was a writer; he just assumed that I made a lot of things up. Him saying to me that I am a writer, just accepting that even when I have told him of my struggles, gets to me.  He still sees things and tells me about them so that I could make up a story about this thing or that. His stopped telling me about himself; saying he did not want to see his reflection in a story of mine. Which I would never do...

...but I do absorb a lot. Writer goggles on, everything is fodder. Everything has a bit of fairy dust and sparkle. I am so thankful for the gift -- to see a story, to know how to "feel" a story.

Anais Nin said we write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection. As a writer I am greedy for experience and blessed for that. Being a writer opens me up as a person to life -- a bud that is never tight --, and I am thankful.


Photograph by F. Solomon
  

RWA READERS FOR LIFE LITERACY AUTOGRAPHING

  
By Maria C. Ferrer



493 authors participated in the Romance Writers of America’s 2011 Readers for Life Literacy Autographing on Tuesday, June 28, at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

I wanted to be a part of the event so I volunteered to help setup the literacy autographing. I set out books, books and more books; organized some of the chapter baskets/totes for the raffle; put out the RITA finalist banners, etc. At 5:00pm, authors started arriving to find their seats and put their own touches to their seats – pens, bookmarks, posters to name a few. At 5:30pm, the doors opened to the 2000+ romance fans waiting outside, which comprised of RWA members, conference attendees and the general public.

And then organized chaos reigned. The first person on line arrived at 9:30am for the 5:30pm event. Is that a Romance Fan or what?!

One big lesson I learned from watching the authors is to be prepared with lots of promotional materials. Remember, that writing is a business, and you are your own Publicist. So an author needs to put herself out there and make her materials stand out.

Best promotion I saw – a man wearing a t-shirt that read: I Sleep With The Author. He claimed he was the inspiration for pages 274-277!

Best promoter – Caridad Pineiro. Boy, was she prepared. She had bookmarks, pens, flyers, excerpts, a banner for the table skirt and her laptop to run her book trailer. The video stopped people in their tracks and generated a few sales, and isn’t that the name of the game – to sell?

At the end of the evening, authors were ready to stop writing and start partying; Readers were ready to start reading; and RWA raised $47,000 for literacy. ♥



Maria C. Ferrer is a meeting planner by day and a romance writer by night. One of her short stories was published by Star magazine. Currently, Maria is working on a secret baby book and a romantic suspense. She is also the founder of The Latina Book Club, which just won the 2011 Favorite Literature Blog Award from Blogs by Latinas. Visit Maria at http://www.4horsewomen.blogspot.com/ and at http://www.latinabookclub.com/.


This article was first published in the RWANYC blog at http://www.rwanycblogginginthebigapple.com/.

Mobility

by F. Solomon

Originally, my blog post was going to be exclusively about the phenomenal Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is life altering as I told many friends and people who asked -- even my yoga instructor because I was wearing my Savage Beauty t-shirt in class. Mind you it was not life altering because of the two-hour wait to get in.  I found it amusing actually that there was a brochure that helped you landmark art on your way to the entrance--including the staggeringly gorgeous Joan of Arc and an equally stunning painting of Salome both made more beautiful as you realize you are almost in! Gothic, sexy and intelligent is all I can say about the McQueen exhibition.  It is almost over so you HAVE to go!

I then also saw the new Talk to Me Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. MoMA's innovative and cutting edge created an exhibition that is enhanced by using your mobile device...which was where I got really distracted, fiddling with my iTouch and looking at pieces like this one by the Japanese artist Sputniko.

After leaving MoMA, I headed downtown to two of my favorite natural food stores, Integral Yoga Apothecary and Integral Natural Yoga Foods. I was scooping up wakame and poring over natural and raw chocolate when I realized I did not have my iTouch with me. Now I am not the owner of a cell phone, so it's the iTouch I touch the first thing when I get up in the morning. I satellited the store because, as the deep sense of loss filled me that my iTouch was not with me. Blindness comparable to that described in Black Sabbath's Snow Blind came over me as I retraced my steps over and over.  I just could not believe that my beloved mobile device was separated from me. I became lachrymose...then a bit of clarity. I asked a clerk in the store if I could please use a computer in the store to utilize Find My IPhone. The clerk smiled at me and said it's up front.

Reunion.  My iTouch was there and I felt clarity reenter my existence.

I had not left the store because I so believed it would turn up.  I returned over and over to the wakame, where I thought I had dropped the iTouch so I knew it was in the store somewhere. When I had interacted with it in the Talk to Me exhibition, it was not fathomable to me that it would not be with me.

I am very attached to my iTouch.  I know, but that is the world that we live in and I embrace it. Especially since I found it! And additonally it enhanced my view of basic humanity. Someone saw it and returned it, which is beautiful and I am so appreciative...it is why I have never been a jaded New Yorker. I believed especially in the good of people in a natural foods store next to a yoga studio!

Om.

NYC: SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK(ING) LOT

by Maria Ferrer


To be or not to be, to go or not to go…..GO!

This was my third performance at Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot, and yes, it was in an actual parking lot. The production was fun, adventurous and inspiring. I’ve seen “Hamlet” at least five times; I’ve even read it twice; and yet there were still new things, new nuances I caught last night.

Alessandro Colla was mesmerizing as Hamlet and Amanda Dillard made a wonderfully tragic Ophelia. The whole cast was amazing. Hamilton Clancy did an excellent job as producing artistic director.

The stage consisted of three gossamer curtains, two small sitting benches, some bottles with dry flowers inside and a couple of blackened skulls. The actors wore every day clothes. For example, last night Hamlet wore jeans, t-shirt and cross trainers, all in black. His mother Gertrude had on a well-fitted ivory dress, knee-length with a colorful Chinese parasol; the usurper King sported slacks and an army jacket with tons of medals; and the poor Ophelia looked like a fairy princess in a strapless, filmy white dress and flowers in her hair.

Simple set, simple clothes, but the Bard’s own words. The mix of old and new worked beautifully. And though the stage lights were provided by ConEd and the theatre seats were garden chairs, the production was compelling and the characters full of passion – Shakespeare at its best.

Heck, for all we know, THIS was probably how the original plays were staged at the Globe for the masses of people in times of olde. And, the best part of last night’s performance….it was FREE! (Donations welcomed.)

I heartily recommend watching Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot. The performances are the best for Off-Off-Really-Off Broadway. Hamlet runs thru August 13; Thursdays thru Saturdays, at 8:00pm at the municipal parking lot on Ludlow and Broome Streets (take F train to Delancey). For more information about the company and their full schedule of their 20th Season, visit http://www.drillingcompany.org/.♥


Press photos from Google Images.

THANK YOU....WITH A KISS

Happy Memorial Day.

Thank you to all the Men and Women fighting for our freedom.

May God bless you and bring you home soon.

That will certainly be a day of rejoicing and dancing in the streets.

Kissing too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

This Sunday is Mother's Day.  We wish you and yours a wonderful day.  And for a little fun, here are some famous Mothers.  Can you identify them?

Hint: she had a whole "bunch" of kids; his and hers.

Hint: her house is "white."

Hint:  Antonio Banderas has her number.

Hint:  You can call her "Lara."

Hint:  Her son just got married.

Hint:  She was a mother to millions.

Answers:  Florence Henderson of "The Brady Bunch;" First Lady Michelle Obama; Actress and Producer Salma Hayek; Actress and Ambassador Angelina Jolie; the former Princess of Wales, Diana; and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa.

Happy Mother's Day!

  

ROYAL WEDDING CHEERS

It's official....there is one less Prince Charming available.  Alas.  But, we can't help but wish Kate and William well.  They look well suited and homey together.  Three cheers for the happy couple.

The Royal Kiss

TOP 10 REASONS TO INTERRUPT YOUR WRITING

by Maria Ferrer

1. The toilet has a ring bigger than your wedding ring.

2. You have no more clean underwear.

3. Your dog is eating the cat food.

4. The dust bunnies under your bed are rioting.

5. You need to write down the lyrics to Justin Bieber’s latest song.

6. Charlie Sheen needs more friends on Twitter.

7. The last episode of General Hospital is on.

8. The cat is sleeping on the keyboard.

9. Your muse is out getting a pedicure / manicure.

10. Your significant other wants to play house.



COMMENT:   Can you come up with other excuses not to write?  And do let us know how you get back in the mood to write?

Maria Ferrer is a champion procrastinator.  However, she has managed to finish one book.  Now, if she could only find the time to edit it and submit.  But alas, there’s a new Gerard Butler movie at the theatre she’s late for. 

 

FAVORITE ELIZABETH TAYLOR FILM

Elizabeth Taylor died on Wednesday.

She was sensuality personified.  Her talent, her roles and her men all made her a legend in Hollywood and the world over.

I've been trying to think of my favorite film of hers, and there are more than plenty to choose from.  I'm going to go with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

She was brilliant in the role.  Sensual. Sultry. Needy. Greedy. Fascinating. Vulgar.  I loved it.  Of course, Paul Newman wasn't bad either.

COMMENT:   What is your favorite of Elizabeth Taylor's films?


by Maria C. Ferrer
   

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Everyone is Irish today.

Click here for all a list of Irish Pubs worldwide.


And here is an Irishman to enjoy.  (Remember, we are all Irish today.)

Happy 100th Birthday!

  
March 8 is International Women's Day.

This day has been celebrated for 100 years!  It's sponsored by the Women's Information Network.  It's all about protecting and enforcing women's civil rights all over the world.  For more information about the Day's celebrations, the group and its resources, visit http://www.internationalwomensday.org/.

And in honor of International Women's Day, take yourself and a friend or your sister or your Mom or your Abuelita to lunch.  Heck, have a party and take them all, just make sure the menu is "international."

Happy Day, everyone!

Jane Russell Dies

 
She may have been regarded as Marilyn Monroe's other half in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,"  but Jane Russell was a sultry, sensual, full-figured goddess in her own right.

Jane was discovered by Howard Hughes and starred in his movie, "Outlaw."  From there, Hollywood was her playground.  Jane played opposite many handsome leading men.  Unfortunately, at 30, she retired as she felt that the best roles were only going to young actresses. No matter. Jane was not forgotten, and she continues to be the embodiment of sexy.

RIP, Jane.  (Say hi to Marilyn.)

RIP, Jane.

GOTTA HAVE IT! (review and book trailer)

 
GOTTA HAVE IT: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Cleis Press

Short, Sweet and Totally Sexy.

Rachel Kramer Bussel

How do you measure time? You don’t feel it passing,  because time has ceased to be measured in seconds or minutes or hours.  Instead it is counted in the ticktock of heartbeats, in the pendulum swing of thrusts, on the sudden high-pitched cry that bursts out like a cuckoo from a well-wound clock.

“Tme” by Cecilia Tan

Do you have time for a quickie?

That is the question that Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel asks – and answers! –with her new anthology, GOTTA HAVE IT: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex.

These stories are “short, sweet and totally sexy.” They are also bold, passionate and lusty. Most are only about two pages long but as Ms. Kramer Bussel states: “readers don’t need long to get drawn into the drama, tension and lust.”

The cover is as hot as the stories – risqué and all about satisfaction.

You have strangers meeting on trains (“Over His Shoulder”); lovers experimenting with new technique (“The Tipping Point”), new positions (“Anal-Yzed”); and married couples rekindling their passion (“Time”). You have a devoted fan who wins five minutes in the bed of his favorite porn star (“Lucky Number Fifty-One”); a divorcee who celebrates her freedom with someone totally different (“Independence Day”); and a school teacher much sought after for extra credit (“Genesis”).

The tales are mostly about heterosexual couples, but there are plenty of F/F and M/M stories as well. The authors include, Tigress Healy, Daniel Burnell, Cecilia Tan, Cate Ellink, Maximillian Lagos, Vampirique Dezire, Donna George Storey, Lolita Lopez and Robert Peregrine.

What else can be said of this anthology? You Gotta Get It!  Happy Reading!


To watch the trailer for this book, click here.





DISCLAIMER:  This book was provided by the publisher.  The review is all mine.--mcf

  

Happy Valentine's Day!

From our corral to yours.

   

SEX IN A CAN

   
By Maria Ferrer



It was an ordinary supermarket. I just needed some ginger ale for a scratchy throat. Imagine my surprise when I ran into this display of Brisk Ice Tea cans. They were posed just this way. I don’t know if it was deliberate or just a coincidence. All I know was that the cans stopped me in my tracks.

The lineup.

The passionate face.

The sensuality of it.


So I pulled out my trusty Black Berry / Camera and snapped away. In hindsight, I should have brought one of the cans homes with me, but the mystery is all the more appealing this way.

I don’t know if it was a portrait of a singer, an actress, a woman in the throes of death or even the “little death” (aka orgasm). All I know is that it fueled my imagination and got the creative juices working overtime. Here are some of my plot ideas:

• How about a singer at the cusp of stardom? She can name her price but will fame take her away from all she loves?
• How about an actress at the top of her game, who is bored and reckless enough to get involve with a bad boy on his way down?
• How about a dead woman? What secrets died with her or did they?
• How about a married woman with too much time on her hands and a friendly stranger?

The plot lines are endless. But I must give each story the same degree of sensuality I see in that face. Who knew that sex could come in a can?


DO LEAVE A COMMENT. Let us know where you find inspiration and how hot you like your stories.

    

 

 

Portrait of a Woman Trying to Read and Write

by F. Solomon 


I fell asleep during sex.

That is I fell asleep during a sex scene in a novel I was reading. I am not going to say what novel I was reading, but I will say I could not connect with the character at all, and it was not pleasing so I abandoned the book--typical Gemini. Amidst all this astrology controversy, I am happy to report that the possible realignment of signs made me even more of a Gemini and not just on the cusp like I am.

So I put the book down. I like romantic erotica best or at least sex that makes sense. Honestly I cannot say that the sex in this story was gratuitous, but I did not care about it. Especially the names of body parts that were given. Spare me.

I was on the train and saw a woman reading Dark Rapture. I love old pulp novels with their titillating (for then) titles and story lines. Her book did not look like a recent acquisition either--I could smell the moldiness of the pages, feel the crackle of the pages that tore as she turned them. The reader was dressed rather retro as well, much like the Kramskoi mystery woman that accompanies this post.

"She sought possession of him, but became his slave instead!"

I read from across the train, happy for my 20/20 vision. I heard someone say that women liked to read historical romances because they like to imagine themselves needing a man in that way, to have a hero to save them. It is their fantasy. I do not dislike historicals, but I like women being able to wear less clothes--I have no energy \to read how long it takes to undress each other in those. So if that is the fantasy, why are novels written like that? Then, I thought to myself, it is someone else's fantasy to be someone's slave and those novels were written to that end.

Fantasies are subjective. I am sure that there are people who would have lapped up the novel I put aside. Maybe it would have grown on me as well. My mom put Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Wolf and the Dove aside, because it did not immediately grab her like Shanna had. She read the book over and over years later, lamented that she had not picked it up earlier so she could have read it more. She'd lay on her stomach reading that book with its crimson edges that almost always tore as she turned the pages, and when I was a teenager she gave it to me to read. No other cover of The Wolf and the Dove will ever be the same for me if it is not that crimson edged book with its orange red cover that I lie on my stomach reading...the fruit does not fall far from the tree.

I read to be inspired, I read what I want to write and I would not have written the novel I was trying to read. The one I started on the train this morning I most likely would not have written either. Reading and writing are commitments.  It is about what you want to see, what you can connect with. I read a lot on the train, maybe the sound of the train rushing is the perfect backdrop to a racing mind. It takes a lot for a book to hold me captive, I am not easily enslaved.

When I cannot find what I want to read in print, should that inspire me to write it myself? Or manipulate my trusty mobile gadget --filled with apps-- that can support me writing a novel on it, even take notes for the outline? Maybe.

Maybe I am too far to catch myself sometimes...

  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From our "corral" to yours.... Happy 2011!