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