Oh, For The Love Of Freaking Shopping

With the holidays looming ever closer, I recently made that dreaded trip to Wallyworld. You might want to click on over and read this week’s resulting “The Vultures Are Circling” post at the Samhain Blog, which sort of goes along with this topic here. But not quite. Over there, I went into my unique “method” of shopping and emphasized my shopping pet peeves. Here, I’m just going to…how shall I put it?…muse (heehee) about my feelings on shopping in general. Strong feelings. Really strong feelings. :D

Okay, I am woman hear me roar, but I must confess… I totally. Completely. Despise. Shopping.

Any kind of shopping.

*gasp*

There, I said it. And yes, for the second time, I’m definitely a woman if you can believe it. But somehow, I didn’t inherit the OMG-I-lurve-shopping gene.

Food? *groan* I’d rather throw it in a food fight than shop for it. Shoes? Uck. Just give me my worn out old sneakers or hiking boots, thank you very much. Jewelry? Love it, but I just don’t have the patience to shop for rings and necklaces and baubles and such. (Most of the jewelry I wear, hubby, bless his sweet heart, gave me as gifts.) Clothes? Eeeek, I’d rather be yanking splinters out of my gums than spending my day trying on shirt after jeans after dress (even eeckier!) after hat after panties after…well, you get my drift.

And worst of all? Shopping at the mall—the Mall of America (near where I live), no less! *shakes uncontrollably with anxiety* Whoever invented that city-in-itself-madness-under-one-roof concept should be jailed. I go there maybe (kicking and screaming in protest) once a year, and it takes me two to recover.

*sigh* If only there was some way to make items I need magically appear in my house without having to drive hours, go price-compare, color-code, fashion-coordinate, coupon-clip, stand in looong lines, or make use of the chaotic fitting rooms.

Oh, wait…

There is a way: The Internet! Squeeeeeee!

Ah, now there’s a concept. Surf around, sip coffee in jammies, a few clicks here, nibble on a cookie there, a few credit card numbers entered here, and baby, do you ever have me at “Let’s go shopping!” Mmm, yeah, here I am in the privacy of my own quiet home, and voila! The next thing I know the loot’s sitting on my doorstep. Awesome. Amazing. Stress-free. Oh yeah, this kind of shopping I can definitely hang with.

Now, wait! Please hold the hate mail. I’m not a bah-humbugish Scrooge kinda gal, really, I’m not. In fact, I LOVE the holidays! If I could go to the mall and *just* stroll leisurely around gazing at all the gorgeous decorations and listening to the fun and cheery holiday music over the speakers (well, okay, throwing in a glass of wine wouldn’t hurt either), I’d be one happy camper. I adore the feel-fuzzy-inside kinda holiday movies, listening to the 24-hour Christmas music radio stations, baking yummy cookies and fattening candies, family and friends get-togethers, snow and a cozy fire roaring, yes, all of the above. It’s just that dang shopping part that gets my nerves all in a bunch.

So what about you? Did you inherit the love-to-shop-at-the-crazy-malls gene? Do you prefer Internet shopping instead? Or like me, would you rather just have a root canal than go shopping, period? LOL

Titania Ladley is a multi-published, best-selling erotic romance author. Her newest release, KABANA HEAT (Samhain Publishing), is a contemporary ménage set in Hawaii. Don’t miss this HOT love story! Mrs. Giggles on Kabana Heat: 90 and a Keeper, “…most charming naughty romp.” Please visit Titania at http://www.titanialadley.com/ for more.

Kicking Down the Publishing Door

Reading frightened me. I trembled in front of the chalkboard as my first-grade teacher demanded I read “a” and “an” out loud to the class. *shudder* Even after months of “learning” those small words, the comprehension just wasn’t there; the pathways in my brain weren’t connecting. Those seemingly big words were just odd shapes that I couldn’t commit to my tiny memory. I wanted to read, desperately so, but for some unknown reason, I couldn’t grasp the written correlation to the spoken words.

After years of struggling, the powers that be at school finally forced me to attend remedial reading classes. Mortified, I cut class and ducked into the bathroom everyday, huddling there in a stall, feet drawn up, praying they’d never find me. But one day, my fourth-grade teacher (my first hero!) took pity on me. Instead of forcing me to return to those classes, he tutored me during recess using his own secrets and shortcuts to help me achieve better comprehension. But to me, it seemed he’d set his magic hand on my little head and healed the broken connections deep inside my brain.

Then smart speed-reader Katy moved to town, one of those kids who didn’t just read books, she devoured them. To my surprise, she befriended me, and that was the beginning of a summer vacation that changed my life forever, that in a sense brought me here to the publication path...

One hot, humid day, Katy’s mother took us to our small-town church turned library. I can vividly recall climbing the stoop to that whitewashed building, stepping inside the dusty, sunlit room, and the old wooden boards creaking beneath my small sandaled feet. The scent of aged wood and leather-bound books hung heavy in the air, while rickety bookshelves soared up to the beamed ceiling. It was cool and pin-drop quiet in there with a gray-headed woman seated where the church altar had once been. She wore bifocals perched on her nose, and she often frowned and pressed a gnarly finger to her lips. “Shhh…” she’d repeatedly scold then busy herself with stamping library cards.

That was the day Katy introduced me to Nancy Drew. Using the reading methods my teacher had taught me, I went home, curled up with one of those yellow, hardbound mysteries, and at last embraced the joys of reading. So went the summer. Katy and I lived at that library, hauling out stacks of Nancy Drew books, Hardy Boys, and finally, graduating to Judy Blume. Dare I say I never once accrued past-due fines?

By the age of 13, I’d moved on to Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, rest her talented soul. Then came the day in high school I got caught with The Wolf and the Dove disguised behind the open pages of my biology book. Yeah, I got into major doo-doo, as I’d already been chastised one too many times for reading in lieu of working on class projects. The livid teacher kicked me out of her class, but the principal enrolled me in an alternate one that sometimes allowed free reading time. :D

Now and then, I wonder what that teacher—or even Katy—would think if she read my depraved version of the infamous bandit Robin Hood in A Wanton’s Thief and A Gypsy’s Thief (Ellora’s Cave). Or Moonlite Mirage based on my research trip to the HBO-featured BunnyRanch bordello in Carson City, Nevada. I hope my biology teacher realizes her efforts were secretly appreciated, and that I gained a knowledge of anatomy and physiology that later came in very handy, not only in obtaining my nursing degree but in writing erotic romances. ;)

I don’t know where I’d be today without the love of reading and writing, or without those influences in my childhood. Thanks to all my teachers, to Katy, and to the kick-ass sleuth Nancy Drew, all of whom took part in leading a vulnerable little girl from the terrifying world of incomprehension in reading, all the way to published author.

So what sort of things inspired you to read or write? Whatever they might be, remember, if you still can’t seem to get your foot in the publishing door, don’t go hide in a bathroom stall. Keep persevering, keep reading, keep writing, and kick that door down. Because I’m proof anyone can attain their goals if they persist and truly want it. :)

Oh, btw, I hope you’ll head on over to Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/titanialadley and befriend me…just like Katy did all those years ago.

CREATIVE SEX

What’s the most creative sex scene you’ve ever written or read? I’m wondering because I was recently mulling over all the different sex scenes in my new contemporary ménage, KABANA HEAT, which just released at Samhain Publishing on August 5th. There’s sex on a Hawaiian beach, swimming pool sex, standard bed sex, Jacuzzi sex, lagoon sex, car sex, and even sunroof sex. Yeah, can you picture that? Sunroof sex. Sooo in addition to the ones in KABANA HEAT, I’ve started a list with places my characters have had sex, but I thought it would be fun to see just how many more creative sex scenes/books we can come up with. Here’s some from my backlist to get it rolling…

Watching/being watched through a one-way mirror
On a mechanical bull
While floating in a cloud
On a levitating bed
While eating a hot fudge sundae
Using a banana/food/M&Ms
While riding on a horse
In a cave
In a cabin
In a lighthouse
In a hot spring
On a boulder
In a hot tub
Against the wall
On a park bench
On a bed of roses
On stairs
On the floor
In a meadow
Under the stars while sprawled over a log
In a jail cell while handcuffed to the bars
In a barn
In a tree-house
In a boxer ring
On another planet
In a ghost town
On a lounge chair
On/in a tanning-bed-like structure
Against/up in a tree

Tell us about some of the most creative sex locations in books you’ve written and/or read. What’s the title(s), and who’s the author? As many as you can think of, any author, any publisher, any genre. Let’s see just how much creative sex we can have...er, I mean, come up with. ;)



Titania Ladley is a multi-published author writing for Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, and Red Sage. Her newest book, KABANA HEAT (Samhain), a contemporary ménage set in Hawaii, released August 5, 2008. Don’t miss this HOT love story! Please visit her at http://www.titanialadley.com/ or http://www.roxanablaze.com/ ( her other naughty half) for more.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! Come One, Come All!

ELLORA’S CAVE 2009 CONVENTION!

Exciting news! The first-ever Ellora’s Cave Convention is in the works for 2009. It’s tentatively planned to take place in Akron, Ohio on one of the following Friday-Sunday weekends. Readers, book sellers, authors, authors-to-be, reviewers, press, eye candy, anyone is welcome!

Sept. 18th - 20th

Sept. 25th - 27th

Oct. 2nd - 4th

So here’s the deal… Ellora’s Cave is hoping to get an estimate of possible attendees in order to plan the number of rooms needed. If you’re interested in attending this convention (more information below about the schedule of events), please respond with your name, address and phone number (optional) via email to: conventions@ellorascave.com.

Here’s a tentative outline of the schedule:

Friday Night – EC/CP/TLC Celebration Party

Saturday Morning – Continental Breakfast

Saturday Afternoon – Workshops

Saturday Night – Awards Banquet
**The city is also working on some optional fun things for attendees to do after the Awards Banquet.**

Sunday Morning – Continental Breakfast

Sunday Afternoon – Book Fair

Sunday Evening – An author-sponsored farewell gathering of some undetermined kind such as movie night, etc.

So make your plans now and shoot off an email to Ellora’s Cave. Include your information as listed above, and a note stating your possible interest in attending the convention. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Titania Ladley is a multi-published author writing for Ellora’s Cave, Red Sage and Samhain. Her upcoming book, KABANA HEAT (Samhain), a contemporary ménage set in Hawaii, releases August 5, 2008. Don’t miss this HOT love story! Please visit her at http://www.titanialadley.com/ or http://www.roxanablaze.com/ ( her other naughty half) to view her backlist, read smoking excerpts, join her newsletter featuring members-only prizes, or to learn how to receive freebies.

What’s The Story On Storyboarding?

Although I’m sometimes a fly-by-the-seat writer, I’m also one to need structure and organization in a lot of things in my life. I make lists and cross tasks off as I go, I record all sorts of things on the calendar, and I slap Post-It notes up all over the house to help me remember things.

So given my obsession with Post-Its, it was with great interest that I learned of storyboarding a year or so back.

What is storyboarding, you ask? I define it as a sort of visual, colorful way of organizing ideas, scenes, action, and plot elements, or a different way of writing a synopsis or an outline if you choose. Now, let me reiterate I’m sometimes a fly-by-the-seat writer—but at times I’m not. So the use of storyboarding allows me the flexibility to build my books as the mood strikes me. Yet I can also organize, reorganize, shuffle around, delete, insert, or just leave the whole shebang alone if I want, and all at a glance without having a gazillion documents open at once on my puter.

Now from what I understand, each author has their own way of doing it, but I combined a lot of methods and came up with my own recipe that I find works for me…


Ingredients:

1) Post-It (or generic) notepads of at least 5 different distinguishable colors

2) One of the following: A dry-erase board, a chalkboard, the side of a wide shelf or file cabinet, a clear wall, or whatever flat surface is nearby your work area and easily seen and accessible

3) Dry-erase pens (good if you’re using a dry-erase board and like to jot ideas next to your Post-It notes)

4) Colored regular markers


Directions:

In my storyboarding world, I can make each aspect of my story whatever color I like. (I often change the “key” to prevent boredom—LOL.) Some authors color-code the point of view only, or other elements in different ways. It’s whatever works for you. But for the sake of example, let’s do it like this…

Pink = romance and/or sex

Blue = main plot

Green = main subplot

Yellow = secondary plot

Orange = minor subplot

Now, let’s say you have a one-paragraph blurb or short synopsis already written up or in your head, but you need to expand on it. Using one sheet and color per scene, ask yourself what’s going on in the opening scene? Is it mostly sex and romance? Cool, I like getting right to the heat. (evil grin) So then grab that pink Post-It pad and jot down a sentence or two to describe the scene. What’s the major action and change that will occur in this scene? Got it figured out? Good. Now slap that pink baby up on the board. This represents your first scene of chapter 1. For more examples and details, read on…

Scene #1: Whose point of view will this first scene be in? The heroine’s? Okay, pick a colored regular marker to represent your heroine’s point of view and make a pretty little heart (or dot or X or whatever—it’s your creation!) up in one corner of that first pink Post-It paper. This allows you to later tell at a quick glance which character the scene’s POV is driven from, and overall how many POV scenes each character has throughout the book.

Scene #2: The villain bursts in and starts shooting the hero, you say? Ah, being the creator, only you know for sure, but I just bet that’s related to the main plot. Blue. Grab the blue note pad and jot down the plot’s action and change you plan for this scene. Stick it up on the board next to the pink note (scene #1). Oh, and it’s in the hero’s POV? Yep, pick a regular marker color (distinguishable from the heroine’s) to represent the hero’s POV and add a little symbol in the upper corner of this blue Post-It.

Scene #3: Whoa, in burst the heroine’s best friend. She has an entire past with the shooter, and you plan to eventually unravel and weave it into the h/h’s plot and conflict. Since you know it’s going to have a strong influence on the main plot, that’s probably green. Jot the best friend’s actions and scene changes/events on the green dude, and up it goes on the board next to the blue dude (scene #2). Wait, whose POV are we in? The friend’s? Then pick yet another colored regular marker and make yourself a little symbol in the corner of the little green sheet that will represent Miss Friend’s point of view from now on. Later on, you might see with just a quick count that she has 10 POV scenes to every 5 of the heroine’s. See how that works? Now you know you’ve got to either quit giving Miss Friend so much stage time and change some POVs in those scenes, or it needs to be her book instead of the heroine’s. LOL

Scene #4: And so on it goes as the plot deepens.

Hopefully, that all made sense. Once you’ve got the whole story on Post-Its and synopsed (I think that’s a new form of the word synopsis I just made up – grin), step back and take a look at your artwork. Now suppose that in one glimpse, you suddenly realize the whole damn board is freakin’ pink. WTF? Are they screwing like rabbits? Isn’t there any plot other than sex? Gee, it sure didn’t seem that way when you were writing the short blurb, did it? So here’s where you pull a Titania: You shuffle, move, reorganize scenes, delete or add scenes, rip up Post-Its, rewrite some of the notes…or start all over.

Another thing you can do is get out the dry-erase markers (if you’ve used a dry erase board, that is) and, next to or below/above each Post-It, identify the date, time, or location of that scene, or do extra little things like find your black moment and mark it with a special star so you can work up to that scene while keeping up your pacing.

There are many at-a-glance advantages to developing your own storyboarding methods such as “seeing” your pacing, being more aware of the number of POV scenes each character is allotted, getting a better feel for book length/time/day of the scene, where the focus is in that particular scene (i.e. the main plot, subplots, etc.), if you have too much or not enough of something such as too much romance and not enough plot, things in the wrong order, or whatever. You can begin combining scenes (and thus Post-Its) to tighten it up, or adding more to expand, or rewriting a scene in a different character’s POV, etc. Another advantage is that you can skip around easier than with a regular document and write your scenes in different orders, piece them together later, and yet not get confused because your visual board is keeping you on track with one sweeping glance.

Whoa, and believe me, I need all the help I can get to keep from getting confused!

So what do you think? Gonna give it a try? Have you ever used the storyboarding method to outline or plot a book? If so, how do you do it? If not, and if you plan to give it a try, please come back and let us know how it goes!

Titania Ladley (aka Roxana Blaze) is a multi-published erotic romance author writing for Ellora’s Cave, Red Sage Publishing, and Samhain. Please visit her websites for hot excerpts of her two new April releases, FIRES WITHIN and BREATHLESS.
http://www.TitaniaLadley.com
http://www.RoxanaBlaze.com
Burning bedroom doors right off the hinges!

Damn, What A Bummer

I’ll admit I was initially disappointed. In what? Well, in the mid-January print release of WANTON WINTER, an Ellora’s Cave anthology containing five winter-themed novellas from authors Cheyenne McCray, Daisy Dexter Dobbs, Katherine Cross, Shelby Reed, and moi…disappointed, that is, because it was released after the winter holidays. To me, the timing was too late—I wondered why anyone would be interested in a winter-themed book after the holidays.

But then I got to thinking about my own book-buying habits. I clicked over from author mode to reader-only mode and realized it wasn’t such bad timing after all…

See, here’s the deal. I’m a very fickle person, and I often yearn for what I don’t have. For instance, where I live in northern Wisconsin, it’s freezing cold right now. In the midst of all the snowdrifts, ice coating the roads, and biting winds rattling my windows, I find myself reaching for books on my shelf set in the sultry heat of the tropics, or stories during spring or summer holidays like 4th of July.

BUT (yeah, there’s always a “but” with me *grin*) the key phrase here is “reaching for books on my shelf”, books that are already there on hand, because since I’m lazy, I tend to buy ahead. I don’t want to have to go out and purchase an item when I need it—I'm impatient and I want it to be there when I'm ready. So just like in a department store where I might buy bunches of winter items off the clearance rack in, say, February or March and save them for the next season, I kind of use this same pattern when shopping for books. (Clothes out of style by then? Eh, I’m not one to care.)

Are you getting my twisted line of thinking yet? Confused? Heehee, me too. But let me explain it this way… The summer-set books I’m dying to read in the dead of winter are already sitting on my shelf from previous summer (online usually) buying sprees, while the winter books I’ll be hungering to read come summertime, I might buy now during the cold season in anticipation of the heat. Yep, I lubs me some book hoarding. And since I typically hate to shop, I do a lot of it in one huge seasonal spree, and then when the mood strikes me, there’s no need to drag my ass out (or online) and *groan* shop. All I have to do is peruse my overloaded, sagging bookshelves and pick out a book that will instantly transport me from, for instance, this freaking Arctic I’m trapped in, to the scorching heat of Hawaii.

So see, as a reader, I decided WANTON WINTER’s mid-January release isn’t all that bad because I’d typically buy a holiday- or winter-themed book while it’s still cold. I’d then stockpile it for summer when it’s so sweltering hot I can’t breathe, and I’m longing to escape into a story where the hero and heroine are making wild love in front of a crackling fire, or skiing down a chilly mountainside in pursuit of the villain.

What sort of book-buying habits do you have? Are they hit-and-miss without rhyme or reason? Do you buy based on current seasons or holidays? Or do you ruthlessly plan ahead like I do, buying and then saving books in anticipation of cold winter days or sizzling summer nights?

Titania Ladley is a multi-published author writing for Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, and Red Sage. Upcoming books include FIRES WITHIN (Red Sage - April 2008), BREATHLESS (Ellora's Cave Exotika - April 4, 2008), and KABANA HEAT (Samhain - TBA). Please visit her at http://www.titanialadley.com/ or at http://www.roxanablaze.com/ , her other naughty half's website.