Reading Withdrawals

I've been going through a prolonged period of the *mehs* when it comes to reading.

It’s my fault.

I O.D’d on a bunch of books that were in certain subgenres and featured a favourite hero type.  Also, I wasn’t all that discriminating when it came to erm… the quality of the writing.  So had some hit and misses there while looking for, primarily, a quick read.  Now I’m finding it hard to even choose a romance/romance-subgenre book to download, much less decide to read one.

Some of the blurb words/phrases that have me backing away from possible downloads/buys:

- Billionaire hero/brothers/best-friends (especially when it’s paired with something incongruous like Billionaire Lumberjack(s), or Billionaire pastry chef, or if he’s only in his 20s.)

- “Book 1” or any indication this is part of a novella/short story serial. (Read/started a couple of excellent series/serials but I’ve hit my limit on them at this point. I will only start a series/serial now if all the books/parts have been released.)

- BDSM (which I actually like, but you can usually tell from the blurb when the element of bdsm is not intrinsic to the story/characterization but more of a hook.

- Anyone (usually the heroine) who is finding/exploring their sexuality, etc., - if this is the *main thrust* of the story, I’m giving it a pass. There are a handful of authors who write this trope very, very well, with layered/fleshed-out emotion and characterization. But there’s a lot of crackalicious boink-fests out there too, with a sprinkling of the heroine’s angst/backstory masquerading as story-depth.

- Sassy, Snarky, Smart-ass/mouth as a description of the heroine.

- Anything that sounds like it was inspired by Twilight/50 Shades.

There’s more, but those are the ones that come to me at the moment. :P

While I still prefer a romantic subplot in my stories, I’m shying away from full-blown romances or romance/subgenres and more drawn to stories that are primarily about other things (journey of self-discovery, mystery/thriller, etc).  But even there, I’m not making much progress. I’m partway through a couple of excellent reads (Anna Dressed in Blood and The Mystery of Mercy Close). In both cases, I enjoy the books while I’m reading, but find it soooo easy to put them down and it takes forever to pick them back up again.  

On the other hand, I’ve been reading the newspaper daily, going through a variety of magazines, and enjoying some really great writing on a handful of tv shows. 

 
I’ve gone through this phase before, it’ll pass. But it sucks to be stuck in the *mehs*.

The Laundry Challenge

 

So…. I’ve been having a spot of trouble writing. 

The motivation  (I want to write) is there, but the inclination/discipline/habit – ie: butt in chair hands of keyboard—has been sorely lacking.  A lot of it has had to do with striving for life balance and juggling stress (particularly work related), but I’ve over the worst of that, so it’s come down to feeling meh about various wip projects and not pushing myself to get past that meh until I find the sweet spot where I’m in the writing zone and completely immersed in the story/characters.

There’s also an issue of family sabotage. I think a lot of writers experience this. You’re finally totally focused on your writing and… here come the incessant interruptions. Nothing can be found without your help. No argument settled without your input.  Mom, when’s dinner? Can you give me a lift to XYZ? We’re all out of ABC food, etc. With my son, he always seems to need some beta reading/critique feedback on some major sociology or poli-sci paper, or wants to share an anecdote just at the moment I boot up my laptop to write.

Love him to death and really enjoy our talks (if you’ve ever read any of my Casa Jaye posts, you’ll understand), but I absolutely need a minimum 30mins focused unwinding when I get home and then (would like) at least 1hr uninterrupted writing. I tend to conflate unwinding with online  surfing, which doesn’t help, but it’s the only ‘mindless’ thing I can do while he’s yapping my ear off. ;-P Just thought of a solution!  -- Going to start taking my shower earlier in the evenings, instead of just before bedtime.  That would give me my approximately 30mins of de-stressing. Then, gonna put my foot down about the 1hr (at least) uninterrupted time. The rest is up to me.

I also just ordered another Alphasmart. I’ve had a couple in the past and they really force you to focus on the writing. No surfing (not connected), no editing (because only about 4 lines of text are visible), just pure writing. It’s lighter weight than my netbook and will boot up and turn off quicker than the netbook. That should hopefully help with writing on my commute/lunch break.

So what’s the title of this post about? I’ve been off work since Friday and won’t be back till Wednesday. Part of my plans for this mini-vacation was to write. Guess how much of that I’ve done? Exactly. Managed to get a bunch of other things accomplished, but somehow this goal has fallen to the wayside (as usual). I have 4 loads of laundry to do today. Already have 1 load in the drier, and another just started in the washer. Each load takes approximately 1hr 20mins in total (wash & dry); plus there’s folding and putting stuff away. But I figure I can write in 30min spurts for the next 3hrs or so. We’ll see what I get done by the end of the day.

I’m going in…

That Kiss that Curls Your Toes

**Edited to add the lovely Dee Tenorio's excerpt.  Mea culpa, it was way past my bedtime when I  put this all together but I really should have sent Dee a gentle nudge/reminder before hitting publish. 

A couple of weeks ago I caught an episode of COSMO TV. It was an lovelorn advice segment, where a bunch of guys offer up their version of Dear Abby.

 

The advice seeker wanted to know what she could to improve her (fairly new) boyfriend’s kissing--which she found a turn off. The guys were astounded that dude actually made it to boyfriend status. As far as they were concerned a first bad kiss as a libido killer that immediately shunted you into the friend zone, no if, ands, or butts. No second chances.

 

Their advice? Break up with him. Lol. Harsh, but…they had a point.  Not sure any relationship would last long with a slobberly kisser, or one who repeatedly jabs a rigid tongue into your mouth or keeps their lips tightly pursed like they just sucked down a spoonful of alum.

 You get my drift. 

The guys in the following excerpts are expert kisses. Imagine David Gandy kissing you. Now imagine the guys that make Gandy’s technique seem like he’s chewing off ingrown toenails. These are those guys.  Not a single slobberer amongst them.

In Celebration for St. Valentine’s Day I thought I’d post some kiss scene excerpts from stories by me and some friends – Dee Tenorio, Samantha Storm, Raine Weaver and Sasha White. As you may know, Sasha writes erotic romance/erotic so her excerpt is a little bit nsfw and a whole lotta  hawt! Lol.

 

Here’s the first kiss between my hero and heroine in Felicity Stripped Bare:

All too soon they arrived at her front door.

Daniel stared down at her. “Do you still want to hear what I thought of tonight?”

“Yes—”

His mouth locked onto hers.

Felicity grasped his jacket as his fingers twined into her hair and he backed up to the wooden rail where he settled and pulled her between his thighs. The night air touched her with cool sighs, but Daniel’s mouth was pure hungry heat.

Then his kiss turned to soft enticement, reeling her in as he nibbled and licked at her in tiny teasing flicks that beckoned her lips to part and her tongue to seek his. Felicity gave in and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders as little mewling sounds escaped her.

“I know baby, I know,” he soothed and captured her bottom lip gently between his teeth. Then suddenly the hands that swept caresses along her back were crushing her to him as he stroked his tongue deeper, forcing her to open wider for him.

 

(Now there’s a man who knows how to kiss! And he's just getting started...)

                                                                 * * *

From author Raine Weaver, we get a peek at her current work in progress, a untitled vamp romance:

Laryn had answers to all his arguments, of course. Points to be made about the distinctions between right and wrong. But they all seemed to disappear as he lifted her hand, grazing her knuckles with his lips. Softly. Persuasively. As seductive as sin itself. “I take it our lovely dinner is over?” she ventured.

“I promised to have you home in two hours. That means we barely have time for dessert.”

Her voice sounded unconvincing, even to her, when she spoke. “About that dessert? I’m not going to sleep with you, Pardo.”

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

I've been meaning to post this greeting since this morning but stuff kept croping up. Better late than never though. Hope everyone had/is having a lovely Christmas with friends and family. Luv, Jaye

Christmas Craftiness

I always seem to come tip-toe-ing back in here with some excuse , erm reason for my extended absence.

Sometime around mid-Nov my boss "volunteered" me to be in charge of the festive challenge charity drive and the department decorations.

Let me tell ya summin, that friggin festive challenge almost kill me. lol.  Luckily my boss later nominate two other coworkers to work with me and eventually I off-loaded the remainder of the charity drive activities on them to run with (once everything was in place) because the decorating was crazily time consuming.  Just about everything was made/crafted, not store bought.

I posted this pic below on Twitter & Facebook to show messy-state my dining-room table had been in for a good 2 weeks straight.  At this point, I was putting together the gas-lamps that were going to be a major part of the Victorian Christmas decorating theme.

For a couple of weeks I was putting in 12hr days, plus working on the weekends to get the decorations done. I've made it known I will not be doing this next year. There was way too much catch-up to do official work-wise and with things in my personal (there are no decorations put up in my house this year-just don't have the energy to do it. I didn't get my Xmas cards mailed out either and just did my grocery shopping for Xmas 2 days ago.  Thank god I've been buying the odd Xmas gift all yr, including stuff I bought at last year's boxing day sales, or I would've have been screwed on that front also.)

Anywho, it's all done. I'm happy with how things turned out. There is definitely a magical, other-worldly, feeling when you come into our department. And here are the finished results.

 We won the decorating challenge, btw, and earn a free lunch for the department on the company's dime.  Also, overall the company raised almost $40K for the Childrens' Christmas Wish Charity.

That Killer Red Dress

Son and I were debating about who plays Nikita in the tv show. I said Sandrine Holt. He said Maggi Q.

 

(Sandrine's on the left)

He was right. It is Maggi. Then he mentioned the killer red dress she wore in mission impossible.

(This is the best pic I could find, but as you can see what little of that dress there is, Maggi’s characters does it justice.)


I immediately countered that no one touches Sophie Maceau in her red dress in The World is Not Enough.

(This pic really doesn’t do her justice in the dress; you have to watch the scene. Girlfriend looks good both coming and going. And just standing still. lol. )


We started reeling off memorable red dresses (mostly because it occurred to me this would make a fun blog post.)


Who can forget Jessica Rabbit?

Another girl who does so much with soo much in so little. Lol.


Now this one is a little random, but all remember: the girl in the red dress in The Matrix.

 

 

 

Michelle Pfeiffer on top of the piano in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

 

As with a lot of these pics, it was as much (or more) about the woman in the dress, as it was about the dress itself. A still for the movie doesn't capture that 'wow' factor because it was the actress/character's attitude/personality all shrink-wrapped in this bright wrapping.

 

This is another one that had more visual impact in the movie scene that it does in pictures: Julia Roberts Pretty Woman.

 

 

And lastly, a two-fer: Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:

 

 

One cool thing has come out of this post. My current wip/short story, has a big party scene near the end in which my heroine knocks the heroes socks off. Initially I had a vague-ish picture of her in a midnight blue gown, but now I might be putting her in a version of That Killer Red Dress™.

Of course that's if I find the time to write. For the rest of the week-end I'll be working on day-job stuff. Stuff that has a looming deadline but I haven't been able to get any real traction on because of all other day-to-day things I'm juggling/catching up on at work. :-P

xo Jaye *