Google Alerts

About a year ago two authors suggested I set up google alerts on my writing name so I would be alerted when my name appeared on any websites. Mind you these two authors are BIG time published and don’t have to worry too much about piracy. Their suggestions were for when reviews pop up.
I set up my alerts and when I did I set up for my real name and the name I had while married to my ex. I’d written under both and thought it might be useful. Turns out it was. I learned of an interview I did a few years ago on long distance relationships was finally published in a magazine – how cool.
A few weeks ago I received an alert on my former name that for the sake of anominity I’ll use Jane Doe. Turns out Jane Doe had died. Mind you she was 78 years old and died of natural causes. But for days I received alerts on her obituary, funeral arrangements and such. It was kind of creepy to see my former name listed as decease.
Just this morning I received another alert for Jane Doe. She was brutally murdered and her killer was at large. This struck a cord with me. My ex was very abusive and for a long time I feared he would kill me. Even years after I left him I feared him. So to see this brought back a lot of emotions for me. One was how thrilled I am to be alive and in a healthy happy relationship. I’m also blessed to be in a career I love – writer.
I’ve also learned when my books are up on those pirate sites, usually an hour after they’ve been released. This is frustrating for writers because they’re taking away from our already LOW income. Another alert that came this morning was of my not-so-great review of Submit With Me. To the reviewers credit she said this would not stop her from reading any future books from me because she has enjoyed my books thus far.
Google alerts are great most of the time, but lately it’s freakin’ me out to see that one name associated with death and murder.
Have you ever had any crazy google alerts?
Til next week!

Pasties - Just Enough Cover Not to Get Arrested!

Pasties...not the kind you eat (although I'm sure there are edible ones out there and if I search hard enough I could find them!) but the kind women put over their nipples for all kinds of reasons having to do with being more sexy. Exotic dancers will use these to further entice the audience as they bump and grind or pole-dance.





   History: Pasties first appeared in 1930 and included a variety of colors, diameters, and shapes. Tassels were the brainchild of Burlesque performer Carrie Finnell, who probably thought she needed "something extra" to arouse her audience. Tassels are connected to the center of the pasties.

 In my book "Sexy Games" by April Ash, the heroine, Stacy, dons a pair for her role-playing game as a stripper/lap dancer. She diligently practices before the game to make sure she can get the tassels to "swing" and twirl...much to delight of hero, Sloane.

Pasties come in all sizes and some are very creative as these samples will prove!

What do you think? Would they make the wearer feel more "frisky" and playful? Give that added something to heighten sexual urges? Create a more lustful session of lovemaking?

Want to learn how to make your own pasties?
http://www.ehow.com/how_4820171_pasties-burlesque.html

If you make some, would you let me know? I'd love to do another blog about pasties and will show your finished products...and you don't need to wear them!

http://www.aprilash.net
http://mariannestephens.net
http://romancebooksrus.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romancebooksrus
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com

Photos: http://www.boobybling.com, http://agentprovateur.com, and http://www.yandy.com

What do YOU think is "sexy"?

What is your definition of "sexy"?

It is amazing how many different versions of "sexy", "gorgeous", and "hot" are running around out there. Remember when you were just a kid? Maybe wearing braces and saddle oxfords? Maybe wearing coke-bottle eyeglasses with rhinestones on the frames? Do you remember what your ideas of "pretty" and "cute" were back in the oldy and moldy days?

Now consider what your ideas of "Sexy" and "gorgeous" are today. Are they even in the same solar system? NOT! When I was a preteen I thought a guy was "cute" when he was lanky and scrawny and had dimples in his pink little cheeks. I thought that a gal was "pretty" when she wore ten stiff petticoats under her poodle skirt and had a perfectly under-turned, glossy pageboy 'do and was as skinny as a beanpole. Hmmm...

All of us who write romance know that somewhere out there, every heroine has her fated hero. And whether the hero is a huge, musclebound guy with green skin and torn jeans, or is a long, lean, jeans-clad cowpoke wearing a ratty T-shirt and a battered Stetson, there is a female out there just aching and waiting for him to come along.

No two women seem to see the same beauty in the same men. I prefer men with less body hair. Others prefer men who could show a poodle a thing or two. I like long, lean, hard muscle. Others love a man who is just their height and has a nice solid body. I have hissed in my breath at the sight of a man that my daughter looks at and goes, "Huh???"

Thank God we all have different tastes, or we would all be fighting over the same man. And even if he might enjoy it, I don't think we would.

Now, if you have noticed, most of my romances are about women who think they are very plain, ordinary females. And honestly, most of them are. But their heroes don't think like that. I like men who can see the beauty inside a woman's body and sparkling eyes. Men who can sense that beneath those ratty jeans and loose T-shirt there lurks a hot babe.

As I grew up, I realized that the "cutest" guys always seemed to run with the "prettiest" gals. But after a lot of these guys reached emotional maturity, they began to look a bit deeper and a lot closer at that skin-deep beauty, and after a bad experience or two...maybe a scary divorce from Miss Barbie 1969, their tastes in women took a sharp right turn. The same goes for women who marry hot men and later find clay feet in those expensive shoes.

Good looks never replace kind spirits and ethical treatment. It would be marvelous if handsome guys acted handsomely, but alas, all the adulation and chasing-after from women often turn those male heads, and a sweet, normal, not-so-drop-dead-gorgeous gal doesn't stand a chance. It would be fabulous if stunningly beautiful women acted beautifully. Not all beauty is on the outside.

So my heroes look like stunning hunks to my heroines, even if another woman would pass them by and shrug...and my heroines all look gorgeous to my heroes, even if other men have totally missed the point. Why? Because every human being has a soul mate who looks perfect to them, even if the rest of the world can't see that special beauty.

Thank God I grew up. If I were still running around with the exact same concept of "cute" and "pretty", this old world would be a sad, sad place for me, indeed...

Fran Lee
http://www.franleeromance.com

Check out my new release contest..."Woman on Fire" will be released from Ellora's Cave on September 3, 2010!

Special Guest Renee Vincent and "Raeliksen"

It’s my pleasure today to introduce a special guest blogger to Seven Sexy Scribes —the lovely Renee Vincent from Turquoise Morning Press.

Renee has a treat to share and anyone who knows me already knows I love horrible puns so I will just come clean and say Renee’s bathhouse excerpt from her newest book “Raeliksen” is pretty damn steamy… so is the cover see for yourself!

Ræliksen

Book One of the

Emerald Isle Trilogy

Available now fromhttp://www.turquoisemorningpress.com/

Turquoise Morning Press

Blurb:

Mara, the daughter of an Irish clansman, was raised to believe the men of the North are heathens - murderous pagans without a moral bone in their bodies. Despite warnings of the Northmen's raids, and the growing threat of another incursion, Mara is continually drawn to her favorite place - the River Shannon.

Dægan Ræliksen, a wealthy chieftain from Norway's frozen fjords, secretly discovers Mara at the water's edge. He is charmed by her beauty and sensuous grace. As the days pass, his contentment with simply watching her grows thin. He can no longer deny his unabated desire for the young maiden. His search for a wife has ended.

However, Mara and Dægan come face-to-face in a time when Ireland is in turmoil - when every Irishman is being called up to fight against the Nordic foreigners. In these times of upheaval, how can Dægan make peace with Mara's father and acquire the woman he treasures? Furthermore, can Mara move past her fears and find the noble man within the savage?

Excerpt:

The door of the bathhouse flung open and the two staggered in from under Dægan’s cloak, locked in each other’s arms. Once inside, Dægan kicked the door closed while still delving into her eager kiss and fumbling to find the cursed lock on the door.

Mara already started feeling the warmth of the wood and stone room soak through her, grateful for the oddity of the Norse’s bathing habits as they had put a stagnant, sweltering atmosphere to good use.

Unable to leave her kiss, Dægan whipped his sodden cloak across the room and removed his boots and kirtle, heavy, too, with rain, dropping them carelessly on the bench behind him. The slapping collapse of his wet garment seemed to slow his wild spontaneity to an attentive act of seduction. The glow of the amber flame, in the corner of the room softened the rigid bones of his face, but it did nothing to ease the callousness of his smile as he circled her.

Her braid, he moved to the side and breathed in carefully the smell of her body, the way the oils from yesterday’s bath harmoniously mixed with the nostalgia of the Erin rain. His breath came soft and hot behind her ear, while his hands snaked tenderly around her throat and down below her chin to undo the two brooches at her chest.

Without her realizing, he had released the jeweled clasp and chain, and let the drenched fine cloak fall heavily to the ground, and then he went to work, undoing the laces of her dress. He was talented with his hands, being able to trace the thin vertical line of her spine that connected her slender neck to her finely widened hips with one, while stripping her from her gown with the other, letting it too, fall to the floor.

He slowly turned her around to face him, not shy in dropping his eyes to her glistening chest. There was another smile on his face, one of kinder birth than before, as he intimately seemed to memorize each curve of her blushing body.

Likewise, Mara let her eyes plummet to his waist, seeing his arousal as visible as a winter moon. But her innocent glance must have become an inseparable stare, for he stepped closer, asking, “Do I frighten you?”

Mara lugged her eyes from his midriff to his face. “Nay, Dægan…”

Her voice trailed as he slowly neared her face, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, until suddenly his lips pressed so gingerly against hers, endearing at first, then greedily as the kiss lengthened. He coiled his arm around her back as his other hand slid over the silken skin of her buttocks, pulling her close enough to nestle his hardened body against the soft of hers.

Dægan fell away from her lips. “May I?”

Mara lifted her brows in wonder. “May you what?”

Without taking his eyes from her, he dragged a bucket of water across the floor with his foot. “May I show you how sufficient a few buckets of water can be?”

Mara hesitated at the thought of him bathing her. It was quite a personal thing to bathe another, more so between lovers, and how difficult it would be to stand there and let it happen. “Dægan…”

He dropped to his knees, sliding his hands down the back of her legs, tarrying around her thighs. “Please?”

A nervous smile crept in slowly. “You make it very hard for me to forbid you of anything.”

Dægan’s reaction to those words nearly sent her heart to slam out of beat as his eyes befit well the scoundrel smile he flashed in response. Before she could even think to change her mind, he dunked the soap into the bucket and lifted her foot to his knee, rubbing her calf and shins with the bubbly lather. After cleaning her entire right leg, he wasted no time in doing the left, and then stood to lather her stomach, breasts and arms, taking great care to be gentle.

And overly thorough.

Nervously, Mara lifted her chin as he crept up her neck and around her shoulders, finding it amazingly difficult to look him in the eye, for having a man actually cleaning and caressing every part of her body without a cause for shame was more than she expected this night. Every sweep and slippery stroke of his hands coerced a desire low in her stomach, an aching that consumed her every thought. She closed her eyes, following the enjoyable play of his hands as he left no part of her untouched.

All too soon, she found him pressed against her soapy body, whisking her near-orgasmic daydream away with one wolfish smile.

“My turn.”

Mara couldn’t breathe, but the lack of oxygen hardly inhibited her mind from inventing an excuse. “Have you not already had your bath this evening?”

“Not by the pleasure of your hands.”

Dægan gathered them, along with the soap, and placed them on his chest. “Come now, love. Touch me.”

Eventually, without his coercion, she stroked her thumbs across his nipples, feeling their unexpected tautness, and then back again, creating the start of satisfaction on his face. Mara simpered as well, liking the freedom to touch him wherever she so dared, and the liberty of enjoying every wicked moment of it.

She circled her hands around his chest, slowly at first, taking in every dip and bulge of his torso from navel to neck, then uninhibitedly around his shoulders and arms. Her curious exploration turned into a sensuous display of greed, and, quite honestly, she adored the feel of him.

His skin was smooth, stretched taut against his bulging muscles, and had it not been for the soap that lathered him, she dared to taste it beneath her tongue.

Uninhibitedly, she caressed the flat of his stomach, feeling him tighten with anticipation as she dipped further below his waist, and gripped his erection. She felt him shudder like he was a newly taken adolescent boy.

Mara fancied the sound of his uncontainable groan. Its low and deep hum pulled at the very tiny threads of her unraveling restraint. She liked the feel of him in her hands, the slippery hardness of his body that seemed to change and thrive with every movement of her fist. She watched his breath catch and his eyes close. He was submissive to her every command and yet wildly savage in his naked form.

Suddenly, he slipped from her clenched hand, dropped to pick up a bucket of clean water, and dumped it on the both of them.

Mara gasped at the sudden shock of cool water running down her back, making fast to scream, but as soon as she was able to catch her breath, another bucket descended upon her, washing the last of the lather from their bodies.

Dægan took her in a swift embrace, finding her mouth again, as it was already open, ready to complain. He claimed her lips, taking whatever sounds she had released in surprise, and then her breasts. He brushed his tongue over a hardened nipple with so much fervor that she, herself, felt the very passion upon which his chained desire aggressively tugged.

She was addicted to his touch, his moods of fire and ice, the unpredictable shift of tenderness and greed. She wanted more. So much more, and was not afraid to tell him. She begged him, and he seemed to nearly come out of his skin with excitement.

Dægan carried her to the bench and sat her on his lap. He slid his hand down her stomach and between her legs, gently spreading his fingers within her warmth. He found her to be suitably ready for him, yet she was not prepared for the unexpected finger that entered her.

* * * * *

Wasn’t that Lovely? I feel clean and fresh as an Irish spring. Thank you Renee!

Click on Raeliksen’s book cover to visit Renee’s website.

XXOO Kat

Amazon (print): http://www.amazon.com/R%C3%A6liksen-Book-Emerald-Isle-Trilogy/dp/1935817019/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281933308&sr=8-4

Turquoise Morning Press (print and ebook formats): http://www.turquoisemorningpress.com/2010/08/rliksen-by-renee-vincent.html

Under the Weather

Today I'm a little under the weather. I woke up with an upset stomach. I'm a big baby when it comes to being queasy. I'd rather get sick and be over with it, not linger with nausea all day long.

To make matters worse I'm knee deep in final edits for Adrift, which had a release date change: from Nov 9th to Sept 14th. Needless to say I have to get these done and back to my editor.

Add to the fact I'm not doing much writing either. I'm making slow progress getting back in the swing of things.

Sorry this is short, but I'm just craving my bed.

I'm also blogging out one of my obsessions over at A Pinch of Romance. Drop by and tell me about yours.

Til next Tuesday!

Nat'l Punctuation Day (. ! ? ", etc.)

Yeah, well, it was yesterday but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it today! So...how do you celebrate "National Punctuation Day"? By trying to use them correctly in anything you write!

Here are the facts about some forms of punctuation (not all forms of punctuations/facts are listed as it would make this blog WAY too long).



PERIOD:
1. Use at the end of a sentence that makes a statement.
2. Use a period with abbreviations.

QUESTION MARK:

1. Use at the end of a direct question.


EXCLAMATION MARK:
1. Use at the end of an emphatic declaration or command.

COLON:
1. Use before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself.
2. Use to separate an independent clause from a quotation.
3. Use after a salutation in a business letter.
4. Use when designating the speaker within a play or in court testimony.

SEMICOLON:
1. Use to help sort out a large list.
2. Use to separate closely related independent clauses.

HYPHEN:
1. Use when creating compound words, particularly modifiers before nouns.
2. Use when writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions.
3. Use when creating compounds.
4. Use when adding certain prefixes to words (lots of rules here).

DASH:
1. The en dash is used to join compound modifiers made up of elements that are themselves either open compounds (frequently two-word proper nouns) or already hyphenated compounds. Use to mark the space between dates in a chronological range.
2. The em dash is used to set off concluding lists and explanations in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. Use the em dash for most purposes.

PARENTHESES:
1. Use to include material that you want to de-emphasize when you're quoting material and you want to omit some words.
2. Use to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech.

APOSTROPHE:
1. Use to create possessive forms, contractions, and some plurals.
2. Use to show where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted verb.

QUOTATION MARKS:
1. Use to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language.
2. Use single quotation marks to enclose quoted material (or the titles of poems, stories, articles) within other quoted material.

COMMA:
1. Use to separate the elements in a series.
2. Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses.
3. Use to set off quoted elements.
4. Use to set off phrases that express contrast.

SLASH:
1. Use to indicate a choice between the words it separates.

Need more information? Check: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/
This is a great reference site!
Now, go write right!

http://www.mariannestephens.net
http://www.aprilash.net
http://romancebooksrus.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romancebooksrus
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com

Photos: Flickr: Adam807, Horia Varian, Marcin Wichary, and Derrick Coetzee's photostreams.

Out of Her Dreams is now in PRINT...

Now available in PRINT!

Out of Her Dreams

Fran Lee

Ellora's Cave Publishing

My second novel in print. First came the Carnal Reunions Anthology from Resplendence publishing (with my First and Ten novella). Now, just in time for Romanticon, comes Out of Her Dreams.

I'll tell you, I have sent out signed cover flats before, but the thrill of actually holding and signing your very own real paper and ink book is a shock to the system. Now...if anyone buys one, and you happen to be anywhere near Salt Lake City UT, or are coming to Romanticon in October, I will be thrilled to sign your copy! Hint. Beg. Whimper. Sigh.

In fact, the price of this trade paperback book on Amazon will be pretty high. It costs about $3.00 less to buy direct from Ellora's Cave website. I will be arranging a couple of book signings in a store somewhere in the Salt Lake City area shortly. I will release that information when I have it.

In the meantime, my new release contest is still running on Woman on Fire. If you didn't get my newsletter giving the specifics, you can find the newsletter as well as rules for the contest on my website: http://www.franleeromance.com

Fran Lee