Plotting and Planning at ERWA

It's not quite April, but those fast girls and boys over at ERWA have already posted next month's columns, and of course "Cooking Up a Storey" continues with my latest report from my novel-writing adventures. In Plotting and Planning: NaNoWriMo, Novel Outlines, and the Linear Comforts of Asparagus I talk about the benefits and drawbacks of outlining your novel and offer up a simple and tasty recipe for asparagus risotto. Is it just California or are your vegetable markets bursting with fresh and cheap asparagus right now, too? I love that stuff! And I've finished a rough outline of my novel and will discuss it with my writing buddy tonight. If she tells me it sucks, I'll have to kill myself, so this may be my last blog post, not to mention the column will go on permanent hiatus. So just in case, it's been great knowing y'all!

And I know, the photograph has nothing to do with asparagus, but it is related to my novel. Don't ask me how just yet, it's a secret....

A Swinging Good Time at F-Stop

Has another week flown by so fast? Yes, it's time for a new author to take the stage at F-Stop. This week is an especially entertaining post by the prolific and always witty Ashley Lister, who shares with us some poetry, some literary analysis, and a lot of laughs.

As always, revelations abound, so head off to the swinger's party with "Betty & I." See you there!

A Very "Rude" Interview!

I'm very excited to announce I have a new interview is up at a cool new UK website called "Rude Words: For Readers and Writers of Erotic Fiction." You might think that I've done so many interviews, I have nothing new to say, but in fact, I actually covered some virgin ground in this interview, or maybe I'm just becoming more comfortable with myself and what erotica means to me? The real thrill is that I got to 'fess up about my big crush on Eddie Izzard, so if you're out there, Eddie, I've got a copy of my novel, Amorous Woman, with your name on it!

If you're so inspired, please stop by and leave a comment. If you're an erotica writer, you can be interviewed, too, so check out their author's page. I'd love to have you join me on the author's list!

Jeremy Edwards Naked in Reykjavik

This Sunday at F-Stop we have a new and fascinating take on self-exposure by master wordsmith, Jeremy Edwards. If you're curious about what it's like to lead two lives, why showing your face is braver than taking your clothes off, and what the hell Reykjavik has to do with this, then grab your coffee and scone and head on over to the F-Stop studio where a courageous and eloquent erotica writer is always taking it all off for your viewing pleasure!

An Inspiring Threesome

It's Sunday again and time for another fascinating confession over at F-Stop: Expose the Naked I. This week co-hostess Neve Black reveals a complicated love life involving a broadminded spouse and an irresistible lover. It's a threesome that rang true to me, and might even change your way of looking at your writing, too.

So head on over to F-Stop--it's worth it just for the picture of Neve in her fishnet stockings alone!

Singapore Slings at the Tiki Hut

Come join me for a Singapore Sling and some delicious excerpts from my story "Comfort Food" in The Cougar Book and from my novel, Amorous Woman over at Author Island's Tiki Hut today.

You can also win a copy of Amorous Woman, which is the book of the day over at Author's Island, so hey, lie back, enjoy the Pacific breeze and some smokin' sexy prose, too!

Sacred Writing

This past Saturday, I attended the Bar Mitzvah of my college roommate's younger son, a day-long party beginning with the ceremony in the morning, followed by a bagel lunch, then hanging out at my friend's house, and finally a "clowning around" party at night with circus food and lessons from professional performers in plate spinning and feather balancing for the kids.

I was raised Catholic myself and escaped what I saw as the iron hand of organized religion as soon as I was able. For many years, I associated spirituality with the rigidity and misogyny of the church. As I've gotten older, I've come to see the the power of self-chosen, self-directed spirituality. Yet, as I sat in the informal "California hippie" synagogue on Saturday, gazing at a beautiful quilt portraying the Tree of Life, I gained a new appreciation for communal spirituality in the music of the prayers and the rabbi's insights into how tradition informs our lives. Unlike the sort of top-down approach I knew in my church-going days, the 13-year-old who becomes Bar Mitzvah in this very liberal congregation not only learns to read the Torah in Hebrew, s/he prepares a thought paper on the relevance of his/her passages to modern life and leads the assembled group in a surprisingly profound discussion. This recognition of the young person's intellect, creativity and leadership was very moving to me, and I wished we had a similar coming of age celebration for my sons. (Of course, I am relieved to be spared the intense planning and expense!)

Writing is my spiritual practice now. When I do my best writing, I draw deep from all of my inner resources and hope to reach others on a deeper level. Perhaps that is why this poem, read at the Bar Mitzvah service on Saturday, spoke even to me (a woman with a bad case of poetry-phobia!)

A person reaches in three directions:
inward to oneself--
up, to God--
out, to others.

The miracle of life is that
in truly reaching
in any direction
one embraces all three.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav
(1770-1811)

Naked Men at Naked I

It's time for a new F-Stop post and this week we have a meditation on the pleasures of the male body by one of my favorite erotica writers, Susan DiPlacido. Susan provides our first sampling of original art, the eye of the artist. I'm so thrilled with the amazing variety and depth each writer is bringing to the topic of self-exposure. So head on over to F-Stop and start thinking of your own way to expose yourself for us! (Thanks, Susan, for a great post!)

Plotting a New Course at ERWA

Say what, it's March already? You know what that means--another installment of my sex-food-and-writing column, "Cooking Up a Storey." You may have noticed last month I moved to a new address in Author's Resources. That's because I'm trying to focus on this new novel and I figured if I kept a sort of journal of my process, the column would be less distracting from my work. Perhaps more importantly, I'm hoping that by going public, I'll be embarrassed into actually making some progress. It's rather like one of those diet features in a women's magazine where you're weighed in every month for all of America. That would keep my hand out of the cookie jar (and you know how much I like cookies).

Anyway, if you're interested in some second-time-around strategies for novel writing, check out "Trying to Get the Feeling: Barry Manilow, “Successful” Passions, and “Let-the-Feelings-Flow” Almond Cake." Regular visitors will remember the recipe, but it's still just as tasty and just as fail-proof as ever. Fingers crossed writing this novel will be the same.

Also check out Ashley Lister's wonderful interview with Neve Black. You might find yourself heading off to your favorite cocktail lounge with a copy of Anais Nin--and who knows what adventures await you?