Choose My New Author Photo?

As a 13-year veteran of the writing life, I've long since accepted the fact that half the fun in life is getting there and most of the other half of the fun involves writing about the trip afterward. So, I'm back from New York and my boudoir photo shoot with the very talented Laura Boyd, and now it's time to tell you all about it! Today I'd like to begin by asking for your help.

Like most writers, I have a Web site and a profile picture. I've long felt a bit, well, guilty, in using a photo from my first boudoir session from seventeen years ago. Okay, not that guilty because I never really looked like that photo even when I was thirty-one and besides I'm an erotica writer and my readers surely shouldn't object to a little blurring of reality. However, since my motto is "smart is sexy" and I firmly believe I'm smarter and much sexier now than I was back then, I knew I'd feel much better if I had a current sexy picture to post far and wide. That is one of the many reasons I jumped at the chance to have Laura take my picture.

Of course, as the shoot drew closer, I suffered from the same doubts I did the first time around. Would the camera's eye find any beauty in me, even with Laura's magic and expertise on my side? Is society right that women are over-the-hill and invisible after thirty or thirty-five or forty or whatever the current cut-off is for female desirability? Which might mean, that like a vampire, when Laura snapped my picture, there'd be nothing there?


I have to say, in spite of my pre-shoot jitters, I am so, so pleased with the results. So pleased, in fact, I'm going to become an honest woman and use one of her portraits as my public face from now on. Now comes that favor I wanted to ask of you. Will you help me choose which of these two rather intimate "thanks for the great sex, honey" pics posted here that I should use? Choice A in the black slip and bling or Choice B in my birthday suit? Polls close December 6, so leave a comment or send me an email with your vote!

The Gift of Sensual Pleasure

The year's end is a time for reflection, thanksgiving and expressing appreciation to our loved ones in many ways, including gifts. What better gift that keeps on giving than a delicious book, in particular an erotica anthology, that is like a box of fine chocolates for the imagination? I say this not only because I'm an author. I've always loved giving books and loved receiving them as gifts. I also love discounts and good deals and it just so happens Cleis Press, the publisher of many of the anthologies in which my stories appear, is having a very sweet sale until the end of the year--20% off all books purchased through their website. This has been a very fruitful year of anthologies for me, and I'll be giving some of these goodies to lucky friends and relatives:

Best of Best Women's Erotica 2 (editor Violet Blue picks her favorite stories from the past five years and they are sizzling hot).

Please, Sir (delicious tales of women who find their power from submission).

Orgasmic (celebrates "The Big O" from the woman's perspective, and that means no refractory period to the endless pleasure)

Smooth (this book has one of my favorite stories of the past year, "Ivy League Associates," and plenty of other fleshly delights)

Passion (a book of erotic romance that will move your heart and leave you panting--great stuff!)

And last, but definitely not least, Best Women's Erotica 2011 (as always the year's hottest, boldest stories are collected by Violet Blue and my story "Fresh Canvas" is another all-time favorite)

All of these books make great stocking stuffers for your loved one--definitely a gift that will keep on giving for many chilly winter nights to come! Oh, and this lovely photograph comes from my fantastic photo shoot with boudoir photographer Laura Boyd. More on that adventure soon!

Celebrating "Spring" in November

A lot's been happening this month, and you'll hear all about it once I've unpacked my suitcase and settled back into my writing, but I just wanted to announce that my story "Spring Pictures" is up at Clean Sheets this week. Set in Japan, this story celebrates my fascination with erotic woodblock prints and illicit getaways to elegant Japanese inns. The print you see here, by Suzuki Harunobu, was another inspiration for the piece. So, if you're in the mood for a little time-travel combined with art appreciation, grab a cup of green tea and get between the Sheets!

Sexy, Secret Gardens

You all remember those sizzling Nancy Friday "studies" of female sexual fantasies back in the 1970's that blew the cover off of the Victorian myth that women were sexless creatures who only engaged in the marital act out of their innate maternal instinct? They certainly inspired me to get wilder in my daydreams and ultimately to write my own fantasies out for publication throughout the Anglophone world.

Thank you, Nancy!

Today at The Erotic Woman, a totally awesome erotica website, you can read my tribute to Nancy Friday fantasies which I've entitled "Secret Gardens." Some of it may be familiar from an earlier blog post on Nancy and her revolutionary books (plus the lie behind them, but all's fair in love and war!) But there's a second part to Pittsburgh housewife Jessica's fantasies that's much hotter, so click on over and vote and comment--if you can type with one hand ;-). What better way to start the weekend than with a reminder our minds our always free to weave a beautiful tapestry of desire?