What's that white stuff

What I'm reading: Steeplechase by Blair Bancroft

I wish I could say the trip went smoothly -- but that would be stretching the truth. However, it's unfair to blame the airlines for what Mother Nature throws at them.

We took off on time. Hubby accepted the upgrade --given it's a 1 hour flight to Atlanta, and I had an exit row aisle seat and there's no service in either cabin, I won't even give him a hard time about 'abandoning me'. As it turned out, nobody took his seat, so I had lots of room.

However, watching the flight track on the in-seat screen, the straight line between Orlando and Atlanta started doing loops and zig zags. Bad weather had closed the Atlanta airport, and everything was stuck on hold until it opened. Once it did, we landed, but due to all the aircraft juggling for position, we were on the ground for over half an hour before we got to our gate. Our departure gate had moved from the too-good-to-be-true right next to the arrival gate to another terminal, so we did the race through the airport and just made our flight.

Although we pushed away from the gate on time, the back-up meant there were about 35 planes ahead of us waiting to take off. Another good half hour. And, there was no 'smooth air' so the seat belt sign was on until 30 minutes before landing. No meal (even if it was 'for purchase') or beverage service. I think first class got fed, but hubby wasn't upgraded on this leg, so no grumbles.

But we arrived safe and sound, and to our surprise, so did our luggage. I've been enjoying watching our grandson -- he's at that stage where everything is fascinating. They sure didn't have toys like that when our kids were little, but he's still just as happy with wrapping paper as the gift inside.

Jet-lag plus an early awakening to make our flight meant we went to bed early. This morning, we woke up to SNOW!

Today's Gratitude List
1. The efficient baggage handlers at the Atlanta airport.
2. The view of snow outside my son's front door after leaving 80 degree humid weather.
3. An infant's giggle.

Sexual Tension - It's Not the Sex, part 3

To recap from yesterday:

We're looking at the 12 Steps to Intimacy – from Intimate Behavior by Desmond Morris

This ties back into the hard-wiring established to enhance survival in early man. Studies have shown that relationships that don't follow these steps tend to be shorter-lived than those that progress naturally through them. In a broad generalization, women prefer to move through the steps, whether it be consciously or not. Just like a building requires a strong foundation, so does a relationship.

The steps below are given from a male to female standpoint, so we're looking at the male as instigator, although these steps will work both ways. As authors, we're "pushing" the characters together and "pulling them apart" to create sexual tension.

To continue with the list:

7. Mouth to mouth-
Kissing. The first kiss is a milestone in any romance novel. Both parties are vulnerable. Look at the romance books you've read and see how many of these 'first kiss' encounters are cut short. The author is creating tension by pulling the characters apart. How is the kiss described? Is the author pushing the characters together with their reactions to the sensations?

In an erotic romance, this might be the first step. It's also going to happen very early in the book. However, for a believable HEA ending, the couple needs to backtrack and lay the foundations for the relationship beyond the scope of sex.

8. Hand to head-
This is done by both men and women. Whereas the initial kiss may have been only a touching of lips, as the relationship develops, the woman may run her fingers through the man's hair. The man may cradle the woman's face. Allowing someone to touch one's head shows a deepening trust. Does the woman allow the touch, or does she pull away?

9. Hand to body—
This step moves the couple into the beginnings of foreplay. This is another area where the author is likely to use the external plot to pull the characters apart. The phone rings. Someone knocks on the door. However, it's still quite possible for the emotional pull-apart. Is the character having second thoughts? Is there too much guilt?

10. Mouth to breast—
This step shows a great deal of trust. It's still possible for the woman to pull back, although this is another step along the foreplay route.

11. Hand to genitals—
Most of the time, this is the point at which there's no turning back. The commitment has been made. If the woman does change her mind, it will be very frustrating for the male (a MAJOR conflict). It's also likely to label the woman as a "tease".

12. Genitals to genitals—
This is the sex act. It may happen on or off the page. However by now, the reader should be at least as anxious for the relationship to be consummated as the characters are. Perhaps more.

After this point, the author is challenged with maintaining tension. Just as the ratings plunged when the stars of "Moonlighting" finally slept together, once the hero and heroine have had sex, the author is likely to be spending more page time on the plot conflicts. In non-erotic romance, further sex scenes tend to be less detailed.

These steps follow a natural, logical progression. However, it's not a rule that one must show them all, or even show them in this order. Leapfrogging or hopscotching through the steps does happen. However, the strongest relationships are those where all 12 steps are followed. An research indicates that couples who repeat these steps regularly have longer, more satisfactory relationships.

This wraps up my workshop notes. I hope you've found something useful, either for yourself or your writing.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Colorado for a long weekend.

Today's Gratitude List:

1. Hubby, for working on the paddle fan lights before leaving for work AND being the bed fairy.

2. My agent, who believes in my work despite the rejections

3. Joey, the world's cutest grandson. See you soon!

Sexual Tension - It's Not the Sex - Part 2

Today, we'll continue with my workshop notes. As an aside, my agent sent me a rejection letter yesterday, but in a moment of synchronicity, the editor said there was some "nice sexual tension."

12 Steps to Intimacy – from Intimate Behavior: A Zoologist's Classic Study of Human Intimacy
by Desmond Morris (originally published in 1971)

Once again, this ties back into the hard-wiring established to enhance survival in early man. Studies have shown that relationships that don't follow these steps tend to be shorter-lived than those that progress naturally through them. In a broad generalization, women prefer to move through the steps, whether it be consciously or not. Just like a building requires a strong foundation, so does a relationship.

The steps below are given from a male to female standpoint, so we're looking at the male as instigator, although these steps will work both ways.

I'll try to discuss them in terms of yesterday's "Push-Pull" mechanisms. In this case, we're talking about the author "pushing" the characters together and "pulling them apart" to create sexual tension.

1. Eye to body –
This is the sizing up of a potential mate. The woman walks into the room. The man looks at her and decides if she's someone who appears to meet his criteria. Hard wiring suggests he's looking for a mate who appears healthy and able to bear his offspring, but we've all met guys where merely having two X chromosomes is enough. However, if the female doesn't measure up, he moves away.

2. Eye to eye –
Assuming the woman passed muster in step 1, the man will attempt to make eye contact. If the woman averts her eyes, that's a "pull away." The man has the choice of moving on, or perhaps accepting the challenge and trying again. Be aware that a fixed gaze can also be viewed as threat behavior, so there's more fodder for the push-pull.

3. Voice to voice –
If she's accepted his gaze (and, by the way, the woman is doing the same kind of sizing up at the same time), the next step is to strike up a conversation. You want to pull them apart, perhaps your hero uses the pickup line from hell, tells a bad joke, or is a "me me me" conversationalist.

4. Hand to hand (or arm) –
The very first step in physical contact. This is the step where intimacy begins. Allowing someone to touch is a measure of trust. The woman is accepting some vulnerability here. Touching signals to others that there's a 'couple' forming.

5. Arm to shoulder—
Putting an arm around the woman's shoulder (what teenager in a movie theater hasn't tried that move?) Holding hands still allows keeping some distance, but an arm around the shoulder draws the couple closer on a physical level. Trust continues to build. Again, if the woman pulls away, you've created some tension. She may not be ready for this step yet.

6. Arm to waist, or back—
Here, if the woman is put off by the man, she'll move away, often unconsciously. If he puts a hand at the small of her back, she may increase her pace to move out of reach. Arms around the waist show a growing familiarity and comfort in the relationship.

These first six steps are basic, and seem almost intuitive. Nothing here is out of the scope of the public arena. In a sweet romance, there might not be a whole lot more than this on the page. In an erotic romance, these first steps might take place on page one. As the author, you have to decide how to show the progression, and what kind of devices you'll use to keep them from forging ahead.

Does your heroine retreat behind dark sunglasses? Does she get a thrill when his hand brushes her arm? Using the devices mentioned yesterday, you can develop any of these with dialog, internal monologue, or plot. Add a second male to the mix and watch the territorial dogs go at it, each moving through the steps to 'claim' the woman as his. At the approach of another man, does your hero take your heroine's hand? Put his on her shoulder? Does he glare at the intruder, keeping steady eye contact?

Tomorrow, I'll finish the last six, which move us from "just friends" to "intimate."

Today's Gratitude List:

1. Finding gas was under $2 at Costco
2. A day cold enough to make soup
3. Burnt caramel almonds from Recchiuti

Also -- I'm a guest blogger at Simply Romance Reviews today, although I don't know what time they'll post it. I'm talking about some of the basics of writing, and how I started with The Wild Rose Press. I'm giving away a download, so please pop by and leave a comment there once I'm "up." I'll allow a couple of days to select the winner.

Sexual Tension - it's not the sex

What I'm reading: Play Dirty by Sandra Brown

As promised, I'm sharing my workshop notes from author Eileen Ann Brennan's workshop: Creating Sexual Tension.

Sexual tension -- what is it?

What it's NOT; The act of sex, or making love

What it IS: the anticipation, the wanting, but not being able to have. Brennan defines it as foreplay for the mind.

In a romance, it's a given that the hero and heroine will be together at the end of the book. Give them the happily ever after in chapter 3, and the book is over. In order to create sexual tension, the author must constantly push the characters together and then pull them apart. Since our speaker writes erotic romance, she mentioned the challenge of writing in that genre, because readers expect there will be consummated sex at the very beginning of the book, so there's not much sexual tension. But for the non-erotic romances, the relationship generally builds before the characters have sex.

Throughout the book, the characters should have an escalating awareness of each other, and anticipation of the culmination of the relationship needs to climb along with it. She used the movie, "While You Were Sleeping" as an example of how the tension builds.

She lists four major areas an author should consider when creating sexual tension, or the "Push-Pull"

1. Plot and Conflict. When the internal conflict eases, bring it back with the external conflicts of the plot. Pulling away can be both emotional OR physical.

2. Dialog
In this area, she suggests using innuendo, subtext, sexual/sensual terms in non-sexual conversation, and double entendres. Although these are closely related, innuendo tends to be more subtle and is often non-verbal. A character might rub his hands along his jeans, or move his hands suggestively on the steering wheel as he drives.

3. Senses
Brennan breaks the senses into two categories: active and passive.
The Active senses are those over which the character has some control. He can choose to see, touch, or taste.
The Passive senses are those that are received by the character: smell and sound. These tend to be more sensual.

4. Emotions between hero and heroine
She stressed that the mechanics of whose body parts are where, or Tab A and Slot B are not particularly sensual. It's more important to describe the feelings of the characters, what they're thinking. Internal monologue works well here. (She adds—only up to a point, especially in the male POV, where thinking tends to disappear once the sexual act is underway.)

We then had some interactive practice – With the following setup, half the room was to continue in Francois' POV, the other half in Lady Claudine's, using the basics above to create emotion and sexual tension: "Francois entered his chamber, shrugged off his cloak, then saw Lady Claudine standing by the window. He went to her and touched her arm."

My first reaction was Chamber? Cloak? Lady Claudine? Not exactly a setup for someone who writes action adventure romance. But the fun came as everyone shared their brief paragraphs, because no two people wrote the same basic follow up. This goes back to each of us having a unique voice. Some went with the romantic liaison, some with the woman seducing the man, others with her being captive. Or accepting a dare to appear in his chamber. Even given the same plot, we'd all write different books – but that's a digression.

Tomorrow, I'll go through the way we as writers can use her suggestions along with Desmond Morris' steps to intimacy, laid out in his book, Intimate Behavior. Hope you'll come back.

Today's Gratitude List:
1. Hubby for bringing home a surprise box of Godiva truffles.
2. A guilt-free day of sitting around not doing much of anything
3. My aunt, who is still in good spirits after breaking her wrist less than a month after breaking her shoulder

Gratitude Project

Today's Gratitude List

1. Sundays at Panera with hubby and friends

2. Cooler weather, so we can open some windows and enjoy the fresh air--and lower electric bills.

3. Central Florida Romance writers -- yesterday's meeting showed how much support they give to everyone regardless of where they are along writing's path.

Back to normal blogging tomorrow.

No Theme Today

No real theme today, just odds and ends.

Tomorrow our RWA chapter is hosting Eileen Ann Brennan, who's going to address the topic of sexual tension. As always, I'll be posting notes next week. I'm not sure exactly what day the post will show up, so please check back. Or, you can become a 'follower' of the blog and you'll be notified of new posts. Or the feed option. I'm still in awe of all this technology.

Last night's event for the Ovarian Cancer Alliance was fun--a definite change of pace from a book signing. Vendors from all over town were there--everything from free chair massages to jewelry to toys. And of course there were three local writers with books to sign! Oh, and did I mention free food and wine? Dara and Katie--you were great table partners (but Katie, next time get a table that doesn't take four people to carry!)

My crit partner and I met earlier in the day and did some brainstorming. It's been a while since we've had time for a face to face meet, and it was great to get the wheels turning. I still don't have the definitive title for Fozzie's book; there's a theme of 'setting roots' in the book, but most of the titles we tossed around sounded like gardening or genealogy books. Definitely have to work on it some more.

Today's Gratitude List

1. All the wonderful people who came out last night in support of the Ovarian Cancer Alliance.

2. Dara, for her great ideas

3. Tom, for volunteering to read my knife fight scene and make sure I didn't say anything stupid.

Those Two Little Words

Last night, I typed "The End" on my manuscript. It's just shy of 115,000 words, which is a bit on the long side, but I had to write it all. I'll deal with what gets cut after I let it sit for a while so I can look at it more objectively.

No title yet, though. I am SO bad at coming up with those. It's got to reflect the tone, the theme, the sub-genre, the characters. And be snappy. And no synopsis, either. I'm still selling on complete manuscripts, so I get to wait until I see what happens in the book before I have to summarize it.


Tonight there's a "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" fund-raising event at a local downtown club (before it opens) for the Ovarian Cancer Alliance. I'll be there with 2 of my writing colleagues. A fine way to celebrate the completion of my book. And maybe I'll get some ideas for the next one.

Today's Gratitude List

1. Getting a clean bill of health from my doctor
2. That the Y is only 5 minutes away, which probably has a great bearing on #1.
3. That hubby didn't fuss when I told him I hadn't given a thought to dinner because I was ALMOST DONE WITH THE BOOK.

Is this the time to be raising prices?

The election is over. The sun rose this morning. I suppose there will still be a few days of total dissection of the election results, but at least no machines should be calling my phone. I could have added this to my gratitude list for the day, but it seems too easy.

Update on book pricing. My publisher sent an email yesterday to all the authors saying that they were working with Amazon to offer more services, which meant an increase in pricing. As of 8:15 this morning, the price at Barnes & Noble was still the 'old' price, with a discount for members. If you want to take advantage of the lower price --- enough said? The publisher says the new deal with Amazon will let them offer deeper discounts???? I'm still wrapping my brain around that one--why raise the price if you intend to lower it? Or are they going to lower it to a price still higher than the 'old' price and make it appear better?

I don't pretend to understand marketing decision, and it's moot, because I have no control over them, but my books compete with mass market NYT best-selling authors, and their books are available for less. Seems that's the price point my publisher should be shooting for, with the allowance for a higher price because they print trade paperback, not mass market. And with everyone tightening belts, is this the best time for a price increase?

And who knows what will happen with my new release, which is hard cover, but from a different publisher entirely. I know that book will be pricey, but I also know it's targeted to the library market, so I encourage any interested readers to request that their library purchase it.







Today's Gratitude list:

1. The wonderful customer service from eBookwise and their technology supplier, eBook Technologies, Inc. My replacement arrived (on a Saturday, no less) and is up and running. I'll be taking it to the doctor's office while I hang around the waiting room.

2. Jessica, for being a first reader, a brainstorming partner, and a fight scene choreographer.

3. My new herb garden.

Just Do It! Vote.

NOTE! Be aware that Amazon has NOT YET fixed the pricing of my two Cerridwen books in print. If you plan to buy them, PLEASE don't spend $16.99. The publisher's price is $9.99, and until Amazon corrects the listing (visible in the widget on the side panel), you can find the books at their normal price at the publisher or Barnes and Noble. Thanks!

What I'm reading: Now and Then, by Robert B. Parker

What I'm writing: The Last Scene(s)! Also a blog for November 11th at Simply Romance Reviews and answering interview questions for CataNetwork. At least those are today's writing goals.

My Gratitude List:

1. My eBookwise reader that lets me read in the dark, without my reading glasses, and lets me read with one hand.

2. The bed fairy who showed up while I was at the Y.

And the Big One:

3. That it's election day and it will BE OVER tomorrow. No more robocalls. No more annoying commercials that dish dirt on opponents instead of showing what you're going to do. Less junk mail. Not that it matters, I'm sure, but if you sent one of those fancy brochures in the mail that have at least 75% of them devoted to slinging mud, you can be sure I didn't vote for you.

I'll deal with the media's inundating the airwaves with coverage by not watching. Hubby has already come up with some more interesting and enjoyable suggestions. Whether I watch or not, the results won't change. As a matter of fact, it bugs the heck out of me that the media begin declaring winners, especially when the polls aren't closed on the other side of the country.

And let's remember that tomorrow morning, about half the country will be disappointed with the results, regardless of the outcome. Get over it and move on. And the best of luck to whoever wins and inherits the problems facing the country. It's time to look at the big picture, not party lines.