The Library - An Awesome Resource

With the ready access most of us have to the Internet, it's easy to overlook one of the best resources out there -- your local public library.

I was reminded of this last week when I decided I wanted to learn how to use Photoshop, which is an extremely complex piece of software. It didn't take me long to look up computer classes on my library system's website. I learned they actually had online classes as well as in-person ones.

I signed up to take the four available online classes on successive evenings. But after the second level, I realized that in order to learn a new software, I'd be better off actually using that software, which I hadn't yet purchased. The branch closest to my home actually had the next two level classes scheduled the following day so I signed up.

When I arrived for my classes, I couldn't believe how busy the branch was in the middle of a weekday afternoon. Every area was being utilized to its fullest. And I'd been correct in my assumption that I would pick up the technology faster if I could actually play with it.

I still have a long way to go in mastering the program but the experience gave me a new respect for the library system. Unfortunately, in my state of Florida as well as many others around the country, government funding of libraries is drying up. It would be a terrible shame if this fabulous resource ceased to exist. I, for one, plan to lobby my state legislators not to reduce library finding. I urge you to do the same. You can take action HERE.

Lesbian Romance: Why are people fascinated by girl on girl action?

Please welcome today's guest blogger, Berengaria Brown

As soon as there’s an item in the news about two female celebrities kissing, men swarm to the site, attracted by it. Women have always kissed each other in public. Yeah, sure, mostly its air kisses, but the concept is older than time. So what’s the attraction? Why all the hype?

Are men worried about the whole idea of women satisfying each other romantically, and men finding themselves no longer needed? Or do they lust after seeing twice as many breasts, twice as much female flesh to taste and touch?

More recently women are openly finding and reading lesbian fiction. Is it something they’ve always enjoyed, but previously hidden? Or is it something new, that fulfils a need they weren’t previously aware of having?

There’s something exciting about a kick-ass heroine who can save herself from danger finding romance for herself too. Finding her perfect match in maybe another kick-ass type, or possibly in someone softer, sweeter, gentler. Either way, the sex is sure to be explosive. After all, no one knows what turns a woman on, like another woman does. Likely because it turns her on too.

My fourth lesbian erotic romance novella has just been released. If you’ve never yet tried lesbian erotica be daring, give it a try!

"Paige's Passion" blurb

Paige is sent on a business trip and invites her good friend Madeline to go with her. They’ve been lusting after each other for some time but Paige was worried that taking the step to a sexual relationship might destroy their friendship. At the end of the second night they are committed to an ongoing relationship together.

But when they get back to their ordinary lives Paige is consumed by her job. Paige desperately wants the relationship to work, but her career is very important to her and Maddie is so easy-going. Can they ever be happy together?

STORY Excerpt WARNING Lesbian Romance

"Shit, Paige, this's a really nice suite. Are you sure it's okay for me to be here with you?" asked Madeline, looking around at the solid wooden doors hiding the huge flat-screen TV and mini-bar, and at the ultra king-size bed.

Paige opened the drapes wide, exposing a fantastic view across to the river, which was dotted with yachts and other sailing boats. "Of course it's okay. Wait 'til you see the bathroom, Maddy. It's something special. Go, look at it."

"Oh, wow, this is great. Two would definitely fit in this Jacuzzi and in the shower. And there's a separate room for the toilet. That's really classy." Madeline's voice echoed back to Paige.

At forty, Madeline's hair was still a shiny chestnut with no signs of gray, her hazel eyes were always alive with fun, and she flitted from job to job as the mood took her. Paige, ten years younger, considered her short, dark brown hair and brown eyes positively dull beside the vivacious Maddy.

Paige grunted some affirmative noises, but her eyes and her mind were on that huge bed. She sat on the side of it and sank deeply into a cushy mattress and puffy quilt.

I'll finally be sharing a bed with Maddy. It's what I've wanted to do for so long. She turns me on so much more than any man ever has. And I know she's bisexual, she makes no secret of that. But does she desire me in that way? And if we fuck, will that ruin our friendship? We get on so well together. Will taking our relationship to a sexual level destroy our ability to have fun together? Gods, I wish I knew what to do here!

"Hey, wake up! Let's go try out the pool and hot tub on the roof," suggested Maddy, bouncing back into the room.

"Good plan. You change in the bathroom and I'll change here. But you have to put your clothes and shoes back on; they don't let you in the hallways just in swimwear."

"Not a problem," responded Maddy, grabbing her tote bag and heading back into the bathroom.

Paige changed into her plain navy one-piece and hastily dropped an equally plain navy A-line skirt over it. She was buttoning up a pale blue shirt when Maddy called out, "Okay to enter?"

"Yeah, sure," Paige replied, moving over to her luggage to grab her flip-flops.

Paige's heart began to beat so hard it almost drummed its way out of her chest as she looked at Maddy. Her friend was wearing a bright candy pink and orange tankini that should have clashed horribly with her hair, yet somehow looked stunning. Maddy's lush breasts stretched the top enticingly, her hips rounded out the bottom, and her belly protruded just the slightest bit, making a smooth-flowing curve across the garment that was very enjoyable to look at. Her legs were long and straight and slightly muscled, yet very feminine.

Maddy dropped a pink sundress over her head, slid her feet into matching pink sandals, and asked, "Are there pool towels, or do we need to take towels with us?"

"When I went up to look at it before you arrived, there was a stack of pool towels on a table by the door."

"Excellent. Let's go."

Paige grabbed her keycard and followed Maddy to the door, trying not to drool at her friend's yummy ass swaying beneath the sundress. It was even worse as they got off the elevator and walked up the few steps to the pool entry. Maddy's calf muscles flexed and stretched. She's my friend. Just a friend. Someone to hang out with and talk to. Not a lover, she told herself sternly.

Buy Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3121

Berengaria Brown

http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/

http://berengariabrown.webs.com/

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Switching Genres - Sort of

Well, I'm still writing erotic romance, but my upcoming release, Belle Behind Bars is definitely a kinkier tale than my others. With a bit of BDSM, it's being released under the Taboo line at Ellora's Cave. This is a story near and dear to my heart since it is set in a county jail and my own DH works at one. His coworkers are anxiously awaiting the release, or so DH tells me. You can find this Quickie on sale on Tuesday, April 26. You can find the blurb and an excerpt HERE.


I also have a non-erotic offering now available. Not Enough is now available in all ebook formats. This book was one of the first I wrote and was originally released years ago as The Kitten Club under another name, a story that garnered much praise from reviewers and fans alike. It's very different from most of my other books in that it deals with the very serious subject of drug addiction. Plus, it is in the middle of the heat scale, rather than tipping the end of it!

I hope you'll check out Not Enough, offered at an introductory price of only $1.99. And please notice the awesome cover, done by my multi-talented friend, Jax of Jaxadora Design.

And lucky me - I already have my first review of this novel from Romance Junkies, which you can read HERE.

So here's my question. Do you think an author should use a different name when switching genres (not from erotic to BDSM, but from erotic to straight romance)?

Out Damned Spot

I was cleaning my wood floor today and I knew there was a spot in one place because it had been bugging me for days. I made the overhead lights brighter, but I still couldn't find it. Finally, I shut off the lights all together and low and behold, there it was.

I got to thinking that sometimes -- just like on my floor -- shining a more subtle light on something is more meaningful. When it comes to writing character emotions, the same can hold true. Just like the scene from MacBeth when Lady MacBeth continually tries to wash away the sight and smell of blood from her hands rather than admit her guilt directly.

Donald Maass, literary agent and educator, suggests finding a strong emotion then replacing it with a secondary one. Or find a throw-away moment and infuse it with rich emotion. Great advice to draw your characters with a more precise brush

Alicia Rasley, editor for Red Sage and author of The Power of Point of View, talks about evoking emotion  subtly to pull the reader deeper into the character's head. In one of her workshops, she reads a passage about someone visiting a relative in the hospital and the visitor sees an Amish family sitting with their child, who is ill. A few days later, the visitor passes a procession of black Amish wagons and knows the child has passed away. The image holds more power and speaks of a more skillful writer than if the scene had depicted the parents weeping as the doctor pulls a sheet over the child's head.

Writing the secondary emotions or the peripheral observations that figure in to a story take more effort and more skill than being more direct. But the technique deepens both the characters and the story.

The EBook Reader Jungle

Nearly everyone I know got an ebook reader recently, myself included. My husband surprised me and gave me a Kindle 3 for the holidays. I wasn't sure about the idea of reading all my books on the device. I figured I'd read some things in hard copy and others on the reader. But once I started using my gift, I knew I wasn't going to buy very many paperbacks anymore. The best part about the Kindle was I could finally read as I walked on the treadmill, something I'd found challenging with a paperback. You see, I am a klutz. If I neglect to hold on to both bars on the treadmill, I tend to stumble! But I digress.

Now that all my books are available for Kindle as well as all the other devices, I'm curious about the differences between the popular ebook readers. So I did some research.

The Nook Color looked intriguing. Its colorful displays make magazines and books with lots of illustrations come alive. But when I considered that I never read magazines and rarely download anything with pictures, the added features would be wasted on me. Plus, I use a computer all day long. The LED screen would only be more of the same punishment for my eyes.

The standard Nook is similar in price to the Kindle and features an integrated dictionary, a nice touch. The selection of available books is definitely smaller, but is growing every day.

The Kobo eReader also has a similar price tag but it has a quilted back, which makes it more comfortable to hold. A nice feature is the SD slot. A card up to 4G can be added to boost the 1G memory.

There are many other readers out there and they all have pros and cons. Me, I'll stick with my Kindle. The one downside? It's so easy to download books that I am feeling the pinch on my credit card!

Have you joined the ebook revolution yet? If so, which device did you choose and how do you like it?

Lucky Me

I had an awesome weekend. Part of the reason was that my husband was around for all of it, instead of working as he so often does on the weekend. The fact that he was home was the luckiest thing to happen to me in a while. 

You see, Friday afternoon he happened to be in the garage cleaning it out and listening to the radio. I was inside, writing in silence, as I always do. 

Suddenly he came running inside and said that my name was called on a radio station. I had half an hour to call in to win a prize. Now mind you, Friday was April Fool's Day. Traditionally, I am the one in the house who pulls the most April Fool's Day tricks. So I said, "Sure, right."

He practically jumped up and down and told me to find the number to the station on the Internet. That's when I realized he wasn't April foolin' me, so I called. The DJ told me that she had indeed called my name. I'd won a thousand dollars.

Now I've never won anything so this came as quite a shock. Heck, my luck is usually so bad that I refuse to even play the slots the few times we've gone somewhere we could gamble. 

On Sunday I realized that we'd acquired a couple of uncommon expenses that same day. Between our tax bill, the accountant's fee and the cost of having several tree branches removed that had cracked a few days earlier during a bad rain storm, there went my thousand bucks. 

But there was enough for DH and me to go out for a nice Italian dinner. And it was all good. At least I had it for a moment.

Have you ever won anything totally unexpected? How did it make you feel?

The Kindness of Friends

You know how they say what goes around comes around? Doesn't always work, but sometimes it does. I have a friend who needed some serious help a couple weeks ago. Several people told me what a good friend I was to her, but honestly, I didn't even think about not coming to her aid because she was in a very bad way and she's a good person who would have done for me all the things I ended up doing for her.

Now I've always considered myself very fortunate to have a large number of awesome friends. That point was brought home to me recently when a few of my friends each did something really nice for me. I started thinking about kismet and all that. Maybe there is such a thing, maybe not.

First, my wonderful critique partner and friend, Katie Reus walked me through the formatting jungle to self-publish a story (which you can now find on My Books page or here).

Then my friend Randy, who had made me a book trailer for Protective Custody, decided that book trailer wasn't professional looking enough. So he went and bought a new program then made me a page on YouTube and sent me a brand new book trailer!

Lastly, my writing buddy, Jax Cassidy, aka Jaxadora Designs, made me a gorgeous book cover for Game of Smoke and Mirrors. Then she revamped my website and gave it a fresh new look.

Frankly, all the wonderful thinks my friends have done lately outweigh the help I gave my other friend. So now I am a believer. Not only does what goes around come around, but it comes in spades.