Last week’s contest didn’t go so well, Soooooo I didn’t do it. Sorry Mik and Dennie–it’s not like ya’ll don’t get to read my stuff anyway.

Now for the hell.

I haven’t had a f*cking cigarette since Friday. And I have PMS. Is that TMI?

I gotta tell ya folks, quitting smoking and PMS is HELL HELL HELL! All I thought about all weekend long, between frequent naps and snapping at my children, was cigarettes and how bad I wanted one. I even had to take the ashtray out of my room but I haven’t emptied it yet.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not the mental/withdrawl cravings. I have good drugs for that (except they make my tummy hurt really bad). It’s the loss of an old friend.

It’s trying to figure out what to do with my hands.

It’s boredom.

Life is just not as fun without a cigarette to keep me company.

So, what have you had to give up and why? Share my misery…….

And here’s my PSA for the week……stop by Karen’s and read about Nothing but Red, Skyla Dawn Cameron’s project to benefit Equality Now.

They erupt now and then, like huge zits on an acne-prone teenager. 

Author/publisher/agent scandals, or verbal slip-ups, or plain old flame wars.

Usually it’s just a minor breakout—nothing a good skin abrasion, or a splash of burning astringent won’t cure.

But sometimes it’s a Crater Lake-size zit, one of those enormous bastards that require a tourniquet, transfusion, and possibly follow-up plastic surgery.

And althought it’s a great lesson for anyone trying to avoid such pit-falls (excuse the pun, lol)…you’re sometimes left to wonder how or why people fall in.

Do people really want to know so much about others, even those they admire?  How much of yourself do you consider wise to expose to the public, whether through your books, your blogs, or posting on other people’s blogs?

And is it best, after all, as one reader raged at a particular author, to “just shut the f*ck up and write!” ?

Do I have your attention?  :wink:

So. I’m reading a book that happens to be fairly good. I’m enjoying it and all.

I get to the sex scenes (of which there are many) and the author uses the word cock for the manhood. Which is all well and good but I started to wonder what the exact terminology is. And if I use the word cock instead of dick or penis, does that put my book in a different romance subgenere? If I say, for instance, “His cock slid into her ever so slowly,” does that mean I’m writing erotica? I guess if I wrote, “His manhood slid into her ever so slowly” then that would just be romance. Wouldn’t it?

But here’s something that totally bugs me and it has to deal with the female anatomy. The authors uses the words labia and mons. Oh and clit too, which doesn’t bother me at all. The thing that bugs me about labia and mons … is just the words altogether. Why use the word labia anyway? It just seems so sterile. Can’t we just say clit and get it over with? Besides, isn’t that where all the action happens anyway?

So erotica authors and readers - what is your preference when reading hot and steamy sex scenes? Do you want the medical terminology or the hard-core stuff?

I *heart* Die Hard–I mean I really, really, truly soooo *heart* it!!! One of my all-time favorite movie series. I cannot tell you how excited I am there is a new movie coming out! OMG! It’s not so much as Bruce Willis–but John McClane; he is the ultimate dominating male –even the scene in the very first movie when he takes the time to sit, unwind and run his toes in the carpet–could you like him any more at that moment? Could he endear himself to females more?

And the action . . . I love movies with explosions and bad guys wreaking havoc everywhere. Jeremy Irons in three–mmm-mmm, so good!

I guess this could be considered a secret obsession of mine–all the rock ‘em sock ‘em movies.

On a totally self-absorbed note: I got a new fangled keyboard last night. I went in to get a new wireless keyboard–mine was sticking on some keys (you spill coffee one too many times, it gets temperamental) and the “N” had worn completely off–not that I didn’t know which key it was but I like uniformity–so anyhoo, I digress. . . . I went in for one I saw online with two rebates that brought it down to $40. I go to the store, not wanting to pay for the shipping, and low and behold, I come across one so much cooler. . . OMG!

Is it sad I get so excited over computer hardware? And of course it is twice the price–and NO rebates, but it has a laser mouse and a leather(ish–not sure if it’s real leather) wrist pad attached to it. It has “favorite” keys so I can pull up my dictionary or whatever else I set to it with the push of one button. See why I am so excited . . . There is a magnifier on the mouse–or the option of 20 choices to set the four different mouse buttons. YEE! I am easy!!!

OH and. . . . The cable-guy is here–hoping for my very own wireless internet shortly–WAHOO!!

UPDATE: 12:01–I HAVE WIRELESS INTERNET ALL MY VERY OWN–NO MORE “BORROWING” FROM THE NEIGHBORS!!!!!!!!

I had so much fun doing this before….I”m going to do it again. So post links to your favorite pictures and on Wednesday I’ll come back and write descriptions of them! Need a nudge?

Marta might have been old but, judging from the pink scarf she wore on her shopping trips, she had more than a bit of life left in her. Okay that wasn’t so great but you get the picture. I’ll give away copies of my LSB ebooks to the two people who’s photos I use.

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*Just a word of warning. Posting lots of links will get you stuck in moderation. So if your post doesn’t show up immediately, that’s why. We’ll free you as soon as we can!

As I noted on my blog, the results of the Cover Cafe’s 2006 Cover Contest are posted here.

This came right on time for me, since I happen to be filling out my cover art request for The Last Man On Earth.

The wide variety displayed at the site made me stop and wonder…

What is it that you look for in a cover?  What is the first thing that catches your eye?

Is it the color?  And if so, which is likely to grab your attention first?  The models (if any)?  The artistic style, the font, the title?  The amount of skin shown, the mood the illustration imparts?  Do you prefer realism, hard edges or angles, or dreamy, idealistic settings or scenes?

Or do you go right for the author’s name if it’s someone you like, without caring one bit about what someone’s pasted on top?

So. I’m walking through the office hallway the other day when one of the folks stops me. This is a person that rarely - if ever - talks to me and when she does, she’s so totally conceited and full of herself, it makes me want to punch her right in the face. She thinks she’s one hot number and boy do I have news for her. NOT!

(That’s Irk #1)

Anyway.

She gives me a little grin and I’m wondeirng what’s up.

HER: So. I hear you’re a writer.

Oh great, I think. Here we go.

(more…)