Strong Women

I have plenty of thoughts about the topic that gives this post its title, enough that I may have to revisit it from time to time. I like to think as myself as a strong, competent, capable woman, and I like to read about the same. After all, don't we try to identify with the characters in the stories we're immersing ourselves in?

"Strong female characters" has always been a hot topic in literary circles. (It arguably comes up when discussing movies, too.) There have been articles and interviews and whatnot all over the place when it comes to which authors write women well, which fail miserably at it, and which seem to ignore women altogether. And as always, opinions vary greatly as to what constitutes a "strong" character, regardless of what's between his/her legs. I'm not going to make a list of links here or try to reinvent the wheel, but this is something I think about while writing.

I freely admit that not every single thing I've written passes the Bechdel test. Considering my primary genre is romance, the vast majority of it heterosexual, I don't feel a lot of self-loathing about that and I'm not going to kick myself down a shame spiral. However, I do often try to write exciting plots outside of the romance, and considering how plot-heavy this current project is, I've been examining the characters' personalities and actions more closely.

Let's take a look at a very short snippet from Chapter Ten:

Mielle raised her eyebrows. “I still don’t get it,” she said. “What’s so special about these things?”

“First of all, they’re not things, they’re people.” Ro folded her arms across her chest. “It’s easy to say they were people, but I know that whatever Zedek does to them in his lab, he can’t fully erase what they used to be.” 

Her words hung heavy in the room. No one responded. “However,” she continued, “they’re designed to be deadly. They’re stronger than us. Their reflexes are faster than ours. They can sustain more damage than us even if we go in wearing full body armor.”
 
The redhead blinked her long lashes. “So how do we get around them.”

In the following chapter, Mielle seeks out Ro to apologize for possibly being insensitive, and then they have a chat about a couple topics, not all of them about a man. So yay for passing the Bechdel test (which had already happened earlier in the book anyway), but the scene got me thinking - if it were a male character, would he have come to apologize? Would the original exchange have been more heated? Would the following conversation have been any different if it had been between a man and a woman?

I don't know. Obviously by this point, the characters are fleshed out enough in my head that they drive the action and the dialogue. I'd like to think that a male character could be sensitive enough to apologize for a potentially off-putting remark, but does that mean it's bland or almost expected for a woman to do it? If it had been a man, would the resulting conversation have eventually evolved into the characters trying to get into each other's pants? If it had been two men just talking about stuff, would this even be an issue?

The "what-if" games can be crazymaking, but if we don't overthink things, the problems never get better, right? And I know, of course, that I am just one tiny, tiny drop in a vast ocean, but we should all be trying to do well by our characters. Or else they might come after us and exact revenge.

Obligatory "Year in Review" Post

Happy 2014, everyone! I hope the new year is off to a fantastic start and that those of you who live in the same region as me are keeping warm. I haven't gone back to work yet, but I'm about 90% certain that when I do, the first thing I hand in will still say "2013" on it since I'm not smart enough to have changed my template files yet. I should get on that this weekend....

2013 was a decent year for me. As I was mentally compiling a list for this post, the number of writing accomplishments suddenly didn't seem like much. To me, it seems as if there are a lot of authors out there who are constantly churning out (published) work, and it's sometimes easy to get down on myself because it takes me longer. I've pretty much accepted that my schedule is my schedule and I never wanted this to be my full-time/day job anyway, so I'll keep plugging along and doing my thing as I've always done. As if I had a choice in the matter. ;)

Along those lines, perhaps the biggest adjustment to my life this past year was going back to work. Juggling writing and school (and my other obligations) was one thing; finding the balance between writing and a job job is a different story. There are times when my brain simply can't take anything more than zoning out to random websites for a while, and I need to be okay with that and not kick myself for not being more productive in my downtime. It's a process, and I hope it gets easier.

While I'm not a best-selling author and I doubt I ever will be (and that's okay!), what I did write this year was well-received by those who read it, so I try to remember that when things just aren't coming together the way I'd like. The start of a new year is a good time to remind ourselves to always be moving forward - keep writing, keep learning, keep on keepin' on, just keep going! Here's to a fabulous 2014!

(All that, and I never did actually post a "Here's What I Did" list. Oh well. Since it wasn't that long, it's not that hard to piece together from other parts of the site!)

Sneak Peek!

As I try to crawl out from beneath my mountain of work and try to ignore the fact that I am SO not prepared for Christmas yet, I figured I might as well toss up a quickie blog post. I don't have a release date yet for Second Skin, my first novella for Decadent Publishing's popular 1 Night Stand series, but I DO have a preview of the cover. And it's pretty awesome.

This is my first big(-ish) project in a contemporary setting, though there's still plenty of action. (Yes, action and action. ;) ) I won't give away too much yet, of course, but I'll mention that the grapes are there because a lot of the book takes place at a winery, and the sunglasses...well, let's just say our heroine is a bit of a badass. I like this.

On the writing front, the Disintegration sequel is still coming along nicely, though it's had to take a little bit of a backseat to the day job lately. The desert is still hot and steamy, Ro's still a pain in the ass, and there's plenty of sass and snarky banter to go around. Life is good. I'll write more about the progress there when we're not all distracted by the shiny new cover.

If I don't manage to check in before then, I hope you're all having a fabulous holiday season and you finish out 2013 with a bang!

A Few Little Tweaks

If this is your first time clicking through in a while (which it probably is since I've been lazy when it comes to new posts), you've likely noticed that things look a little different around here. The new banner is an updated version of the artwork Boobulon did for me when I ordered some magnets a while back; in preparation for some upcoming events, I ordered some more promotional materials with the new image, and I figured I might as well tie everything together.

In my promotional plannings, I decided I needed a [new] tagline. The old one was sort of done as a quick joke when I first started this blog/site, but now it's time for SERIOUS BUSINESS. (Or as serious as I get, anyway...which regular readers will know isn't that serious at all.) Boobulon and I brainstormed for a long time one recent night, trying to come up with something creative and punchy that would let readers know exactly what they're in for if they picked up something I've written. And then after all that brainstorming and polling a couple other friends...I wound up going with what I pulled out of my butt to use as placeholder text when designing the new materials.

I really shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, how often does that happen while writing? You slave over a certain sentence/paragraph/scene/chapter making sure everything is exactly perfectly right and then stuff you whip out at the speed of light without thinking about it later turns out to be brilliant. Is this the greatest tagline there ever was and ever will be? No, but it gets the job done and I have other things to spend my brainpower on (like getting that sentence/paragraph/scene/chapter exactly perfectly right).

So hopefully things look a little more updated and polished around here. I seriously doubt these minor tweaks to the hub of my online presence will suddenly turn me into a best-selling author, but it was time for a change and I like consistency. And when playing around with colors, I realized I also like and have a special fondness for the dark purple script, so assume that's staying around FOREVER.

Hot Autumn Nights Blog Hop!

It's almost wintertime, but that doesn't mean we can't have one last celebration of racing through falling leaves before the weather gets too cold to venture outside. Autumn is a great time for romance, whether you're strolling through a picturesque scene of reds and golds or curling up in front of a warm fireplace. Hop on through all the links on the list to check out all our different takes on this season of love, and be sure to comment at each site to up your chances for winning the grand prize, a $70 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card!

For my stop on the hop, I'll take us allllll the way back to Geneva and Marcus's fire-lit first kiss in Searching the Skies. (My, how that seems so long ago!) Want a chance to win an e-copy of this book? Follow the Rafflecopter instructions after the excerpt. Good luck!

His words to her were honest and pure and for the first time, she realized that no matter how far she tried to run, a tiny piece of her would always belong to the home planet for which she had shown so much disdain. She didn’t know whether to thank him, apologize to him, or pretend that nothing had ever happened, so they sat in silence for several awkward minutes, wrapped in their own personal reflections and the shadows of the darkening room.
 
Marcus suddenly jumped to his feet, disrupting the nervous tension that had settled around them. “Can I, uh, get you anything else from the kitchen?” he stammered.
 
Geneva did the same. “Marcus, I....” She continued to struggle to find the right words. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize what a good friend I had here until now. I know we can never make up for lost time, but I’m willing to start over again.”
 
The light from the flickering fire reflected in his soulful eyes as he nodded a tacit acknowledgment. She suddenly had the urge to hug him, and she took a step closer in order to do so. As he was considerably taller than her, she cautiously slid her arms around his waist, and he reciprocated the gesture. The crisp fabric of his shirt was warm from his body as she leaned her cheek against his chest, the aroma of red wine and expensive cologne mingling at her nose.
 
She didn’t have more than a few moments to rest comfortably before he moved back to look down at her. With one finger, he gently tilted her chin up towards his face and brought his mouth down to meet hers. Geneva almost felt strange at first as she remembered the boy she once knew, but she soon relaxed into kissing the man he had become. Their lips separated, and she tasted the sweet velvet of his tongue, no longer thinking about past missed opportunities, but future possibilities. She felt her knees grow weak as he kissed her unrelentingly and tightened her embrace, not wanting to let him go.
 
Her eyes were still closed when he pulled away and moved his lips to the side of her face. “I could do this all night, but it’s getting late.”
 
“We’ll just have to start earlier next time,” she responded, and instantly blushed when she realized what she’d said.


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Recapitulation

The Disintegration sequel (working title so I can make the label: The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions) is underway and the words are flying onto the page. I know I was hesitant to begin this one for a while, but all of my misgivings are gone. Despite having a touch of the flu (I could barely stand on Thursday, but went to the doctor and got a prescription for Tamiflu, good stuff), I wrote like crazy this weekend and I hope to keep plugging away at a good pace.

When I first started Defying the Skies, I mentioned here that there's a certain ease and familiarity that comes with writing a sequel. The characters and universe are already established for me, though I do try to provide a basic recap for new readers. That's been one of the [fun] challenges, actually — how do I re-set the stage without making it a giant infodump or a rehash of what already happened? What key details need to be mentioned right off the bat?

Chapter One is the longest introductory chapter I've ever written (I don't want to call it a prologue, but I guess an argument could be made). In my defense, 1) a lot happens, 2) there weren't any logical places for a scene break, and 3) only about a third of it is recapping stuff from the first book. Chapter Two admittedly has some more recapping, but it kicks off the main plot for the rest of the book, so I'm going to leave it for now. I really hope I've struck the right balance in refreshing the main plot points from the prior book vs. moving things along in the current book, but hey, that's what editing is for, right?

I know there's a good chance some (a lot?) will eventually be snipped, but I'm satisfied for now and raring to write more. I'm still itching with all the IDEAS that I want to put in this book and I'm hoping that fuel takes me far. Vroooom!

The Big Book of Orgasms Blog Tour! (with Giveaway!)

The Big Book of Orgasms has been out for about a month now, and so far the reception has been fantastic! I'm thrilled to be a contributor to this anthology, one of the 69 (hee hee hee) authors who packed a ton of action into a very short number of words. I won't spend a lot of time in this post rehashing all the snippets and reviews, but you can easily lose yourself for hours over at the official tumblr.

I will, however, mention a super-exciting tidbit: On January 3rd, I, along with editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and fellow writers Andreas Amsterdam, Jeremy Edwards, Drew Griffiths, Lula Lisbon, Lillian Ann Slugocki, and Suleikha Snyder, will be reading our contributions at the Museum of Sex in Manhattan. If you're anywhere near NYC, you should definitely swing by! More details can be found here.

If you haven't picked up a copy of the anthology yet and you can't wait a moment longer, be sure to leave a comment with your email address on this blog post. Cleis Press is giving away a copy of the book for every stop along the tour, and I'll pick my winner randomly from the comments section after midnight on Friday. And fiiiiiine, since we've come this far, I guess I'll further tempt you/stoke your fires with a brief excerpt from my story "Opening Doors". Good luck!

The elevator doors are closing. “Damn it!” I yell, and try to run in my pumps. Just as I’m about to give up hope, it miraculously reopens. The man holding the door for me is wearing a zippered hoodie and baggy cargo pants, a stark contrast to my tailored skirt suit. Several days of stubble peppers his cheeks, and he flashes me a smile.
 
“Thanks for waiting,” I say breathlessly.
 
“No problem.”
 
We begin our ascent. As we pass the eighteenth floor, the lights go out in our small enclosure, and the car grinds to a halt.
 
“What the hell?” I scream.
 
“That didn’t sound good.”
 
“Shit! I cannot miss this meeting!” Time seems irrelevant as the darkness threatens to suffocate me. I can feel the walls closing in on us. Death is imminent, I’m certain of it. I yell for help. There is no response.
 
“I pressed the emergency button. I don’t know if it did anything.”
 
My companion is calmer than I am. “We’re stuck?” I try not to hyperventilate. “Great.”
 
“Claustrophobic, are we?”
 
“Shut up. You’re wasting oxygen.”