Say WHAT?

Tags

Amy Ruttan, etymology, sex, words, writing

I love words. I guess it’s no surprise given what I do for a living.

Two things I learned the hard way when writing historical erotic romance (no pun intended) was that lube back then was gross … can anyone say goose fat if you couldn’t buy oil? *shudder* The other thing was our words today for describing the deed were probably not used way back when.

For the most part if you set your historical romance about 1850 and up you’re safe. Anything early, oh man were your word choices limited.

The “F” word for example is one of those words which have been difficult to trace for etymologists. Most agree the earliest form of the word was 1503, but it wasn’t used in the way we use it today.

In fact the more common word was swive , which to me personally sounds like something a toothless, dirty one-eyed wizened guy would be saying in a seedy pub.

The “F” word had so much controversy around it that good old Johnson (of the dictionary variety) didn’t include it in a single dictionary from 1795 to 1965.

Clit as we know it for the short form of clitoris didn’t show up until the 1960’s. So what words did our forefathers use to describe that little bundle of nerves?

Well, clitoris was coined in 1610, but anatomist Mateo Renaldo Colombo (1516-1559) claimed he discovered it. He called it amor Veneris, vel dulcedo or “the love or sweetness of Venus.

Cock used as the slang of penis was first used in 1610. Before that (since the 1300’s) men were using pillicock.

You see how it can be very difficult to write anything remotely ancient historical without getting into words like quim (vagina) and other sorted words which I don’t find remotely sexy, but hey I live now and not back then and what I find sexy  may not have been sexy to people back then.

A huge thanks to Etymology Online for helping a writer who gets STUCK when writing historicals and for fun I leave you with:

THE GLOSSARY OF SEXUAL AND SCATOLOGICAL EUPHEMISMS

Which has also been a big help and fun to a word nut like me.

Happy Saturday!

 

 

Happy Australia Day – Giveaway

Tags

australia day, book giveaway, erotic romance, erotic romance authors, Lillian Grant, Mergers & Acquisitions, romance author, silken sheets and seduction

I like nothing more than a long weekend, I don’t know an Aussie who doesn’t.  This year the public holiday for Australia Day was Thursday so I took today off work as well.

So, what is Australia Day?

Celebrated annually on 26 January, the date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.

So, even though we are still tied to the UK and have the Queen as our head of state, it’s kinda our July 4th.

Now, seeing as this is the 25th time I have celebrated Australia Day as an Aussie, I thought it would be nice to give something away.

I am giving away two copies of my novella Mergers & Acquisitions. The story takes place in a hotel in a major Aussie city.  The very city where the first fleet landed. Another couple of clues, it has a famous bridge, opera house and has hosted the Olympic Games in recent years.  Leave  a comment telling me which city and you could win a book.

Happy Australia Day to all of my Antipodean friends.

 

Pretty Pictures

Tags

lust, sex, Sexy, Voirey Linger

I think I have an odd idea of what is sexy. Most of the images I see touted as being hot or sexy leave me feeling… meh. But then, my idea of a sexy picture can leave other people wondering what the big whoop is, too.

My idea of sexy isn’t so much what i see, but what I don’t.  I imagine how they got there and where it’s going. I can look into the darkness and see him watching her. he’s there, behind her while she plays coy. She teases him, showing him just a little skin, but never what he really wants to see. Look at how how she’s posing just for him. His hand is on his cock as he watches her, and while she turns this way and that, she’s listening for that ragged moan that lets her know he’s all hers.

She’s sexy and powerful, the object of his obsession.

That is one flavor of sexy.

Sexiness is also sweetness. The loving care one partner shares with another.  She’s had to be strong for too long, and she needs someone to support her, to lend her his strength so she can rest. All she needs is a little time, too have him share his love by caring for her.

He’s not used to this. he’s used to her being strong, being sure. Seeing her needy disconcerts him. He doesn’t understand that women need to regroup, that our strength comes from these periods of rejuvenation. All he sees is weakness, and it scares him. He’s determined to fix whatever’s wrong with her.

Devotion is another flavor of sexy to me.

Some of my tastes are more traditional. I can’t resist a beautiful man. The idea of that kind of prettiness being right there… this time I’m the one off to the side, enjoying the view, not sure if he knows I’m here, not sure if I want him to know. While the idea of having all that delicious manflesh to myself is appealing, there is something about watching a man just being himself.

This one will look around the beach to see if anyone is nearby. He doesn’t see me, lounging on my towel, watching him. keeping one eye out for people wandering down the beach, he’ll unfasten his pants and slip his hand under the water. There is something powerful about a man stroking himself, a rawness in man and nature and sex.

Sex is a primal force. Something we all experience in our own ways, and yet something most everyone can relate to.

For me, the imagination, the story behind the snapshot moment is what makes the image hot.

 

 

 

The Power of Words

Tags

erotic romance, erotic romance authors, sexuality, Sexy, Sorcha Mowbray, Wordle

Words are powerful. It’s a lesson we all learn at some point in our life. Despite having no inherent monetary value, the ease with which they are shared, and the frequency with which we use them; words are very powerful.

As a writer of erotic romance I recognize the power of words to incite an emotional response in characters, readers, and even myself. One of the funnest ways to play with that power is dirty talk between characters. It always amazes me how mere words can incite lust and desire.

I think as people we forget this sometimes. I had a pleasant and refreshing reminder of the power of words the other day. My DH and I were texting back and forth about mundane things when something possessed him to text me in Italian. (That’s right bitches, let the jealousy commence!)

Le sigh.

Wordle: Love Revealed by Sorcha Mowbray

From a few lines of Italian texted to me mid-morning I found myself having a hard time focusing at work. He didn’t say anything dirty even, just our usual endearments with a twist. I swear, if he weren’t fighting a cold he totally would have gotten lucky tonight!

It was a nice reminder of how little it takes to spark desire and emotion with mere words. And well, words in a foreign language? So sexy. Now I’m curious, do you find words to be as powerful? Is there something your SO says to you that gets you going every time? Or maybe a language they speak that revs your engine? Come talk to me about the power of words! 

Emotional Mining: Using the Bad Stuff to Write the Good Stuff

Tags

Between Friends, emotions, Lolita Lopez, Swap Meet, The Chair, writing, writing craft, writing romance

On Saturday, the fabulous Amy Ruttan blogged about publishing her tenth book. (Congrats on the accomplishment, Amy! Woohoo!) As I was reading her post, I was struck by the couple of sentences where she talks about writing next to her son’s crib in the PICCU. It spurred so many memories for me, some of them agonizingly painful and others exquisitely beautiful.

 

I remembered the novels and novellas and short stories and freelance work I completed while basically living at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston. That was one hell of a year for our little family. Kiddo had two major heart surgeries and lengthy hospital stays, one at 15 days old and the other at 6 months old. I won’t even go into the insurance claim wrangling and other nonsense. Suffice to say it was emotionally, financially and mentally draining.

 

And yet some of my most emotionally powerful books and short stories came out of that time period. I get the most reader mail about Swap Meet, The Chair and Between Friends. All three of those pieces were written bedside in the CVICU or Step-Down units.

 

Readers seem to connect so well with the characters in those works. It surprises me that they’re some of my best works considering the absolute shit working conditions. At the time, those stories were written because A) we were going to need the money to pay off those piles and piles of medical bills and B) I needed to mentally escape from the fear of losing my weeks old baby to several severe and life-threatening heart defects. You know, coping at its writery-est.

 

I think, in some way, my pain and fear and those brief moments of delight when the kiddo came off her ventilator or nursed or smiled were interwoven in my characters. I was able to connect with Max and Chris and Eddie and Whitney and Mick on a level I hadn’t been able to reach with other creations of my crazy writer mind. I was so emotionally aware during the writing of those books. I was living and breathing fear and anxiety and happiness and the strongest love imaginable.

 

I’ve noticed that all of my works after those experiences with kiddo are so much stronger emotionally than my earlier bits. It became easier to tap into those feelings and transfer them to the page. I guess when they say write what you know, they also mean emotions. I never knew what that kind of fear or love or hope or anxiety felt like. Believe me; when you feel them once, you never forget them.

 

I think sometimes writers are afraid to go there emotionally with their characters. It can be draining to write those types of emotionally challenging scenes, where someone is being destroyed or someone is discovering how powerful love can truly be.

 

But we shouldn’t shy away from those things. Readers want to experience the full gamut of human emotion. They want to feel the excitement of a new attraction. The butterflies-in-the-belly sensation of a new love. The can’t-breathe-because-my-heart-has-been-ripped-from-my-chest pain of the Black Moment. The absolute joy of the resolution (or the satisfaction of a good grovel). Readers want to feel.

 

And, as a writer, it’s my job to give them what they want. Even if that means drawing from some really painful places or, conversely, from some totally effing awesome places, in my life.

The big TEN

Tags

Amy Ruttan, anniversary, Ellora's Cave, erotic romance, erotic romance authors

 

New Years is always a time of reflection and I have a milestone this January to reflect on. My tenth book with Ellora’s Cave. I can’t believe it, this past Thursday my TENTH e-book was released.

It still amazes me.

This year is also the year I’ve been married for ten years. I’m ten for ten this year.

It’s been an awesome journey so far and I’m writing in a genre of romance I never expected.

When I first started writing I never thought I would write erotic romance. I read a lot of romance after having my first child in 2003 and I seriously thought of pursuing that career path because I loved to write. Characters were running rampant in my head, but I honestly didn’t know where to start. I let it sit on the back burner for a couple of years. I had another child in 2006. A child who almost died and as he pulled through a remarkable recovery I realized I had to take a chance on my dreams. I wrote by his crib side as I spent a month in the PICCU.

Once I was serious about writing I started by buying a copy of Romantic Times magazine, to get a feel for the market and it what was new. Everything I wrote had hot sex in it and the only other author I had read who wrote hot sex in the market was Connie Mason …that’s all I knew. I wanted to find more.

I opened up the Romantic Times magazine and there it was, a full-page spread on Ellora’s Cave featuring authors like Shiloh Walker and Jaid Black (they were the first Ellora’s Cave books I bought too!) it also mentioned a market I was not familiar with and that was ebooks.

I went to the Ellora’s Cave site and bought some books, checked out their submission guidelines and started to master my craft. In May 2007 a special call went up on their site. They were looking for Halloween Stories.

I took the plunge and in June 2007 was contacted by my Ellora’s Cave editor, Shannon. She bought it. I was lucky, it was the first book I subbed. Masque of Desire released in October 2007.

Now. I have ten and eleven is currently awaiting edits.

I can’t believe I’ve hit ten.

Here’s to ten more!

 

 

 

Why hide something so GOOD

Tags

erotic romance, erotic romance authors, Lillian Grant, men's bums, men's butts, men's fashion, seduction, Sexy, silken sheets and seduction

I am sure i’m not the only one who appreciates the male form.  Men have some great body parts that just need to be admired. So, why does fashion want to hide what they have?

Am I the only one who loves a man with a toned rear end. Who can resist a tight ass especially if it has dimples.  I for one have a special appreciation for the fact no matter how old my man gets his butt is still completely edible.

A man recently asked why women find men’s butts so attractive. No one could give a definitive answer, they just are.

So my question is, when men are blessed with butts this good…

 

 

 

 

Why does fashion try to take away the joy of oggling said rear end with something like this…

My Advice Guys…if you’ve got it flaunt it…you know we love to look!

The Perfect Cover

Tags

Coming Soon, cover art, Ellora's Cave, erotic romance, erotica, new release, romance, Voirey Linger

One thing that always gets me anxious as a writer is seeing cover art for the first time. I’m on pins and needles waiting for it, and when that cover finally gets to me, I want to be bowled over and completely fall in love with it.

Covers are more than just a pretty decoration. The right cover can make a book… and the wrong one can break it.

First and foremost, a cover’s job is to seduce the reader. It works to catch your attention, to flirt with you. It has to be bold enough to grab your attention and coy enough to keep it. It has to seduce you into picking up the book and taking it home. Cover copy and excerpts might play a part, but it all starts with that cover.

A cover will also give you an almost subliminal look at what’s in the book. In just a glance, a reader can sort historical from paranormal, a sweet from a sexy, and a lighthearted romantic-comedy from a chilling romantic suspense.

With so much riding on the cover, it’s no wonder we authors can get so anxious waiting on it.

My first book was nothing like I expected. Don’t get me wrong, Risking Eternity has an awesome cover. Hot as hell, actually. But… it didn’t look like what I had in my head and it took me a little while to warm up to it. When i filled out the cover request for the second book in the series, I made note of everything I would have changed on the first cover. As a result, when the cover for Forsaking Eternity came in, it was perfect. I had that insta-cover-love thing going on. I was over the moon.

My self-pubs were a little easier. As an artist, I’m blessed with an eye for the visuals, but graphics programs confound me. When time came to create a cover, I chose the image for the and worked with the graphic artist for just the right look.  Still, when the final cover images came in, I was floored by them. They just looked… perfect. She’d taken my vision and made it even more perfect than I had imagined.

Last week, I received the cover to my newest book. My feelings about it were somewhere in-between the angel books and the self-pubs. As an Ellora’s Cave Quickie, it doesn’t get original cover art. I looked at the selection of Quickie covers available and chose the one I felt best represented the story… but a lot can be done with the fonts and text. I knew what was coming and yet I didn’t know what it would look like.

That first peek… I was wowed. The text worked with not only with the story, but with the text of both my EC and my self-pub titles. I can line all those books up in a row and they just look like they go together.

So tell me, what does this cover say to you?What kind of cover art entices you? Authors, how do you feel about that first look at your covers?

 

And She Liked It – Coming Soon from Ellora’s Cave Publishing

A six-foot-plus mountain of sexiness is trying to seduce Janie and doing a damn good job of it. Just one problem… her husband is watching the whole thing.

To her surprise, Edward has no problem with his wife being seduced. In fact, he’s encouraging it. He loves seeing his wife get all hot and bothered, and thinks that if she’s brave enough to let Paul join them, she might just like it.

Saturday’s Silky, Seductive Secret: Seduce a Vampire in Six Steps

Tags

seduction

1 – First, go through your closet and give away all your turtlenecks

2 – Think that going to a vampire club is fun because they really don’t exist

3 – Lose your friend to a pale guy with an intense stare as you sip a new drink called a “Bite Me, I’m Easy!”

4 – Dance like Cyndi Lauper while smiling at a young – before Whoopi – Frank Langella

5 – Think that taking a walk for ‘fresh air ‘ through a cemetery is logical

6 – Think that a hickey the size of New Jersey is sexy

From A. Catherine Noon and co-author, Rachel Wilder

Reality Sets In…

Tags

Family, Love Revealed, Sorcha Mowbray

February 3rd is my release day for Love Revealed. I can’t wait for it! But now that I have had some time for the excitement to simmer down…reality sets in.

First, I have to promo my book. Can we talk about how much work that is? Thank goodness I love a good spreadsheet. Now if I can just follow through with actually writing the blog posts. LOL!

Then I have to wait and see if my mom actually buys my book. See, I am not embarrassed by what I write, but I know it is not her cuppa. See, my mom doesn’t go in for graphic sex in her mainstream romances. So I can’t imagine what she would make of Love Revealed since it mostly centers around sex. Kinky sex. Not your everyday vanilla sex.

Well, I guess I will wait and see. If members of my family choose to buy and read it, well like I tell them. their adults that’s a choice they can make. But I have given them fair warning. LOL!

So, I want to know. Do your family members know you read or write erotic romance? How do you deal with that? Should I be prepared for awkward questions about my sex life? LOL!