The Lure of Menage

There was a time when I just couldn't wrap my brain around the idea of a menage. Mind you, I have no trouble imagining it in my fantasies. In them I often have more than two guys wanting to take me on. :) However, in my writing I kept thinking about the dynamics of two guys wanting to share one woman.

I mean, won't they get jealous of each other? Won't there be fights? The usual macho postering? And what if the gal liked one guy better than the other? Would he know it or guess? What would happen then?

It seemed an insurmountable problem for me until I came up with the idea for SiNN, my first menage. In it, Lea's being stalked by a ruthless psychopath who wants her dead. Enter Jake Gabriel and Toby Quinn, US Marshals and friends sent to protect her.

At first, I thought Lea and Jake would be the sole love/sex interest, but somehow Toby kept nudging me and saying, 'Hey, give me a chance, will ya?' Rather than fight what my characters wanted, I just went with it and BAM (as Emeril would say), my first menage was born and none of the things I worried about happened. My heroes were confident enough in their own masculinity to have Lea crave them both at the same time. They became each other's family, in addition to giving each other tons of pleasure.

And now I'm proud to announce that my newest menage has just been accepted for publication by Ellora's Cave. I'm awaiting title approval, so I can't share that as yet. However, I promise this menage will be as steamy as SiNN and will bear my signature 'heat with heart'. :)

Important Blogger Trick

When I first started using Blogger, I would write my blog in MS Word, paste the final product into Blogger and then add the associated pictures. The problem is, when pictures are added, that messes up the paragraph breaks in the text. Words are split randomly into two pieces and the entire document is a mess that is hard to fix using the Blogger editor, especially because there is no “Undo” function. After some time, however, I found a much better approach. Here’s my secret.

DO NOT ADD TEXT TO BLOGGER FIRST.

That’s it—the entire secret. You need to add the images first. Simply place them in their relative position one after the other. They are easy to move around as long as there is no text, and if you make a mistake it is easy to add an image back in.

When your images are all in relative positions in Blogger, go to your word document and “Cut” that portion of the text you want to go with the first image. In Blogger, “Paste” the test next to the first image. When you paste, the other images will move down, so you will need to delete some lines until the other images gradually move up to your cursor.

Now, go back to your word document and “Cut” the text that will go with the second image. Go back to Blogger and “Paste” the text adjacent to the second image.

After you paste text adjacent to each image, you are almost finished. As a last step, I generally highlight all the text in the blog, and then select “Large” font size.

By the way, your word document should have a consistent font and font size, and should not have any blank lines between paragraphs. That will make it easier to adjust the text to your images in Blogger.

For those of you who thought it impossible that I could write a short blog, this should prove you wrong. Please visit me at http://cookinwithmisshavana.blogspot.com/ to read blurbs, reviews and excerpts from my books. As always, it’s a delight being here.

Thank you Sweet ‘N Sexy Divas.

James L. Hatch

Author for xoxopublishing.com, Solstice Publishing and Eternal Press.

The Origins of "Romance with Dangerous Curves"

Hi everyone. I'm Francesca Hawley and I'm new to Sweet and Sexy Divas. This is my first official post as a diva, so I wanted to tell you all a bit about myself.

When I first started reading romances back in my teens and twenties - a LONG time ago - all heroines were gorgeous and thin. They possessed the requisite slender waist and perky bosom. Now, for you ladies that fit that mold, I'm happy for you but I never looked like that. And I do mean never. Reading those romances often reinforced the feeling I had as a young woman that only thin and pretty girls got the guy. I know that wasn't the message the writers intended, but I was...um...sensitive.

However, the books I read back in the day inspired me to hope I might one day write romances too. In retrospect, I have no points of contention with the authors who wrote (and still write) stories with slender heroines. But back then I wondered, "where is a heroine like me?" Where are the heroines with wide hips, full busts, and legs that aren't long and lean?

As I grew older and my thoughts turned to writing seriously, I didn't immediately decide to "break the mold" with my heroines. I tried to write about slender heroines. Women with waists whom a man's hands could span. Heroines with legs that didn't rub together.

Alas...I had major trouble. Why?

The last time anyone could span my waist with his hands or my legs didn't rub together, I think I was about...three? Five? Probably around five. Yeah, I've been fat all my life. Yo-yo weight for better living through yo-yo dieting. Hence, I was usually fatter rather than thinner. As much as I loved stories with slender heroines and their sexy heroes, I had trouble relating to those heroines. I think we all have a little trouble relating to people and situations with which we aren't familiar.

That translated to paper when I started writing, because when I tried to write thin heroines they didn't feel authentic.Probably because I've never inhabited a small body.One thing writers hear when they are getting started is: "write what you know." Well, I don't know thin. I have thin friends, but I've fought my weight all my life to be thin. I never was thin. At best, I was pleasingly plump.

So what's a writer to do? Write fat. Plus-size. Rubenesque. Whatever you want to call it.

I decided to write heroines like me. Even if no one ever read my stories, at least I'd recognize the women I wrote about. My heroines are big girls. Some have issues with their weight and believe they aren't beautiful, so they work through those issues. Others know they are fine and expect everyone around them to acknowledge it too. It's fun to explore those issues. Especially now.

I think the way society is beginning to look at all kinds of women as beautiful makes it easier for me to write my BBW heroines because publishers recognize that heroines come in all shapes and sizes, too. Many of them accept...even welcome...plus-size heroines.

When I was in my twenties (many years ago), it was unusual to find a big girl as a heroine. And if she started out big, she had to lose weight to get the boy. Now, that's no longer the way it is and I'm really glad about that.

So that's how my tag line, Romance with Dangerous Curves, was born.

It's wonderful that as writers we are given the freedom to make our heroines exactly who they are...fat, thin, or somewhere in between. It's a good thing.

And to celebrate Valentines day, I have a contest running all February long. Comment on my blog posts or anywhere else you see me (like Facebook) and each response will count as an entry for the contest. At stake, a $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble and another $25 gift certificate to Ellora's Cave Publishing. And you know me...there will be other sexy goodies thrown in - like print copies of my books and sex toys for the adventurous reader. Wink...

Dulce Franco - Playful Smile

Dulce Franco another beautiful pinay with a sensuous and playful smile. Obviously she loves smiling at the camera and also playing. (wink) I remember watching Dulce Franco's video in youtube and she really loves playing and smiling. Just to give some clue you need to be at least 18 yrs old to see whats Dulce Franco in store for you, just see it for yourself.

Lovers on the Fringe by Stephanie Julian

The second book in my series, Lovers on the Fringe, has just been accepted by my editor. I don't even have a cover yet but I do have a title: THE BIGGER THEY ARE...

This is Andy's story. Andy is a Yeti shift. Yes, he's occasionally the Abominable Snowman but otherwise he looks like this guy. Oh my.

I know the series might sound a little strange but I am having so much fun with Bigfoot and Yeti and fairies and all those creatures you thought were just myths.

I'm also having a great time playing with Pinterest, the internet pinboard. Check me out and you can see all my inspirations for my series.

One of the biggest inspirations recently has been the Animal Planet show, Finding Bigfoot. I love this show. Matt Moneymaker is a true believer and Bobo makes 'squatch calls. Cliff enjoys running down trees and I'm not sure Ranae is as big a skeptic as she says she is. The show is occasionally laugh-out-loud funny and I'm totally hooked. It's on Sunday nights at 10.

Another inspiration for me has been Syfy's Destination: Truth. Host Josh Gates travels the world looking for freaky things like chupacabra and flying dinosaurs in Africa. You'll be meeting my version of Josh in an upcoming book. But first, in THE BIGGER THEY ARE..., you'll meet his sister Jenna.

If you'd like to read the first book in the series, check out SIZE MATTERS. This is Tim's story. He's Bigfoot. And you know what they say about a man and the size of his feet...

Georgina Wilson - Super Model

Georgina Wilson is a well known Endorser, Model, and VJ but what sets her apart from others is her angelic face, angelic voice and angelic body. Georgina Wilson is a good friend of Anne Curtis and I must say they are both gorgeous and Pinay Sexy Goddess.

Switching Up Your Genres

Some experts will tell you not to change genres. That once you are known for one genre you could lose fans who know and expect that in your books. For 6 years I wrote gay crime fiction. I always loved cops, most of my favorite TV shows over the years have been crime stories, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files, Columbo, Baretta, Cagney & Lacy, Cold Case(which I still watch) and on and on. Even today, I prefer crime shows to all others. My faves today are Blue Bloods, Castle, and my favorite of all time: Southland. Ironic, really, since I've only been able to see the first season, since the channel it's on now is unavailable.

So you'd think when I first started writing I'd do crime fiction. Instead I wrote Science Fiction. Okay, I was a huge Star Trek fan and even watched the Next Generation. I wrote them—about 7-8 novels—but made little attempt to sell them. I'm not sure to this day why that was, but I didn't have the conviction. I always thought there was a disconnect—my writing wasn't like the books I read. They were real, mine were just for fun. No one would possibly be interested in what I wrote.

I'm not sure why that changed, but in the early 2000s, after reading Jonathan Kellerman, something clicked. What if I wrote about a gay cop, like Milo, but not Milo and make him the main protagonist. I decided to put him in the closet first, then be forced out because of love. Even from the days of writing SF I usually had some form of romance in them, so I never imagined writing a novel without it. David Eric Laine came along and I envisioned him as being the antithesis of the gay culture. He'd be big, slightly overweight with a pockmarked face, certainly nothing another gay man would look at twice. It didn't help that he was terrified of his colleagues finding out what he was. His life was narrow and limited. Meeting Christopher Bellamere changed his life irrevocably, forcing him to choose the closet or love. He chose love, but even so, over the following books he had problems he had to work through.

I wrote Geography of Murder as a personal challenge to myself. I wanted to know if I could write about a character who did things I totally despise and make him someone readers cared about. I was also a huge fan of Josh Lanyon, and his Adrien English stories. But I admit I was annoyed that Jake the cop was supposed to be into bondage, yet actually did that. So I got to thinking about a cop who was into bondage and master/slave relationships, who also has no interest in a long term relationship. Spider needed to meet someone who tested those bounds and it seemed to me that man needed to be unsure and in need of love and support, things he's never had before. I'd done some mild bondage with David before, but nothing as intense as what Spider did. I was lucky enough to be able to talk to a few people who were into the scene and could give me some insight into them. Because, for me, the whole master/slave thing is the opposite of anything I've ever experienced. Somebody tells me I belong to them and my back goes up. I don't belong to anyone, yet I had Spider saying that often and Jason loved it. He wanted to belong.

I was never sure if it was going to work, but I was really surprised when it turned out one of my most popular series. Who knew? But I wouldn't have done any of it if I hadn't been open to trying something different. Which I did again when I wrote my first historical, Placing Out, set in 1932 Los Angeles, at the end of Prohibition. Like all my other books to date the characters were gay men. But nothing since then has been. I now write only historical fiction and it looks like I've found my métier.

But none of that means I won't write something else in the future. I've learned not to say never. In writing, at least.

How is it with you? Do you like experimenting with new genres, or mixing genres into something else? How did it turn out? How did you find your genre?

Leave a comment and win a copy of my latest novel, Latin Boyz, which will be released February 26^th.

Latin Boyz

BLURB:

Gang aggression and hatred tear Gabriel Aguila's family apart, while the unwilling love he has for LAPD patrol officer Alejandro Cerveras would make him whole again if he could accept it. Tragedy strikes fueling his rage. As the need for vengeance drives him past all reason, violence and hatred erupt, spiraling out of control, leading to tragedy and the greatest loss of all. Making the wrong choices at every turn, Gabe struggles to keep his family safe without succumbing to the gutter level of his enemies. But he has to learn to trust Alejandro and he’s never trusted anyone before.