5.31.2012

AZ Dreamin - Readers Get Your Fun On!

Saturday JUNE 2, 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona
Jimmy Thomas, Romance Cover Model
I'm heading to Arizona Dreamin' for a fun romance reader event in Phoenix Arizona this weekend. If you live within driving distance, come out and see some of your favorite authors and find some new favorites! You can pick up some free erotic romance reads from yours truly and from author Frankie Robertson, and many others. 
Get your books autographed and mingle with other readers, too. In addition to authors writing contemporary, paranormal, erotic, and many other romance genres, cover model Jimmy Thomas is also attending!

Jimmy is the sexy elf that appears on my web site! He's also one of the most widely photographed cover models in the romance publishing industry, and he'll be hosting the Man of Our Dreams Pageant on Saturday night. 

So Readers, come out and get your FUN on this weekend! Pick up some free erotic romance to keep your summer sizzlin, talk with favorite authors and meet cover model Jimmy Thomas! See you there!! 

Wishing you all that's green,
ROXY

5.15.2012

Succeeding Means Believing in Yourself, Part 2


My latest release, DOVER TO VICTORIA STATION, is an erotic short story appearing in the Cleis Press Anthology entitled Going Down: Oral Sex Stories. This story almost didn't see the light of day, and it's a good example of why believing in your art is important. 

Some people don't consider erotica to be art, but that's another discussion. The purpose of art is often to push the boundaries of what we think of as normal or to push our limitations, and that can show up in so many different ways.
 
For those unfamiliar with the train lines going into and out of London, this story takes place on the train going from Dover in County Kent into Victoria Station in London. Incidentally, I wrote the first draft of this story on that exact rail line, but I was going in the opposite direction (from Victoria Station out to Dover) at the time. When I first gave the draft to my critique group to read, I received mostly negative feedback. This was partly because only one member of my group wrote erotica (she liked it) and partly because it was a work in progress, and it hadn't yet become the story that it is now. I put it aside while writing other things but I believed in it and the emotion that went with it. Several years later I returned to the draft and immediately realized I was trying to go in two different directions with the heroine's journey. One was her inner journey and the other her outer journey. Surprisingly, most people think erotica is about sex. Well, yes, it is. But, no, it also isn't. The most powerful erotica, especially short, that I've read is about the emotion or the internal experience. Sex illustrates that, underlines it, gives it more power. At the very least the story hinges on the emotional or psychological dynamic between the characters. (If you've read my previous entries you are beginning to sense a theme here with my repetitive mentions of emotion). WARNING: Mild spoilers ahead...

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