Marriage Training Chapter 3

Ooops, just realized I'm late on posting this! Marriage Training Ch. 3 became available on Friday evening. So far it's getting pretty good reviews =) Since this is a very different story than I'm used to posting that's very encouraging to me!

I definitely have my focus split between Chapter 4 and the next Venus Rising book... I managed to get a lot of work done on both on Friday and I'm going to be doing more this evening. Had a wonderful Easter... my mom did a great job of hiding my Easter basket (don't judge... I'll be pressuring her to hide it for me until I have my own kids... it's fun!) and I'm looking forward to a productive evening!!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I Have Lady Bits

I sometimes wonder how many people read my stories and assume I'm a woman.  I don't get comments from them about that so I have no idea, but I get comments on a fairly regular basis from readers who originally assumed I was a man and then checked out my Bio on Literotica or my Blog and realized that I'm a woman.  One time, back during the first years that I was writing, I was accused of being a man masquerading as a woman... that person didn't really like whatever story they were commenting on if I recall correctly.  They also said I was probably in my 50s. 

Considering that back then I was in my early 20s I found it more than a little hilarious.

Yes people, I have real, live lady bits. I know that I've written some fairly dark stories, but back then I was in a fairly dark place. My high school sweetheart and I were constantly having issues and they all pertained to him wanting to date other women before he settled on getting engaged to me. Considering that we'd been together for 5 years and already talking marriage at that point, and he wanted to keep having his cake while he was dating these other girls, it's probably not surprising that I was in a rather dark place when it came to sex and women in general.  I've noticed that my more recent stories, even the rough ones, have a lot more romance in them than my old ones... and I think that's because I'm now happily married to someone who has never taken me for granted the way my high school ex did.

Writing has always been an outlet for me, but it's only now that I'm realizing exactly how many of my demons I may have exorcised through my stories for Lit.  Although people still tend to think I'm a man.  I had someone recently comment on Chapter 9 of Being the Maid that they assumed the author was a man and that I should talk to some other female authors so that I could make my stories more realistic when it came to describing how things are for a woman.  I'm still not entirely sure what that commenter was talking about... the only thing I can think of is that Bridget and Garrett had hot passionate sex the night after she played the games with the other three men and in real life I'm pretty sure she would've been way too sore to actually do that.  However... it's a fantasy and a story and I made the executive decision not to make them wait another night for her to recover.  I'm not even sure if that's what the reader was talking about though.

It made me wonder... Do I not write very well from a female perspective? I mean, I've always joked to my husband that I'm a gay man trapped in a woman's body, but truthfully I've always felt pretty in touch with my femininity. I like pink and purple, I love shopping and fruity drinks, sparkles and glitter make me squeal, and I still play dress up whenever I can. Sure I like the rough stuff in my stories, but even though I'm fairly submissive and like hard sex in real life, I consider myself a feminist.  Which may sound weird considering how many non-con stories that I write, but honesty I think I'm working through some of my own demons in those as well.  In real life... I've been in the Vagina Monologues, I spear-headed a movement to send protest emails to a newspaper in a town where a young girl was being blamed for her own rape, and I do whatever I can to fight for equality.  I think that a woman should be able to safely walk naked down any street at midnight. I think that people who try to cover up sexual violence or place blame on the victim should be raped themselves and see how they feel about.  If something like what happened to that poor girl in Iowa happened anywhere near me I'd probably be organizing protests outside of the coaches' house for trying to cover things up and outside of the boys houses too.  It drives me nuts how many people stand to the side and just let things happen.

I suppose people might feel that I'm actually part of the problem, considering what I write... but the way I see it, it's okay to have dark fantasies. The human psyche is myriad and strange.  The important thing is to know where the fantasy ends and reality begins.  I placate my own darkness by writing and reading about things that I think should never, ever be done to a human being.  I realize that there are dark places inside of me that I don't fully understand and I accept that, and I never, ever act on any of the things that sometimes play out in my head because it would be WRONG. Instead I let some of it dribble out into my writing. Instead, I read other people's non-con and erotic horror stories and play in the fantasy before returning to reality.  That's what books and movies are for. And no, I don't blame anyone but the perpetrator for making their own decision to do something in reality that should have never strayed from their fantasy life.

Hmm.  I seem to have gotten off topic.

The point is... I'm not entirely sure why people keep thinking I'm a man. It amuses me. It does sometimes make me wonder how many readers assume I'm a girl though. And why. If anyone has some thoughts I'd love comments on this...

In other news, for some reason chapter 3 of Marriage Training is still not out. Won't lie, I was kind of pissed off about that this morning. Seriously... I submitted it what... 4 days ago? 5? I'm not going to look at my previous blog posts to check because if it was 5 then I'll just be even more pissy about it.  How long does it take to publish a freaking chapter though?!

The Super Sexy Cynsters

Still waiting for Marriage Training to come out... seriously how long does it take? Bah. That's just me being impatient. Again.

Anyway.

Okay... so I've definitely been on a Victorian kick lately, not just with my writing but with my reading.  Actually the reading preceded the writing. I started reading some Steampunk romances which led into Victorian romances which lead to the Victorian disciplinary erotica... which in turn led to Domestic Discipline and Being the Maid. 

I realized I hadn't done an author review in awhile and that this was the perfect timing to give a shout out to Stephanie Laurens because her latest Cynster novel, And Then She Fell, was released this week.

The series starts with Devil's Bride, which is my favorite out of the entire series although there are some other ones that I think are just as good... I just have a particular soft spot for Devil.  The man is seriously yummy. 

 

All of them include romance, some hot sex scenes (the slow seduction books are my favorites... I get all hot and bothered and then jump hubby), and some kind of murder/danger mystery.  Normally I'm not into the mystery romances, but with Stephanie Laurens I make an exception.  Okay, so it's pushing plausibility that every single person in this family would face a murderer / thief / crazy person at some point during their courtships, but who cares as long as it makes for a good story?

 

Granted, after give or six books some things can get a little cliche, which is why I have my favorites out of the books... the interesting thing for me about the Cynster series is that it's not like the books get worse as you go along.  It tends to go book by book, although there wasn't a single one that I disliked... there are just a couple that I have no interest in re-reading. Considering how many books there are in the series, the fact that I'm only not interested in re-reading a COUPLE is pretty impressive.  I've also read her entire Bastion series, which were fantastic, and the Black Cobra series, which was definitely her weakest.

 

The Cynsters are by far the strongest of her books.  Their family motto is "To have and to hold" and they mean that in the most possessively sexy, family-oriented way possible.  Cynsters accumulate land, money and power.  The men are authoritatively alpha male and unrepentant rakes, and it's common lore than only a Cynster woman - meaning their chosen wives - can tame a Cynster male.  The Cynsters marry for love.  And they tend to choose women who are challenges.  Hence the seduction. Oh the yummy, yummy seduction.  Stephanie Laurens can make me feel things with nothing more than the unbuttoning of a glove that some authors can't achieve by unbuttoning their characters' pants.  

 

There's non of the BDSM-y stuff, but this is great romance and there's some seriously good sex scenes in the book as well.  She's a fantastic writer and the plots are involved and engaging.  Even re-reading the books I have a hard time putting them down and I already know what's going to happen!  I'm hoping to eventually write some stuff along the same lines as her, although right now I'm way too involved with my BDSM-y stuff, but in the meantime if you want to check out some good Victorian romance she's definitely a good way to go. 

 

Mmmmm Devil Cynster.  Right up there with Jericho Barrons from Karen Marie Moning's Darkfever series. And I didn't think that was ever going to be possible.  Hotness.

Impatience

You'd think that considering how long it takes me to write a chapter (well, sometimes... sometimes I do it pretty quickly) that I'd be more patient about the time it takes between submission and publication, but I'm just not.  I want to know what people think! And also I feel bad that there's any extra wait, especially with something like chapter 3 of Marriage Training considering how long it took me to finish it in the first place.  *sigh* 

SO.

For those of you wondering about Venus... there was such a long break there where I wasn't able to work on it as much as I would like to that I started feeling like I'd half-forgotten what was going on.  So I slowed down on actual writing and went back and started re-reading all three books. Good thing I did too... there were some things that I'd definitely forgotten.  I'm almost done with re-reading Venus Desiring (should finish that tonight), at which point I will start focusing my efforts on finishing writing Venus Transcendent.  Before this I was focusing mostly on the Victorian stuff because I wanted to get Birching His Bride out and because I hate making people wait too long between Lit chapters.  Now I'm going to be focusing 50% on Venus, 30% on Marriage Training and 20% Dealing With Discipline.  Will I be able to finish Venus by the end of April? 

I'm hopeful but by no means sure. 

It has several factors... I'll have a better by mid-April. But I'll shift my focus more to it if I need to, but I have a feeling that it's going to practically write itself.  I'm feeling very motivated from my re-read... and also excited because I'm looking forward to wrapping everything up and moving on to the next Stronghold character.  I've got the good juju. 

I got a fair amount of work done on Marriage Training yesterday too and I've started Dealing With Discipline. Despite it still being busy season I am starting to have more time to write and I cannot tell you how exciting that is for me.  It's sooooo nice to be able to get some of what's going in my head out onto paper.  The dam hasn't burst yet, but some major trickles are coming through!

Getting It In

I like puns. One of these days I'm going to write a story full of puns.  Mangrove.  Pussy willows. I'm still working on that.

But I've got good news! I finally finished and submitted Chapter 3 of Marriage Training! Made me very happy =)  It's especially nice because these first three chapters were originally supposed to be the first chapter.  As much fun as the examination as I'm super excited to be past it and getting to the meatier parts of the story ;) Although there's still not going to be any actual intercourse for quite a few chapters. It's going to be interesting for me to write this, particularly because of the sexual content without the actual sex. 

So, now that I've got that done I'm back to dividing my focus between all of my writings in equal manner (ok, well, with a heavier foot on the Venus books).  It feels Soooooo good to be getting back into my groove, I can't even tell you!  I'm thrilled that the Domestic Discipline books seem to be getting off to a good start (and I can't wait for the next one), happy that I've finally submitted something to Literotica after such a long stint, and super excited to finish up Venus... aiming for the end of April to finish that off (although it wouldn't surprise me if I ended up running into May. *sigh*)

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

So Close!

I am so close to being done with chapter 3 of Marriage Training!!! Very excited about that. It's been too long since I've submitted something to Literotica. This week I've had a lot more time to write than usual. I think it's going pretty well although MT is turning out to be a lot longer than I thought it would. Seriously, in my outline the events of the first 3 chapters were supposed to only take up ONE chapter.  Ah well. Can't be too sad about that, because I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out.  And I doubt too many people will complain about me writing a long story. Hopefully LOL.

Also, hopefully everyone is enjoying Birching His Bride.  I keep looking at the cover. It might be my favorite cover that I've ever created.  Might be my favorite book so far too.  I do love the Victorian era.  So far the two reviews I've gotten have been positive (thanks!) feel free to leave your own ;) They are always greatly appreciated.

Have to say... didn't get any writing done today but I got a BUNCH yesterday. Hopefully will get some more done tomorrow. My goal is to have chapter 3 submitted to Literotica sometime this weekend. Wish me luck!

New Release: Birching His Bride

YAY! I'm really excited about this... my first book released on Kindle that has nothing to do with anything I've written for Literotica.  It makes me feel good!
Especially because a lot of what I've been reading lately has been Regency / Victorian stuff and while I love the romances and I love the domestic discipline and I love the erotica, I really haven't been able to find too many books that have all three things. Okay, I haven't found any books that had all three things in an amount that satisfied me. It kind of makes me feel egotistical to say that but I'm hoping that this offering will help to fill a void that I feel is out there.  It's the kind of book that I look for when I'm looking for new stories on my Kindle.

I've definitely fallen in love with the characters and I hope that many of you will check it out and enjoy it (and hopefully leave me a review ;). 

201

With this post... I have written more than 200!!! That's rather exciting =)

I have news! YAY! It's been awhile since I really feel like I've had real writing news. Birching His Bride is finished and I have begun revisions... I'm hoping to have it submitted to Amazon by tomorrow night which means that it will be out on Wednesday.  I won't be doing a freebie day for this one because it's not connected to anything on Literotica and since it's the first in a series it's only going to be 99 cents.  I'm really happy with the way it came out and I hope everyone enjoys it =) Revisions are going well and quickly. I've created a new "page" on my blog for the Domestic Discipline Quartet (up at the top).

I'm also working on Chapter 3 of Marriage Training. I'm going to focus on that until it comes out.  As much as I love playing round robin with my stories and working on several things at once it's a lot harder to do that when I have so little time to write.  Although I've been snatching time here and there which is why I finally managed to finish Birching.  I am also working on Venus, but the next chapter for Marriage Training is coming first and then I'll spend some time on Venus, and hopefully by that time March will be over and I'll start having a lot more free time to write and be able to go back to my usual writing habits!

Thanks to everyone for being so patient with the recent slow pace =) The good news is that it's only a few months out of the year and it's almost over with!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!!!

I love Saint Patrick's Day. It's quite possibly one of my favorite holidays, right under Christmas and next to Halloween.

Actually, really, I love every holiday, but St. Patrick's does have a special place in my heart for two reasons.

1. Boondock Saints

2. An excuse to dress up entirely in green and try to outdo EVERYONE.

On holidays like Saint Patrick's day I turn into an attention whore. I want everyone to be like "Holy crap, check out that chick... she's crazy, but she's awesome!"

I can wear head to toe green. I own green everything. Well, except green underwear but people can't tell that by looking at me and ONE DAY my outfit will be complete and I will have it!

Last year I was in Savannah for the second largest Saint Patrick's celebration in the United States.  This year I had to work.  I still spent all weekend celebrating... but I miss the awesomeness of last year.

Ah well. Happy St. Pattys! And remember, go green or go home!

 

Edit (1pm): Just finished writing Birching His Bride! SOOOO excited. Gonna work on revisions/editing so that I can get it published ASAP!!! Also gonna try to work a bit on chapter 3 of Marriage Training today!!!! Feeling super green and motivated ;) It also means that I can focus much more on the last Venus Book and get that out in the next couple of months!!! SUPER YAY!

Oh Hai There

Ack..

So I've hit that point in the busy season where I'm working 10 hour days. Super delightful. *sigh* and also means that I'm rather brain dead at the end of the day so writing has slowed even more. The good news is that this overtime period only lasts for a few weeks and then I'll suddenly start having more time again and the writing will pick up quickly once April hits (if last year is any indication, at least).  I have tons going on in my head that I can't wait to get out on paper.

 

I'm hopeful that Birching His Bride will be out by the end of this month despite the drastic slow down. I'm working on the last chapter now... I had a bunch of ideas for an epilogue and then I realized it was going to make for a very long epilogue so instead I'm just making it a final chapter and then am going to only do one very short section for a very short epilogue which will transition things nicely for the second book. WOOT. Hopefully you all have been enjoying the teasers =) 

 

Sadly, because I'm focusing on trying to get this out, I haven't been working very much on anything else since I just don't have the time. The next chapter of Marriage Training is taking forever, I know... I can't tell you how excited I will be when I have time again!  I do love the overtime money but I'm finding that it's REALLY hard on me not to have more time to write.  I'm constantly off in la-la land, ie. sexy story place and am writing the books in my head even though I can't put it to paper yet.  Hopefully that means that when I do get the time things will move even faster than usual. 

 

Anyway... that's what's going on with me =/  Although today I did actually get a little bit more time than usual to write and managed to slam out a few pages... going to try to do more after a class I have this evening.  I knew this time of year was going to be difficult when it came to writing I just didn't realize exactly HOW difficult.  I feel bad that people are having to wait so long for everything, but unfortunately there's nothing I can really do about that except get done what I can and get through the next few weeks until I have spare time again.  

Venus Desiring Now on Smashwords

Third book in the Venus Rising series, Venus Desiring, is now available on Smashwords for those of you without Kindles!

I feel like I've been getting a lot of work done lately, although it's probably actually not that much, just because I've been getting slightly more done than usual. I can't wait until busy season is over... I feel like all this writing is going to come BURSTING out of me once I have the time to let it!  Hopefully that means that things will happen very quickly once they start happening again =)

Hope you enjoyed the Birching His Bride teaser!  (See previous blog entry if you don't know what I'm talking about)... hoping to have that out by the end of this month if not sooner.  And hopefully should have the next chapter of Marriage Training completed and submitted soon. *sigh* If only I could do it sooner than soon!

Birching His Bride Teaser

This is not going to be a long blog post because it is Sunday and I finally have time to sit and do some real writing. It's been a hectic week at work for me, returning from Costa Rica and trying to get everything unpacked / put back together in the evenings, being super tired from the return to work, and also catching up on work from when I was away. Yesterday was the longest Saturday I've worked so far this busy season. *sigh*

But now it's Sunday and I have time to write and I'm feeling super motivated! So instead of a long blog post, I'm going to give you a teaser from Birching His Bride and I'm going to get my ass writing!:

One year later Edwin saw a very different Eleanor at her come-out ball than he had before that fateful day when he'd witnessed her birching.  She looked every inch the presentable young lady, demure and well-mannered, although Hugh said that she occasionally still received a spanking for minor infractions. There seemed to be a spark in her pretty sapphire eyes though, as she surveyed the young men of the ballroom, like a huntress surveying her prey.  Edwin found himself intrigued, and not just because of the memory of her rosy, beaten buttocks, although of course that was part of it.

 

Since that time he'd found one or two ladies that were intrigued by having a spanking to their bare bottoms, and he'd found that it had aroused him more than ever before. But, of course, the ladies had to be willing and it wasn't quite the same as a true punishment.  Once he'd caught one of his maids stealing from him and instead of turning her out he'd let her stay on after receiving a personal birching from him. The discipline had aroused both of them so much that he'd broken one of his cardinal rules and taken her right then and there. Normally he left the staff alone, having learned his lesson from the first time he'd made one of the maids his mistresses and the disruption it had caused in the household. Collette wasn't his mistress though, there had been that one time and she had gone on to be married about a year later to a footman in a neighboring household. Edwin rather envied the lucky man. 

 

Lately his own thoughts had turned to marriage. His parents were ensconced firmly in the countryside, but that didn't stop his mother from sending him constant letters inquiring as to the steps he was taking to find a wife. After all, he was her only child and if something were to happen to him then the title would go to a distant cousin.  The last few letters his mother had sent had hinted at coming to London herself to offer her assistance.  Considering how much either of his parents hated to leave the country, he didn't want her to feel as though that was necessary.

 

Now, tonight at this ball, he realized what he had been waiting for this past year.  The milk and water misses held no allure for him, despite the fact that many of them were quite beautiful, they all bored him. He wanted a different kind of marriage. Not one where with he would have to respectfully knock on her door, request admittance, and then make boring, gentle love to, but a wife that could be disciplined and then fucked. A wife like Collette's lucky husband had. Eleanor would make a splendid future Countess, she'd been hovering in the back of his mind constantly ever since he'd seen her birched.  Of course, her late coming out also caused a bit of gossip, but he didn't care about that. And the spark in her eye indicated that perhaps her father had not entirely tamed the spoiled hoyden.  Edwin would much rather she not be entirely tamed, after all, then he would have no chance to discipline her himself. 

 

Although they hadn't spent much time together recently, and he had seen for himself what sharp-tongued brat Eleanor had turned into during that time, he also knew what she had been like before she turned spoiled.  He knew that she had once followed Hugh, Wesley and himself around practically begging for attention, trailing her doll Rose along with her everywhere she went. He knew that she'd worn pink for two years straight and refused to put on a dress in any other color. He remembered when she'd found some neighbors boys bullying one of the village girls and had given the little girl Rose to play with, after driving the boys off with nothing more than her own indomnitable spirit.  At that point he'd kept a sharp eye out in case one of them had wanted to retaliate against Eleanor, but the boys had the wits enough to realize that it was best to leave the eight year old and her new six year old friend alone. There was sweetness still inside of her, he believed, it was just buried deep down. 

 

Deciding that he might as well get to know this new Eleanor so that he could make an informed decision, Edwin crossed to her side of the room. 

 

"Lady Harrington," he greeted her mother with a slight bow, smiling his most charming smile. "Lady Eleanor." 

 

"Lord Hyde, you rogue," Lady Harrington said with a smile. "You've been staring at my Eleanor here for the past fifteen minutes and you're only just now coming to talk?"

 

"I was too arrested by the sight of her beauty," he said smoothly, "and have only just now found my tongue again.  You are looking particularly lovely tonight Lady Eleanor." In fact, the rose pink of her gown was quite nice with her blonde hair and fair looks, and it put him in mind of the first rosy color her buttocks had turned when her father began to spank her.  The neckline was low but not immodest, in fact it was almost demure compared to some of the gowns other women in the room were wearing. He was quite sure that he had seen Eleanor eying them enviously. Obviously still wanting things that her father said she couldn't have.

 

"Since you have found your tongue again, one would think that you would use it for something other than the usual banal compliments," Eleanor said a little waspishly.  He hid a smile. Not because he wasn't offended at her brash remark, but because it was obvious she still had some of her spirit and that a husband would have ample opportunity to discipline her if she couldn't get her own tongue under control.

 

"Eleanor!" said her mother in scandalized tones, snapping her fan against her daughter's wrist. "You are being quite rude. Please do forgive her, my Lord." She fluttered her eyes at him.

 

The lady's mouth puckered mulishly. "It's just Edwin, mother. We've known him forever."

 

Smiling genially at Lady Harrington, Edwin turned a more rakish look on Eleanor. One that she wouldn't have seen on his face before, because he'd never turned his flirtatious charm on his friend's sister. They had not recently spent much time in each other's company until now, despite the length of their association. After all, her father hadn't deemed her fit for polite society until now, and obviously he had been deceived if this was an example of her behavior! She still had the same sharp tongue from he’d always known, perhaps because she did not find him intimidating.  Looking at her through half-lidded eyes, he leaned in closer and his smiled broadened as she inhaled sharply, looking up at him in consternation.

 

In truth, Eleanor was quite intimidated by Lord Hyde, which is why she so often sharpened her tongue on him, as if she had something to prove.  He was very tall, very muscular and very good looking, and having him in such close proximity to her, with her mother teasing him about staring at her, had pushed aside all the society masks she'd created over the past couple of years.  The number of spankings and birchings had subsided as she'd started bowing to her father's demands and wishes, no matter how much she chafed over his unfair rules. After all, look at the number of young debutantes here with much more bosom showing than herself, in finer fabrics and with better jewelry! This was her coming out ball and she should have shone; instead she was stuck in a dress that catered to her father's stupid and old-fashioned ideals. 

 

Over the past year she'd learned to keep her thoughts to herself, to pretend to be satisfied with her father's demands, and to show herself as the perfect little society miss.  It was all part of her plan to remove herself from her father's strict household as soon as possible, once she was a wife she could do as she pleased, buy all the clothes and fripperies that she wanted, and her husband would shower her with expensive jewelry. Eleanor knew exactly what she wanted in a husband - a man who loved her to distraction.  She'd seen the way her parents' marriage worked; her mother loved her father unconditionally and bowed to his every wish.  That's exactly what Eleanor wanted but in reverse.  There was no need for her to fall in love and she had no intention of doing so.  She wasn't sure whether or not her father loved her mother, although she felt fairly certain that he cared for her at least.  The person who was not in love had the power and that's what Eleanor wanted, a comfortable life with a man who would worship her and lavish gifts upon her. 

 

Already she'd flirted with several young men who would do quite nicely. Lord Kilcairn had practically tripped over himself to be the first to secure a dance with her, the second son of the Marquess of Salisbury had begged to supply her with a lemonade and the young Earl of Cawdor had promised to talk to his aunt, Lady Cowper, about securing her permission to waltz.  There were plenty of other men in the room looking at her with admiring puppyish eyes that she hadn't even spoken to yet, although she knew she would soon. Perhaps she'd even let a few of them take her out on the terrace and kiss her.  After all, her debut had come after most of her friends' and so she had some catching up to do - all of them had been kissed at least once. 

 

Lord Hyde was certainly not on her list of possible husbands. He was too large, too intimidating, too disturbing. The way he looked at her made her feel like he was undressing her with those unfathomable dark eyes; they were admiring of her but there was nothing puppy-like about it.  Tonight he was looking particularly fine in a light grey coat that set off his dark hair and eyes and emphasized his shoulders, breeches that molded themselves to his muscular legs, and a charcoal waistcoat that hugged his masculine figure. The slightly amused and yet somehow intense expression on his face did nothing to soothe her anxiety around him; the roguish smile that he gave her only affirmed her wariness of him, but it also made her insides tighten in the most inexplicable way. 

 

"I could never deny a request from you Lady Harrington," he said, in that smooth, deep voice of his. Shivers ran up her spine and she could feel gooseflesh breaking out all over her body.  She didn't remember him ever having quite this effect on her before. It was incredibly unnerving. Had he ever looked at her quite that way before? "However, I do believe that apologies are more appreciated coming from the source of the offense."  

 

He looked at her expectantly.  

 

A sharp retort was on the tip of her tongue when she saw her father approaching out of the corner of her eye. Immediately she bowed her head, knowing that her mother wouldn't say anything to her father about her misbehavior if only she could apologize and change the topic before he came within earshot. 

 

"Please forgive me, my lord," she said in a mild, soft tone, giving a small curtsy.  "I'm afraid that I am overly excited by the importance of this evening and temporarily lost my head."

 

"Of course," said Lord Hyde. She peeked up at him through her lashes, wondering at the tone in his voice. Was he amused by her? Fury pinked her cheeks, but she couldn't say anything because her father had just reached their group.  He exchanged greetings with Lord Hyde and asked if Edwin would call on him the next day.  Having agreed to do so, Lord Hyde then turned and asked Eleanor for a dance.

 

With her father watching she couldn't do anything but say yes, as graciously as possible.  Once on the dance floor she kept on her smooth social mask, finding it the only defense she had against Lord Hyde's probing eyes and heated glances.  He even flirted with her when they were close enough to speak, commenting on the lovely flush of her cheeks, the way her blue eyes shone like jewels and one about how the color of her dress complemented her complexion, his eyes dipping down to observe her creamy breasts. Beneath the fabric of her dress she could feel her nipples pucker and she found herself suddenly breathless. His words were not inappropriate, but his meaning was quite clear and made her glad, for the first time that evening, that her gown had a modest neckline. 

 

All in all, other than those moments with Lord Hyde, Eleanor's come-out was deemed a success by both her and her parents.  Her mother was happy because everything had gone smoothly, her father was happy because Eleanor had behaved - her mother neglected to inform him of his daughter's behavior with Lord Hyde and the walk on the terrace she'd taken with the Earl of Cawdor, and Eleanor was happy because she'd begun her campaign on two eligible young gentleman who seemed suitably malleable and easily infatuated.  She was quite sure that removing herself from her parent’s house and into a pampered marriage, where she could return to the lifestyle she'd formerly led before her father took such an interest in her upbringing, would commence by the end of the Season. 

 

Putting on her most flirtatious smile, she turned her efforts for the night into finding her a malleable husband as soon as possible.

Special Deal

Not one of mine, but a good deal that I thought I should share =) Sierra Cartwright, who has written a couple of books that I really like, has a new book out and it's available for 99 cents, for what I'm assuming is a limited time since most of her books are more than that. So if you'd like to check out a new author, I haven't read this particular book (With This Collar) yet but I have enjoyed ones that she previously wrote and so for me it was an automatic buy considering the price.

Anyway... I am back from Costa Rica! It was amazing and gorgeous and I saw a ton of wildlife - crocodiles, sloths, iguanas, some spiders that I could have really done without seeing, monkeys, awesome little crabs (one of which I shared a bathroom with... I named him Sherman), macaws, and even a toucan! Seriously an amazing place.  If you ever get a chance, you should go... take a canopy tour! That's where you zipline through the rainforest. AMAZING. Also, the Manuel Antonio National Park - def take the tour with a guide or you'll miss out on a LOT of wildlife... I don't know how they spotted half the animals that they did, but they are DAMN good at it. I also stacked up some injuries during a surfing lesson, but holy crap was it cool. I may have to eventually use it as a location for a story... watch, I'll work it into one of my books. =)

I did not get as much writing done down there as I had hoped, partly because I was busy doing awesome activities and partly because I was down there for a specific family event and so was also spending a lot of time with my family.  Which was really nice, but not very conducive to writing. But I'm back now and feeling pretty good... should be jumping back into the writing and hopefully getting some things done despite my day job work load.

I'm soooooo close to finishing Birching His Bride, the first book in the Domestic Discipline quartet (those are the winners of the votes... Domestic Discipline beat out Passion and Punishment by only 2 votes!!!).  Hoping to finish that by the end of this upcoming week and have it out by next weekend... and of course still working on Venus and Marriage Training.  Chapter 2 of MT was pretty well received, Chapter 3 is rather challenging because it's not the type of scene that I normally write, in fact if I have written an enema scene before I can't remember it, but I'm always up for a challenge!

Anyway, I hope everyone's been doing well while I was away... and back to work for me now!

Out of Town

So, I actually wrote this post on Wednesday, which was my last day in town, before heading out of the country on Thursday for a wedding (woo!!!!).  I'll be back this week, but I wanted to make sure my blog didn't go totally bereft while I was away. I wasn't quite sure what to talk about and then I was like, well it's been awhile since I've done a free-write... look at the things that are going on in my head.

Obviously a lot of Victorian stuff. Although I'm slowly starting to feel the need to write more contemporary stuff too so I'm sure I'll get some stand-alone stories done while I'm working on Marriage Training.  I'm feeling the muuuuuuuuuuse. Plus, let's face it, the contemporary stuff is easier and faster for me. I had no idea how much effort was going to go into Marriage Training.  My other Victorian stuff (which you've been voting on for titles) is written in a slightly different style and seems to go faster... but on the other hand I feel like I'm getting a lot out of M.T.  It's both fascinating and challenging for me to try and write so descriptively and not to take one single character's point of view; it's been something I've been wanting to try for awhile but never quite seem to manage. So the whole style is very new to me.

I'm already thinking about how to adapt M.T. for Kindle too, because I think it will fit right in with a series I've been wanting to do that's a lot less about romance (Unlike the one I'm currently working on) and is more about limitless debauchery.  I've always been fascinated by the Victorian stuff because there was so much sexuality going on behind the scenes and I started thinking about the ton's penchant for adultery and orgies at house parties, the scandalous behavior at masquerades, wife auctions, molly houses, birchings and other punishments as perfectly normal forms of discipline for all members of the households, punishment enemas, etc. and started forming story lines around all of the most debauched practices. There are four books that I want to write, and I realized that M.T. would fit right into that world and so when it comes out on Kindle it will be adapted to reflect that and include some of the characters that will be appearing in the other books.  There will still be a little bit of romance between the characters, but it won't be the focus and there will be loving wives content, multiple partners in a lot of them, and partner swapping. I'm looking forward to it although right now it's mostly just ideas rolling around my head and my focus is on other things.

Venus is going slowly but it's going... while I'm away that's going to be my focus. It's definitely not going to be done early though; the characters are cooperating... sort of.  LOL. Damn Doms do that sometimes. Plus I'm re-reading parts of the previous books to make sure that I have everything correct before I try to wrap everything up, which also takes time.

Beginning With Birching (or whatever it ends up being called) will probably be published sometime in March. I've been working on it since August so it's been a long haul, which is why it's coming out before the last Venus book. I'll definitely be finishing the Venus series before the second Birching book comes out though. Woot!

Anyway. I hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend... I'll do another update when I get back on how much I actually managed to get done writing-wise while I was away =)