Marriage Training Ch. 14

YAY!  Chapter 14 of Marriage Training is now available!

Thank goodness... I'm going out of town tomorrow night immediately after work to head to DragonCon and I was starting to think that it wouldn't come out before that!  Oi vei.  I think because the Summer Contest is going on that things are taking longer to come out.  That almost always happens when there's a contest going on unfortunately.

Just an FYI - yes the Earl is in this chapter, no it's not a training day... yet.  I wanted to give them a little moment before he actually joins in the training =)  That comes with the next chapter.  Which I'm working on of course, although lately I've been pounding out work on Stronghold.  Since the characters are currently cooperating =)  Definitely want to take advantage of that while it's going on!

I'm not sure how much work I'm going to get done this weekend cuz I'm guessing I'm going to be pretty darn exhausted, but I am bringing my laptop so we'll see.  Maybe I'll get a little something something done.  But I definitely won't be posting a blog again till I get back. 

Soooo... I'm just going to go ahead and say right now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter of Marriage Training and that you have great weekends!

Angel Recommends: Sex and Violence! (Sort of)

Okay, so you know the whole, 'the fantasy is hotter than the reality thing'?   Yeah, well this fantasy is soooooooooo hot it's sizzling!

Kit Rocha's Beyond series, of which two books are out, are one of the series that I wait for with impatient anticipation.  The first one was so freaking hot and I completely fell in love with Dallas, who is the big bad boss of Sector 3, even though he wasn't the main male character - his best friend Jasper is.

When I saw the trailers for the movie Elysium, it kind of reminded me of these books.

Except that Eden, where the very rich, wealthy and pampered live, is next to the Sectors.  It's a little bit like Hunger Games in that way except that Eden does its best to ignore the outside.  Picture a super conservative, super puritanical haven where no one is allowed to do... well... anything.

The sectors each have their own specialty, allowing their populations to survive.  One is basically a prostitution sector, supplying mistresses to the wealthy men of Eden (since sex is basically taboo there), another focuses on technology, and Sector 4, where Dallas rules, has its hand in all sorts of illegal smuggling and trade of illicit goods.

Sector 4 respects its women, sex is basically a free-for-all, and yet there are some hard and fast rules for monogamous couples who want to claim each other - which they do with a tattoo around the neck.  Everyone is inked, and your ink tells your story and identifies you.  And for someone with a fear of needles, the fact that Rocha manages to make a tattooing scene incredible sexy... that's saying something.

We follow Noelle, daughter of one of Eden's Councilmen who ends up in Sector 4, as she adjusts to her new life, which also gives us the chance to learn all about Sector 4 and Dallas and his gang through her eyes.  Dallas' right hand man, Jasper, is more than a little obsessed with Noelle, but he recognizes the need to go slow with her since she doesn't even know what sex IS much less how to process the amazing sensations that go with it.  Sharing means caring in Sector 4, but both of them realize they want to tattoo each other's necks...

But nothing comes easily.

This book has lots of sex, lots of plot, lots of fantastic danger, and is the most amazing blend of sex and violence.  Sure it glamorizes both things... but who cares?  The fantasy is incredibly hot.  Made me want to run around and find a guy with tats to bring home to hubby and have an orgy with LOL.

Although I don't think any real man could measure up to Dallas *swoon*  And book 2 is all about him and Lexi.  YUM.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part... Beyond Shame, book 1, is only 99 cents on the Kindle.

Book 3 is out today and I am so super jealous of this lady who got to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review... It looks like it's going to be just as good as the first two and I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT!!! 

Stronghold Teaser

So I've finally got a new outline for Angel and Adam... we'll see whether or not they'll let me stick with this one LOL.  It fits where they are at the moment, but they're good at going off-script.  Anyway... I think that I really am about halfway through the book which means that I'm right on schedule for a fall release, which is good.  YAY!

For Marriage Training - I submitted the next chapter of that (Vivian and the Earl finally meeting!) on Thursday evening so that should be out sometime next week =)

And, here's a teaser for Stronghold!!!!:

The desk that Master Patrick sat down at was huge, it made her feel like a dwarf by comparison.  A man smaller than him would have looked overwhelmed by it, but it suited him perfectly.  

"Have a seat, Angie," he said, and even though he was using the pseudonym she'd chosen rather than her real name she felt the immediate need to obey.

Yeah, no mistaking this man for anything other than "in charge."  The authoritarian tone of voice had her moving before she even thought about it, to one of the cushy black leather chairs in front of the desk.  It was incredibly comfortable.  The kind of chair that she'd like to curl up and wallow in, read a book on a rainy day... it would have worked just as well in front of a fire as it did in this office.  

But with the scary man behind the desk, his hard gaze fixed on her, she couldn't relax.  Instead she shifted her weight, taking tiny peeks at him because for some reason she couldn't bring herself to directly meet his eyes for more than a moment or two.  She'd managed it at Chained, but they hadn't known she was submissive.  It had been easier there.  No doubts welling up in her mind, no second thoughts about what she was about to do.  

"Did you read over the contract that I sent you?"

"Yes Sir."  About fifty times.  It had included all the rules and regulations that governed Stronghold.  

"Good girl."  

Something inside of Angel warmed as he reached into his desk and pulled out a stapled stack of papers.  Yeah, she wasn't attracted to Patrick, even though she could acknowledge that he was extremely attractive, but she still liked being called a good girl by him.  There was just something about it that satisfied a need deep inside of her and made her feel all happy and glow-y.  

"This is the same thing, in paper form.  You can look it over if you want.  And then you need to sign it."  He glanced at the clock.  "Your Dom for the evening should be here any minute."

She felt a little awkward looking over it in front of him, because part of her said to trust his word, but the more cynical part of her that taught self-defense said always be sure.  So she skimmed it, familiar enough with the sentences by now to know that they were identical to the one that he'd sent her online.  Even though she couldn't read as fast as Leigh, she was pretty fast skimming, which cut down on the length of time that she was looking it over. 

As she picked up a pen, Patrick's phone rang.  

"Hello?..."  There was a long pause.  "Shit.  Alright, I'll be right down."

Putting down the phone with enough force that Angel jumped (okay, so she might be a little bit jittery considering that she'd just signed a release to have all sorts of dirty and debauched things done to her), Patrick sighed and gave her a reassuring sort of smile.  It warmed his face and enabled her to meet his eyes.  

"I have a situation I have to see to... I don't want to have to leave you here alone though.  Hold on a moment."  Getting up, he went back to the door that they'd come in from, the one that connected to the lobby.  Angel clasped her hands together.  A situation?  What did that mean?  Was it a sub that had gotten hurt?  Someone's scene gotten out of control?  Why would the owner of the club be needed if unless it something bad?

As her panic started to well, Patrick stuck his head out of the door.  "Jared.... oh hey, good you're here.  Never mind, Jared."  He shifted so that more of his body was out of the door, his voice still loud enough that she could hear every word he said.  "I've got a situation downstairs... Tom offered Ellie a club contract last week but she refused."

"Of course she did," another deep male voice said.  "Ellie never signs club contracts."

"Yeah but she's been scening with him a lot lately, I think he got his hopes up."

A derisive snort. 

"Anyway, she turned him down for a scene tonight and accepted an offer from Will, so now I've got to get downstairs because Tom's throwing a hissy fit, Ellie is making it worse by ignoring him, and Will is pissed."

"As he should be if Tom's interfering with a scene over a sub that he has no claim to."

"Yes, thank you for telling me what I already know."  Master Patrick's voice was dry, but she could tell that he respected whoever he was talking to.  He was sarcastic but not derogatory.  "Anyway, Angie's in here, so you can chat with her before choosing a room for the scene.  Interrogation, jail and school are all open."

"Okay, thanks."

Then Master Patrick was moving away and another man was entering.  Angel was starting to stand, feeling that she should get up and introduce herself, but as soon as she caught his crystal blue gaze her knees and lungs locked up and she found herself sinking back into the chair.

Very tall, very attractive, with very blue eyes, blonde hair and a goatee... and he looked more than grouchy as recognition flashed across his face.  

He looked downright pissed.

Fighting With My Characters

You'd be surprised how often this happens.  The Stronghold characters are particularly trying.  Justin and Chris had the tendency to go off the rails, even though Liam, Hilary and Jessica were all pretty well behaved.

Now trying to deal with Adam and Angel... I'm going a bit nuts, I won't lie.  The bastards just keep changing things up on me!  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can get frustrating.  Especially when I look at my most recent outline that I've written for them (I'm on the fourth or fifth now, I can't even remember) and realize that it's not going to work.  At all.

Adam's too demanding about what he wants and Angel's too unpredictable.  Even her best friend Leigh isn't quite cooperating with me when it comes to timeline stuff.

I'm over 50,000 words in, which is usually about halfway through a book for me, but I honestly have no idea where we are in the story.  I know what's going to happen in the next chapter and that's about it, because they keep changing where they're going.  We all have a vague idea about where everything is headed, but every time I try to define it they just grab the reins from me and start moving in a new direction until all the plot twists and pathways that I'd worked out no longer work anymore.

*bangs head on wall*

It really makes it hard for me to plot things out.  I thought I'd go ahead and write a new outline for them... but there's no real clue as to where they're going after the next chapter.  They were pretty good about following the most recent outline that I'd written for them, right up until they met each other and now sparks are flying in entirely different ways then I'd originally planned.  It's kind of like a mental wrestling match.  And I'm about to add a new Dom to the equation, and to the cast of Stronghold characters, in the form of one of Angel's friends and all I can think is "oh crap... what is this going to do to my plot line?"  Cuz I don't think it's going to do what I originally intended.  - if you're checking out my Pinterest, btw, the new Dom that I'm introducing is Master Michael and you can see his "picture" up on the Stronghold page.

In other news... Vivian and Gabriel are being more romantic / softer than I would have thought during their first meeting... which makes me wonder how his involvement in her training is actually going to go.  That should be interesting.

And Cynthia and Wesley, despite being the two rebels, are actually doing what I want them to.  Of course I'm only about one chapter into their book so I don't know if that really counts.  But it's nice that someone's behaving!

So yeah.  There's some behind-the-scenes drama going on (if it can be called that) but I'll be posting a new teaser for Stronghold this weekend.  I just gotta decide what I want to post =)

Venus Transcendent Now Available on Smashwords

For those of you who use Smashwords for reading - Venus Transcendent is finally available!  For books that I do the free promo thing on Amazon for, I have to wait a certain amount of time after the promo before I can make the book available on another site, so that's why the Venus books take so long to come out on Smashwords.

Been working hard on my current offerings... have another blog post in a couple of days =)

Marriage Training Ch. 13 and Pinterest Page

And we're only one chapter away from the meeting of Gabriel and Vivian!  Super excited =)

Chapter 13 is now available - for those who have been getting impatient over the slow pace should be happy with this chapter.  It's not as detailed or erotic, because it's kind of a bridge chapter.  We're moving past the training that's been happening and into a new part of the book, with lots of new developments.  I still have detailed sections, but things are moving much faster now =)

And I am SO looking forward to having Gabriel be a part of the training!  I'm working on the scene where they first meet right now and I'm just having an absolute blast. 

For those of you interested, I do have a Marriage Training Pinterest board now, since I'm going to be turning it into a book.  Eventually it will be a Society of Sin board for ALL those books, but for now it's just Marriage Training =) I love the pictures I found for Vivian and the one I found for Gabriel.  Working on finding a better Dr. Monroe one.  I've also been updating the other boards, particularly Stronghold, lately, so if you haven't checked them out for a few days there's definitely some new stuff up =)

Gonna try to get some more writing done today.  WOOT!

Alternate Conclusion to Secret Anal Sex

Soooo a long time ago I wrote a story called Secret Anal Sex =)  It was during Survivorphile when I was doing a lot of different stories.  I always meant it to be a one off and was fine with the conclusion, but I was recently contacted by someone who goes by the username FinishTheDamnStory who likes to finish stories that they feel are incomplete and they asked if they could write a conclusion for it because they felt there was more story there.  In particular they wanted Lauren to get revenge on John.

Personally I never planned to write an ending for it, so I said, sure go ahead!  You can find the new "conclusion" here.

It's definitely not the kind of story I would have written, mostly cuz I rarely write stories with the woman in charge because it's just not my forte, but I found it fascinating to see where someone else wanted the story to go and see a sequel to some of my work.  I enjoy reading new stories and having this one be a continuance of my own work made it that much more interesting to me =)

So if you're interested, there ya go! 

I'm keeping an eye out because the next chapter of Marriage Training should be out soon... in the meantime, I had an AMAZING birthday and I'm having a pretty fantastic weekend now =) YAY!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Whoo-hoo!

I hit the big 3-0 today =)  No longer in my twenties!  Weird.

People keep telling me that a woman hits her sexual peak in her 30's, as if to console me, and all I can think is poor hubby... like my sex drive isn't high enough already!  LOL.

I have been in a bit of a writing frenzy this week, which is AWESOME.  As usual I'm having a bit of trouble concentrating on one story at a time, but I'm getting a LOT of writing done.

So far this week I have:

- Finished and submitted Chapter 13 of Marriage Training

- Written 2 1/2 chapters of Stronghold (currently working on Chapter 9... Angel's getting to know the other members of Stronghold and is making friends while Adam wrestles with his issues)

- Completed the first chapter of Seduction By Spanking

- Started writing a new reader requested standalone story (I did so much writing yesterday on the other 3 things that I needed a break but I was still in the writing mood)

- And, you know, my blogs.

And I'm still in the mood to write.  It's like a writing bonanza!  I have no idea whether or not it has anything to do with me turning 30 or anything, but I'm taking advantage of it while I can.  Unfortunately a lot of other things aren't getting done while I ride this wave out, but I've learned to cruise the wave for as long as possible because I get soooooo much work done while it's going on.  Once it's over I can spend some time editing / reading other people's stuff, but if I force myself to do it then I may end the writing wave prematurely and I don't know when another one will come along.

Sometimes creativity just happens that way.  Back to the bonanza!!!!

Angel Recommends - Carolyn Faulkner

Before I get to the book review part of this blog - Chapter 13 of Marriage Training was submitted yesterday. =)  It's basically a transition chapter to get us from one part of the story to the next, it's one of the few chapters which doesn't have TONS of details, although it has quite a few.  In the next chapter comes the Earl and I am so looking forward to that!

 

Okay... back to Carolyn Faulkner, who has been inspiring me for quite some time and her writing definitely inspired parts of Marriage Training.

 

I've been reading a lot of darker erotica lately but unfortunately not all of it appeals to me.  Mostly because even when things are dark, I want there to be some form of connection between the characters and, hopefully, a happy ending.  Yeah, of course this means major Stockholm's syndrome in some cases, but I still like reading it.  Because I like the fantasy. 

There's a couple authors I've come across, like Kitty Thomas, Skye Warren or Claire Thomspon, who are a little TOO dark for me.  Although I do love Kitty Thomas' Submissive Fairy Tales, that's one that's staying on my Kindle, mostly because I'm a bit obsessed with her version of Beauty and the Beast.  The other two are interesting too but that's the one that I keep to re-read.

 

My favorite author for really rough stuff / dark erotica is Carolyn Faulkner.  She writes some lighter stuff too, but I'm not usually as interested in it.  And she has a lot of works out, I've read most of them, and have only found a few that I think are really 100% worth the price (since she charges more than my favorite $2.99 price =) 

 

The Little Miss is a Victorian Age Play story and if you're into that kind of thing, it's HOT.  I actually didn't think I really was into that kind of thing, but this book got me all sorts of hot and bothered.  I think because of how very controlled the little miss is.  The Kindle book is a 4 for the price of one deal which is nice.  I've tried reading other age play stuff and most of it doesn't appeal to me nearly as much as this one; in fact most of them don't appeal to me at all but I re-read this one on a regular basis.  It has a lot of things that don't normally appeal to me, including wrapping/swaddling (which I think is similar to the wrapping/mummification fetish) that ends up just being hot.  Lots of spankings, birchings, strappings, etc. as well as mind manipulation and sexy time.  I don't know if it's because it's set in the Victorian era or what, but I love the book.

 

There are a lot of similar Victorian age-play books that I might talk about eventually on here, if you start reading them you may notice some similarities between the governesses and Mrs. Banks.  Her character was partly inspired by the way the governesses in these books handle their "girls."

 

Prima is another really good dark one, she's got a couple others set in the same world but I think Prima is the best.  This one is definitely not for the faint of heart - SEVERE punishments... sometimes for no reason other than it turns Joseph, the other main character, on.  Prima is his woman.  The setting is a futuristic earth where something has happened to decimate the population and women have become basically chattel again.  Reading this actually gave me an idea for my own series in a futuristic earth - mainly cuz I started thinking about how I would deal with a major drop in the female population differently - but my series will be a lot less dark and a lot less severe.  But I love reading Prima.

 

Captured by the Count is one of the few books that does not have a happy ending that I keep on my Kindle for re-reads.  There's definitely a little bit of schaudenfraude going on here because the Cassie really isn't the most likable character in the world so you almost enjoy seeing bad things happen to her... at first at least.  Then it becomes more of a sexually horrified fascination where I'm almost embarrassed that it turns me on.  Like The Little Miss, there's some fetishes in this book that normally don't appeal to me that end up being really hot the way she's set them up.  This is, at its most basic, a breeding fantasy novel that also includes BDSM, bondage, non-consent/reluctance and also a milking machine.  I ended up checking out more breeding and milking stories after reading this, but found that (like The Little Miss) they didn't appeal to me outside of this book.  Go figure.

 

Submissive Desires is probably the most severe story she's written that I've read.  Electricity, canings, all sorts of very painful things... for the first time she went into a fetish that went too far for me - I'm just not a needles kind of girl apparently.  Some of the beatings also went way farther than I was comfortable with... but it didn't stop me from reading or getting all squirmy in my seat.  For those of you who like the really rough stuff, this is probably a good choice for you.

 

Like I said, she's written some other ones, but those are my favorites.  She also has a spanking series called Priceless Love that's pretty good, although it's not the kind of dark stuff that I normally look for from her.  I haven't read everything by her thought cuz I think she can get kind of pricey and sometimes I'm just not going to pay the money for a book that's under 100 pages.  Ya know?!  But I think the above books were pretty darn well worth it.  =)  

Marriage Training Ch. 12

Sooo Chapter 12 of Marriage Training is now out!

Kinda curious how people are going to react to this one... more curious than usual, that is.  The original idea for the story has already changed somewhat in reaction to reader comments, etc.  Originally Vivian wasn't going to have any kind of rebellion at all, but once people mentioned it I thought hey... that's a really good point... and decided to add it in.  Although, of course, I added it in as a plot point by Mrs. Cunningham and Mrs. Banks rather than it being something that surprised them (because, at this point in their careers, I didn't find that believable). 

It seems that some readers who comment want Vivian to be something other than she is.  She's not the fiery, spirited, rebellious type of heroine like Bridget from Being the Maid or even Alanna from Submission.  She's a different kind submissive than either of them and she was always meant to be.  I think I'd get bored if I had the same kind of submissive every story.  It's actually a lot of fun for me to explore playing with someone who doesn't fight back even when she wants to.

The whole rebellion thing has led me to an interesting place though, one which I didn't expect.  Vivian has hidden depths to her that I didn't realize.  I think some people who really wanted a rebellion will be upset that it's over so quickly, but personally I'm really happy with the way that it all turned out.  This was always meant to be a darker BDSM series with the themes of non-consent and the whole Victorian-era fantasy type thing going on.  Things are actually much softer and more romantic than I originally intended, although I like that as well.

I've mentioned several times in the comments section that I'm planning on making this into a book, and eventually a series.  Doing this one a little bit differently though.  The series that I have planned out actually comes before the events in Marriage Training.  I had a series planned out for a governess and the two daughters of the man she eventually marries, and I hadn't planned anything for the son yet, and as I was writing the first chapter of this book I was like "hey... this would be a great storyline for the son."  So the others are kinda going to be prequels to this book.

There's a LOT that's going to go into the book that's not on Literotica though.  There's going to be a lot of extended scenes, as well as a secondary story line between Mrs. Banks and Dr. Monroe, and also the end of the Lit series is not going to be the end of the book.  It's also going to introduce an idea I've had called The Society of Sin, which is a group of people who are all like Lord Cranbourne when it comes to what they want in the bedroom - both men and women.  It's a similar idea to Spanking Societies if you've ever read any books that have those.  And I'm going to write a LOT of books about the Society... I've got a whole bunch of side books plotted out that aren't part of the main series I'll be writing for it.

So that'll be my Victorian project after I'm done with the Domestic Discipline Quartet.  Although Marriage Training may come out before the final book of the Quartet.  I do have some writing to do on the extra scenes and stuff once I'm done with Lit, but I'm hoping those won't take too long.  I've already done a bunch of them. =)

Okay... so that's some of my plans for the future.   And, of course, I'm working on Stronghold and I've just gotten to the part where Adam finds out that Angel is actually submissive, and my fingers are flying!

Returning to Stronghold

Well now that Dealing With Discipline is out I am back to focusing on Stronghold!  Although of course I am also spending some time writing Seduction by Spanking, the third book of the Domestic Discipline Quartet.  But the main focus is on Stronghold!  Which will be out sometime this fall, depending on how fast I can write it.  

The first several chapters are already written and Adam and Angel are developing wonderfully as characters.  I hope you've all enjoyed the teasers I've already posted on the blog, hopefully should have another one in a couple of weeks =)  

It's kind of funny, I originally based Adam and Angel off of hubby and me, but the more I write the farther they get away from being anything like hubby and me.  Which is good.  They have their own lives and their own problems and so they're developing differently, but it's kind of fascinating for me so see what traits of mine Angel holds onto and how she's different.  She's also not quite the way I originally planned her to be... but I think she's become more interesting.

Originally my character outline for her was similar to Jessica and Hilary's.  Lives in an apartment (although by herself), has a best friend that she spends a lot of time talking to, works in an office building... blah blah blah.  Her other close friends were mostly going to be guys and she was going to be a little nerdy, read a lot, play video games and be a tomboy, very similar to me.  Then as I started writing her, she started insisting on some changes that I had to go back and make.  She's keeping the best friend, but she's now living in a house with three of her guy friends who are all gamers.  She doesn't work in an office, she makes costume pieces which she sells on Etsy and teaches women's self-defense classes, and occasionally substitute teaches at the ballroom dance studio her parents own.  She's much more of a free spirit.

Which, really, makes her even more of a good match for Adam.  I'm learning more about him as I write too, although if you've read the Venus Quartet then you already know the basics.  His self-contained and overly controlled little world needs a bit of a good shake-up as far as I'm concerned, and Angel is just the one to give it to him.  

At the moment my goal is to have this out before Halloween, but that will also depend on Adam and Angel.  Lately I've noticed that my characters have gotten much more involved in the story lines than ever before which means they sometimes take unexpected turns that I hadn't planned on - especially when one of the characters is as dominant as Adam or as unpredictable as Angel (who has already had me change quite a bit about her).  So we'll see... but I'm hopeful that it won't take more than a couple months of dedicated writing =) 

Dealing W Discipline on Smashwords & Characters

For you smashwords readers, you can now find Dealing with Discipline on there =)

So...

I won't lie... I like some of my characters better than others.  Who wouldn't?  Of course I like all of my heroes and heroines at least a little bit, but I have my favorites.

The Domestic Discipline series has been really interesting for me to write because I'm getting to work with such different characters, all coming from really different places.  

There's Eleanor, who is spoiled but with an underlying sweetness, she rebellious, smart, and willing to take a lot of risks even if she goes about it in odd ways.  I have to admit, I admire her spirit even when I want to shake her for not being able to see things the way I do.  From the very beginning I liked Edwin for her... she needs a strong male who will love her for who she is but be willing to take her hand when she needs it - without trying to break her.  He can be just as frustrating as she can, in his own way.

Irene is based off of me when I was younger, which means I feel like shaking her a lot of the time.  She's so innocent and naive, especially when it comes to her ideals of love and how much she lets people push her around.  Of course, with Hugh around she's starting to come into her own, but she's still got a lot of growing up to do.  I do love Hugh, although I felt a little bad for saddling him with Irene... she's got a lot of baggage that he wasn't aware of but he does really love her... and, well, that's what comes with arranged marriages!  Granted, I don't find Hugh as sexy as I do Edwin - even after he realizes how much fun spankings can be he's never going to do it just FOR fun the way Edwin does - but he's got his own place in my heart.

Alex... oh Alex.  He just keeps pushing everyone away - even me!  I'm still not entirely sure what his true feelings for Grace are.  Admittedly, I went into this series prepared to dislike Grace but she's getting under my skin and her back story is much more complex than I originally intended.  She's a creature of extremes - romantic and cynical, loving and vindictive; she can be cruel and competitive or loyal and kind as a friend.  I'm really looking forward to their book because both of them absolutely fascinate me and I think out of all of the characters they're going to have the most difficult struggle.

But my favorites, by far, are Cynthia and Wes.  I am so excited to finally be working on the third book, even though I'm not going to be focusing on it until I finish Stronghold.  I'm just excited to finally get there.  Cynthia has been, hands down, my favorite character as soon as I conceived this series and Wesley has moved to be right up there with her.  He needs a woman who is going to push him and keep him on his toes... and if you've read the teaser for Seduction by Spanking then you know that Cynthia is Trouble with a capital T (right here in River City! lol). I just adore her and I hated that she couldn't really be a part of the first two books other than the letters from the Countess of Spencer to her son, but I am so looking forward to bringing her out now!

Anyway, I posted the same teaser that's at the end of Dealing With Discipline on the Domestic Discipline Quartet's page... so you can check that out if you haven't read it yet =)  Otherwise... I'm now going to be turning my focus to Stronghold for a bit!  And for all you Stronghold fans I should have a blog coming out on that in a couple of days =)

Also... Chapter 12 of Marriage Training has been submitted.  Going by the comments on Ch. 11 it's probably going to disappoint some people.  Oh well.  I can't help it.  Things in the story have already been changed due to influence by reader comments, but I'm not going to change everything so I've just gotta go with the way that I want the story to go.

Marriage Training Ch. 11

Oh hey look what's finally out!

Marriage Training Ch. 11 took me a while and is not as long as the others, not even as long as I had originally planned, because there's just been so much craziness going on in my life.  I was trying to finish Dealing With Discipline asap and I was also packing up because I moved this past weekend... and now I'm unpacking.  But I've only got a little bit more to go on Chapter 12 now so I'm hoping to submit that by the end of this week.  That would be good =)

I'm hoping to pick up speed on this because, even though I love the series, there's a lot of other things that I want to write too and I can't because this one takes so much of my concentration!  Although I can occasionally pound out a standalone, I kinda hate to do so because it takes away time I feel like I should be working on books / the series. 

And there's several new series that I really want to start!

Pretty Pictures

So, on my last blog post someone suggested that I make a Pinterest page so that people can 'see' beyond my descriptions in the books.  Now, I love Pinterest anyway, although I've sadly had less time for trying out new recipes and things, so I thought this was a great idea.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Pinterest, it's basically like an online bulletin board.  I've found it particularly helpful for recipes.  When you find something that you want to remember, like a recipe, you "pin" it to your board.  When you're sitting there thinking about what to do for dinner, you can go to your Pinterest board, look through the recipes - which are all denoted by pictures - and click on the picture of what you want and it will automatically take you back to that webpage where you found the recipe.

My husband doesn't get it.  He asked me, "Isn't that just bookmarking it?"

Well, technically yes, but it's with PICTURES.  I don't have to try to remember how I described said recipe in the bookmark, or click through a bunch of links before finding the one that I want; I can just look at the pictures, think "oo that looks good for tonight" and click on it.  Plus it's useful for things like Do-It-Yourself crafts, decorating ideas, sewing ideas, etc.  Some people collect funny sayings (I do that) or inspirational quotes.  I've seen work-out pins, sexy men pins, sexy women pins, hairstyles, make-up, etc.  It's a cool site.

So, as suggested by the reader, I started a Pinterest page as Golden Angel for my books.  You DO NOT have to join in order to see my boards.  What my Pinterest Page consists of is (at the moment) 4 different boards.  One of them just has humorous sayings.  The other three are labeled by my series - Domestic Discipline, Poker Loser and Stronghold (which includes the Venus characters).  I have pinned pictures of various things - and tried to label all of them - that remind me of things in my books.  This includes some pictures of men / women that I think look the way I see my characters in my head and some pictures that look like kinda of like places I describe.  I found one that's pretty close to how I picture Stonehaven (Dealing With Discipline) and another that looks similar to how I picture the bar at Stronghold.

Now, of course, you may or may not agree with me and that's okay.  Not everyone wants to see pictures and if you prefer to keep what's in your head, that's cool.  But if you're curious as to how I picture things in my own head or just prefer to have a visual to hold in your mind as you read, the Pinterest page might be a cool thing to check out.  I'll try to keep it updated on a fairly regular basis as more characters are introduced and as I find more pictures =)

Submitted and Out

Okay, so the next chapter of Marriage Training was taking me too long to write so I went ahead and submitted only part of what I intended the next chapter to be.  Which means that I'm already about halfway through the next chapter after that, since it was intended to be part of the chapter that I just submitted.  *sigh*  It was going to be one longer chapter, now it's going to be 1 short chapter and 1 decent length chapter.  But I figured people are probably getting tired of waiting.

Things have just been a bit crazy here since we're moving this weekend and I was going a bit crazy trying to finish Dealing With Discipline.  The whole book really made me happy =)  If you've gotten it and have finished it, it would be super awesome of you to leave me a review!!!  Those really do make a big difference for me. 

In the meantime... I'm working on Stronghold and getting the next Marriage Training book out... both of which will probably pick up on speed once we're moved into the new place and have unpacked.  Right now it's a bit stressful.  *sigh*  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!