What makes you want to read a blog?

I have a question: What makes you want to read a blog? I don't mean just once, but to frequently visit? Like returning to a favorite vacation spot, such as Miami Beach? Sometimes I blog hop - when I'm blocked from writing or just want see what everybody's doing. If I find a new blog I really like, even if I've never met the blog's author, even if we have no friends in common, I'll add it to my blog roll. My requirements for this is: 1) There are frequent recent blog posts. If the last post was a month ago, or worse, monthS ago, I probably won't bother to check it out again much less add it to my blog roll. 2) The posts have to be interesting. They don't have to be earth-shattering, just pleasant or fun to read. One thing I'm not thrilled with even if there are frequent and recent posts, is if the blog is only promotional. For instance, some authors only post excerpts and reviews of their books. There's no other meat to the blog. I might as well visit a book review site or a publishers' for sale pages and read them. I don't mind, and even like to read excerpts and reviews - IF there's more than ONLY that. That's pretty much my only requirements. I don't think that's being too hard on anyone. Or do you? I don't only read mommy blogs, or author/writing blogs, or how to blog better blogs. I like some variety. Heck, I even (sometimes very much) enjoy reading blogs about the gay lifestyle even though I'm not gay. So, what do you like to read/see in blogs and on the flip side, what don't you like to see or read on a blog? Does something annoy you? Is there something you'd like to see but don't see enough of? Or that you require to return? Do you ever lucky enough to find a blog where you can't wait for more? Where the entries are so enticing, you get addicted and go back for more and more? After I wrote this post (I usually pre-schedule my posts as I'm a big believer in being prepared and with the day job demanding lots of overtime, often without warning, and with being the Mom Taxi to several kids, there are some nights I can't blog or do anything I planned) I found this really cool blog that's talking about the same subject. In fact, it offers a valuable service: critiquing your blog. The name is: Critique My Blog You don't have to ask - yes, I put my blog in the queue and hope to receive a critique. And I hope he'll like my blog or at least not find much that needs to be fixed. Inquiring minds want to know :) You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :) You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Release day! Submissive Dreams by Ashley Ladd & Interview with Office Politics author Katie Blu

TODAY! Monday, August 18th, one of my babies is being born into the world at Total-e-Bound.com. It's a BDSM novel primarily M/F but there are a couple of M/M and M/M/F scenes. In honor of my new release I'll be the chat guest this evening, Monday August 18th, on the Litergasm Chat Loop from 7 - 10 pm EDT. Please join me in playing games, having fun, and at least one lucky chatter will win one of my previous releases. (I was probably crazy to schedule a chat on the kids' first day back to school, but what the hell. I've bought all their clothes and supplies and the hubby has to be good for something, right? He can run out for any emergency last minute supplies. So now our schools are closed due to the tropical storm.) It's not only very sexy, but it's full of angst. I just love the hero. Doesn't his head look like a phallic symbol? God, I wish I looked like the heroine, my body, anyway. The cover gods have blessed me again. Thanks cover gods! Here's the first ever book trailer I made, and it's for Submissive Dreams. What do you think? It's also posted on You Tube. Also, my friend Katie Blue has a release today, too. In celebration for the release of "Office Politics" from Total-E-Bound today, I will draw a name from the commentors at both this blog and Kelly Kirch's blog for a free down-loadable copy. Don't miss out! Here's Katie's interview. Enjoy!

1) What is your favorite type of book to write and why? Taboo. I love taboo subjects. That's why you'll find a Preacher falling for a parishioner in Hot Under The Collar, an older woman and a younger man in Surprised by Desire, a love affair between step children (okay, they were never children with each other but you get the idea) in Beloved Brother, and now an office romance between a boss and his employee in Office Politics (newly released from Total-E-Bound as of today!)

2) Do you have a favorite setting of books to read? To write? Mostly moderate sized towns in the midwest United States. I like the idea of "regular" folks doing irregular things in suburbia.

3) What theme runs through your books? Have you identified it? If so, do you have an idea why this is so? The naughty and shocking. Erotica is new to me but started from a dare with two other writers and the probing of my editor at Ellora's Cave. I initially wrote Hot Under to shock her. She didn't blink. So I wrote Surprised and Office simultaneously. TEB picked up Office right away and EC took Surprised. I decided I was completely unable to shock editors that have pretty much seen it all. Beloved was just plain fun.

4) If you decided to stop writing, what other career would you pursue and why? If I stop writing, it's to pursue writing in another genre. Therefor I never stopped. I can't imagine life without a computer in my lap. Lemme try to visualize that again... Nope, can't do it.

5) If you could time travel, what period in time would you go to and why? A year ago. So I could undo some mistakes, but only for a short couple of days then I'd want to be right back here. There's no time like the present.

6) How do you celebrate the birth of a new book or when you get a new contract for a book? I used to carry dinner in. Then it was a few "Woo hoo"s. Now, truthfully, I sometimes forget one is coming out. I'm just so busy on that next project that I forget to slow down and enjoy the moment I've been working so hard to see happen.

7) What is your claim to fame, besides writing? I have spoken seven languages in my life and traveled the world several times over. That's pretty much it. Oh, and I'm not really an Aussie. That was something set up a year ago--one of those mistakes I made which I would correct. After all, you should write what you know and be proud of your identity. I wasn't and thought I should pretend to be a different nationality. It didn't work because ultimately I am always going to slip back into the me I am.

8) What is something you're nostalgic about? Why? My youth. Not because I'm heading toward middle-aged but because Mom and Dad took care of everything. I never had to think about bills, next meals, house payments. No, Mom and Dad took be around the world and I had a blast. I miss those days like crazy. It's like taking the feast away just as you settle in to enjoy it.

9) What piece of trivia would you like to share to give us insight into who Katie is? An American. A woman. A sensual being who believes sensuality is perfectly fine. A lover of romance.

10) Tell us about your favorite part of the writing/publishing process and why. The beginning of any project because the adrenaline is pumping and there is nothing like the excitement, the love affair, of crushing on your latest work.

Please let me know if there's anything else you'd like to add.

I have three outstanding works waiting for publication, one of which is to be an anthology piece with a few very talented writers at TEB. I love getting comments and feedback. If you're interested in the website, which admittedly isn't well kept up, visit at www.freewebs.com/KatieBlu.

Thank you for having me Ashley. This was a lot of fun and I'm honored to be a part of your blog.

Thanks again, Katie. I can't wait to read your book.

Ashley

OFFICE POLITICS by Katie Blu, Available Monday, August 18^th from www.Total-E-Bound.com

BLURB:

From fantasy to foreplay, can Betsy keep her perspective at the office when falling for her boss could cost her future? Betsy Pruitt is up for a promotion at a magazine which has never seen a female executive. Just because Maxwell Sumner, her office crush, is up for the same promotion does not mean she is willing to forfeit an opportunity to rise to the top. Max Sumner failed in his attempt to make a name for himself with his father's law firm. Given a second chance to succeed at the family owned magazine, he has moved from office lackey to business team manager under the careful training of the delectable Ms. Pruitt. Keeping business and pleasure separate seems obvious, but what happens to office politics when Max finds Betsy in the throes of orgasm...at his desk in an empty building? All bets are off and the fight for the corner office suddenly becomes more complicated.

"OFFICE POLITICS" EXCERPT:

“Oh man, how am I going to face him?” she whined at her reflection. If he smirked or winked, if he did anything but propose matrimony based on her lurid performance, she’d beg the floor to swallow her whole.

Like that would actually happen. Not hardly.

She grabbed her remote bullet vibrator and lubricant. With a deft application, she inserted the vibrator, feeling rather naughty and a bit like she was snubbing her nose at the pleasure Max had given her last night. With any luck she’d have a break room orgasm by lunch time and have forgotten all about him.

As a fortifier, Betsy pulled on a pair of low rise black slacks and a long-sleeved, fitted shirt. The staid pearl buttons marching up the front of the gauzy, white fabric to a respectable neckline made her feel properly covered. Her hair had gone wild on her, but she ignored the wide loops and pushed her glasses up her nose. “There. That looks smart, and there’s enough fabric to please a nun.”

Forty minutes later, sitting at her desk, her mind flashed to the night before. Max paced his office giving her not a glance of his attention. She dug through her purse, slicked on her lip balm and dropped her purse on the floor. Instantly a persistent whispering vibration filled her pelvis. Betsy clamped her legs together and a sudden rocketing climax slammed into her. She gripped the edge of her desk as pleasure consumed her. A low groan slipped from her throat, and her eyes shut of their own accord. “Oh God, not now,” she panted.

“Betsy? You okay?” her pod mate, Mona asked.

“In…a—” Betsy keened softly between pants, “mi-minu-te.”

“I’ll have whatever you’re on,” Mona breathed, picking up Betsy’s latte for a sniff.

Betsy opened her eyes to slits. Her gaze locked on Max as he turned around, phone to his ear, and cocked an eyebrow at her. The sexy secret orgasm pulsed another shiver through her, rippling her climax higher. Her lips parted as she tried to breathe deeply enough to accommodate her screaming lungs. Her pelvis rocked in minute tilts.

“Not over?” she grunted in quiet hysteria. Her pussy flooded as heat shot from her groin and sizzled along her nerve endings. She’d be eternally grateful she’d worn a thong today.

Max’s eyes narrowed on her, his gaze raking her body. He spoke briefly into his phone and hung up. His sure strides ate up the ground as he came towards her.

“Oh crap,” Betsy whispered. She fumbled for her purse, unsteady with her anxious search for the vibrator’s remote control. Her fingers curled around it triumphantly.

“No shit, Sherlock. I think he just saw your virtual orgasm. By the way,” Mona said hurriedly, “you’re going to have to teach me that trick.”

Betsy glanced at her. Was she crazy? They barely knew each other. What was it about watching someone come that broke down the personal boundaries between strangers? Suddenly the remote vibrator didn’t sound like such a stellar plan after all—for so many reasons. One of which was bearing down on her. How was she supposed to know it would go off without provocation?

“Ms. Pruitt, please join me in the conference room.” Maxwell Sumner’s sensual mouth was no more than a thin white line. His black eyes snapped and Betsy had the impression of a barely restrained bull. He grabbed her elbow. Her death grip on the remote notched the vibrations up in speed. Betsy gasped her pleasured alarm.

“Now?” At the rate she was going, she wasn’t sure walking with the vibrating monster inside would help her circumstances. In fact with the way he was looking at her and her sudden upright posture shifting the internal beast, Betsy had a sick moment of fear as her body began to quiver anew. “Oh hell, no. Not now. Please?”

“Immediately.” He yanked her elbow and brought her to her feet.

Blurb from Ashley's book released Monday August 18th at www.total-e-bound.com Stacey disguises herself to fool her ex-husband, the Internet king of porn, but he's not the only one who gets a shock. Stacey Cooke can't believe her eyes when she sees her ex-husband Brand on the Internet—and he's the new king of porn. She divorced him for being too boring in bed and out and so she's stunned. Much worse than stunned, she's jealous and it hurts. She wonders if she gave up on him too early. She can't stop peeking at her ex with all his film partners. When an ad pops up for a new partner to have sex with Brand on film, her friend Lilli persuades her to apply. Donning a mask, disguising her voice, Stacey decides to see if she's still in love with him. Excerpt from: Submissive Dreams

"You're not gonna fuckin' believe this." Lilli whistled long and loud while she shook her head. The late afternoon sunlight filtering through the grimy windows glinted off her multi-coloured hair streaked blonde and red through her auburn locks.

Accustomed to her friend's over-ebullience, Stacey Cooke gave an obligatory smile. However, she didn't blink an eye. "Uh huh."

"No, I mean it. This is fuckin' unbelievable! Sit down. This is wild."

With an arched brow, Stacey double checked her seating arrangement. "I am sitting. So what is it I won't believe?"

Reverently, Lilli placed her laptop atop Stacey's legs. "Look closely. Recognise anyone?"

Stacey gulped. Naked bodies writhed together, kissing, caressing, shagging their arses off… Women were tied up while men enjoyed their wicked way with them.

"Uh, why do you want me to look at this?" Despite herself, she couldn't stop staring at the huge hard cocks fucking the moist pussies. Nor could she keep from creaming her own panties.

"Come on. Don't you see it?" Lilli jumped up and down as if panicked. She jabbed a finger at the screen.

"Look at the man's face. Don't you recognise him?" Her friend's voice reverberated with frustration and excitement.

Stacey hadn't exactly been studying faces. Those muscles and cocks were mouth-watering scrumptious, and she squirmed on her chair.

Lilli tapped her pointy, chipped fingernail on a man's face

Stacey's eyes dilated on the face she knew so well. It went blurry before her eyes, and her heart skipped several beats. She couldn't breathe. It couldn't be. She had to be hallucinating. Or this was a trick. Was it April first?

"That's Brandon."

The caption under the bald-headed man proclaimed him to be 'Tyrannosaurus Rex', but it was unmistakably her ex-husband—on steroids. Or maybe some great graphic air brushing was in play. Still, she laboured in disbelief as she struggled for air. "Th-that couldn't be him. He'd never, ever…"

Gobsmacked, she couldn't finish the sentence.

Lilli leaned close enough to kiss the screen. "Dominate women? Tie them up? Shag them in public? Be a porn star?"

All of the above. Stacey couldn't help herself, she stole another look at the man's face. It certainly looked like Brand, but she couldn't wrap her mind around all this. Hell no! Her husband couldn't be fucking other women. Especially not so many other women—where everybody could see him. "They say everyone has a double…"

"If it was me, I'd be finding out for sure." Lilli waved a dismissive hand and paced before her.

The hurtful truth slapped her between the eyes, and she dragged in a deep breath.

"We're divorced. He can do whatever the hell he pleases." Even if it ached that he'd never done any of that with her, that he was doing it with so many other women, she'd get over it. Still, obsessed against her will, she scrolled through the pages, counting just how many partners he'd had. Holy! 'Rex' had fucked at least twenty women onscreen. The man was more machine than human.

She mumbled more to herself than to her friend as she rested her chin on her hand, her spirit draining. "Just how would I find out for sure?"

Lilli crossed back to her and gave her shoulder a commiserative squeeze. "Well, you could pick up the phone and just ask him."

"Lovely. You expect me to blurt out 'are you a porn star? Is that you shagging all those twits?' Like I'm really bloody going to do that."

Lilli confiscated the laptop and clicked on a few keys. Then she handed it back as she licked her lips. "Look, they're advertising for women who want to…participate."

"You're not suggesting…?" Stacey gaped at her friend. "Why would I want to? We're divorced with a capitol 'D'." Pain slashed at her nevertheless—a pain she didn't want and refused to name. "I mean, he never wanted me that way. Our sex was mind-numbing…"

She shut up when she realised she'd revealed more than she'd intended. Flames licked her cheeks. Lilli leaned over her, crimson heat flooding her cheeks. "You call that boring? If he wasn't your ex, I might be tempted…"

Available at: Total-e-Bound.com

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

I don't care who started it...

I can sooooooooooooo relate.

So very often I feel just like this parent.

DD1 and DD2 fight with DS3 all the time. At least it feels like it.

Everybody except my kids think I'm pretty easy going. But my kids can really get me going when they're yelling and fussing at one another. It can ruin the best day when I come home from this. If it's already been a crappy day, then the kids had better watch out. I probably look and sound just as bad as this lion when they get me going. You'll want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

TV remotes and DVD players

This looks sooooo like our house. Hubby's always complaining that the remote is missing and it's always close by like in the couch cushions or on his nightstand or on the floor by his side of the bed (never by my side of the bed, um...) The hubby's really mad this week. The new DVD player is broken. he blames DS#3 but as I keep telling him, there's 6 people in the house, he can't just assume without proof. Plus electronic things sometimes break on their own. It's not always human doing. Anyway, the DVD player is on its way to Pennsylvania to be repaired so we'll have to rough it without. Now we only have the choice of 500+ satellite stations until it returns. Poor, poor us. Like I watch that much TV anyway. Hubby usually monopolizes it anyway plus I'm usually writing or reading and I need to get back into my nightly walking. You'll want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

I not has a PMS!!!!

Um, this lioness pales in comparison to DD#2 when she's PMSing. Hint, the poor lion should throw chocolate at the lioness. That's the only thing that helps my daughter. I don't think I suffer from PMS, at least not often and not nearly as bad. I feel for DD#2, though. Poor lion. Poor lioness. Yikes! I thought I scheduled this to post at 7 AM this morning. But I see it was onlhy saved as a "draft". Good thing I checked. Not that this is any world-enlightening wisdom but I like to have a daily post. It also gives me the chance to add something else on my mind. Why are the gay and menage romances so popular right now? Why are women eating up gay (or as we call them in the industry "M/M") romances? I came out of the closet a few months ago for those of you that remember. I admitted I was once engaged to a man, "D", who came out to me as being gay and how shocked and hurt I was. That experience, that individual, tainted my view of this group of people for years. It wasn't until I met my friend M at my current day job that I got a better, hopefully more acurate glimpse, of gay men as people like everybody else. M is a great person. He's loving and caring to everybody. He's funny and smart and a good friend. He's in a committed and loving long-term relationship, probably one of the strongest I know. When he talks about his SO "K" it's always with love and adoration. When I'm with them, I can feel the love and respect between them and for others. M and K are universes apart from D. So after all these years I finally realize that it was just D's personality, to me he was sleazy - sleep around, lying and cheating, that was the real issue. I feel terrible for judging other people on the basis of him. I can only say I was very young, 17, and that that situation with D set off a horrible chain reaction in the rest of my life that also added to my bad feelings. Anyway, getting back to the topic in general, one of my writers' groups is discussing why they think women like M/M and menage romance. I think they're off base and so I'd like other opinions. At least one of them think it's because the women who read them (or any romance) is because they're too old and too scared to go after a real man for themselves, so they fantasize with our books. I don't buy this. When my mom found herself single in her fifties, she dated a lot. She joined groups of other singles her age and they all dated a lot. I also know a lot of married women who like to read and write romance books and watch romantic movies. Just because I'm married doesn't mean I don't melt at the prospect of a good romance. I still adore them. I don't like to peg people anymore. I feel badlyl I ever did. I'd like to think I've finally grown up. What do you think? Why are M/M and menage romances so popular presently? You'll want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Thursday Thirteen: edition 16 - 13 funny cartoons and pics

Thirteen Funny Cartoons & Pictures I'm not feeling very well today so I'm going to do this the easy way. Following are 13 cartoons and pictures I think are funny. Enjoy!

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At least I've not had a donor do this to me...yet.

That's all 13, but here's one more bonus picture, just because I love it. :)

Next is the picture of a man with mere seconds to live.

You'll want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Getting older

What is so bad about getting older?

It means we're still here, right? What is the alternative? (I shudder to think of it.)

One of my writing pals, Kelly Kirch, mentions that she saw a reality TV show where women in their 40s and 50s were competing to become models. How cool is that?

I see many women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s that still look awesome. It used to be that it was mainly the more mature men who looked debonair and the majority of women looked old and haggard. Not anymore. Women are taking care of themselves and look terrific.

Why would anyone think that women are no longer sexy or interesting or not wanting to face new challenges just because we hit that 40 mark? I'm with Kelly all the way on this one.

One of my day job co-workers became an airline stewardess when she was about 40. She's in her 60s now and still very gorgeous.

I'm in my late 40s and don't think I'm done living yet. I still see many many many great years ahead and a lot of accomplishments to be made. My dad is 79 and he's very active and his mind is one of the best, if not the best I know. He's a very forward thinker. To give you an example, he thinks we've gone just about as far as we can with computers. He thinks the next stage of evolution is in the medical field, specifically using human brains to control things.

Of course, I'm very proud of my smart dad. He was one of the first computer people. He designed one of the first computers and was active in the field from the beginning. So I'm not totally surprised. I have to admit, however, and slap my own wrist, that I'm a little amazed at how well he's keeping up with everything now that he's been retired more than twenty years. It's so refreshing talking to him, not only because he's my dad, but because he has such radical, future-thinking ideas. Because he's so on top of things and even out and ahead of everyone else I know.

Someone else told me this about ten years ago, while I was still in my thirties: The forties were the best years of her life. I sort of wondered at the time how she could say that and really mean it. But now that I'm in my 40s, I have to say that I'm loving them. They've been great. I'm more sure of myself, I'm happy with myself, and yet I'm still young and physically active and able to participate in a lot of fun sports and activities. Hopefully, I'll be like my dad (I plan to be) and still taking long bicycle rides and walks, etc., when I'm in my late 70s.

If you've not read about their contest, hop over to Amarinda Jones and Anny Cook's blogs to find out how to win their free books. Don't miss it. Don't miss Kelly's blog, either. They're all always amusing and informative. I learn so much blog hopping. I just wish my butt got more exercise doing it.

Also, CJ Parker is in the running for the first best line contest. She asks that you go and vote for your favorite at: www.smrwonline.org/dandy2

Don't forget, I have a new release coming out at http://www.total-e-bound.com/ this coming Monday, July 21st. "Liquid Heat" is a M/M short story in the Heat Wave sizzling summer series from TEB.

Blurb - Liquid Heat:

Joshua Daly never dreamed he’d fall in love with a man, but when he’s stranded in a nudist colony, it's the super sexy Paul Norris that he wants.When Joshua Daly wrecks in Georgia, aka Hillbilly Hell, he’s put up by his rescuer, Paul, while his car’s being repaired—in a nudist colony. He thought he’d be turned on by all the heavenly female bodies, but to his surprise Paul’s beautiful bod is the one that turns him on. It’s not his fiancée Carole who makes him hesitate to shuck his clothes and give up the corporate life; he’s not sure a Yankee will be welcome in the deep South.

** My internet's still down so I'm on DD#1's computer. Her mouse is broken, so I won't be posting many pictures, maybe only this one till I'm back up on my computer. I can't drag images where I want them. I can barely copy more than a word - at least it's a pain and takes so many tries it's not worth it. So bear with me. I'll also not get much chance, so I presume, to visit many blogs. I will when I get my computer fully operational again.