What's in store for tomorrow?
Follow the "7 Days" tag for all 7 letters.
--Giselle Renarde
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
7 Days of You Away: The Fourth Day
Keep coming back for more...
Follow the "7 Days" label tag for all 7 letters.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
7 Days of You Away: A Visual Treat
I've been sorting through the mountains of papers around my desk, and came across a... well, I don't know what to call it except a "graphic short story" (like a graphic novel, but short?) I created YEARS ago. I wish I'd dated it because I don't remember exactly when I made this thing, or even why. Maybe I just felt like drawing naked people. hehe
By way of explanation, this short story is basically a letter a day from a girlfriend to her boyfriend, who seems to have gone on vacation without her. That spells trouble, of course.
You'll notice that, because these are "letters," I actually drew them on the kind of stationary you might recognize from your childhood (primarily because it's left over from MY childhood LOL).
Okay, so there's one letter per day for the next 7 days. Some are very NSFW. Here we go:
Come back tomorrow for Day Two!
Hugs,
Giselle
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Writing Made Me A Better Person
Sometimes I look back on the person I was before I became a writer and I shake me head. If I met that person today, I wouldn't want to hang out with her. I would think she was mean and bitchy and tremendously callous. I wouldn't want to be her friend.
Of course, me being me, I have access to all my memories and experiences. I can psychoanalyze myself and explain away certain tendencies and behaviours. But part of my establishment of Self involved getting a job in business... in downtown Toronto... right out of university. As other Canadians will freely tell you, a lot of people in business in downtown Toronto are not so nice. Maybe we're talking on a Canadian scale here, but nevertheless, working in business plunked me right up against some crazy fucks.
I figure there are only two directions you can go when your clients are assholes. No, I just changed my mind. There are three:
1) You can become meek and submissive, just hoping if you keep your head down low enough and don't stop apologizing, they might not yell at you today. 2) You can have a complete emotional shut-down, so that you just don't care if you're being chewed out every day. 3) You can become an asshole too.
For me, it was a combination of 2 and 3, I think. Maybe I'm being a touch hard on myself, and of course there are always other factors at play, but before I started writing, I just wasn't a very nice person.
Let's skip ahead a few years to the days when I've just started writing and submitting my work to publishers. No, let's skip even further forward to the days when my work has been accepted for publication and I'm started to get those "join our author yahoo group" links.
I came into publishing quite naively, but I distinctly remember thinking, "Everybody's going to be ruthless. Everybody's out to get me. Everybody wants their book to sell and mine to fail."
I don't believe that anymore. Sure, I'm aware of those few and far between authors who will trash competitors' books on Amazon, but from what I've encountered, authors in the romance/erotic fiction genres are the absolute best and most giving people... ever!
When I was a novice, just coming into writing professionally, I had no idea what to expect. What I found, at every turn, were other authors willing to help. No, WANTING to help. Because we all remember what it felt like to know nothing and feel insignificant. I couldn't believe how at home I felt with other writers. I thought they'd be mean, because I was used to people being mean to me. Instead, I found I'd stumbled upon the most giving, loving, generous, and caring people I'd ever encountered.
And other authors' generosity encouraged me to be generous too. As soon as I'd established a blog I opened it up for interviews and granted authors lots of free promo opportunities. So many people in this industry went above and beyond for me. When you're not used to "nice," "nice" can be a thing of inspiration.
My change in attitude has extended out into other aspects of my life too. As an author, you're bound to get some bad reviews along the way, and god knows I've had my fair share. I know how it impacts me when somebody out there in the world, somebody who doesn't know me and maybe doesn't even realize I'm a real person, says something scathing or cruel or just plain... mean.
That hurts. As a result, I'm now very careful how I talk about other people, even if they are celebrities to some degree. Twitter makes it very easy to hear what others are saying about us, and I would never, never want to make another human being feel as down as I have felt at times.
I think about other people now. I really didn't do that before I started writing professionally. I care about people I've never met. I want other authors to succeed. I want other people to feel happy and proud of their accomplishments, not depressed or ashamed.
I care about other people. I'm excited about other authors' projects. I want them to have great sales and great reviews. That's how writing made me a better person.
Hugs,
Giselle
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Call for Submissions: Sex: Unknown, A Digital Zine By and For Intersex Folks
Today, a call for subs for those of you who identify as intersex. Get writing!
Call for Submissions! Deadline April 1, 2012
SEX: UNKNOWN
A Digital Zine By and For Intersex Folks
Call for Submissions! Deadline: April 1, 2012
*Please forward widely*
As intersex people, we often feel alienated from queer and trans communities, our identities invisibilized within the discourse of “LGBT.” Because our experiences are portrayed as highly medicalized conditions in most forms of popular media, we want to give voice to our personal experiences and create a more complete picture of our emotional and social lives as intersex folks.
Our purpose is to create a digital zine in which to share our stories and our struggles, build a network of community support and foster transformative healing. We want to show a broad spectrum of our backgrounds with regards to race, ethnicity, class, sex, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and nationality. This is about who we are and how we feel. We are not alone.
We invite self-identified intersex folks to send us stories, poems, narratives and visual art pieces on the feelings, experiences and struggles of living in our sexes/genders. What does intersex mean to you? How does being intersex affect your relationships with family, friends and partners? What is your experience to coming out? How do you connect to your sex and/or gender?
Send us your poems, stories, memoir/autobiography/non-fiction or other writings (limit 1,500 words, as .DOC attachments) and visual art (as .JPG attachments) to intersex.zine [at] gmail [dot] com. Please submit no more than 5 pieces total. Include your preferred name, location, age and email address. Anonymous submissions are acceptable. Let us know if your pieces have been previously published. We look forward to connecting with you!
DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2012
The Editors:
This project is put together with love by a group of queer POC writers and activists living in Oakland and Berkeley, California. Chi Mei Tam is an intersex genderqueer Chinese American immigrant who grew up in Oakland. She is a passionate organizer for social and economic justice, specifically for immigrant and queer communities. Dylan Casama is a tomboyish boy Pinoy. He writes intersex love and ghost stories. See him published at http://www.theintersection.org/iwl/2011. Jai Arun Ravine is a trans-identified mixed race Thai American artist and ally to the intersex community. They are excited to support Chi Mei and Dylan in the production and design of this zine.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Justine Elyot Guest Post: Anything But Vanilla
Guess who's here? It's Justine Elyot, with a guest post called 'Anything But Vanilla.' I'm handing it over. Here I go. Here she is:
Vanilla was just a flavour of ice-cream when I first took an interest in BDSM. And
BDSM wasn't called BDSM then, either. It was the sexier, but more misleading,
S&M. How it delighted me that this was an inversion of my mother's favourite shop,
M&S. In a way, it still does. (Though her favourite shop is John Lewis now – not
much perversion potential there.)
But S&M wasn't right – I'm not and never will be a masochist. I don't find pain
sexually arousing. But I do like BDSM. From my late teens onward I got my hands on
a variety of kinky classics and devoured them like ripe melons in the desert, though I
made sure nobody else saw me at the feast. From The Story of O to its more modern
counterpart, Carrie's Story, I lapped it up.
But then the internet happened, and I started to wonder if I really liked BDSM as
much as I thought. I found a site with stories on, but they were, in the main, far more
extreme than anything I fantasised about. I wasn't interested in being suffocated with
polythene, for instance, or undergoing extreme torture. I read a number of things that
disturbed me at the time, though I'd never question the writers' right to publish them.
All the same, I retreated a bit and looked for tamer pastures.
Then it struck me. I could just write my own stuff, to cater to my own tastes. Maybe
too mild for some, too extreme for others – as with pretty much everything, kink has
a spectrum. You are where you are on it and it's nothing to feel inadequate about.
Unless you get off on feeling inadequate, of course, in which case – go for your life.
My quandary with finding good BDSM reading material is mirrored by the dilemma
of my heroine, Cherry, in Meeting Her Match. But she isn't looking for a dirty book –
she's looking for a dom. Of course, just like the stories, doms come in varying degrees
of strength. Some of the dynamics she experiments with are not to her taste, some of
them decidedly are. But she gives it a go, and she learns in the process.
Here's an excerpt:
In the hotel room, we dressed again, this time surrounded by luxury and history
instead of cheap felt carpeting and plasterboard walls. Justin had bought a new
martinet at Shepherds Bush Market and was swishing it to and fro while Maz rubbed
gold-flecked lotion all over my bare flesh, which took some time.
"So you're feeling brave?" Maz asked gently, reaching deep down into my cleavage
and working the ointment in. "You want to go through with what we talked about?"
"I think so. Dressed like this makes me want to even more. Funny how just changing
clothes can get you into a mindset."
"It's good, isn't it?" Justin grinned, wrapping the leather fronds of the whip around
one of the bedposts with a flick of the wrist. "How something as simple as showing a
lot of skin can make a person feel submissive. And when you add collars and cuffs to
that…"
"It's a bit like magic," I agreed. "Before a word's been said, I want to kiss somebody's
feet."
"Kiss mine if you like," offered Maz, giggling.
They were cute feet, toes wriggling in gladiator sandals, but I decided to pass for the
moment.
"Maybe later. You look great too, by the way."
In her abbreviated silk toga and richly-jewelled cloak, she looked imperious and
impish at the same time. I supposed that was the trick of switching. The opulent
cloths were mistressy enough, but the teeny toga hem was perfect for flipping up and
delivering an impromptu spanking. She could go either way tonight.
"Right then, you two," said Justin, bored of practising his whip hand on the
bedposts. "Bend over the end of the bed and let's give this a proper trial run."
"Both of us?" squealed Maz.
"Of course. Bottoms bared, please. I want you both going downstairs with noticeable
markings. Besides, I think a little warm-up is a sensible idea, don't you?"
Yes, I do! And if you want more than a warm-up, here are some more details:
In the internet age, it should be easy for like-minded fetishists
to find and connect with each other. Or so Cherry thought. Her
decision to enter the wild and wonderful world of BDSM leads her
to some interesting and unexpected places. She soon finds herself
on 'the scene' and her insatiable curiosity takes her to orgies, slave
auctions and mansion houses full of trainee submissives, but where
will she find her perfect dom? Will Cherry ever meet her match?
Available in paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meeting-Her-Match-Justine-
Elyot/dp/1908086157/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
And for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Her-Match-ebook/dp/
B006C4C3SK/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325881785&sr=1-11
Justine Elyot is the UK bestselling author of On Demand, The Business of Pleasure
and Erotic Amusements. When she isn't buried under a pile of new projects, you can
find her waving at the world from her website http://justineelyot.com/ or gassing
about trivialities on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/JustineElyot
Heartfelt thanks to the wonderful Giselle for letting me blether on here today – and
thanks for reading.
Monday, January 23, 2012
New Option for Authors: Advertise with Donuts and Desires
I've been toying with the idea of offering ad space here at Donuts and Desires for years, and every time I've thought about it I've ended up talking myself out of it. Why? Well, when I was a "young" author ("new" author might be a better way of putting it) I was always on the lookout for free promotional opportunities. Heck, I still am. That's why I've been committed to providing free promo ops to other authors for as long as I've had this blog.
Here's the thing: I've been listening in on a lot of back room chats among authors like myself, and what I've gleaned in recent months is that authors are looking for affordable ad space at blogs readers AND other authors frequent (like this one).
Promo opportunities, like my Quick Six interviews, my holiday "Festive Frenzy" and the various LGBTQ-oriented promotional possibilities I make available throughout the year are fun, BUT... authors want more--banner ads, static cover ads, image-oriented advertising that stays up on a blog for months at a time.
So this time when I rolled the idea of offering ad space at Donuts and Desires around in my brain, I decided not to talk myself out of it.
That's right, starting now I'm opening up AFFORDABLE ad space at Donuts and Desires.
What's available?
At the moment, we've got 3 options:
Cover Ads
Your cover ad will appear on the sidebar at Donuts and Desires--ABOVE my own book covers on the first row and ABOVE my antho covers on the second! (You're just that special!) The ad will consist of your book cover linked to a destination url of your choice as well as the title spelled out above and a descriptor of 8 words or fewer below, if desired.
Cover Ads Pricing:
One Month: $5 US or Canadian Currency or £3.25 GBP (yes, I can accept payment in 3 currencies--awesome, right?)
Six Months: $25 US or Canadian Currency or £16 GBP
Bottom Banner Ads
Look down... look waaaaay down! Donuts and Desires now offers the option of placing your banner, whether it be for your book, your website, your blog, your llama farm (actually, let's just stick to books and related services LOL) at the base of all site pages. You can send me the html or the image with a destination url--whatever works for you.
Banner Ads Pricing:
Twelve Months (a.k.a One Year): $25 US or Canadian Currency or £16 GBP (That's an amazing deal!)
Ad placements may be limited and prices are subject to change, so act fast to secure your spot. Payments can be accepted via PayPal only.
Quick Six Interviews
You know I've got to offer up a freebie, right? Quick Six interviews are featured on Mondays at D&D. Just answer six of the following questions (I repeat, SIX, not five, not ten, but SIX) and send 'em IN THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL to the address below. At the bottom of the post I will also feature your author blurb and websites--so you'll have to send those along as well. No attachments, please.
It's free, so take advantage!
Quick Six PRO
Interview with _______________
Q: What's hot on the market these days?
Q: What's the most time-consuming part of a writer's life?
Q: On the topic of ebook piracy, hunter or head in the sand?
Q: What should a writer's priority be?
Q: How do you handle a bad review?
Q: Have you ever encountered any unprofessional behaviours from editors,
publishers or other writers, that they might not even realize are damaging?
Q: What advice do you give aspiring authors?
Q: What do you look for in a publisher?
Q: What makes an editor great or...not so great?
Q: Do you have a preference for short stories of longer works?
Q: If you've ventured into self-publishing, what are the pros and cons?
Q: Do you find yourself writing for the market and not for YOU, or self-censoring in any way?
Q: How have the people in your life reacted to your career as a writer?
Q: Any promo tips for fellow authors?
Contact Info
Questions? Want to book ad space? Cool! Email me at:
DonutsandDesires@gmail.com
(please use only the above address for inquiries~thanks)
Ok, that's it for now. If I've left out any pertinent information please let me know.
Hugs,
Giselle
Friday, January 20, 2012
Gather 'Round the Projector. It's Time for Travel Slides!
Not quite, but almost.
As I may or may not have mentioned, Sweet and I enjoyed a romantic little getaway to Niagara Falls last week. I've always thought of NF as touristy and tacky, but Sweet thinks it's romance up the wazoo, so I figured I'd go with an open mind this time and you know what? I caught the fever. I guess no matter where you are, the romance is there if that's what you want to see.
So I bought my girl a dozen red roses, booked us a jacuzzi room, and treated her to a just-because mini-vacation. And now YOU have to look at pictures. Mwahahaha! My evil plan is complete.
When in Niagara Falls with your sweetie, it's really worth getting a hotel room with a jacuzzi tub big enough for two. I bought us a romance package at the Hilton Fallsview, and I gotta hand it to Hilton staff--they didn't seem even momentarily fazed about two women checking in with a romance package.
As you can see below, our room looked out on the Fallsview casino and both sets of falls. You can kind of see the America falls in the casino pic but the Horseshoe falls are out of shot. Sometimes all you can see of them are mist anyway.
Maybe you've heard of the lights by the falls? Well, most of them are Disney characters and I don't really feel like being sued so I won't post them. But here are some mounties and the coolest fountain I've ever seen (with a ferris wheel in the background):
The 9 o'clock fireworks over the falls were really something special--totally worth freezing your buns off after dark to hug your sweetie and watch (even if your sweetie is watching through a camera lens LOL):
Okay, I'll stop boring you now. Anyway, those are some highlights of our Niagara getaway.
Hugs,
Giselle
--
Monday, January 16, 2012
Giselle Renarde's SCP Blog Hop Stop
If you've been participating in Secret Cravings Publishing's first anniversary blog hop, you know why you've come.If you just happened to have popped into Donuts & Desires today, you might be wondering what's going on. You can find out more here.
I joined Secret Cravings with my multicultural MMF menage story Callie and the Hipster, which is a part of their "hot flash" line:
When Callie’s husband leaves her for a younger woman, she drives all the way out to the summerhouse only to find it's been taken over by hipsters--twenty-somethings who wear plaid and listen to indie rock and eat nothing but raw broccoli. They're friends of her son, Dante, all queer and quirky students at the nearby university.At first, Callie's irritated that her son has thrown a party in her haven of relaxation, but when she and a bottle of Kahlua stumble upon two young men gettin' it on in her bed her annoyance morphs into arousal. The drink and the day's multitude of disappointments encourage her to join Vish and Evan, pansexual and polyamorous young men who are more than happy to welcome a vibrant older woman into their bed. How will they feel about inviting Callie into their lives?
It's a funny story, and heartfelt as well, with lots of hot sex. You can find out more here: http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=12&products_id=126
My newest addition to the SCP lineup is another MMF cougar story called Wonderful Wing Boys:
Deb has nothing in common with the other women at Only Angels. They're mutton dressed as lamb in their gold miniskirts and sequin tops. Deb's all business. Her life’s work is her only interest...until The Big Guy hooks her up with Andreas and Zander, two of the club’s incredibly hot young angels.
Yeppers, this one is urban fantasy and then some. Since it's a THREEsome story I'll be giving away THREE copies of Wonderful Wing Boys. Yay!!!
To enter the Wonderful Wing Boys contest, as well as SCP's grand prize contest as outlined at their blog, all you have to do is leave a comment in the comments. Remember to include your name and email address.
Good luck everybody!
Hugs,
Giselle
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Cheapest and Easiest Way to "Stamp Out Poverty"
If I'd been thinking, I would have posted info about this program in December, when everyone was getting cards in the post. Oh well, better late than never.
Most people I talk to have never heard of Oxfam's "Stamp out Poverty" program (actually, most people in Canada have never heard of Oxfam), but I think it's brilliant. The program collects postage stamps from volunteers across Canada to sell them to collectors and raise money for Oxfam projects.
I've participated for years, and it's as easy as cutting the cancelled stamps off envelopes I receive in the mail. Really! I just save them up until I have a whole bunch, then send them in. It's unbelievably easy.
The stamp program needs volunteers to collect stamps, or even donate valuable stamp collections, which they sell to philatelists (stamp collectors--there's a word of the day for 'ya LOL). Here's some info I pulled from Oxfam Canada's website:
How the money is raised
Those used stamps and envelopes can add up. Oxfam Canada volunteers raise about $10,000 annually by sorting and selling stamps to collectors. Nearly $250,000 has been given to Oxfam from the Stamp Program since it started in 1980.
What you should save
- Everything!
- foreign stamps
- Canadian stamps
- commemorative stamps
- Keep the entire envelope if there are:
- clearly identifiable town/village postmarks
- registered/special delivery postmarks
Where should I send the stamps?
Once you've collected the stamps and envelopes they can be delivered to any Oxfam Canada office or sent directly to either:
Stamp Programme
Oxfam Canada
39 McArthur Ave
Ottawa, Ontario
K1L 8L7
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
FREE READ: Underhanded, Lesbian Erotica
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
2012 Toronto Star Short Story Contest
If you're an Ontario writer, you just might be eligible to enter this year's Toronto Star Short Story Contest. First prize is $5,000 and then some. Here's a lot of reading: