Authors of Erotic Romance

It’s only the first day of March, but I’m already spring-cleaning. I’m in a rush to see the end of the harshest winter in my state’s recorded history.

One of the rooms I cleaned was my office, lined with hundreds of paperback books. Some are my out-of-print and treasured favorites; others already read or to-be-read. After lugging box after backbreaking box of books to donation centers and the library, I’ve developed a new appreciation for digital publishing.

I’ve always been proud of my career as an e-published author, and I’m equally proud of my trade paperback release. As a reader, I also enjoy having choices.

As I add more books to my digital library the living space in my office will increase. There will be less to dust and more ways for the sunshine to brighten the room. Next spring I’ll have less back-wrenching boxes to haul.

What’s your purchase ratio of e-books to print books? Where do you predict the industry will be in five years?

Happy almost-Spring!

I was sitting around here wondering what I wanted to write about and really nothing interesting came to mind .
So I thought about asking why we read romances? Obviously our readers like the eroticism in our writing, but what made them start reading romances? Most of us don’t start with erotic romances. I think many of us started with more simple/sensual/innocent ones.
I started reading Harlequins because they were the cheapest books my mom could get me. (Gotta love yard sales and those women that used to belong to the Harlequin “club”). Graduated to smut books, then moved away and THEN came back to this stuff . How about you?

Who was the first couple you were pulling for to get together?

I know my mom watched a lot of afternoon soaps, but none of them stick out, though I’m sure I was rooting for someone to get together with someone.

The first couple I can vividly remember wanting to be together: Meg and Calvin from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I can remember wanting more flirting between the two and how much I really really wanted them to be together. Was relieved to find later books…

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com

Authors of Erotic Romance wish you a memorable day!

When I was a young teenager, I borrowed a historical romance by Virginia Henley from my older sister. I think it was The Hawk and the Dove, but I know for sure that it taught me the actual meaning of oral sex! (I thought it was kissing up until that point. So young, so innocent.)

Do you remember the first erotic romance you ever read? Was it an eye-opener?

I’m reading yet another novel featuring a “too thin” heroine who doesn’t know how to eat a decent meal. In this book, though she’s told the hero who’s taken her out to dinner that she’s starving, and readers know she’s eaten only once in two days, she “picks at her barely eaten salad” and leaves the food she ordered on her plate. WTF? Is this normal behavior?

Why is it that in so many novels the heroine skips meals? Is there something wrong with having a healthy appetite? If I read one more story where the heroine “isn’t hungry,” though we know she hasn’t eaten more than a handful of nuts since the day before, these wall-bangers will fly across my family room at warp speed. Enough is enough.

Failure to eat doesn’t make a heroine chic or sexy or smart. It makes her TSTL as in Too Skinny To Live. If she’s hungry, she’s probably cranky and less effective. Lack of nutrition causes ill health; just as eating too much can cause health problems. Give me a heroine who knows the importance of a wholesome breakfast. Who actually eats her salad when her stomach rumbles. Enjoys a satisfying dinner. Or who… dear god, actually orders dessert.

I want to read about heroines who savor a piece of chocolate without guilt. Who eat an occasional burger with fries. Whose lust for life is as obvious in bed as out of bed.

The heroines in the books I write are beautiful women of normal weight. They love their heroes and enjoy sharing a healthy meal with them. A recent poll states that most men don’t like skinny women. Men prefer softness. Why, then, do some authors insist on proliferating the too-thin archetype? How can we, as readers and authors, create change? Do we want to?

What do you think?

There are days when I get so wrapped up in what I’m doing or what’s going on that I forget how lucky I really am. I’ve had bronchitis and had to be busy despite this.

Needless to say watching the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti has reminded me, I’m a lucky woman. I have a husband, who loves me and helps out. I have two bright beautiful healthy children. Critters who are healthy and adore me. I have a job that I love. Friends that I can lean on.

Yes, i’m blessed. Truly and fully.

My heart and prayers go out to Haiti. For those considering helping out, as I’ve been doing, money seems to be the best thing to donate. To find legitimate charities, here’s a tool that I’ve found help. Charity Navigator.

Mechele Armstrong
www.mechelearmstrong.com

Hello everyone! Some of you might have noticed AOER was down for a little bit. We apologize for the inconvenience and wanted to let you know that we are back as strong as ever. Please continue to come back regularly to see what we are up to.

The year 2009 has been good to me professionally and for that I thank my readers.

To show my appreciation for your enthusiastic support I will mail a gift of a DESERT NECTAR bookmark inside the continental USA to the first 50 readers who respond to this message. No strings attached. DESERT NECTAR is the trade paperback edition of the award-winning e-books DESERT FEVER and DESERT WILD. The bookmark features actor and model Rick Mora (”Twilight”) as the DESERT WILD hero Sonny Wild Horse Hendricks.

Email your name and mailing address to me at author@adeledubois.com or click the Contact link on my website at www.adeledubois.com with your mailing information. I will send your bookmark and delete your address. You will not be added to any list. The DESERT NECTAR bookmark is my free gift to you.

Happy New Year!

The holiday season is upon us and we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. No matter you religion, it seems that this season is a time where each and every one of us finds ourselves busier than almost any other time of the year.
So, my advice is to SLOW DOWN. Yeah, yeah, I know. Easier said than done. But really, do you absolutely need to buy that last toy? Bake that last batch of cookies? Do that extra load of laundry?
Too many of us forget to take time for ourselves at this time of year. And we need to do that. We are frazzled, stressed, rundown. Cold and flu season is upon us. If we are too rundown our immune systems will be more susceptible. So even though we are 5 days from Christmas, already in Hannakuh, 6 days from Kwanzaa, one day from Yule. RELAX. Take a bath, read a book, listen to some soothing music – or even better do all three. If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will either.
And if you aren’t Christian and someone wishes you a Merry Christmas, take it as a blessing. If you are Christian and someone says Happy Holidays, remember that there are many other holidays at this time of year, and Christmas is not the oldest one by far. I figure I can always use a little extra blessings from Jesus, Jehovah, God, Allah, Athena, whomever. A blessing/well wishing is exactly that. A wishing someone well. Take it for what it was intended.
Happy Holidays!!!!