Category Archives: Writing
In which I am a little frustrated about the lack of literary Dommes
So I was wandering around the intertubes as you do, and I read this piece over at Herosandheartbreakers.com about the top 5 Dommes in kinky romance. One line in particular jumped out at me:
(Linger by Joey W. Hill) was the first BDSM story that I read with a dominant heroine. I was hesitant at first, and I know I’ve heard the same thing from many readers about Linger…they just don’t know if they’re going to enjoy that role reversal.
Really? Because I know I would freaking kill or die to read a good BDSM erotic romance with a Domme. Or even better, a good BDSM erotic romance that didn’t feature a Domme who secretly wants to submit to a man. I can’t tell you how many times I bought a promising-looking novel with a Domme/sub relationship only to find out halfway through that she was just doing it for the money, or she’s “secretly fragile,” or damaged somehow, or she’s in danger and the sub has to protect her, or just needs to meet the right man at which point poof, all her Domme tendencies disappear.
Hear that whooshing noise? That’s my suspension of disbelief disappearing. Yes, there is such a thing as dom drop, and not all Dommes want to be in charge all the time. But that identification doesn’t go away just because you need a break. I understand the appeal of the Dom/sub relationship and why a submissive woman would want to serve a loving, sexy Dom who takes care of all of her needs in return for her service/submission/obedience/etc. I also understand why these stories appeal to so many women who are juggling a career, a home, kids, and a husband, and sometimes just want to hand over the reins and be taken care of for a change. Hoo, boy, I understand that. It’s totally cool, and I fully support such stories and the writers and readers who love them.
But when it comes to me, I want to read about a Domme because that’s what twists my wick. Please God, I just want to read a book where a well-adjusted, happy Domme meets up with a sub and they have great scenes together and she isn’t:
- just doing it for the money
- in some sort of danger that only he can protect her from
- emotionally damaged
- secretly wanting to submit to him
- some sort of general damsel in distress who just happens to wear leather and wield a crop
I’m trying to think of how many stories I’ve found that fit that description, and to be honest the only one I can think of is Shoshanna Evers’ Dominatrix Fantasy trilogy (holla!). And yes, if you can think of more please let me know because I’d love to check them out.
Mind you, there are excellent books with women who are Switches; Tiffany Reisz’s Nora Sutherlin from the Original Sinners series comes to mind, as does Tymber Dalton’s character Tilda in Cardinal’s Rule. Both these characters start out as subs and discover their inner Domme tendencies as the stories progress, and they totally and utterly rock. I just want to see more stories with characters like Nora and Tilda who happen to start off as Dommes and stay Dommes all the way through the story.
So, yeah, if you ever wondered the impetus behind me writing Behind the Iron Cross, now you know. And I can assure you right here and now that Katherine Tracy has no intention of suddenly handing over the reins to Friedrich just because she’s fallen in love with him. They both know what they want, and that’s him tied naked and hard in her bed, ready to submit to his Fräulein.
I should have known this was going to happen
Did I mention that I had an absolute ball coming up with the three Olympic Cove graphics on the Merchandise page? Because man, I did. The only problem with designing logos and such is that 1) while it’s a huge amount of fun because I get to dream up advertising graphics for imaginary companies/entities (“Ooh, what can I do for Trickster Technologies? Would the Molly Girl have nose art? Maybe Mayhew Nursery’s slogan could be, ‘Putting a touch of magic in every garden.'”), 2) it takes away from actual writing/editing time. Granted, I don’t have THAT many things I can put up there (yet), but I will have to find some kind of balance between Photoshop and Scrivener.
It doesn’t help that I just petitioned Ramón to go get Assassin’s Creed because it really, really looks like fun. Rod for my own back, I swear.
And of course I also still have to come up with a proper logo for myself. I like the idea of an outline profile of a smiling woman with her chin propped on one hand, and her long curling hair has the outline of a sexy man in it. But that will take some time to do in Illustrator, and I’m supposed to be editing both the Planet Alpha story AND Breaker Zone and getting them off to Evernight before 8/13.
I really need clones. Or a keeper.
So, just had my 48th birthday
And it was lovely — Ramón gave me a lingerie shopping spree as my present (woohoo!), and I got tons of birthday wishes all over social media so I was quite the happy camper. Would have been even happier if I’d been at SDCC or RWA14, but I’m going to London this year for Worldcon so I can’t really complain. Plus there’s always next year, right? (Although when a friend of mine at SDCC got an impromptu picture with both Jared Padalecki and a somewhat tiddly Misha Collins, I may have turned a slight shade of chartreuse.)
In writing news, I’m plowing ahead on my Planet Alpha submission and I’ll have a second teaser up tomorrow for MidWeek Tease. Hope nobody minds a big action scene at the end — well, hey, if you kidnap an Alphan warrior’s human bondmate, you have to expect him and his Xyran mate to open a can of alien whoopass on you, right? Fingers crossed that Evernight feels the same way. Once that’s off, I’ll get to work editing Breaker Zone with an eye on submitting it by August 13. After THAT, I go back to work on Behind the Iron Cross so that I can get it making the agent rounds in September. Plus people have been asking for Trickster and Two to Tango sequels.
Arrgh. Why do I have to sleep?
I declare this book DONE
And that’s it for Breaker Zone! Final length was 104,949 words. Now I let it sit for a week while I work on some woefully overdue projects, then I start wielding the Editorial Machete on July 21st.
And here for your visual delight are two of the most beautiful words in the English language.
Just in case you thought a writer’s life was a never-ending cycle of literary glamor
So I’m drenched in sweat from having to clean up a puddle of cat pee on the bay window ledge in the kitchen (which requires me to climb up ON THE COUNTER to reach it as it’s a deep window that is directly behind the sink. At this point I am still in my jammies, haven’t taken my meds or eaten breakfast yet, just so you get the full picture). Once I’m up there, I have to wipe everything down with enzyme cleaner and then water, climb back down, add more dirt to the large pot that Jemma mistakenly used as a litterbox (decorative stones will be added to the top so that none of them can dig in it) and two other pots because what the hell, might as well fill all of them while I have the potting soil out, clean all the excess dirt from the original digging and my own work off the sink and counters, sweep the floor, clean the litterboxes, spritz the food bowls and water bowls, and mediate Jemma and Jessie growling and chasing each other all over the kitchen and living room With Intent.
If that wasn’t enough, I then hear a knock at the door. While I’m still in my jammies. Whee. I open it a crack to see the landscaping guy whom I’d called on Tuesday, apologizing for not calling first but he was in the neighborhood so… One quick-change into yoga pants and a t-shirt later, I’m giving him a tour of Casa Cameron and showing him all the stuff that needs to be done. He promises to call me next week with an estimate, and I see him off.
I then realize it’s 12:40 PM and I have to get off to my Monday writing meet-up with two friends. Still haven’t had my meds or breakfast yet, note. I pop the meds and head off to the meetup, resigning myself to a carb-laden meal because I have to eat SOMETHING and soon or things will get ugly.
Got 1500 words done on Breaker Zone but I have a battle/rescue scene to plot out and have to come back home for that so I can blast the Pacific Rim soundtrack over the headphones while I write. Jessie is sleeping upstairs and Jemma is somewhere around here, I don’t know where. And as long as it stays quiet, I don’t care.
Is the day over with, yet?
And now, a word from the author
Normally, I don’t bitch much about my books being pirated. Yes, it’s annoying because those are lost sales, but I know people are broke and I have the hope that at some point those who download my work will eventually buy a legitimate copy.
That being said, I will not stand for it when unauthorized sites are SELLING my work. That’s not just lost income, that’s income that is being stolen from me and going into someone else’s pocket. This is my livelihood, and Lord knows it isn’t much but it helps to keep the cats fed and the bills paid. So please, only buy ebooks from legit sites like the publisher, Amazon (yeah, yeah, I know), B&N, Smashwords, Bookstrand, All Romance eBooks, Kobo, iTunes, etc. If a site advertises its ebooks as “much less than anywhere else,” you can guarantee that they’re pirated editions.
Off to send DMCA notices, grrrr…
Happy 4th of July Weekend
Or for the rest of you in the world, the first weekend in July. And how will I be celebrating my nation’s Independence Day, you ask? By taking care of a friend’s five cats while she’s on vacation, including insulin shots for the diabetic one. Because dammit, if I’m going to be called a Crazy Cat Lady I’m going to bloody well earn the title.
Breaker Zone is SO close to being finished. Working, working, working…
So, yeah…
I just roughed out the remaining five chapters of Breaker Zone, thinking I only had about 15K to go. Ha. Hahahahaha. Looks like I have more along the lines of 28K to go, and total length is going to be much closer to 100K than 90K. Because action scenes and daring rescues and the sex that follows action scenes and daring rescues, you know.
There’s only one eensy issue about this. Evernight has a hard limit of 100K words, so yeah, I can’t go over that. I suppose it’s better to overwrite and prune back than not make word count, but I still want to drop my head to the keyboard and start crying softly when I think of those last five chapters. (This is also because I’m not letting myself write anything else until this sucker is done, and hoo boy I have stories backed up like you would not believe.)
But. 28,000 words. I’ve come this far. I’ll get through that. And on the plus side I just had my bad guy stabbed in the back and fed to sharks, so at least that was fun.
And we have winners!
I’ve picked the three winners of my Two to Tango release day contest and will be contacting them tonight to confirm prizes, addys, etc. Thanks to everyone who participated, and a HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who’s purchased a copy — I just found out this afternoon that TtT earned its silver Bestseller star on All Romance eBooks! If you heard a squeeing sound from the clavicle of Texas, that would have been me! 
Release Day: Two to Tango (and yes, I’m running a contest!)
Happy Thursday, you gorgeous people! I was planning on having a huge, splashy release day event, but we wound up adopting two young cats on Monday and I’ve had to be the Cat Whisperer and integrate them with the current feline population.
But enough of my new little fuzzbutts — today is the official release day for my rollicking romp of a SF erotic romance caper novel Two to Tango, now available from Evernight Publishing, Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand, and other purveyors of fine erotic romance.
Rory MacLellan, AKA the Highlander, may be the most successful interstellar art thief in the Known Worlds, but he still has a conscience. So when he runs into a suicidal museum worker during his latest job, he has no choice but to stun the man and rescue him from certain death.
Dr. Dmitri Grigoryev was an up-and-coming exoarchaeologist until a disastrous dig left his career in tatters. Hungry, broke, and desperate, the last thing he expected was a dashing thief to come along and save his life.
Thrown together by accident and with interstellar police on their tail, Rory and Dmitri reluctantly join forces for a major heist. But will their simmering attraction get in the way, or prove that they were meant to be together?
But wait, there’s more! I’m also running a contest with the following prizes:
- A $25 Amazon Gift Card
- A pair of 14K gold and opalite earrings from Belaurient Arts
- A grand prize package of all my ebooks, plus a sneak peak at the first three chapters of the second book in the Olympic Cove series, Breaker Zone.
To win one of these prizes, simply leave your name and email address in the comments below before midnight CST on June 13, 2014, and answer the following question: What is your favorite gemstone? You MUST answer the question to be entered in the contest.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with the contest!
Nicola Cameron Writes 