by Mlissa | May 7, 2012 | BDSM
I was, in a word, thrilled when I received an email from my favorite BDSM author, Eden Bradley, inviting me to participate in this event. Just looking at the names on this list… I am truly in exceptional company.
We all feel different about BDSM, what it means, what it signifies. It’s individual in how it plays out in someone’s life and what it is to me will be something else to another. We all have different levels of experience. Some of us may not have any experience at all beyond in depth research. But I think we all have a respect for the lifestyle that comes through in our writing.
My own exploration into BDSM has taught me respect for different opinions, different feelings, different avenues, different sexualities. Pain has taught me focus and to breathe. Bondage has taught me release of control in a way that nothing else ever good and to just accept. Spankings, floggings these things have taught me the benefits of tears, of emotional release of pent up stress. Discipline has taught me…discipline, to do as I should which isn’t always what I want or what is expected, it has taught me to think before I act, to think over what has already been done, to focus me on what is ahead. Punishment has taught me respect of authority, how to face my mistakes and missteps. I have been taught humility, and to accept myself.
BDSM has opened my eyes in a way nothing else I’ve ever encountered has. I am profoundly grateful I happened up on the lifestyle years ago. And yes, the sexual benefits are…incredible. But it’s not all or even mostly about sex. Not for me at least. There’s more, much more below the surface.
The media, in television and movies, has promoted BDSM to be deviant, to be maybe not wrong, but not exactly right or acceptable, that there’s always something that could have been ‘fixed’ about the person or changed about them so they didn’t want or need these things any longer. It’s a shame the lifestyle is viewed this way, is broadcast this way. But, it’s easy to cast a shadow over things that aren’t understood…
I hope you’ll come visit on Wednesday and Thursday over at the Smutketeers blog. There are giveaways, as well as questions and answers.
If you have a chance before then, check out some of the authors listed. You might have read them all or there maybe some new to you ones…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Feb 20, 2012 | Giveaways
Wednesday is my actual birthday, but as some of you know, I usually have a month long celebration on my blog here. I didn’t do it this year…obviously, but never fear, I’ll be back to it next year with authors and bloggers telling stories and giving away presents to readers. For now, though, you’ll have to settle for it just being me.
Presents this year will consist of books (including my new release, Forever In Blue Jeans, book 3 in my Blue Jeans and Hard Hats series), gift cards, tote bags, coffee items, cupcake items, and the big one…no, not an ereader, not an iPad, we authors do those all the time, but rather, a Keurig.
Yes, this one. It brews 3 cup sizes, you can program the time on and time off, even program the water temperature. I adore mine. Y’all know I adore mine. Unless I’m having iced coffee crack, I use my Keurig every day. It might be for hot water to make hot chocolate for the family, or to use the already hot water for instant oatmeal, but it gets used every day. You can get tea, coffee, and cocoa in K-cups. I generally prefer the coffee or tea or just hot water. I don’t care for the hot cocoa K-cups, but that’s just me, I know others who love them.
So, that’s the birthday list… Don’t be surprised though, if I change it up a little and add a few other little things here and there.
Today, is a tote bag I found at Barnes and Noble. It’s bright, colorful, and perfect for toting books.
I know many still read print books, but whether you do or not, you can never have too many tote bags (okay, you can because I’ve been told I have too many, but…I don’t listen and neither should you). Along with the tote bag, you will receive 3 books. What 3 books is up to you. Whether digital or print (up to $15 per book), is up to you.
What do you have to do?
Tell me what 3 books or what series you’ve always wanted to read, but just never have.
Are there classics like Linda Howard, Julie Garwood, Elizabeth Lowell, or Susan Johnson that you’ve never read and wanted to?
What about Nalini Singh, Larissa Ione, or J. R. Ward?
How about Shayla Black or Maya Banks? Delilah Devlin? Lori Foster? Dakota Cassidy?
Mari Carr? Vivian Arend? Cat Johnson? Melissa Schroeder? Samantha Kane? Cherise Sinclair? Moira Rogers? Eliza Gayle?
Tessa Dare? Jess Michaels? Julia Quinn? Lisa Kleypas? Nicole Jordan? Courtney Milan?
There are so many to choose from and those names above don’t even scratch the surface of good books out there. I haven’t read even a fraction of all the books I want to read, of all the books I keep saying I’ll get to just as soon as I can. So, tell me, what do you want to read that you simply haven’t yet?
The winner of the tote bag and books will be chosen Friday by noon and posted Friday afternoon. There will be giveaways all week long here on my blog. There will be one on my Facebook Fan Page as well, along with one during the Author Chat at Righteous Perverts on Wednesday night, February 22nd. So, feel free to come by and ‘Like’ my Fan Page, feel free to drop by the chat Wednesday night and meet some authors and fellow readers. Of course, none of these extras are required, but I did want to give you the options of all presents.
Most questions you’ll have to answer this week are about birthdays, so…be ready to divulge information. 😉
Have a great Monday, y’all… Oh, and don’t forget, you have until 6PM EST today (Monday, February 20th) to enter to win books or M&M’s from my celebratory post after Kyle Busch and the #18 M&M’s Toyota won the Budweiser Shootout in Daytona on Saturday night. Click here to be taken to that post…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Nov 3, 2011 | Reading
I love to read but I haven’t been reading lately. I’m so focused on my writing that one slip up right now and my rising word count will crumble. I know this because it’s happened many times before. Readers are waiting for new books.
However, even though I’m not reading, I have been stockpiling my Nook and Kindle with books for future days where I will wake up, grab a blanket, curl up in the recliner with a cup of coffee, and do nothing all day but read.
I don’t buy books all the time. I don’t often by en masse either. There are weeks where I will and there are even more weeks where I won’t by any at all. And by ‘even more weeks’ I mean, months.
Here are the books I bought:
Belong to Me by Shayla Black (in print cause well, I love her books… she’s one of the rare authors I’ll still buy print for)
Wicked to Love by Shayla Black
The Blue Devil by Melynda Beth Andrews
Refired (Desires and Dreams) by A. ‘Jeeper’ Wade
The Dom Who Loved Me by Lexi Blake
A Little Harmless Pleasure by Melissa Schroeder
Best Man Worst Man by Stacy Gail
Bound by Honor by SE Jakes
Pricks and Pragmatism by J. L. Merrow
And I pre-ordered Five Ways Til Sunday, the 1st in Delilah Devlin’s new Delta Heat series
So, I’ve got some historical, some m/m, some spanking, some m/f…I can’t wait to dive into some of these! Well, all of these, but you know what I mean.There are Amazon links to those books on my Kindle and Barnes and Noble links to those on my Nook.
What books have you bought in recent weeks?
~lissa
by Mlissa | Aug 9, 2011 | readers
Which are you? Are you both? Is there a difference? If so, what?
I was following a discussion on Twitter the other night and a comment was made regarding this…that fan-base is different from readers and that a fan-base may drive otherwise dismal sales. Now, they were speaking of a particular author, but it got me thinking about this and has made me curious.
Who are you a fan of? Who are you simply a reader of? What makes you one or the other?
I have been a fan of some authors. I would buy every book they wrote without reading the blurb or knowing anything about the book at all. I’d simply buy the new one when it came out.
I have been a dedicated reader of some authors. I would buy the majority of what they wrote, but not everything and definitely not without reading the blurb and flipping through some of the pages.
I have been a casual reader as well. If I need a new book to read, I may pick up a book on a whim from an author I’ve never read or a book that I’ve been eyeing but wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the time reading.
I’ve drifted away from being a fan of most authors nowadays. I like a lot of authors, but very few are autobuys for me, and even still, some of my autobuys include one author’s series but maybe not another series by that same author or may not even be the same genre. For instance, I will autobuy Dakota Cassidy’s Ex-Trophy Wives series books, but I won’t buy her paranormal books anymore because her paranormal voice doesn’t work for me. If Julie Garwood still wrote her medieval romances I’d autobuy those, but her contemporary did nothing to draw me in. Julia Quinn whom I adored and read non-stop is no longer an autobuy for me because all her books started sounding the same, only the character names were different. I do autobuy all books by Cameron Dane, no matter what genre. I autobuy Ava March’s male/male ebooks, but not her NY historicals. I will buy all of Shayla Black’s books in her Wicked Ties series no matter what. These are just a few examples. However, not many NY books are autobuys at all anymore simply because ebook prices for most (set by NY publishers, I know) are just too high for me to feel comfortable spending on a digital book.
So, are you a fan or a reader? More or less of either? And who are some of your autobuys?
~lissa
