Important notes

I've said it before and I'll say it again - writers, care for your instruments. Not your laptop, not your brain, but your body. If you forget to treat your body with tender love and affection, pretty soon your brain will turn into a whirling mess of messy, whirling thoughts.

Which is why I made an immediate appointment for a hot-stone massage this morning and followed it with a bath at home. When one's shoulders make scary crunchy noises, one is best served to step away from the keyboard and so something that uncurls the spine.

Found on the Internet

The amazingly talented Lindsay Samuels created an amazingly wonderful website called LibraryScienceDegree.org.


I admit to busting a gut when I read her 50 Most Hated Characters in Literature entry. I adored her Top Ten Fictional Feminist Icons of All Time, too.

I am now inspired to go figure out my own fictional feminist icons. What are some of yours?

Go, read, enjoy!

Turkish rugs.

The Charming Man and I experienced the ultimate in shopping delight on our last day in Istanbul.

We hung up  the larger carpet.

We ended up (through a goofy sequence of events) at Onur Carpet and Kilim Story. The website is currently down, but here is a description:

 A selection of authentic handmade, all natural vegetable-dyed carpets, saddle bags, grain sacks, cradles, salt bags, pillows, runners and kilims. Mimar Mehmet Aga Caddesi, #13/15,Istanbul - Sultanahmet 34400 TURKEY.

There, we drank rose tea, chatted endlessly about being a writer of sexy novels, and the possibilities of making love on a silk Turkish carpet.
 We got to walk on dozens of silk rugs. Let me tell you, there is nothing like silk under your feet. So sensual, cool, and peaceful.

We weren't really in the market for a rug, so we started with just looking at the endless beauty and creativity that handmade rugs offer. Hand made rugs are a dying art form - they are extremely labor intensive and therefore expensive.

Onur Carpet gave us a great deal.

Detail from the larger carpet.

They added this smaller rug for us. We have it in front of our TV.

So yeah, that writing thing.

I'm at the first draft stage of Book Two, the sequel to Dracula's Secret. I thought I might give you all a peek into what I've been doing for research and prep work.

 Here is Daniel Craig, the model for my hero Lance Soliel. I have several pictures of him (yes, in various states of undress) to show me what Lance's moods and body language is like.

 Here are some pictures of Georgia May Jagger (daughter of Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger). She is the model for my antagonist for Book Two. I've got that character's backstory and Goal, Motivation, and Conflict finished. She's going to be very cool, and I think very different from anyone I've written before.

 I like to start off with hand-writing a lot of my first draft ideas and scenes. Keeps me from getting too self-critical about the quality of the work and lets me just roll with my brain.

I also have my plot turning points figured out for my main three characters and their relationships with each other and themselves. This gives me a road map of where I'm going, instead of flailing around blindly for ideas. I just have to look over my notes and something will trip my creative triggers.

And there we go!

I'm off to work now.

The Topkapi Palace

The Turkish Military keeps armed guards at the Palace.

 The Charming Man and myself spend over five hours at the awe-inspiring Topkapi Palace. To quote Wikipedia,

The Palace was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years of their 624-year reign,^[2] from 1465 to 1856.

Here are a few of my favorite photos to give you an idea of how huge, lavish, and jaw-dropping this palace.

This was a quiet day at the Topkapi Palace

The interior of the Library of Ahmed III.

I think every library should look like this!

Again, Wikipedia:

The Imperial Hall (Hünkâr Sofası), also known as the Imperial Sofa, Throne Room Within or Hall of Diversions, is a domed hall in the Harem, believed to have been built in the late 16th century. It has the largest dome in the palace. The hall served as the official reception hall of the sultan as well as for the entertainment of the Harem. Here the sultan received his confidants, guests, his mother, his first wife (Hasseki), consorts, and his children. Entertainments, paying of homage during religious festivals, and wedding ceremonies took place here in the presence of the members of the dynasty

Breathtaking stained glass in the private chambers in the Haram.

Visiting Cagaloglu Hamami

I don't have a Turkish keyboard, so I don't have the diacritics that belong in the name. Please forgive me!

Photo from www.istanbul-turismo.com

When I was in Istanbul, the one place I knew I had to visit was a hammam. I went to one of the most famous Hamams in the world - Cagaloglu Hamami.

This is the description I sent my fellow author, Sloan Addams. She calls me Wonder Woman. I call her Power Girl.

***

Power Girl! I have come to the conclusion that the hamam is the cure for all the world's ills.

First, some nice lady pours hot water all over you as you sit on a heated marble floor. Then you get to lay there in wet, fabulous bliss. She comes in with soap and a exfoliating mitt and scrubs you all over, front and back, so that your skin is incredibly smooth and clean. This is not fast, either. It's complete relaxation.

You get rinsed by more hot, clean water splashed over you. This feels like heaven.

Then you realize that heaven is even cooler than you thought, because you get a massage with the soap suds. The soap and water is so thick and bubbly that your massage is slick and relaxes every damn part of yourself.

Finally, she washes your hair.

At the end, you ooze your boneless way back to your little room and try to remember how to put on clothes.

I bought some of the soap and one of the mitts there, so I can give myself a cheater's hamam here at home. No heated marble floors, you know. ;)

***
Her response?



Wonder Woman - I just turned green.

Random internet radio news

Norah Jones, while very nice, is a let-down after hearing Aretha Franklin.

This is the Hagia Sophia

 I have no words for this former Church, then Mosque, now a museum. So I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Hot stuff for an autumn lunchtime

So, we left our naughty couple in the bedding department of JC Penny's....    

     I follow his directions and stretch across the pristine white fabric. I toe my strappy sandals off and let them drop to the floor as I scootch to the middle. It’s actually a good mattress, the support comforting and arousing at the same time.
     Mike stands at the foot of the bed, looking me over. “Inch it up, baby, I want to see.” The boy always was a voyeur. The peek show I had given him obviously whetted his appetite for a longer perusal.
      Slowly I ride my skirt up to my waist.
      “Spread ‘em.”
      I open my legs an inch, then stop. I arch an eyebrow. “Unzip.”
      He runs his hand up and down the length of his erection, casually curling his thumb under the top button of his low riding Levi’s. He pops it, and the rest follows, smooth as butter. My legs automatically spread wide as if I had ball bearing in my hips. The sound of button fly jeans always made me salivate. Guess his memory is better than I thought.
       He’s not wearing underwear, just the way I always liked it. I want that hot hard length in my hands and I sit up. He wags a finger at me. “Nuh-uh. My game, not yours tonight.”
       “Whatever.” But I lie back down, run my hands up and down my thighs, framing my clipped pubis. He’ll play my games later.
       He wraps his hand around his cock, strokes with elegant, lazy fingers. “Open up for me.”
       I dig my fingers into my labia and unfurl them. Mike licks his lips, and swallows, as if the sight of me has made his mouth water. He yanks once hard on himself and cups his balls.
      “Can you come quietly?”
       “Not if you’re any good, I can’t.” I breathe. My fingers on one hand creep toward my clit, and the other teases my opening.
       “Prove it.”

Found on the Internet

From Overthinkingit.com--The Flow Chart of Female Characters

Go to link to embiggen. :)

Llubljana is freaking gorgeous.

Old town Ljubljana is beautiful and inviting.

Up the hill to Ljubljana Castle.

The old castle walls are great fun.

 A better picture of the Castle is here at Wikipedia.

Told ya it was gorgeous.

Give-away!

In celebration of 10-10-10, here's a new fan!

This one goes to the first person who can tell me where I saw Rembrant's "The Jewish Bride"!

Naughty stuff, part two.

Either Mike’s memory of high school changed or he’d had more fun with women other than myself. As soon as I get in his blue Chevy, Mike turns on the motor.
     “Where are we going?”
      “You’ll see.”
      He turns in at the Mall’s crowded lot and drives toward the front door of JC Penney’s. The good-parking karma fairy was apparently as hot for this action as Mike. Because right in front was a spot. Easily seen from the lot. Easily seen from the store.
      Mike shuts off the engine and turns. He raises an eyebrow.
      Uncertain of my line, I say, “Thank you for a lovely night?”
      Mike grins. “The night’s young, baby. Come on.” He hops out of the truck, leaving me to fumble with the sticky catch. I bite my lip in disappointment. This wasn’t what I hoped for.
      The door opens, but I had nothing to do with it. He winks at me, the heavy metal swinging easily on its hinges for him. “Don’t you trust me by now?”
      Years of on-again, off-again sex have taught me well. “Not so much.” But I recover. I take my time sliding off the bench seat, letting my serious black skirt ride way up, exposing the charcoal colored thigh highs I put on before I drove to his house. If I’d been wearing panties, I would have flashed those as I bent over for my purse. Instead, I flashed something he’d once known very well.
“Where to now?” I turn around, my eyes wide and innocent.
       He shakes out his pants. He always did like my rear view. Gotcha, I mouth. Wench, he mouths at me. Lightly touching the small of my back, he guides me into JC Penney’s. Not my favorite store, but at least it’s not that irritating girly place with bad accessories.
      “Over here.” His hand steers me towards the elevator. My breathing speeds up. Elevator sex! All right!
Mike punches the button for the third floor, and stands on the other side of the elevator.
      “Stay over there,” he orders.
      “What the hell for?” I snap. I hate waiting and he knows it.
      “Patience, grasshopper.”
       “Fuck off, Master Po.”
       “In a minute, darling.”
       The elevator dings open. He leads me towards the darkened bedding department. “I think I need a new bed.”
      “Did you make up that high school make-out thing just to get me to do something more perverted?”
      “Naw, I just wanted to see if you were still as easy to sway to the dark side as ever.” He grins. “No one else was ever as much fun as you, babe.”
       I grin back. How can I help it? Mike is always my favorite fantasy.
       Toward the back of the bedding department, Mike chooses a mattress. I search the department. A decided lack of clerks or patrons and a tall cardboard display blocks the security camera.
      Marvelous.

Back to pictures. ;)

I'll continue Mike's naughty adventures tomorrow. Today, we discover Slovenia. Part of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia finally achieved independence in 1991. It is a beautiful country full of amazements.

Beautiful mountains, rivers, and caves.

Underground caverns that look like the Mines of Moria, complete with underground river.

Fresh, amazing food.

That you can eat! My god, that prosciutto was fantastic.

Delicious wines.

And of course, very handsome men.

Taking a break from pictures.

I thought I might remind everyone that I do, actually, write hot and sexy fiction.  :)  A friend and I did a writing game, and this was the outcome.

Anything, Anytime

      Mike asks me, “Would you like to play a game?”

      I’ll play anything with him, anytime. “Yeah. What you got in mind?”

      “Let’s make out in my truck.”

      “Oh?” My voice rises, eager. A flush starts between my legs and I squirm a little on his sofa. We’d been civilized and restrained all during dinner, learning what the other had been up to in the last two years. Now the fun begins. “What’s the scenario?”

      “I’m dropping you off after a date, see –“

      “How old are we?”

      “High school, totally.”

      “Excellent.” My nipples tighten. We started fooling around in high school back when I still believed my body was a temple – designed for worship from afar. No, it’d been Mike who’d spent hours convincing me that worshiping from afar wasn’t nearly as exciting as up close and personal. The man had wicked, sweet hands and could make a girl moan with the way his thigh fitted between hers. “What next?”

      “I pull up, put the truck in park, turn to you.”

      I look at his mouth, remember the way his full upper lip feels wrapped around my clit. There’s grey in his moustache now, but I’m looking forward to finding out how much he’s learned. “I say thank you for a lovely night?”

      “You got it. You wanna play?”

      “Let’s do it.”

     

To be continued....

Vienna, Vienna, Vienna

On the train to Vienna. Notice the cough drops.We used a lot of them.

Every library should have an owl as its guardian.

We had the cutest dragons EVER on the fountain outside our Pension

Geneva, Switzerland

I was too sick in Geneva to go to CERN (the original plan), so instead, The Charming Man roamed the gorgeous city and brought me some images to make me happy. :)

Travel picture of the day.

Is it Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower?

Not to be vain, but I look pretty good for a woman who had been sick all day!

Some glorious, lovely person took a picture of us.