If you go to the bio page on my website and look at my photo, you will see that I have long hair. It’s good hair, healthy and strong, and there’s a lot of it, so it looks pretty good long. But it’s basically looked the same for half a dozen years now, and I’m bored with it. So this Saturday, I have an appointment to get it whacked off, and I’m a little nervous.
It’s not like I’ve never had short hair before, it's just been a while. It’s was pixie short right out of college, which didn’t suit my face at all, and in college it was been slightly-longer-than-chin-length short, which did suit my face. That’s what I’m going for this time. But you know, I find myself hesitating, for a couple of reasons.
First: I am not twenty anymore, and my face shape has changed a little bit. Not drastically – it’s not like my jawline is hanging down around my collarbone or anything – but the angles and planes that defined my face in my youth are a little softer now, a little more rounded. And sometimes when I hold my hair up to approximate the length I’m thinking of…well, I’m just not sure. I don’t want this hairstyle to make me look OLDER, for God’s sake, and I’m afraid it will.
So that’s the main reason. Another reason, which isn’t really a reason but more of a point to ponder is…my boyfriend hates the idea.
I know, I know – it’s my hair, and I can do with it what I want. And he is fully aware that any attempt to control my decisions in this area would result in some unfriendly conversation, so he doesn’t go there, and he’s not that guy anyway. But I can tell when I talk about it that he’s not thrilled with the idea. He says things like, “I will support you in this decision,” as though I’m talking about joining the Peace Corps and building roads in Botswana for two years instead of getting a new do.
I think part of it is that he can’t picture me without long hair. We’ve been dating just over a year, and the only picture he’s seen of me with it short is my old passport photo. Which, even without the bad pixie-do is a bad picture. He likes my hair, likes stroking or playing with it, and the idea of it not being there anymore bothers him.
I also think he has the idea that a lot of guys (and girls) have, which is long hair = female = sexy. And there’s something to that, but I don’t think it’s a hard and fast rule. We have a friend who used to have lovely long blond hair that she now wears in a tight little cap that feathers toward her face. She looks absolutely darling, and in some ways even more sexy as her look is more edgy this way. But of course, if I ask my guy if he thinks she looks nice he agrees that she does, then ads, “but her long hair was really pretty”.
In any case, I’m getting my hair cut. It might be a huge mistake, in which case I’ll just hate the way I look for six months while it grows out and my guy will say “I told you so” a lot. Which won’t be pleasant, but it won’t last forever. After all, it’s just hair – not two years in Botswana.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
scattered
I sat down to blog this morning, then realized I had no idea what i wanted to talk about.
I could talk about my current work in progress, which is clicking right along. Page count is increasing, the mojo is cooking, and I really like how this story is emerging. But other than that, there isn't much to say about it.
I could talk about my weekend, which I spent with my guy. We saw a movie, had dinner with friends, and fell asleep in front of the television, curled up together in his big manly recliner. But as wonderful as that was for me, I'm not sure it qualifies as interesting to you.
I could talk about the upcoming holiday season, and how it's barely the middle of October and already the calendar is filling up. Work parties, various events with friends, family. Christine will be going back to see her family, which means I'll be left with both dogs on my own. It's only fair - I leave my dog with Christine on a fairly regular basis when I travel north to see my fella, and her Levi is a sweet dog. But he's a lot more work than my twelve year old lazy hound dog. But that isn't very interesting either.
So I guess I don't have much to talk about. Thanks for listening!
I could talk about my current work in progress, which is clicking right along. Page count is increasing, the mojo is cooking, and I really like how this story is emerging. But other than that, there isn't much to say about it.
I could talk about my weekend, which I spent with my guy. We saw a movie, had dinner with friends, and fell asleep in front of the television, curled up together in his big manly recliner. But as wonderful as that was for me, I'm not sure it qualifies as interesting to you.
I could talk about the upcoming holiday season, and how it's barely the middle of October and already the calendar is filling up. Work parties, various events with friends, family. Christine will be going back to see her family, which means I'll be left with both dogs on my own. It's only fair - I leave my dog with Christine on a fairly regular basis when I travel north to see my fella, and her Levi is a sweet dog. But he's a lot more work than my twelve year old lazy hound dog. But that isn't very interesting either.
So I guess I don't have much to talk about. Thanks for listening!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Back from Beyond
Hannah and I had a mah-velous time this past weekend at the Emerald City Writers' Conference, and I even managed to get my speech done before we arrived in Seattle. Not all that much before, but hey, before is before! In point of fact, I finished it in the front seat of the car while Hannah drove, and by the time I closed the laptop, I had five hours to spare!
Once we arrived at the conference hotel and settled into our room, we finished putting together the kick-ass basket we donated to the raffle. Trust me, it was tough to give that thing away--Perrier Jouet champagne, 2 champagne flutes, 500 grams of Leonidas chocolates (which make Godiva look like four-year-old Hersheys), a Sweet Savage Thighs logo mug, delicious bath products from Lavanila, a Kate Spade wallet, and matching sterling silver Tiffany necklace and earrings. We cried a little when the raffle committee took it away.
After that was done, I spent the next few hours with my knees knocking while I waited to make my first public speech since my senior year of high school. Let me just say that high school was a long, loooooonnnnnng time ago. But I managed to deliver the welcoming dinner address without abject humiliation, so that was a win. And to celebrate, we went to the bar and spent a few hours savoring some of the best lemon drops of my experience and some really wonderful company. We met several wonderful writers from as far away as Oklahoma, did an awful lot of laughing, and got to bask in the presence of the always wonderful and enormously witty Cherry Adair.
Saturday and Sunday, we attended workshops and lunches, went out for a fabulous dinner in the Queen Anne area of Seattle, and finally said our goodbyes with every intention of returning to the conference again next year. It is really just that good!
Oh, and before we left, I won an awesome raffle basket (inspiring serious envy in Hannah, despite my promises to share), which was just brilliant, since I can't remember the last time I won anything.
All in all, it was a truly stellar weekend. I have enjoyed every single one of the ECWC weekends I've attended, and I encourage everyone who is able to invest the time and money in this fabulous event!
Once we arrived at the conference hotel and settled into our room, we finished putting together the kick-ass basket we donated to the raffle. Trust me, it was tough to give that thing away--Perrier Jouet champagne, 2 champagne flutes, 500 grams of Leonidas chocolates (which make Godiva look like four-year-old Hersheys), a Sweet Savage Thighs logo mug, delicious bath products from Lavanila, a Kate Spade wallet, and matching sterling silver Tiffany necklace and earrings. We cried a little when the raffle committee took it away.
After that was done, I spent the next few hours with my knees knocking while I waited to make my first public speech since my senior year of high school. Let me just say that high school was a long, loooooonnnnnng time ago. But I managed to deliver the welcoming dinner address without abject humiliation, so that was a win. And to celebrate, we went to the bar and spent a few hours savoring some of the best lemon drops of my experience and some really wonderful company. We met several wonderful writers from as far away as Oklahoma, did an awful lot of laughing, and got to bask in the presence of the always wonderful and enormously witty Cherry Adair.
Saturday and Sunday, we attended workshops and lunches, went out for a fabulous dinner in the Queen Anne area of Seattle, and finally said our goodbyes with every intention of returning to the conference again next year. It is really just that good!
Oh, and before we left, I won an awesome raffle basket (inspiring serious envy in Hannah, despite my promises to share), which was just brilliant, since I can't remember the last time I won anything.
All in all, it was a truly stellar weekend. I have enjoyed every single one of the ECWC weekends I've attended, and I encourage everyone who is able to invest the time and money in this fabulous event!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
And today, a guest!
Christine and I had a wonderful - and for me, highly productive! - time at the conference last weekend. She's going to tell you all about that tomorrow, I think. But in the meantime, today I have a special guest. My friend Jenna Ives is a wonderful writer, and she's written a little tale that features something that I have a bit of an affection for: bondage. I asked her if she'd talk about it a bit for your enjoyment. So, enjoy!
My sexy new bondage novella, The Initiation Of Isabella, is part of Samhain Publishing’s “Binding Ties” anthology, written especially for those of you who love your romance with a little, um, restraint.
The Initiation of Isabella is a classic case of mistaken identity, which lets my heroine experience some of her wildest sexual fantasies. Here's the premise: Isabella Tallin is trying to join the Sigma Iomega Nu sorority, and thinks she's waiting at the corner of Elm and Main for her mysterious initiation rite to begin. But she can't believe that the rite involves a gorgeous guy in a hot red convertible and being bound, gagged, and blindfolded…or does it? Logan Sommers, meanwhile, can’t believe that the innocent-looking girl waiting for him on the street corner is his mysterious client -- the sexually jaded woman who’s paid his company, Fantasies Fulfilled, to indulge four of her most outrageous fantasies. But the pickup instructions were clear, so he whisks her away for a wickedly sensual night of bondage, punishment, ménage and more! In the end, Isabella finds herself happily initiated by a far different organization than the one she expected. You can read an excerpt of the story at my website www.jennaives.com.
The gorgeous covers for the three different stories in this anthology each center on one
particular bondage element, and mine is the blindfold. A blindfold is a powerful sex toy, because without one’s sense of sight, a person finds their other senses become more heightened, in order to compensate. In this case, Isabella can’t see, only feel what’s happening to her, and her heightened sense of touch lets her more powerfully experience all the delicious things my hero Logan is doing to her naked body. Without sight, the mind is free to conjure up all sorts of yummy sexual possibilities, and we all know that the brain is the biggest sex organ we have! Plus, being blindfolded lets Isabella concentrate not on Logan, but exclusively on his sexual stimuli -- his lips, fingers, tongue, erotic toys, etc -- making her reactions much more honest and personal. And powerful. In this story, she gets to experience four outrageous sexual fantasies that include handcuffs, chains, inventive restraints and a clever whip, but the last fantasy -- being pleasured by three men at the same time -- ensures that she’s in for the most incredible night of her life!
I hope you’ll check out The Initiation of Isabella at http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-initiation-of-isabella so you can experience Isabella’s pleasure vicariously
And to celebrate the release of Samhain’s Binding Ties anthology, I’m giving away a sexy Bondage Kit! You can enter by sending an e-mail to: http:// bindingties-subscribe@yahoogroups.com before October 29.
How about you? Ever use a blindfold to help spice up your sex life? Did you enjoy it? Do tell!
The Initiation Of Isabella
By Jenna Ives
By Jenna Ives
My sexy new bondage novella, The Initiation Of Isabella, is part of Samhain Publishing’s “Binding Ties” anthology, written especially for those of you who love your romance with a little, um, restraint.
The Initiation of Isabella is a classic case of mistaken identity, which lets my heroine experience some of her wildest sexual fantasies. Here's the premise: Isabella Tallin is trying to join the Sigma Iomega Nu sorority, and thinks she's waiting at the corner of Elm and Main for her mysterious initiation rite to begin. But she can't believe that the rite involves a gorgeous guy in a hot red convertible and being bound, gagged, and blindfolded…or does it? Logan Sommers, meanwhile, can’t believe that the innocent-looking girl waiting for him on the street corner is his mysterious client -- the sexually jaded woman who’s paid his company, Fantasies Fulfilled, to indulge four of her most outrageous fantasies. But the pickup instructions were clear, so he whisks her away for a wickedly sensual night of bondage, punishment, ménage and more! In the end, Isabella finds herself happily initiated by a far different organization than the one she expected. You can read an excerpt of the story at my website www.jennaives.com.
The gorgeous covers for the three different stories in this anthology each center on one
particular bondage element, and mine is the blindfold. A blindfold is a powerful sex toy, because without one’s sense of sight, a person finds their other senses become more heightened, in order to compensate. In this case, Isabella can’t see, only feel what’s happening to her, and her heightened sense of touch lets her more powerfully experience all the delicious things my hero Logan is doing to her naked body. Without sight, the mind is free to conjure up all sorts of yummy sexual possibilities, and we all know that the brain is the biggest sex organ we have! Plus, being blindfolded lets Isabella concentrate not on Logan, but exclusively on his sexual stimuli -- his lips, fingers, tongue, erotic toys, etc -- making her reactions much more honest and personal. And powerful. In this story, she gets to experience four outrageous sexual fantasies that include handcuffs, chains, inventive restraints and a clever whip, but the last fantasy -- being pleasured by three men at the same time -- ensures that she’s in for the most incredible night of her life!I hope you’ll check out The Initiation of Isabella at http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-initiation-of-isabella so you can experience Isabella’s pleasure vicariously
And to celebrate the release of Samhain’s Binding Ties anthology, I’m giving away a sexy Bondage Kit! You can enter by sending an e-mail to: http:// bindingties-subscribe@yahoogroups.com before October 29.
How about you? Ever use a blindfold to help spice up your sex life? Did you enjoy it? Do tell!
Friday, October 9, 2009
the trouble with cons...
As I mentioned a few days ago, Christine and I are headed for Seattle later today to attend the Emerald City RWA annual conference. We’ll both be signing at the book fair tomorrow (info and location here) and Christine is actually giving a speech tonight at dinner (now ask me if Ms. Procrastination has written it yet).
I have sort of love/hate thing with conferences. I love them, because I always come away from them with a renewed sense of purpose. Even if the workshops aren’t really relevant to me or my writing, there’s something invigorating and inspiring about being around a bunch of people with goals and aspirations that mirror yours. Added to that, there are always good prizes for the raffle, I get to meet new authors, and drink in the hotel bar.
That’s the love part. The hate part comes in when I realize, usually about three or four hours into the first day, that really? I’m not actually a social person.
Oh, I don’t mean that I hide in the shower or anything like that, or run shrieking in horror if someone talks to me. No, I just mean that when it comes right down to it, I’m not a joiner. And at a con, that can make for some frustrating times.
It’s especially frustrating at an RWA event, because everyone is so supportive and open and generous. You want to talk about that paranormal where your hero is a Congressman campaigning to round up all the were-creatures in cages and your heroine a were-giraffe fashion model by day, assassin by night who is hell bent on taking him out?** You can find someone to hash that out with you at an RWA event. And smaller cons, like this one, are especially rich that way. I have never met a person I didn’t like at one of these events, which begs the question….why do I have such a hard time socializing with them?
One reason? I go to these things with Christine, so everything I need is right there in one person. She’s drinking buddy, confidant, critique partner and biggest fan all rolled into one. It sort of makes it hard to get motivated to seek out other people, and I think if you asked her she’d say the same thing about me.
Some day we’re going to have to split up and do some conference attending on our own, just to see how it works. But that’s for another time, because this weekend I'm totally doing it with her. If for no other reason than to see her give this speech – that she hasn’t written yet.
**I have floated this idea to Christine several times, and she refuses to see the genius of it. Think of it: a tale that reveals the reason why runway fashion models are super tall and super skinny – they’re were-giraffes! Genius!!
I have sort of love/hate thing with conferences. I love them, because I always come away from them with a renewed sense of purpose. Even if the workshops aren’t really relevant to me or my writing, there’s something invigorating and inspiring about being around a bunch of people with goals and aspirations that mirror yours. Added to that, there are always good prizes for the raffle, I get to meet new authors, and drink in the hotel bar.
That’s the love part. The hate part comes in when I realize, usually about three or four hours into the first day, that really? I’m not actually a social person.
Oh, I don’t mean that I hide in the shower or anything like that, or run shrieking in horror if someone talks to me. No, I just mean that when it comes right down to it, I’m not a joiner. And at a con, that can make for some frustrating times.
It’s especially frustrating at an RWA event, because everyone is so supportive and open and generous. You want to talk about that paranormal where your hero is a Congressman campaigning to round up all the were-creatures in cages and your heroine a were-giraffe fashion model by day, assassin by night who is hell bent on taking him out?** You can find someone to hash that out with you at an RWA event. And smaller cons, like this one, are especially rich that way. I have never met a person I didn’t like at one of these events, which begs the question….why do I have such a hard time socializing with them?
One reason? I go to these things with Christine, so everything I need is right there in one person. She’s drinking buddy, confidant, critique partner and biggest fan all rolled into one. It sort of makes it hard to get motivated to seek out other people, and I think if you asked her she’d say the same thing about me.
Some day we’re going to have to split up and do some conference attending on our own, just to see how it works. But that’s for another time, because this weekend I'm totally doing it with her. If for no other reason than to see her give this speech – that she hasn’t written yet.
**I have floated this idea to Christine several times, and she refuses to see the genius of it. Think of it: a tale that reveals the reason why runway fashion models are super tall and super skinny – they’re were-giraffes! Genius!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
we pause for this brief message....
Christine and I are both gearing up for a conference this weekend - the Emerald City Romance Writer's is having their annual shindig near Seattle, and we're both going to be there. We've gone to this conference a few times before, and we both really like it. It's small, but very well attended, and now that we live only a few hours drive away, I think we'll both make it a permanent fixture on our schedules.
And I promise, we'll be talking more about that. But today I wanted to share this clip from The Daily Show. Why? Because I agree with everything Jon Stewart is saying, and I don't mind tell you all just that.
And I promise, we'll be talking more about that. But today I wanted to share this clip from The Daily Show. Why? Because I agree with everything Jon Stewart is saying, and I don't mind tell you all just that.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Gay After Tomorrow | ||||
| ||||
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