Storywitch’s “Book Of Shadows”

Well, hey all y’all. Blog wisdom or etiquette suggests that, for a blog to be effective, you need to post to it daily. Or at least every 2-3 days. You also need to do a variety of content - fun stuff, personal stuff, mixed in with writing and romance stuff.

Okay, I suck at that. Obviously (since my last posting was about a month ago). But that’s cool. I’m not sweating it. You’ve told me that what matters to you is that I write quality books, and if my deadlines say that’s where my focus needs to be, well, that’s where it’s going to be. I just hate doing anything half-assed, and I can’t give this the attention it deserves, and your time is valuable. I won’t waste it unless I have something quality to offer you here.

So for now, I’m probably only going to come over here and blog when I’m doing something like round robins with other author blogs, or if and when in the future I have more time to really blog WELL.

I’ll let you know when special blog events are going to happen through my periodic news bulletin to my guestbook, so if you’re not already on that, send me an email and let me know you want to be added.

If anyone has any concerns about this decision, just let me know. Until then, keep your eye on my website, because I’ll keep that updated with news on upcoming releases, as always!

And THANKS to those of you who have played with me on my blog on the previous posts. I really have enjoyed it! There are just never enough hours in the day…grumble, grumble, grumble…

Welcome to the Fabulous Five of February 5 Celebration! On February 5, Mark of the Vampire Queen will be released. This is the sequel to Vampire Queen’s Servant and the continuation of the story of Lady Lyssa and her human servant, Jacob. As Prince Humperdink said in Princess Bride: “I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Gilder to frame for it. I’m swamped!” And so, too are Lyssa and Jacob, for they are facing Lyssa’s declining health, the Vampire Council Gathering, the threat of Carnal, and familial issues with Jacob’s brother. However, their strongest weapon to handle all these obstacles poses the greatest challenge to them – their feelings for one another. Hope you’ve already got your copy ordered or will head to the bookstores on February 5 to look for it. It’s a journey I look forward to sharing with you.

Now, as far as my February 5 release, I’m in great company. There are four other authors with February 5 releases – Meljean Brook, Jaci Burton, Dakota Cassidy and Nalini Singh. So we’ve joined together and selected five fun questions to answer, one on each blog. We’ll give you the chance to answer them as well, in order to enter a random drawing for a DIFFERENT PRIZE at each stop. I’m offering an autographed copy of Mark of the Vampire Queen or Vampire Queen’s Servant (your preference)

You’ll also get to learn about each book and add to your TBR list! Or perhaps the GIN list? (Get It Now!)

So here’s my question, and our five answers. Here’s what you do – leave a comment, telling me what YOUR answer would be to the question. That makes you eligible for the drawing to my prize. Then jump to the next blog (click on an author’s name above to get to it). The drawings on all five blogs will be closed after Sunday, 11:59pm PST, the winners announced shortly thereafter.

Have fun and feel free to make additional comments as well! It’s a party!  

QUESTION: If you could turn any of your books into a movie, which would you choose — and who would you want to direct it and/or play the lead characters?

Meljean Brook: Oh, this is a hard decision between Demon Angel and Demon Night. Demon Night’s heavier on the action and actually *feels* a little more like a movie, but I think I’d choose Demon Angel just for the epic feel, and the period costumes all of the historical scenes would require (I’m a sucker for historical costuming). My dream director would be Joss Whedon. If I could blend Gina Torres and Angelina Jolie into one new actress, that’d be the perfect Lilith — and Hugh’s a tough one, but I think Hugh Jackman could pull it off.

Jaci Burton: Surviving Demon Island. It’s made to be a movie since it’s filled with action, adventure, suspense and romance. Spielburg would direct, Angelina Jolie would play Gina, and I think maybe Gerard Butler for Derek.

Dakota Cassidy: Definitely Kiss and Hell. Delaney is a medium who’s pissed Satan off and Clyde is her geek turned hottie demon who really isn’t supposed to be a demon. I’d choose Sandra Bullock and of course, John Cusack. And I have no clue about a director. I don’t know many by name…

Joey W. Hill – Oh, I think Vampire Queen’s Servant and Mark of the Vampire Queen would make wonderful movies. David Wenham (think Faramir in Lord of the Rings) would play Jacob. Lyssa would be a great match for Kate Beckinsale – right combo of vulnerability and kick ass style. For director I’d choose Joss Whedon as well, who always makes character development the central heart of his work, or Peter Jackson, who does just an incredible job with epics. Then of course there’s Jerry Bruckheimer, who is the master of action. Maybe a partnership between the three…

Nalini Singh - My characters are so strong visually in my head that I have difficulty casting anyone else in their roles, so I’m going to throw out that question to readers - any favorites for my characters? I do think my contemporaries would be far easier to make into movies, but I’d love to see someone adapt a Psy/Changeling book. How would they show the PsyNet? It would be amazing to see it up there on the big screen.

Okay, now what’s your answer? And this can be any favorite book of yours… 

Wow. Your responses to the last blog were fantastic. Yes, I know an author sometimes throws a desperate question out there to get activity on her blog, but this was one I posed in all sincerity. You also have the thanks of the other authors who’ve visited my blog to see what you all think about this very important issue to us.

Plus, I thank you for the many wonderful compliments of my work you slipped into your answers. That was kind – writing is very solitary work, and I don’t think readers truly comprehend how this helps an author plugging along through those endless edits. We’re like cats - we need stroking. :> 

Enough of that. Since we had such a great response to this, I thought, aha! I can make my reaction the source of my next blog, because my brain is fried cheese from the aforementioned edits. Seriously, to say I found your answers useful is like saying I find chocolate merely a sufficient way to end a meal. So THANK YOU, one more time! Also, please note – my responding to that blog in this blog doesn’t mean I’m discouraging further answers – far from it. I’m learning more with each post.

So here’s the summary I surmised from your many answers, and you see if you think it’s accurate:

For those who buy print: Overall, it seems an overwhelming number of you buy through browsing. You get your attention caught by titles and covers, but the back blurb is the true clincher that will make you open up the inside and read a bit. Then, if the story has been written well, the author has won a sale.

For the online shoppers: Excerpts, reviews and Amazon-type ratings seem very helpful, as well as the offerings on the author’s website. Blogs and chats that introduce you to an author (which I think I would classify as reader recommendations) draw your attention to those things as well to a lesser extent.

There were other factors mentioned for both ways of seeking books: Romantic Times Magazine, targeting a preferred publisher/line (Heat, Aphrodisa, etc), editing quality, recommendations of respected friends, positioning of the book in the stores or, online, arranging by preferred subgenre.

So, interestingly, while it does seem some marketing of the book is important for getting the name out where the reader may stumble over it, it sounds like the true test is in the packaging of the book, whether on the shelf or on the screen – blurbs, excerpts, review quotes, and, for print books, the “attention grab” power of the cover and title.

The most important thing I picked up out of this was it’s the blurb or excerpt (whether the reader is paging through the book in a store or checking out the excerpt online) that seals the deal.

Once the reader makes the decision to buy a new author, the story has to be good, because they won’t be burned twice. For an established author, they may get a couple more shots before they’re given up as a lost cause. So in the end, the foundation to it all is TELL A STORY WORTH READING. Yes, sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But I can’t tell you how easy it is to forget in the push to “produce” or meet perceived marketing “trends”. The reality is, when you’ve been working day and night to reach a deadline and run through 3-4 edits, by the time you print the thing off or email it to the publisher, you’re thinking “I don’t care any more, just GET IT AWAY FROM ME!” LOL

Two side notes I also found interesting were this – 1) embarrassing/blatant covers REALLY push readers away from getting a print book, and 2) the prohibitive cost of books is keeping some in the States from buying them versus checking them out of a library. Outside the States, the shipping/cost/availability of print books can be a real obstacle.

There was also a potentially untapped marketing option that was noted in the blog postings. I keep hearing more and more readers say they wish their book clubs would read erotic romance. I say, why not ask them? I base that on the fact that I was invited to a bookclub one night by a friend who wanted me to provide an author’s perspective on Time Traveler’s Wife, one of my favorite titles. A couple weeks earlier, I had finished writing an erotic short story for this very conservative friend as a fun gift for her and her husband. It had fallen into the hands of one of the bookclub members. Well this person forwarded it to the bookclub (most of them in the 50ish range) and they were very animated and relaxed about talking about it at the meeting, surprising my conservative friend very much. Someone also said – maybe on this blog or in an email – that she’s part of an Ellora’s Cave book club, focusing on EC titles. So I think there’s an opportunity there. Maybe we just have to fan the flame. (Okay, yes there’s a couple ways to interpret that – lol.)

Now, as a final observation, since apparently reviews on Amazon and B&N are a significant factor in purchasing work, if ANY of you feel a desire to put a review of my work in those venues, I’ll be tickled to death (wink). No worries - no arm twisting. I don’t even strong arm friends and family to go do that kind of thing or vote for awards. To me, that’s cheating, which is why I was so flattered by the LR Café win. I always say, if readers think I deserve a nice review on Amazon, or a vote in an online award, I appreciate it. If you think someone deserves it more, then you give it to them.

Which comes back to the issue that, while marketing is key, what should always be first and foremost is telling a great story.  Thanks again! Be sure and come back Friday. We’re going to have a fun Round Robin post with four other authors that day.

Okay, I’m sitting here, treating myself to the first real significant chocolate I’ve allowed myself for the past 10 days as I fight off the holiday weight. I’ve got my black cherry Celestial Seasonings tea, my cherry Coke Zero, and I’m listening to Abba’s greatest hits (have I mentioned how much I love ITunes?). We’ve just gone from Dancing Queen (admit it, everybody can groove to that song, though everyone’s embarrassed about it), and am on to Wanting Me, Wanting You.

Yes, I’m in my morning warm-up mode, getting ready to type in the rest of Controlled Response. This is Lucas and Cassandra’s story - you remember Lucas from Board Resolution, he of the oh-so-clever mouth? Hmm… Thought you might. Denise Rossetti was kind enough to expose me to a calendar of Aussie men, and I found the perfect body type for him. Remember, Lucas is a cyclist, so I thought this lean look would be perfect for him. Love the sloping jaw line and somewhat full lips. I’ll use those, even though Lucas will have his own unique look. And for those with incredible memories, you’ll recall he’s also a golden blonde. For more clarity, you can see all of the Aussie men at

http://www.menforallseasons.com.au/images/2008%20previews/08_June.jpg

Anyhow, where was I? I was thinking about why I buy books, and it made me start wondering what makes us choose a particular book. The most significant factor. Part of this is I’m at the point in my career I need to really start assessing my marketing plan for myself and my work, to help take it to the next level.

Oddly though, in thinking it through, I’ve realized for me it’s the recommendation of another reader I respect. Truly. I will sometimes go to the bookstore and browse, so I’d rate as the second factor a book that catches my attention based on three elements - cover, back blurb, and the random page test - I open it up and see if by reading a page or two whether I’m intrigued by it. Sometimes I add a fourth criteria - the ending. I’ll read the last page (yes, I’m one of those) because the ending also tells me something about the book. And boy, isn’t that being hypocritical, because I probably have more trouble with the ending of my own books than any other part, because I usually don’t want to let them go.

I found I almost never read a book based on marketing of the book (name recognition efforts). But being neck-deep in this industry, I can’t say that’s definitive proof that marketing efforts are a waste of time. And whose to say the recommendation of the person that caused me to go out and get the book wasn’t based on THEM noticing a title through a marketing effort?

So, do you have any thoughts on this? Interestingly, when I read the blogs/articles by authors who are high on the success charts, most of them emphasize that at a certain point you just let the publisher handle that and you focus on writing the book. And even when you’re still in the mid-list trenches, they say that some marketing is important, but writing the best story possible and then going on to the next one is still most important.

So, what do you think? You all think about it. What makes you buy a book? What marketing efforts by authors do you think is useful to your decision, or is it all a waste of time? Since it’s 9am, I’ve got to finish my chocolate and get started. Deadline of Jan 31…eeek. Think you’re going to like this one, though. Lots of fun - it’s been sort of like the Chance of a Lifetime break between Mistress of Redemption and Vampire Queen’s Servant. Everyone is aware Mark of the Vampire Queen is coming out in about two weeks, right? (Wink).

Have a great day everyone…

If you’re coming from the Joyfully Reviewed site, you know that Joy is going to give you the opportunity to win several of my books in this blog, specifically a print copy of Natural Law, If Wishes Were Horses or Holding the Cards. You just have to tickle my fancy with an answer to any or all of the five questions listed below.

1) Natural Law: If you could have Mac Nighthorse to yourself for the day, what would you do with him? (With Violet’s full blessing!)

2) Holding the Cards: Josh is a very accomplished and versatile dancer. If you’d been in the ballroom alone with him as Lauren was in the book with him, what dance would you have liked to do with him (or see him do), and what music would you have chosen?

3) If Wishes Were Horses: Identify your favorite or least favorite scene, and why.

4) Why do you want to win a Joey W. Hill book?

5) What is your favorite all time book (of any author) and why?

Now, just to recap the basics from the JR site: if you haven’t read the book you want to win, you’ll note I’ve provided two questions that don’t relate to the specific title. Just identify which book it is you’d like to win when you post to the blog. There are also blurbs and free excerpts for all my books on my website, under the Books Available page, which will give you a sense of the characters, if you want to venture an answer to one or more of the book-specific questions without having read them.

For those who answer questions #1-3, I’ll assume you want the title related to the question you’re answering (and you’re welcome to try for more than one). In short, anything goes! This contest will run Jan 1-8, and I’ll choose my favorite three answers January 9. You’re welcome to generate discussion on the blog about answers - we don’t have to limit ourselves to “just the answers”.

Ready? Go! And Happy New Year!!

Hey all - just a quick note to say you may not hear much from me throughout the month of December, because the December 31 deadline for A Witch’s Beauty is pushing me hard, and I want to make sure I deliver the best story possible for all of you.

To give you something nice to look at, however, how about this early preview of the cover art for A Mermaid’s Kiss (formerly Daughter of Ariel)? My webmaster will get it updated on my website soon, but I wanted to share. I am extremely pleased with it - only thing I thought was the half tunic could have been a little shorter and straighter (show more of that muscular thigh, you know) and the feather a tad longer and broader. Ahem.

Seriously, I think this is absolutely beautiful cover art. I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m generally not a fan of showing faces, but this artist captured my main characters well, particularly the gentle beauty of Anna. Can’t wait to introduce her and Jonah to you in Fall 2008. But enough of what I think of it. How about you?

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, celebrating Christmas in whatever manner best serves your own, personal spiritual tradition, as well as the spirit of the season, which is intended to be love and generosity toward each other (okay, maybe not that lady who elbowed in front of me at the Kohl’s sale, but everyone else!)

Thank you for the joy you all have added to my life by sharing your love of my characters and our mutual passion for well-told stories. Merry Christmas!

Well, here we are. I have officially been a “full time author” for three business days now (since November 15). It’s kind of sinking in, but it’s an odd transition. This is something I’ve been working so hard toward for so long, but I know enough about this industry to know the fact I got here is a 20-80 combination of that hard work and the most fantastic luck in the Universe. Which of course has me asking the Universe suspiciously “Okay, what is it you want?” Kind of like when you come home and your husband has cleaned the house. All sorts of alarm bells go off.

Seriously, I’m starting to feel a tenuous curl of delight, as if there’s this tiny version of me at the very back of my mind jumping up and down, doing the “woof woof woof” with the fist pumping in the air. I’ll enjoy it as long as it lasts, for I also know enough about this industry that I know success (at least as defined by being able to afford to do it full-time) is capricious. But even if I end up as a Wal-mart greeter in a couple years (and as I’ve said, I can think of worse fates - I love Wal-mart), I’ll have had the pleasure of knowing I did reach this point at least once.

One thing I realized right off the bat. You immediately have to do the learning curve with friends and family. Beware sentences that start “Now that you’re not working now…” Hello? I have to write a 100k+ story by December 31, a 30k by January 31, an 8k word story by March 3 (God knows what a challenge that will be for the Mrs. Leo Tolstoy of erotic romance), and then the next 100k+ by April 30. In between doing edits on the finished manuscripts, coordinating what meager amount of marketing I can fit in, etc.

The good thing is I love what I’m doing, and my nights and weekends belong to my husband and animals again. I can’t tell you all what that means to me. Life’s too short - I was beginning to fear that the choice between the writing dream and loving my family properly was going to have to be made definitively. Just goes to show sometimes the universe steps in when you think you can’t handle anything more. Anything like that happen to any of you? You get to the end of the rope and suddenly a safety net appears? It’s one of the things that most makes me believe there is a Creative Power out there.

Anyhow, I’ve clipped a shot of my wild babies for you guys. They are ecstatic to be getting more attention and exercise. I took them for about a two mile walk this morning and they got back and ran around the yard. I collapsed on the front porch and had visions of Tyler scooping me up like Marguerite and carrying me to the couch - though what on earth I would have been up to doing at that point was laughable. Thank God for fantasies - they work so much better inyour mind, when you’re not dealing with the realities of your body! It’s like my husband’s response when I asked if he’d still want me if Jessica Alba showed up on the doorstep and said she’d be his forever. “Of course I’d still want you,” he said, unperturbed. “I’d only need her for about five minutes, and then she could be on her way…” LOL

Anyhow, off to work on A Witch’s Beauty. Just wanted to share some rambling musings with you all this morning on the first historic days…

For their Halloween bash, I posted a blog on The Good, The Bad and The Unread about what I wanted to be for Halloween, and then ran a contest for a free title. The contest was the best response to the question ”Why are vampires so sexy to romance readers?

I received some great answers, some of which I wanted to share with you here for enjoyment and discussion!

“Well, there are a lot of reasons that vampires are sexy to romance readers. Vampires represent the unknown - they are everything that we aren’t, and everything that we want to be. They exude mystery and sex appeal that is stronger than any mere mortal, and yet they have the power to blend into the shadows at will. They have the power to be cruel and brutal, and yet sensuous and passionate without being held accountable for their actions.” - Becky

“I think it falls in line with D/s and BDSM in that it’s a trust/submit/surrender relationship taken even a step further.  Think of the intensity of a relationship where you’ve surrendered body and soul to the control of another being, then add to that the ability to give even more, the desire to also be a sustaining life source.  To be what the other needs. “Really” needs to survive. Of course, this only works with “today’s” versions of vampires that are monogamous and love their mate for eternity, which in their case is going to be a lot longer than most couples (grin).” - Terry

“The power they have over their subjects. They are sensual, smooth and empowering. They hold immortal life in their hands, they can give life and take it away. They are hard but also vulnerable. They need us, humans, to live. They are the eternal romantic. Maybe the reason I like them so much is because they take you over, they consume you, they take the will away from you and you want whatever they want. There is no decision, no choice. Only just BEING…” - Melody

“I think I like vampire stories - in rational doses though :) because it brings out our wilder, more sensual side, that we usually keep tucked in our every day life, but like to explore at night while reading a good paranormal romance novel.” - Nathalie

“Vamps are alpha males and very powerful.  They are also tortured heroes and we of course want to see them find the perfect person for them to love and have someone love them.  There is also the fact that vampires need to drink blood, and it’s the trust that the heroine has for the hero, that he will drink what he needs and won’t take too much blood, not to mention the intimacy between the two, while he feeds.” - Amy

“Actually, I never found vampires sexy until…..Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in “Interview with a Vampire”.  Ohh..they were so sexy I wished they would just bite ME!!” - Sharmila

“I will have to say it all depends on the author…they are what makes them sexy…If I had to pick one thing it would have to be the THE TAKING OF BLOOD DURING SEX…It’s very arousing…” -Tammi

“I like that vampires are out of sync with time and the normal world. Depending on the interpretation of vampire lore, I love their strength, their bad boy/girl quality and the force of their hunger. Plus, I love the sexuality/carnality of the (fictional) bite.” -Lisa

It was a REALLY tough choice - I admit I had to do an eeny-meeny-miny-mo think between my several favorites. So here was the winner:

“Vampires are the ultimate in dark and dangerous.  With their abilities to grant supreme pain or pleasure, the erotic can be that much more edgy and heightened.  Let us not forget the fact that they are immortal and the idea of a love for all time really appeals.  They have centuries to choose a mate so meeting that one person and falling for him/her is incredibly moving.  And once turned it is for good.” - LLL

One deadline down! Daughter of Ariel went into the mail to my editor at Berkley today, all 430 pages of it. It’s been an interesting journey with this book. Because I’ve been transitioning out of my day job and was hit with a lot of deadlines, professional and personal at once, for awhile I couldn’t really “feel” these two characters. It caused me quite a bit of angst. Until I fall in love with them, how can my readers have any kind of chance of falling in love with them as well? But I kept plodding away. Scott says I am incredibly predictable. EVERY book, I finish the first edit and say - this book is a piece of drek, I’m tossing it. Then the 2nd edit, I’m feeling better about it, and 3rd edit - pow, things start falling into place. And even having him tell me this, I’m like a person with limited memory recall - I don’t believe it until it happens and it’s real to me.

But this book was a little different, because I didn’t “feel” the characters consistently when I was handwriting the first draft, which is unusual. So I was getting pretty nervous. Finally, I’d started the second edit and gotten about half way through, and I really was about to panic because I just couldn’t get close to Jonah and Anna… Then I woke up in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago and I felt it. This pleasurable unfurling in my stomach as I thought about Jonah and Anna, and click, it was there. Big sigh of relief. Just in time for Denise to give me some edits that were a tremendous help during the third edit, but of course slowed me down enough in the rewrites I didn’t get that 4th and final edit done where I clean up typos that happen during the editing process. So now I’m certain my editor’s going to read through the draft and pitch it because there will be too many typos (lol). See, this is the problem with blogs - you get to peer into the maze of an author’s brain and think - geez, she’s a complete nut! Or perhaps you all have OCD problems as well (obsessive compulsive disorder)?

Anyhow, just to give you a teaser, because I AM celebrating (a little bit manically, if you hadn’t noticed)…Jonah, our angel, and Anna, the mermaid who has rescued him from dark forces and hidden him, are going to engage in Joining Magic (which is exactly what you might think it is - wicked grin) to help heal a wound he’s sustained, and they are having the following conversation…

“I knew you were inexperienced, but I didn’t expect… You’re untouched.”

More true than he knew. Untouchable. She nodded, her cheek rubbing against his jaw, his fall of silken hair. When her hair dried in the sun, it dried like seaweed, unless she applied oils to it, rinsed away the salt. His was now dry but as feather-like as if it were underwater. She couldn’t help inhaling it, a smell of pleasurable things she didn’t recognize. She imagined them to be things like sky or the clouds at elevations she’d never been. Perhaps he’d even gone close to the sun, caught the rays in his hands. How close could he get without being burned? The pulsing heat of his body was setting her on fire.

When he raised his head and cradled hers in his hand a moment, bringing them eye to eye, it was as if she’d stepped inside him. Anna was sure she could feel not just what he was, but who he was. And in that moment, the heart overwhelmed awe. He was like her…he needed, wanted. She could feel the beat of his heart, the rush of his blood, his desire and his determination mixed. Not so different from her after all.

“You should have told me, little one.”

“I said I belonged to no one.”

“So you did.” There was a quiet, sensual amusement to his voice, but something else, too, something that made her insides quiver even more. “I suppose that means you belong to me now. At least for this moment.”

May this moment never end, she thought.

Did you like that? Now on to deadline 2 before October 31, which is writing up the proposal for the next book in this series, called A Witch’s Beauty. A proposal is the synopsis and the first three chapters. As far as what a synopsis is, think of the most hideous torture possible, and the equivalent of that torture for an author is a synopsis…I’ve tried to figure out why I hate them so much, and I think part of it is that writing a synopsis is writing the dry dusty bare bones of a story, and a story is all about the characters, passion and life…so it’s just irritating (grin).

Off we go. Good night to all my fellow OCD’ers.

Okay, let’s hit a new topic. Clothes for our characters. When I shared the Rough Canvas cover with you, I mentioned that they’d originally photographed the models in  BVD’s and I tried to get them to change them to jeans - they couldn’t do that, but they did artful shadowing and nudity. Which I thought was a good improvement because I felt that would be more appealing to women readers. I still like jeans, but then I’m a jeans only/shirtless guy type of voyeur (grin).  

I’m firmly convinced that there’s less male nudity in movies not only because men are far more insecure about their genitalia, but because women get more turned on seeing the suggestion of what they’ve got than the actual thing hanging out, visually speaking. We’re mental creatures - in other words, have a guy saunter across the room in a pair of jeans that fit just right - not too tight, not too loose, see that waistband dropping a bit so you can see the hint of hip bone (NOT to be confused with the idiots who wear them to their knees), and let the crotch area have just that nice way of being filled out, and wham, you’ve got my attention, girl, and all sorts of great imaginings. We’re pretty much 10 minutes into foreplay just on the visuals. Now, if he “flip flopped” across the room completely naked, I’m not sure it would have the same effect. Though I admit Michael Douglas did a great stalk in Basic Instinct.

Even for guys, I think this works as well. Yeah, they like naked women. But I think they also like creative clothing, otherwise they wouldn’t get all excited when we visit the lingerie stores. See the pictures below. Would our Catholic schoolgirl be as sexy if she was completely in the buff? I don’t think she would. And trust me, those legs on the right would be no where near as eye catching if they weren’t in hose and ankle breaking heels (I know this for a fact because those legs are MINE - grin). I’ve discovered this weird shoe fetish lately - shoes never used to do a thing for me… go figure. Probably just my deviant mind mutating.

Now, go down below these pictures and we have…oh, you all know who that is. Let’s just take a deep breath and savor. It’s not only the clothes…it’s the way the character wears them - they become PART of who he is.  In Chance of a Lifetime, when Jake Chance steps out of that unmarked police car, in dark T-shirt, jeans, the badge clipped on his belt, the dark PD bill cap pulled down low, the dark glasses on, we all know what kind of picture that makes, the statement. And it sets the tone for who he is and what we expect (and anticipate) from him.

Okay, so now, tell me. Think of clothes or costumes that helped stimulate your imagination or further your absorption with the characters… What books? Movies? TV?