J.O. Thomas and The matter-of-fact Male Perspective

When it comes to writing romance, it's a jungle out there! Each writer is looking to bag the biggest  literary beast of an experience for their reader, with the hopes of achieving author fandom.

Authors are navigating new territory, with sensory descriptions and imagery unique to fit every new story. Because of course you know, each story must be better than the last one!

This new territory includes mapping out the male Point of View (POV) in the middle of a steamy love scene.

Google has been my steadfast confidant for all things visual, tactful, and tame. Hello, Safe search. Fancy meeting you again!

But there comes a time when the safe search just won't traverse the kind of jungle that authors have found themselves in. Who wants a slow and even ride when it comes to the male POV in romance?

I like to write alternating chapters with male and female perspective. And while I've got a solid handle on what motivates my female characters, I find the male goal motivations and conflicts a little more difficult to negotiate in the middle of a love scene.

I've listened to conference talks for mastering the male POV. And although I highly respect and admire the authors that presented, nothing quite compares to the real thing. A real man.

In steps J.O. Thomas, with a no-nonsense perspective on the wiley and illusive male POV. I found him on twitter, a reputable marketing resource for other authors. He's quick to offer advice and support for those that seek him out.

If you're struggling with sensory and visual stimulus for a particularly spicy scene, I'd recommend picking up one of his stories! The read is quick. The delivery steadfast. And once your temperature settles back to normal, you should take away a unique perspective on the male persuasion.

Book Review: Confessions of a Closet Empath by DiAnne Berry

As a child, I was always felt ashamed at being over-sensitive. I still remember the day when, sitting at my Grandmother's Sunday dinner, I managed to spill my glass of milk.

I don't remember if it was just a slosh, or the entire glass. That should be important, but it wasn't.

I just remember being frozen where I sat. Everyone looking at me. I could feel their hostile energy just spearing me with passive aggressive judgment. Irritation.

"Don't cry over spilled milk," someone muttered. But they knew I would.
And I did. I cried...over spilled milk! Among family. Loved ones. People that I should feel most comfortable around. But I felt something else entirely that day, hitting me from every side of that table.

DiAnn Berry's book discusses what happens when a sensitive soul wanders through their daily lives with their guard down and their "gift" pulling information from every direction. The actual pain they feel when carrying around Other People's Stuff (OPS) and collecting junk that doesn't belong to them.

I love her comparison of an empath being similar to the old hag in the movie Labyrinth. The hag carries everything around on her back, refusing to put anything down, which makes even the simplest act of moving around difficult.

The book teaches how to create a mental and spiritual shield when encountering difficult situations, and how to turn down the dial to empathic energy. Mute button anyone?

I personally consider myself a closet empath. I've been locked in the tower for years, learning those cooping strategies from a very young age. So for me, I felt as though I was almost reading this book from the other side of the mirror.

It did give me some great insight though, and helped bolster my courage to venture into a few empathic connections since I finished the book. With great results!

If you can get past the grammatical errors, this book has a great message for anyone who struggles with sensitivity and wishes to understand themselves!

Book Review: Aura How to See Feel and Know -Embrosewyn Tazkuvel

Anything for book research. I should totally have that engraved on my headstone.

When it comes to exploring the realm between living and dead, between seen and unseen, I find myself charged with excitement and wonder. And that kind of excitement bolsters my bravery and guides me anywhere. From stripper poles to celestial enlightenment. I've gone there. 

Not in a gothy, creepy sort of way. More an adventurous way. The spiritual realm is like my grand canyon. So much to see and explore! I suppose that's why my books always carry a spiritual component that drives both the plot and the characters.

My current work in process is deep-seated in Himalayan culture and mythology, with a heavy emphasis on the spiritual realm.

So this week, I turned to Embrosewyn Tazkuvel, and his book on how to see, feel and understand auras. This book is positively packed with fun challenges to expand your vision capabilities and Embrosewyn's personal introspection that breathes life into a difficult to comprehend subject. I love the approach he takes to share his gift of sight and touch, believing that anyone can do this if they just put in the time! It set my whole world in new perspective and gave me a unique angle to pursue with my current work in progress.

Talk about uplifting!

Book Review: Vengeance Road Christine Feehan

As the weather turns spring-like, more motorcycles will immerge from hibernation. And with them, a fierce reputation for danger and adventure.
I've never been much of a motorcycle fan myself--okay, lets admit it, I'm down-right petrified of them. But I do have a healthy appreciation for those that ride. I have a few friends in clubs, and several more that want to be, so I'm vaguely familiar with the culture.
Christine Feehan has an amazing ability to suck you into the world of biker gangs, and hold you captive.
More than just nailing the MC culture like a prospect aiming to prove himself, she offers a steamy glimpse at the love sparked between two main characters who are destined to love no other. Its a rare thing in the gang world, where badge and buckle chasers are in plentiful supply, and the drive to stay loyal to any single woman can quickly loose it's nobility.
Because, women age...They change! No one stays pretty and pristine forever, and another pretty barfly will be constantly waiting in the wings to snare herself a bad boy, even if he belongs to someone else. Feehan addresses this issue expertly, time and again through this novel, giving the imperfect hope for a man like her hero, and proving that you don't have to be perfect to be appreciated.

Shepard Me to the Pie!

I have this thing for food in literature.

Maybe I'm just ultra-suggestable? But every time a read about food, I. Must. Have it!

I'm pretty sure that if reading professionally were my side hustle, I'd weigh over 390 pounds.

Heather Graham's A Dangerous Game is no exception. What a perfect book to read around St Patrick's day?! It's got all your Irish comfort food and crime fighting shenanigans wrapped in a kelly green bow!

One of my favorite settings for this book is an Irish pub in downtown Ney York City. It's been handed down through the character's family generation after generation. You can imagine those walls have seen all the good and bad that ever happens to these characters. Ms. Graham does an amazing job of taking us there.

And best of all, she has fooood! Shepard's pie, to be exact. A comfort food that I hadn't indulged in for so long, it makes my pallet weep!

Quick side, note, my kids hate, hate, hate shepard's pie. But tonight, I don't care. after reading about it, I'm heading home to bake one huge batch of all that gooey, cheesy, melty yumminess! And I am going to ignore my children's wails and muppet flails of injustice as each spoonful enters my mouth.

A Brave New World

A few things about traveling have always tied my stomach in knots. Images fill my head of racing across an entire airport, doomed to miss my connecting flight, passports vanishing into thin air, my children falling victim to creepy stranger danger, a shore excursion that leaves me in a Mexican prison, the list goes on...then on a bit more.

My failure to launch, fly, or what have you, has been inhibited by these fears on a number of occasions. I travel so seldom, I've been dubbed the official den mother of nearly all plants and pets for my neighbors when they decide to take an impromptu excursion.

"Just ask Kacey," they said. 

"She's always home," they said.

That's right. Home teaching you plants some colorful words and sharing your peanut butter with the dog.
Small side note: I love peanut butter but my son is allergic. So, since I can't have it in my own home, Diem of the Carpe!

When I happened upon an elderly lady just outside my Wednesday stop at Café Rio. My outlook on ravel suddenly changed.
I turned to find my husband bent over the passenger side window of a newer model Cadillac. I felt fairly certain he wasn't drooling over the vehicle. He's a Chevy fan. And I was pretty sure he wasn't offering himself for a date. He's a pretty funny guy, I wouldn't put it past him, but the café rio bag wafting a finger crook of delicious flavor, something else must be amiss.
I bent down beside him for a better look, to find a lovely elderly woman, her soulful blue eyes brimming with tears.
"Can you tell her where the Office Max is," my husband implored.
I looked at him in dismay.
Me? Why me? I'm the queen of misdirection! When faced with a stressful situation, left quickly becomes right and I forget where I live!
I buried my nose in my trusty phone, and in just a few clicks, I had address and directions a glow in my hand.
I showed the sweet lady which direction to head,
"I---I just don't" she sputtered in broken English. She blinked back tears.
I took a deep breath. "I will come with you." I declared. "Is that okay?"
And just like that, we were off.
My husband drove ahead and I prompted her to follow, as she careened down the busy road. Through the drive, I learned of her harrowing encounter with TSA and the near confiscation of her pudding, about her large family she was visiting--who by the way, begged her not go out on her own today.
And I learned she had managed this trip all the way from New York.
This delightful elderly woman had managed this trip all the way from the Big Apple, and not only had she made it here, she came from...there!   One of the scariest places in my country-bumpkin mind!
I have vowed from that moment on, to always consider the bravery of that lovely 75-year-old lady. To understand that although traveling might be a scary thing, it shouldn't stop you from doing what you love. 

Book Review: The Poposal by Jasmine Guillory

Jasmine Guillory has an endearing ability to take you home with her tactile writing and scene incorporation. I was feeeeling summer heat at the ball park from page one. Which came as a welcome contrast to the frost-bitten climate I’m presently caged in.

The Proposal has the ability to really shake-up gender stereotypes, which in retrospect, I admire greatly. The romance genre has a code of clichéd stereotypes strong enough to burst a steel bodice. Okay, I don’t really know what that means, but it sounded good. It just plain feels nice to see someone buck the trend.

With that in mind, I worked to keep my bias in check through chapter one. But after chapter two, I still wasn’t a fan of the main female character. I found myself wondering, if this were about a guy who hated doing things his girlfriend did, hated hanging out with her friends, and admitted that he obviously wasn’t with his sexy girlfriend for the conversation skills, I would have thrown the book against the wall. Which is incredibly more difficult to do with the kindle version.

I read on however, searching for redeeming qualities, but I came up empty-handed after the main character shows no hurt for being ridiculed, and outright laughs at her love interest when he tells her off for humiliating him at the ballpark.

I’d like to say that I kept the candle burning for this book in hopes of the female character evolving into a wonderful, caring individual, but I’m afraid my interest didn’t carry much further than the first few chapters.

The Pretend Achiever Routine

The New York Times recently published an article on how "achievers" manage their morning routine. Being a pretend achiever--a wanna be achievie-oso, if you will, I gave the article a quick once over.

I found that I was so far off the norm (no surprises there) that I decided I'd like to reach out in search of others that may have similar morning habits. My fellow wierdos, I got you!

The article states, the choices you make the moment you wake up will influence your entire day. Fair enough, I'll buy that. But my choices are determined by how well I manage to convincingly bribe myself with a promise of sleeping in on the weekend. Or with food. Food works. Special K with strawberries will get me out of bed.

Stumbling into the bathroom, the searing light that assaults my eyes makes me want to vampire hiss at the mirror. But then I realize true vampires don't have reflections, and mine is scowling back at me, more werewolf-to-the-light-socket than vampire. This hair...

My cat jumps on the bathroom counter and yowls good morning when I enter the bathroom. I wonder how she conquers her high cat achievement goals. Especially after the wild night of murdering the carpet, the couch, then more carpet, and puking on the rug. How do I know this? I heard it. All of it.

Back to the article though... Apparently being a achiever includes doing something that energizes you, which for me, includes the fervent argument of whether or not to go to the gym. I abandoned the public gym years ago, in favor of managing my awkward gym fails at home. This means my gym is less than one minute and sixty-five steps away. But the struggle lives! Shuffling down the creepy staircase to four walls of frigid concrete is only energizing if your imagination is alert.

Alert enough to decide the alpha werewolf is waiting with a machete because he wants his hairdo back.