Announcements, a thank you and a question about personal stuff

So it's Sascha Illyvich's turn to post on the Midnight Seductions blog today :) (Again, admn lol!)

First off, for those of you who are authors, you may be interested in my workshop being hosted during the entire month of May at Coffee Time Romance forums on BDSM in Romance. Here's the flyer:

With the changing trend in what’s hot in writing, BDSM romance is sure to strike the fancy of many editors and publishers! For some, the harder, the better. Others prefer softer and more subdued BDSM, but for the author unaware of the Lifestyle, what’s the difference?

Beginning May 1st Coffee Time Romance Forums will be hosting a month long workshop dedicated to BDSM in Romance by Red Rose author Sascha Illyvich. Learn the ins and outs of this lifestyle along with some information that may surprise you.

For example: Are you aware that while Laurell K. Hamilton does not write BDSM, her books could be considered BDSM romance due to elements of the Lifestyle appearing in all of her characters?

Learn the reasons behind Alpha Dominant behavior and submissive tendencies along with what makes Alpha men alpha and others just beta. Christine Feehan does a good job of this with her Drake Sisters stories.

Some of the things we will cover include

Definition of BDSM in all forms
Safe Sane and Consensual, or SSC
Explanation of the BDSM symbol
Mentality of the various players (there’s truly only three but variants are fun!)
Definition of a Scene, Structure of a Scene (music, equipment, etc)
Basics on toys and reasons we use them (hint, it’s for our fun!)
The Club Scene (along with a story about real estate and my ego beating lol!)
Role play
Definition of Fetish
Basic types of fetishes
Along with a variety of examples to educate, enrich our writing and amuse you!

If you thought BDSM was all about pain, consider this: Are you a contemporary romance writer who has ever written a scene involving use of hot chocolate being drizzled on various body parts? That’s called Crushing, or food fetish! Have you written scenes where your hero takes control of the sexual act and holds down the female? That’s light bondage! If you’ve written about elaborate costumes like corsets and such, that’s also bondage and a form of body modification! Guess what, you’re KINKY!

What authors sometimes miss is that by educating themselves on various topics such as BDSM, they can add depth to their stories and to their marketing campaigns. If they have another angle to market theirs stories, they have a potential to increase their readership.

And we all want more readers!

Registration is easy. The fee is $25 payable via paypal to stpbigbangbaby@yaho.com (stpbigbangbaby at yahoo dot com if this gets cut off!) Participants will get a receipt with forum instructions to join the private board Karen at Coffee Time has set up for us.

Be sure to save your receipt, this is an educational expense and therefore a tax write off! I will also be emailing copies of the finished manuscript in PDF form to this first round of participants.

I have been writing in this genre for the last eight years, worked two large BDSM events in Houston with Houston People Exchanging Power, been actively involved on mailing list discussions, read a few books, met and spent time with Jay Wiseman (Author of SM 101: A Realistic Introduction) I was also a columnist at D/s World for their online E-zine. Oh, and as I mentioned before, my Mom is a Lifestyle Domme – meaning when she realized that she enjoyed kinky sex, she sought out knowledge and became who she is today. My previous workshop, Writing from the Male POV and creating better heroes was a success both at Coffee Time Romance and at Collette Thomoas’s Erotic Workshop yahoo group.


Thank you!


Next, I'd like to thank our creative artists who do our baners, organize our chats and bookings at various websites and chat groups, help set up and manage contests for you, our lovely readers. So if you'd all join me and give Tess MacKall and co. a big round of applause, I'd really love that :) Since it's earth day today too, let's all encourage Tessie to write completely NAKED today since that means she'll have one less load of laundry to do! Let's encourage AneMarie to do likewise!

Now a short blog:

I know a LOT about a lot of you ;) Some of you have entrusted me with deep, dark secret sex fantasies and I have returned the favor with tales of my own insanity!

My friends and I are this way too. We talk and flirt and bullshit the same way we have for years in many instances. My best friend and I are completely at ease with telling each other what’s going on in our personal lives and spilling some dirt on our occasionally misbehaving (haha!) significant others. Sometimes those details are really personal and on rare occasion that said best friend and I are having a conversation over the phone, my significant other will wander in and overhear what’s being said. She’ll frown and glare daggers at me.

When I finish my conversation my significant other will ask me the following: Why do you know that about so and so?

Me: Because we were talking about this. Or that.

Her: Don’t you think that’s a bit inappropriate?

Me: No.

She glares at me and shakes her head.

So come on folks, do you talk openly and honestly with your friends, using judgment when not to talk about things your spouse or significant other would REALLY hate to hear? Things such as the size of certain organs, etc?

Or do you gab as though you have no judgment, knowing your friend will keep your secret safe? What DO you talk about with your friends? Why?

When asked, I usually say yes, depending on the topic. I do not give away details of my sex life but am not afraid to hear about theirs. I know my S.O. would not appreciate that so I keep it between her and me. Or I’m coy with details as you would expect a romance writer to be.

So, what say you?