Smart Bitches and Lion Cubs

The first thing I saw this morning was a lovely wee video shared by a friend and posted on Smart Bitches and Trashy Books. It's a Scottish zookeeper hugging his wee, lovely lion cubs. Since I've just finished writing my lion keeper WIP, and there is now nothing left but the beta reading and editing, I thought I'd celebrate with another look. Join me, won't you. Thank you Smart Bitches!

And speaking of smart bitches, here are a few I call friends. You might want to check out their websites. You'll find books, reviews, blogs, and all kinds of fun. So, take a peek at Andi Lea, Jordan Castillo Price, West Thornhill, Amanda Young, Gayle's Book Nook, Korthy Alexander, and Cherie Noel. These amazing women have all been very good to me. Thanks, ladies!

And, if you are looking for a fantastic adventure and a great free read, as always, you can swing by The Ravens Crossing for some young adult sci-fi and fantasy. There's a diverse cast of characters, and a little something for everyone. I hope you enjoy!

When the Muse Goes Wild

Today, I have reigned in the Muse. She took over last week and went a little wacky on me. She didn't let me sleep enough.  Yesterday I crashed and slept half the day. Today, we are back on good working terms. The words are flowing all around me. My eyes are no longer droopy, and my brain is cleared of the fog. A nice, crisp snow cleared the air outside this morning, too. Then, the sun came out and it's a gorgeous day. The birds are singing like it's spring. It makes me smile despite the wacky weather patterns. 

So, I am going to make this short and sweet and get back to Wildwood. Morgan & Holly and Sharon & Alex are all four together today for an event in the WHS gym.  While I clickety clack over here, I direct you to a few really good reads:

Head on over to Slash & Burn and read what Andi Lea has to say about LGBT fiction and our project, The Ravens Crossing. Many thanks to Amanda Young for offering to host us. 

You can find tons of great free reading at The Ravens Crossing. Lucas & Riley share some romantic time alone together this week. I love those two. I think you will too.

Don't forget to swing on over to JCP Books and get your copy of Jordan Castillo Price's new book, The Starving Years. It just went on sale today. I can't wait to read it!

Oh, and for your visual enjoyment, take a peek at my last post if you haven't already. :D

That ought to keep you busy. Have a great evening. I'm headed back to the WHS gym now to finish up my current scene. 

Hung Like a Whale

Did you know that the largest testes in the world belongs to the right whale, weighing in at a thousand pounds and measuring nine feet in length? A friend of mine read my blog on gay animals and called to share her expertise on whale sex. I have to tell you, I'm fascinated. She described actually seeing two male gray whales mutually masturbating. Not surprisingly, even though we are both intelligent adults, we couldn't seem to stop ourselves from discussing size. The image is of two males engaged in sexual behavior, according to my friend. You can clearly see they are both excited.

I couldn't resist going on a whale hunt of sorts for more images, facts, and information. Why, I wonder, was I compelled to see this? It's not as if I have some interest in a man being hung like a whale. Seriously, should something that size ever come gunning for me, I'll run screaming! Still, I find myself compelled to look. Some of my curiosity comes from a recent whale watching trip in Bar Harbor last August. A pair of humpback males surfaced near our boat, and the naturalist recognized them immediately by the marks on their fins. She commented that this pair of adult males has been seen hanging out together for years. Generally, if you see one, you see them both. Of course, I immediately wondered if homosexual behaviors had been observed in humpbacks. What can I say? The naturalist didn't know.

My friend, always happy to support my educational endeavors, no matter how bizarre, loaned me a book called Gray Whales Wandering Giants by Robert H. Busch. The book provides lots of facts like the gray whale's penis size - five feet long. There are some really interesting photos, too. But, when it comes to discussions of gay behaviors, they do the typical  glossing of the topic by simply saying the "explanation behind homosexual behavior in gray whales is unknown."

By the way, in case my male readers are feeling ye olde size envy, you might like to know that whale sperm is actually smaller than human sperm. Of course, they produce gallons of it, so I'm not sure that helps.

Anyway, I went online searching for more information. I looked up Dr. Rich Osborne first, because he has studied, photographed, and described homosexual behavior in orcas. The males of this species apparently gather in groups during the breeding season and enjoy all kinds of mutual pleasure with each other when females are not present. One or more males have also been known to hold another breeding couple up during repeated copulations. Apparently, it's a bisexual free love party. You could go so far as to say sex among these guys is killer. But, I digress - again.

The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, where Osborne was the research curator for many years, allegedly has an entire collection of NSFW orca photos  showing them engaged in same sex activities. I had hoped to find some of these images to share, but alas, I only found them mentioned in articles.

Instead, I made do with a photo of a fully erect orca. The researcher is gathering a sperm sample. Orcas also appear to be exhibitionists with no hang ups about gender or species. Yes, whales are fascinating in many, many ways.

Alas,  I need to stop this whale hunt, now. It's time for beauty rest so I'll be ready for a rollicking good time with the coffee porn gang, Andi Lea and West Thornhill, tomorrow. We are meeting  Amanda Young for lunch at Red Robin. Yay! 

That Reminds Me: Go Gracious Authors.

Yesterday, I saw a little tweet by Jordan C. Price and it reminded me of a few things. First I remembered that her stories were among those that first turned me on to the M/M genres. If you have not read her Psycop Series, I highly recommend it. Plus, her latest work is a free read called Magic Mansion about a magician's reality show. The readers periodically get to vote characters out of the story. So cool! Second, I was reminded of how grateful I am to Jordan for all the help she has graciously given me as a new kid on the block.

You see, somewhere along the way, I decided to write Jordan and ask her what I called " some stupid questions." I figured she might get a laugh out of them, and perhaps I'd get a response if I was lucky. On the contrary, Jordan replied right away and admonished me for calling my questions stupid. She has proceeded to go out of her way to answer any and all of my questions ever since. She even pointed me to her podcasts on writing, called Packing Heat. She no longer produces these, but they're all available online.

Jordan is not the only one. Just about every author I've met or written to along the way has been gracious and wonderful. Even the big names, like JR Ward, who I was sure would be far too busy and important for little old me, seem more than willing to help. It's like they enjoy the chance to talk with someone else who fully appreciates the difficulty of what they do. Someone who isn't pressuring them about when the next book is coming out.

There is no way I can link you to all of the authors who have been helpful, but Jordan's little tweet reminded me that I certainly need to thank them all. Authors, if you are by some amazing fluke actually reading this new kid's post, you know who you are.

Here are just a few more gracious authors I recommend that you read: Ethan Day, Andi Lea, Amanda Young, SJ Frost, James Buchanan, Rick R. Reed, Damon Suede, Cherie Noel, and West Thornhill. Whew! That should keep you busy for a while.

Eros Rocks!

There are no words to describe how great my writer's group is. But, I feel I need to give it a shot anyway. Our fearless leader named the group Eros, and they are a fantastic bunch of writers. Some of them have numerous books published, some a few, some have books coming out shortly, and then there's me, the one still working on finishing her first novella. 

Thanks is not adequate for these fantastic Eros women: West Thornhill, Andi Lea, Cherie Noel, Amanda Young, Kortny Alexander, and GH Worth. If you have not given them a read, I highly recommend you do. They are all supremely talented, and better than that, just plain good people.

Writing is a lonely job. At least it is for me. I literally cannot work if there is a bunch of stuff going on around me. I need quiet and my own space to think. But, too much alone time and I start to drive myself nutty with the circling brain. Inevitably, I end up staring at a cursor on the blank screen. Here's where my writing group comes to the rescue. We shoot each other emails, and they may be about the writing, or they may be about whatever, but having these women there seems to clear out the cobwebs and get things back on track again.

Just one small example of how much they help happened yesterday when I started obsessing over a title. I have never been good at titles. I worry over them for my paintings, my blog, my short stories. So, I often put titling off for as long as possible. Now that the novella is almost done, the working title has to go. It's just crap. And there was this other title I was thinking of, but it has a double meaning that didn't work for me. Plus, this is the first story in a series, so there is the whole issue of a series title, as well. Since the ladies have been reading bits and pieces all along, I shot them some questions and thoughts. They helped me think tank it, and voila, a solution presented itself. No more obsessing, and my writing can resume today sans drama. Whew.  

So thank you Eros women. There isn't much more I can say besides YOU ROCK!!