Vixenwriter

So I replied to the note below - correcting several things - the fact that I wasn’t the person he spoke to in May, that I don’t write erotica but rather erotic romance and that I wasn’t amused by the joking manner this serious issue demanded. I have values thank you very much. My readers have values!

Anyway, he wrote back to say he apologized for his incorrect memory about the May contact but then goes on to “explain” his actions thusly:

That having been said, please let me explain the event process from my end. Whether it is a local or national author making a proposal for an event (signing/discussion/reading/or whatever), I make certain these proposals meet basic criterea (not print-on-demand, available from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Partners, terms and return policies, outreach participation, etc.). Then I consider which store(s) have the best demographic match and submit this proposal to that store(s). I never insist that an event be held (unless it’s national, maybe) - the manager gets the final say. So when I say stores were polled for erotic romance (not “erotica”, you are correct) and elected to pass, I respect that decision.

He says he’ll bring it up again at the end of this month with his store managers to see if “any opportunities exist” for a signing. He even apologized.

But you know, while I appreciate the apology, it’s meaningless isn’t it? I mean, it’s very nice to be shunned by someone with a smile on their face but it’s still being shunned. The ugliness of the experience isn’t mitigated by a smile.

I understand that there are those in this country who make it their life’s goal to be offended by what other people do. But it’s a booksigning at a bookstore. I’m not doing a reading. I’m not going to display racy scenes from my books. Someone would have to go out of their way to come over to my table, flip open my book (which has a warning on it) and find a passage to be offended by. And are we really going to live our lives in public based on what this type of person does? Since when should a bookstore let that happen?

I wanted to add that if you wanted to write a note to Borders, as members of this “community” who buys books there and reads erotic romance and would like to see us signing at the stores we’ve been barred from - please feel free to write a letter about it to Borders. If you do so, I’d appreciate it and I know you’ll all be civil and thoughtful instead of angry because we’re smart people (who have values!) I’ve always considered Borders to be a really romance friendly chain and I’ve had really positive experiences with Sue Grimshaw and with most of the employees in the local stores (including the one who is apparently saying she doesn’t want us to sign in her store)

Borders Customer Service
100 Phoenix Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Or online -https://www.bordersstores.com/care/care.jsp?page=7

Sincerely,
Lauren Dane
Lacking Shared Core Values in Washington, Idaho and Alaska since 1968

So I’d been working to set up a book signing at one of the local Borders stores for me and several other local authors of erotic and spicy romance. I love Borders. They always have a great variety of our books on the shelf and they always seem so friendly to us. So naturally they were my first choice. I was told I had to go through the district manager to set the signing up so I relayed all the info he asked for and received this email from him today. (BTW, I didn’t talk to him in May, I don’t know what the heck he’s referring to)

Hi Lauren - if this all seems strangely like deja-vu, it is. The moment we started to chat on the phone, it all clicked, and I realized that you had proposed Borders store events back in May of this year. At that time, I polled each store General Manager - and each passed on the erotica genre regarding events. New store (Olympia), new poll - but the results were the same.

Sincerely,

Make it it what you will. I just thought I’d let you all know why I won’t be doing a signing at any local Borders stores anytime soon.

No, not you all. I like you all. I mean the condescending jerk who wrote the article in today’s New York Times and Tim Priest from “The Greater Washington Business Initiative”

Let’s get a few things straight -I am not stupid or simple. My readers are not stupid or simple and my books are not stupid or simple.

Because we are women who write for an audience that is overwhelmingly female does not mean we are all stupid and fluffy and uneducated. Nor does our offense at being described that way again and again make us “touchy.”

I love the generalization that people with higher educations and who are more worthy hires are reading Plato while the “average” reader is sucking down romance because they’re just so stupid. I’ve commuted on mass transit a lot and let me tell you, whether they were on their way to the law firm I worked for or the Target to start their job as a checker, they all read popular fiction of one kind or another. The only people I saw reading Plato were students and it was because they had to (that’s the only reason I read it too). The Republic was worthy reading, I worked hard to get the most out of it, like I did Kant and Camus too. But um, it’s okay to read things that are entertaining too. Without shame.

There’s also this doofus down in Texas who’s running for State Comptroller who’s attacking his opponent by saying she’s a pornographer (insert eye roll) because she wrote a romance novel in 1990. Sigh.

This on top of being attacked by other romance novelists and I’m just a cranky girl today. Look, my thing is this - women are not wrong for having desires and fantasies. Our fantasies and desires are not less important than those of men. Our fantasies and desires may differ through our gender and that’s okay too.

The bottom line is - they’re books. If you don’t like them, please feel free not to read them! If you do, wonderful! But you are not more worthy if you read Plato instead of Stephanie Laurens. And who’s to say the person on the subway isn’t reading Plato at home anyway?

I’m at Loveromances Cafe this morning until about 10:30 am pacific time.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/messages Come on by and say hello!

I finished my synopsis last night for Enclave and got it to my agent first thing this morning. I’m really happy with it, which is a bonus. Now, I need to finish up Wolf Unbound and get that to my EC editor.

And then it’s on to something my husband and I started working on this summer - a gothic paranormal futuristic set in Prague. This one is going to be different than some of the other stuff I’ve done but I’ve been excited about it for months and after Wolf Unbound I’ll have the time to get more on the page. I started it in August so I have the opening already. I’ll just go ahead and outline it when I get past Wolf Unbound.

One of my presents yesterday was this t shirt that says, “sometimes girls don’t play nice” and I love it. I’d probably wear it every day if I could get away with it, LOL.

On Saturday I hung out with the ever so lovely Anya Bast and her very charming husband. We hit Elliot Bay books and the waterfront where we had a really yummy dinner and drinks after looking at mummies and tourist crap in the shops. I wish they lived here and I’m really bummed we weren’t able to get a sitter so my husband could hang out with us.

What’s everyone up to? Read any good books lately? Did you catch the season premiere of BSG? If so what did you think? I personally loved it, especially the scenes with Kara in them.

Twenty years ago I met this guy. He was skinny and had long black hair and drove a muscle car. He called me ‘darlin and has been my heart since that first moment I clapped eyes on him, holes in his jeans and all.

A lot of times people pooh pooh love. They make fun of romance and say it’s a silly fantasy. But it’s not a fantasy and it is real and it makes my life wonderful every day. My romance is real, it’s filled with beard hairs in the sink and silly arguments over money and twenty years worth of petty annoyances. It’s not perfect, we’re not perfect. But we are special and he’s my everything. He’s a man who lives for his family, who loves fiercely and wholly and without reservation and I’m so blessed that he’s mine and that we’ve built this life together.

Happy Anniversary, my best dude, I’m glad to be the full moon shining off your camaro’s hood.

Jordan Summers has an interesting entry up at RTB about sex in books.

I love sex in books. I love to write sex in books but I don’t love to read books which are essentially a string of poorly written sex scenes with no plot. I rarely read romances without sex in them because frankly, I like sex in romances. BUT, I’m dismayed a lot by the idea that sexy means a full blown sex scene every eight pages. And I’m dismayed by sex in books of any genre with no purpose. Sex is a great way to advance the story, to show a breakthrough, to bring out anger, fear, pain, healing, love, hate, etc. Without purpose it’s just a waste of words.

I was having a discussion a few weeks back about sex in books and my perspective is this - a book with one or two sex scenes can be way more erotic and hot than a book with ten or twenty. Because erotic is not in the number of scenes, but the build up. Building up tension takes words. Now sometimes a smart author can have sex on page three and make it work, and sometimes it doesn’t happen until page 204.

Sometimes a brush of lips over an ear can be a million times hotter than actual intercourse. It’s the build up that creates an ultimately satisfying sex scene, IMO.

And while we’re on the topic and I’m sitting here in this pot of very hot water, let me just talk about the quality of sex scenes because well, okay here’s my thing - if you personally feel uncomfortable writing sex scenes, don’t. For the love of cupcakes, please, don’t do it. Becuase it shows and it makes me wince. And also, hello, if you’ve never actually done something before either research it well and talk to people who do, or don’t write it.

For instance - many BDSM and D/s books bug the heck out of me because most of them aren’t written by people who’ve done it or have talked to people who do and it’s like this carnival of weird sex scenes wherein the hero does things to the heroine that most women (submissives included) would knock him out for. Why does he spank her? How does it make her feel (and not just the strikes of hand on ass)? How does it make him feel to dominate her? BDSM is a rich theme for emotions and you rarely see that because the writing is all about the sex and it misses the opportunity to deepen the sensuality and get into people’s heads instead of just into their orgasm.

I’m not one of the erotic romance authors who cringes at the idea that their sex scenes turn people on. I figure that if they don’t turn readers on, I’m not doing my job. I have no shame that my sex scenes are evocative, in fact, I’m proud to hear when they are because I work hard on them. But I’m far more proud when they fit into the story and mean something more.

I’m not perfect by any means. I have a lot to learn and I expect I’ll be making mistakes until the last breath I take. I love my genre and I think there are a great many talented authors in it breaking down doors and pushing the envelope, writing books that knock your socks off as well as get people excited. I’m proud to be a part of this genre and I’ve learned a lot from other authors working hard and putting in the time to put out a product that gives the readers a whole experience.

And lastly, even erotica is more than just a whole bunch of sex scenes. Well written erotica’s sex scenes are also there for a purpose. Without the purpose, it’s just porn. And that’s fine, I don’t have problems with porn, it’s just not what I write and not what I enjoy reading.

So as far as sex in books, give it to me! I love it. But give it to me with purpose.

If you are getting spam from a laurendane.com address other than the usual one, it’s not me! I don’t spam you but asshole spammers have no conscience and so they’re spoofing my address.

I’m working with my host on the problem. Thanks for your patience.

Lauren

Oh that totally made you look. Because, well who doesn’t? So to satisfy you all - I’ve entered into a fun project with Shelley Munro and TJ Michaels that we like to call the Dynamic Trio and we’ve just opened our blog this week. Check it out! We’ll be alternating days to post and Wednesdays are a free for all day where you might just see all three of us posting. My day is tomorrow so be sure to pop over and say hello, I’ll probably give something away this first week because I’m easy.

I’m lucky enough to be a part of two author menages, both of which have some of my favorite people in the world in them. So don’t forget to visit the Maverick Authors community at LJ (speaking of my other menage, heh)!

Morning all! How is everyone’s Wednesday? Things are going well here, I finished up the first 4 chapters of revisions on Enclave last night, which is a relief! I need to talk with my beta readers and then my agent to see how much she’s going to need for the pitch.

I’m having pizza and beer with Anya and her husband tonight, yay! She’ll be here for the ECRWA conference (which I couldn’t get in to before they closed registration, LOL and now neither of us will be signing either)

I’m rewarding myself with 30 pages or so of Firestorm every night once I finish revisions. I can just tell this book is going to end in tragedy, it’s building up that way and I know Rachel is going to make me cry. But can I just say that there’s this scene in a classic Camaro with David in leather? Whooo boy! YUM!

I finally figured out what I’m going to wear to the EC Moulin Rouge party at RT in April! Hee! Megan and I brainstormed on IM yesterday. It’s gonna be cooool!

Open house at my oldest’s school tomorrow. That kind of thing is always a trial because the 2 year old has the attention span of a gnat, LOL.

OH! I nearly forgot to add that Shelley Munro has a book releasing from EC today! This is the second in her Middlemarch series - Peeping Tom. Check it out because Shel kicks butt and this series is really really good.

How is everyone today?