My theme music...for the moment

So when I was thinking about my theme music nothing good popped into my mind. I mean, I do have a song, every good crime fighting ninja does. But what plays on a loop in my head wouldn't be considered "theme music".

I played the violin in the 6th grade and my favorite song was called The Indian Waltz. Yeah, I know, having a dreary violin solo playing in the back of your mind wouldn't be a great motivator for anything, but I find that I hum it all the time and it has a calming effect on me.

For this assignment that song just wouldn't do. So I went with the next best thing. The song that I turn up and bounce to whenever it comes on. I'm almost too ashamed to admit it because the singer has been losing her mind lately but here it goes:

Griff's Partying Theme Song

Imagine just for a minute that it was song by someone with an ounce of sense and while we're at it, a good singing voice. I love the lyrics. It reminds me of the good old days of hanging out with girlfriends and shutting down the clubs. Drink in the right hand and left hand in the air kind of fun

So take a minute. Listen to the words and try to remeber those good old days. Which may actually be this past weekend for some!

-Griffin

Hotness Happens - Part Seven

It's time for the newest installment of the Cabal of Hotness' first multi-author novella. Click the links to read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six to catch up on the story!


To Ryan's complete shock, Steele eyes lit up when they saw him and God help him, his boss' little dick grew. A centimeter. He wasn't looking of course. It just sort of...caught his eye because Steele's cock looked a little like a grub worm except not as ribbed or wiggly. Then he realized he was staring at it again. And he swore it waved. No, that wasn't a wave, it was Steele walking ever closer with his undersized junk hanging out. Antoinette's eyes were wide and startled, but the horrified shock began to wear off when she saw Ryan's reaction.

"Are you here to watch?," Steele asked as his hand came up to stroke his...grub worm. That was the only comparison Ryan could make because it definitely wasn't a cock. "Here to see me give this gorgeous woman the kind of orgasm you only read about in books and erotic spoofs?"

"Um." Yeah, he'd like to see Steele try. Ryan had been married to her for years, dated her for longer than that, was toting around a solid ten inches of cock and had the kind of oral skills that he'd learned from that sex class she made him take a few years ago and he still couldn't get her off all that easily. If his boss thought that tiny cock was going to make Antoinette come harder than she ever had before...Hell yeah, he'd like to see it.

"Sure," he said with a confident smile. "Let's see what you got, boss man."

Steele flashed a grin at Ryan and turned on his heel to face Antoinette again.

"My dear," he called holding a hand out to her.

She sashayed over, gorgeous body flashing at them and leaving Ryan rock hard all over again. He could really use a pair of her underwear right about now, the thought of finally getting one up over his boss was that sexy.

Antoinette slid her hand into Steele's and the minute their skin touched, her eyes widened again and the air in the atmosphere of the bathroom changed.

Cabal Story Month

Welcome to August!

This month on The Cabal we're giving you lovelies a very special treat - A Story! But this won't be just any old regular story, nope. We're each going to add a paragraph or two to the story as the month progresses. By the end of the month we should have a true spoof worthy tale that we have shared with you.

Enjoy!

Antoinette thrummed her fingers against her knee impatiently. Her other hand had a death grip on her cell phone, holding it up to her ear. What she really wanted to do was throw it across the room, where it would hit the wall and hopefully shatter into a million pieces. It would cost her dearly to get a new one, but at least until then she wouldn’t have to listen to Ryan’s constant begging for her forgiveness.

“Baby, please it won't happen again,” he whined.

She needed to have him say it—admit it openly. “Do what again?”

(moves to the edge of my seat. What exactly did he do? Hmmm, we'll have to wait to find out!)

-Griffin

Ideas - the bane and lifeblood of every writer's existence

It's funny - I rarely remember exactly where I got the specific ideas for my books. They come from so many places. Some pop into my head as I'm writing the book and others are stewing in there for weeks or months. Additionally, if I was smart (and sometimes I am!) I might've written down the idea to get it out of my head.

Some writers are plagued with too many ideas and not enough time. I'm one of those. Others are plagued by the opposite problem - they finish a book and then say "Uhhhh, what next?" But no matter which camp you fall into, your ideas, or as they're known in writing circles, your "high concepts", can make or break your career.

When I decided to write about bull riders, I tried to come up with a unique angle. Other, more well-known authors were already writing about them and I didn't want people to pick up my book, roll their eyes and put it back down. I've mentioned this before but perhaps not here, so I'll go over the story behind my bull rider books again.

Collision, book 2 in the series, was originally book 1. I thought about the idea of two athletes together, but wanted to do something different than, say, a female barrel racer and a male bull rider. I wanted people from two different worlds. How about a figure skater and a bull rider? Bingo! And Collision was born. I wrote Impact, which became book 1 of the series, right after Collision, and honestly, my high concept wasn't as unique. But my readers seem to like the book, so I must've done something right. I have a feeling Conner, the hero, has a lot to do with that. Tall, dark, and smoldering. Yum.

The idea for my most recent release, On Display, didn't even come from me. Picture the scene: Ellora's Cave Romanticon conference, October, 2012. Just in case you don't know, Ellora's Cave hires hot guys to pose for their covers exclusively. They're called Cavemen, and let's just say they can be intimidating when you first meet them. Not because they're not friendly -- they are -- but because these guys are MELT YOU INTO A PUDDLE AT THEIR FEET GORGEOUS.

You can see where that might be frightening. But being the brave little soldier I am, I walked into the meet and greet Thursday night armed with an icebreaker question... "Tell me about something I can put in a book." Well, one particular Caveman, David, told me about two things, both of which are now in books. The first thing was a sexual position and ended up in Velocity, book 4 of my bull rider series, and the cover David is on. Yes, I knew that he'd be my cover model when I wrote the scene with the position he told me about. I ain't no dummy. It's called inspiration. ;-)

The other idea was a little more vague. He mentioned an encounter he'd had in the past against a semi-private fence. That idea festered, and I do mean festered, in my brain for months. Finally I knew I needed to get it out of there since it wouldn't leave me alone. These wonderful, irritating ideas are called plot bunnies. They're like an earworm, only an idea rather than a song. And they can drive a writer crazy. So I wrote On Display, which features a sex scene against a semi-private fence. I think I'm going to have to buy David a drink at this year's Romanticon. Hmmm, maybe he'll give me more ideas if I do...

If I couldn't unleash the voices...

This month we're all talking about what we'd be doing if we weren't writing. Because writing isn't my main source of income, yet, I can't really say my day to day life would change much. BUT, I'm sure I'd be on meds and found more often than not curled in a corner, blowing spit bubbles and giggling about the elves tickling my toes.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be quite that bad, but writing for me is an outlet for creativity. I write for the enjoyment of it. The release of characters and storylines from my mind is therapeutic. I use it as a way to focus my energy or turn my irritable ass around to a happier outlook. I get a mental itch if I've set aside a story for too long.

I sound a little neurotic? Perhaps psychotic? :P *nod* Yep. Maybe.

So, if I wasn't writing I'd need another outlet. I love photography. Black and white stuff to be exact. In high school I was on the yearbook committee and I was the only one that could run the dark room. So, for two years I spent lots of time in a tiny closet getting close and personal with chemicals and strips of 35mm film. I loved the smell of that room. The absolute quiet.

Yeah, that's what I'd do. Build myself a darkroom and pull out the ol' Nikon 35mm we have that takes the most amazing pictures and become an eccentric photographer. Wander around taking shots of weird things like dead animals and leaf shadows that look like pandas eating ice cream. Then spend hours in seclusion developing pictures with a tiny red light shining over my shoulder.

picture taken with 35mm during high school

What? I did say writing was a creative outlet. Who wants to come play with B&W photos with me? :)


You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and my blog... come play in my sandbox. I've got cookies.

Did You Say Dessert Isle?

Because that sounds awesome.

I'm not much of a water person, so I don't really see myself ever ending up near a deserted island. Sure, sure, I live in Bayou Country which means I kind of live on an island already, but I have modern conveniences here and I'm not giving them up without a fight.

But I'm a writer, I can make this shit up as I go along, right? Right. *cracks her knuckles*

Five things I'd take with me on a deserted island...My first question is, do I have a lot of money before I go? Like, can I buy whatever I need before I go? 'Cause that would change my answers. No? Okay fine!

1. A really long extension cord. Because there is no way in hell I'm going to be stuck out there without being able to charge up my Kindle or my laptop. The laptop is so I can write about my adventures on the island. Sure, I probably won't have internet service, but there has to be 3G somewhere around, right? Or satellites pointing in my direction. I can order books...and maybe send out a message now and then "Yo, send cookies" (can you tell I'm dieting?) and...if I had access, I could ask for help coudn't I? I'm so smart!

2. Which brings into mind my second most coveted item. With my super-savvy S.O.S, the U.S. Navy will catch my signal and dispatch a team of highly trained, highly sexy Navy S.E.A.L.S. to rescue me. They'll arrive with all of their survival gear, chocolate and solar powered equipment and then their boat will tragically sink never to be seen again. And then I'm left on the island with this:

3. Once my harem uh, heh, my rescuers are stuck, it's just a matter of time before they get to work preparing my our home. Nothing too grand, mind you. Just a little shelter to keep us out of the weather, to shield us from the sun...and worthy of my magnificence. Oh, and so they have plenty of room to spread out.

4. I don't think I'd need anything else after that. I don't want to seem greedy you know? The other deserted people would probably kick me out of the club for having excessive good fortune or something. All I'd really need is an endless supply of food and this and I'd be set for life:

And speaking of excessive good fortune, I had a book release this week. Dean's List, my EC for Men Quickie, is now out with Ellora's Cave. Check it out for more fantasies. Of a completely different kind.

A quick romp in his home office with his family upstairs. A roadside quickie in his car after picking up a stranded motorist. A dominating woman who uses and abuses him in the most delicious of ways. These are just a few things that make Dean McKnight the luckiest man alive. Top it off with a successful career, a wonderful family and a hot, adventurous wife, and Dean couldn’t be happier.

With the option of having a different beauty every night of the week, Dean’s list is packed with women who fulfill all his darkest fantasies. He just never knows which one will show up next.

An EC for Men contemporary erotica story from Ellora’s Cave

Ellora's Cave

And if you're interested in goodies, I'm holding a Scavenger Hunt for one lucky winner to claim a $50 Gift Card and a digital copy of Dean's List. Check it out!

Chocolate's Deserted Island

5 things I would bring on a deserted island

Normally I have a hard time coming up with things to write about, but this month’s topic is an easy one.

The three things I would bring right off the bat are my children. I know, not sexy at all, but that can't be avoided. The next thing would be my husband.

One, because I love him and if me and the kids are stranded on an island, he gets to suffer with us as well. No getting remarried and starting a new family for him. No way. We suffer and we suffer together. The next reason would be because I need someone to hunt, fish, build and fend off wild animals. So yes, there’s the manual labor aspect of it as well. Who else would let me sleep in, squeal at rodents and bitch and moan but my husband?

The other reason is the sex of course. I can't leave that luscious hunk of love’in at home. If the wild animals didn’t get me, the long nights tossing and turning, thinking about what I was missing eventually would. I even image how fine my man would look in his loin cloth, because unlike me, he doesn’t have an aversion to working out. I imagine how his primal side would come roaring out in full force and it makes me all gitty inside.

In this little scenario I also imagine that the lack of food and the change in diet would probably slim off the forty pounds I’ve been fighting to lose. And despite the lack of exercise, I am lighter, fitter and look totally hot in my jungle wear.

The last thing I would bring is a survival kit. I’m not stupid my sweets. In this kit would be a flare, shot gun, handgun, tons of bullets, knives, needle and thread, lighter and extra lighter fluid, tents (three to be exact), sleeping bags and of course a satellite phone with a GPS and back-up battery. The first thing I would do is call the authorities and give them our coordinates and ask them to give us two weeks so we could enjoy a nice family vacation. Then two weeks later, I would pack up our belongings and wait on the beach for us to be rescued by the luxury liner that would be sent to get us.

Like I said, I’m not dumb.