Sunday Story - Cafe Nix

(It's Monday, but please imagine I posted this yesterday)

I've been involved in a little project to help with promo. Promo is my total nightmare. I loathe it. I get annoyed when others flood me with their stuff, and so I hate doing it myself...which is probably to my detriment, but I'm happier not doing it, than being a pain!

Anyway... this promo comes in a different for. Ainslie Paton not only writes great stories but is full of ideas. She bands a bunch of people together and sells us an idea, then she looks after it from go to woah. It's fabulous for people like me who like writing and not the rest!

So, Cafe Nix is a free read on Wattpad. Ainslie has written a story about a cafe owner (Nix) and her cafe (Cafe Nix). In between the story of Nix, 14 scenes have been written that tie in with Escape author's books/characters and the Cafe.

So I wrote an epilogue for Deep Diving. It's 15 months after the end of the story...and you can see how Sam and Cooper got along. My epilogue is called, Deeper Diving (and I can't even claim to have come up with that! Ainslie again).

So... to find out what happened to the gorgeous Cooper Sterling and the athletic Samantha Caine, you can go to...

http://www.wattpad.com/113730991-it-happened-at-cafe-nix-deeper-diving

Phallic Friday - leg things

Oh, no, it got to Friday already and my post isn't done--Lily's going to tweet me!

So, this week's topic is 'leg things' because the itemised list is too long for the title! It's shoes, stockings, feet and toes.

The most famous of these fetishes, in my mind, is when Fergie had her toes sucked. Now, I can't remember any details except that some man sucked her toes and there were photos exposing the affair. I remember when it made headlines that I was completely confused as to (a) why it made a headline, (b) what was the big deal about toe sucking, and (c) why anyone equated it with sex. Just did a Google, and if you want more info on the Royal scandal, try here. It happened in 1992, so no wonder my memory is a bit hazy!And no wonder I didn't understand what it all meant (although, sadly, I was old enough to understand).

Prior to this I had my first introduction to the fetish, with Frank 'N' Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I developed a bit of a crush on men with hot legs in stockings! Daniel Abenieri was the man mostly, but this young actor called Russel Crowe really took my breath away when he was Riff Raff and Frank. But nothing at all prepared me for a friend dressing like this *fans self* *changes subject*

Heels, towering stilettos, follow-me-fuck-me shoes are usually the ones associated with this fetish. But they do nothing but make me wince! :) But watch some men when there's a good set of heels and nice pins go walking past...most men can't help but follow, at least with their eyes! High, high heels are a pretty common fetish.

Then there's the foot fetish people. The ones who love feet. I always think of men loving women's feet, but I'm sure it applies both ways. Some men get off on touching, rubbing and kissing a good looking foot. Some like a foot to massage their cock for extra stimulation. Some like to suck on feet - or toes - like Fergie's lover.

Leg things are quite a prominent fetish...and I wonder if that's because it's a non-genital body part that can easily be exposed, and exalted, in public without undue horror of the masses?

Wildlife Wednesday - filling in photo gaps

I've got a few photos to fill in the gaps I had in recent weeks. First up is the photo of my magpie 'family'. The three youngsters are on the left, the two adults on the right. I was peering out the backdoor to take the shot as they wouldn't agree to a family portrait for me! :)

Then I found the butterfly again (well, probably not the exact same one) and (s)he sat with their wings open for me so I could get a photo to go with the resting wings shot. They don't look like the same butterfly species, do they - but I promise they are.

And can you see that club antenna in the shadow of the "wings open" photo, on the right against the pale leaf background?

Wings open

Resting wings

I like when I can fill in my photo gaps :)

Phallic Friday - role play

So sorry, last Friday skipped by without me doing a post.

Role play is the next fetish. I was a bit surprised this came up as a fetish...but I guess some people enjoy sex with role play all the time. I always think of it as a bit of fun, a one off thing, but there are people who get off on particular role play.

The most popular role plays from what I could see on the internet searches are:
Doctor/nurse/patient
Executive/secretary
Teacher/Student 
Escort/Client
Handyman/Housewife
Master/Slave

There can be more specific role play where age or gender may come into focus. Or even your human-ness.

Role play can be a mental thing only, or can involve dressing up and 'becoming' the character. It can occur in home, or in public. It can be for a short or a long period of time. It can cross over into your day-to-day life, or remain a short term prospect only while enjoying sex.

It can take almost any role at all :)

I think role play gets covered by many of the topics to be discussed, so I won't dwell on it here. Role play can be a very important aspect of a sexual relationship.

Wildlife Wednesday - moths & butterflies

Butterfly

Moth

My camera took an amazing macro of this butterfly sitting on a leaf. It was a gorgeous orange colour inside the wings and I'd seen them flitting about but could never get a shot. Then this day, this fellow sat on the leaf for ages and let my camera get up close for a few amazing shots - I was amazed how much detail they show.

The other guy (black, triangular shape) was snapped right up high on the garage wall, so not such a great shot.

But having taken both these photos within a few days of each other, I thought I should check out the differences between moths and butterflies.

Both moths and butterflies are in the family Lepidoptera, which means 'scaly wings'. It's the scales that give the wings the colours and patterns that we see - and they leave the 'dust' on your fingers after you touch them. There are also 'skippers' which fall into this family, and skippers are similar to a butterfly.

Okay, so the differences:

MOTHS:

• fly at night
• rest with their wings held flat (like the black moth)
• duller colours
• have thread-like, or feathery, antenna

There are also wing, leg and pupa differences you can check it out here if you're interested in the more technical stuff)

BUTTERFLIES

• fly during the day
• brightly coloured
• rest with the wings held above their body (like the orange one at the top)
• have a thickened club or hook on the tip of the antenna, never 'feathery' (not sure if you can see the 'club' (thickened end) on the butterfly's left antenna in the photo - I could be seeing it because I know it's there)

There are a couple of exceptions to every rule...but these aren't a bad way to work out which is which.

Sunday Story - two genres

I'm branching out to write in two genres - Cate Ellink for erotic and I'll use another name for rural romance. It's always been my plan. My background is ag science, so writing rurals is where I started. I just sucked at third person and it's taken me more than a few years to work that out!! And rural romance doesn't go with first person (such a shame!).

So, anyway, my rurals will have no/little sex and not much swearing. This is because my family and friends can't cope with this side of me. I've always known that, have even made jokes about it, but I've been astounded by the contrast in the reactions of people lately.

I'm re-writing a rural for a print book. When I've mentioned this to a couple of close friends and family they've jumped out of their chair and hugged me in excitement. One went so far as to say, "Oh my God, now you'll be a real author."

I was a little offended (although maybe I'm just touchy). What have I been doing for the last 3 years?

It's lovely that people are excited for me...but I'm a bit taken aback that they can be excited for rural stories but not for erotic. I put the same amount of effort into a story, doesn't matter which genre it is. It's all the same process for me of writing, re-writing, editing, layering, re-writing, editing, layering. And in actual fact, it may take more to get the erotic right because sometimes crafting the emotion leading into a sex scene takes a fair bit of layering and tweaking to get it how I want it.

Maybe it's an e-book vs a print book thing...yet the Housewives are print and I haven't seen any of these people jumping up and down about that yet (and I won't be holding my breath either).

So, Cate Ellink will stay. No matter how hard this juggling act will be, Cate Ellink's stories are continuing.

Cate's a real author. I work hard to get her stories written. I've millions of ideas buzzing around and I want them to see the light of day. I want to experiment more and push boundaries and explore more ideas. I want to keep moving around in the fascinating world of erotic romance, with authors whose work I adore.

And somehow, even with no sex and no swearing, I'm going to try to give a little plug to Cate Ellink every time I can! LOL!

So if I'm a bit slack being Cate, it's because I'm torn in two now...but I'll remain around!

Wildlife Wednesday - Magpies

I have some Magpies who have been visiting all summer - 2 adults and 3 babies. They sit at the back door and give me a little song (or a lot of demanding chirps) to ask for some food. They come usually once a day, but never on a wet/overcast day (they must get enough food those days!).

There's a youtube video here of a magpie's song if you've never heard it (well, I hope there's song. My computer was silent even with the speakers on and sound up, so please let me know if it's a dud!). Birds in Backyards also have the magpie's call on their website here.

The juvenile is the one perched on my hammock (front) and has the grey flecked chest. The adult is on the fountain (the fountain came with the house and is a fixture) and has a solid black chest.


The Australian magpies are not related to the European and North American magpies - we just seemed to borrow the name due to the black and white plumage.

Okay, so I thought I had a family visiting, but after consulting Pizzey (my bird book) it tells me that magpies hold territories by groups that can vary from a single pair to six adults or more and immatures. The sex-ratio can vary but in breeding territories, females tend to predominate and a dominant male can mate with multiple females.

The difference between males and females is that the female is a bit greyer than black, can be a bit mottled. So that's not something I'm ever going to be able to pick! Anyway, I have a bunch of magpies visiting me and they're such fun! I've been hand feeding them mince and have no fear of those massive beaks anymore! I've got a few horrid shots of blurred bird and my arm but my Dad's visiting so I might see if I can get some better photos of feeding.

I think magpies are one of my favourite birds.

Sunday Story - Madam Bovary

I'm in a classics book group and our read this past month was Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. I was kind of looking forward to this because I'd never read it but knew it was quite risque for the times.

Anyway, I had to look up about the risque-ness because I thought I might have had the wrong book! LOL. But no, it was right. This from Wikipedia: "When it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, the novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors. The resulting trial, held in January 1857, made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller when it was published as a single volume in April 1857. The novel is now considered Flaubert's masterpiece, as well as a seminal work of realism and one of the most influential novels ever written."

So...what I learned...holy hell we've become explicit with our risque novels! When Madam Bovary has an affair, I read 3 or 4 pages before I could work out if they'd actually had sex or not. This was what I should have taken as sex - "she gave herself up to him -". In another instance, I was sure they had sex, but the only indication was the list of towns that the carriage drove through with randoms shouts from inside urging the carriage driver to keep going.

I think the risqueness of the novel stemmed from the fact that Madam Bovary was an unhappy wife with a doting husband. This is what she thought of him, "But this one taught nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her happy; and she resented this easy calm, this serene heaviness, the very happiness she gave him." When she took a lover, initially she had great happiness - "She repeated, "I have a lover! a lover!" delighting at the idea as if a second puberty had come to her." - but it didn't last, she seemed incapable of love - even of her child.

It was an interesting read to see how far risque novels have come. Although there is a rather cyclical nature to erotic fiction. In the late 1780s the Marquis deSade was writing his rather explicit stories of sex and debauchery, which ended up with him imprisoned, so within eighty years, Fluabert was in a similar predicament (a court case, but not gaol) for writing about a woman incapable of love who took lovers, yet with none of the explicit sex we saw with deSade.

I'm glad I have the freedom to write explicitly. I glad I can describe body parts and actions without censorship. Love and sex is frightening to some. I'm thankful to those authors who fought so that we today have the freedom to write what we wish.

Phallic Friday - teasing

This week's fetish can be related to a D/s relationship but can also be just a thing that gets you off (or not!). It's teasing, particularly the kind that leaves you on the edge of orgasm but doesn't let you topple over.

I guess this fetish is related to anticipation. So the thing that gets you off is the part of your brain that loves the build up and the waiting (that is if you're the one being teased). If you're the teaser, you must get off on the ability to bring someone so close, yet not send them over - and that's a skill (as well as a nasty streak if you use it too often with a partner who doesn't get off on that!).

There's a real thrill with anticipation - that build up of adrenalin that makes you wonder if you're a flight or fight person but no matter which you are, your body is primed and ready for it. It leaves you breathless, wanting, giddy, excited, and waiting. It's a heady feeling - like that feeling of falling in love - and nothing else in the world matters except that feeling, that waiting. You're focus is so intense.

As the person watching, and causing this, it must be a thrill ride in itself, kind of like being a maestro of playing an instrument. You have the person so finely tuned and you know exactly how each chord will sound and strike, that you can play to the crescendo but never tip that over. That's masterful. Which is why I think this is so often used in D/s relationships - it is masterful and therefore perfect dominant play.

To orchestrate this well, you'd have to know the person, or be extremely good at reading people's signs and body language. You have no real margin for error because once you've gone too far with an orgasm, it can't be stopped.

I like this is idea, not only for a fetish but as an aspect to a relationship. The brain is such an important part of sex, and to be able to play with it so your anticipation is on a knife-edge is very very arousing. This is definitely appearing in the book...but I'm not quite sure how yet! I think maybe it will be something that someone does subconsciously at first until they realise how 'good' they are at teasing. It might thread through the whole story. Who knows...but it's fun thinking about it :)

Wildlife Wednesday - baby water dragon

Can you spot the baby water dragon?

A long time ago I saw an adult of these laying eggs (post here) and then some babies a little later (post here). Sometimes I spot a baby but the last few weeks there've been lots of babies in all sorts of amazing camouflages...but when they move you can see them!