At the end of last year, when I knew I'd have to leave Atlanta and I'm terrible at maintaining long-distance friendships, I convinced some friends to form a virtual quilting group with me. Several were novice or entirely inexperienced with quilts, but that didn't matter. I was going to teach them. I sifted through dozens … Continue reading I decided to do Moda Blockheads at the worst time imaginable.
A little bit about myself, if this is our first time meeting or you're just confused about why this post popped up here: I am a semi-retired romance and erotica author. By semi-retired, I don't mean that I've done so well for myself that I can now live the life of leisure and write only … Continue reading Meet Chloe. But this time, she’s a quilter.
This November, I'll be participating in my 18th NaNoWriMo. That’s National Novel Writing Month, if you’ve never heard of it. The quick and dirty description of NaNoWriMo? Write 50,000 words in 30 days. It is an intense amount of words for most people to write in a month. If you succeed, you win nothing except bragging rights … Continue reading My Favorite NaNoWriMo Hack Helps Everyone
I got to be a panelist at a convention this weekend, my first time in an actual room filled with people. Yay! And one of the favorite questions the other panelists and I were asked was, “When you’re writing sex scenes over and over again, how do you keep the scenes from getting repetitive?” This … Continue reading Preventing Your Many, Many Erotic Scenes From Getting “Not So Fresh”
Facebook groups are pretty hit-and-miss. I won’t join writer groups anymore because they’re so toxic, and even my reader groups have their rough moments. But one group that has never failed me is Monsters, Demons, & Knotting, Oh My! This isn’t a group for everybody. It’s not a group for the overwhelming majority of people. This … Continue reading I Just Discovered Epic-Length Alien Erotica, and It Was a Wild Ride
Recently in one of my paranormal romance groups, this post popped up: Ok Authors, When you’ve written an erotic novel, do you label it as such exclusively or do you label it as romance as well? I get why people like erotica, I do, but it’s just not for me, and a couple of books … Continue reading You’re Probably Wrong About the Difference Between Romance & Erotica
If you have no idea what RWA is or why it was already down, here's a quick recap: For decades, everyone who was anyone in the romance industry was in Romance Writers of America. Their annual convention was legend. They had tons of regional chapters. It was how you networked, improved your craft, learned all … Continue reading RWA just kicked itself while it was already down, and now I’m reading inspirational romance.
Kindle Vella went live this week, and I currently have two stories posted there: Kymani, an alien romance set in the same universe as the alien romances I've been working on this past year, and under my new pen name, C.B. Alice, Girlfriend by the Hour. I have a weird relationship with Girlfriend by the … Continue reading Vella, and How My Career Mirrors Buffalo Bill’s From Silence Of The Lambs
This contains spoilers someone should have warned me about. In my mind, there's an order of operations for watching adaptations. First movie, then book, then television series. It's about the level of detail that can be fit into the time given. A movie is about two hours of detail, a book is maybe five hours … Continue reading I decided to read the Bridgerton series instead of watching the show like a normal person, and I have regrets.
You were the ugliest kitten at the rescue that day. But you latched onto Ken, and we didn't have a choice. Your partner-in-crime was handsome enough for kitten chow ads, and some kittens are like ugly ducklings who grow up to be swans. We had high hopes. But you were not a swan. You were … Continue reading In Memoriam: Ackmena, Although I Only Called You Ma’am
C. A. Balkin 