I don’t quite know how to get it to display again on my site, but I finally decided on my tagline:

Dayna Hart
I write weird.

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It happens around this time of year. RWA does something or says something which reminds erotic authors they’re RWA’s illegitimate children. Attitude runs amok everywhere. I’ve seen it, despite my head-in-sand attitude.

First, I’m going to admit I got angry. And I posted on a loop I belong to…while I was angry. Never a good idea, and in doing so, I think I made someone else out to be the badguy, for which I feel like an absolute heel. It wasn’t their post. It was the overwhelming, continuing, pervasive and subversive attitude that erotic writers are sell-out evil people.

I actually get the RWA’s stance on things. They’ve spent 20 years or so trying to convince the world that romance is not porn. Admitting erotic romance into the playground makes it pretty hard for them to keep up that stance. (And no, I’m not saying erotic romance IS porn, but if there are 5 comments left on this post, there will be 8 different definitions of ‘what is porn’ and ‘what is not’.) My point is just that once they admit erotic romance into the RWA clubhouse, it gets a little difficult to turn to their SFWA counterparts and say “romance is not porn”.

So, I get that. What I don’t get is the attitude from individuals. I don’t get the hatred. I don’t get the hostility. I don’t get the “omg you do WHATnow?”

Personally, I think erotica and erotic romance authors should start their own group. Porn Writers of America. And before I get people throwing stones at me for calling it porn…hear my argument out. Porn is another industry dominated by men. Men who are creating films and stories for men.

Most erotic romance authors will say “It’s about time women stopped being ashamed of their sexuality. Sex is enjoyable, and not just for men.”

So, putting that together with being writers, the Porn Writers of America are born. ER and erotica authors can have an organisation who are breaking through a male-dominated industry to create a new set of norms and values, and RWA doesn’t have to appear to have changed their stance. While we’re at it, us women are the ones redefining porn. No more bad ‘bow chica bow-bow’ music…we can give it a ‘for women by women’ spin.

Win-win all around, no?

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Yeah, I’m a little bitter, too. However, RD has come up with a solution.

The Romance Divas annual Not Going to Conference Conference will make you feel a bit less deprived! Amazing workshops, a star-studded guest list and awesome giveaways, all on the Diva forum! Don’t miss it!

Here’s a bit of a schedule update for the Q&As and Workshops…

Wednesday, July 30

Paula Guran, Editor, Juno Books
Q&A on Creating Kick a** Heroines

Laurie Rauch, Editor, Samhain Publishing
Workshop on What Happens After the Contract (aka Editors are People Too!)*

Thursday July 31

Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary
Q&A on Inspirational Romance Stories and the Inspy Market

Sandra Schwab, Historical Romance Author
Workshop on Historical Accuracy and Anachronisms

Friday, August 1

Yolanda Sfetsos, Author of Guarded by Stone
Q&A on Paranormal and Urban Fantasy World Building

Katie MacIver, KatieDidDesign
Workshop on Website Design and Color Selection

Saturday, August 2

Joey W. Hill, Erotica Author
Workshop on Plotting Erotica and Erotic Romance

Rhonda Stapleton, Editor and Author
Workshop on Style and Voice

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A children’s story.  :???:

Yes, I hear you now: you have four kids, why is it a surprise you’d write a children’s book?

Because I write weird, that’s why! I write dark. I like to write about weird people in odd situations.

And I write long. 

not cutesy little 600 word stories.

*sigh* My reputation is shot.

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(nothing over PG rating)(label subject if erotic)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/World_Romance_Readers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theromancestudio (no adult content- PG only)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoversofRomance
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WRWlist
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romanceexcerptsonly (2 posts per day. Must contain excerpt. Post must include Book Title, Author, Genre, and Rating)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PromoOnly (has specific rules on how to post. go to their files for the list )
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/An_Alternative_Read
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dark-romance-novels (all posts G rated and must be “dark” in tone.)
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Some_Ebooks
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EuroReviewsChat (promo w/ excerpt)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Writersredroom (promo w/excerpt, label post)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PNRattractions (paranormal only)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romancelivesforever (rating in subject)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fallenangelreviewchatters (always check for author days)

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Come visit!

Smiley of the day:

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I think this is officially turning into a home renovator’s blog.

Photos soon, I promise. The weekend was spent tearing out carpet. I hate carpet. Hate it. And tearing out the thirty year old crap in this place reminds me why. The underlay disintegrated under the stuff on the stairs, which meant a pile of dust about a foot in diameter and four inches high.

The stairs are…not great. In fact, two of them have a completely different rise than the rest of them. They’re pretty enough, but they’re going to have to go eventually.

I had the kitchen (former kitchen. It’s now the craft room. We’re all working on calling the rooms by new names so’s not to get confused. Poor kids just look at me when I say “put this in the kitchen” I pause, faced with a blank look. “Our kitchen, honey.”) Anywho, it was quite lovely looking…but hubby had the brilliant idea to put the washer and dryer in there instead of my kitchen, so it’s currently torn apart to fit those in there later this week. (I say brilliant without sarcasm, btw. It’s a brilliant idea. Gets them out of my kitchen (which…frankly, dirty socks and undies in the same room where I make food has always creeped me out. Not to mention having company when the laundry is sorted, piled, but not in the washer.)

On the plus side, it will make it very hard to do laundry for a bit til they’re moved, right? 

I did get to tear down drywall today, which was cool. Not as easy as Mike Holmes makes it look, either, dangit. However, I got it down, and there is now a door between my room and one of the other bedrooms. I have claimed it for the summer as my dressing room. Yes, it will become a bedroom eventually, but for now it is mine. (photos will definitely follow.)

I stood in the former living room now family room, and it’s freaking HUGE. I have a U-shaped sofa which fills my living room and it’d be dwarfed in the family room. It’s amazing to realise how much space we’ve had all this time. And the room is so BRIGHT! It was always cave-like when I visitted while the tenants lived there.

Okay, more tomorrow…must go try to work on revisions for a halfhour before bed…

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Last night, ex-Tenant-Female popped by the other side of the house for about a half-hour. Late in the evening, hours after she left, hubby popped over to check in on things. “Did you clean the kitchen today?” Erm. Hell no was not the right answer, but it was the first one that came to mind. “Nope, not me.”

In the short time she was there, she cleared the piles on the floor, cleared the counter, AND bagged up some of the garbage. Kitty litter pan is still there, but I can actually go in the room now. I’m going to wipe down the cupboards today, and the counter, and mop the floors. Then I’ll move up the extra table I have, put it in place and set up my sewing machine and other assorted craft shtuff.

Meanwhile, hubby is picking up two new toilets to replace the one on that side as well as ours (which I’m convinced was installed improperly.) We still need to find a tub for that side, I think, but we did find ‘faux tile’ surrounds for not too much money which will look quite nice once we’ve painted, etc.

I’m currently (re)loving Bear in the Big Blue House. A big fave of my second son’s, my third tended more toward Dora the Explorer. Well, babyGrae loves Bear, so much we call him “baby-crack”. The other boys will still sit and watch it with him, too, though the 11 year old is unlikely to admit it.

On a sidenote, I’ve been reading a  new book…and I’m not sure what I think. It’s a fantasy with romantic elements, and…it starts out with a formula…but then…it turns on its heel, and turns again, so I’m not quite what to think. But with all these other formula pieces in place, I find myself almost wishing the author had gone with the formula. Never thought I’d hear myself say that, either. It’s interesting, though, and the structure of magic is detailed without being overwhelming, which is rather cool. We’ll see what I think by the end of this book…but I bought all four in the series and am starting to wonder if that was a good idea…  :???:

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I’ve sort of taken a writing hiatus…with the baby and the other three home for summer hols…there hasn’t been any time for me to write. Plus we have a house to renovate.

However, thanks to my Sony Reader (hereafter known as PrettyShiny)  I can read while feeding the baby, since I only need one hand free. And I’ve done a lot of reading.

I finished the Elantra Chronicles (Cast in Secret, Cast in Courtlight and Cast in Shadow) by Michelle Sagara
Fire and Shadow by Imogen Howson
First to Die by James Patterson
I’ve started the Lost Continent Series by Catherine Asaro, and am rereading Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (this one being a dead tree book, I only read it in the tub, really, where I am afraid to bring PrettyShiny. Even using the Ziploc bag trick…I’m a little leery of trusting my expensive treat-treasure to a $0.35 piece of plastic baggie.)

I’ve also done some beta-reading for folks. Watch for up and coming authors Ruth Long, Rhiannon Leith, and  Ayla Fenton,to name a few.

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I installed new smilies…now I just need to see if they work…

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