The Dirt.

No, seriously, this post is about dirt.

And Lasagna.

I've been researching (I could get LOST in research) for a short I'm doing set in Brazil and it deals with the fabulous Terra Preta. HERE is another great article.

Many of you may have seen the Discovery Channel's show on it, or have heard of it before. I did, but I never investigated until now. This stuff, and the ability to make it anywhere, has the can revolutionize farming. Like, no more fertilizer. (The organic freak in me is dancing) So I'm going to make some over the weekend with my son and have him do a report for homeschooling. Fire and Dirt are good for teenage boys. (With supervision of course) I'm excited because my soil where I live is really sucky clay which refuses to grow anything no matter how much I compost. All I can grow is weak Haricort Verts.

This thing, where I recreate or do something I've researched is not new to my family. I also learned how to make soap this way. My herione made it in a historical, and I needed to know how. Anyhoo, the soap is awesome and I made so much I haven't bought soap for a year. Almost time for the next batch. The homemade is far better than store bought. Teenage Hatchling also helped with that experiment and loved it. It's way cool and we add all kinds of pretty stuff.

Hopefully I will be able to do this (the dirt thing) tomorrow because I have to make a lasagna or two for my MIL. She fell and busted her arm up good. They've been eating take out for weeks, and not good take out at that. Just thinking about it makes me crave salad. So I'm off to the Specialty Italian Store where I get the best damned parsley and cheese sausage in the whole world. That is the STAR of the dish. We're also making a huge salad to get some greens in there. My kids are macaroni and salad freaks. I make a ginormous salad every Friday in the warmer months and it is gone in no time flat. I would do this more often for her but she lives three hours away and this is our first time down since her fall. I didn't want the hatchlings clammoring all over her and hurting her arm again. My oldest famale hatchling has decided to make her Nani fudge too. Which she will lurve. So hopefully she will be set for awhile.

I was thinking of makeing her some other food that my FIL can take out and warm up for them.

Any ideas?

Some Interesting Discussions

So. It's that time of year again. You know, the all het up over RWA's lack of erotica and what the Sisters of the Immaculate Sex Scene (PBW's name, ain't it grand?) deem worthy of calling romance? Yes, convention is in the air.

Alison Kent and Julie Leto have something to say.

Cripes, sorry for my numerous typos in comments and double posting because my PC is fritzy for some reason today.

Angela Knight has a brilliant post from March but it sums up a why sex scenes are important.

My personal belief is that somebody who writes mechanical sex solely to placate a publisher and make money is a lot more guilty of being a pornographer than I am.

No matter how much some writers might like to pretend otherwise, at their core, romances are about a sexual relationship between a man and a woman, not a purely spiritual union of souls. After all, when was the last time you read a romance staring Ghandi?

I’ve heard writers argue that their readers don’t care about sex, that in fact, they skip the sex scenes. My response is: then you’re doing something wrong. Anytime a reader can skip any scene in a book, the writer has screwed up. Every scene should advance the plot, characterization, or conflict -- preferably all three. That includes love scenes. A scene your reader can skip needs to be rewritten.

[...]Every time the hero and heroine go to bed together, it should reflect where they are in their relationship. In fact, ideally you should be able to read through the sex scenes alone and track the progress of the romance through the book.

[...]Remember, too, that each love scene should not only mark the progress of the relationship, but advance it. The characters are sharing a deeply personal interaction, exposing themselves to each other emotionally as well as physically. It should change how they relate to each other.


I was talking to my Dh about this yesterday. (Yes I talk to him about everything) And he had an interesting perspective. He said, "Then they aren't getting it good enough."

I pushed his arm. "Stop it, that's not nice."

"No. Really. If it isn't making an impression or cementing your relationship it isn't good enough."
He's right. Sex, like any other aspect of a relationship needs to grow, and that growth shows within and without. As writers we need to portray that honestly.

National Poetry Month.

Poetry is important. Don't let it slip away. As an excersize of words, it's one of the most beneficial things a writer can do. So, being an erotica author, I though I would post a fave.


she being Brand

she being Brand
-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having

thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.
K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her
up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and

again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg. ing(my

lev-er Right-
oh and her gears being in
A 1 shape passed
from low through
second-in-to-high like
greasedlightning)just as we turned the corner of Divinity

avenue i touched the accelerator and give

her the juice,good

(it

was the first ride and believe i we was
happy to see how nice she acted right up to
the last minute coming back down by the Public
Gardens i slammed on

the
internalexpanding
&
externalcontracting
brakes Bothatonce and

brought allofher tremB
-ling
to a:dead.

stand-
;Still)

My Kiddos New Groove

This is the new music the kiddos are now listening to. And being a former deadhead myself, and once thinking of becoming Jewish, I absolutely love it.

They found him on MTV Wakeup, which they watch while getting ready for their day.

The one thing that I've noticed as a parent of a teen, and a tween (which makes me completely stupid, I promise- not just in their eyes, but I seriously have had every idea I had as a parent bashed these past few years) so anyway, I've found that if there are a few things we can relate on things go better. My son loves music. When I'm not drinking heavily because otherwise I'd kill him, we have alot of fun with music. Now as far as it is concerned, he doesn't like stuff like Marylin Manson, but he found The Steve Miller Band, and finds KC and the Sunshine Band highly amusing. So it's more than bareable. I introduced him to Pink Floyd, and The Who. He wants to somehow activate Boris the Spider to his door opening. So, Matisyahu is great. Go buy it.