Thursday, June 30, 2016

BDSM 101



I'm bouncing through the lavender fields of Provence currently so I'm asking you to watch this video as a refresher to BDSM 101.

15 MORE DAYS UNTIL Lock and Key is released!!!! 

Lock And Key by Z. Allora

Rejected. Heartbroken. Devastated.

Zack Davis wanted to serve only one man, Andrew Nikeman. He was denied because Andrew thought he was too young and because their brothers were together. So Zack crushed his submissive tendencies and focused on being the perfect Dom, giving every sub he played with something he couldn’t have.

After years of denying his submissive side, Entwined’s charity auction “Are you Dom Enough to be a sub?” gives Zack an excuse to get a little of what he’s always craved.

Andrew doesn’t know when his infatuation turned into more, but it kills him to see Zack with a constant parade of submissives. He’d refused to jeopardize his brother’s relationship or become Zack’s regret; however, Zack isn’t a kid anymore, and his brother’s relationship is unbreakable. Now Zack’s popularity and success as a Dom might ruin Andrew’s dreams of collaring him, but he can’t wait any longer to confess his feelings or he risks losing the man he loves forever. 








Thursday, June 23, 2016

Loveslave? What do you do all day?


Usually the question is asked with much disdain so my go to answer was alway I write porn and masturbate.  Rude people stopped asking.

But what really do I do? (other than masturbate and write porn?)

It depends on where we are.

HOME:
Up around 530ish
Facebook 
Straighten the upstairs
Start laundry
Drive my Love to work
Exercise for an hour (on a good day)
Clean the downstairs
Shower
Breakfast
Check e-mail, tweet something, Facebook
Do something writery related
Interspersed packing/unpacking, cleaning various thing, running errands and any assignments I've been given
Pick up my Love around 5ish
Enjoy spending time with him
Facebook
TV
Bed

AWAY:
We're away frequently. This summer I'll be home maybe for a total of 3.5 weeks.

My Love heads out by 7 a.m. and isn't back until 530-7 p.m. and then there maybe a dinner he needs to attend or conference calls. This means I'll probably see my Love for less than an hour of awake time (sometimes as little as ten minutes... business trips can be intensive and all consuming) so I'm left to my own devices much of the time (& yes it can be quite lonely which is why I'm grateful for my Pretty ones and my Z-bies! You keep me company!).

I've been asked why bother to go to some non-touristy places if I can't even see my Love?

Ten minutes with my Love is ten minutes... and I'd walk through hot crushed glass for that time.

On the bright side I'm in a different location. So it depends on where and how often I've been to the place. (When we were living in China and going back & forth to India >>> customs wanted to know WHY I kept returning? LOL What could I possibly be doing in Bangalore that required me to take a trip there every 3 weeks... Custom agents really need Loveslave defined for them... but that's another post.)

If it's a new place: I have a list of museums, attractions and shops I must hit. If I'm lucky I might be able to stalk one of my Pretties! I try to figure out what I can share with my Love since his time is usually very limited. I try to find interesting restaurants for him to enjoy.

Usually we go back and forth to a certain place for my love's work. (The projects are usually focused in one or two locations for a year or so).

Currently, I'm in Germany a lot. So most trips I go to Heidelberg and hit one or two other locations. (Germany's car rental policies are harsher so I usually take the train which can get expensive and tiring so I opt to write unless there's something I haven't done in a while.)

Even when traveling our lives need to functions so I order things from Amazon & Jet so less shopping hassle when we are home. I do what I can remotely to stay on top of things and I WRITE.

Lock and Key was written in Dallas, Germany, and California. It was re-written in Germany and South Carolina. 




Lock And Key by Z. Allora

Rejected. Heartbroken. Devastated.

Zack Davis wanted to serve only one man, Andrew Nikeman. He was denied because Andrew thought he was too young and because their brothers were together. So Zack crushed his submissive tendencies and focused on being the perfect Dom, giving every sub he played with something he couldn’t have.

After years of denying his submissive side, Entwined’s charity auction “Are you Dom Enough to be a sub?” gives Zack an excuse to get a little of what he’s always craved.

Andrew doesn’t know when his infatuation turned into more, but it kills him to see Zack with a constant parade of submissives. He’d refused to jeopardize his brother’s relationship or become Zack’s regret; however, Zack isn’t a kid anymore, and his brother’s relationship is unbreakable. Now Zack’s popularity and success as a Dom might ruin Andrew’s dreams of collaring him, but he can’t wait any longer to confess his feelings or he risks losing the man he loves forever.




Thursday, June 16, 2016

Lock and Key Blog Tour Part 1


((Life experiences shape who we are and who we become. I wanted to share a peek into Zack Davis's world starting from when he was eight years old until part 11 which takes place the night before Lock and Key begins. Everyone's path to BDSM is different I wanted to show you what Zack's journey looked like so you might better understand his decisions throughout Lock and Key. Many hugs, Z.))

PART 1


Waiting was boring! With his older brother out late and his younger brother snoring, Zack should be in bed—like their mother thought he was. But no, he sat up instead, waiting for a chance to spend time with Dusty, if and when he came home.

Zack clicked on the TV and scrolled through the titles. The title flashed: The Secretary. What was this? Why was the woman bent over a desk reading a letter? Weird!

Parts of his brain exploded when a man smacked her butt. Zack had never been spanked. But…

A part of him wanted to be the woman. Not to be a woman, but to be bent over. What would a hand slapping his butt feel like? To have someone do that… to him. Not because he was bad or anything… and didn’t want his mom to be the one doing the smacking ‘cause that would be way gross!

Feelings he couldn’t identify slipped through him. He squirmed closer to the TV.

Oh!

This movie was as good as the Western he’d watched where people got tied up nice and tight and were at someone else’s mercy. It made him want—

Dusty closed the front door quietly.

No! Hide!

Zack tried to shut off the TV but only succeeded in raising the volume. The butt smacks echoed off the living room walls.

No! Turn off!

“Why are you still awake?” Dusty came in and stopped dead.

Pushing all the buttons on the remote, Zack hoped to make the TV disappear. Argh! Why wasn’t the stupid thing working? “I was waiting for you.”

“Zack—What are you watching?” Dusty grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

“Um…” What could Zack say?

“Zack, you’re only eight years—”

“I’m almost nine!” Somehow that should matter.

“I know.” Dusty scooped Zack off the floor and sat him on the sofa. Zack’s older brother paced a few times in front of him then finally kneeled down next to Zack. “See, it’s just… Well, that movie is very adult and you probably shouldn’t be watching it.”

Pouting, Zack looked at the floor. He liked watching the movie. It was better than the stupid cartoons Jordon always wanted to watch. It was—

“When you get older you can watch things like that. But right now you’re too young to understand.”

Zack wanted to disagree but there was no winning when his older brother had on his serious expression. Time to change the subject. “Dusty, are we still going bike riding tomorrow?”

Dusty sagged against the back of the sofa, exhaling, and grinned at Zack. “Of course, and we’ll stop for ice cream.”

“Good. I’m going to have salted peanut butter. I like going there with you.” Especially since they could leave their whiny little brother home because he couldn’t ride his bike in the street yet. “We can bring back Jordon’s favorite ice cream for him, right?”

“Of course, we’ll get a candy cotton to go. Okay, you, it’s time for bed.” Dusty stood and pulled him to his feet.

Zack trailed after his older brother. He tiptoed past his younger brother’s bed and crawled into his own.

Dusty tucked him in, checked on Jordon, and whispered another “Good night” before he shut the bedroom door.

Zack lay in bed and thought about the movie for a long time.

Were there other movies like The Secretary? Were there books? Did adults really do that?

If so, he couldn’t wait to be an adult!



Rejected. Heartbroken. Devastated.

Zack Davis wanted to serve only one man, Andrew Nikeman. He was denied because Andrew thought he was too young and because their brothers were together. So Zack crushed his submissive tendencies and focused on being the perfect Dom, giving every sub he played with something he couldn’t have.

After years of denying his submissive side, Entwined’s charity auction “Are you Dom Enough to be a sub?” gives Zack an excuse to get a little of what he’s always craved.

Andrew doesn’t know when his infatuation turned into more, but it kills him to see Zack with a constant parade of submissives. He’d refused to jeopardize his brother’s relationship or become Zack’s regret; however, Zack isn’t a kid anymore, and his brother’s relationship is unbreakable. Now Zack’s popularity and success as a Dom might ruin Andrew’s dreams of collaring him, but he can’t wait any longer to confess his feelings or he risks losing the man he loves forever.

Pre-order:



Thursday, June 9, 2016

Best NO ever... A rejection letter can be just a beginning.

Several respected and successful writers have shared their rejection letters and they helped me deal with my own NO.  Reading their bout of NO gave me reason and courage not give up so maybe sharing my experience can help someone else... just a little.

A rejection letter or a rewrite/resubmit note no matter how kind or professional can feel like a punch in the face.

I brace myself before I open any e-mail from a publisher. My lovely inner dialogue screams, "How did you screw up this time?", "You suck and they don't want you or your work.", "Give up!"  and other variations that reflect my lovely lack of self-esteem/confidence in my writing (and let's face it myself).

Last year around this time, I got the dreaded "this manuscript is not ready for publication" e-mail= NO.

WHAM! POW! SMACK!

"I SUCK! That's it! I should never try to publish again." I can share my stories and forego the humiliation of rejection.

I thanked the publisher for their time and feedback (which was clearly wasted on me because me and my writing stink!). 

3 hours and 200 re-reads later of the e-mail... I actually internalized the words: There were real problems with my story. "OH MY GOD!!! How could I have missed these things? Can fix this and resubmit?"

I talked to a trusted friend who interpreted the e-mail as more of a rewrite and resubmit and not a "Why don't you give away your keyboard before the grammar police take it away?" What did I have to lose? "Another punch in the face," my almost non-existence shredded ego whined.

But I trusted this publisher. I want to make them my publisher. They know what they are talking about...

If nothing else I can fix my story and give my characters what they deserve. (Plus I'd get to WRITE more about a world I adore!)

I tossed out my carefully planned writing schedule and spent the next 4 months ripping apart and rewriting the story. 

The feedback made me dig deeper into my own experiences, I remembered things I'd forgotten or things I now take for granted but the character would not have.  I started the story in a different place. I got the character's reality out of my head and onto the page. I tossed parts out (which I saved for later). I fleshed out places I skated over. I added six new chapters and a number of scenes. I found better ways and about 30,000 more words to tell Zack's story.

Lynn West & Dreamspinner Press were correct in saying "the story wasn't ready". I liked the earlier versions of Lock and Key but now I LOVE it! I'm grateful for the careful attention and assistance the editing staff offers. I'm proud of Lock and Key. (It's not perfect, but the story is true to the characters).

So a NO isn't always a bad thing. My NO made me reach beyond, forced me to learn better ways of sharing my story and it gave me Lock and Key

Tomorrow (June 10th) at The Novel Approach Lock and Key's cover will be revealed! The book that was given the best NO ever will be released July 15th.

Big Hugs, Z. 




















Thursday, June 2, 2016

Zoos... and animal sanctuaries


Z. & Wombat

When I go on vacation with my love it is usually to a museum or to chase animal experiences. I don't mean visiting zoos (only zoos I've ever been impressed with were open air zoos like Singapore's zoo and the Steve Irwin zoo). We typically find animal interactions at animal sanctuary and our vacation money goes to supporting the little critters.

People have mixed feelings on zoos. Locking animals in cages is a terrible thing I won't argue that but they serve a purpose. You, my Pretty ones might not need to see an animal to know its value to the world but that's not so with everyone. There's much cruelty toward are furred (& non-furred) friends.
Zoos and animal sanctuaries help the animals with public relations.

((This baby tiger helped a woman to convince her grandfather to stop using tiger bones. This sanctuary for the tigers helps the community see that LIVE tigers bring in more money than DEAD. In Thailand, the Tiger Temple is giving locals jobs, improving the economy with tourism as well as educating the masses... even as they fight the negative spin the local government has tried to give  the monks help stop poaching >>> cutting into the bribes given the officials. How do I know this: I was there.))


Once someone sees a beautiful creature and has experienced the intelligence in their eyes it becomes more difficult to turn away from their plight. It's an easier sell to convince people not to kill, harm, wear, destroy habits if they feel connected to the animals affected.

Baby Sloth

Baby Sloths love technology
 I've literally traveled the world in search of animal interactions. We research and pick well rated sanctuary who are fighting to preserve, educate and save the animals in their area.


Costa Rica
Mei Wei & Z.








When I visit a zoo or a sanctuary it is MY responsibility to understand the risks to myself and the animals. Usually I meet babies who lost their mammas and are simply in need of love or adults that have injuries preventing them from returning to the wild.

Have I been hurt. Yuppers. I can honestly say baby tiger bites HURT. (I was crying before I understood where the pain started) But it was my fault. I didn't have my back to the wall and tigers stalk prey from behind. I was also scratched and bitten by a baby panda. Snapped at by ostriches and licked by a giraffe.


College friend & Z.

 Money talks. Vote with your dollars...

In poorer communities it's easier to kill than to protect. Long-term consequences and animal welfare aren't higher than making sure your kids have food. Animal sanctuary's like Wolong Panda Reserve (now gone due to an earthquake & rebuilt in Chengdu) stopped farmers from shooting the pandas who were eating their crops by hiring the farmers to grow bambooo and employing people in their community.
When pandas attack (I couldn't stop laughing after he knocked me down) Panda Master was yelling, "Up! Up!"



Well fed Komodo Dragon... there were 3 handlers w/ shields


There can be a downside. When this picture was taken in 1998... I thought I'd asked the right questions of Sea World. As a resident of California for 6 months we were VIP members of Sea World. It wasn't until Black Fish came out that we found out how abusive their practices were to the animals (Watch the documentary if you have any questions... but be warned it's harsh.)
               
Will I continue to chase animal experiences: Yeah.  I will continue to be careful and  only support positive animal organizations.


         
   
 Zoos and animal sanctuaries may not be your deal but I promise you they have a purpose and many animals both living in captivity and in the wild depend on them.     Hugs, Z. Allora