Welcome 2 Sexy Saturday

C

Hi everyone and I hope you’re having a great day! I’m in beautiful Idaho and enjoying every cool moment. Apparently it’s still hot and dry in the southwest where I live. Well, didn’t expect any less as it is the middle of August. LOL!

Today, I’m bring you the second in my Orchid series, More Than Robotics. This is another of my sci-fi novellas. I just loved writing it and am at work on the next in the series, Not Quite Human. Yeah, that one’s going to be kick ass. I can’t wait to bring it to you.

Hope you enjoy!

More Than Robotics

(Book 2 in the Orchid Series)

By

Lynn Crain

© 2009 

Available NOW!!!

eXtasy Books

http://www.extasybooks.com/

http://tinyurl.com/MoreThanRobotics-ebook

BLURB: There were only three things in life that Captain Bekka Taylor wanted: 1) Command of a Warrior Class Star Marauder, 2) To grow old gracefully and 3) A lover who understood her fiery nature. She was accomplishing two out of her three objectives very nicely when an internal IUA conflict begins to encompasses the whole world as she knows it. Then Lieutenant Javed Malik comes aboard, clearly younger than she, with dreamy eyes and a secret meant only for her. But letting him in means getting rid of years of frustration and anguish and maybe her career. Can she survive another war or the smoldering looks from her junior officer sent to protect her 24/7?

LOG LINE: Captain Bekka Taylor must learn to trust Lieutenant Javed Malik but in a world where mistrust is rampant, can she trust her feelings enough to love him?

TEASER EXCERPT:

I grabbed his hair and pulled him back to look at me. “Have you ever made love to someone while you’ve had this technology?”

“Never. You’re my first.” He kissed me again and I knew the time for talking was long over.

Moving once again to my breast, he sucked on one until the nipple popped into his hot mouth, lolling his tongue around the tight aureole before his gentle bite sent a shockwave of desire through me. All I could do was gasp as wave after wave of sensation surged over me making every nerve in my body tingle with pleasure.

A fire was building in my crotch and I sensed I would die if Javed didn’t get there soon. Down, please, go down further, I thought, forgetting he heard me, as my breaths came in short gasps filled with pleasure.

Patience. Good things…

Screw the good things…it’s been way too long…I want the bad things. And I want them now. My hands grabbed his head and tried to push him down to my crotch.

His hand moved further down my body reaching into my underwear, but he kept his eyes focused on mine for a moment longer. We don’t need these clothes any more, do we?

As long as you take yours off as well.

Deal.

He was up in a flash, peeling his clothes off his cinnamon colored flesh, his cock jutted rock hard from his firm body. I reached up and stroked him, moving my mouth to caress the soft head of his penis, reveling in the groan he elicited as my tongue moved on the tender piece of flesh.

You still have your clothes on. His thought conveyed a hint of heat as it singed my mind with its heat.

I know. I continued to lick his cock, running my tongue along the rim before plopping the head into my mouth for a second time. I used my tongue as a weapon for sexual torture and if the movements of his body were any indication, I did quite well.

No fair. I wanted to do you first.

You’ll have your turn. That’s what you get for still being the one standing. I nipped and stroked his cock with a firm hand, continuing to rub him with my mouth, feeling him grow stronger and bigger with each lick and nip. I reached down between us and squeezed his balls and he groaned in pleasure. He placed his hands on the wall behind me and leaned even more into me, his cock sliding deeper down my throat.

Your mouth feels so good…so right…lick the head some more.

I perceived the want and need in his thoughts as I complied with his wishes as his body arched into me. I continued to nip and stroke his hard shaft with my hands and mouth, bringing even more moans. I returned to the purple mushroom head and rimmed him with my tongue yet again and again. I couldn’t wait to feel his tongue on my body, to feel him inside me as he turned me on like no other had ever done. Heck, I got a thrill sucking his cock, which had never been high on my list of priorities before. He was right, I had always been the one in control.

I can hear you. His heavy breathing hot on the top of my head. This is the one time where it’s hard to shield another from our thoughts. Remember you said so yourself. Thoughts…feelings get so intertwined.

I understand. I continued to lave him with my mouth wanting even more.

I can’t wait any more. I need to be inside you now.

See you all next week for more, Sexy Saturday!

Lynn

This & That Friday

As you all know, today is the day where I put up links that I’ve received across my desk over the past week. Well, those links are extensive and I’ve had a running list for weeks. So this week, I’m trying something a little different. I am taking five to seven from the beginning of the list and the last five to seven from the end of the list as well.

Even with that modification, I’ll have more links than I’ll ever need for this blog day. There is so much which comes across my desk that I think you all might find interesting, it overflows the file I put it in. Right now, that file runs anywhere from four to eight pages. Big file, lots of news.

The biggest bit of news on this list is the fact that Dorchester is going e. Yes, you heard me right e first then print should sales be sufficient enough to go into print. That print book will be a trade size and won’t be released until about six months out at the earliest. This is great news for us already in e because that means we are actually being noticed for who we are. Hopefully, some of us can get in on this new publishing model if you aren’t already.

And I really have to apologize publically to Angela James yet again. I had heard about this last night from an agent friend of mine. I offered to go to the Dorchester authors I knew about it and got the answer that it was a rumor, not fact. Angela tweeted about it this morning and I wasn’t reading carefully enough as her information came from PW who had the breaking news. Okay, so I have hoof and mouth BUT I came from the perspective of Dorchester published authors, who were clueless. The article even states that the editors were just breaking it to those authors. What a difference an eight hour period can make.

I wouldn’t have a problem with this at all but some of those authors might. My heart goes out to them. I hope the transition goes well for them.

To Angela James, again I state I am sorry for my transgression. I really didn’t see the PW reference until you pointed it out. Damn Twitter for going so fast and me for not being about to keep up. Yes, I am groveling to an editor I want to submit to one day. Sigh. At least I know how to grovel. I think. LOL!

Here are your links for this week...enjoy!

Just a recap of the fast track for Harlequin Medical Romances. http://harlequinblog.com/2010/07/mid-summer-madness-were-fast-tracking-submissions-at-medical-romance-in-august/

Great article from a new agent. http://www.phoenix.edu/uopx-knowledge-network/articles/executive-success-stories/digital-books-making-the-world-of-literature-smaller-while-expanding-your-access-to-imagination.html

Some ROTFL response letters to agents. http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/07/lol.html  

What if movie titles told the truth? Look what I found at Sci-Fi Wire, now called blastr...don’t ask me...LOL! http://blastr.com/2010/07/what-if-hollywoods-sci-fi.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Intelligent sci-fi...imagine that...the best twelve of all time. http://blastr.com/2010/07/the-16-most-intelligent-s.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Another author’s view on why ebooks make readers big winners.
http://www.theromancebookclub.com/guest-blogs/2010/7/18/readers-are-the-big-winners-in-the-ebook-revolution-by-julie.html  

One of the best articles I’ve seen on blogs in a while. http://1stturningpoint.com/?p=4394

I so want to go to this party...again! http://www.bizbash.com/orlando/content/editorial/18870_harlequin_puts_focus_on_photos_at_romance_writers_conference_party.php

Interesting publicist. http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=18472

Nice read about the phrase ‘not right for our list’ meaning. http://www.bookpage.com/author-enablers/2010/06/10/youre-books-not-right-for-our-list/

Literal Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsZ-BMKVbSc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HE9OQ4FnkQ&feature=related

Dorchester to move to ebooks only! http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/44085-dorchester-drops-mass-market-publishing-for-e-book-pod-model.html

Interesting apology from people working in publishing industry. http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/2010/08/benefit-of-experience.html

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lynn

Heck...It’s Thursday Already!

Yeah, it’s been one of those weeks where I wake up with an allergy headache before my feet hit the floor. It’s annoying and I barely get anything done but it is that time of year. The only thing which will make it go away with any frequency is rain, as strange as that sounds.

The problem for me is humidity. I live in a place where there isn’t very much, about one to ten percent all year long. When it pops up to the thirty percent range with temperatures over a hundred, it’s very bad for me. My optimum is about eighty to ninety degrees with about forty percent humidity. At those numbers, I perform perfectly. Anything else and the balance is upset.

High temps and high humidity makes me nasty whereas places with a low temp and high humidity make me put on a sweater. I can function there, like in Scotland, but some days I just feel cold and it’s the same for a low temp and low humidity.

My husband asked me recently where I would want to move when I declared if the immigration issue on being born here isn’t settled correctly. I only had two choices and that was Canada or Scotland. Maybe Europe but I haven’t been there and don’t know enough about it to declare it somewhere I want to live.

I just take issue with penalizing a baby for its birth status because of what it’s parents did. It also leaves me with a strange feeling that those kids will never have a homeland because they wouldn’t be US citizens and certainly the country their parents came from wouldn’t let them be citizens there either. It would be such a no win situation for that child, it makes me shudder to think about it.

But then again, I didn’t know that Indians weren’t considered citizens until an act of Congress made them so in the 1920s.How did I miss that one in history class? What’s going to happen when we start colonizing the moon? Moon citizens versus earth citizens? That one sounds ugly and maybe something I should note for a future sci-fi story of some sort.

Oh, yeah, I did promise you all something...and here’s an unedited excerpt of upcoming book...The Harvester. No, I don’t have a cover or a publication date yet, I’ll let you all know when I do. And yes, it is a sci-fi erotic romance, which IMHO one of the best things I write. Enjoy!

The Harvester

(Unedited Excerpt)

© 2010

Lynn Crain

Prologue

It had never been her intent to be at odds with her mother. The gods knew her mother was a formidable opponent and no one in their right mind would want to stand against the woman, least of all her. But life at home got increasingly hard as the days went by, so hard Sky understood she must leave, get out on her own or she’d never get the chance again.

She stood in the Hall of Eternal Beauty and felt very much out of place. The room was one of the many side chambers to her mother’s main receiving hall and a good place for a private conversation. Her mother immediately took her here upon her request for a private audience and she wondered why as the room was garish beyond all belief with hedonistic gold carvings along the upper part of the wall.

As she looked around the couples displayed in all sorts of sexual positions, she speculated if they were meant to arouse dignitaries from another planet or turn on the royals present. The cold marble floor would douse any erotic thoughts in her mind the moment her bare backside touched the cool surface. It took a minute for her mother to join her and she drew her eyes back to the door once she heard the woman’s footsteps echo.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” The fierce look on her mother’s face could make anyone tighten in fear but she had withstood worse.

“Absolutely, Mother. You told me I would have to make my way someday. I chose to do it now and in this manner. Is that a problem?” Her arms were casually locked behind her back.

Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “Not a problem, Daughter, but I do wonder if your motivation is something more. You are my oldest and my expectations for you are different than your sisters as you need to prepare yourself for my position some day. Travel may not be conducive to that end.”

She tried not to swallow hard. Any weakness on her part might clue her mother into her thoughts thus giving her a reason to deny her request so instead she smiled slightly. “Nothing more than the need to be on my own for a while. Surely, you understand my need. It is my hope my sisters will more than make up for my absence.”

She listened to the stories over and over again where her mother asked her grandmother for some freedom and that freedom denied more than once. Her mother told her daughters repeatedly, she would never disallow them such a basic need.

Her mother relaxed, returned her smile and patted her shoulder. “I understand, Daughter. I will expect to hear from you at regular intervals.”

She bowed her head. “Understood. Are there any other instructions you might have for me?”

Her mother shook her head. “Not really. Pick up a standard packet before you leave. Good journey.” Her mother drew her close and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I expect good things from and about my Daughter.”

Sky attempted to control her facial expressions as the statement shocked her. Affection wasn’t one of her mother’s strengths shown towards her offspring. As far as she could tell, her mother considered her daughters only in terms of political maneuvering. Whatever the motive, she could not risk offending her. “Thank you, Mother.” She returned the kiss and backed away. “I won’t disappoint you.” She did a full bow and backed from the room completely before turning to make her way down the hall in slow, sure steps.

Her happiness was hard to contain, as she understood she was free to pursue her own agenda. Free of her mother’s overbearing manner. Free of her insufferable rules and regulations on how one should live their life. As she walked down the corridor, she made her plans, those plans didn’t include any of her mother’s teachings or wants or desires. Sky realized the moment she was able, she would drop off her mother’s wide-ranging radar.

Then, her life would in fact begin.

See you tomorrow for This and That Friday!

Lynn

Wednesday's Classroom

Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes – Lesson #1 

© 2010 Lynn Crain

Welcome back to Wednesday's Classroom. Last week I told you all that I would be presenting the free online workshop, Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes. Here is the first lesson. There is an exercise at the end of the lesson which I would love you all to do. You can post it here for everyone to see, or you can send it to me privately at lynncrain@cox.net. At the very least, please leave a comment so I know you've been there!

Lesson #1

Set the mood for both you and your characters

So what do I really mean by setting the mood, you might ask. Most of you do this without even thinking about it. Remember when you took that long bath putting bath salts in the water and lit the candles around the tub to create that ultimate experience? Yeah, I know you do. You wanted something relaxing and at the same time exhilarating. Remember that first date with your loved one? How about that first dinner? Or first night?

No matter what you’re doing you need to set the stage in order to get ‘into the mood’ for writing, especially writing love scenes. There is nothing worse than trying to write a witty, sexy tryst when you can’t get out of the doldrums.

Here are some sure fire ways to get yourself in the mood for writing great love scenes.

1. Read books the day before in the genre for which you’re writing.

Now I realize that this may sound hokey BUT there is nothing more stimulating than reading something that gets the creative juices flowing. Pick up that latest book by your favorite author. Or even get something new and different by some one you haven’t read before. Make sure that whatever you pick up, it is in the genre you are writing at the moment. There is nothing more frustrating than to be writing a romance when that erotic love scene is rolling around in your head.

Some of my favorite authors are Morgan Hawke, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Debbie Macomber, Emilie Richards, Nora Roberts, Melissa Schroeder, Joy Nash, Jennifer Ashley and Nikki Rivers to name a few. All of those people write very different things so it would depend on what I am writing the next day just what I’d be reading.

One other thing, do your best to turn off your internal editor. You know that one where you pick apart the book you are reading. This is for enjoyment and if you find yourself editing or being critical of the book you’re reading, find another book.

2. Watch a romantic movie.

For me, I just love watching a romantic movie. And it doesn’t matter when it is as the day before you write, the day you write or even the day after you write will work. It can be an old classic like An Affair to Remember or a new classic like While You Were Sleeping or Notting Hill and it can even be a brand new movie like Sweet Home Alabama. It can even be an autobiography like I Walk The Line. There’s just something wicked about Johnny Cash when you see him as a young man. But the point is, to lose your self in the romance and the story. It’s easy to write about something when you’re feeling the same emotions.

Oh…almost forgot one for those erotic romance writers…there’s nothing so sexy as the stair scene in The Thomas Crowne Affair. It burned up the screen.

3. Listen to music while you write that all important scene.

It has been said by many, many people, and proven too, that music can set the mood. Every wonder why the Scottish took their bagpipes into battle with them? It’s because just the sound of the pipes could work the men up into a frenzy and I mean frenzy. My husband is Scottish and when we went to Scotland, we stopped to hear the pipes any time we could. When we saw the lone piper at Castle Eileen Donan, we felt lonely, when we saw the bagpipe brigade practice for the Edinburgh Tattoo, we felt invigorated. There is nothing like a good song to put someone in the mood for anything. Think about how music is used to set the scene in a movie. You know exactly what is happening just from the music. Think Jaws, think Somewhere in Time and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

I always listen to music when I’m writing and I am definitely more productive. If you go to my MySpace, you will find a band called the All American Rejects belting out their latest hit. I saw this music in a Battlestar Galactica announcement and traced it down because I loved the sound so much not to mention the really sexy scenes depicted in the commercial. My daughter-in-law was so surprised that I like this band she called my son right away and told him. I love music. Any music.

My kids gave me an IPOD for Christmas a couple of years ago and to be honest, I listen to it a lot but while I’m at my computer, I just turn on Itunes. I frequently spend an hour or so downloading music because I never know just what I’ll find interesting some days.

For me, a day without music is like a day without sunshine.

4. Look at phrase books.

Again, this may seem a little strange but when you are stuck in a scene and nothing seems to work, pick up a phrase book and see if it can jolt you into thinking up something on your own. The two that I use are ‘The Romance Writer’s Phrase Book’ compiled by Jean Kent I believe. This is a really, really old book. It’s from 1984 and I have two copies which are both falling apart. The ISBN 10 is 0399510028 and the ISBN 13 is 978-0399510021. It’s available from Amazon.

A new but similar book, The Millennium Phrase Book by Rebecca Andrews, is done very well. The author has updated many things and has taken into account the change in the market. This book is published by Highland Press and the ISBN 13 is 978-0-9787139-5-9.

Sometimes, I will just look at either of these books and get lost in the phrases as I roll them around in my mind to see if they will fit the story I’m working on at the moment. And since they are phrase books, you can copy things word for word if you’d like. Me, I just get the general idea and put it into my own words.

5. Look at sexy pictures.

I’m sure that many of you are thinking by this time that I have truly lost my mind. But humans are sense oriented creatures. We have to be able to touch, taste, hear, smell and see something for it to mean anything to us. Most of us tend to be very visual creatures in this day and age with everything being in our face. Why do you think that kids are so zoned into the computer games? A lot of times our visual perceptions supersede any of our other senses. Think of the car accidents because someone is not paying attention to what they are doing. Most of those people are looking the other way because had they really been looking at what they should have been looking at, the accident or incident probably wouldn’t have happened.

Last week when I was uploading something to offsite storage, I couldn’t figure out why the link would not work correctly. I worked with it over an hour before I sent it off to a colleague who immediately fired back, ‘Why is there a CW at the end of the filename?’ I had looked at that name for over an hour and had never noticed the extra letters. Talk about a ‘Duh’ moment. Our eyes tend to see what they want to see and sometimes what they see really isn’t what is there.

So just what do I mean by looking at sexy pictures, you might ask. Well, you can get some reference books like I have, The Better Sex Guide, The Kama Sutra, and Ultimate Sex to see the really erotic sexual positions as well as some great description. These books visually show us just how sexy and erotic sex can be. Now for the tamer side, I look on photo sites like www.istockphoto.com or www.canstockphoto.com. These places have some of the sexiest pictures you will ever see. Some people are fully clothed and others aren’t but you don’t see a thing because most things are rated PG on these sites. Matter of fact, one whole lesson will be on less is more because you don’t have to see everything to know it’s sexy.

Exercise

1. Give me a list of your five favorite authors and tell me why you like to read their books.

2. Give me your five top picks for most romantic movie. Again, give me a little insight as to why you think this movie is great.

3. What is your favorite music and why. Do you listen to any of the current bands? Why or why not?

4. Do you think phrase books would be useful? Why or why not?

5. Do you think as a writer you would find looking at pictures useful to writing a novel?

Hope you all enjoyed this first lesson in the workshop.

Until next week…

Lynn

Heavens! It’s Tuesday!

Hello, everyone...and I’m sorry I’m terribly late on this one. Today, I am in computer hell because I apparently have some sort of virus type bug on my computer. The program caught it but states I must erradicate it but I can’t seem to find it.

So, it would seem I am in a pickle as to what to do today. I have other computers I can use, and am doing so right now, but still it is such a hassle to move from place to place getting what time I can on a machine. This is not the optimum thing for a person who writes all day long. Matter of fact, this is downright annoying when it comes down to it.

So this will be short and sweet today...and I so apologize for it...I just have to be doing other things with that infernal machine.

But you have a lot to look forward to this week.

Tomorrow is Wednesday’s Classroom and Lesson #2 of Adding Steam to Your Love Scenes.

Thursday will be the day I reveal an unedited excerpt from my new story, The Harvester. Yeah, I’m really excited by it and plan to turn it into my publisher on that day. I thought giving you a treat would be fantastic.

Friday is This and That day and I have a ton of new links for you. It will probably be a double batch or I might increase it to fifteen a week as the document is getting longer and longer. I also want to give these links to you in a time frame where it is relevant. I hate it when I get a link and the time for the information to be useful to me is long past.

Saturday is going to be Sexy Saturday and will start matching my yahoogroup as the day I promote myself first then others as I can. Each week, I will do at least one excerpt from a backlisted book. If I can, I will promote them newest to oldest so you all can check them out. When I run out of me, I’ll put in something from someone else to break it up so it doesn’t have to be an ‘All About Lynn’ fest all the time. Yeah, I know, I’m weird that way.

Well, there you have it...the rest of the week all planned and ready to go...if you want more, you’ll have to let me know!

Thanks for being so supportive and being the best readers in the world. I love you all!

Until tomorrow!

Lynn

Me and Sci-Fi

Recently I was chastised by a friend from Twitter who told me I wasn’t utilizing my talents to the best of my ability. She had noted over the time we had known each other that I spoke often about sci-fi erotic romance, I wrote sci-fi erotic romance and totally knew the language. Matter of fact, the point that brought it to a head was the fact I’m going to a sci-fi type convention over the Labor Day weekend called Copper Con.

She basically came back at me and said I should change my bio in Twitter to reflect my sci-fi writing. I immediately went in and changed what I said about myself on Twitter for a couple of reasons. The biggest one is she is correct. Sci-fi and fantasy are my first loves. Writers should stick with what they love.

I know this for a fact as there are many times when I’m writing a contemporary where I get bogged down and never want to finish it. I think the reason is I like to totally use my imagination, add a little science then see what shakes out. Most of the time, it is more interesting than anything I can come up with in the real world.

I just love to tweak science to make it do my bidding. Most of the lively conversations around my house are science based. These discussions can become quite heated because we are a group of scientists by trade and nature. My youngest wants to be a phyisist, my older on is a total whiz at math. My husband is a geophysist with a second degree in history and I’m a geologist with a computer science minor top by an ongoing Ph.D. study of natural medicine. Most of our heated discussions revolve around space and getting off this rock. I have my opinion and they all have theirs.

My house is never dull and we either have one of the History Channels on, the Science Channel or Syfy. My youngest watches G4, which I’ve found to actually have some things of value when I’m writing my sci-fi. Many times that station has thrown me off into a tangent where I get a wild hair and a new idea. How boring is that? LOL! It’s not really.

So, what does all this discussion have to do with us? Well, I have about 10 contemporaries I’m committed to completing, maybe a few more, once those are totally done, I may permanently switch to writing sci-fi or fantasy erotic romance. This is my first passion and I love the freedom it gives me.

Let me give you an example. As you all know, I write about 5K a day. What you probably don’t know is I work on multiple stories at one time. I make sure the story due is the one that gets the most time but I include things like this blog, my other blogs and any other writing project I might need to do. Some is for my writing organizations, some are just ramblings about this and that. Some of the time is spent on perfecting a story, doing that final edit before submission or sending it out to an agent. But I write consistently every day and a lot.

This month, the main thrust of my daily work is a little story called The Taking of An Apprentice. Now this story is finished at about 22K and it took me less than a month of daily writing to get it done. Some people thing that’s flying whereas I think it is incredably slow. The point is that I had the story plotted and knew exactly where it was going from Chapter 3 on. This is incredible for a pantser. But note, this story is a fantasy and hence I’ve seen I can plot the thing out with little problem very quickly.

Now for a contemporary, I have to mull it around, think about just the right words and inflect and god knows what. I have to get it perfect. Sci-fi plotting for me is about the same. I might actually be a non-pantser in that area but everything comes together very quickly. I’m like a demon to get it done so I don’t forget and because of this, there are days I can do an incredible 10K. I kid you not.

So see, my Twitter friend is correct. I am not using my talents to the best of my ability. I need to do better. And I will.

How about you? Do you have any hidden talents you aren’t using as well as you should? Tell me about it and you’ll get five extra spots in this month’s drawing.

Now, what you’ve all been waiting for...the winner of this month’s contest...the winner of the $20 ARe gift certificate and a book of their choice is Rhobin! Come on down and claim your prize! This month I have two winners for the most comments portion: Carol L and Diane Deeds come on down and claim your prize. Hope you all had some fun this month...and be prepared for more...we’re building up to a blowout at Christmas. This year is my last elf book and I will be giving away a special prize for that one...keep posted...and thanks again!

See you all tomorrow!

Lynn

Sunday, Oh, Sunday

You know Sundays are meant for sleeping, breakfast in bed and great trysts before the whole house wakes up. Sigh. Now, it’s been years since I’ve had that type of Sunday morning and today more than ever, I am missing it. And I want it. Sigh.

Instead, I’m woke at the crack of dawn by a dog who wants to jog like he does every morning. Even just letting him out to do his thing will not get rid of the need to go out for a run. What’s with him? I’ve heard this from tons of people recently that jogging is good for you. Really? In my case, my boobs bounce, the fat jiggles and my shins remind me every moment why I should not jog at all.

Me, I’m a walker, a hiker and I just love those long romantic walks. Yeah, who am I kidding. We used to go to the mountains or one of the many walking trails around my home at least once a weekend. Not any more. Now it’s a hurry up and rush around to do what we need to do then to fall into bed tired. What is it when you get to middle age and everything is more important than taking care of yourself? I just don’t get it at all.

I don’t know who or what inspired to really get it together to lose weight. I mean, I know ultimately it was me as I am tired of being fat but for weeks I watched on Twitter as Shiloh Walker informed us about her run. I’m thinking ‘Ugh. Are you kidding?’ but when I saw she didn’t like it any more than I liked losing weight, I knew I had to get my nose in the grindstone and get it done.

Finally, I started walking and it’s made all the difference especially now that I’m on a maintenance part of the food portion. Now, I have to set the nearly thirty pounds I’ve lost into my system so it won’t want it back. LOL! So far so good. I’m maintaining within a 1-2 pound weight and some days I lose a little more.

What does this have to do with Sundays? Everything. We do family day on this day. I got see my oldest and my grandsons. They all want to eat where they want: fast food, Red Robin or maybe even Buffalo Wild Wings. I have become the ultimate dieter when it comes to those places. I know what I can get and how much. They were all surprised on Sunday when we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I ordered the chicken grilled salad without cheese or dressing or croutons. That was a hard week as I love wings. Sigh.

When I finally got up this morning, I thought about where we’d eat today then I decided while the husband and dog were jogging, I’d dance in my office. When I was younger, I stayed slim because we went out dancing every Friday or Saturday. I don’t know about you all but I can remember the sweat pouring from me not matter what I drank. So, I have a track on my iTunes I call the dance track and the moment I saw them leave the front yard, I pulled the head phones out of the jack and played some of those songs.

There’s a freedom when one dances that you can’t get with anything else. I love that freedom and I love the fact I have an office big enough to allow me to do this as much as I want. Freedom is a great thing and I love I can exercise that right in any way I want every day. Don’t you?

I know for many of you Sunday is church day and it was until I was about twenty. Then church and I had a parting of the ways. Things were said that couldn’t be taken back and I decided it wasn’t for me any more. I love the way I feel when I’m outdoors and know that’s church enough for me. But I don’t want to deter for those who do spend time in their place of worship. Everyone needs something for their spiritual growth.

What are the things about Sunday that you love? Do you do anything special on Sundays?

Winners of July's contest will be announced tomorrow...I'm just too lazy today...LOL!

Hope you all have a fantastic Sunday...see you tomorrow!

Lynn