As a romance author, I say, yes, communication is key. Communication with your significant other is the basis for a good relationship…otherwise you might as well marry a wall. And I’m not getting into humping a wall…

Good communication is also key with your publisher. It’s important to talk to them and for them to talk to you. (Email makes it difficult to read other people so I’m a fan of IM. )  To be available to each other. It’s important to talk to your fellow authors as well.

But how important is it to talk to your readers? And how important is it for readers to talk to authors? Some days it feels like I’m sitting in a jail cell churning out the pages. The next I have fifteen comments waiting on my blog… all spam. Spam sucks.

Has apathy taken over consumer communication? Do we not feel the need to praise products we enjoy or complain about products we hate? Is it not PC to do so? At what point did it become acceptable for an author to say “I’m too busy to reply personally, but I read all my email?” Perhaps when I’m not the little fish in the big pond, I’ll feel different.

But today, I feel microscopic.

That’s right. I’m doing a free read for CoffeeTimeRomance. It starts in September. So be at this link, ready for a good time: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=695

When you sign up, be sure to use my name in the referral box: SelenaBlake

http://www.plurk.com/user/SelenaBlake

It’s like Twitter…. I’m there, in case you are.

I have an interview up at the E-rotic Romance group at LiveJournal. Come by and ask a question this weekend and you’re eligible to win a book from my backlist… small as it is. Thanks to Moira Rogers for all her hard work and for making the interview process painless and fun!

http://community.livejournal.com/e_roticromance/5252.html

For sale: Bridal gown, never worn.

If you love meeting authors and winning prizes, stop by the Friday Night Chats at Cobblestone Press. Last week I won Entranced by Madison Layle. What a fabulous story. In the wrong hands this plotline had the potential to be creepy, but you know Madison Layle would make it an awesome read. Definitely on my recommended reading list.

My dear friend Lissa has a new book coming out this week! Yeah, I can’t believe it either because she doesn’t babble on about it as most authors do. Me included.

While I’m waiting for her to gimme the blurb, I’ll tell you to mark your calendar.

Go friend Lissa on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lissamatthews

And make sure you’ve friended me too: http://www.myspace.com/selenablakeauthor

Don’t you just love it when the store brand is a) cheaper (by half!) b) tastes just as good and c) is just as good for you as the smancier product? Yeah, random thought of the day. But hey, I enjoyed finding out that my cheaper by half cereal had all the same vitamins and minerals as the more expensive and highly advertised version did.

I was over on the Erotic Romance blog this morning and decided to check out the Friends Page there. Scroll through, reading some posts and then I come to my latest. No post, just a warning that you’re about to read something of an adult nature.

I just have to ask… why is it that you can kill people in movies, show blood, guts, and pretty much everything else – including messages of hate – but if you show a single breast your rating goes up? Why is it that we can watch a riot on TV, see a guy getting beat to death yet Janet Jackson’s boob peaks out in the SuperBowl and the powers that be go ape sh!t?

Anyone else noticed that we’re all born NAKED? So nudity really shouldn’t be a problem for anyone!

That said, what’s so scary about sexuality? Is it because you can’t control it? Your desire is so overwhelming that you’re scared of it? Why is it that sex between two people, two consenting adults, is frowned up and hidden behind little “adult content” messages? If you’re adult enough to read my messages and understand them you’re old enough to understand sex, that that’s how you were created. That sex is nothing to be scared of, ashamed of or hidden. It’s not dirty. It’s not wrong. Enough said.