Sasha White

Something sort of strange happened to me last night. I got an email from a friend who needed to talk – if I was available. Doesn’t sound strange right? I mean friends talk all the time. Friends are there when you need to talk. What makes this sort of strange is that this is a friend I’ve known for at least two years, yet we’d never spoken on the phone before. And then, about half an hour into our conversation, I asked her where she lived. As in what state even.

This is someone who emailed me they needed to talk, and I didn’t hesitate to say Yes, yet I had no clue where she lived. I think many people would find that weird. In fact, we laughed about it. That’s being a writer for you. We meet at a conference, occasionally talk through emails, hang out together for a week every year and share intimate details of our lives, connect in a way that good friends do, and yet we’d never talked on the phone, and we had no idea where each other lived, or even in what time zone.

It truly brought home to me that a friend is a person who cares. Someone you can talk to, and who will be honest with you. Last night we talked on the phone for almost three hours, and man…I’m so not normally a phone person, but I really enjoyed talking to her. I hope I helped put her mind at ease about some things, and I know she ended up helping me out with some of my own jumbled thoughts on things.

It made my heart warm to know I had another friend out there, and that I was there for her. After all, thats what friends are right? Someone who’s there for you when you need them.

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I was worried that went I went to see STAR TREK I’d be disappointed. Not only because movies based on old television series never seem to contain the magic of the originals – be it because memories are better than reality, or simply because it’s almost impossible to recreate something that was a hit – but because of the hype.

Everyone I know that’s seen the movie has raved about how incredibly wonderful it was. Early reviews of the new STAR TREK movie have all been over the top fabulous. How director J.J. Abrams rocks and that the movie was all they’d hoped for, and more. Raves and praise tend to raise my expectations, which can lead to disappointment. So I was worried… But you know what? I was not disappointed. In fact, you have to add my over the top rave review of this movie to all the others out there. The new ST movie is a more than a remake of the series, it’s a tribute. And yet, it didn’t make me feel nostalgic in a any way, instead it filled me with excitement for the duration of the movie, and anticipation for more to come.

The characters were established quickly and easily, the storyline grabbed you by the heart immediately, and the acting was not only top notch, but it was obvious that the actors all felt the magic of what they were doing. They believed in their project, and it came though the screen and touched viewers in a visceral way. Then there’s the fantastic graphics and the sly humor that abounded. There is nothing bad, or even remotely disappointing about that movie and I left the theater thinking “THAT’s The way it’s done!”

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I love this show. I’ve been watching it since the first episode, I have them all on DVD, and this season has been a rollercoaster. They almost lost me for a while, but now, I’d kill to see next weeks episode right now!

I hope the season finale isn’t too much of a clifhanger.

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If you want to see more pics and read other peoples thoughts on the recent Romantic TImes conference…here’s some links to some Great Recaps.

Beware: May cause fits of laughter and uncontrollable snickering.

Snarkalicious Mark Henry’s Revenge of the RT Monster Blog.

Reader Sue’s RT tour

Delilah Devlin’s got a few posts up with pictures on HER BLOG

Paranormal Phenom author Richelle Meads RT report

Sassy Shayla Black Has some pictures up on her blog.

Caridad Pinero has a great RT 09 post and slideshow up.

I’m sure there are many more out there, I just can’t remember where I saw them. There was one in particular with some pictures taken at the Paradise Happy Hour by the pool I would love get copies of…anyone know where it is?

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OKay, so I took a bit of a break, and feel so very refreshed. Yes, part of it was abreak from here, but also time off from writing, and time spent in the Florida sun last week at the Romantic Times Booklovers conference.

All of it adds up to a refreshed and ready to work Sasha. I also have to say, this past RT was my favorite so far. I’m not sure if it’s just because *I* was more comfortable, or because of the venue / sunshine / pool bar, or if it’s because I not only got to meet many new people, but also got to know those I’d met before that much better. It was fun, and worthwhile.

I arrived in Orlando on Monday night, and after doing a small bit of volunteer work for the fabulous Jo Carol, we all ended up at the poolbar. (Yes, big surprise) Kathy Love was my bestest buddy that night, and we had a nice chat about life, love and writing…as well as some fun. Did I mention the wine and Corona?

The next night the fantabulous Lorelie James helped me get started on a bottle of Don Julio before we headed over to Lauren Dane and Megan Hart’s room where they were holding a shindig. Notice I didn’t bring my camera to that either? Go visit Megan’s Blog and watch her slideshow and you’ll get an idea of what it was like. Those girls know how to have a good time.

I got to spend more time with editor extrodinair Angela James, (Thank you very much to her and Marty for the Samhain wine and Cheese social) as well as long time writing friends like Shayla Black, and Larissa Ione.

Cathryn Fox, Delilah Devlin, Myla Jackson,Sylvia Day,Vivi Anna and I (the Allure Authors) Hosted the Paradise Happy Hour on Friday afternoon where we gave away free Sangria and books. The party was held in the pavilion by the pool, and it was HOT! But, readers stuck around and gathered up the goodies. Including early copies of my June release MOST WANTED. Lisa Renee Jones, our final Allure sister, didn’t make it in person, but she was there in spirit.

Beth Willaimson, was my roomy and the poor girl got sucked into posing for me cuz I really wanted to do a photoshoot. The pics turned out pretty good, and we had a great time.

This year I got to know the lovely Richelle Mead better.(She says I’m her second favorite Canadian! *grin*. Which is cool because her first favorite is Michelle Rowen, and she’s awesome) As well as author Mark Henry and his wife Caroline. (be sure to visit Mark and Richelle’s Blogs for great recaps of the week) Most of my Wicked Writers co-horts were in attendance as well. We had breakfast with the readers from our loop who could make it, and they were as fantastic in person as they are online. (LKap, you rock!) Reader DannyFiredragon made it in from Germany again, and Booksellers from all over the world were there. Christina and May from Asia, Rosemary from Australia, and of course the fabulous Sue Grimshaw from the US.

During the big booksigning on Sat, I got to sit beside Smart Bitch Sarah, and she was a sweetheart. She didn’t remember meeting me last year, I had to remind her, but thats okay, she was still a sweetheart. She was gracious and and funny and stuck around even after selling out of all of her books. She also offered to share her sugar coated bosoms with me. *grin*

I’m sure I am forgetting many many people that I got to chat with, and get to know, and I’m sorry. But my not naming you doesn’t mean I don’t remember you the smiles, hugs and laughs. Thank you to every one who said Hi and took the time to make my RT experience in Orlando the best ever.

Here’s my annual slideshow of the conference. I didn’t mess with the order of the pictures, so you can see it from start to finish for me. You might notice a lack of party/dancing/costume pictures this year. Thats not to say I didn’t dance and party, but to say I didn’t bring my camera to those particular events this year. LOL I was more into catching the people every day, with a few spontaneous photoshoots. There is one session I didn’t include in the slideshow, and you’ll get to see that special piece tomorrow. Be sure to come back because it’ll be worth it. :)

If you want to see the slideshow from Last Years RT conference, CLICK HERE.

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Spoilers:
What’s right, and what’s wrong?

I went to see The Last House On the Left yesterday. It was a hard choice to go see it because I’d heard that it was so disturbing, yet I like scary suspenseful movies. Maybe because I was so prepared, I didn’t find it that bad. Yes, it was hard to watch a girl get raped (No it didn’t show “It” but it did show her face while it was happening..) but it wasn’t that hard to watch what the parents did to the bad guys afterward. lol

Sometimes it’s easy to judge a persons actions as bad or evil. Sometimes it’s not so easy, and to me that’s what this story was about. The most disturbing thing about it is that we hear about attacks like what happened in the movie every day in the news. I think, in a way, our society has become desensitized to the point that brutal crimes like the one in this movie aren’t so shocking anymore, and I find that very sad. And that is what makes what the “good guys” did almost appealing to me.

The bad guys were bad, for sure. The three adult bad guys were Psychopaths all the way. The kid was one of those, “all evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing” types of things.

Then there’s the “good guys” the parents of one of the girls who gets attacked. They’re good people, the father is a Doctor, the mother a sweet woman. The question then becomes was what they did excessive, justified, or over the top?

If it was my daughter, mother, sister, or even my brother, who got attacked an brutalized, I would find it very hard to trust in the system in this day and age to punish the attacker. In the movie, the parents are in a different situation because they’re right there, in the middle of nowhere , with the attackers. But this sort of brings to mind the movie The Brave One, with Jodi Foster, where after she was healed, she became a vigilante. It’s hard to think what she did was wrong, when I think I’d probably do the same.

This movie makes you think, or at least it made me think, how far would I go? It also makes it clear that we all have some evil in us, which sometimes might not be a bad thing.

If what I’m saying makes no sense, go see the movie, both of them. :)

You can see the trailer here

THE BRAVE ONE trailer

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We’ve all gotten those lovely emails that offer to increase our stamina or penis size,but today I got soemthing new.

I received an invitation to a new social networking site. Not Facebook, not myspace, and not Twitter. I got an invitation to join ONLINE BOOTYCALL.com!!

Can you believe this? Check it out.

INVITATION FROM MIKE

Your friend MIKE wants you to join them at Online Booty Call (OBC), the hottest dating site for singles who enjoy being single. Millions have already registered and thousands join daily.

Registration is Free and only takes a minute.

Click your friend’s link below to join NOW!

First off…No, I don’t know who Mike is. I think it’s simply spam, or perhaps someone who liked my website and thought that since I write erotic, I had to try everything out before I wrote about it or something. LOL

Secondly…How sad is that? I think it’s super sad that there is even a site out there called Online booty call. Now, don;t get me wrong here. I’ve tried the online dating thing. I’ve even gone about it the wrong way and taken a guy I met through an online dating thing home the first night I met him. My mistake. I thought our online conversations had helped me get to know him, and I’d really liked him. I had Kelsey say this in MY PREROGATIVE, and I believe it. Women like online dating because there’s less pressure on looks, and they think they can really get to know a person buy chatting with them. They can be themselves, adn find someone who likes them for who they are.

Men like online dating because they can be who they want to be online, instead of who they really are. Some married men say they’re single, some guys use photos from College. Many of them say they want a relationship, but really just want sex.

OKay, that was my experience.

The thing is, I’m not against casual sex. If people are safe, and honest about their intentions I say go nuts. Sex is part of life. It makes us feel good, all those endorphins rushing through our veins and letting us know we’re human. Sex is fun and pleasurable and healthy. But a social networking site dedicated to booty calls leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It’s not like running into a hot guy in the gym, grocery store, or even a bar, and feeling that zing of attraction that makes your insides quiver in desire. There’s no rush from flirting, no mating dance to warm you up and make you feel desired in return.

To me, the idea of it just seems lazy and tasteless. What do you think?

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Mini rant- Random thoughts….

A group of us went to a comedy club last night, and had some laughs. And some groans. And a few shakes of our head. There was female MC/Host for the night, and she was the best of them all, even better than the headliner in my opinion. I wish I could remember some of the things they said, but well, I can’t. Besides that, half the time it’s only funny when you’re sitting there with a few drinks in you.

My point about this was that our group was pretty eclectic. It was group of people form work, and in it we had males/females, a couple of gay guys and a Muslim. No this isn’t a joke. That was our group. My point is, that a couple of the comedians made a gay joke or two, and a bit of a slam at Muslims, and the guys laughed, but it made me uncomfortable. The jokes wouldn’t have made me laugh, even if they weren’t there, but I do admit them being there made me even more uncomfortable. Almost ashamed. I found it quite sad that the comedian had to be mean to be funny- or what he thought was funny.

Some people laughed, so obviously they thought it was funny too, but it made me think later, how there are some people who are never happy unless they are either making fun of someone else/ or making others unhappy . Not just the comedians, but I’m talking about people I see on a regular basis.

I have a family member like that. This person doesn’t seem happy unless they’re complaining about something. It’s a close family member, and I’ve seen it in other relatives, and it really makes me aware of when *I* get in a grumpy mood. It was then that I realized how much of a point that I make to try and always be positive- or at least to see the positive in a situation. It’s not always easy, and I do get grumpy/bitchy/pissed off about things, and even about nothing sometimes. But when I’m like that I also try to keep to myself, I don;t feel the need to spread my misery around.

I guess I’m just sort of wondering if spreading it around, or if making fun of other peoples lifestyle or beliefs makes one feel better about themselves, or is it just plain ignorance? I’m wondering if regular people think “what goes around comes around”. I’m certainly not a flower power person, and I’ve never read The Secret, but I do believe that energy attracts like energy, and if a person is negative, then even when something good happens to them, they won’t recognize it. Know what I mean?

This goes for the writing world too. I’ve been seeing so many authors flipping out on loops because such and such publisher had some layoffs. Or their editor told them they weren’t buying right now. So what? Does that mean you’re career is over? Not at all. Stop pissing and moaning about things you have no control over, and do something with what you DO have control over.

I get that times are hard for a lot of people right now. For too many people, but they’re not going to get better if you focus on the negative.

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I’d love to say I have some news, but really, I don’t. Life is life, moving forward, (too fast..can you beleive it’s MARCH?) I’m catching up on things like car repairs, and carpet cleaning. Getting somewhat organized for the upcoming Romantic Times convention. I’m working, and picking up a few extra hours because I renewed my mortgage, and realized if I focus on it, I can have my condo paid off in 5 years.

For some writers this would mean they start writing more, to get more out there and make more sales. Me? It means I write less, and work at eh bar more because the bar is immediate money. I can see it, touch it, and pay bills with it right away. UNlike the writing thing where you know you have money comeing in, but it can take months to get a check – by which time the bills have tripled.

So, for now, until my customers start to really drive me crazy, thats where the majority of my time is. And uhmm, they’re starting to drive me a bit nuts already. LOL I remember why I started writing. I love waitressing, and I love my Sasha White stuff, but I still have not learned to balance them.

But I have a new plan on how to do it all…and I’m going to write it up and share it tomorrow on GENREALITY. You might find it interesting if you sometimes find yourself struggling to strike a balance in your life.

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So last night at work, I was reminded that I haven;t done a lot lately that might inspire me- eroctically speaking.

I had two guys who’d come in and had a couple of beers and some food, who then proceeded to talk about how long it’s been since they’d been drunk. One was a week, the other was a month. I laughed at them and told them it’s been almost a year for me. LOL

Then I had another table, 2 guys on a date, (Who were great fun) and we got into a conversation about sex. Varieties of it , experimentation…so on. The topic of how often, or not came up. and that reminded me that it’s been a while there too. There was some flattering “Why ? You’re hot. If I were straight I’d go for you.” and so on, and I acknowledged it’s because of my weight gain.

Now, I know that it doesn’t always matter to some men, and that’s the sort of man I want, however, it matters to me.

I don’t feel sexy, I feel fat. And I do believe that has effected my urge to write erotica. Whether it’s becasue i don’t really want to think about sex, or romance right now, or becasue sitting in front of the computer all day just makes me want to eat more, I’ve not quit figured out yet.

Part of me would really love for a hot guy to ask me out right now, to take the time to get to know me, and not care if I lost wight. I still want to lose weight, but I want a man who doesn’t care. Make sense? Think it’s possible?

Either way, I’m sticking to my health plan, and I do feel better. More energy, happier. And completely okay with being single and working toward my own health and happiness. I turn 40 in 8 months, and I want to be in top shape by then. I’m keeping this photo of my Dad and I (when I was 20) handy to inspire me. This is when I was kickboxing 5 days a week, and probably when I was in the best shape of my life. I doubt I’ll ever be in that good of shape again, but I’m determined to be close. I’m going to be in top shape by my 40th birthday so I can be fabulous and 40!!

PS: No laughing at my 80’s pants and belt. It was in style then!

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