Success or Love of Writing? by Akinyi Prinzessin von K’Orinda-Yimbo (A P von K’Ory)

I often get asked to reveal to the source of my achievements, even my “success” in writing. This is of course very flattering and good for my scribe’s ego. But I’m just as unsure of where I am or going to, same as the next writer. I don’t really see myself as such a success, but I’ve succeeded in improving my writing and finding my “Voice”. I believe we writers always need to have some reassurance or at least another person we can turn to as a sounding board to either confirm or dispel our insecurities about ourselves and our work.

My “weakness” is my British English, my mother tongue. But that does not say I wouldn’t put my le Carré aside when I grab a good Grisham or Dan Brown. Romance fascinate me, followed by the psychological thriller and Grip Lit genres. Therefore my addiction to writing romance with thriller elements worked in them, and sex scenes involving psychological games.

My own romance books involve interracial love relationships. The Bound to Tradition trilogy, which won me the Writer of the Year Achiever Award 2013 in the Netherlands, is one good such an example. This is an aspect of writing that often plagues me – I prefer to write about what I know and what I’d personally read. I do bring the famous “What if…” into play in the male/female/intercultural negations.

The novels I write tend to be opulent because I’m acquainted with that world and can move around it with ease.  But I can also put the billionaire right in the middle of a poor shack in India or the African jungle and do a mix of dialogue because I love the mind games of cultural differences. We all have cultural spectacles and earphones so that one and the same words are interpreted differently using these cultural spectacles and earphones.

Writers might have a facility for writing, or telling stories, or coming up with brilliant characters, or dialogue. But what should a writer write about? I need to have at least one of the above in place to even start thinking of a story. Writing is the hardest work I’ll ever do and probably the least remunerative of any profession in today’s market of commercial writing, where art seem to have been abandoned.

I have found my particular voice and subject matter plus medium, and stick to them in all I write, fiction and nonfiction. I know in my belly when those passages flow and I write easily with a smile twitching at the corner of my mouth.

And yes, I have writers I admire and analyse why I admire them, what draws me to their writing or their Message or their Voice.

BUY LINKS IN KINDLE – Please note that the books are also available in paperbacks:

UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Shana-Chase-von-KOry-ebook/dp/B00WA7M3OC/

UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Shana-Capture-von-KOry-ebook/dp/B06X1DGGMZ/

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Shana-Untouchable-von-KOry-ebook/dp/B07H1YY28C#reader_1725967073

US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Shana-Capture-von-KOry-ebook/dp/B06X1DGGMZ/

US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Shana-Untouchable-von-KOry-ebook/dp/B07H1YY28C/

UK Untouchable PB: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Shana-Untouchable-von-KOry/dp/1725967073

Website http://www.Akinyi-princess.de

Twitter  https://www.twitter.com/Apky11162

Facebook

Facebook Author Page:          https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAPVonKOry/

Facebook Timeline:                https://www.facebook.com/apvonkory

FB Golden Shana Series:       https://www.facebook.com/Goshanaliterotic/

FB Editor/Services:                https://www.facebook.com/KOrindaYimbo/

FB AuthorMePro Press:         https://www.facebook.com/Professionaless62bloggerP/

FB Readers & Reviewers:     https://www.facebook.com/AkinyiReadersReviews/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/A-P-Von-KOry/e/B00MDHD7ZS

*****

GIVEAWAY!

Make sure to follow the whole tour—the more posts you visit throughout, the more chances you’ll get to enter the giveaway. The tour dates are here: http://writermarketing.co.uk/prpromotion/blog-tours/currently-on-tour/a-p-von-kory/

Enter for your chance to win a Kindle copy of one of A P von K’Ory’s backlist books!

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Fabulous Winter Giveaways to Keep You Warm

 

 

I’m excited to share wiht you two really great book giveaways that I’m participating in, both filled with fantastic romance reads. Be sure to check them both out.

 

 

The Cold Winters, Hot RomanceGiveaway is now well under way, and with a delicious steamy feast of fantastic books. Nothing is quite like a sizzling read on a freezing day. And nothing takes your mind off the cold dark of winter quite like curling up with a good book. So head on over to the link and pick up some good reads to keep you seriously warm until the thaw.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/hotromance/iieh9ie4f0

 

 

The Love is in the AirRomance Giveaway will insure you have even more possibilities for a little heat guaranteed to get you in the mood for that certain holiday in February. Whether you love of loath the day of chocolate, flowers and cheesy cards, you’re gonna love all the yummy reads, so make sure to treat yourself and follow the link. Go ahead, you deserve it.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/loveisintheair2019/c2ennsolmi

 

Happy Reading!

 


 

An Interview with PI Elise North from A Demon’s Tale

I’m very pleased to have the lovely Elise North to mine for coffee with
Elise this morning in the first of this two part interview, which will conclude next Monday, the 21st.

 

KD: Elise is a private investigator with some very unique gifts, and one of the main players in A Demon’s Tale, my present WIP, the next instalment of Medusa’s Consortium. Elise, I first heard about you when I read your reports for Magda Gardener concerning your investigation of an incubus, Daniel Sands. What got my attention is that you could get close to an incubus and not be affected by him. Tell us why that is

 

EN: “First of all, let me say wow, I love your coffee. I adore cold brew, and this morning I really need it. I was up all night searching for a wayward shape shifter. Anyway, never mind that. (runs her hand through short blonde hair, her large brown eyes sparkling like she’s about to share a good joke.)Of course I can’t talk about it at the moment. But to answer your question, yes, for some reason I can’t explain, nor can anyone else, magic has no effect on me, but I can sense its presence, even when no one else seems to be able to. Sort of like a sixth sense I guess you could say.

 

KD: Let me get this straight, you’re not affected by magic at all? Of any kind?

 

EN: Nope. Nada. But the flip side of that coin is that I don’t have any magic in me. I mean most normal people don’t, or think they don’t, but almost everyone has a smidge, even if it’s just a bit of intuition that’s uncanny from time to time.

 

KD: So there’s never a chance of someone slinging magic at you?

 

EN: Nope, never. The real risk is, for example, the strength of a vampire. I’m as vulnerable to strength and physical power, or a plain old handgun as anyone else. While I’m not vulnerable to demons, a person possessed will have super human strength. It’s the secondary stuff I have to watch out for. But I’ve trained for that. If there’s a physical threat, I mean. I spend a good bit of my leisure time at the little dive gym just down the street from my flat, or on the shooting range and I’m well trained in several martial arts. That’s a part of my job.

 

KD: So this being immune to magic but at the same time being able to see it, how does that work, exactly.

 

EN: Well for one thing, I do see dead people, like the kid in the film, though they almost always know they’re dead, and they come to me because they know I can see them, which means I might be able to help them.

 

KD: I take it you don’t mean help them cross over.

 

EN: Nope. Like I said, I don’t have even the teensiest bit of magic. They have to find someone else for that, if they’re in a traveling mood. They come for the typical PI stuff, you know, to find out if a spouse was cheating on them before they died, if said spouse might have been responsible for their death, to find treasure that was stolen from them, to get me to sort out things that only the living can sort. They’re only a small part of my business though.

 

KD: How do they pay you then?

 

EN: Well, as you might guess, KD, it costs a lot to hire me. You wouldn’t believe what I have to pay for insurance. I mean most insurance companies would laugh me out of their offices. So there’s that, but also, my line of work involves a lot more potentially dangerous situations most PIs would face. I mean most don’t have to worry that a less than well-behaved vampire might try to make them lunch or that they might get caught breaking and entering in the New York City library in the middle of the night to speak with a ghost. And I’m pretty sure none of them has ever had to deal with a demon possessed person trying to hammer their brains out. So while I do have a sliding payment scale when need be, generally speaking, I charge a lot.

 

Problem is that more often than not, I’m paid in assets that are only moderately liquid or in come cases not very. I get old coins, jewelry, even pirate treasure on occasion. I get a lot of stuff that has a high value, but can’t be easily converted to cash. One vampire paid me with a priceless Stradivarius. I actually kept that, even though I don’t play. At the time the legal hoops I’d have to jump through to place it in a museum without it looking like I’d nicked it were just too much to bother with. It didn’t seem right to take money for it. I figure some day I might know someone who can play, or maybe I’ll take lessons. Not likely, since I’m tone deaf. I wonder if music is a type of magic. Can I have another cup of coffee?

 

KD: Yes, of course.

 

I pour her another cup, and push a plate of shortbread across the table

 

KD: So I imagine you must have a lot of acquaintances and colleagues who can help you convert those sorts of things to cash.

EN: I have connections. Believe it or not a lot of them are in the police department,
mostly people who know someone who knows someone else they talked to while investigating a theft, but they have lots of connections at the NYPD. I try to stay on their good side.

 


KD:
Very wise, I’d say.

 

Check in with A Hopeful Romantic next Monday, the 21st for the conclusion of our interview, in which Elise North discusses her relationship with the Guardian and what it’s like to work for a demon.

Naomi Smart Launches Emerald Fire

 

 

 

Emerald Fire is the first title in an exciting BDSM contemporary romance trilogy 
Louisa relives the events of the most important part of her life. Meeting the love of her life Evan, the fight to prove her strength, embarking on a flight of sexual desire, pleasure and liberation. Evan opens the door for Louisa to a completely different form of pleasure, anticipation and allure – a world where the line between pleasure and pain can easily merge into one. The door that Evan closed some years before in a bid to move on and block the past that haunts him. Until he meets Louisa and can no longer fight the urge to keep that door closed. Can Louisa find the inner strength to stop Evan running away from the past?

 

Buy Emerald Fire Here

https://amzn.to/2RLpHam

 

 

A Mini Interview with Naomi Smart

 

Welcome, Naomi. It’s lovely to have you on A Hopeful Romantic. I know all writers get asked this question, but everyone always wants to know, do your nearest and dearest know what you do, and if so, what was their reaction when they found out?

 

Writing for me was a form of therapy. I’ve always been very open with my family and friends about my writing and its genre.

Those closest to me know how my mind works, so were not that surprised to learn I was writing erotica. Whilst others were surprised but happy surprised. Quite often I get seen as the quiet one, that is until you get to know me.

There are a few friends that started reading my work, but had to stop as all they could think off was ‘Naomi wrote this’

 

Do you have any unusual writing rituals?

 

I guess my main ritual is having to physically write the story, filling multiple notebooks before anything reaches my laptop.

So, there’s months of carrying notebooks and pens around, just in case the next scene comes to me in the oddest of places.

I have tried to break this ritual by heading straight to my laptop, but all attempts have been unsuccessful.

 

If you could bring one of your characters to life, which one would it be and why?

 

I think out of all the characters, I would love to bring Conor to life. I see him very much as a man with a great outlook on life, free spirited and fun with a very colourful personality. With Conor, a spade is very much a spade. But at the same time, he has this caring side. All make up great qualities of a friend.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

 

At the moment I’m working on the third part of the Gemstone Trilogy. Its exiting times. Both Emerald Fire and Sapphire Storm are stories being told from the female leads past. Where as Diamond Ice (The final part to the trilogy) is based in the here and now.

It has plenty of twists, which I’m hoping the readers will enjoy.

 

 

 

Find Naomi Here:

https://www.facebook.com/NaomiSmartAuthor/

Sex and Celebrating Our Animal Nature

From the Archives

One of the best parts of sex is that we can let our hair down and get back to our animal roots. It’s the one place where animal nature rules, and that’s exactly as it should be. Personally, I think the shame factor that dominates so many peoples’ lives where sex is concerned, is rooted in the effort to separate us from our animal nature, an effort to take out the lust and the heat and leave in its place only the ‘getting in there, doing our business and getting out.’

 

There’s no cleaned-up, sanitized version of animals in rut. I figure that’s why it’s a naughty little secret that it’s a turn-on to watch the dog hump the chair leg. Sadly, we humans are supposed to act civilized – even where sex is concerned. While I love sexy lingerie and corsetry and stilettos I can’t walk in, I find it much more arousing to think about someone ripping down their jeans, bending over a stump in the woods and going at it loud and sweaty and nasty. Such a scenario implies no forethought; such a scenario implies spontaneity and raw, driving lust. Even writing that sentence raises my pulse rate just a little bit.

 

I think what we, as erotica writers do, is a testament to our own animal nature and to how much value we place on the biological fact that humans are every bit as sexual as any of our animal cousins. In fact, we may be more so because our urges have the power of imagination helping to stoke the already leaping flames of lust. That being said our playground, as erotica writers, is absolutely writhing with primal, biological, animal down and dirty possibilities. We are the ones who get to write sex like we all WISH it was rather than how it more often than not tends to be. And we are the ones who can use our imaginations and the power of the written word to stoke the fires of primal animal lust in all of our civilized, tight-shirted neighbours, encouraging them to loosen up and hump the chair leg, so to speak. My god, the heat of it, the throw-your-head-back-and-howl-at-the-moon elation of what we do is enough to send you running for a cold shower or your trusty vibe, or your sweetie.

 

We remind people that sex is a celebration of life and physicality in a way that absolutely nothing else is. We remind people that button-down is no substitute for going down, and that the dirty and raucous and wild mammal is still there someplace inside all of us just waiting to come out and howl at the moon and join in the rut.

 

Oh yes, I take my job VERY seriously, as I’m sure all of my erotica writing colleagues do. We offer a peek at unabashed, unashamed, rock-your-world sex. We offer a safe and secret place to experience the wildest, darkest, nastiest of our animal nature, without giving up our civilized selves. We offer the best of both worlds, and even
better yet, we give permission to experience both. We let a world that is too tight-laced know that our lust, our animal heat, our urge to rip clothes off and rut is alright. It’s not only alright, it’s one of the very best parts of our humanity. As erotica writers, we remind people that being animal is very much a part of being human, and we remind people that it’s time to embrace the animal in us and celebrate it.