Archive for September, 2009
Crowdsourcing
I not only love reading books, but also looking at their covers. Especially with new-to-me-authors cover art is a very important purchase factor.
When I was only a reader, before I was ever involved as cover artist in the actual production of a book, I imagined that the author would tell the publishers how s/he saw the cover and when there would be a photo-shoot with models and all to just accomplish that vision (i.e. in case no original art was involved). I had never heard of stock art before.
Then, during my beginnings as a cover artist for e-book publishers I discovered the whole world of stock on the internet. There were, and still are, very pricey sites like veer.com — especially when compared to what you earn as e-book cover artist. And then ones who I could afford — istockphoto.com, dreamstime.com, stockxpert.com, to name just a few.
I started to recognize the expensive images on Romance covers by NY publishing houses and dreamed of being able to work one day with the same stock, to bring the NY flair to my covers.
This dream, though stopped later as the first articles started to appear on blogs—yes, also on RTB—about how books, even ones releasing the same month, were having the same cover. The ‘recycled-cover-trend’ had arrived.
So I evolved as artist, striving more for uniqueness and creativity instead of copying what the NY pubs put on their covers. Not that I didn’t do that before, knowing that almost every other e-book cover artist—when working with photos—used the same stock resources than I did. However, the NY pubs were no longer my role model for a great cover.
Don’t get me wrong, please! There are still tons of NY covers that get me drooling! I’m not saying one is better than the other (and I don’t even want to go into an e-book/print pub discussion), just that some events altered my view on the cover art process.
While there will always be some poorly executed e-book covers, I’m very pleased to notice that the majority of e-covers today are very appealing and don’t need to take a backseat when compared to the covers created by the art departments of the big publishing houses.
Quite contrary is the fact that the e-cover artists still use the same ‘cheap’ resources, and the covers have never been better or had more variety than they do today. There are real photo magicians at work.
(And believe me, ‘cheap’ is a very subjective matter as especially lately, the most stock sites increased their prices.)
So while the e-cover industry improved their ‘looks’, the NY pubs have started to recognize—and I’m sure the economy is not a small factor here—the value of the ‘cheaper’ stock sites. After the ‘recycled-cover-look’ you now can see a new trend: Crowdsourcing! It’s not an own, to the Romance publishing world limited, phenomenon, but shows its head everywhere.
Wikipedia: “Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.”
Two very well-known Crowdsourcing cases recently have been the TIME magazine cover and the Twitter bird. You can catch up on both also here with lots of visuals.
Nowadays, when surfing the Romance section in online bookstores, I should actually be happy about the fact that I have difficulties telling e-covers from other covers apart. Unfortunately, it’s not only because the e-covers improved so much, but due to publishers using the same $6 stock images I and my fellow e-artists use, and most don’t even do it creatively.
On the one hand, I’m thankful for crowdsourcing as photographers who offer their photos up at affordable prices, giving me the opportunity to purchase the ‘basics’ for my covers. I often merge up to five different photos to create the cover the author and I are looking for. On the other hand, I’m not as happy to see bigger companies, publishers, who could afford to pay the artists more (or even get a bit more creative with the use of such widely used images), do the same, though it’s definitely the right thing in the business world, where cheap resources and fast work are appreciated, and in the end the biggest profit counts.
So please do welcome the crowdsourced-cover-trend!
Copyright
25 Things You Never Knew About Lynsay Sands
(by Lynsay Sands)
1) I love roller coasters. I can ride them from dawn until sunset, weather permitting.
2) I love girls’ weekends with my sisters.
3) THE ROGUE HUNTER is based on one of our girls’ weekends at a cottage in Magnetawan (Canada) and I let my sisters name their characters (Jo in THE RENEGADE HUNTER and Alex in an upcoming book.)
4) My big dream is to live by the water someday.
5) My favorite Broadway show is WICKED.
6) I grew up with a mother who–God love her–thought ketchup was a main ingredient in every dish.
7) I spent most of my childhood summers on an island in Lake Erie (which was very conducive to writing.)
I lived in England for 2 years.
9) I want a dog just like Jo had in THE RENEGADE HUNTER.
10) My favorite food is potatoes in any form, which is a family trait.
11) I’ve moved six times in the last six years.
12) I can change a toilet seat.
13) The thing I missed most while in England was bologna, even though I never ate it when I lived here. Now that I’m back in Canada, I miss Scotch eggs and millionaire shortbread.
14) I’m allergic to fleas. They will leave the animal they’re on in favor of feasting on me.
15) My sisters are my best friends.
16) I get my best ideas from real life.
17) I am NOT a morning person. I am totally incoherent and completely useless until I get my hands on a cup of tea. I do my best writing at night.
18) I have completely lost my ability to cook.
19) I tend to giggle uncontrollably after two drinks.
20) I prefer bubble baths to showers.
21) I am Canadian but I hate the cold. This is a problem! My favorite seasons are spring and fall.
22) I intensely dislike bugs of any kind.
23) Won a “Shake Your Booty” contest on St. Lucia.
24) I have short arms and stubby legs.
25) I am not a vampire nor do I know any.
I Love You
Hi Ocean Dreamers! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Isn’t it nice having a lazy Sunday?
In Love by VimZ @ DeviantART
I’m back from my weekend getaway. Everything was beautiful. I’ll be back to post some pictures, I’m too lazy at the moment because I wanted to share some exciting news.
From DeviantART
For those of you who have been following my blog closely or have read my love story from my dear friend Nicole’s blog, you would know that Big Kiddo had not declared his love for me yet. I had no doubt in my mind that he did love me, but my Big Kiddo, being a sure and steady rock that he is, he wanted to wait for the perfect timing to tell me. I admired that.
Love by Auroille @ DeviantART
So…today, yes today, Ocean Dreamers, my Big Kiddo told me he loved me. When I least expected it. The funny thing was when he said it, when he was holding me, I said “what?” because it totally caught me off guard. Ha! It was the sweetest thing. The convo was as follows:
{while holding me after a movie}
Big Kiddo: Baby?
Little Kiddo: Yes?
Big Kiddo: Do you love me baby?
{my head is spinning.}
Little Kiddo: Yes… (questioningly)
Big Kiddo: Because I love you.
Little Kiddo: I love you too baby
Love by Rambotheif @ DeviantART
I am soooooooooooo excited! This post is going to be very very sappy, because I am BEYOND overjoyed because I have waited to hear these precious words for 2 years. Now I can celebrate! Right now my roomies and I are watching Gossip Girl, and I just couldn’t wait to tell you my happy news.
Love by Censurez @ DevinatART
So because I just dished about how Big Kiddo told me he loved me, I want to hear all about you.
Love by Ssuunnddeeww @ DeviantART
For those of you in a relationship…where did your significant other tell you they loved you?
If you aren’t in a relationship, where would you want it said in the future?
When Big Kiddo told me he loved me, it caught me off guard because it was when I least expected it. I loved that he surprised me. You see…I kept on thinking of different locations he could of told me. But, after everything, all I wanted to hear was the words. To me it was perfect because he was holding me close at the romantic hotel room right before we left and it was if the spell was broken. I didn’t want it to end!
Quick weekend recap:
*I surprised Big Kiddo by staying at the Hilton Resort in Huntington Beach
*I spent an hour blowing up balloons which I put in the room so when he entered he couldn’t get around them, he he!!
*Big Kiddo took me to Flemmings to dinner, where we at the best Fillet Mignon ever!
*Afterwards he opened all of his gifts
*We woke up and had an amazing brunch full of yummy food!
*We went back to the room where he held me close and told me that he loved me
*When we left eachother’s side I told him I loved him again; he said he loved me back
I love you by Artificial6 @ DeviantART
Awwww, okay I think I am going to head off to your blog lands now. Thanks for listening to my endless chatter about I Love You’s, I’m just super super super happy right now!
XOXO!
Willoughby’s Return, a Sense and Sensibility Sequel – Colonel Brandon’s first love
When we first meet Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility he is quickly established as Marianne Dashwood’s admirer much to her dismay. At seventeen she considers the thirty five year old colonel to be past his prime: ‘…he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?”
When dashing Mr Willoughby appears on the scene Marianne retreats from the colonel’s company altogether and takes as much opportunity to ridicule him alongside her lover. Her sister Elinor values Brandon’s friendship and sensible conversation, she can see how much he is attracted to Marianne and knows that with the livelier Willoughby for a rival he does not stand a chance. She warms to him even further when she discovers a little about his past.
Elinor’s compassion for him (Colonel Brandon) increased, as she had reason to suspect that the misery of disappointed love had already been known by him. This suspicion was given by some words which accidentally dropt from him one evening at the Park, when they were sitting down together by mutual consent, while the others were dancing. His eyes were fixed on Marianne, and, after a silence of some minutes, he said with a faint smile, “Your sister, I understand, does not approve of second attachments.”
“No,” replied Elinor, “her opinions are all romantic.”
“Or rather, as I believe, she considers them impossible to exist.”
“I believe she does. But how she contrives it without reflecting on the character of her own father, who had himself two wives, I know not. A few years, however, will settle her opinions on the reasonable basis of common sense and observation; and then they may be more easy to define and to justify than they now are, by anybody but herself.”
“This will probably be the case,” he replied; “and yet there is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions.”
“I cannot agree with you there,” said Elinor. “There are inconveniences attending such feelings as Marianne’s, which all the charms of enthusiasm and ignorance of the world cannot atone for. Her systems have all the unfortunate tendency of setting propriety at nought; and a better acquaintance with the world is what I look forward to as her greatest possible advantage.”
After a short pause he resumed the conversation by saying -
“Does your sister make no distinction in her objections against a second attachment? or is it equally criminal in everybody? Are those who have been disappointed in their first choice, whether from the inconstancy of its object, or the perverseness of circumstances, to be equally indifferent during the rest of their lives?”
“Upon my word, I am not acquainted with the minutiæ of her principles. I only know that I never yet heard her admit any instance of a second attachment’s being pardonable.”
“This,” said he, “cannot hold; but a change, a total change of sentiments – No, no, do not desire it, – for when the romantic refinements of a young mind are obliged to give way, how frequently are they succeeded by such opinions as are but too common, and too dangerous! I speak from experience. I once knew a lady who in temper and mind greatly resembled your sister, who thought and judged like her, but who from an enforced change – from a series of unfortunate circumstances” – Here he stopt suddenly; appeared to think that he had said too much, and by his countenance gave rise to conjectures which might not otherwise have entered Elinor’s head. The lady would probably have passed without suspicion, had he not convinced Miss Dashwood that what concerned her ought not to escape his lips. As it was, it required but a slight effort of fancy to connect his emotion with the tender recollection of past regard. Elinor attempted no more. But Marianne, in her place, would not have done so little. The whole story would have been speedily formed under her active imagination; and established in the most melancholy order of disastrous love.
We later learn that the young lady in question is Colonel Brandon’s first love who was forced to marry his brother against her will. Divorced and abandoned whilst the colonel is in India, on his return he is to discover that she has fallen into low company and living a life of sin. As she lies dying Colonel Brandon promises he will look after her three year old daughter, another Eliza, and he becomes her guardian.
When Willoughby later abandons Marianne for the wealthier Miss Grey we learn of another reason for his swift transfer of affection. Willoughby has met and seduced the Colonel’s ward who has given birth to a daughter. He, in turn, has been disinherited by his benefactor as a result, and must now marry for money if he is to continue to enjoy the lifestyle he prefers.
Colonel Brandon is first attracted to Marianne because of the likeness she has to his first love. “Your sister, I hope, cannot be offended,” said he, “by the resemblance I have fancied between her and my poor disgraced relation. Their fates, their fortunes cannot be the same; and had the natural sweet disposition of the one been guarded by a firmer mind, or an happier marriage, she might have been all that you will live to see the other be.
I cannot help thinking that this coupled with the fact that he maintains a close relationship with his ward and Willoughby’s child would create certain tensions within their marriage. How would Marianne feel about the fact that she looks so similar to Eliza? Wouldn’t a part of her always be questioning whether she is loved for herself alone, and be wondering if she is being compared to the grand passion of his youth? We know ‘Marianne could never love by halves’ and in my new book, Willoughby’s Return, I explore this aspect of their relationship. Mrs Brandon is a passionate woman – she might even be jealous of her husband’s first love, especially as she lives on in her daughter and granddaughter. The fact that both the colonel and Marianne have both been in love before provided me with lots of inspiration!
Willoughby’s Return is published by Sourcebooks on November 1st 2009
Jane Odiwe
Log Cabin Dream Tour Continued…
Happy Saturday Ocean Dreamers!
I have a very exciting evening ahead of me. I haven’t been blogging the last two days because I was busy putting together a surprise weekend getaway for me and Big Kiddo! His birthday is this Wednesday {a week after mine} so I wanted to do something really special for him.
So…we are staying at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, compliments of me! 
It is only 15 minutes away from where we both live but it is still nice to stay somewhere new for a night, don’t you think? Yesterday I was busy wrapping his gifts that I am going to display in the ocean front room and buying balloons and other fun decor. I will take pictures so I can show you soon, so excited!! He is surprising me with where we are going for dinner. I love being surprised and looking forward to all of this, only one hour to go too!
Thank you all very much for your sweet birthday wishes, I had a wonderful time on my birthday. It was very low key, which is exactly what I needed. I got my avocado egg rolls as well as a birthday pazookie! Yum! If you don’t know what that is, it is basically a giant sized warm cookie with vanilla ice cream on top, simply delicious.
So…here is the rest of the tour of my dream log cabin that I revealed to you in my last post. I pretty much took a picture of everything in the house except for the bathrooms (which are nice too). Hope you enjoy!
Welcome to God’s Country
Staircase
Rocking chair
Mr Moose, or should I say Bullwinkle enjoying the sites
Master bedroom
Living room
Guest bedroom, love how cozy it is
Amish dining room chair
My dad’s cabin chair
Amish dresser in master bedroom
Fall colors are beginning to show while we hike
Flowers at sunrise
Just me enjoying time by the river
At sunrise out on our deck by the river
Waterfall near our cabin
View by the waterfall, overlooking the canyon
I’ll be back Sunday to play catch up on your blogs and to tell you about how tonight goes…XOXO! Hope you all have a very lovely and dreamy weekend!
By The Time You Read This
If you read and were inspired by THE LAST LECTURE or cried your way through P.S. I LOVE YOU, you might like to try Lola Jaye’s The Daily Mail in August 2009,
was inspired to write BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS while crying her eyes out watching an episode of Oprah in which a dying mother left a collection of keepsakes behind to the daughter she would never see grow up.
She was immediately awash in all sorts of “what if” scenarios in her own mind. What if there were no computers, DVDs, MP3s, or video cameras? What if a parent had only six months to live and a little girl he loved more than life–what would he leave behind? Jaye’s solution was “THE MANUAL”–filled with the very advice Jaye, now thirty-five, wishes she had received as a teen and twenty-something.
If you pick it up, I encourage you to read the novel with Will Smith in mind as Kevin, for that’s how Smith fan Lola wrote every page, imagining Will as Kevin Bates. In a fabulous coincidence, after using him as inspiration, Lola met Smith at the London hotel where her book party was held (he was feting Nelson Mandela), a sign perhaps that he’ll one day be part of a book-to-screen adaptation with Willow (who turns nine on October 31)? We shall see. But I don’t doubt that anything Lola imagines won’t come true.
Meanwhile, what do you think of our jacket? Do you think Mandi Norwood would say that it has Michelle Style?
And, don’t miss Lola Jaye’s blog on the Huffington Post for her own take on Michelle Obama’s hair styles.
Plus, she’s on Facebook and Twitter, and would love to meet you.
Senior Editor Jennifer Pooley
Willoughby’s Return, a Sense and Sensibility Sequel – Colonel Brandon’s first love
When we first meet Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility he is quickly established as Marianne Dashwood’s admirer much to her dismay. At seventeen she considers the thirty five year old colonel to be past his prime: ‘…he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?”
When dashing Mr Willoughby appears on the scene Marianne retreats from the colonel’s company altogether and takes as much opportunity to ridicule him alongside her lover. Her sister Elinor values Brandon’s friendship and sensible conversation, she can see how much he is attracted to Marianne and knows that with the livelier Willoughby for a rival he does not stand a chance. She warms to him even further when she discovers a little about his past.
Elinor’s compassion for him (Colonel Brandon) increased, as she had reason to suspect that the misery of disappointed love had already been known by him. This suspicion was given by some words which accidentally dropt from him one evening at the Park, when they were sitting down together by mutual consent, while the others were dancing. His eyes were fixed on Marianne, and, after a silence of some minutes, he said with a faint smile, “Your sister, I understand, does not approve of second attachments.”
“No,” replied Elinor, “her opinions are all romantic.”
“Or rather, as I believe, she considers them impossible to exist.”
“I believe she does. But how she contrives it without reflecting on the character of her own father, who had himself two wives, I know not. A few years, however, will settle her opinions on the reasonable basis of common sense and observation; and then they may be more easy to define and to justify than they now are, by anybody but herself.”
“This will probably be the case,” he replied; “and yet there is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions.”
“I cannot agree with you there,” said Elinor. “There are inconveniences attending such feelings as Marianne’s, which all the charms of enthusiasm and ignorance of the world cannot atone for. Her systems have all the unfortunate tendency of setting propriety at nought; and a better acquaintance with the world is what I look forward to as her greatest possible advantage.”
After a short pause he resumed the conversation by saying -
“Does your sister make no distinction in her objections against a second attachment? or is it equally criminal in everybody? Are those who have been disappointed in their first choice, whether from the inconstancy of its object, or the perverseness of circumstances, to be equally indifferent during the rest of their lives?”
“Upon my word, I am not acquainted with the minutiæ of her principles. I only know that I never yet heard her admit any instance of a second attachment’s being pardonable.”
“This,” said he, “cannot hold; but a change, a total change of sentiments – No, no, do not desire it, – for when the romantic refinements of a young mind are obliged to give way, how frequently are they succeeded by such opinions as are but too common, and too dangerous! I speak from experience. I once knew a lady who in temper and mind greatly resembled your sister, who thought and judged like her, but who from an enforced change – from a series of unfortunate circumstances” – Here he stopt suddenly; appeared to think that he had said too much, and by his countenance gave rise to conjectures which might not otherwise have entered Elinor’s head. The lady would probably have passed without suspicion, had he not convinced Miss Dashwood that what concerned her ought not to escape his lips. As it was, it required but a slight effort of fancy to connect his emotion with the tender recollection of past regard. Elinor attempted no more. But Marianne, in her place, would not have done so little. The whole story would have been speedily formed under her active imagination; and established in the most melancholy order of disastrous love.
We later learn that the young lady in question is Colonel Brandon’s first love who was forced to marry his brother against her will. Divorced and abandoned whilst the colonel is in India, on his return he is to discover that she has fallen into low company and living a life of sin. As she lies dying Colonel Brandon promises he will look after her three year old daughter, another Eliza, and he becomes her guardian.
When Willoughby later abandons Marianne for the wealthier Miss Grey we learn of another reason for his swift transfer of affection. Willoughby has met and seduced the Colonel’s ward who has given birth to a daughter. He, in turn, has been disinherited by his benefactor as a result, and must now marry for money if he is to continue to enjoy the lifestyle he prefers.
Colonel Brandon is first attracted to Marianne because of the likeness she has to his first love. “Your sister, I hope, cannot be offended,” said he, “by the resemblance I have fancied between her and my poor disgraced relation. Their fates, their fortunes cannot be the same; and had the natural sweet disposition of the one been guarded by a firmer mind, or an happier marriage, she might have been all that you will live to see the other be.
I cannot help thinking that this coupled with the fact that he maintains a close relationship with his ward and Willoughby’s child would create certain tensions within their marriage. How would Marianne feel about the fact that she looks so similar to Eliza? Wouldn’t a part of her always be questioning whether she is loved for herself alone, and be wondering if she is being compared to the grand passion of his youth? We know ‘Marianne could never love by halves’ and in my new book, Willoughby’s Return, I explore this aspect of their relationship. Mrs Brandon is a passionate woman – she might even be jealous of her husband’s first love, especially as she lives on in her daughter and granddaughter. The fact that both the colonel and Marianne have both been in love before provided me with lots of inspiration!
Willoughby’s Return is published by Sourcebooks on November 1st 2009
Jane Odiwe
Break Up Survival Guide – How Do You Rewire Your Brain To Beat Break Up Stress?
Are you stuck in the “fight or flight” stress response during a painful break up? Find out how persistent stress over lost love, lost dreams, lost security may rewire your brain, change your behavior and leave you vulnerable to serious illness. Then learn how to use a simple tool that beats break up stress.
What are the health risks of break up stress?
Medical researchers have proven that persistent stress can raise your blood pressure, harden arteries, harm your immune system and heighten your risks of diabetes, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
Persistent break up stress also can rewire the brain to promote a vicious cycle of habitual, destructive behavior. What are the symptoms?
Have you experienced uncontrollable, repetitive thoughts or negative feelings about your lost love?
Do you stay awake nights plotting ways to avenge a betrayal or broken vows?
Do you obsessively call, email, or stalk your ex?
Do you stop eating or overindulge in food, alcohol, drugs, or in any physical pleasure carried to a promiscuous excess?
Do you ever feel you don’t recognize yourself or your new habits, yet you can’t seem to switch back to positive, goal-directed behaviors?
Now there’s new scientific evidence that these negative behaviors become a habit faster when you’re stressed.
“This is a great model for understanding why we end up in a rut, and then dig ourselves deeper and deeper into that rut,” says Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist who studies stress at Stanford University Medical School.
Dr. Sapolsky told the New York Times that we are lousy at recognizing when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Our response is to do something five times more, instead of thinking this isn’t working so maybe I should try something else.
How do you use this news?
These findings may help you understand how an admirable trait like perseverance can be taken to extreme, uncontrollable repetition and become a perverse habit quickly under chronic stress.
Break up stress is often chronic while you suffer through a divorce or custody battle, or you grieve the death of a relationship.
If you’re stuck in rut of stress and uncontrollable negative habits, how to you break out of it?
Fortunately the brain is a very resilient and plastic organ.
Dr. Bruce S. McEwen, head of the brain research lab at Rockefeller University, told the New York Times that his new findings prove that the brain’s dendrites and synapses retract and reform, and reversible modeling can occur throughout our lifetime.
How did he reach these findings?
Dr. McEwen’s research team reported that lab rats exposed to chronic stress remained hyperactive in a rut of negative behaviors until they received the antidote:
They received a four week vacation from these stressors and remained in a supportive setting.
According to Dr. McEwen, the brain is resilient. It makes new synaptic connections in the decision-making regions of the pre-frontal cortex, while the dendrite vines of habit-prone sensori-motor striatum retreat.
How do these findings in lab rats help us?
We now realize that chronic stress changes your brain, and relaxation in a supportive environment can change it back.
How can you benefit from relaxation when you’re too stressed by your break up?
If you can’t take a 4-week vacation, you can choose to make time to use a relaxation tool each day.
Do some deep breathing, ideally during a walk in nature.
Listen to relaxation tapes instead of taking a caffeinated beverage break.
Sign up for a series of therapeutic massages and biofeedback sessions that ease your stressful energetic patterns.
Listen to hypnosis audios that relieve stress, help you reach forgiveness and healing, and regain feelings of peace and confidence.
Seek solace in your faith, your supportive friends and family.
This action plan will help you survive a break up and thrive in your newly-single life.
And if you’re single and seeking supportive friends and expert advice to help you start fresh and love again, I invite you to claim a free months membership in the Singles Club in Tribe Of Blondes.
Not a hair color, it’s a resilient optimism that unites us and fuels our passionate choices and personal triumphs.
Whether you’re seeking advice from our Love Guides, a singles travel vacation, or you’re ready to meet the next great love of your life, claim your free trial membership now. Simply click SINGLES CLUB in the menu bar and sign up. Enjoy!
Dedicated to you dating and relationship happiness,
Hadley Finch
Love Tests In Cloud 9 – Would You Take Your Last Chance For Romance?
If you were in a stale marriage at 70 and given the chance for a passionate yet adulterous affair, would you take or pass up your last chance for romance?
There are many provocative Love Tests presented without judgment in a new German film – Cloud 9. It’s directed and co-written by Andreas Dresen and stars two actors who appear to be comfortable in their 70-ish skin.
In her New York Times Review, Jeanette Catsoulis hints that Cloud 9 celebrates a last-ditch affair between a married seamstress, almost 70, and her cheery customer, almost 80.
Breaking the cinematic taboo against senior nudity, their love scenes are portrayed with visual clarity and vulnerability, without gloss or glamor.
What happens when the seamstress confesses her affair to her married daughter?
“Just enjoy it,” her daughter says.
The affair is the catalyst for a subtle transformation in the seamstress’s marriage, revealing a union that is real and rare in modern movies.
Ms. Catsoulis’ review concludes, “The film’s unbiased tone lets us make our own moral judgments, teasing us with the possibility that occasionally the scarlet woman can escape unbranded. I, for one, am rooting for her.”
If you live outside of New York or LA where Cloud 9 is showing in theaters, you may not get a chance to see this new love story about late-life passion.
But how do you feel about these late-life Love Tests? How can you apply them to your love life?
Would you betray your mate after many decades in a passionless marriage?
Would you savor or pass up your last chance for romance?
Would you stay in a passionless marriage?
Or would you take all possible steps to spark up your relationship with sexual passion and lasting love?
What if your partner rejected your efforts to revive the spark?
Would you remain faithful or not?
Your answers will be influenced by your moral code, relationship history, and how you value monogamy and sexual fulfillment with your romantic partner.
What if you feel stuck in a stale relationship after 30 or 3 years together?
You may want to revive the qualities that attracted you and your love match before you reach the point that your only prospect for intimacy and fulfillment is in an affair.
And if you’re single and seeking your great love match, I invite you to claim a free months trial membership in the Singles Club in Tribe Of Blondes.
Not a hair color, it’s a resilient optimism that unites us and fuels our passionate choices and personal triumphs.
No more blind dates, since you meet the savvy Tribe Of Singles in video chats, special events and travel vacations. It’s the only dating site that doesn’t publish your age, so you can meet your love match at any age. You must be at least 21 to join.
Ready to claim your free months trial membership? Simply click on SINGLES CLUB in the menu bar and sign up now. Enjoy!
Dedicated to your dating and relationship happiness,
Hadley Finch
The Dreaded Reading Funk
Ah…the dreaded reading funk. I’d like to think we’ve all been there.
Or is it just me? Can an avid reader of romance suddenly lose their passion?
This time last year…
I happen to be a HUGE fan of historical romances, so you can hardly imagine my excitement to get my hands on Lisa Kleypas’ latest release. She happens to be one of my favorite authors. I’ll tell you, I could barely stand the anticipation as the stock boy at Barnes & Noble ran to the back to dig a copy for me from out of the stock room.
Yes, yes, the stock room. They hadn’t even unpacked their order, and there I was demanding my copy of ‘Seduce Me At Sunrise’, lol. But oh, the smile I had on my face that night as I sat down with my cup of coffee and cracked open the book. Pure reader bliss.
Fast forward to today…
Lisa Kleypas’ newest tale? Yeah, well, it went on sale Tuesday. Not today. Not tomorrow. Tuesday. Do I have a copy? Nope. A historical romance novel by one of my favorite authors and I STILL have not picked it up? No. It couldn’t be! Never, never did I think that would happen to me. *shakes head in denial*
For the last few weeks, I have been in one of the worst reading funks to date, and I don’t know what to do to get out of it. My heart is in it. I want to read. Heck, I LOVE to read. It’s my relaxation and escape. But when I go to pick up a book…nothing.
Oh the torture 
How long will it last?
What about you? Have you ever suffered from a reading funk you just couldn’t seem to shake?
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