Dancing

One of the things that most of my readers don't know about me is that I used to belly dance. I took lessons while I was in college and graduate school. The city where I was studying had many Middle Eastern restaurants and I had a brief career dancing for customers as they ate their kabobs and drank their raki. Unfortunately I got my degree and left the city shortly after I began performing. I look back on this experience with fond memories, though, especially now that arthritis has made it difficult for me to walk, let alone dance. I still can't hear Turkish or Lebanese music without wanting to pick up my zils and do some snake arms and some figure eights!

A while ago I was contacted on MySpace by a painter named Roger Woods. He had come upon a photo of me in my costume, posted on my website, and wanted my permission to use it as the basis of a painting. I was delighted to agree--in fact I sent him several shots. A few months later, he sent me images of the finished work, which you can see below.

You can see other paintings in his series at http://www.rogerwoodsart.com.

Coming This Week

This coming week I have a couple of special guests. On Monday Cecilia Tan, founder of Circlet Press, will be here talking about sex, magic and metaphors. Wednesday I'll be hosting Laura Tomolei, an Italian who sets her erotic romance in that fascinating and romantic country. On Friday, Fiona Jayde will be talking about feminist heroines in romance. Finally, my Saturday guest will be Aithne Jarretta.

Just to encourage you to drop by and welcome all these guests... I will give a copy of my paranormal romance Serpent's Kiss to one lucky reader who posts a comment this week, starting today, Sunday. I'll announce the winner next Sunday, the 7th of March!

Happy reading!