Today we welcome Robin Glasser with the most unusual titled blogs I’ve had the pleasure of hosting here at victoriablisse.co.uk!

This is not a photo of Robin’s bathroom, just a rather grand one I rather liked the look of!

I LOVE MY BATHROOM

After three years of fairytale living, I returned to America. Although a native, I felt like an emigrant because I had to begin life with basically nothing: no job, no apartment, no furnishings, no, no, NO! Definitely couldn’t afford to live in my old pricey hood—I’d given up my rent-controlled Park Avenue apartment. A good friend had moved up—waaaaay up—to northern Manhattan. I fell in love with its beauty and rented a room in someone’s flat to decide if this is where I really wanted to live. Eventually I bought a place which took a HUGE chunk out of my savings so furniture consisted of finds from the street and giveaways from friends.

My building was fifty-plus-years old. Although I had indoor plumbing, the cracked pink, peach, putrid tiles; the badly repaired ceiling leak; the stained sink; and worn porcelain tub had never undergone cosmetic surgery. Alas, I had no funds to give it a makeover. Living with this broken-down bathroom for nearly a decade did not bring us closer. Then my sink started leaking and the super declared that replacement valves were no longer available. Using a gigantic wrench, he shut down the cold water faucet. No worries…I still had the tub. But the leak started again. And the tiles began literally falling from the walls. The bathtub joined in and I knew the time had come. It was either remodel or bathe in the Hudson River.

FYI: Average price for a New York City bathroom renovation: $10,000.00. Believe me, I did more than gasp! Luckily, I have a wonderful father who was willing to part with some cash. Now the hard part: finding a contractor not from hell. It took me close to three months but I managed to discover someone whose resemblance to a greedy, nether-world overlord didn’t seem apparent. Contract signed, date set, it was up to me to design then decide on bathroom fixtures. Welcome to the world of plumbing!

I’ve seen bathrooms bigger than Buckingham Palace. Bathrooms that will do almost everything for you. I never thought I’d oooh and aaaah over a toilet paper holder or have wet dreams about a showerhead—never knew that thousands of tile showrooms existed in New York City. Forget about the internet! I had three months to gather my goodies and was still selecting items several days into the job. And, yes, there were contractor conflicts! And, yes, I did lose weight and sleep and gained several more strands of gray.

It’s been two weeks since my reglazed tub has finally dried and, despite all the ‘mistakes’ only my eyes will ever see, I’ve gotta say: I LOVE MY BATHROOM.

PS: I’m never gonna shower alone either…checkout why here.
PSS: Need any advice, great websites for money-saving bathroom stuff, send me an email: robinglasser@yahoo.com

Recovering copywriter, Robin Glasser has written for a variety of magazines ranging from Readers’ Digest to Penthouse Letters where she wrote a column called “The Red Hot Woman.” Her poetry has been published in Upstairs at Duroc and The Riverside Poetry Review.

My Life as a Concubine is the lively account of a savvy, New York City woman, never married, not looking to be, who suddenly falls in love with a Frenchman. After several enchanting years together, Jean-Loup tells her that he must return to France. She is in a quandary—stay on the isle of Manhattan where she has work, friends and speaks the lingo or depart for Paris with the utterly adorable frog prince? There is one teensy-weensy problem—Jean-Loup hasn’t asked her to go with him. When he finally pops the question, it certainly isn’t the one she expects.

Ms Glasser’s latest novel, My Life as a Concubine, which is based on her experiences in Paris or as she likes to call it, The City of Merde, is available from www.phaze.com and Amazon Books. Robin guarantees Men at Work, her fully-illustrated book of poetry, will put twinkles in your eyes and sparkles in your pants. Don’t forget to watch her fast-paced peepshows based on these poems on her
Youtube Channel….

You can get a copy from robinglasser@yahoo.com
She now reads at various venues in New York.

A very short note just to let you know I’m Hitting the Hotspot today and telling you all about my preparations for the Festive Season and telling you more about Christmas Spirit Warms the Heart.

Pop over and let me know how you’re getting ready for Christmas!

Now really I should unveil this in a blog spot all of it’s own but I’m too excited to wait. I will however be giving you an in depth sneak peek into Snowed in at School later this week but right now I’m going to share the cover and blurb with you!

The weather outside is frightful…

Gary and Lucy, two teachers, are snowed in the school together on Christmas Eve. Gary tries to wade across the school playground to freedom but all that happens is he ends up wet and trouserless and Lucy has to work out some way to warm him up.

Could this be the ideal opportunity for her to make her sexiest fantasies come true?

Snowed in at School will be released on the 22nd December.

I’ll let you have a little bit more about it later this week!

This is just a quick Sunday blog to direct you over to my Author Interview with Jenika Snow on her blog. Check it out, you might just be surprised by what you read!

Also, I’m very excited to say I’ve just put up my first submission in ages at literotica and it’s an entry into the Winter Contest over there. So go on over and check out Sleigh Ride and please remember to rate it and let me know what you think.

It’s a Christmas story (you’d never have guessed, would you?) with lots of snow and sex and naughtiness. I hope you all enjoy it!

I have gotten in a second review for Stopping Point from Cholla at Whipped Cream Reviews! I’ll tell you more about it in a minute but because it was awarded 4.5 cherries out of 5, Stopping Point is in the Book of the Week Poll and I need your votes. Anyone else getting a feeling of de ja vu here?

This time though there’s no registering and you only have this weekend to make your click count! Click here to vote for Stopping Point!

Of course, consider your vote carefully, folks but if you love Josh and Cara as much as I do, I know you’ll pick Stopping Point for your votes.

Now here’s a little bit from Cholla’s review of Stopping Point:

Stopping Point is a fast-paced steamy story with a little bit of something for everyone. Filled to the brim with humor, action and some of the steamiest love scenes I’ve read, there’s a whole lot to love about Victoria Blisse!

I’m thrilled and I am really feeling the love in this review. To read more head over to Whipped Cream reviews!

On the subject of reviews, if any of you read a story of mine I would love to know what you think of it. You can submit reviews to Amazon or Goodreads or even you could just email me victoria @ victoriablisse. co.uk (no spaces) as I’d really love to hear your feedback!

Cherished Connections
By Lisabet Sarai (Guest Blogger)

This morning I received a rather nervous-sounding email from Victoria, reminding me that I was booked for her Friends Friday this week. I have to admit that it’s lucky she contacted me – having scheduled the slot weeks ago, I had completely forgotten.

Given the title of the day, I decided that I’d talk about friends – specifically, the many cherished connections I’ve made in the writing community since I began publishing and promoting my work.

When I published my first novel in 1999, with Black Lace, I didn’t know any other authors. I lived in a tiny, rural town in Massachusetts where we didn’t even have broadband Internet. As I’ve recounted many times, I was inspired to write Raw Silk after having read Portia da Costa’s delicious Black Lace title Gemini Heat. As I waited for my book to come out, I fantasized about meeting Portia. I imagined Black Lace throwing a party in swinging London for all its authors. I pictured us all wearing risqué or romantic costumes – high boots and short skirts, leather and lace – hobnobbing, drinking wine and sharing our favorite sexy scenes.

was i ever naïve! I had no idea that 1) even highly successful publishers tend to operate on shoestring budgets and 2) being an author was about as far from glamorous as you could get!

Nevertheless, i did eventually “meet” Portia, at least via email. We’ve discovered that we have quite a lot in common (including a passion for felines) and we’ve been sending each other holiday cards for a decade. One of the high points in my career was the first time that she and i both had stories appearing in the same anthology! And one of these days, i’m going to make it to england and give her the grateful hug she deserves.

In the year 2000 I discovered the erotica readers & writers association and erwa storytime, a mail-list-based critique group for aspiring authors of erotica. When you read the erotic fantasies of other authors and share your own, you can’t help but develop a sense of intimacy. On the erwa writers list, we discussed authorial problems ranging from punctuation to characterization, shared advice on marketing and motivation, and offered each other encouragement. As a result, i developed a number of extremely close relationships that have only grown closer over time.

I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for me to name them here, but there are a dozen or so folk from erwa whom i love and trust as least as much as any of my meat-space friends. Several of them have joined me as members of the oh get a grip group blog, giving me the opportunity to peer even more deeply into their histories and their psyches. I’ve also had the privilege of editing the work of some of my virtual colleagues as part of the cream anthology and the coming together presents series of charitable erotica titles. Several of them have edited my work for their anthologies as well.

When I began publishing erotic romance, I gained a whole new set of on-line friendships through blogging and participating in chat lists. Over the past four years, I’ve developed close relationships with some very special people. Some of them live in quite different worlds from mine, but that doesn’t seem to stand in the way. One of the side benefits of starting my personal blog, beyond romance, has been the opportunity i’ve had to meet new authors whom i’ve hosted as guests.

I live in southeast Asia, far from the conventions and conferences, on a different continent from any of my publishers and most of my readers. I can count the number of my authorial friends whom i’ve met in person on one hand. I can tell you, though, that the few times i have had flesh-and-blood encounters with the individuals i’ve known so well on-line, the connection has been so intense as to be a bit scary. Did we know each other in a past life? And how would our lives have been different if we’d met earlier?

Right now I’m in the process of taking an on-line collegial relationship one step further. I’m co-authoring a story with a close friend whose writing i greatly admire. This is a new effort and i don’t know how it will work out. I just hope we don’t end up hating each other!

Speaking of collegial respect, I want to mention the imminent release of my story “the understudy”, in the bdsm anthology Master Me, coming next monday from Total-E-Bound. I’m under the covers with some of my favorite authors! I’m really looking forward to reading the other stories in the book as soon as I get my complimentary copy.

Thanks for having me as your guest, Victoria, and please accept my apologies for leaving it until the last minute!

~ lisabet

Bio: a dozen years ago Lisabet Sarai experienced a serendipitous fusion of her love of writing and her fascination with sex. Since then she has published six erotic novels, including the classic raw silk, and two short story collections, as well as contributing to nearly three dozen print anthologies.

She has also edited two multi-author anthologies, sacred exchange and cream, and currently serves as editor for the coming together presents charitable erotica imprint. When she’s not writing, lisabet enjoys dancing, cooking and traveling the world. She currently lives in southeast asia with her long-suffering husband and two exceptional felines. Visit her online at http://www.lisabetsarai.com.