My New York Times article on libraries, Instagram and #BookfaceFriday

Happy #BookfaceFriday! Find out more about this hashtag in my article "Oh, Those Clever Librarians and Their #Bookface" in The New York Times (in print in Sunday's paper).

Notes, Princeton, art, Wired for Story

Yesterday in photos - I'm not seeing the rotate option on Flickr, sadly, so my notes from my appearance on Boston Public Radio show On Point (click to listen to the show) are sideways. They really do say it all about how insanely nervous I was, but I felt calmer the more it went on, confident I did, indeed, have something to contribute (and will be writing more about Fifty Shades of Grey):



Walking through the Princeton University campus:



Art at the Princeton Public Library:



What seems like a game changer book for how I understand fiction, Wired for Story by Lisa Cron (see wiredforstory.com for more information), which I discovered/bought at Labyrinth Books. Subtitle is: "The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence." Yes, it's about characters and how to make them realistic, but it's also about the very human need for story, a big topic this year (see also The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall).

Best Sex Writing 2012 praise, sex diary, iPhone essay and photos

A few things to share (though for faster linkage, try my Facebook fan page, and yes I know that sounds pretentious, sorry, or add me Google+).

My new book, the one with the buy one get one free from me offer through this Friday, Best Sex Writing 2012, was named by Creative Loafing Atlanta "one of the top 10 most provocative books out this month."



This week's sex diary (I'm the editor): "The 'Terrible Girlfriend' Making the Most of Holiday Sex" and last week's in case I didn't link to it: "The Marketing Consultant Getting a Blowjob at His Parents' House for Christmas."

I wrote an essay for Open Salon called "My iPhone Photos (all 5,000 of Them), Myself" along with some of those photos, like this one:



And over at Romance Divas I'm the Author of the Month, with an accompanying interview about Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples, which will be published this month and I'm very excited about! Read 16 hot excerpts here.



And last but not least: 11 Cupcakes I Liked in 2011! and Top 10 Cupcakes Take the Cake posts of 2011.


s'mores cupcake


Samoa cupcakes


Andes mint cupcake

Cupcake pinup girl

I can only hope Sunday's photo shoot for the NYC Sex Blogger Calendar (go there for info on how your blog can be part of it if you sponsor us!) goes as well as this one by Hilary McHone. See her entire Flickr set here.

My friend Flickr

(if you can't read them, the stickers say top and bottom - I don't really consider myself either exclusively, cause it's so circumstantial, hence, both. For the right person, I can be anything, but that's a story for another time.)

I'm doing my usual frantic pre-trip running around (I'll be in London 12/31 to 1/6), so lots of posts I wanted to write will have to wait for the New Year. But I did want to say that for anyone wondering, yes, I have a Flickr account, which is now mostly cupcake-related and quite G-rated but once upon a time, I showed some nipple (actually, that wasn't the first time, and that's one of my favorite shots from the He's on Top/She's on Top party) on there so my entire account is in moderate mode or whatever they call it, so all you have to do is adjust your safe search settings to basically say you're up for seeing anythin. There are photos there, and armed with my trusty pretty new green Olympus, I plan to be posting lots more there soon. So set your SafeSearch OFF if you want to see my photos, even the G-rated ones.

From Flickr's guidelines:

Don’t forget the children.
Take the opportunity to filter your content responsibly. If you would hesitate to show your photos to a child, your mum, or Uncle Bob, that means it needs to be filtered. So, ask yourself that question as you upload your photos and moderate accordingly. If you don’t, it’s likely that one of two things will happen. Your account will be reviewed then either moderated or terminated by Flickr staff.

For those who want to know more, Violet Blue, who has an amazing and must-see photo stream, has blogged extensively about her trials with Flickr; go look through her archives. Here's another bit about that.

I could go through all my photos, take off any naked ones or make them friends only, and reapply, but...I have 1,255 photos on there, and don't really feel up to the task. I use Flickr every day for cupcake blogging and to store images of my book covers, In The Flesh readers, and interview subjects, so I guess my feeling is I'm just happy to have it as a resource. As anyone who's seen any website I've done by hand knows, I'm not a techie girl at all. I want to learn more, truly, but don't have the time, so Flickr is perfect for me because it's easy peasy. I resisted it for a long time until, like Bloglines, my friend Allison convinced me I needed to get on there, and now I'm hooked.

In sum, though, if you want to see my photos and they're not showing up, add me as a contact and fix your safe settings, and voila. I'll close with one of my favorite photos in my account, of Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Jessica Cutler taken at the original True Sex Confessions Night in April 2006 (has it really been that long??) at In The Flesh. Oh, and I'm doing another True Sex Confessions Night May 15th.

Gothamist interview with Bill Wadman of 365portraits.com

I'm back here and there with Gothamist interviews (got one coming up Monday too). This time it's with Bill Wadman, who took that photo of me blindfolded with a tie. Click below for the interview and relevant links, and if you like it, please click "Recommended" at the bottom.



Park Slope-based photograher Bill Wadman isn't content to stay idle for long. After picking up his first SLR (single-lens reflex) camera in 2004, he quickly developed a passion for the art. Though he received his degree from Berklee College of Music, photography is now his full time career (and "first love"). January 1st, 2007 saw the launch of his latest, and perhaps most ambitious project thus far, 365 Portraits, a website which will feature a new portrait each day of the year. The catch is that the photos must be taken by Wadman on that same day. Thus far subjects have included former Daily Show writer Chris Regan, writer Grant Stoddard, comedian Jon Friedman, animator Odd Todd, fellow photographer Ryan Brenizer, yours truly, as well as people whose titles range from "Smiler" to "7 days new" baby Maura Grace McDonnell. At the conclusion of the project, Wadman plans to make the entire set of photos available as a gallery exhibition. He recently emailed with Gothamist about his favorite camera equipment, his wish list of subjects, and why New York is a "perfect" place to scout for new faces to immortalize.

Click through to read the interview

Gag me with a tie (and capture it for posterity)

Yesterday, I got an unexpected email from photographer Bill Wadman, asking if I could come to his Park Slope studio after work to be part of his photo project 365 Portraits. I'd contacted him after raving about it here, but he was booked up well into May. I said I'd be available for cancellations.

Well, to put it mildly, I had no idea how much work he puts into these shoots. I thought I'd be in and out, and an hour and a half later, he'd snapped over 200 photos (I think). Definite Gothamist interview material because his process is fascinating. It was also fun but made me realize that while I enjoy having my photo taken, it also makes me nervous. You're both active and passive as a model, and, as I told him, the control freak side of me doesn't love that I don't know what the photographer is seeing, what's happening beyond what I'm doing at that moment. But I also like it for that reason and I'm honored to be part of the project and encourage you to contact him (click "Participate" on his site) if you're interested in being photographed. And what he came up with for me, is unusual and interesting, to say that least. I can safely say I've never before had a tie over my mouth. I won't say much more cause I think the photo should speak for itself. I'm just happy my cleavage made it in as well. And no, I wasn't literally gagged, I could talk through it, kinda. And giggle.