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Adriana Kraft

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Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Advice to Baby Boomers: Get Rejected!

October 10, 2011 by Adriana Kraft Leave a Comment

It was the late seventies, I was freshly divorced, and I was in shock and definitely not happy. So when my new counselor handed me the flyer for an Association for Humanistic Psychology workshop entitled “How to be Happily Unmarried,” I was all over it. I desperately needed hope from somewhere, and I was sure willing to learn from anyone who dared put the words happily and unmarried in the same sentence.

I can still remember my nervousness as I entered the large ballroom in a downtown Chicago hotel – there must have been over two hundred people in the room. I almost turned around and walked out, but desperation won the day and I walked in. I probably slunk to the nearest seat – still royally ashamed that I was not only single, but divorced. I’m quite certain I didn’t make eye contact with anyone.

My heart sank again when I saw our presenter: short and unassuming but reasonably trim, she was neatly dressed in slacks and a sweater, and her hair was gray. How was anybody that old going to have anything useful to say to me?

Once she started speaking, however, she energized the room. Lively and charismatic, she could have made a living as a stand-up comic. She swiftly broke us into small groups, handed us assignments, shuffled the groups, gave us a new task, and only then did she tell us her story. In her mid fifties, she was divorced after a life-long marriage, and she was taking no prisoners in her determination to form relationships and build happiness back into her life.

We had a one hour lunch break that day, and she gave us marching orders for that, as well. Our instructions were to start conversations with at least four strangers on the streets of downtown Chicago. It didn’t count if the person ignored us – we had to keep trying until four different persons at least responded to something we said. (f.y.i., she didn’t say form a relationship or take these persons home to our bed – just start a conversation!)

The day was a total success. I sailed through her luncheon assignment with flying colors (and probably made eye contact, too), and by the end of the day I had dates with three other workshop participants, my first dates since the divorce. I considered it money well spent: I could taste happiness again, and I began to have hope.

Those three men are long gone from my life, but something else from that day has stuck with me. During Q&A, a timid-looking woman raised her hand and asked something like the following: “Aren’t you afraid of rejection?” I’ll never forget our presenter’s answer: “Honey, if I don’t get rejected at least once a day, I’m not trying very hard.”

I won’t say I follow her advice every day, but I know it made a difference in my life, and that difference is part of why I now write erotic romance with my husband of three decades. It’s also part of why I so much admire Claire Johnson, heroine of our latest Baby Boomer release, Ripening Passion (Whiskey Creek Press Torrid):

Claire Johnson’s dedication to sex—the cornerstone of her career—led her to found the Center for Sexuality and Sex Practices. Now in her fifties, she knows the Center must keep pace with the rapidly growing Baby Boomer market, so she agrees to go back on camera for a series on sex and aging. But work with her nemesis?

Former English Professor Max Wilson has championed the cause of the Center ever since his deceased wife sought the Center’s help to rekindle the nearly extinguished sexual flames of their relationship. He loves working on camera and welcomes the challenge to perform with the svelte but feisty temptress.

Sparks fly immediately on and off camera. Can either Claire or Max transform those sparks into a fire of sexual desire for their viewers? And if they succeed, what will happen when the movie’s over?

I don’t think Claire ever had a need to take a workshop like my success story from the seventies – but she sure could have taught it. The other piece of wisdom I gleaned from this look backwards in time? Mid-fifties doesn’t seem nearly as old as it used to! Something else I couldn’t have known that day – hot sex after fifty is a good thing.

Purchase Ripening Passion at

Whiskey Creek

Amazon Kindle

Fictionwise

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Filed Under: Boomers Tagged With: baby boomers, erotic romance, hot sex after fifty, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Sunday Six ~ First Kiss

July 17, 2011 by Adriana Kraft 26 Comments

Six sentences from Ripening Passion

 

Max set down his wine glass and peered at her. His eyes gleamed and sparkled. “I think I have enough energy to manage a kiss.”

Claire held his gaze, then tipped her chin in invitation. He leaned over and nibbled at the corner of her mouth. Only their lips touched.

 

LINK to more about Ripening Passion

LINK to the rest of the fabulous Sunday Six authors

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Filed Under: Boomers, Excerpts Tagged With: baby boomers, erotic romance, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Sunday Six ~ a Little Spanking

June 19, 2011 by Adriana Kraft 19 Comments

A Little Spanking is a Good Thing…

For today’s Six Sentence Sunday, a snippet from our next release, coming in a month to Whiskey Creek Press Torrid.

 

Ripening Passion is the sequel to Smoldering Passion ~ here’s a peek at how the over-fifty crowd gets it done:

Max tried to remember what she’d said about spanking: firm, rhythmic, methodical. He bit his tongue as he worked on one buttock until it reddened from his attention.

“That stings nicely,” Claire moaned. “Don’t leave out the other cheek.”

He nodded, paying equal attention to both. Once it matched the color of the first, he began alternating strokes.

BLURB

Claire Johnson’s dedication to sex—the cornerstone of her career—led her to found the Center for Sexuality and Sex Practices. Now in her fifties, she knows the Center must keep pace with the rapidly growing Baby Boomer market, so she agrees to go back on camera for a series on sex and aging. But work with her nemesis?

Former English Professor Max Wilson has championed the cause of the Center ever since his deceased wife sought the Center’s help to rekindle the nearly extinguished sexual flames of their relationship. He loves working on camera and welcomes the challenge to perform with the svelte but feisty temptress.

Sparks fly immediately on and off camera. Can either Claire or Max transform those sparks into a fire of sexual desire for their viewers? And if they succeed, what will happen when the movie’s over?

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Filed Under: Boomers, Excerpts Tagged With: baby boomers, erotic romance, spanking, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Finally, Peonies!

June 6, 2011 by Adriana Kraft Leave a Comment

It was a long winter, stretching into what should have been spring with a four inch snowfall in late April. We were gone the first half of May (Cancun!). The second half seemed only to deliver strong winds, cold rains and dark skies. Perennials braved the elements by sending up sturdy green stems and leaves but didn’t risk putting forth blossoms.

 Now we’re suddenly breaking records for daily high temperatures, and my back yard is awash in colorful bloom and richly scented air. Here are some pics I took this morning to celebrate – perhaps they’ll cheer me and offer hope next winter when once again the flowerbeds rest under three feet of snow.

There’s always a piece of one or both of us in all the characters we write, so it’s no surprise that some of them love spring and flowers as much as I do. Melissa Hopkins would be one of them. She’s the heroine of Smoldering Passion, and I’ll drop in a blurb and one of her outdoor excerpts below.

Right now we’re in final edits on the sequel, Ripening Passion, due out in July at Whiskey Creek Press Torrid. Like Melissa, I had to go spend time with my flowers this morning before cooping myself up with the edits. Even in the midst of painstaking revisions, I’m loving this new story about a pair of fifty-something lovers. You can read more about Ripening Passion HERE.

BLURB Smoldering Passion

Work for a sex institute? Anything for her art! With her graduate stipend running out, budding artist Melissa Hopkins applies for a job where her aunt used to work – at a New York center that studies sexuality and creates educational sex videos. Sworn off women after a disastrous relationship, Center Director Harry Gage ignores the danger signals and hires the striking young woman who reminds him of his former lover. Her air of innocence will captivate center viewers, so he’s sure she’ll be a hit on camera. What he’s not prepared for is how she pierces his heart. When the sparks ignite, is it love or just sex – and what must each of them risk to find out?

 

EXCERPT Smoldering Passion

Melissa stood and rotated her shoulders. She had to get out of her apartment. It was a beautiful day, and she didn’t want to spend it all inside.

She grabbed her keys and some cash and headed down the stairs to street level. She walked briskly, suddenly knowing where she wanted to be.

Shortly, she turned in at the entrance to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and slowed her pace, pausing to watch the ducks in the Japanese water garden. This was space for relaxing—for breathing deeply, soaking in colors and breezes and scents. The riot of spring bloom was long gone and summer was at its peak. She headed for the Shakespeare Garden and was relieved to find a shady bench empty in a secluded corner. Daisies, Black-eyed Susans and Daylilies formed a casual cluster in yellow, white and orange beside the bench. Further off some taller mauve blooms she couldn’t name were full of butterflies, and a curly-headed toddler ran up to them laughing gleefully. The child’s parents stood nearby, holding hands, happy, as if they had no care in the world.

Melissa shook off a wave of loneliness. She waited till the family left and headed across the broad open meadow towards the rock garden, stopping to watch more children playing tag and hiding behind shrubs and bushes. An artist had set up his easel next to a large tall tree that had one out-of-place low slung branch reaching several yards straight out, parallel to the ground. She could easily imagine relaxing under the protective boughs, but knew better than to disturb his scene or ask what he was seeing.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She stopped and turned around. Nothing seemed out of place—the children were still running with abandon, lovers walked hand-in-hand stopping for brief kisses—there: a man stood on a distant knoll watching where she stood. A hat pulled low on his head served almost as a mask.

She cocked her head to the side. Harry? She jogged toward the small hill. The man turned and scurried over the rise. When she crested it there was nothing but trees and bushes and flowers. Not a single person was in the little glade.

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Filed Under: Excerpts, More About Adriana Tagged With: erotic romance, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

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