Saturday, May 03, 2008

Authors Tawny Taylor and Emily Ryan-Davis

Hey gals, please welcome two lovely, talented and red hot authors Tawny Taylor and Emily Ryan-Davis! If you’re looking for something to spice up your weekend – these two are it! Take it away, ladies…


TAWNY Hello everyone! I’m so glad to be here this weekend, along with my Diva friend Emily Ryan-Davis. First, I want to thank Gemma for inviting us to come over and play. Emily, what’re we going to talk about this weekend? Maybe clothes, or shoes…or shopping…ohhh, shopping...

EMILY Shopping? One sec while I lock up my credit cards. Once the urge hits, I can’t shake it with anything less than three purchases. I never thought I’d be a shopaholic (um, neither did my husband).

TAWNY Is there a woman in the US who isn’t a shopaholic, LOL?

EMILY You too?! When did it start for you? I’ve only developed this condition since I met my husband (and his mother) who, at 52 years old, roams around in high hippie fashion some days, church fashion others. She once said to me, about a low-cut halter: “Oh, Jack would like that.” That shopping trip affected me in a number of ways (we won’t discuss the mental image of my portly father-in-law salivating over my mother-in-law’s breasts) and lead to my search for personal style.

TAWNY OMG! I love your MIL and I’ve never even met her! I was a mall brat and total clothes whore when I was a kid. I wanted to wear the latest…which was a problem because my family couldn’t afford to buy the latest. Later (totally showing my age here) I did the whole Flashdance thing with torn sweatshirts and leg warmers, and when I was in college, I went through my punk phase. That was pretty…not. Lately, I’m going for urban chic…with a touch of sass. In other words, I wear a lot of black. I won’t say my clothes are conservative, because some of them are trendy, but I don’t go to the extremes I used to. My style is more a blend of different styles, I guess you could say. I have some classic pieces, which I wear with more trendy ones. Then there are the cultural inspired pieces. I buy and wear what I love. In a word, my style is eclectic.

EMILY As a kid, I had the income barrier, too. On top of the size barrier. “Misses Plus” didn’t become a department until…way after I was out of the “misses” fashion category. My mom made up for her inability to provide the current style by going the “quantity” route. The way SHE was raised, she believed that three of something on last season’s clearance was better than one of something at current season price. And if one polka-dotted tee was good, three in different colors were fantastic. My first boyfriend’s mother was no better, fashion-wise. She subscribed to the same philosophy as my mom. I spent way too much time being excited by nabbing a few “Just My Size” t-shirts on clearance. They don’t even fit right!

Ok, since you confessed your Flashdance phase, I’ll confess some of my recent mistakes and the lessons I learned after the fact:

*Red plaid miniskirt and white thigh-highs with satin bows (trust me, I do not have good thighs, and the miniskirt is further destroyed by the sensible Dansko clog – yes, even when the clog is a patent leather mary jane)

TAWNY I shudder at the image of me even *trying* to pull off this look

EMILY I kind of shudder at what I must’ve looked like. Ew! And then there were the footless camouflage tights (do I even need to elaborate?)

TAWNY Hmmmm….maybe for…okay, I can’t see any way to make those work

EMILY I thought I’d go “Boy Scout Chic” and wear them with this shirred-hem khaki denim mini skirt and one of my husband’s Boy Scout uniform shirts. That was the G.I. Jane, What the Heck Were You Thinking? look. Ahh, and I almost forgot the stretchy salmon capris…with a drawstring waist…that I bought last spring.

TAWNY But I’m reading COMFORT here! Stretch is good. I like stretch and stretch likes me. Drawstring also good. Especially if you’re going to a picnic and you know you’re going to eat a lot

EMILY Stretch is only good if it fits right in the first place. And if all your inexpensive tops don’t shrink after the first wash, so what looked perfectly acceptable and hip-length was suddenly no longer than navel-length.

TAWNY If you’re looking for me to confess my fashion sins, I’m afraid I’ll have to plead the fifth. Okay, I’ll admit it—I live in sloppy sweats and cheap tennis shoes from Payless.

EMILY As long as you don’t live in Uggs (ugggggggghhh)

TAWNY These look comfy…comfort is good.

EMILY Comfort in the form of sheepskin boots you’re supposed to wear with socks is, in the end, more smelly than good.


EMILY I’ve finally come to an agreement with my body and my credit cards, and we’re all on the same page as far as clothes go. We’ve established a few rules. Among them: a) no shopping at Wal-Mart unless it’s for gym socks--

TAWNY—WHAT?!

EMILY Look, if it’s a choice between the size 18 shorts at Avenue or the size 24 shorts at Wal-Mart, my vanity wins. : ) And there are other rules! Ok, b) nothing looks good enough on me to warrant buying two of it in different colors—

TAWNY *eyeing closet* Uhhhh. I’m glad I don’t have to live by your rules *grin*

EMILY LOL : ) My last fashion realization is, c) Soccer Mom Couture isn’t really the devil (well…not the meanest one, anyway).

TAWNY Soccer Mom Couture is HAWT

EMILY I’m glad we’re in agreement! Now, if only I could reach an agreement with my imagination, because the search for personal fashion sense? Not nearly as painful or embarrassing as my search for a genre fit. I wish I could find a manufacturer of “Right Fit” imaginations. My writing time would be so much easier if I could walk into a creative writing class, have a trained expert whip a tape measure around my head and declare me a Yellow 3 no muss, no fuss. Actually, I wish I could walk into a Lane Bryant and earn the Yellow 3 pronouncement, but I’m trying to keep this a fiction fantasy and not a fashion fantasy.

Maybe someday. We can all dream, right? In the meantime, at least I have my editor and my fabulous critique partners to inspect every new genre I try on with a critical eye toward making my butt look good.

TAWNY I hear you! OMG, the sins I’ve made in writing. I’ve needed a “What Not to Write” makeover, LOL. (Ever watch that show?)

EMILY Yikes—can you imagine Clinton and Stacy doling out Idea File critiques? “…you’re not REALLY going to write a plot revolving around the first vibrator, are you?” And, “Oh, this secret baby amnesia idea is SO 1984” (all amidst my frantic grabs at my story ideas—the elastic might be worn out, but they’re still mine!!)

Stacy and Clinton just wouldn’t see the, um, unique…um…(I’m stretching the wardrobe analogy a little too far here!) – Let’s just say I have a “closet” full of paranormal, dark humor, literary, erotica, literary paranormal erotica, the kinkier side of oo-la-la with a BDSM story, and even historical PLUS western all rolled in to one. They all look good on me (really!) but I’m sure they’ll look even better once I find the right combination. I know one thing for sure: my genre absolutely must have jean pockets. Any other style is not pretty on my behind.

TAWNY I’m with you on the pockets! And I want to read that oo-la-la with BDSM story. That one sounds--as my fave Project Runway winner would say—fierce!

I’ve tried on a few different genres too. I started with dark paranormal/gothic romance, tried on medieval historical romance for a while. That definitely didn’t fit. Next, I went for sweet contemporary romance. And I also wrote some humorous paranormal romances. . I swear, for a while there, my writing genre was changing more frequently than my hair color…and that’s saying something!

More recently, I’ve started blending styles/genres. Sex and the Single Ghost is a sexy chick lit-slash-mystery and Real Vamps Don’t Drink O-Neg is a blend of chick lit, paranormal romance and horror. I’d say, just like my personal style, my writing is eclectic too. There’s some humor. Eroticism. Mystery. Action-adventure. That’s what makes writing fun for me.

Interesting, isn’t it? How our fashion style kind of tells the story of our writing too? The same goes for my reading taste. Next to Gemma’s High Heeled Mysteries, I have James Rollins thrillers, Lora Leigh’s erotic romances and JR Ward’s vampires.

EMILY My bookshelf is pretty wild, too—on the reading front and the writing front. I hug my JR Ward, my Kate Pearce and my Terry Pratchett material all as fiercely as I hug my Eden Bradley and Elizabeth Hoyt books. In my own writing, I have “All the Trees in Pearl,” which is historical western erotic, but then I look at my dragon e-books and they’re an odd blend of paranormal and dark chick lit. I, um, like to think of it as less an issue of indecision and more an issue of wanting to sample a little bit of everything. : ) And now I want to go read. Or shop for shoes.

TAWNY Okay, so now it’s confession time. Anyone want to share her worst fashion sin? Or how about her reading (or writing) guilty pleasures? Tell us! And just to make things fun, there’s a trade paperback copy of Sex and the Single Ghost (and some other goodies) up for grabs! Emily’s also throwing in downloads of two of her e-books (winner’s choice) to a second winner. I’ll randomly draw two names from the comments on Monday, May 5th and post the winners in the comments.

Thanks again, Gemma, for inviting us to come play on your blog.

Tawny Taylor
www.tawnytaylor.com

Emily Ryan-Davis
www.emilyryandavis.com

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, the 80s and all things Flashdance. I remember those fads well. :)

Thanks for the smiles, ladies, and best of luck with your new books.

Faye

Gemma Halliday said...

Thanks so much for coming to hang out with us, ladies!

"What Not to Write" - I love it! What a funny idea. I'm sure the Stacy and Clinton of publishing would have a few things to say about some of my early attempts.

My fashion confession... I wear uggs. Sorry! But I live in a beach town and we all wear them here. They're sooooo comfy on those winter nights. But I will say I never let stinky happen and I don't ever do the mini skirt/uggs combo.

~Gemma

Unknown said...

Lol, great post! I confess that I had absolutely no fashion sense until my early twenties when I learned what worked for me. There was the leg warmers with a mini skirt phase, the year of the concert t-shirt, and the fashion don't du jour, MC Hammer pants. It's amazing that I ever dated lol.

Vivienne Westlake said...

OMG, you two had me cracking up! I laughed soo hard. I have to say that plus sized shopping sucks. It's better than when I was a kid and my grandma used to shop at a store called Pretty and Plump. LOL.

I'm not sure what I'd put as a fashion faux pas. In the 9th grade, I had to wear these legging suits. It would be a long sleeved shirt with small shoulder pads and matching pants. So, the color might be magenta or orange or red or similar. Ugghh. I am fairly tall so I also wore jeans in high school that weren't quite long enough. They didn't completely flood, but they were borderline and I had huge white high-top sneakers. Bad...

In college, my roommate called my fashion sense eclectic. I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but I can now agree with it. I tend to buy things on sale whenever I can so my style can be interesting at times. Sadly, I took fashion classes after I graduated from college and considered getting a second degree in fashion, but I was fairly lazy and pattern-making was difficult for me. The thing is you would never suspect me to be a fashionista because I am not trendy. Maybe it was the fact that I only wanted to design bridal wear and costumes, so I never quite learned how to be well put together.

Christie Craig said...

Hi Tawny and Emily,

LOL. Thanks so much for posting at Killer Fiction. You two sound like a great pair.

I'm shopping/fashion impaired. Of course, Gemma and Jana has agreed to help me out.

Thanks for the chuckles.

CC

Unknown said...

I guess I am not much into fasion. You will find me in old sweats and a t-shirt or blue jean shorts and an old t-shirt, not much into fasion at all. I like to stay in my confort zone.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Faye! My most vivid 80s fashion memories are of legwarmers and neon shoestrings as a popular hair accessory LOL.

Gemma - thanks again for having us. :) I wear Uggs, too, but I try to limit my wearing to wintertime. It's the miniskirts/Uggs and the sweatpants/Uggs combo that mkes me cringe! (Here's an embarrassing fashion confession: the only pair of boots I own are a pair of Uggs. How's that for a fashion faux pas?)

Anonymous said...

bamabelle, even my early 20s were a fashion disaster. I look forward to smarter choices in my 30s!


Viv, good to see you over here! :) Your legging suits sound...unfortunate LOL. I used to make the shoulder-pads look even worse by ripping out the shoulder pads.

Christie, I trust Gemma's taste implicitly. She won't do you wrong. :D

Virginia - I didn't confess my at-home attire. ;) Unfortunately, I can't wear my Pink Floyd t-shirts and my sweatpants to my dayjob. As soon as I'm home, though, everything stylish comes off and I dive into the play clothes.

Michele L. said...

Hey there Emily and Tawny!

I loved your blog! It was great having you here! You brought back memories of funny things I used to wear. I was into leather fringe in the 70's. My mom even bought me a leather fringe jacket that had fringe all along the arms, pockets, and bottom edge of the jacket. It was so cool!

O.k. one fashion faux pas was when I was maybe 11 or 12 and wearing loose underwear on a warm summer day. Of course, I was always running to and from the school bus. So the one time I run off the school bus I was sweating, on my period, wearing a skirt, and of course, you know what falls out of my underwear as I am running across the yard to my front door. Yep! The dreaded pad. Yep again! In front of the school bus as it drove by after letting us off. What a dope I was! Of course I turned around and picked it up, didn't even think while I did it. I bet everyone on the bus got a laugh! Never, ever wear loose underwear when it is hot out. Fashion Rule no. 1

One thing to remember is never wear flip-flops on a rainy day. I did one time and walked into a grocery store and fell in front of all the cash registers. Everyone went silent, while inhaling their breath, and me, I am beat red from embarassment, try to get up and slip some more. O.k. never, ever wear flip-flops when it is wet out! Fashion rule no. 2!

Hope my little life experiences have helped you all out!
This was fun, let's do it again!

Michele L. zzz.....

acdaisy95 said...

I remember during the late 80s to early 90s that I wore jeans that were rolled up. I was trying to fit in. I know that was a horrible fashion sin. :(

Terri Osburn said...

Great blog and great analogy, ladies. I love Clinton and Stacy so I'm sure after a few days with them, you'd have the perfect genre to fit you frame!

I didn't get a handle on any kind of fashion sense until my 30s. And I'm still not that great at it but I'm better at knowing how to dress my body. Thanks again to all those make-over shows.

I blame 12 years of Catholic school. When you were that uniform for your entire childhood, you don't have much call for developing a style of any kind.

I admit I wore LA Gears in my Sr. pictures and I wore jeans with the knee ripped out. Thankfully I never did the parachute pants but I did have the spandex capris and colorful bermudas. Gotta love those 80s. LOL!

Oh, and historic western erotic? I HAVE to check that out...

Terri Osburn said...

That should be "WEAR that uniform.." Sheesh, I need more coffee. LOL!

Tawny - forgot to mention I recently got an idea for a para/chicklit type thing with a young woman whose PI grandfather's ghost gets her to help solve his last case. Which is odd since I don't write para, chicklit, or in first person. But that's how the story showed up in my head. I'll need to pick up your book to see how that kind of thing works. LOL!

Tawny Taylor said...

We have winners!!!!

First, I apologize for posting our winners later than promised.

Second, I want to thank Gemma again for inviting us to blog. I had an absolute riot.

My winner is...Terrio! Terrio, no need to buy my book; it's headed your way! Congratulations! To claim your prize, please email me at tawny@tawnytaylor.com with your mailing address. NOTE: If you don't hear back from me right away, assume I didn't get your email and resend. Thanks!

Tawny Taylor said...

Posting a second notice to terrio. PLEASE email me your address.

In addition, I thought Emily posted her winner, acdaisy95. Acdaisy, email me your email address at tawny@tawnytaylor.com and I'll forward it to Emily.

Thanks again!