Meet the Authors.

We have some very exciting plans in the works here at Shade Publishing for the next few months. Coming up in October and November we are going to partner with the Book Suite located at 887 E. Long st in Columbus, Ohio to present our authors Mary "Midge" Hall-Miller and Nick Wolack. The first date is October 7, 2011. Midge will be appearing at the Book Suite from 5p-7p. Midge wrote the book "Jade gets a drink" the story tells the tale of a toddler learning to communicate with his family in American Sign Language and spoken English. "Jade gets a drink" is a wonderful way to introduce your child to a second language. Bring your child and come have Midge sign a copy of their book. In November Nick Wolack will present his book "The Feather Y La Luna" its a multilingual poem that tells the tale of a child as they connect with nature on one fateful night. A translation of Spanish/English text is located in the back of the book. The illustration are beautiful and help to draw you into the magic. Nick's signing is scheduled for November 19, 2011 from 1p-3p. Come visit the Book Suite while visiting a historic neighborhood and meet some of the Shade Publishing authors.

Masturbation

As long as people have been walking up right on earth masturbation has occurred. Masturbation is a natural and valid part of your sexuality its the ultimate form of self-care (Newman, 1999). Even though masturbation has been around for eons it is often frowned upon, reprimanded for by well meaning parents, and kept secret. Don't guiltily clutch yourself in the dark or secretly in the bathroom when you have a spare moment. Make an experience of it. The next time you are feeling a little naughty light some candles, put on your favorite music and stand in front of the mirror. Slowly begin touching yourself as you watch your signs of arousal. Experiment with different pressures, techniques, and speeds its not important to achieve orgasm its important to draw it out and love yourself. Pleasure is a basic necessity just like food and water. The myriad of emotions and sensations that course through your body while you are practicing self love can run the spectrum. Its a really good tool to get to know yourself sexually and emotionally. Playing with yourself gives you the chance to see at what speed you like it. While you can train your body to respond to a variety of sensations and stimulation it might take a while for your body to get use to it. Besides what better way to explore that kinky new request your partner keeps asking you about then by yourself in a controlled environment where they are not bursting with excitement and maybe rushing the activity. Speaking of partners, don't think that masturbation is always a solo act. Letting your partner seeing you unguarded as you fulfill your desires can be a great way to up the intimacy in your relationship. Nothing says "I trust you and I accept you" then letting someone see you at your most vulnerable. When making love with your sweetie end with mutual masturbation sometime. Its a great way to teach her or him what you like and the pressure of "making you come" is lifted. They can now concentrate on other ways to make you feel loved, adored, dominated or whatever you like. How much pleasure are you allowing yourself? Take matters into your own hands, tonight.

Electronic Communication

How do you feel about electronic communication? I find that it can be used with an honorable or fiendish intent. Sometimes it seems as if the lines blur. Pursing Facebook earlier I noted several couples using it to air their dirty relationship laundry. Why are people using social networks to fight? Its suppose to bring people together not drive them apart. While expressing yourself and writing down exactly what is bothering you is commendable does everyone of your three hundred Facebook friends need to know about it? No, no they don't. What happened to genuine face to face conversations? I don't know about you but it seems as if now a days I hardly ever have conversations with people in person or over the phone. I am not talking about distant cousins or anything like that. I speak of your best friend, your mom, sister, etc. Take a minute and think (go ahead, I'll wait), when was the last time you actually CALLED somebody? So much is lost when having a conversation over the internet or via text message. Its hard to convey tone, body language, and facial expressions. All of these elements are much needed aspects of communication yet more and more people rely on electronic communication to speak to people just in the next room. Emoticons will not solve every miscommunication that you encounter. It seems as if relying on social networking, faxing, cell phones, email and what not creates more problems then they solve. The next time that you feel like speaking to your mom, best friend or sibling actually pick up a phone and call them or better yet make a lunch date and just bask in their presence for a while. The personal interaction will feel great. Your communication will be of higher quality, and instead of seeing a smiley face on a screen you can hear the smile in their voice instead.

National Novel Writing Month

If you haven't heard the buzz around town then pull a chair up to the camp fire and listen up. In November thousand of people around the world are joining together to participate in a month long writing frenzy. Its called National Novel Writing Month or Nano for short. The rules for Nano are 1. You must start a fresh project. 2. You cannot start writing until 12:01am Nov 1st. 3. In order to "win" you must write 50,000 words by the end of the month.  4. Have fun.  5. You can prep for your novel as much as you want before hand, as long as you do not start writing it until November 1st.

A wise person might ask themselves "Why would I want to rush to complete a novel in just one month? That's insane!" Of course each person is different and each one could supply a variety of answers. Many people who participate in Nano like the challenge, others never find the time to write and having a certain month set aside to do so is a big help. Others use this opportunity to prove to themselves that they can complete a project. Whatever your reason if you like to write you should check it out.
Its been said that the first week of Nano is easy, by the second you are banging your head against the wall, the third week you will vow to quit and never participate again. However by the fourth week, you are singing Nano's praise and relishing all of the friendships that you made over the forums and local write ins. So all of you writers, poets, dabblers, and scribes go insane for a month and have a blast while you are doing it. For  more information on Nano go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

Until next time -
Know the Secret Within You!