Meet Cristal Ryder and Being Ariana

Is it better to get lost in your fantasy, or be found in another's?

Ellie Taylor lives her erotic dreams by masquerading herself as Ariana and visiting the Black Phantom. In this club where anything goes, she plans to perform onstage before an audience, building her sexual excitement to a fever pitch before selecting her man. But Ariana is sidetracked by a tall, blond masked maitre-d. He captivates her and all thoughts of performing are forgotten. He's every bit as domineering as Ariana and pushes her to her sexual limit. Their true identities concealed, they set out to use each other for pleasure--no risk of entanglement or commitment...but that may prove easier said than done.

Warning - Explicit sex/language, domination, bondage and kink.


Writing is like the perfect solitary sport. I believe that writers, like athletes, need to be prepped and ready before they can write. What are your routines/preparations before you sit down to write?


- What a neat question. I hadn't really considered this before but based on my last few weeks of chaos I think you have to be in the right 'mind set' to write. I do a lot of thinking before I sit down and write. I flesh things out in my mind first. I also, let the people around me know what my plans are and how long it should take. That way when I 'go under' they know for how long and leave me alone :)

Do you have habits as a writer? Always outlining? Never outlining? Keep a notebook with character information?

- I'm a pantser so don't outline on paper. I've tried to outline but it doesn't work. Ideas and scenes constantly barrage me and to keep them in some kind of order, I email them to myself and create a titled folder for each one in an idea file.

What was the inspiration behind this book?

- Being Ariana actually started out with a celtic/druid/witch slant, but about five pages in I realized it wasn't going to fly and it morphed into the story of Ellie/Ariana. It was actually Eyes Wide Shut that inspired the story after I dropped the original idea.


Being that we’re now in full-out holiday mode, what would you like to ask Santa for this year? (And if you say world peace, we’re allowing the reindeer to eat your chocolate).

- If I told you what I really really want, then I might jinx it ;) But at the top of my list this Christmas is to spend some quality time with my elderly parents and my two sons, all of us together.

What would a reader discover in your book that excites you? (Such as, I always have characters based on us old farts but usually they’re the strangest or crudest ones. Carolyn usually includes a dinosaur or two as a small memento of her childhood.)

- Interesting! I don't really know. I think I bring one specific convo between the h/h when I'm writing hot - the reader will have to figure it out :) and a bottle of Cristal champagne tends to show up now and then.


Did you always dream of being a writer when you grew up? Any words of advice to aspiring writers?

- I'm not sure I wanted to BE a writer, but I wrote stuff constantly probably not understanding the *be writer* part until I was in my twenties. I hand wrote my first manuscript (yes before computers and typewriters were too expensive) and wanted to sell to Harlequin. I even went so far as to get their guidelines. I can still see them in my mind today...photocopied sheets of paper and some were crooked on the page! Those guildelines scared the crap out of me and I stopped writing. Thanks Harlequin! I could have been pubbed 25 years ago! LOL

Advice to aspriing writers - keep at it.Plod through, enjoy and let yourself escape into the story you want to tell. Learn, be a sponge and suck it all up. If you want it bad enough you'll make it happen.

Available at Lyrical Press: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=417

And at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Being-Ariana-ebook/dp/B005GX7S2O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323493852&sr=8-2