So Taking Off - The Red Shoe Collection is officially available for purchase on
Freya's Bower! Woo hoo! I'm so excited, I can't contain myself. This book is really special to me for many reasons, not the least of which was that I didn't come up with the idea all on my own. That's right, were it not for a nudge from a fellow author, I doubt Taking Off would ever have been written. And the idea all started with a pair of shoes. Well, not just one pair of shoes, lots of pairs of shoes...the entire history of shoes in fact.
A good friend of mine and fellow authoress shot me an email about a writing exercise from her crit group. The gist of the email was this: Choose a pair of shoes from the book The History of Shoes and write a short story about them. Not having a copy of The History of Shoes, I Googled "history of shoes." From there I stumbled upon an obituary for Beth Levine. For those of you
who don't know about Beth, she was one of the first females to design shoes for women. Fashion has long been a male dominated field (like many other creative fields). Though she designed under her husband, Herbert Levine's label, the designed were all woman. She designed for such famous feet as Marilyn Monroe, Nancy Sinatra (that's right the boot that were made for walking were made by Beth), and many others. She was called 'the First Lady of Shoe Design.' Along with her obituary was a picture of a pair of red stiletto heels, elegant in their form and understated beauty. The seed had been planted. But instead of one idea for a short story I had quite a few... Four to be exact.
The entire book came together in about two months, though there were times I didn't think I could finish it (that happens to me with almost every single manuscript, lol). But I persevered like a woman possessed. Once I was finished with it, I didn't know what to do with it. The work was a departure from my usual erotic romances. In fact there's no graphic sex in the book at all. I closed the door on every single love scene (sooooo uncharacteristic for me). Something about the manuscript demanded this discretion.
The book sat inactive on my hard drive for another couple of months. Then I got an email from another author friend of mine, asking me if I'd like to sub the book to Freya's Bower. Would I like to? I'd love to! A short while later the book was contracted and I was assigned a singularly talented editor who took a good piece of writing and, IMHO, made it great. And then, as luck would have it, the first reviewer to recieve an ARC of the book happened to agree that the book was great (
5 flutes kinda great in fact). I was moved to tears as I thought about the care and support I'd gotten from a wonderful group of women. As crazy as it sounds, I felt connected to some sort of cosmic sisterhood: A woman suggested the basic story idea to me, a woman designed the shoes featured in the book, a woman wrote the book, a woman saw the value in the book, a woman help the book shine, a woman designed the cover, a woman used her voice to praise the book, and more women still support me everyday: my crit partners, my publishers, my fellow authoresses, and my friends. I feel like I should have called the book The Sisterhood of the Traveling Red Shoes :)
This is not to say that the hairier sex has nothing to do with my successes. They know I love and need them too, but there something unstoppable about a group of women who band together with a common purpose. It's a girl thang and they just don't understand. So here's a big thank you to all the women who made Taking Off happen. Honestly, I couldn't have done it without you!
Bartenders – Though most gals wouldn’t want to date one, bottle slinger invariably makes the top ten sexiest jobs.
Professionals – Architects, lawyers, engineers…there’s something undeniable sexy about a super smart man.
Pilot – Those flyboys do know how to have fun. Or maybe it’s that they know how command 200 tons of metal and enjoy pushing the limits of what humans can do. 
Celebrities – Be he a musician, an actor, or that larger than life CK underwear model plastered across Times Square, simply by being famous makes a man exponentially more attractive. I mean, really, would skinny, awkward looking Mick Jagger ever have gotten laid were it not for his superstar status?
Policemen – Could be the uniform, maybe it’s that he puts himself in the line of danger to protect others, but there is something so appealing about a cop. That he always carries handcuffs might have something to do with it ;)
Construction workers – Okay, so the guy in the famous diet soda commercial was really a male model, but often men who do physical labor for a living do have smoking hot bodies. Sweat, baby, sweat!
Military men – Again, it’s probably the ‘uniform factor’ and that their job requires a heck of a lot of machismo to pull off, but few men are sexier than a military man. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines…we don’t discriminate, all branches are welcome. And it just goes to show, women (like the Marine Corps) are looking for a few good men.
Doctors – Healing hands, sexy white coat, big brains, and an intimate knowledge of anatomy makes this profession a no-brainer for this top ten list. 
Firemen – Like military men, firefighters exude masculinity. Brave, selfless, and oh-so fit, gimme a fireman any day you wanna see Cindy drool! 
Athletes – Topping the list are professional sportsmen. Rippling abs, sculpted arms, and juicy buttocks, athletes are the epitome of the physically ideal male. It is their JOB after all to stay in peak form. And women everywhere are so grateful that it is.
