What century am I in today?

I have a lovely mentee. courtesy of the RWA Beau Monde chapter. She emailed me yesterday asking for some references to Regency house parties. In a very un-mentorish way I had to point her in the direction of the Beau Monde boards and archives. I explained that I'm 7,000 words away from finishing a contemporary erotic romance about an ex-rodeo cowboy and his orthopedic surgeon and that I can't allow my thoughts to stray back to the Regency era.

I hope she understood. I'm not sure if I did. Toward the end of writing a novel I'm so immersed in it that I have difficulty commenting or connecting with the other books I'm supposed to be writing. At the front of the very rowdy line of characters in my head, I have an intergalactic viking and a bisexual Regency rake lined up next. They aren't allowed to talk to each other and they are certainly not allowed to talk to me until the cowboy's gone!



Is it just me complicating my life by writing in three different sub-genres or is this a common writerly problem? Do readers manage the switches without worrying or do they get stuck in a reading rut?

One way to relieve the stress of writing the big books is to write something short- but not necessarily sweet. One of the themes that popped up in the contemporary cowboy book was leather...(surprising that for a cowboy eh?) So I've taken the opportunity to write a very detailed erotic short all about the sex and the leather. If I put this much information into the big novel it would probably slow the pace to glacial, but as a short scene I get to lovingly explore all the sensual stuff, each drip of sweat (and other bodily fluids), the sound of each button being undone and all the fascinating textures and scents of leather, all in great detail. Sometimes this helps me refocus on the big story in a new way and adds new levels of lusciousness. Yum

So do you have a favorite flavor of romance? A sub-genre you can't live without or read exclusively or are you like me, all over the map?