When Sex Isn't Good

Publicity...finally

2008-02-24T15:58:00.002-05:00

Hello to our faithful readers, wondering all this time what was going on. When Sex Isn't Good has been for sale since last spring, and we know that women have been buying it in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. Beyond that we don't yet know.

Last week 20/20 ran a story on persistent sexual arousal syndrome/persistent genital arousal disorder. The story was also published on abc.com, and at the bottom of the article there was a link to When Sex Isn't Good for those people wishing to read some stories about women with PSAS! Then we received a call from The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, that they were interested in interviewing us! Yesterday I heard that WebMD is going to do a story on the book! We are very excited and look forward to these opportunities to help us get the word out. We are in the business of education, so we anticipate this will be good for everyone.

It's been too long...

2007-07-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Sorry, faithful readers, that we have not kept up our dialogue. After Sue and Irwin filled up w dumpsters from their attic, and Lil and Wayne kept their dumpster for another week, you would think we would have cleared our homes and our thoughts to take a deep breath and relax. No way!

Lil and Wayne had a few days with their son Jeff before he headed back to Mississippi prior to his shipping out to Iraq. Please send him your prayers for a safe return home next year. On the other coast, Sue and Irwin have been working all hours to get San Diego Sexual Medicine up and running and seeing patients in a couple of weeks. No rest for the weary!

We continue to sell copies of When Sex Isn't Good (some autographed copies are still available by purchasing them directly from Lil at whensexisntgood@comcast.net) and enjoy hearing back from you about your experiences reading the book.

We will do our best to update you from time to time. Cosmo did interview Dr. Goldstein and as part of that referred to When Sex Isn't Good. If you see it mentioned in the article this fall, let us know! And the BBC is interested as well. Exciting!

Party time

2007-06-24T08:01:00.000-05:00

Lest you think we forgot about you, our faithful readers, bite your tongues! We have just been busy. Lil and Sue have each rented dumpsters to clean out the clutter in their lives.....I mean houses. Sue and Irwin have filled two, Lil and Wayne are on their first. But last night it was time to party as we all attended a wedding in Boston.

When Sex Isn't Good is building a small following. People are buying it both from iUniverse and Amazon.com. If you want to purchase an autographed copy, Lil has those and can ship it to you. Simply write to whensexisntgood@comcast.net and Lil will let you know the cost. Once you mail her a check you can receive an autographed copy by return mail as long as these last. Don't forget that the authors are available for book signings at your local book store or book club, and for inspirational presentations at your local women's club or parents' organization or other group.

We wish you all a happy start to summer full of reasons to party.

2007-06-24T07:57:00.001-05:00

Update

2007-06-10T10:28:00.001-05:00

It's been far too long, and we know how much you enjoy hearing about us and When Sex Isn't Good. We have been selling the book now for a couple of weeks--from iUniverse, from Amazon and from Lil's trunk! She has them for sale at various speaking engagements or if you happen to have lunch with her. Sue lives in the city now so she doesn't have a big pile of books. So we thought, since you all love photographs, that you might enjoy seeing some pictures from "Sue and Irwin's excellent cross country adventure." Having visited 9 national parks and monuments west of the Mississippi while driving from Boston to San Diego in 2007, they could not compete with the road trip Lil and Wayne took way back when before children, but the pictures from a month ago tell it all. Here are just a few for your enjoyment.

This is the national memorial at Oklahoma City. It's eery at night but peaceful, which is the feeling it was designed to convey.

Here's the painted desert in Arizona. It's right next to the pertrified forest!

The Colorado River cuts through the Grand Canyon. On the right is the Grand Canyon at sunrise. As the sun comes up (at 5:30 am in temperatures below 40°) the shadows change as the sun hits different peaks and valleys.

Bryce Canyon looks like giant drip castles. You can see it from above, or walk down a path and look up at the spires called hoodoos!

One of the most beautiful parks because it has rocks and trees and rivers and lots of room to roam is Zion. This was our last stop before hitting Las Vegas for a show and the last day of driving to reach San Diego. The picture does not do it justice because the camera ran out of power so we missed so many possible pictures.

Sue and Lil cannot wait until we have a book tour and can visit more beautiful parts of the United States (and the world). If you want us to come to your home town, simply arrange a book signing at your local bookstore, an author reading and conversation at your book club, or any another appropriate event. We would love to visit you!

Just starting....

2007-05-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

The book is finished, printed, available for everyone, so now we can relax, right? Wrong! The fun has just begun. Signing books in the kitchen
today, maybe in the bookstores tomorrow.

And check out our youngest reader......

It's here!!!

2007-05-02T21:57:00.001-05:00

Lil was driving home from New Hampshire, Sue and Irwin were passing into Texas on their way to their new home, when Wayne received a big box from iUniverse with our author copies of When Sex Isn't Good! Lil checked them out and said they looked great, so now you can go ahead and order your own copies. We promised you they would be available in time for Mother's Day. What more can we say? Tomorrow we send a copy off to Oprah, since her producer is very interested in the book. Tomorrow is also a big day as the Arleques bid farewell to their son Jeff as he and the Yankee Division head back down south to prepare for deployment to Iraq. And Sue gets to fulfill a lifelong dream as the Goldsteins arrive at the Grand Canyon.

We wish everyone the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, and safe travels to all. But most importantly, happy reading. We would love to hear your comments after you get your copy of the When Sex Isn't Good.

New spaces, new places

2007-04-28T14:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight Lil and Sue and spouses will spend their last evening together as Massachusetts residents. Sue and Irwin are leaving on a cross country journey tomorrow that will take them under the Arch in St. Louis, to the rim of the Grand Canyon, and on to their new home in San Diego. But Lil and Sue are tied together forever as co-authors of When Sex Isn't Good, and as sisters in spirit. We are saddened by the impending separation, but inspired by our futures. Our kids have all left the nest and we are enjoying our new lives. We look forward to sharing our stories and the stories of other women when we appear on TV talk shows and are interviewed by magazines. We look forward to helping other women regain their sexual function by offering them hope, and sharing our knowledge and that of our experts for both our readers and their healthcare providers. When Sex Isn't Good will be available for sale in a few short days. Visit us in the pages of our book. Visit us when Lil is giving one of her famous humorous presentations full of lessons to be learned. Visit us at San Diego Sexual Medicine if you decide you want our medical consultant as your physician. Visit us on the web and see what we are up to. Thank you for your support and well wishes as we prepared our 315 page book. Look here shortly to find where you can buy your own copy of When Sex Isn't Good!

Radio

2007-04-23T07:03:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't live in the Phoenix area, When Sex Isn't Good received some exciting publicity yesterday! Dr. Goldstein was featured on an "ask the doctor" call in radio program in the Phoenix area, and the host invited Lil to participate. She had an opportunity to answer questions, and the host announced the publication of When Sex Isn't Good. As a result we have received e-mail requests for the book (whensexisntgood@comcast.net) which is exciting. Next month our book will be featured in North Shore Magazine.

Note the change in our book cover. Previously we had the working version of the cover posted here. Now that the book is at the printer we are able to post the final cover!

Toolkit

2007-04-20T18:52:00.000-05:00

So you thought tools were only for crafty people? The publisher of When Sex Isn't Good has been kind enough to send us an author's marketing toolkit. Of course if we are on Oprah we won't need that. And when each of you buys your copy and tells a friend to buy we won't need it either. What this really means is that the publisher has sent our book off to the printer. In a couple of week we will have our first copies. If they look all right to us--if the printer hasn't made any major messes--we can start to sell our book! How many of you doubted we would ever get here?

Speaking of getting there, Sue and Irwin rented a lovely apartment in San Diego. They have a guest room, so Lil and Wayne will visit often. It's a different apartment than originally planned--better of course!

So that is our news. We would love to hear from all of you, especially after you see a copy of When Sex Isn't Good. We try to be humble, but truth be told, we are very proud of ourselves.

Update

2007-04-11T19:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received a revised proof with our previous corrections incorporated. Unfortunately the publisher has made an additional mistake, so that will delay our getting book in hand, but we still hope to have it before Mother's Day. Once again Lil and Sue are on opposite coasts, but that doesn't keep us from working together! Meanwhile Lil is already getting speaking requests because of the book, and Sue has had physicians interested in purchasing When Sex Isn't Good for their patients. As soon as we have the URL to order the book on line we will let you know, but you can always sign up for information on our book website.

Hard at Work

2007-04-06T19:03:00.000-05:00

Although we intended to take pictures of us on computers, sitting side by side (which we did whenever the sun was too strong or down for the evening), here are a couple of photos of us hard at work. We were actually discussing what needed to be done for the book ... and a few other things maybe!

Back home again

2007-04-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

We've been home a few days. St. Maarten was a wonderful vacation but also a work time for us, since we received the proof while we were there. On Wednesday the document went back to the publisher with all our corrections (far more than we had anticipated, but mostly one letter or one word changes). We expect the final proof in another week to ten days, which will put the real book in our hands the first week of May, if all goes on schedule. As soon as we have the online ordering information we will post it, but we will be happy to e-mail you with it if you want to write to us requesting info at whensexisntgood@comcast.net. You can also use that e-mail to schedule a book signing, book club event or speaker for a function.

To fill you in on our personal news, since so many of you have asked.... Lil's son left Massachusetts yesterday with his National Guard unit. As a captain, he has some training to do in Mississippi before being shipped to Iraq this summer. I know you all join us in wishing him safe passage, and hope the war will be over soon. Jeff, we are all proud of you and your fellow soldiers, and pray that each and every one of you returns to your home safely. Sue and Irwin have been busy traveling to California where they are setting up a new multi-disciplinary sexual medicine facility for patient care, education and research, called San Diego Sexual Medicine. As authors we will be living on opposite coasts, but hope to meet in the middle for the Oprah Show and other opportunities to share our book publicly.

The Proof

2007-03-28T07:38:00.000-05:00

It's here! We sat anxiously waiting for the proof of the cover of When Sex Isn't Good to download, hoping it hadn't been changed significantly from the cover Jeremy had designed for us, and they hadn't touched it! Then we downloaded the contents of the book. We are so excited to be able to tell you that we have a 300 page book in proof form. We have two weeks to complete the proofing, but plan to have it done in plenty of time so we can get the book out to you to read. Can you tell from this post how excited we are? It looks beautiful—and we hope you feel the same way—although we may be slightly prejudiced!

We will let you know the final progress as it happens, but suffice it to say that we believe When Sex Isnt' Good will have been worth the wait.

Proofing

2007-03-18T23:27:00.000-05:00

When Sex Isn't Good is now with the designers. We have been told it will take a little longer than the normal book because we have so many specific instructions as to layout—all the better to make the book easier for you to read!

Next week we will be on vacation in St. Maarten, and expect to receive an e-proof while there. As usual, we will get on it as soon as possible and send back corrections. But to give you a flavor of how we will be forced to work in distasteful surroundings, here is a picture from our vacation there last March.

We also want to congratulate our medical consultant, Irwin Goldstein, on his new position as Director of Sexual Medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego!

Family fotos

2007-03-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

Since we have not posted any photographs recently, and we have heard from so many people how much you enjoy them, it seems only appropriate to show you the loves of our lives, Elijah who just went on a Caribbean vacation with his grandparents, and Tyler who recently went on a Caribbean vacation with his grandparents. Both boys cannot wait until their grandmothers' book is available for all of you to read!

Catching up

2007-03-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

We want to apologize to all our readers for not having written since the beginning of February. Both of us have had a lot happening within our family units, but that doesn't mean we have been ignoring When Sex Isn't Good.

After submitting the manuscript, we got a very positive editorial evaluation, with some solid constructive criticism. We have reworked what we felt was necessary, reproofed the manuscript, and returned it today to the publisher to be sent to the design team. We are both out of town at present, but we will both be back in the Boston area by the time the proof is ready.

We have maintained the schedule, and the publisher has as well. We expect to have the book ready for sale before Mother's Day, in case you were looking for the perfect present....

We know you love seeing photos—we hope to have some new ones posted soon.

3 years...

2007-02-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

As promised, the book may have been sent off to the publisher but we are still keeping you updated. We have heard back from our publisher regarding time lines, and expect that our manuscript will be back in 3 to 4 weeks with editorial comments, and then its back to work for Lil and Sue! In the meantime we are enjoying the hiatus, catching up on other tasks. Lil, in particular, decided to clean up her office and came upon the notes we took from our very first interview.....on January 22, 2004! We had forgotten, but this endeavor took us 3 whole years! But we promise it will not be another 3 years before our book is in print. In fact, if luck is with us, it may be as early as 3 months, but no promises.

FINISHED!!!!!

2007-01-29T18:44:00.000-05:00

We're done! The book went off today to the publisher. Lil and Sue are excited, nervous, exhausted, hopeful, and wondering what will happen next. This process will take several months. We will have conversations with our production associate about starting chapters on the right, special fonts we used in special places, and other assorted minutia. We don't know how long we will have to wait for the proof, but we know we will only have 14 days in which to make corrections--a scary prospect. We also know that the president of the publishing company has taken a special interest in this book. Do you think this is because she knows Oprah is interested?

We will miss driving back and forth, working together two or three times a week, or even working on the phone with Lil in Andover and Sue in San Diego, Lil in Andover and Sue in Los Angeles, Lil in Andover and Sue in.... you get the drift. Tomorrow Lil can focus her energies on her new clients, and Sue is on yet another airplane. But we will start our days knowing that When Sex Isn't Good is one day closer to being in your hands. Thank you for all your interest and support.

Our Web site was recently updated (thanks Jeremy and Lauren) so check out the corrected table of contents. As soon as our first appearance is booked we will let you know! In the meantime, stay healthy and keep visiting because we will continue to give you updates.

Progressing

2007-01-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

We are excited to be able to update you. Lil and Sue have now reread Part I and will finish making those corrections tomorrow. While we had hoped to get When Sex Isn't Good off to the publisher tomorrow, we are now aiming for Monday. As usual of late, we have been working independently and on the phone, as Lil has been in freezing Massachusetts and Sue has been in balmy Southern California, on business and visiting family.

We have had the Web site for the book updated recently, so feel free to check it out again, and send the URL to all your friends.

Still here!

2007-01-14T21:11:00.000-05:00

By now you must have thought we forgot all about you, our family, friends and readers. We have taken a little time off, but have been working in different parts of the world. Having read through all the stories, making small corrections in most and a few major overhauls of others, we set those aside to work on Part II of When Sex Isn't Good. So Lil in Massachusetts in Sue in the Caribbean have read the medical sections separately, and this week will compare notes. If we can keep on schedule, getting through all of Part II this week, and rereading Part I separately so that we can make any last changes on that next week, we hope to have the book to the publisher before the end of the month. Of course the biggest problem we are having is that each of us is writing our own acknowledgments, and we can't seem to quite finish those. That's because we have so many people to thank, and we know we will leave someone out by accident, and don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So let us say right now, thank you to all of you who have read, encouraged, supported, asked, loved, and been there for us through this project. We appreciate all you have done and all you will do.

Winding down

2006-12-30T18:19:00.000-05:00

The year is winding down and so are we. Sue celebrated Hanukkah in Boston with her local family, then again in California with her children there. Lil enjoyed Christmas with her local family and shared pictures with her New Mexico family. And through all of this we have tried to work, but it has been difficult.

Irwin has completed his rewrite of his medical reference section, so that was a big accomplishment. Lil and Sue expect to go through his last section by Tuesday. We just want to make sure what he has written is reader friendly for all of you.

The big news is that we have printed out the entire book (wow!) so we can each read a copy separately, on paper, which is different than reading on a computer. This is the final process making a few changes (maybe more than a few) so that we can bring you the best product. We are still expecting to have the manuscript to the publisher sometime in January. So keep your fingers crossed!

Next step.....

2006-12-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

Well, we took the next step in the process today. We signed our contract with our publisher! And this was on Lil and Wayne's anniversary. So we celebrated with dinner in Sue and Irwin's kitchen over a Mediterranean diet (read the book to learn why this is important) of pasta and vegetables, wine and Wayne's homemade beer. And chocolate dipped biscotti for dessert.

We worked all afternoon tightening up the medical reference section of the book, and will continue on that tomorrow. Of course best laid plans, because Sue has a meeting Thursday morning and Lil has a meeting Friday morning, but we will maximize the time when we are finally together. We are currently aiming to have the book to the publisher the first week of January, and have a real book in our hands by late spring.

If you want us to send you a notice once When Sex Isn't Good is available for purchase, just drop us a note at whensexisntgood@comcast.net.

Vienna photos

2006-12-09T07:28:00.000-05:00

Never let it be said that Sue traveled to a foreign land without bringing home pictures to share! For our wonderful followers, we want to share all our experiences. Sue spent the week in Vienna, where her father grew up, and saw lots of people and places.

The scientific sessions were excellent at the meeting, with a packed house at the first session on female sexual dysfunction (FSD), and the dinners to which we were invited were wonderful, including a private showing of the Chagall exhibit.

While Sue was sightseeing at the Schonbrunn (the summer palace) and sitting in at the conference held in the Hofburg (the winter palace),
Lil was home seeing new and old clients, and decorating her house for the holidays. Vienna was decorated with outdoor Christmas Markets and lights, and the pedestrian ways had street vendors and street performers. This is the home of the Lipizaner horses and the moving Anker clock, but what was most amazing was touring the world famous State Opera House, damaged but not destroyed by bombs and fire, magnificent and stately, and overwhelming to a woman who had sat by her father's knee as a child and listened to opera. Sue was there on the anniversary of Mozart's death (considered Austria's most famous citizen), one of the few days the Opera House held an event that was neither opera nor ballet.

Food and drink are always plentiful in the city, wienerscnitzel and gluhwein, Mozart candies, but it is always good to be home in one's own bed, eating some nice roast chicken and drinking a glass of Poland Spring water!

After recovering, we will be full steam ahead next week to work on revisions that have been given to us by our esteemed medical consultant, shown here drooling over hand made Viennese pastry. Maybe it was a good thing we hadn't yet completed proofing that section!!

Dedication

2006-12-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

We try to set a goal each time we meet, and an overall goal for the week. Last week we were going to work on Monday and Tuesday, then Sue was off to Omaha until Friday, when she was to unpack and repack for her journey to Vienna on Saturday. That gave us two solid days to work and our goal was to do the final proofing of the glossary. Each section of the book has to be proofed for language (so we don't use the same words two sentences in a row or sound awkward or not easily understood), spelling (including uniformity of use of hyphens) and punctuation (including correct use of commas and only one space after the period after we had entered two). Each section was read once for language and spelling and an additional time for punctuation. This was to be the final punctuation read for the glossary—a reasonable task for two days.

Sue woke up sick on Monday. So we thought we would work on Tuesday. Tuesday she was still pretty weak, but she decided she was not well enough to go to Omaha and risk canceling Vienna. With that, we had an opportunity to work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So we worked on Friday and got about half way through the task. We were right on target! Thursday Lil was exhausted, but we decided to fall back on our other technique since we were only "commatizing" as we fondly call it, and we worked for two hours Thursday evening on the phone, with only a few pages left to proof by the time we ended, tired but satisfied. We would finish Friday.

Best laid plans.... Lil had a client, then had to look after her mother. There was no way to spend any time on the book. Here comes the dedication: Sue called from Logan airport and we got through one more page--only two left and we had vowed to finish this before Sue left the country. JFK here we come, and we finished the last two pages on the phone from the airplane lounge. Finished..... and Sue was off to Vienna to attend the Europen Society for Sexual Medicine. Next week we will work more on proofing other parts of the reference section. The stories are done.

This is a really long post, but we wanted you to know the latest!

We promised....

2006-11-26T20:08:00.000-05:00

We hope you all had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving (for our American readers) and all had a peaceful weekend. We promised to show you the dress Lil wore to her daughter's wedding, which was at the start of our relationship. So here it is finally. Very different from Sue's dress but perfect for Lil and perfect for the day. We had no idea, when we looked at the wedding photos, that one day we would be writing a book together, and that we would have a significant impact on women's healthcare.

This week we will continue to proof the annotations. We are also starting the submission process with our publisher. We have compiled a list of questions, because WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!

It's finally here!

2006-11-22T08:56:00.000-05:00

No, not the book. It's still being proof read, although every day we get a step closer. Yesterday we finished proofing half the annotations in the medical reference section. What are those? Well, when someone writes a statement it can be because they believe it is so or because they know it is so. In science, they know if there is proof, and this proof is from valid research which has been published in reputable, peer review journals. We want you, the reader, to feel comfortable that the information in our reference section is based on knowledge rather than speculation, so after each section our consultants have included a list of references. Each reference is annotated with a few sentences telling you what that paper is about. This may help ease your worries about using a particular therapy, or help you bring to the attention of your physician why another medical issue may be causing your sexual health concern. We have attempted to provide you with a resource, in all aspects of the word, which is as user-friendly as possible.

So what's here? Our book website is finally live! You can find it at whensexisntgood.com, read a little about the stories we have included, and see the different therapies currently considered for the treatment of sexual health concerns in the woman for whom they cause distress.

From all of us at When Sex Isn't Good to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving!

Together again

2006-11-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

We finally got to work together again after being separated for two and a half weeks. We worked on the last rewrite of a medical section--effects of childbirth. Now all the medical reference section is complete, waiting for us to proof it. We also have to make sure that it is in language that you, our reader, can understand. So we must go through it painstakingly, translating from "medicalese" to common language, then bringing it back to our medical consultant to ensure that we have not changed any of the meaning of the science. We have already done that for the very extensive glossary, which will be the last part we proof, but we must now tackle the annotations, trying to keep them simple but meaningful. We hope to get through as many of the annotations as possible before Thanksgiving, then finish them the week after, before Sue is on the road again, flying to a sexual medicine meeting in Vienna. She hopes to have dinner with her second cousin while she is over there.

On another note, Lil printed up the business cards for When Sex Isn't Good. They look fabulous, and have been in great demand. Visit one of us and we will be happy to share!

Choosing the Title

2006-11-15T19:38:00.000-05:00

Some of you may wonder how we got our title, When Sex Isn't Good. We can tell you we went through a lot of different names, including The Missing Piece (as in of the puzzle) but that had too many sexual overtones, and others so bad we can no longer remember. We were together in the car, after dropping Lauren and Jeremy (Sue's daughter and her then boyfriend, now husband) off at the airport. We were brainstorming back and forth and the title When Sex Isn't Good emerged. We loved it immediately and started testing the name on friends and colleagues. We got great feedback and it felt so good to us we decided to go with it. We had the basic framework of the book, some of the interviews complete (the inspiration for the title of course), and we finally had a title. This made the book all the more real for us because now we had given it an "identity."

What are your thoughts about the title? Send your comments, and the best will be posted on our book website, whensexisntgood.com, set to go live very soon.

Still oceans apart...

2006-11-14T19:03:00.000-05:00

Lil and Sue are still not together, but the good news is that Sue and Irwin (Dr. Goldstein, medical consultant) have been proof reading the medical material to make sure it is both correct and state of the art for you when the book goes into production. Lil is holding down the fort at home, and has checked in recently with our publisher. We are still all systems go for the new year.

Last week the traveling duo (Sue and Irwin) were in Japan. Here are some pictures, since we know how much our readers enjoy seeing them.

We started our trip by traveling to Kyoto, sister city to Boston. Here is a young couple in traditional dress, which got them discounted admission to the golden shrine. The shrines in Japan are shinto with no images, just mats on the floor, while the temples are Buddhist, with a figure of Buddha in the center and his bisexual companions on each side.

This is a picture of the largest Buddha in the world, housed in the temple at Nara, the largest wooden structure in the world. The temple is in deer park, where 12oo deer roam freely and are protected from harm.

See what I mean? Also in Deer Park is a shrine where we got to see the 3,5,7 festival. This is a time when 3, 5 and 7 years old children are dressed in traditional clothes and brought to the shrine for a blessing. Hundreds of beautiful stone lanterns line the walkways.

We also went to the Osaka Castle. Here are the castle and a gentleman practicing traditional prayers. We were there during the chrysanthemum festival (a traditional symbol of Japanese royalty) so flowers were everywhere!

How we met....

2006-11-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

We may be thousands of miles apart, with Lil in Massachusetts and Sue in Japan, but we haven't stopped working or e-mailing. Hard to believe that a few years ago we didn't even know each other! So take a look at us now...and then....

Once upon a time Sue was responsible for educational programs in sexual medicine and Lil was a patient. They met and felt an immediate kinship. Lil sat on a patient panel Sue put together for a course for healthcare providers, and did a wonderful job expressing not only her physical problems but the emotional distress caused by the dysfunction. Before the start of the program Lil showed Sue pictures from her daughter's recent wedding. Lil looked beautiful, wearing the same color she is wearing here. Her dress was from a local shop, and she promised to take Sue there to look for a dress for her son's wedding. By the time that day was finished, they had become fast friends. It wasn't long before they were discussing the need for women to learn about their bodies, about sexual function, and about not having to give up enjoyment in the bedroom (or wherever).

By the time Lil and Sue drove to Salem, NH, to Michael's to buy her dress for the wedding, this book had already been conceived! Because we know how curious our readers are, here is a picture of Sue in the dress from her son's wedding. A picture of Lil in her dress from her daughter's wedding will be posted soon.

Sue's travels

2006-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Despite our desire to work together on a regular basis, we cannot always do so. Sue is traveling and Lil is taking care of her mother back home this week.

Here is Sue taking a little time off in Las Vegas where she attended the annual meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. She and Irwin were recognized there for their work in Female Sexual Dysfunction.

Now they are in Japan for the rest of the week. More photos will follow....

Cover Design

2006-11-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

Since we have shared with you the making of the back cover, we thought you might like to hear a little bit about the front. We had conceived of the name, When Sex Isn't Good (and we'll tell you that story another day) but we wanted a cover that would express our feelings. So we turned to Jeremy Mack of Gezamack Designs for something really special. Here's Jeremy himself on his wedding day (did we mention he is also Sue's son-in-law?)

Very early in our writing process, we realized that we needed to be thoughtful and deliberate regarding every detail of our book. Therefore, it was particularly important to us that every aspect of our cover metaphorically express a message of hope to our readers.

Historically, the rose has always been a symbol of beauty and of women. However, the rose on our cover has petals that are slightly folded, wrinkled, and discolored, with wilted edges.... still beautiful in its own way, but not as exquisite as a rose should be. Like the women in our stories, the rose still has its essence, we recognize it as a rose, but its petals are slowly dying one by one, atrophying as it were, losing its natural color and vitality and smoothness, much like a woman's genitalia. Our book is a collection of stories about women who have experienced, for whatever reason, what the rose is experiencing, but have found, or are on their way to finding, a renewal of their sexual health. And with that, both the women and the rose will be reborn to their essential and natural beauty. The multicolored background of our cover moves from shades of beige to red depicting how so many of the women in our stories felt before they received sexual health care... moving from the blandness of beige to the radiance of red.

We appreciate the way Jeremy took our thoughts and comments and made us a spectacular cover. BTW, Jeremy is now art director for Wolfgang's Vault.

Work and Play

2006-11-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

Speaking of a day off, we have even gone on vacation together so we could continue to work on When Sex Isn't Good. Here we are relaxing after a hard day of writing, researching and, oh yeah, swimming.

Seriously, though, we have put in hours of work to bring you a book worth reading. If you are reading this blog, chances are you want to know where we are in the process. Well, the book itself is finished. We are in the proofing stage before sending it to our publisher. Almost half the book is finalized, and we will not stop until it is perfect for you, our friends and readers. So have faith, and check out future entries to see how we got here, and where we are going.

The back cover....

2006-10-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

We took a much needed day off yesterday to prepare for the back cover of the book.

First we beautified ourselves—thanks Andrea and Stephanie of Energie Salon!

After grabbing a quick lunch we headed to Brian Phillips Photography for a photoshoot for our back cover. It was fun and a great change of pace.

Did we mention we took our medical reference section contributor along as well? We can never get him to stop working!

Then we grabbed dinner with our husbands to celebrate before watching the Pats win again! So if you didn't know before, now you know we are from Boston.

The Book!

2006-10-30T17:52:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog about When Sex Isn't Good. Over the next several months we want to share with you how we conceived of this idea, and how we came to write this book. Today we took another big step toward publication, which will be early in 2007. Follow along with us as we take this book from our thoughts to your hands.