Goin' Barefoot - the Shoeless Word Whore

By Kerry Schafer

I have been so inspired this week by the sexy and glamorous shoes of my sister word whores, that I can hardly contain my excitement over sharing my own collection of stylish footwear. Let's begin with the basics:

These are my feet, very happy in their natural habitat. They are the sort of feet that like to experience the world first hand. If it was socially acceptable, and if all the world was as soft as this clover, I would probably never put on a pair of shoes. Sadly, this is not the case and I must make concessions to my environment. Employers frown on the barefoot choice. Gravel and snow are uncomfortable.

If I must wear shoes, my first choice looks something like this:

Actually, it looks a lot like this. These are my favorite shoes, battle scarred and well worn. The time has come (and passed on by) when they should have been discarded. The fabric is melting away, the treads have worn down to nothing. Still, the idea of parting with them makes me sad, and when the day finally comes I may have to honor them with a moment of silence.

If it's a hot sunny day, or even moderately warm, heck during any season considered 'summer', even if it be 40 degrees and raining, I'm likely to wander around in these sexy numbers:

Note the leather, and the stylish buckle.

But it can't always be summer and winter in my part of the woods definitely calls for boots. All of the other Word Whores own leather lace up boots, and I am no exception...

... with thinsulate for warmth, of course.

If I absolutely must make a concession to decorum - such as wearing a nice pair of slacks and attending an important meeting, I do own a pair of dressier shoes, obviously the height of fashion:


This assortment pretty much meets my shoe needs. They allow me to go out in public. They protect me from sharp stones and snow, and prickly thorns. If the need to run should arise - you know, from a bear, or a predator of the human kind - they carry me away to safety. However, there are those unexpected occasions where these just aren't good enough.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if I am ever called upon to actually "get dressed up", possibly even in a dress, I do keep one pair of heels in my closet, for emergency use only.

Cinderella I am not. That said, I do like to look at the pretty sparklies other women are wearing. And, if you're really into shoes, the latest Martha Grimes mystery has a plot centered around high fashion footwear:

Smexy Shoe Fail

The number of us who own black, ass-kicking boots is getting a little spooky. Mine are shown to their aged and well-worn advantage by the lovely Hatshepsut. These boots are easily the most current and semi-fashionable shoes I own. They are also very comfy - something I woudn't have expected from a pair of $60 boots from the junior's department of a local store. I will admit to a pair of strappy black sandles very much like the ones Allison posted. I wear them only for formal events because those strappy bits cut the living hell out of my feet.

 Then we come to the sedate, business like pumps. Very comfy shoe. But this nice little pump is an illustration of how hopeless I am as a fashion plate. They're the shoes from my wedding, 18 years ago. That they aren't worn out gives you some notion of the fate of most of my remotely nice shoes. A box. In a closet. For a very long time. It isn't uncommon for me to exclaim, 'Wow, I still own those? Cool!'

The problem isn't that I can't walk in heels. There's a class for that.

My issue is the boat. You see, heels on gel coat means you're going for a swim. Boat people fast learn, too, that dark soled shoes are a very bad thing. You scrub the black marks from your no skid once. Then you pitch every single pair of dark soled shoes you own. Thus, you shall know the boat people by their creped soles, like this little cut leather number, right. Great traction on the boat, leaves no mark, and reasonably cute. But it isn't warm. Thus the other height of boat fashion.

The fur lined, water-proof boot. These are toasty, snuggly warm rubber boots designed to stay on my feet when I'm moving around on deck. Finding a pair of boots that are truly waterproof, that have support, and that don't slop around on your feet is major feat of endurance. The Sneakery in Seattle nailed this, though, when I went in complaining about the need for warm boat boots with actual arch support. These are easily the most expensive shoes I own. They were worth every dime.

For every day wear? Keds. No laces. The ultimate geek/boater/lazy-assed-writer shoe available. What? I want to stick my feet in my shoes and go. Why should I bend over to actually *tie* them? Wear the Keds for a week and the sole bed and canvas conform to your feet. They'll stay on until you yank them off at night. I walk miles in these babies. Yes. I freely admit that being a low maintenance boat babe means I sacrifice a certain something - looking like a responsible adult, maybe?

These Shoes Are $300 Effing Dollars. Let's Get 'Em!

by Allison Pang

Sadly, I *do* actually own a pair of $300 New Rock boots.  And yes, they are pretty awesome. Bought on a whim for my SteamPunk costume last year. A foolish purchase, perhaps - given that I had to guess the size and they were non-returnable...but it paid off nicely because they fit like a dream and they are strangely comfortable.

*shrugs*

Sometimes, I get lucky.

For the most part, though, I tend to confine my shoe whoredom to either sandals (my toes like to breathe, yo) or those of the large and chunky/funky variety. For the most part, I detest wearing pumps of any sort...but I also dislike flats and for some reason I cannot manage flip-flops or sandals where there's something between my toes.

*shudders*

That being said here's a few samples of what I've bought over the last few years:

My latest purchase -->

Funky and not overly practical, but hey, I wore'em to the David Garrett concert, so that counts for something, right? -->

I adore these, but the back hurts for quite a while after I wear them, so they only come out for special occasions -->

Also highly impractical, but I adore them. I also can't wear them much these days. Yes, there is a theme here. :( -->

And it's not like Converse All Stars are all that good for my back either, but dudes! They SPARKLE! -->







Anyway, just a minor sample there. I would probably have more pairs than I do, but these days I try to limit some of the more crazy stuff if I can't wear it on a regular basis. Sometimes. And sometimes? I'm just gonna get what I want.

This is the most classic shoe whore video ever, btw. (Special thanks to Darchala for reminding me. Sorta NSFW)

The Character of Shoes

By KAK

Once upon a dirt mound, the only way you could tell me from the boys was by my purple Kangaroos. It took a long while before I embraced the joys of being a girl. What brought me over to the soft and scheming side?

High Heels.

What shoes one wears where and when make a statement about the characters we play in real life. Stilettos on a beach? Wedges on a hike? How about sandals in swamp? Lucite to dinner with the in-laws? Cross-trainers in a board meeting? Unless you work for a sneaker company or happen to be starring in Reality TV … uhm, no.

96% of “public” time I will be seen in heels – be they pee-toe pumps or knee-high boots. The other 3.5% I will be in sneakers (accessorized by a beastie or child). High-heeled sneakers are a happy compromise for “urban rugged” occasions like flea markets or car shows in parking lots. 0.5% you might catch me in my Bog of Eternal Stench boots -- if it's flooding. My public character is one of a delicate flower with enough grey cells to know that mud and pumps do not mix.

Now, footwear doesn’t typically play a big part in a story, unless they’re the means to a goal (say, a pair of ruby slippers) or part of the conflict (ballet-boots or pony shoes in erotica tales). However, as a writer, rest assured that when I map my characters I know what sort of shoes they’re wearing. 

Does my hero wear combat boots, loafers, or Jesus sandals? If I told you he was an immortal warrior with a penchant for flip-flops that have a big ol’ daisy between the toes, how does that change your perception of him? It’s a quirk that’s important enough to mention but not on which to dwell.

I have a heroine who wears titanium shod knee-highs with talons arcing from the toes. What do you think the odds are that she’s a fragile girl? What if, by the end of the story, she’s traded those boots for silk slippers? Would you wonder what happened to bring about that change? Would you even see it as a change?

Shoes. They really do make a statement. What does your favorite pair say about you?

Hi, I'm Jeffe and I'm a Shoe Whore

by Jeffe Kennedy

I never really considered myself much of a shoe whore.

No, no - don't scoff. I really didn't. I never really "got" the jokes about shoe-shopping. I didn't splurge huge amounts of money on shoes. I never guiltily or proudly confessed the number of shoes I owned - or really knew how many I had.

But I do wear heels. I love to wear heels. Thigh-high black leather boots? Oh yes. Strappy, high-heeled sandals? Sign me up. Gorgeous pair of buff suede high-heeled boots on deep sale at DSW? Oh yes yes yes!

I like clothes in general and a great pair of boots or shoes can make an outfit. I still didn't consider myself much of a shoe whore.

Then a couple of things happened, a few years back.

The gals I worked with and traveled with one- to two- weeks out of every month teased me that they could hear me coming down the hall, by the click of my heels. I arrived a day late to a trip and walked into the conference room to discover they'd all laid bets on what kind of heels I'd be wearing. My boss had described me to a person who'd never met me as "someone who doesn't own a pair of tennis shoes." I wasn't sure what to make of that and she said, "well, do you?"

I didn't.

(Since then I've started running on the treadmill, so now I do. So there.)

Then I went to my first RWA conference. A gal stopped me in the hallway and took a picture of my shoes. She put the photo up on her blog. It was a very special welcome to my new tribe - especially poignant because I knew NO ONE at that conference. A year after that, my twenty-something stepdaughter, Lauren, gave me a pair of heels for Christmas. Red. VERY high heels. With platforms. My first thought was, how young does she think I am? My second thought was, I *love* these shoes! So, apparently she knew me better than I knew myself, which is the best gift of all.

Then there was an incident wherein I became obsessed with having a pair of high-heeled Mary Janes. Yeah, I know. No life is complete without a pair of those. That particular photo is the only one I had to take to put up this blog post. That tells us something right there, I suppose.

I'm coming to terms with who I am.
I blame Twitter, really.

Since all we talk about is shopping and what we ate for breakfast, if I mentioned I bought, or even like, a pair of shoes, they demand pics. It's what tripods are for, no? And the Zappos folks are smart about Twitter. One of the best examples of corporate use of social media that I've seen.

I still don't have all that many pairs of shoes, really. I'm no Imelda Marcos, by any stretch. But at RWA last year, Nora Roberts checked out my outfit and totally gave me the nod of approval.

High praise, for any shoe whore.