Today's the day!

Once upon a time ....

a friend of Sommer Marsden's made a comment ...

"No woman likes giving a blow job for the sake of a blow job."

Big mistake. You've heard of the butterfly effect? Well, what happened here could be called the blow job effect. 

Today, over at Sommer's blog, that small comment has become ...

The Blow Hard Tour 2009!

For the full line-up (a dozen days, a dozen different writers, all blogging from the blow-centric point of view), go here.

This weekend: Beginner's Ball #3

This weekend we'll have the third installment of Beginner's Ball. A traveling blog feature by and for us new erotica writers (more experienced writers always welcome). It's Helia Brookes' turn to host - so head on over there on Saturday - her topic is the wellsprings of creativity. To see what it's all about, check here and here.

Licking my lips in anticipation

Supposedly, March goes out like a lamb. But tomorrow, March 31, the blowing starts over at Smut Girl, and continues through April 11 - a dozen days of Blow Hard Tour 2009 by a dozen bloggers. For the full line up, look down there 6

March 31: Sommer Marsden

April 1: Alison Tyler (no joke)

April 2: Dakota Rebel

April 3: Erobintica (right here)

April 4: Cora Zane

April 5: Heidi Champa

April 6: EllaRegina

April 7: Marina St. Clare

April 8: Emerald

April 9: Kristina Wright

April 10: Isabel Kerr

April 11: Neve Black

Sommer has put together a jaw-dropping parcel of prizes. Check them out at her "Pre-Come Blog".

I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what all these lovely bloggers have waiting on the tips of their tongues.

And here, for your listening pleasure, one of my favorite driving music bands...

Counting Down, Coming Soon

There's a couple of fun things coming up.

First, on Saturday night, March 28, 8:30pm wherever you are, TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS! Turn off your TV, the computer, the radio. For one hour, enjoy the darkness. A lot of fun can be had in one hour with the lights out! 

Go here to find out more - and sign up!

Then next Tuesday, March 31, no particular time, starts the anxiously awaited, palpitation producing, salivatingly seriously smutty BLOW HARD TOUR 2009! Twelve days, twelve blogs, twelve (and who knows, maybe more) ways to blow one's whistle. (I love this thesaurus.)

Here's the lineup. 

March 31: Sommer Marsden
April 1: Alison Tyler
April 2: Dakota Rebel
April 3: Yours truly
April 4: Cora Zane
April 5: Heidi Champa
April 6: EllaRegina
April 7: Marina St. Clare
April 8: Emerald
April 9: Kristina Wright
April 10: Isabel Kerr
April 11: Neve Black

And now for your viewing pleasure...

Youuuuuuu send me

There's been a wonderful discussion on second person POV over at Donna George Storey's blog the past few days and today EllaRegina has something to say to YOU. I immediately thought of this song - don't know why. 

Erotic Ketchup

Sorry - couldn't resist. I'm in a mood this morning - oh, wait, it's afternoon already.

So, I decided it was about time I tried to get caught up with posting my Alison Tyler contest flashers. This one I didn't post right away because it went visiting in Suite 69 over at Donna George Storey's blog for her hotel sex series. I was thrilled that Donna asked me to take part in the festivities and the comments I got on the story made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

But as is always the way with stuff that I don't do right away - it didn't get done - until now.

It's weird, I'm listening to Ani DiFranco's Living In Clip - an all time favorite CD - and feeling a bit of anger/loss - finally - I've been sorta numb since losing my friend last week. Maybe partly because my husband has been away and I need to hold it together when he's gone. He'll be back tonight and isn't going anywhere for a bit - so maybe it feels safer to let those feelings in. This human condition fascinates me.

And now for something completely different...

This was for AT's "Touch" contest back in the very beginning of March.


Pulsating Jets

As the sun crept around the heavy hotel drapes, we snuggled. Sleeping clothed is unusual for us. Though sometimes we wear something to bed just to have something to take off. But thanks to a screw up in reservations we had to share a room with your business partner and his wife. They weren’t happy about it. Neither were we.

While our roommates snore, you caress my arm, slide over my tummy, brush my upper thigh. I can feel your arousal nestled against my butt. We rub feet together, wordlessly communicating the longing we both feel. What I wouldn’t give for a wall and a door right now. But you break away and get up to shower. I don’t dare join you.

I lay touching myself as I listen to you turn on the water and adjust the spray. The sounds emanating from the shower are subtle at first. Could easily be mistaken for washing hair or soaping arms. But soon they become more regular, last longer than it should take to wash any single body part.

Listening, I see you in my mind’s eye, water coursing over your body, your hand moving faster and faster. I wonder what images are jumping your synapses. I hardly breathe, straining to hear. Part of me is sad, wanting to be your fist, be the water. The sound is insistent now.

Then, just the steady sound of the shower, the gurgle of the drain.

Slimy Spineless Dickheads

 I love nature! Weird and wonderful. Not sure I'd agree that these are some of the world's most terrifying penises - they're actually quite beautiful.

The narrator is hilarious - Wild Kingdom was never like this!

Life-affirming

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on.

Robert Frost (1873-1963)

Winter is over and there are signs everywhere that life goes on. The robins are back in the yard searching for bugs. Bulbs are sprouting where piles of snow once sat. Grass is slowly turning green again. The trees have a tinge of life in their topmost branches. On warm days I can smell the earth. For me one of the most inspiring, hopeful sights is weeds springing up from cracks in the pavement. I love seeing trees growing out of and around rocks. As I was thinking of this whole life goes on thing, I remembered Randy Lagana's lovely photograph above. 

Grief instructs us to look at our lives. Am I living in a way I feel good about? Am I the person I want to be? I've lost two friends in the last four months. Two talented, lovely people are no longer. Both of them figure in my being here, being in this place of the erotic. One wrote a poem that I wish I could print here - but I can't - but it was about writing erotica/failure. I'm here now because I beg to differ. The other gave me the name Erobintica. 

This surreal painting by Randy Lagana - 3 Thoughts - kept calling to me. Oh, that sounds so ... you know ... new agey. Blech! I don't draw any heavy duty meaning from this painting - I just like the rocks floating - their shapes - the shadow on the ground. I like looking at it. I like rocks. I like rocks piled up, either naturally or helped by human or animals - natural forces. Cairns. Stone walls. Glacial Erratics.

            

  This boulder is taller than me - sometimes I set my desktop to it just so I can look at it. Right now my husband is up there in Maine - I wish I could be with him. Our little piece of earth up there is another thing that gives me hope. Last night, despite my still-fresh grief, we made love. For me, that was life-affirming. And it helped me see the way out of my sadness. 

I was going to write more tonight - there's a lot going through my brain right now - but it's 12:30am and I have a writer's group tomorrow morning. There's another of Randy's pieces I was going to write from, but I guess that'll have to wait.

At a loss

for words

though I keep trying to find some

keep trying to understand

there is so much to love about this world

even with all it's horrors

there is so much

another friend is gone - don't know how or why at this point - but she is the one who gave me the nickname Erobintica - and I'm going to miss her

Unfocused

You ever have one of those days? No matter that there's a whole long list of things to do, that I have to do, or want to do. I just can't seem to wrap myself around any of them sufficiently to actually get anything done. 

This picture would have been great if it was in focus - I have a thing for roots and rocks.

Beginner's Ball #2 - Dance over to Marina's blog

Marina St. Clare is hostess today for Beginner's Ball #2 - Pen Names & Perception.

This is second in a traveling series started by writers new to erotica (Marina St. Clare, Helia Brooks, and myself) as a way to explore issues that we wonder about. Last time I asked Why Erotica? Today Marina has a couple of questions - about pen names and "who knows about your writing?" - so slip on your dancing shoes, head over to Marina's and join the dance!

Coming Soon - Blow Hard Tour 2009 - We Will Rock You

Be careful of what you say if you're a friend of an erotica-writing blogger - small comments can grow to enormous proportions - quickly.

So, Sommer Marsden - Smut Girl Extraordinaire - has come up with a blog tour to blow all the others out of the water - 

The Blow Hard Tour 2009.

Beginning March 31 at a blog near you.

Here's the lip-smacking line up (subject to change)

March 31: Sommer Marsden

April 1: Alison Tyler

April 2: Dakota Rebel

April 3: Yours truly

April 4: Cora Zane

April 5: Heidi Champa

April 6: EllaRegina

April 7: Marina St. Clare

April 8: Emerald

April 9: Kristina Wright

April 10: Isabel Kerr

April 11: Neve Black

More details to come - of course! In the meantime - enjoy some hot bagpiping.





Getting Wet in Suite 69

Over at Donna George Storey's illustrious blog, Sex,Food and Writing, there's been a steady stream of folks in and out of Suite 69 treating us to an international erotic smorgasbord of hotels. Today I join in the fun with Hot Shower at the Kabuki Hotel.

When Donna asked if I wanted to take part in this "literary orgy" (as EllaRegina put it), I immediately thought of the flasher entry I had up at Alison Tyler's blog at that time. The voting wasn't over so I had to wait to send Donna my piece and in the meantime remembered I had pictures from our stay at the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco last summer. So head over there to enjoy the tea and sweet bean cakes - oh and some Pulsating Jets. Thanks Donna!

Oh, and if that wasn't enough, the wild and wonderful Kirsten Monroe posted the haiku I wrote in response to the lovely calla lily photo poem challenge she posted a week ago. Thanks, KM!

And coming up on Monday is the next dance at the Beginner's Ball, which will be hosted by Marina St. Clare. 

Writus Interruptus

My alarm went off this morning at 5:57am, like most weekday mornings. But because I'd woken up about 4:30am briefly, I was back in dreamland when the beep beep started (I think most mornings my internal clock is a little fast and I wake up just before the alarm sounds). After switching it off, I lay there thinking - wow, that's the beginning of a really fun story (erotic in nature of course). But I don't have time to write it today. So I'm going to type in some notes and hopefully later - maybe this evening - sit down and work on it. I do think it will be distracting me all day.  ;-)

I have to go pick up my college-age daughter today - it's spring break and she's coming home. Been debating - with myself and with my husband (he doesn't think I should say anything right now) - about what if anything to tell her about mom's new "hobby." She's a writer too. And she tends to be quite social when she's home - hanging around and talking - so she'll be interrupting me a lot. I don't want to snap at her, so, I may be telling her. On the car ride home maybe. We will see. Wish me luck. 

Umm, wow

Over at M. Christian's Frequently Felt blog he's mentioned Beginner's Ball and given it a giant thumbs up. So, I'm sitting here early in the morning going ... wow.

Fact vs. fiction

Way back in February, the following story was in Alison Tyler's Mustache Sex flasher contest. It tied for 3rd place. This was one where I used a writing prompt from Rachel Kramer Bussel's Erotica 101 class that I'd taken earlier in the month. Take something that really happened and rewrite it. So I did. In a way. Kinda sorta. Ain't telling what parts are true and what parts are fiction.

His Lady Tickler 

Teresa couldn't believe her ears. Trying hard not to blush, or even let on she was hearing what he was saying, she kept her head down, engrossed in her lab report. Jay stood there, reveling in the attention of the other guys and their laughter. The jerk.

She'd dated him briefly. She was pretty sure only one of the other guys even knew about that. And that guy wasn't laughing.

Jay had been so erotic in the beginning. He'd gently lift her long hair from her neck, bend in, inhale, then kiss her skin. Gently at first, then nibbling and sucking. Her nipples hardened under her t-shirt just thinking of it.

Teresa remembered his mustache on her clit, the delightful prickliness of it. He'd asked if it bothered her. She'd said "no" and meant it.

He was good. His tongue was a serpent, coiling around her cunt, transporting her.

It had not worked out. Now, hearing Jay go on, she was glad. She wondered though, was he talking about her or someone else?

Now he stood here, smoothing his dark mustache with his fingers, being all wink wink nudge nudge, talking about his "lady tickler."

"My girl likes my mustache."

He then inhaled in an extremely exaggerated manner.

"Which is good - it helps me remember her when she's not around."

She was sitting right there. He wasn't talking about her. But she knew something about him.

He couldn't fuck worth anything.

Yeah, wink wink nudge nudge. Say no more.

A non-post post

I was gonna do up a post here tonight but my brain is just not working. Daylight savings time always messes with me for a day or so. But I'll see what I can do.

The day started out okay, despite the rain and chillier temperatures than yesterday (honestly, it isn't spring yet, so I shouldn't complain).

Alison Tyler used the bed picture I sent to kick off her latest contest. I just thought it would be joining the others at The Boudoir Blog!

I got two packages in the mail. One was a copy of Donna George Storey's book Amorous Woman and the other was a box of swag and other assorted goodies from Sommer Marsden including a copy of Never Have the Same Sex Twice by Alison Tyler.

I'm starting to drown in reading material, but you won't hear me calling for a life preserver - I like being in over my head in this stuff. 

It's funny, there's times when I wonder why I want to be part of this whole eroticaland place. There's a lot of people in my life that don't know I'm doing this and it gets a little ... weird. But then I realize how much fun I'm having and how I now feel more ... complete - does that make sense? I don't know, it's Monday night and DST made me start my day in the dark again - I've still not caught up. 

Speaking of catching up - I'm going to try and get a couple of flashers put up from recent AT contests, plus a couple of little things that have no other home. And there was something else, but my mind is slowing down

Mother Nature's such a tease

It's been so nice out today - though now the clouds have moved in. But there are hints of spring arriving, and that's fine with me. I sat out in the sun exposing as much flesh as I dared on a day in the 50s. Soon it will be raining. But that little bit of sun on skin was enough to keep me going a bit longer.

Beginner's Ball - Why Erotica?

Come dance with us! This is the first of a series by some writers who are relatively new to the erotica "genre." Marina St. Clare, Helia Brookes, myself, and whoever else wants to join in. Helia came up with the name "Beginner's Ball." It will travel from blog to blog. Please feel free to jump in and comment - we're hoping those more experienced writers will find this just as interesting as us newbies do.

What do you make of this, Sigmund? by Randy Lagana

Why write erotica? Because for too long it scared me.

When I started looking through Randy’s work looking for a piece that would work with the topic I had in mind for this, I was drawn to the image above.

For me, it illustrates the line of demarcation.
What separates.
Where air and water meet – the surface.
Windows. Inside. Outside.
Mirrors. Reflections into infinity.
What is shown to the world. What is kept hidden.
Skin. Touching. Skin.

The artist has this to say about the piece above. “This is an example of just “playing around” to see what happens. Some very interesting things can happen when you give up control and let an image create itself. We may not want to delve too much into our subconscious mind, but it is part of us.”

That’s what writers do, only we use words. It’s interesting to me how words, abstract thoughts converted to symbols, can make us feel something. Happiness, sadness, fear, amusement, arousal. For as long as I’ve been reading, I’ve been drawn to words strung together in a way that arouses me.

(There was a great discussion about what books first “turned us on” back in January during the soup course of the blogland progressive dinner hosted by Helia Brookes and Jeremy Edwards).

But for a long time I resisted that pull. Wrote stories and took the sex out of them. Even when in my mind as I was creating the story, it was the main focus. No wonder the stories didn’t work.

For years I’ve toyed with the idea of writing erotica. Even wrote some, but kept it to myself. Didn’t even share it with my husband until a few years ago. Focused on other sorts of writing. But even there, the erotic refused to be denied. It’s part of who I am as a writer. As a person. So, in the past year several things happened that made me realize it was time to stop letting “being afraid” stop me. It feels good to not be denying that anymore.

But now that I’m doing this, I have to deal with the realities of writing. When the words don’t come (yes, pun intended). Endless fussing with a piece. That moment when you let go and send something out into the world. Rejection. Hmmm, just noticed these are all negative. Can you guess where I’m at?

Yes, it’s interesting when you give up control – I had “plans” for this bit of writing. But that’s not what wanted to show up.

A few years back I almost had the chance to work with the artist above. That didn’t come to pass. On the one hand I was relieved – I’d submitted work to the project on a whim, a brief moment of bravery. What was I thinking? Of course I would have gone through with it – I’m a daring chicken. On the other hand I was disappointed. I viewed it as a missed opportunity, and still do. An opportunity to do what? To test myself. To discover something about myself. I’m actually not much of a risk taker. Have spent most of my life playing it safe. But there’s a part of me that is very much the bungee jumper.

That me is writing erotica and sending it out into the world. That me started this blog. That me contacted the artist to find out if he’d let me use his work to help illustrate it. I was so pleased when he said yes, because I love all of his work, please go take a peek.

When the idea for this Beginner’s Ball came up, it was thought of as a way to have an open discussion about all the questions that us “newbies” might have. How did we get started? Is our writing accepted by friends, family? Do we use a pen name or not? Nuts and bolts. Where to submit work. How to deal with rejection. (I just got one in my inbox – it was short and not sweet – and yeah, it stings a bit – always does.)

I’m still trying to answer my question in a more thought out manner. If erotica scared me why am I drawn to it? Why not stick to the other writing? I know I’ve sort of asked this question before, but here goes again – why do you write erotica?

Really not that neat

It all started over at Alison Tyler's blog - nasty pictures of bare, raw words - sent in by the writers of those words - in notebooks, on papers, with drawings, without. Soon a new blog was born, Scruffy Jottings About Filth. So, how could I resist? First AT turned me into a button slut, now I sent her a picture of my surprisingly un-scruffy jottings. And really, I'm not that neat. My notebooks are hardly legible at times. But every now and then I get into a groove and I just write and what shows up on the page is pretty neat. And ya know, I'd never really noticed that before. But honestly, I'm not all that neat - my handwriting is pretty lousy - oh, it looks good from a distance, hehehe. But sometimes I have trouble reading it. But I know, you don't believe me. 

The little notebooks are really just that - NOTE books. I carry one with me all the time - in my purse on in my pocket when I don't have a purse with me. When I walk I'll get ideas and I keep a little golf pencil tucked in the notebook so I can jot whatever it is down. Then the white-paged notebook is an old one - from 1991, when I wrote the story that eventually will be published in Coming Together: Al Fresco. The other notebook has some of the writing exercises I did in Rachel Kramer Bussel's Erotica 101 class. Umm, maybe it's just that I'm neat when I'm writing about sex. ??? Interesting. 

Anyhow - I figure I'm in trouble now - AT has a new blog, The Boudoir Blog, and she wants pictures of our beds. And do I have the picture for that! 

Let's Pretend

That the ground isn't covered with snow and the temperature isn't 5 degrees. That I don't have a cold. 

That this picture was taken yesterday and not several years ago in another place in another month (April on Block Island).

Later today I'm going to do a bunch of writing - have to. Some deadlines are approaching and I've let too many things distract me. I've also used the weather and my cold as an excuse for not writing something (can't focus, too fuzzy-brained) - something that likely will be difficult to write - lots of self-examination and all that. Why do we write? That's not the question - well, it is sorta - but sometimes I wonder what it is that causes us (writer types) to sit down with notebook & pen or at the keyboard and spit out these words - when other "normal" people are going shopping or watching their favorite TV show or volunteering at the senior center. 

Yesterday Shanna Germain pondered submission (as in saying goodbye to a piece of writing and sending it out into the cold, cruel world). Today Nikki Magennis considers the money angle (and points to some interesting articles) - "are we all just grubby whores?"  I'm sure there's other writer/bloggers out there musing on this stuff, but I don't have the time to find them. I have to get bundled up to go out in the cold for something I do in "real" life. Today I'd rather pretend to be a writer.

Eight inches and counting

Snow that is. Today's a snow day. We've got about 8 inches on the ground and it's still coming down cold and heavy. And I have a cold - stuffy, coughing. So, I think I'm gonna stay bundled up with a nice pot of tea and do some reading and writing. Maybe post something later.