Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Long Game
This is fantastic! A piece I wrote for Lisabet Sarai's Beyond Romance blog just went up: a little venting on my part about how professional writing is all about The Long Game.
Here's a tease:
I'm not too sure whose been spreading the rumors but, believe me, I'd like to get my hands on them.
Not that it's anything new, I admit. I'll betcha that for as long as human beings have been putting one word in front of another word for money there's been a whispering, a murmuring, a seductive allure that all it takes is just the right story, the perfect book, the ideal concept to launch the author from zero to bazillionare.
But that's all it is: rumor, hearsay, gossip... hollow promises. Okay, sure, it does happen but I'll betcha with what little money I've made with my own writing that the number of people who it has happened to would comfortably fit in an elevator... and a small one at that. In short, while fame and fortune can and has happened with just one book the odds are nightmarishly against you.
But the myth – sadly – persists. The reason I'm writing this is perfect evidence: no fewer than four people recently asked me to be their book doctors, yet each and every one vanished when the reality of what it actually takes to make even a moderate amount of money as an author sank in. All of them had actually written a novel, each of them had put aside money to have it professionally edited, and they'd even started up the long social media ladder... but they all vanished in the space of a few months.
I'm a dreamer ... hell, half my waking life seems to be spent drifting from one fantasy to another: from super heroics to an immaculately imagined life as a pulp author in the 40s, I'm usually lost in the clouds. But while being able to support my very simple lifestyle with only my writing income is one of them I also really try to make at least that fantasy as real as possible.
[MORE]
Here's a tease:
I'm not too sure whose been spreading the rumors but, believe me, I'd like to get my hands on them.
Not that it's anything new, I admit. I'll betcha that for as long as human beings have been putting one word in front of another word for money there's been a whispering, a murmuring, a seductive allure that all it takes is just the right story, the perfect book, the ideal concept to launch the author from zero to bazillionare.
But that's all it is: rumor, hearsay, gossip... hollow promises. Okay, sure, it does happen but I'll betcha with what little money I've made with my own writing that the number of people who it has happened to would comfortably fit in an elevator... and a small one at that. In short, while fame and fortune can and has happened with just one book the odds are nightmarishly against you.
But the myth – sadly – persists. The reason I'm writing this is perfect evidence: no fewer than four people recently asked me to be their book doctors, yet each and every one vanished when the reality of what it actually takes to make even a moderate amount of money as an author sank in. All of them had actually written a novel, each of them had put aside money to have it professionally edited, and they'd even started up the long social media ladder... but they all vanished in the space of a few months.
I'm a dreamer ... hell, half my waking life seems to be spent drifting from one fantasy to another: from super heroics to an immaculately imagined life as a pulp author in the 40s, I'm usually lost in the clouds. But while being able to support my very simple lifestyle with only my writing income is one of them I also really try to make at least that fantasy as real as possible.
[MORE]
Friday, August 01, 2014
Leather, Lace & Lust: An Evening Of Erotic Storytelling and Sexual Merriment
(from M.Christian's Classes And Appearances)
This is going to be a blast-and-a-half! I'm helping to organize a fabulous reading at the Center For Sex And Culture on August 30th. I'll be performing with all kinds of great erotica readers - it should be an amazing time!
Leather, Lace & Lust: An Evening Of Erotic Storytelling and Sexual Merriment
Come one, come all* to an evening of lusty literature by many of the best erotica writers in the Bay Area!
From the tempting tease of delicate lace to the steamy heat of hardcore leather, these authors and performers will amuse, delight, and most of all excite you in all kinds of new and provocative ways; This is an evening of witty, carnal, and provocative literary endeavors that will tickle just about every kind of fancy, a festival of playful sensual fiction that will make you laugh, cry, and get that oh-so-special tingly feeling in your nether-regions.
In other words, a night of kick-ass erotica performed by ass-kicking writers!
Our featured performers include:
Saturday, August 30th, 2014
The Center For Sex And Culture
1349 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Doors at 6PM, Event starts at 7PM
Admission: $10
*no guarantees
This is going to be a blast-and-a-half! I'm helping to organize a fabulous reading at the Center For Sex And Culture on August 30th. I'll be performing with all kinds of great erotica readers - it should be an amazing time!
Leather, Lace & Lust: An Evening Of Erotic Storytelling and Sexual Merriment
Come one, come all* to an evening of lusty literature by many of the best erotica writers in the Bay Area!
From the tempting tease of delicate lace to the steamy heat of hardcore leather, these authors and performers will amuse, delight, and most of all excite you in all kinds of new and provocative ways; This is an evening of witty, carnal, and provocative literary endeavors that will tickle just about every kind of fancy, a festival of playful sensual fiction that will make you laugh, cry, and get that oh-so-special tingly feeling in your nether-regions.
In other words, a night of kick-ass erotica performed by ass-kicking writers!
Our featured performers include:
- Suz deMello, a.k.a Sue Swift, is a best-selling, award-winning author of seventeen romance novels in several subgenres, including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a number of short stories and non-fiction articles on writing.
- Molly Weatherfield: "Twenty years ago, a mild-mannered computer programmer decided to spend some quality time with her erotic fantasy life, and Carrie's Story - BDSM for smart girls - was born."
- Mistress Lorelei Powers is a well-known bi poly sadist and Domme. She is the author of several BDSM classics, including On Display, The Mistress Manual, and Charm School for Sissy Maids.
- Blake C. Aarens is an author, poet, screenwriter, playwright, and a Black Girl Nerd.
- Jean Marie Stine is the author of a number of pioneering works of erotica published in the late 1960 and early 1970s, beginning with Season of the Witch in 1968, which was filmed as the motion picture Synapse. Her erotic short stories and novelettes have been collected as "Trans-sexual: Fiction for Gender Queers."
- A.M. Davis is a poet, artist and novelist who lives in Oakland, California. Her first novel, You Were Always Waiting For This Moment to Arise, as well as her first poetry collection, Six Lifetimes of Love, will be published in late 2014.
- M.Christian is a recognized master of erotica with more than 400 stories in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica and many others.
Saturday, August 30th, 2014
The Center For Sex And Culture
1349 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Doors at 6PM, Event starts at 7PM
Admission: $10
*no guarantees
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