I didn’t make any resolutions for this year. I meant to. I always do. I just didn’t this year. And January is nearly over, but I think I have come up with my theme for 2012. It shall be The Year of the Projects. Though perhaps I shouldn’t put it in capital letters like that because it suggests BIG things like building a house or sailing around the world when, really, a project can be any sort of thing. And my projects likely won’t be anything big and earth shattering. But who knows? Maybe I’ll bust out with a major project before the year ends. I don’t have the entire year planned out. I didn’t even really come up with this idea until about a week or so ago when I realized I had sort of started a bunch of things in January and I was mentally shelving them into project categories.
I’ll start a new project when the mood strikes me or when I have finished another project. It’s not really a matter of saying I’ll start projects when I have the time because, honestly, I don’t have the time. In fact, some of my projects will actually strongly resemble stuff that looks like work I’m already doing. But I like that label: Project. Start something, finish something, move on to something else. Yeah.
So here are the projects I’m currently working on and their deadlines:
Two Boys, One Picture: A Photographic Chronicle
Start date: Januaryish
Finish date: December 31
I have started taking daily pictures of the babies. I’m calling it Two Boys, One Picture right now and posting the pictures daily on Facebook. I will likely start posting them onto my mama blog, Writer (With Children), too.
The Month of Letters Challenge
Start date: February 1
Finish date: February 29
I am doing Mary Robinette Kowal’s Month of Letters Challenge. (I blogged about it here.) It’s a wonderful one-month project and I’m looking forward to sending (and receiving) “real” mail for the entire month of February. Please do read my original post about the challenge and send me your address if you’d like to receive something from me.
Good Vibes Sexy Mama blogger
Start date: January 23
Finish date: December 31 (with option to renew in 2013)
One of my projects for 2012 is to do more blogging in a variety of places. I realize not a lot of people find or follow this blog and that’s entirely my fault. So this year I hope to pursue a variety of blogging projects that I can link to from here. One of them is being a Sexy Mama blogger for Good Vibrations Magazine. The motherhood side of my identity is still one that I’m getting used to and making peace with, so my irregular (in timing, not in writing--I hope) blog posts on Good Vibes will address issues of motherhood and sexuality, either personal or societal. My first piece, Ready to Blossom, went up last week. And if you’re a mom, I would love to hear what you would like to read about.
Erotica Readers and Writers Association blogger
Start date: January 28
Finish date: December 31 (with option to renew in 2013)
Another blogging project I’ll be doing is over at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association blog. I will be blogging there on the 28th of every month, mostly about writing, editing and reading erotica. I’ll direct you to my first post: How It All Started to explain why I’m taking on this monthly project, but to summarize: Adrienne Benedicks and ERWA are responsible for my erotica writing career and I want to give back to this fantastic community.
80,000 Word Book Project
Start date: January 1
Finish date: April 1
I can’t say too much about this project right now, but I do have an official deadline and I am writing, writing, writing…
Best Erotic Romance 2013
Start date: Januaryish
Finish date: June 1
The second edition of Cleis Press’s Best Erotic Romance series and my seventh anthology for Cleis Press. I am absolutely delighted to be editing this series and I cannot wait to start receiving submissions. (Submission deadline is April 15.)
Book Proposal
Start date: Last summer
Finish date: March 1
This is a proposal that’s been languishing on my hard drive for months. Other deadlines (and having a baby) threw me seriously off course, but I’m ready to finish it. I think I’m about 75% done with it, so I might be done sooner than March 1. Mostly I just want it resolved, so I’m getting it a deadline. I started it, I need to finish it.
10,000 Word Short Story
Start date: Januaryish
Finish date: February 6
This is another one I just need to be done with. It’s contracted, it’s started, I’ve just gotten sidetracked in the past couple of weeks. It will be done by Monday, one way or another.
And those are the current projects on my plate. There are some other anthologies and whatnot with deadlines, but for the purposes of keeping the list reasonable I’m only cataloging writing deadlines that are contracted. At least for now. My plan is to check in at the end of each month, note my project progress and add and/or close out projects.
My current project list is a little heavy on the writing projects and I would like to add some other things to the list. I welcome your project suggestions, especially if they involve self-improvement, exploration or enlightenment. I’m not artistic at all-- and maybe that’s okay?--but this art project sounds interesting: The Sketchbook Project.
So, projects. Start something, finish something. A beginning, a middle, an end. Like that. Deadlines, self-imposed or external, short term or long term. Creative, professional, personal, mental, physical, whatever. The word of the year is project. And the biggest project of all, of course, is me.
Best Erotic Romance 2013
Editor: Kristina Wright
Publisher: Cleis Press
Publication Date: December 2012
Submission Deadline: April 15 (earlier submissions preferred!)
Payment: $100 per story and 2 copies of the book, on publication
E-mail:
I have the honor of being the editor of Cleis Press’s Best Erotic Romance series, which features the finest erotic romance fiction by some of the best authors in the industry. The inaugural edition in the series received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and a 4-star review from RT Book Reviews and I will once again be looking for the very best stories in the genre for this second collection.
According to Romance Writers of America, a romance must include two key elements: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying, optimistic ending. In erotic romance, the sexual component is critical to the development of the romantic relationship. To get an idea of what I’m looking for, I strongly recommend reading the first edition of Best Erotic Romance.
The collection will be primarily heterosexual with a female audience in mind. However, stories may include bisexual or lesbian encounters as well as polyandrous relationships or group encounters. I have a preference for realistic stories with contemporary settings for this series, but any time period will be considered. No incest, nonconsensual sex, bestiality or underage characters, please.
Please be sure to follow all of the submission guidelines: Unpublished stories only, no simultaneous submissions. The desired story length is 2,000-4,500 words. Double-space and indent the first line of each paragraph. Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs. Include your full contact information (legal name/pseudonym, mailing address and phone number) and a bio of 50 words or less written in the third person. Please paste your story into the body of your e-mail and attach it as a Microsoft Word .doc file. Send your submission to with Submission: Story Title in the subject line. Please direct any questions to the same address. The deadline is April 15, but earlier submissions are very much appreciated.
Payment will be $100 per story and 2 copies of the book upon publication. Contributors retain the rights to their stories.
About the editor:
Described by The Romance Reader as “a budding force to be reckoned with,” Kristina Wright (kristinawright.com) is an author, editor and college instructor. She has edited the Cleis Press anthologies Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women; Dream Lover: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance; Steamlust: Steampunk Erotic Romance and Best Erotic Romance. Her forthcoming anthologies include Lustfully Ever After: Fairy Tale Erotic Romance and Duty and Desire: Military Erotic Romance for Women. Her first anthology, Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women was nominated for a Reviewers’ Choice Award by RT Book Reviews and was a featured alternate of the Doubleday Book Club. Kristina’s erotica and erotic romance fiction has appeared in over ninety print anthologies and she received the Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense from Romance Writers of America for her first novel Dangerous Curves. Her work has also been featured in numerous magazines and e-zines and her articles, interviews and book reviews have appeared in dozens of publications, both in print and online. She is a member of Romance Writers of America as well as the RWA special interest chapters, Passionate Ink and Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal. She has served as the book club moderator for EdenFantasys Naked Reader Book Club and is a book reviewer for the Erotica Readers and Writers Association (erotica-readers.com). She is also a regular blogger at Oh Get a Grip! (ohgetagrip.blogspot.com) and Good Vibrations Magazine (magazine.goodvibes.com).
I am so thrilled with this book! These authors rocked my world with their stories and I am so in awe of their talent. I’m equally thrilled with the foreword by the mega-talented Shayla Black, as well as the glowing reviews Best Erotic Romance has received so far. First there was this starred review in Publishers Weekly:
And then I picked up the January issue of RT Book Reviews and saw that they’d given the book a 4 star review! This was a very lovely surprise after thinking they hadn’t reviewed it at all because it wasn’t in the December issue!
And last week I learned that Best Erotic Romance (and Fairy Tale Lust) will be translated into German in early 2012! I couldn’t have asked for a better kickoff for the Best Erotic Romance series. Here’s to many more years of erotic romance…
Foreword Shayla Black
Introduction: Simply the Best
What Happened in Vegas Sylvia Day
First Night Donna George Storey
Another Trick Up My Sleeve Heidi Champa
Drive Me Crazy Delilah Devlin
Once Upon a Dinner Date Saskia Walker
He Tends To Me Justine Elyot
Guest Services Angela Caperton
Memories for Sale Andrea Dale
Blame It On Facebook Kate Dominic
The Draft Craig J. Sorensen
To Be in Clover Shanna Germain
Honey Changes Everything Emerald
Cheating Time Kate Pearce
Our Own Private Champagne Room Rachel Kramer Bussel
Till the Storm Breaks Erobintica
The Curve of Her Belly Kristina Wright
Dawn Chorus Nikki Magennis
My mind is all over the place today. I can’t concentrate on my NaNoWriMo novel. I was doing some research on Tumblr, looking at pictures and such that might inspire the book, and came across some disturbing stuff. My NaNoWriMo book is based on my story erotic vampire story “Cutter” which is about, you guessed it, a vampire and a cutter. Fictionalizing someone who cuts as a vehicle for a vampire story is one thing-- but reading about real cutters and their pain (and seeing some of the pictures they post) on Tumblr as part of the research for what is--essentially-- a piece of fluff fiction is… upsetting.
Am I being too cavalier in writing an erotic urban fantasy about a character who cuts? I don’t know. It’s not like I’m so far removed from the character I write about. I do understand the psychology behind cutting and the emotional pain associated with it. I’m not trying to make light of the issue, but maybe my story romanticizes it? Again, I don’t know. Argh. I’m writing fantasy, but where is the intersection between writing and responsibility? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. So, I’m kind of not in the mood to work on the book right now. I think maybe I need to skip around the cutting and see if I can get a better feel for the characters. It’s supposed to be a darkly erotic book and I’m just not feeling it right now.
I am, however, feeling like I’m getting sick and that makes my mind go in a dozen different directions instead of focusing on one thing. I don’t have ADD, but sometimes my imagination finds connections in things and as I ponder one thought I end up chasing another thought down the rabbit hole… My brain is off onto tangents about body image and sexuality and what is erotic (and what isn’t) and perceptions of desire and age and desire and size. I don’t know if any of these things will find their way into this book I’m writing or if I’ll follow some of these threads in something else I’m writing. I just know that right now I need to find some focus and write some words somewhere.
Just a few links to show you where my mind is at the moment, because I clearly don’t have the words to express my thoughts coherently:
Only Cute Chubby Girls (Tumblr, possibly NSFW)
I’m the Scary Model in That Awful Ashley Madison Ad (Jezebel)
Sex Is Not the Enemy (Tumblr, NSFW)
The comment thread for Legitimizing Erotica (My column last week at Oh Get A Grip!)
Boobs, Bras, Sex, Cougars and Sluts (Rita Wilson at Huffington Post)
How lovely is this starred review from Publishers Weekly??
The stories are deeply passionate, and each tale first makes the reader care about its characters before pulling them into the steamy sex scenes. No matter what the surroundings, one thread runs through every story in this volume: true love endures.
And can I tell you what that little star means? “A starred review indicates a book of outstanding quality.”
What’s it all about?
Life. Love. Writing. Editing. Sex. Books. Romance. Movies. Friendship. Photography. Teaching. Coffee. (Lots of coffee.) Travel. Feminism. Academia. Insomnia. Memories. Experiences. Rants. Raves. Reviews. Babies. Pregnancy. Motherhood. Insanity. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
