Safe to share at Beginner's Ball #4

Erobintica talks about sharing and/or publishing one's work in the newest Beginner's Ball. The Ball is a blog series exploring the first steps and choices for those of use starting to write erotica. (And as Donna George Storey says, we will always be starting!)

Beginner's Ball #3 - Leave it all on the floor!

The Beginner's Ball is a blog series by writers relatively new to the world of erotica--Erobintica, Marina St. Clare, and myself so far. We'd love to have others join in our dance. If you'd like to take your turn hosting, please contact one of us. Check out the first and second in the series, and please join us in the comments.

Tango Dancing
Originally uploaded by lrargerich

I've started my erotica journey by bringing to fictional life some of my tried-and-true fantasies, and I assume I'm not alone. What sparked your first few stories? Were there any that just came out of the blue, or were they based on scenarios that already had airtime on your inner broadcasts?

A bit of advice to first-time novelists that I heard a long time ago has stuck with me: don't hoard any ideas for the future. If it fits, put it in. When you're writing a second novel, you will have a stock of new ideas.

But with erotica specifically I have worried about what happens when I've used up my personal fantasy list. In other areas, I do have faith that there's an eternal spring from which fresh ideas constantly well up. There's no reason that erotica should be different, and yet emotionally I'm a little stuck there. Perhaps it's because the wellsprings of sexuality feel very personal and quirky to me.

Yet surprise surprise, once I start writing a story, of course my characters take on a life of their own. My protagonists aren't me, and they show me what they want to do and how, which doesn't necessarily match up with what I would choose.

I called this post "leave it all on the floor," but what sparked the idea was actually a foot race. I'm a very slow runner, so I'm just competing with myself, but it's important to me to get to the finish line with only enough left for that last sprint--"leave it all on the road." Every endeavor must have that concept. You put everything you have into the task at hand. Then you rest and rebuild. As you do that over and over, you build and strengthen your capacities--and you never have to worry "if only I had done a little more." Leave it all there--whether it's on the ballroom floor, the road, or the page.

It's one of the eternal mysteries--where do ideas come from? How is it that countless millions of words have been put together since we developed language, and yet fresh combinations are found every day, every hour?

I don't know, but I do believe that wellspring will never fail. Each of us has access to our own spring, choked as it may get with the weeds and tares of life. I trust that more ideas will come if I let them.

New writers, do you have fears like these? Experienced hands, have you been through fallow periods? How did you emerge from them?

Coming this weekend: Beginner's Ball #3

Erobintica and Marina St. Clare are hard acts to follow! But it's my turn to host the Beginner's Ball, our series by and for those who are new to the erotica world (and for more experienced writers as well!) I've picked the title ("Leave it All on the Floor') and the topic (the wellsprings of creativity). The post will go up Saturday morning so that I (hobbled as I am by a real-life weekday job) can hang out and respond to comments over the weekend. See you then!

Dancing with a mask or without?

Marina St. Clare leads the second in our Beginner's Ball blog series with a great post about pen names and people one tells about writing erotica. Don't miss it!

Sexy esses

Commenting on my darling Jeremy Edwards' blog yesterday, my spam word was sessess, with spermy little serifs. It looked so sexy I took a screenshot. Then Blogger ate my comment--but I didn't need to recompose, hah!

I'm officially an Erotic Woman!

I won't lay claim to being THE Erotic Woman, but she (lovely creature) has posted my first story, "What to Wear." It's very exciting to appear in such wonderful company amid writers like Sommer Marsden, Emerald, Heida Champa, Donna George Storey, and Gwen Masters (that's just the first 5 pages of stories--if they have an author index, I haven't found it.) Whee!

Beginner's Ball Begins!

The wonderful Erobintica suggested a series of posts about the beginnings of an erotica career--the questions, the issues, the joys and frustrations. She, Marina St. Clare, and I are working together on what's now called the Beginner's Ball, and Robin opened the Ball with a fantastic post on why she began writing erotica. Highly, highly recommended--as high as Jane Fonda has lifted her torso! Sorry, layout issues--will fix later...
Beginners' Buttocks
Originally uploaded by Laurie Pink

Ending at Comeagain Castle

Whew! What an amazing experience this progressive dinner has been! We're going out in style, at Nikki Magennis' castle, complete with roaring fires, single-malt, truffles, and warming talk. Come on back any time!

The sweet penultimate

Dessert doesn't end the blogland progressive dinner (since we still have truffles tomorrow), so it can be enjoyed without any sense of finality! Stop by Sommer Marsden's place (SmutGirl) for not one, not two, but THREE desserts, and a naughty topic as well.

Emerald green salad

Who better to serve the salad for our progressive blog dinner than the lovely Emerald? Her blog, The Green Light District, is the perfect setting--and the perfect color. Join us there for a black-tie-optional gala of winter salad!

Relaxing in the floating world

It's Donna George Storey's turn to indulge our senses during the progressive blog dinner, and she's lured us to Japan. With her sexy and knowledgeable guidance, we'll savor a vegetarian entree and erotic prints. See you there! Arigato, Donna!

The Mouthwatering Mojave

I'm fashionably late for dinner today--can't wait for tonight's meat course, hosted by the amazing Kirsten Monroe at Aphrodite's Table. Join us--it's never too late!

Swim over to Neve's place...

...and enjoy succulent fish on the beach at Ipanema, complete with caipirinhas and bossa nova, with your hostesses Neve Black and her fictional alter ego Roxanne. It's the next course in the progressive blog dinner. Tri-legal!

Soup's on!

It's our turn for the progressive blog dinner. Jeremy's blog is hosting the actual event, so trot on over there for our joint dishing of soup and other bits. And don't miss the many other courses to come!

Figs and flesh

Shanna Germain continues our progressive blog dinner with a very sexy appetizer--yesterday was actually amuse-bouches, sorry!

Best thing about this dinner--you can experience it now, "live"--or any time in the future. I'm already looking forward to revisiting these posts in the summer, for a different feel!

Awakening the appetite

I'm so lucky to have joined the erotica world in time to participate in the progressive dinner which Craig Sorensen started with a hard act to follow! Jeremy and I are souping it up on Wednesday. Slurp!

Brief lucid flash

After years of no lucid dreams, now that I've been keeping a dream journal seriously for several weeks I finally had a brief moment of lucidity. I don't even know what triggered it--all of a sudden I just knew I was dreaming. I was in a white-washed room (someplace like Greece) with display shelves all around. The shelves held knit-covered pillows and scarves made of Angora wool, magenta and emerald and peacock blue stripes and blocks on white. The first thing I always notice when I become lucid is how beautiful and hyper-real everything looks; this time I reached out to touch the pillows and they felt incredibly soft. I rubbed my hands together and spun around to keep lucidity, and decided to go outside and fly--I was floating on my feet already--but then Jeremy rolled over in real life and bumped me just enough to pull me out of the dream. The lucid state is so fragile!

That brief taste of lucidity reminded me why I crave it--and why I get side-tracked into dream sex. Lucid dreams are the most intensely sensual experiences I've ever had, tied with the few times I took hallucinogens in the mid-80s. Both lucid dreams and LSD really do--for me--open the doors of perception. LSD brought gorgeous visions that didn't exist, but it did permanently sensitize me to subtle visual beauty; before it, unbroken woods were a sea of samey green, and now I see thousands of different shades. Lucid dreams are visions too, but they feel real--they feel like a way of seeing and feeling that could be accessible to me in waking life if I could find the switch. Lucid dream sex is sex with every nerve ending washed clean, experiencing sensation as though it's brand-new.

So I'll keep asking the dreams department of my subconscious for vivid dreams and for lucidity whenever possible. There are recommended exercises for reality testing while you're awake (so you'll be in the habit of doing them in dreams), but I've never been able to stick with them. Focusing on recognizing dream signs (naked in public, role in a play I forgot to rehearse, driving in impossible conditions, etc.) seems more promising.

Welcome!

Despite the snow out our window, I'm feeling a warm tingle at the thought of dipping my toe into the world of erotica. I'm following the lead of my life partner/husband/best friend Jeremy Edwards, who's been an active member (huh huh) of the erotica world for several years now. His colleagues have become friends of both of ours, and they're an amazing bunch. Everyone is friendly, interesting, and intent on writing as well and sexily as possible. My first story was just accepted at The Erotic Woman, so now I can do more than tag along--I'm a fledgling joining the flock and trying to keep up! I'll post writing updates here, but I may also use this blog to explore other erotica-related thoughts--for example, the few times I've managed to have a lucid dream, I usually get diverted from things like flying by sex in the dream, which makes me lose lucidity.

My TEW story is entitled "What to Wear." I'll post here when it's up!