Always Another Challenge

The more we put challenges in front of ourselves with the expectation to do something with them, the more we will accomplish. Well, maybe it's better to just say that is how I manage. I set high standards for myself and I reach to achieve them. 

So the end of 2011 is going to see the end of something else - me not submitting new stories out to be published. It's been a long time since I sent anything out. I know, I had the acceptance in September. But before that, I had submitted nothing this year. 

Nothing. I will admit I looked around a little, but it's disheartening to think all of the stories that I have written and not done something with. Okay, some of them have gone to friends to enjoy - and luckily they're very kind with their responses. 

So last night I sent out another story. I struggled so much with a title and a bio. Those shouldn't be the difficult things. Okay, titles I'll give you as a bummer; they either come to me or I struggle horribly with them and get people to make suggestions. 

Total for 2011: 2 submissions and 1 acceptance. [Will let everyone know the status of the other one when I find out.] 

Next year, I have to believe I can manage to do better. I should be able to manage at least one submission a month. I have a few stories that are ready, or very close to being ready, to go out to publishers. I've been researching several markets and I know there are matches out there.

I've also been thinking about self-publishing a collection of short stories. That gets into difficult decisions, though, like whether to put them according to erotic interest (kink, vanilla, gay, straight, mind-boggling...) or to just mix them together. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them. 

Here's for something better in 2012. Wishing the best to all of you, as well. 

Of Writing Dreams

First, writing a dream is always difficult because dreams don't always make sense once you wake up. They're bits and pieces of thoughts and somehow they flow together great with the subconscious mind, but when the logic kicks in everything falls apart. Or at least enough to realize there isn't a true plot line.

Without a solid plot, images can still be taken to create new things. I keep having an image haunt me during dreams, and that follows the inspiration in my daily writing. The problem is, I don't like having so many stories focused around the same kind of thing, plus I can't seem to write that image out. I'm not sure why my obsession has latched on to one particular focus.

Sometimes the lack of variety makes me a little annoyed and that blocks the flow of creativity. So should I just go with it? I don't have to polish all the snippets I write to try to publish them. I find it odd that it keeps cropping up, though. It managed two or three times during the November writings and a few more times this month. A couple of them I just went with, because I can manage a couple of anything. But there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

I probably need to go find another inspiration. Any takers for that challenge?

And After NaNoWriMo...

I mentioned I prepped 44 short story ideas during the month of October.

Well, I attempted 17 short stories. Attempted is an interested word to use here, because it didn't help that November 1st came by and then I got a prompt from a friend that I simply could not refuse. I would have written it down for later, but it kept circling in my head until I wrote it.

And I'm promising to share that lovely gamer story with a bunch of my friends as soon as I reread it and make sure the sex didn't get out of hand in that 4000 word story.

Five of the attempted stories were not stories I had prepped in October. One was a rewrite from a story I have had out trying to publish, and I finally figured out my angle for a rewrite request I got three years ago. (Yes, even I am rolling my eyes at that one. It should never take three years!) Two were little snippets while I had a weekend that was troublesome to even get computer access. And the other two popped out of my head practically fully formed and I couldn't say no. Three of these are not yet finished, but they're coming along.

The other twelve were stories I'd prepared. Some of them took left turns while I was writing them. They aren't all finished, but I've been continuing writing into this month because I want to finish them. Most of them are ready to re-read and edit.

So I suppose I ought to be starting to bug some readers, but it's also the holidays and I'm not sure how much time they have. I'd better ask if I want to get them publication-ready soon. Then there's the question: How many of them read my blog?

October Challenge!

I managed. One short story idea, some of them not completely prepped but at least they're in there, per day for the month of October. Most of them have characters and a plot with some meat on the bones. I guess you never know what you're capable of until you put it together, right?

For this month: 44 short stories. Unless I come up with another idea tonight, and sometimes they roll that way. Part of a dream is still haunting me from last night but I didn't have words to bring it to the surface. I did push myself for one every day, even when I was ahead from some days that spawned up to 5 ideas.

Life and love are beautiful, and I hope I can capture the complexities in my writings in the near future. And, of course, share them with you.

Nearly November

That means my challenge is just about complete. So far I'm sticking ahead of the thing, though a few days were a little harder than others. I'm sitting at 36 stories prepped, though one of them seems like it should be split for two different ones because the pieces I scribbled about it are not related and probably shouldn't be. Number 37 is brewing in my head for today, too, because I got a tweet from a friend and it's not leaving my mind now.

Thanks for following along. Almost done with the month and my challenge. Then I'll get to WRITE!

20 Days in October Done, 11 To Go

For those of you who've stayed tuned: I have 31 story ideas in several stages of preparation. It averages to one and a half stories a day, but no day is average. I do one, or two, up to five if the ideas won't leave me alone.

And it's definitely the case at this point. Ideas are coming to me faster than I can really develop all of them at the moment. It's wonderful and terrifying. Luckily I can take notes on my phone to put in later, and I've been dragging a composition notebook around (of course it's pink with a pen to match) to record my ideas. I know I've got to look funny heading into the gym with a notebook under my arm, but sometimes there just aren't that many options. I want to write, I want to get it down, and so I haul it around with me.

Technically I could stop now, flesh out my ideas, and say my challenge has been met. But I'm going to continue until the end of the month. See what happens with the next eleven days. Of course, this day isn't over and another one might present itself to me. It's just been a lovely month that way.

Have you challenged yourself lately? What's likely to come out of that?

11 October

Did you forget Coming Out Day?

Still working out the details of today's story. But in the first 10 days, I have managed to do the preparation for 13 stories. Ahead. I'm such an overachiever.

It's probably one of those things you do when you realize your world is about to explode. Or maybe that's my head.

So what crazy fantasy or situation makes you think you need a story written about it? Just curious what people are thinking out there.

October: Day 5

Challenge to myself this month is to prep one short story every day. So we're five days into the month and I already have prep for six short stories.

I'm not sure what came over me the one day that I had two, but I know today might have been another of those days except I got way too far into the concept and started branching into little things that would be awesome details for it.

On the other hand, if I really try to write one short story a day, I'd need to have those parts handy to just write. This story is more of a parody, but the concept is interesting enough to warrant some fun.

My list of prompts has swollen to 97, and here and there I keep scribbling things into the idea pile instead of sorting them into the short story pile.

Somehow, I'm all on top of it despite my other pending projects. It's a little surprising. The boost in creative energy is awesome. It makes me wonder if what I really need to do is keep myself challenged with little things like this all the time, or if it's something special about having a bunch of other writers also highly motivated to meet a coming deadline that is improving my productivity.

Stay tuned - I'm going to keep posting my progress throughout the next month.

Challenge

There are a lot of wonderful things about setting challenges and goals. For me, it's a way to grow and learn. It doesn't have to be about a prize, but the challenge itself has to mean something.

As a writer, I like to write every day. As a person with responsibilities, there are a lot of things that can get in the way of even a simple goal like that. Then it depends on what you count as writing - does a blog count? does an article work toward the quota? Do you make exceptions because family obligations dragged you out of town?

I'm a fiction writer. Since that is my goal, I've been pushing hard to be brainstorming about fiction or writing fiction every day. I do not count blogs, which means I don't always post something here though I would like to fill it with random ideas. Or not so random.

So this month's challenge is to prepare to write a short story every day. I haven't decided if I'm going to wait until November to write them or what, but I'm setting them down in pieces to make myself think about it. I'm working on character, plot, theme, setting, and a couple other things. And yes, most if not all of them will be in the erotica genre.

I love the writing energy that comes with NaNoWriMo and so many participants flood the air with their creativity and enthusiasm. I'm not out to write a novel just yet, though it isn't impossible, but this year I'd love to get a bunch of short stories out and possibly ready to get submitted to magazines and such.

There are 31 days this month, and I brainstormed about 90 ideas to try to get me there. Some are fleshed out more than others from years of gleaning little bits here and there. Others are a word or two that means something to me about how things will change or progress. If I start with 90 ideas (and if anyone wants to run something else by me, I wouldn't mind inspiration though I'm not making guarantees), I should easily be able to end up with a short story every day.

For today I'm set. I have a story in mind. It's not written yet, but I have enough details to mark out the things I want to say. Tomorrow will bring something else, I hope. Indulging my creativity in the past has always brought more connections my way, so I'll keep you posted on my journey. Thanks for reading.

The other random thought in my head is I need an alpha reader. Yeah, beta and/or gamma would also be wonderful, but somewhere I need to cultivate that one first person who reads everything I write and knows enough about writing - generally and erotica specifically - to give me feedback.

Acceptance!

There's something beautiful about an acceptance. Sometimes you can know the story's good but not know where to put it in the many options for the markets. Sometimes you can wonder if the story's good and hope someone will think that, as well. I'm not the type to send out a piece if I don't think it has a chance.

The problem then becomes with whom to share that acceptance. Who will appreciate it like I do? Who do I feel comfortable enough to tell that some little erotica magazine thought my story was awesome? I only say little because this one isn't a big fish in the erotica market, not that it in any way lessens the honor.

If you haven't read it (and perhaps rated it) by now, please do so: "The Ice Storm" at Every Night Erotica.

One of the cool things I like about Every Night Erotica is that there's something new there every night. There's quite a range in the accepted stories and it leaves a reader wondering what to expect next - I feel that's a strength. I'm always on the lookout for new places to send stories.

Do you ever wonder?

All right. I'll admit I peruse random sites when they offer free books. Lately I caught some from B&N, and one of them - seriously - was amateurish. No punctuation in the proper places, plus the narrator told me what was going on through 80% of the story. I skimmed it, deleted it, then started thinking.

I know I write better than that. I have a decent grasp of showing versus telling. Punctuation is not a problem unless it gets fancy, and I can reword a couple sentences if I have to get around it. I have a few stories I could take out there to Smashwords (where they originated) and see what happens.

My reluctance stems from time commitments. I have several things pressing, and I'm not sure how much time I have to market the things. The other question is length. Since many of my stories are very short, I'm not sure how I'd put them together - in collections or by themselves or what.

So I'm curious - for those of you who read erotica - how do you buy it? Do you buy it? Do you look at it only if it's free? Do you want good descriptions in order to grab your interest? Do you want a certain length for $0.99, or per dollar spent? What makes that worth the investment? Where do you look for it? And, last question, would you buy, read, rate my stories if I got them out there?

Looks Can Be Deceiving

If you just went with posting frequency to this blog, you might think there was nothing on my mind. I'd assure you that isn't the case, but most of my readers know that I'm simply preoccupied with other matters.

Which is sad, because this part of my brain has been working overtime while I sleep. If I blogged that on a daily basis, you'd all stay tuned, I'm sure.

I thought today that I ought to change this blog's title to something more appropriate. Erotica Musings strikes me as what I'd like to be saying, knowing full well that half or more of the erotic musings I get don't make it into the blog, but into my varied stories. I suppose it'll take me awhile to figure out exactly what I'm attempting to share here.

Or I could easily just get my money's worth from the 18+ rating on this blog. Sex and more graphic sex. I've been expressing myself through sex, for the most part, but in a way that simply doesn't require the content rating.

Just letting everyone know that I'm still here. My brain isn't empty. I'm just considering options. Wouldn't mind if you'd want to weigh in. Thanks!

And for all of you playing at home, I hope you didn't forget National Underwear Day on August 5.

Teen Pregnancy

Recently, a friend of mine wrote a story that featured a pregnant teen. I found it interesting, her point was that hiding from the problem - or just hiding the problem - wasn't going to solve anything.

Perhaps the question is about how to bring awareness to the problem without everyone yelling about promotion of it. Is it about celebrities who are not celebrities just because they had a child as a teenager? One of said celebrities is listed as an abstinence spokesperson on wikipedia.

I read a lot of articles about teen pregnancy today. One thing I find very interesting is that most of the data saying teen pregnancy is increasing is reporting data from 2005 to 2007. Even most of the data printed in 2010 leads back to those years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27teen.html
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsTeenPregnancy/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503957.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2010/12/teen_birth_rate_hits_record_lo.html

So the things that are changing in a positive way. It's still very disturbing that the US has the highest teen pregnancy rate in any industrialized nation. So what are they doing that we're not? Why isn't that the question we're asking? Why don't we figure out what's different between the cultures that have significantly lower birth rates and ours? Maybe that would make too much sense.

The media has decided to make teen pregnancy something we see- we have shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager dedicated to showing some of the drawbacks (though they've been criticized for not showing enough about contraception and STIs) and others like 16 and Pregnant actually touted for lowering the pregnancy rate among teens in its documentary-style presentation.

Why is it, then, that so many people have mentioned to me that these television shows are promoting teens getting pregnant? Maybe because the last time they heard about teen pregnancy rates, it was before any of those shows aired, before those 'celebrities' had their babies, and years out of date. It's so tough to keep up with those statistics.