Up until March 1, my submissions log for this year was a blank. In fact, I didn’t even realize I didn’t have a submissions log for 2010 until a couple of weeks ago when I made my first submission for the year. My last submission in 2009 was sent out on December 1, but that wasn’t even a new story. To be honest, I hardly wrote/submitted anything after September 2009. That’s six months of almost no writing for someone who calls herself a writer.
Six months is a long time. Six months without that sense of accomplishment of filling in my log sheet with project, publisher, genre, date. A few months-- not six, but at least three-- without that sense of anticipation that any day I might make a sale or receive a rejection. I did sell a few reprints at the end of 2009, which is always nice. And over that six month period I put together an anthology (including writing the introduction and a story of my own) and had a baby and have mostly been taking care of that baby by myself, so I guess I’ve been kind of busy. But still. Six months. Wow.
Since March 1, I’ve added 7 stories and one anthology pitch to my submissions log. Not bad for two weeks. Not good for six months and two weeks. I’ve sold the anthology-- yay!-- so that gives me a new project to work on. I will be sending out two new stories by the end of the week and have two more that I hope will be finished by the end of the month. I’ve been making notes about various novels and sketching out scenes. I’ve compiled a list of possible new markets to try this year. I’m drafting a new pitch for another anthology. And I’m doing all the pre-publication stuff for Fairy Tale Lust, too. I’m a working writer again after six months of barely writing and then not writing at all.
I’ve had a babysitter for Patrick since February 8. It’s no coincidence that the above accomplishments have occurred in the five weeks since I started having some time to myself. Not just to write, but to think about writing. It’s only 20ish hours a week, but it has made all the difference.
I’m looking forward to the next six months of writing. I have some catching up to do.
Well, it’s official… I will be editing another anthology for Cleis Press! I’m thrilled. The theme will be paranormal erotic romance. Doesn’t that sound delicious? It seems like I’ve come full circle back to my roots in romance. Isn’t life strange like that?
And this is my shiny new page on the Cleis Press website! Pretty, pretty! (Despite a couple of typos… )
If you go to the Cleis Press website and click “Authors” in the search section, it will pull up the entire list of Cleis Press authors. There I am, at the very end, right beneath… Virginia Woolf. Virginia freakin’ Woolf. The significance to that? Virginia Woolf is the reason I write erotica under my real name. Whenever I wonder if my writing career-- or my life-- will be affected by the erotic fiction I’ve written, I always think of something Virginia Woolf wrote:
For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.
Thanks, Virginia. You inspired me to be… well… me.
Call for submissions coming soon!
I’m at Barnes & Noble this evening, working on a story that has a fast-approaching deadline. (See below for my inspiration. Thanks, Jakob.) It feels good to be writing again, to be putting new words down on the blank page (or blank Word document, in this case) instead of just adding words or editing words on old stories.
New words, new stories. I feel renewed. It’s not impossible to contemplate making all of these writing deadlines and even writing a novel this year.
I received the copyedits for Fairy Tale Lust this afternoon. I’ll be busy working on those next week. Going through a manuscript I’ve already read several times should feel tedious-- and it might, by the time I’m done with it-- but right now I’m excited about it. It’s such a terrific collection of stories-- I hope it finds a wide and receptive audience.
I am awaiting approval on my next anthology and hope to have a contract in hand soon. I’m excited about this new theme and I can’t wait to put out the call for submissions.
I’ve been doing some reading lately-- research for a potential novel. I got the idea a month or so ago and it’s sticking with me. There are other novels in various stages of completion in my files. I want to find some time soon to open them up and see where I am with them-- and where I might be going.
All of these little pieces add up to Kristina, the writer (and editor, now). It’s a part of me that has been missing-- or sluggish-- for more months than I care to contemplate. It’s still slow going, and the time devoted to writing isn’t what it used to be. But then, I used to procrastinate from writing because I always had more writing time on the horizon. Know what I mean? Now the writing hours are limited and my discipline is growing. It’s not where it should be yet-- and neither am I-- but it’s getting there. And so will I, in time.
Kristina Lloyd and Mathilde Madden, the visionaries behind Erotica Cover Watch (and talented authors, both) are closing up shop on their controversial, eye-opening website devoted to calling attention to the sexism on book covers. It’s been eighteen months (!!) since they first turned a critical eye to the practice of adorning erotic novels and anthologies with women (or women’s body parts). What’s wrong with that, you ask? Ah, then you haven’t been following the conversation. Go back to the beginning and read on for a very enlightening, and often controversial, discussion on book covers, sexism and sexuality.
The conversation originally started on Jeremy Edwards‘ blog when he featured a forthcoming book cover and I posted this innocent comment:
Thanks for sharing the cover. I need to get that hotter than summer picture up on my blog!
But, seriously, when are they going to put a hunky dude on the cover? Jeremy, you really need to volunteer to correct the gender discrimination.
I am proud to say it was my little comment that triggered a long discussion on Jeremy’s blog. (Jeremy, ever the gracious host, let us rant in his comments. No word yet on whether he’ll be a cover model on future books, though.) Kristina responded to my comment:
Kristina, I couldn’t agree more!
I am so tired of seeing covers which completely ignore a readership of straight women. Erotica still seems to be stuck in the 70s, its target being primarily het men. And the argument used to defend this goes round in self-fulfilling circles - straight men are (always have been) the main audience, therefore we must market to them if we’re to make any money ... therefore men are (still) the main audience.
I really wish there was an erotica publisher willing to move forward from this.
From there, the comments starting flying over the course of two different blog posts (poor Jeremy) and then the conversation morphed into an amazing, provocative website that criticized sexist book covers and short-sighted publishers and honored the male form in all its naked glory. (Known as Man Candy Monday!)
These two awesome women tackled a difficult subject head on, opening eyes and pushing buttons (and burning a bridge or two in the process), all in the name of equality. They asked us to think, to question, to get angry (with them, not at them). Did their blog do any good? Absolutely! Because of Kristina and Mathilde and their battle cry against sexism, XCite Books has started featuring the male body on a number of their erotica titles. (And I’m delighted to have a story in Temptations 1!)
Contemplate that for a moment. Because of Kristina and Mathilde and Erotica Cover Watch, there are book covers that go against the industry norm. Wow. I mean… just… wow. And that’s not all they accomplished in the past year and a half. I encourage you to pop over to read Kristina’s summary of their work (and take a look at those hot new covers!).
I’m thrilled that I was there at the beginning of their campaign and I’m honored that I am included in their farewell post, along with the cover of Fairy Tale Lust. I will admit, my first thought when I saw my first book cover for Cleis Press was, “I love it!” My second thought was, “Kristina Lloyd will be pleased!”
I wish Kristina and Mathilde all the best. They deserve kudos for devoting a chunk of their time and creative energy to Erotica Cover Watch. In lieu of flowers (which they have certainly earned), I offer them some farewell man candy:
March kind of snuck up on me. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise, since I barely remember December except for certain key events (Jay coming home, Patrick being born, Sheri leaving, Jay leaving...) and January was cold and snowy (okay, snowy for Virginia) and February was a mix of cold weather, threats of snow and rediscovering life beyond the house and without baby, thanks to the wonderful babysitter that practically fell in my lap.
So, here I am at the beginning of March. Writing, getting ready to sign a contract for my next anthology, planning for Jay to come home (nine more weeks-- less time than he’s already been gone since Patrick’s birth!), planning the release of Fairy Tale Lust… and watching this amazing little creature grow and change almost on a daily basis (and consistently sleep through the night!).
Danielle asked me what the first story I wrote after baby was about. I have a confession, Danielle: I haven’t yet written that first story, post-baby. Not quite yet. But soon, I think. Very soon.
I have written a few thousand words in the past month and I’ve completed a couple of stories in the process-- and I just submitted five stories. But all but one of the stories I submitted were reprints and the stories I finished writing were started pre-baby. In one case, the story was started pre-pregnancy. So that first story as a new mom has yet to be written. I anticipate-- and hope-- it will be written in the next week or two, as there are anthology deadlines approaching for which I have no half-started drafts that will fit the themes.
Spring is coming. So are new stories.
I can’t wait.
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. Chocolate. Mmm… chocolate. Musings of an insomniac writer. Want to know more?
