In case you haven’t already figured me out, I’m new to all this. In fact, it all became so overwhelming I had to take a hiatus the last couple of months to regroup. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Websites, Yahoo groups just became too much. All I really wanted to do was write and to be totally honest, erotic romance wasn’t what I wanted to write. So I didn’t. I’ve been writing a memoir about my relationship with my father. I’m not sure of the title just yet, but I am sure of the subtitle: A Love Story.
And now that I’ve been grounded, I’m ready to venture back into this new territory once again and try another blog post, which brings me back to the topic of this post: How did I get into this erotic romance business in the first place?
Six years ago I divorced the man I’d been with since I was fifteen. No, he didn’t run off with a younger woman and leave me heart-broken and alone. I was kind of the one who did that, only regardless of what you might think if you read “Tan Lines,” I didn’t fall in love with a woman.
I turned to writing in an attempt to understand what was going on in my crazy, mixed up mind/heart or whatever it was that seemed to have taken over my being. In the beginning, I wrote non-fictional pieces: essays, character sketches, etc. I submitted a piece for acceptance into a Sarasota Writers Group. Each time my work was critiqued, it seemed to me they were critiquing my life instead of my writing. It was a very emotional, reflective, self-incriminating time for me. At the end of the year, the leader devoted a brainstorming session to my work, asking the group to help me determine what I should do with it. The consensus was that I should turn it into fiction.
Aha, it was my answer. Almost immediately my mind began spinning fictional scenes and characters depicting my issues. I could remove myself from the emotion. I found a way to be objective about my life and my writing, to learn and grow as an author.
A novel was born, and two years later I had a completed, edited manuscript titled, Sunday Girl. Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, as the saying goes, I attended the Florida Writers Conference (FWA) and signed up to meet agents. It was there, in 2006, that I first met Lori Perkins. My novel had one spicy chapter, and I’d read that she was interested in erotica so I converted Chapter 5 into a short story, “Jackie.”
……… to be continued ………
Just focus on writing. Do the all the BS twitter, yahoo groups, facebooks, etc… when and if you feel like doing them. I’ve been writing erotica, and other genres, for fifteen years and I really only care about the writing. Everything else comes in second. And I don’t care what anyone thinks about that
You build up a layer of thick skin in time.
From a male’s perspective, you are providing me with a Ph.D. in understanding the female experience.
I consider that a very high compliment, Brian. Thank you!
And thank you, Ryan, for the encouragement. I can see why you are the best-selling author at Ravenous!
I really loved your post. It was honest. And you write well, too.
Regina – how honored I am to have had the recent privilege of getting to know you. And equally honored to be reading Playgirl! Now if I could only figure out how to download the thing onto my iPhone *grumble, grumble* Hope to soon be reading Part II of your blog on how you became an erotic romance writer. Writing, no matter what genre, is a unique gift you give the world.