I noted in my last entry that I’d sent out my Xmas story for submission, and turned my attention to a story set in King Arthur’s Court.  This was the case until Rachel Kramer Bussel tweeted that her orgasm themed anthology of super short stories (1200 words or less) needed more stories.

The deadline was a week or so away (yesterday, in fact), so it was a huge challenge to get a story submission ready in that short a time.  Both my previous submissions had sprawled out over weeks or months, with lots of breaks in working on them.  However, my goal is to give my erotica more of my writing time, and as much as possible.  This seemed like exactly the kind of challenge I needed to push myself into putting my erotica higher on the list of priorities.

In the words of Barney Stinson–CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I did manage to write a story that I am proud of, and submitted it.  Doing so was partially that I had an idea that worked well in terms of staying inspired.  I got lucky with the BG’s naps, and was able to focus on my laptop during that valuable 3.5 hours a day.  My husband (who is always my primary beta-reader) was able to give me a nightly read and feedback.  I didn’t blog as much on my primary blog (3 entries as opposed to 5), I got behind on social media and blog reading/commenting.

I also didn’t have enough time to ask my friend who is a professional editor to take a look at it, and had to trust my own instincts.  However, I know my weaknesses (run on sentences, a deep love of uncessary ellipses, too much back/side story before the sex) and I ruthlessly policed myself on those.

!200 words isn’t much.  According WordPress’s word count, I’ve written 303 words already just in this blog post.  RKB doesn’t do sex without reason–she still expects character development and plot.  So for me, the hardest part was cutting down to her word count while trying to meet those expectation.  In the end, it was a really good exercise for me because I had to really weigh the value of the words I’d chosen–how could I convey tone with one word instead of four, not overusing the same descriptors, that sort of thing.

I have no idea if the story will make it into the anthology, although of course I hope it does.  I’m proud of it, and if it doesn’t find a home in that anthology, I think it will eventually find a home, whether in that form or as part of a larger story.

But the exercise taught me a number of important lessons.

• That I *can* write erotica every day.
• That having three or four stories going at once is a very good thing because when I get stuck on one (or have reached a point where I need another set of eyes, but can still write for an hour, or even fifteen minutes) I can switch.
• That I am better at recognizing my weaknesses and to be merciless about them when evaluating my own writing
• That I don’t need months on end to get a short story into shape (also a lesson I need to internalize and get my act together on with regards to the novel) and can/should be working under deadline
• 1200 words is far more challenging than I expected

So thanks, Rachel–it was a great exercise regardless of outcome.

Filed under: Submitted, Writing | Tagged: delilah night |