Let's write about sex

Erotica, it's all the craze. Thing is, haven't steamy bodice rippers been around since man was carving dirty pictures on cave walls? Walk through the book section at Fred Meyers and you'll see all the sophisticated book covers with titles that barely hint to the heat written between the pages. No pirates, no civil war soldiers, no vampires or shifters. Usually the main characters are a couple messed up people, rich, beautiful people who fumble and stumble through instant love. But the saving grace is that they can really get it on, and creatively. I love it. I love any kind of book craze because it means people are talking about books. Then the writer in me surfaces and daydreams, Maybe I could do that.

I'll tell you this right now, daydreaming is never a great tool to getting things done. First, I decided I would write an erotic romance. Why not? Just follow a certain formula and, voila! Second, I boasted my newest lofty goal. I'm not sure how that's helpful at all. Third, I stalled at the big empty screen. What's a writer to do when faced with writer's block? There's always what I call youtube- procrastination. It's how I didn't finish the last book I attempted, but I did manage to watch every clip of Britain's Got Talent from who knows how long ago. There's finding inspiration, but that would take a whole lot of effort. Then there's what we love/hate to do the most, research.

I didn't join some sex group or even a sex chat room. I went to Amazon and found a fantastic book. How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors gave me all the tools. One of the authors even touched on formatting which helped me with my other projects. What I couldn't glean was the ability to overcome my own bashfulness. I enjoy writing steamy scenes, even hot sex scenes, but erotic romance means sex plays as much a role as the characters and storyline do. That's a lot of juggling and blushing and other things.

After reaffirming my plan to write this book, again advertising to people I know, I went about overcoming my nature. I'm a writer, I like steamy books. I've written steamy scenes. Nope couldn't do it. I did manage to catch every clip of UK's X Factor. The walkaway lesson? Maybe, think big, try hard, and know when it's time to shelf a certain daydream. Or perhaps simply write what you enjoy writing.