Poppin’ That Publishing Cherry

A little less than a year ago, I wrote my very first erotic story. It was a voyeuristic piece about a grudgingly virginal high school senior with a crush on her art teacher. I hadn’t set out to write it and wasn’t sure what to do with it once I’d typed the final sentence, but I’d recently made the decision that I was going to give this writing thing an honest-to-goodness shot, so I made it my mission to find the story a proper home.

Ultimately, I chose to polish it up and submit it to Literotica, a site I’ve been casually perusing since I figured out how to purge the browsing history from my family’s computer, once upon a time.

When I received my very first piece of positive feedback (you know who you are), I was over-the-moon with excitement. There may or may not have been happy-dancing and giggle fits.

I kept writing and started researching other potential outlets for my stories. Eventually, I stumbled across the Erotica Readers and Writer’s Association’s resource page, which features an extensive list of publishing links, including calls for anthology submissions. One call in particular sounded like it might be a good fit for my story (right length, right theme, right content, etc.), so I spit-shined it, sent it out, and hoped for the best.

The aforementioned story was titled, “The Art Teacher” and, as of today, can be found in Cleis Press’s Best Women’s Erotica 2015 anthology (ed. by Violet Blue). I am especially honored to be featured alongside my amazingly talented blogger-buddies, Tamsin Flowers and Malin James (can’t wait to read your stories, gals!).

So, I guess it’s official: I’m a published writer.

Cue more dancing and even gigglier giggle fits!

In celebration, I’m going to share one of my favorite songs by Rufus Wainwright, which may or may not have served as unconscious inspiration for this story. Either way, it’s a gorgeous, affecting tune that never ceases to move me.

Check out the new Publications page for ways to purchase Best Women’s Erotica 2015.

♥