BDSM Erotica Can Save Your Sanity

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but I’ve been getting slammed at work. Add to that a 2-year old whose decided to go into his first “Mummy, Mummy, Mummy, it’s all about MUMMY!” phase, a husband who works as long hours as I do, two dogs, one nanny whose idea of clean and organized is vastly different than mine, and a commute, and, well, something has to give.

What ends up giving, far more often than not, is my writing. And not just the act of putting words on the page. “Writing” and all that goes into it includes a lot of things for me: critiquing, writing blogs, reading, brainstorming, meeting with the Quirkies. All things I would rather be doing at any given moment than working at my job. (Sorry, boss. Hope you don't see this.)

It’s not that I can’t find the time to write my next story. It’s that work has me so wound up, I can’t find the words. This is not a pleasant state of being for me. It’s seriously stressful and pokes at me, continuously, until it’s resolved. The good news is that this feeling has often been what has brought me back to my keyboard. Pushed the next story from me. The bad news is that it can make me want to quit my job on the spot. Often.

Instead of risking my career, this time I devoted my time and energy to working on a different aspect of writing. Other than creating my own stories, reading and critiquing those of the other Quirkies is my favorite way to exercise my writing skills. I admit I’m a weirdo, but I simply LOVE to line edit.

I’m extraordinarily lucky that timing and Michelle allowed me do a full read-through of Bound Odyssey over the past few weeks. I think I would have gone stone-cold crazy sitting home at night, not doing anything because I was too burnt to write. Instead, I was submerged in the future and the lives of Michelle’s incredible characters. I fell in love with Mira, Roman and Jace. I despised the evil government and their nefarious plots. I rooted for the underdogs, in this case our characters and the entire D/s community in New Denver. I had the pleasure of reading mind-numbingly erotic love scenes. Lots of them. I’m not generally a reader of BDSM erotica, but Michelle creates a world, and a space within that world, where it worked for me. Where, I believe, it would work for almost anyone.

We all know the pleasure of losing ourselves in a great book. Of just tearing right through it. Line editing slows it down to 12-15 pages an hour for me, which for many would make the process insufferable. I love it. The story lasts longer. Means more. Sinks in deeper. Michelle can know she’s written a kick ass book because at the end, some 30+ hours into it, I was still sad to have to say goodbye (while totally delighted by a great HEA ending).

I started to volunteer to do full manuscript line edits because the success of each Quirky Lady matters to me. That’s still the case, but as a remarkable bonus, I derive an enormous amount of satisfaction from devoting myself to the process. Never more than in the last two weeks did I need to feel like I was still doing SOMETHING with my writing. That I was still moving my goal forward.

So come Tuesday, when I’m struggling through another week of hell at the office, I’ll be calm and get it all done (or, at least, will try). That’s a paycheck. My REAL work, my writing, will be waiting for me at home. If I can’t find the words yet, so be it. I think Vicki has something she needs me to look at anyway.