LUX ZAKARI

For me, writing erotica can feel a lot like that nightmare where you forgot to wear clothes in a crowded place and everyone’s guffawing at your wobbly bits.

With most writing, you’re putting your bloody, sweaty, teary creation out into the universe, hoping and praying people will like it. You’re vulnerable. Waiting for feedback is excruciating. Breath is bated. Rejection can feel devastating, personal.

If the story’s erotic, a negative response may be worse. Is it unlike confiding in a lover about a fantasy and having them recoil in bewilderment or disgust? The material is, after all, what you found sexy enough to call erotic.

All writers who share their work are brave. Are erotica writers some of the bravest?

-LZ.

While I await the copy edits for Coercion, I’m throwing myself into a multitude of projects, which is nothing new! In between juggling my nine-to-five gig, copy editing several novels, getting accustomed to the spring semester for the MSLS program,  indulging in a game of phone tag with my cousin (which has been going on for more than a year now) and–of course–working on my own writing, I’m accomplishing one of my NYE resolutions!

At last, I’m obtaining my passport. Though I’ve no destination in mind yet, I have whipped up a to-go list with some options:

• Argentina
• Peru
• England
• Mexico
• Thailand (Is it wrong I think Bridget Jones made this look fun–even in a Thai prison?)
• France
• Australia

I remember taking a book out from the library called Unforgettable Things To Do Before You Die, and it lists all sorts of places you can travel to…if you’re a millionaire! For an example of what I mean, here were some of the book’s suggestions:

• Get drenched rafting one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
• Train with Mongol horsemen in the ancient warrior arts of bow-making, battle tactics and vodka distillation.
• Relax in a naturally heated lake in the sub-arctic.
• Track white Spirit Bears in the world’s largest tract of temperate rain forest.

Note: Do not read this book if you are restless, poor and want to travel to exotic places. However, I did get a few cool ideas from the book, and admittedly, the flying safari over Skeleton Coast sounded sorta awesome. Other neat things I’d like to do or places I’d like to go include:

• Hiking through the arches – Arches National Park – Moab, Utah
• Verona, Italy
• Driving Californian surf – -US Highway 1 – Big Sur, CA
• Red Sea diving – Dahab, Egypt
• Riding white horses – Pakiri Beach, New Zealand
• Paleochora, Crete
• Tallinn, Estonia
• Searching for pearls – Tahiti, French Polynesia

There are also several places in the United States I’d like to see as well. There are so many states I haven’t yet been to or need to see again! I’m also addicted to wacky tourist traps, such as places involving dinosaurs and anything found on RoadsideAmerica.com.

At any rate, once I have a passport, I’ll be prepared for any exciting, impromptu trip abroad that presents itself to me, so look out, world!

-LZ.

Just a little something I whipped up this weekend: the book trailer for my e-story, Love on the Side of the NJ Turnpike, available now at Paper Bag Press (www.paper-bag-press.com).

Music: Jason Shaw (www.audionautix.com)
Images: www.sxc.hu users: faincut, intuitives, sardinelly, tamara23

-LZ.

Recently, a Twittering friend posted, “Why write erotica?” and because these days I’m questioning all my habits and routines, it was definitely a question worth meditation.

Admittedly, it used to be because of the shock factor. I imagined myself as someone immediately fascinating by introducing myself as an erotica writer. Oh, the questions I would then field! Oh, the intrigue! Also, erotica is what sells. People like sex and always will. When they aren’t having it, they’re thinking about it and—if they’re of the foxy literary type—reading about it.

But mostly I write erotica because I love it and can’t help it! Even my most innocent of stories wind up too mature. This does not bode well for any future career I might want in children’s books.

Far too often I find myself thinking about romantic relationships. I like exploring the reasons why people fall in and out of love and become involved, immersed, entangled with others on multiple levels—that has always interested me, and being a Libra helps me see everyone’s side. While fun to write, erotica is also occasionally more challenging than it seems—there are only so many words I can use for parts of human anatomy without turning a story into a farce (or turning off readers completely) and the scenario and circumstances need mixing up—no missionary at the foot of the bed for my characters!

I remember when I first discovered the concept of writing about sex thanks to the Internet and bodice-rippers with covers depicting Fabio-esque pirates seducing creamy-skinned virgins. It put me in a happy, heady daze just reading, and the stories made me feel like that intensity, that passion was possible. Now it’s my turn to do the same.

-LZ.