If Thy Uterus Offend Thee
If Thy Uterus Offend Thee… According to author Deborah Copaken, Nora Ephron had three rules for middle aged happiness: “Gather friends and feed them, laugh in the face of calamity, and cut out all the things––people, jobs, body parts––that no longer serve you.” And by body parts, Ephron meant one in particular: “The only thing […]
Get Out Your TugBoat
Get Out Your TugBoat In 1971, Erica Jong interviewed the legendary Anais Nin, who was then in her sixties. Jong asked Nin why she allowed her publisher to cut the sex out of her diaries. “Women who write about sex are never taken seriously as writers,” said Nin. “That’s exactly why we must do it,” […]
The Romance Revolution
The Romance Revolution Is the romance novel a tool of the patriarchy? Or exactly the opposite? That depends… Origins of the Romance Novel In the early twentieth century, novels for women provided messages of purity and refinement. Publishers were reluctant to run afoul of purity associations run by prominent men of the time. But then came […]
10 Steps to Write a Great Seasoned Sex Scene
10 Steps to Write a Great Seasoned Sex Scene At their best, sex and writing have a lot in common: two forms of play that engage us creatively with others. Both make us vulnerable. And there is no subject we can write about that makes us more vulnerable than sex—even more so for older women […]
Writing My Own Erotic Stories
Writing My Own Erotic Stories A never-been-kissed junior high school student, I passed around a battered, spiral bound notebook full of the “naughty” stories I wrote to entertain my girlfriends. I may have been a virgin, but that didn’t stop me from using my Bic pen to write what I imagined to be passionate and […]
Care and Feeding of Your Sexy Novel – Publishing Without an Agent
Care and Feeding of Your Sexy Novel: Publishing Without an Agent Welcome to the third part of this series on publishing your sexy novel. Here is where you can find Part 1 and Part 2. Now that you’ve signed a contract, it’s time to move from manuscript to published novel. At this point, some agents become […]
