I know the title is a bit of a DOH! moment but society as a whole is really good at dismissing writings that are meant to titillate and arouse. This extends to the writers of such material. I have had several comments myself that insinuate that maybe i would like to do some ‘real’ writing in my future. Well, what I do now is real writing. It’s a craft, an art and a bloody hard slog at times.

Erotica Writers are...Writers. #Eroticon2013
At Eroticon 2013 there were several sessions on the craft of writing and many conversations happened outside of sessions on the process that we go through to create a piece of written erotica. Here are the highlights from several of the conference attendees including my good self!

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I often find inspiration in experiences that stretch my mind, and certainly Remittance Girl’s talk on eroticism and romanticism still has me thinking about the places that are beyond my comfort zone, the places where the writing will be not only edgy and maybe a bit frightening, but will have the power to take my reader and me outside ourselves.

I’m having a hard time resisting the desire to get all fucking ya-ya sisterhoodish on you all. But what this weekend really underscored for me was how the practice of erotic writing attracts such fiercely intelligent, deeply humane, massively competent, capable people. Would that institutions wielding power over all our lives had even a modicum of the rich human resource under the roof at that conference. And it enrages me that, as a group, society has such contempt for us. What a fucking awful waste. We really do need to change that.

Honestly, I haven’t time to sit down and go through my notes just yet, but I would say that I found both Kristina Lloyd and K D Grace’s workshops to be the best of the weekend, and that I’m sure I will get inspiration and hopefully improve my writing following them. Thank you, ladies!

Never more was the inspirational nature of the conference conveyed, than in Ashley Lister’s lesson in using poetry to improve our writing. The sheer intelligence, mutual support, and laughter that oozed from that room spoke volumes about the high standard of erotica today. What better way to sum the weekend up therefore, than with a mini zip of poetry…

(Take a deep breath before reading!!- and go…)

Eroticon 2013- what a blast!

But bugger me, it went by so fast.

We were fondling floggers,

And chatting to bloggers.

Given new words to learn,

Discussed sexual concern.

Created poems to mangle,

And had dildos to handle.

There were writer’s a’plotting

And new talent was spotting.

Filth was well read,

And ideas were well said.

Wisdom was shared

No theory was spared.

And now we’re all keen,

For Eroticon 2014!!

(Now catch your breath!!)

I went to Eroticon thinking that my prose wasn’t too bad; I came away knowing that I need to improve it. Sure, I was a world away from “baby batter” and Fifty Shags a Day, but compared to the readings on Saturday night, I know that my pre-Eroticon stuff is a little flat; it needed more. I felt inspired at Eroticon to do better, and will try and do that.

I really enjoyed Kristina Lloyd’s workshop. I got so much from the sex machine exercise. As with all writers, I’d gotten to a point where I felt I was writing the same thing over and over again, Kristina has breathed some new life into how I go about describing people, places and sex scenes. I came away from that session with a lightness of heart and an eagerness to write that I’d not felt in quite a long while.

Then the next day, KD Grace’s finessing sex built on that enthusiasm and added yet more approaches for me to use and I was gloriously happy. I really loved having the opportunity to write a little snippet using what I’d learnt over the weekend. My future stories won’t know what’s hit’em!