Today is a very special day. It’s an anniversary of sorts, one I can’t let pass by without a mention of its significance.
See, a year ago today, Rachel Kramer Bussel gathered nine writers together to read The Big Book of Orgasms: 69 Sexy Stories at a Good Vibrations store in San Francisco.
I was ecstatic. It was my first ever reading of my first ever published story, a little flash piece called “The Flogger” that I practiced over and over again in my living room (in yoga pants and heels, no less). I have a theatre background, so while I was slightly nervous, I wasn’t too terrified. I just wanted to put on a good show and make sure not to turn beet red should I make eyes with a cute stranger while I said the word “cock” out loud. And more importantly, I really wanted to meet all these other cool authors reading from the book with me.
One of them was a lovely lady named Malin James. She wore really sexy boots and seemed to stand eight miles taller than me, despite my five-inch heels. She was ever so nice, and when she read her story “Hard Knocks”—one of my favorite from the collection—I could tell she had a theatre background, too. She was so damn good, I had to talk to her more. We ended up exchanging email addresses, and within a week we started spilling our guts to one another. A few weeks after that, we discovered we’d lived nearly parallel lives. We had so much in common it was less like we were sisters than we’d actually been conjoined twins separated at birth, and we both recognized immediately that we might well have found that one friend that gets everything about you, and who will support you no matter what, flaws and all, and love you till the end. It was, quite frankly, one of the coolest friendships I’d ever formed in my entire life.
Since that first reading, so many wonderful things have happened. I’ve met and worked with more amazing authors and editors. I’ve written bunches more stories. I’ve signed on with an agent for my books. I’ve also read more in public (watch out if you’re in my eye-line when I say “cock” now). And then of course, there’s the other dear erotica writer Malin and I know, the talented Tamsin Flowers—the three of us talk all the time, sharing insight, opinions, trials, and laughter, whether it be via Skype, email, or in one of our Pillow Talk Secrets sessions. Sure, the writing aspects are fantastic, but it’s the connections and friendships I’ve formed in this last year that really ice the cake. It may have taken a third-of-a-life crisis to figure out that erotica was what I wanted to write for real, but it was the reading on November 6th that made the true magic happen for me.
So today, I just want to pay homage to the juggernaut that was The Big Book of Orgasms and the amazing Rachel Kramer Bussel for taking my writing into the world of publishing. Without that, none of this would have happened. I also want to say I adore all the connections I’ve made throughout this year—in particular, the mighty friendship I share with Tamsin Flowers, and the bond I’ve formed with someone I openly refer to as the platonic love of my life, Malin James.
In short? Best anniversary ever! 🙂
XX,
Jade