A Month of Erotica.

Pic courtesy Daf_ne, Flickr

I've spent the last month working on erotic fiction and poetry. Over the last few years, I've written a few adult stories and poems and left them on the shelf whilst I worked on other projects. Eventually- this last month- I've got 'round to doing something with them. I've been hammering feedback site Scribophile, receiving some helpful and encouraging critiques.

Progress.

I've made newer, sharper drafts off the back of this. My plan was to fire them out to magazines, using some publishing resources I've recently found.

I've been juggling a number of problems this month alongside writing- a few Inland Revenue forms have slowed me down, as have many other tasks, so I couldn't go full pelt into getting this material published. I did, however, manage to get all the feedback I needed, which included mind-opening suggestions and a few good instances where reviewers spotted errors. I managed to redraft the three pieces, and they're ready to go.

Right before the deadline I managed to bash out a haiku as well! Win!

There's a big upside to focussing on a specific genre of writing. The work that you might have buried away, or that you have been avoiding seeking critiques on (especially if it's erotica), you'll force yourself to look over and make those long-needed adjustments. It also means that you can put any other projects you might be working on to one side. If you're going to focus on a genre, say erotica, sacrifice the other things that take up your time. Leave watching the movie 'til next month. Don't rewrite that short SF story- shelve it and look at it after the current project is over. Put yourself under a bit of pressure. Spend your time sticking to the plan, and you'll see results. It worked for me.

Expect another publishing project soon...