In Praise of Great Men...

My favorite poet Seamus Heaney died recently.  And the great Andrew M. Greeley (a rare voice of compassion and brave critic of predatory priests) died this year, too.

There’s no shame in being human when I can pick up a copy of Opened Ground or live vicariously through the fey Nuala Anne McGrail.

I grew up ashamed of where I came from, ashamed of this, ashamed of that.

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse I was utterly incapable of trusting anyone.  From the age of six or seven I was curious about the world of commercial sex.  It was a world I was constantly exposed to while other children hunted for Easter eggs or held hands with a guardian at Story Hour.  I can bemoan my unwholesome upbringing until the day I die but I won’t do that.  I’d rather write the kind of stories that appeal to me because they inhabit a unique place where no one is ever dehumanized, everyone gets laid and former sex workers find that special someone who understands them.

For the Love of Sex Positive Stories

For the Love of Sex Positive Stories

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in a really long time.  Olivia London is a pseudonym I use for writing erotica and I went through a long period where I couldn’t truck with the 50 Shades message that it’s okay to put up with a creepy guy as long as he buys you fancy stuff.  That message is So Not Okay with me.

My mother endured decades of marriage to a violent man so I questioned my motivation for writing in a genre that didn’t seem particularly woman friendly.  I returned to writing in the mainstream and forgot all about Olivia London.

Then Peaches Magazine (peachesmag.com) came along and I fell in love with writing erotic fiction again.  Here’s a uniquely sex-positive venue where women are encouraged to take control of their own lives before acquiescing power and control (if only for a little while and always in the spirit of joie de vivre!) to a man.  I had a lot of fun serializing a story called What She Owed Him (beautifully illustrated by Evan Jones) and I’m working on expanding that story into a novella.  So stay tuned and stay sex-positive!

One reader of my blog (paraphrasing Frank Capra) said: ‘Got a message?  Call Western Union.’

I know not everyone agrees with what I have to say and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to comment on my work even if it’s to offer a dissenting opinion.

But I do have a message.  Erotica is supposed to be fun.  If you feel compelled to degrade and victimize your characters for the purpose of serving misogynistic fantasies maybe you need a psychiatrist not a publisher.

That’s all for now!  I welcome comments and feedback.  Happy reading!

 

Have a fetish? Write about it. Don't add salt.

Have a fetish?  Write about it.  Don’t add salt.

You’re back!  Thanks for visiting.  I’d like to use this opportunity as a means of discussing interesting and/or outrageous news tidbits.  Blogs are also a fun way of connecting with readers and writers.  Feel free to share your thoughts.

America: what a country.  Funny, sad.  Violent, mollycoddled.  Youth obsessed and longevity hopeful.  Living in a land of contradictions suits me to a T.

Do you think you live in a land of opportunity?  If you’re working a retail or restaurant job right now, you may not think you have time to write.  But I’m here to tell you… writing is how you can escape retail and restaurant jobs.  If you can’t afford to subscribe to The Writer and Writer’s Digest, chances are you can find these publications at your local library.  I read these helpful magazines for years and years before ever finding the courage to submit a story.  Now, those tools of the trade are considered business expenses.

I get at least part of my news online so I got caught up in that Applebee’s controversy wherein a waitress posted a stingy customer’s receipt on Reddit.  The customer in question was a pastor who wrote: ‘I give God 10%.  Why do you get 18?’  This pastor needs to get out more.  It has long been a restaurant industry standard to include an automatic gratuity for large parties of 8 or more.  With some places it’s 6.  I won’t address whether the waitress was in the right or wrong.  Applebee’s made that decision for her; she got fired.  I just think people who resent tipping should stay home.  And if you need a paycheck and enjoy working in food service… escape the bottom end of the food chain with banquet serving gigs.  Banquet servers never have to grovel for tips; the gratuity is woven into the fabric of every meal.  Best places to BS?  Hotels.  Steer clear of country clubs.  At CCs you’ll get your automatic gratuity but snobs paying thirty grand a year for the privilege of ‘belonging’ somewhere elite take a particular pleasure in treating servers like dirt.

I once had the presumably peerless experience of dining with a woman who had a salt fetish.  She snapped her fingers to get our waiter’s attention.  She complained that the butter on her role wasn’t salted.  When our waiter pointed to a salt shaker and suggested she use it, my companion tsked and said, ‘No, I prefer butter that’s already salted.  You must have salted butter around here somewhere.’  The waiter and I exchanged a knowing look.  He could tell just by my humble countenance aprons and bow ties are as familiar to me as hardtack is to a sailor.  I conveyed telepathically I would never dine with this person again and he winked in commiseration.

No matter what type of job you have, if you’re stuck in a rut, writing can empower you.  Celebrate your first story or article sale anywhere you fancy… but don’t forget to tip!

Welcome to Salem, USA

Welcome to Salem, USA

My heart goes out to Stacie Halas, the former porn actress who lost her job as a science teacher in Oxnard, California.  This woman is being burned at the stake right before our eyes.  She didn’t hurt anyone.  She never molested a child.  Yet this woman’s career in education is finished.  Even if she hires the best lawyers in the world, she will have no choice but to choose a career path that does not involve working with the public – our hypocritical society demands it.

When the Wi-Fi on my laptop went out I couldn’t afford to have it fixed right away.  I had to use the computers at my local library.  At the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library there are 142 computers available on one floor alone.  And they’re all in use at any given time of day; you have to make a reservation to use a computer.  Writers are nosy parkers so I walked past row after row to see how many of my fellow Wi-Fi-less folks were downloading porn.  Of 142, I’d say at least 100 terminals are nonstop conduits of free porn.

Americans watch porn.  They’re obsessed with it, consumed by it.  Americans are such avid viewers of pornography to have made the industry one of our country’s most reliable employers.  Given how pervasive pornography is in our culture… is it any wonder so many young, attractive bodies flock toward the cameras?

Ms. Halas went to the trouble to educate herself to get a teaching job, wrongly assuming she lived in a country where a woman can put her past behind her.  Given the countless student-teacher scandals involving teachers having sex with 14 year-old students, one would hope something like this would be a non-issue.

When I read that a student scrawled profanity on Ms. Halas’s classroom window and how many people are weighing in to call this woman a whore – all done under anonymous handles, of course; stone throwers never use their real names – I realized I’m living in a new era of Witch Hunts.

This time last year, I went on a letter writing campaign when the University of Washington admitted two Level 3 sex offenders to the sprawling campus of 40,000 students.  In a very condescending reply to my missives, the media relations specialist said he could not fathom why I had a problem with these men who raped or abused children.  After all, the school went to the trouble to make sure these men would not attend classes with minors. 

There’s a daycare just a block away from the main campus.  Of the 40,000 students attending classes, how many of those have children or bring children to school?  I never suggested felonious men are not entitled to an education.  I believe all citizens have a right to better themselves but why can’t Level 3 sex offenders earn their degrees online?  Lots of people earn degrees online; it’s a viable option.

My concerns were summarily dismissed.  These men – who are no doubt receiving full financial aid packets since felons have more difficulties finding jobs – simply went after children.

It’s not like they were porn stars or anything.