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--- Writing Porn For Fun and Profit! ---
The Bi-Weekly E-Letter
Volume III, Issue 25
November 17, 2003

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=========================
In This Issue:
=========================

From the Editor
Jenna Glatzer's Best Selling Book Blitz!
Sex-Writer.com Update
Article: Done
           By Jenna Glatzer
Market Listings
Column: Review By Kevin Tipple
Masters Of The Sex Gates By Darrell Bain and Jeanine Berry
             
Goings On
Q & A - Penthouse Variations Info
Looking for Writers

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From The Editor
Katy Terrega
=========================

Hmmm, I can practically hear you all thinking, I haven't received a newsletter in over a month and now I get one on a Wednesday? What gives?

Hey, thanks for asking!

See, first I had a bunch o' deadlines that I had to meet and I couldn't get the newsletter out on the 3rd, or even a couple of days later. So I decided to wait until the 17th. And it was going to be such a doozy of an issue, including a whole slew of Sex-Writer.com updates, that I started working on it last Saturday; I figured that it would take me a coupla days to get it all done.

Then on Saturday night my husband and I went to see Master and Commander - A pretty good movie, at least if you like action and adventure (I call movies like this (no offense!) dick flicks as opposed to chick flicks) and the special effects are awesome, you totally feel what it was like to be at sea back then - and when we came back my computer had crashed hard yet again.

I swear I don't know what it is with me and computers. Mine "blue screen" (as in "blue screen of death") regularly and even my trusty little Mac laptop is giving me fits, and it's supposed to be more solid than thePC's. In a past lifetime I must offended someone high up on the technological ladder (Thomas Edison or some such) because I am certainly paying now. On the plus side, I am now a fledgling techie and I'm learning a lot; I can change out video cards, RAM and drives with relative ease now. (And special thanks go out to a certain reader of the newsletter who has been painstakingly walking me through error after error to help me figure things out.)

But at any rate, I finally got it back last night and thanks to Computer Renaissance (excellent customer service, by the way, I recommend them if you've got franchise in your neck of the woods) I'm back on track and the truly fantastic news is that I didn't lose anything but a couple of days of work. (Don't know how many of you remember the time I lost 3 months worth of work, now that was tragic.)

A word to the wise, back up your work regularly!

And now onto business...

We still have a fairly jam-packed issue for you today, even after all the roadblocks; a great review of a good novel by Kevin Tipple, a couple of Goings On, many excellent and unique market listings, information on Penthouse Variations (see Q and A toward the end of the newsletter) and an article from Jenna Glatzer (of AbsoluteWrite.com) on "finishing" your manuscript and sending it off into the world.

And speaking of Jenna...

She has officially declared today (November 19th) as "Get All Kinds of Free Stuff Day!" And what a lot of free stuff it is! Jenna's running a huge special: if you buy her book “Outwitting Writer’s Block” from Amazon.com on Nov. 19, she’ll give you more than $100 worth of bonuses immediately. See below for more info and all the cool stuff you'll get if you buy her book today (and today only!)

Oh, and by the way, my son made a great solicitor on Halloween; he'd say things like "I'm a solicitor, would you like to buy something and get nothing in return?" Of course many door-answerers were scared half out of their wits, mostly by his tri-color jacket (with gold lapels,) his red checked bell bottoms and his shiny briefcase full of kitchen cutlery. "You're the scariest trick-or-treater we've seen all night!" many exclaimed. (What can I say, he's a very weird child...)

As usual, enjoy the newsletter and please keep in touch!

Katy

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Sex-Writer.com Update
======================

New for November:

I've got a dozen or so new listings going out today and tomorrow, as well as a bunch of updated listings and a few articles, but don't have time to list them all right now.

Check back tomorrow (you can see any updates to the newsletter online - here ) for detailed updates!

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--- Done ---
--- Jenna Glatzer ---
====================================

There comes a time in every manuscript’s life when it’s time to proclaim it finished. Done. Such a final word, that “done,” isn’t it? It means you’re not allowed to do any more tweaking, no more massaging the words to make them come out nicer. It’s time to let go and let those words, imperfect as they may be, go out into the world and become something separate from you.

While you’re writing and rewriting, those words are a part of you. They represent your thoughts, and therefore, they represent who you are at that exact moment in time. But eventually, no matter how insecure you feel, it’s got to be time to send those words out of the nest and see how they fly.

If you’re writing for an audience, then you know the feeling: the moment that you decide your work is ready to show. Exhilarating? Terrifying? Satisfying? Maybe all three.

It’s too easy to hang onto that manuscript for just another day, another week, another draft. It’s a convenient excuse that we suddenly become blocked during the final draft, or that we procrastinate doing the final proofread. We do this because we’re scared that the words we’ve chosen aren’t good enough. They’re not ready. We fear they’re going to leap out of the nest and land on their faces in the mud.

And you darn well could hold onto those words forever, sheltering them from the cruel outside world. You could be just like the overprotective parent who won’t let her teenagers date (they’re “too irresponsible,” “too immature,” “not ready”).

Let your teenagers date. Let those words fly. Realize that no writer ever feels 100% confident in every word he or she writes. I’ve never written a piece that I feel is perfect—something that conveys exactly what I intended it to convey, completely and concisely. And yet, I’ve written hundreds of finished pieces. They’re not perfect, but they’re done. I had to find the courage to let each of them go.

It is a courageous act; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Writing is enormously risky. Every time you send your work out into the world, it’s like you’ve just left the house without your skin on. You’re an open nerve ending. (“If they don’t like it, I’ll just diiiiiie.”) But have you ever died of criticism or rejection before?

In our profession, there are no “rights” and “wrongs.” 1+1 doesn’t equal 2. We can’t take a test and score 100% and therefore know that we’ve now mastered the craft of writing. A car mechanic knows when he’s done because the engine runs smoothly again. A dentist knows when he’s done because the cavity is filled. A writer, on the other hand, never has a natural ending point. There is no 5:00 whistle that tells us it’s time to pack it in. We just make that decision, quietly to ourselves, when it feels we’ve written all we need to write.

Acknowledge to yourself that you may never believe your work is perfect, but that you’re going to have to resign yourself to stopping sometime so you can move on to a new project. There won’t ever be enough time for you to write everything that’s in you to write, so use your time wisely. Don’t spend too much time agonizing over each word; rewrite until you’re proud of what you’ve written, then move on.

When you look back at your work later, you’ll undoubtedly find things to criticize—“How could I not have seen that before? What a redundant passage!” Do your best to give yourself credit; what you wrote merely represented you at that particular moment in time, not the eternal “you.” The eternal “you” still has lots of chances to get it just right.

And maybe there will be no defining work; maybe you’ll discover that your greatness came in bits and pieces, spread out over a lifetime of imperfect writing. But until you’ve found the courage to be finished with something, you’ll never amass that lifetime of writing; you’ll never gain perspective on your talent as a whole if you spend forever on just one project.

Take that leap of faith and let yourself see the project through to the very end. Don’t put off that final proofread; make yourself do it, hard as it may seem to stand so close to the finish line. Give yourself the reward of closure, and celebrate the dedication it took to get to the end.

And now, my dear writing comrades, I’m done.

# # #

Jenna Glatzer is the author of OUTWITTING WRITER’S BLOCK AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF THE PEN, available at http://www.absolutewrite.com/jenna/books.htm. She is also the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write (http://www.absolutewrite.com) and a friend to small furry creatures everywhere.

And don't forget to check out her free stuff! See above (after From the Editor) for details!)

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--- Market Listings ---
===================

Logical-Lust Christmas Competition!

Time for some seasonal sensuality... some festive fornication. Yes, it's nearly Christmas! and Logical-Lust plans to have some fun with a selection of naughty crackers under the heading of "Santa's Coming!"

Submissions can be from any angle, any approach, providing a Santa is the main character, so use your imagination! Flashers, poetry and short stories up to about 1500 words all count for the competition. The usual about no kids, no rape, no bestiality, etc. still applies and submissions need to be in by Dec 10th, 2003. Plain text only in an email, no attachments please, with the subject line "Logical-Lust submission, Santa's Coming."

The best submissions will appear on the website before Xmas, and the overall best judged submission will receive £20 sterling (or currency equivalent). Full details about submitting to Logical-Lust can be found at www.logical-lust.com/home.html

Happy submitting! this is my first paying call for submissions, so make the best of it, lol!

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Forbidden Garden Guidelines for November Short Story Contest

All submissions are to be sent to the email address listed below. The submissions will be posted on site, and voted on. The top three by January 1st will be offered a spot in our debut anthology.

The gottahaveem, must explain rules:

There is NO entry fee. Submit to the address below

All pieces submitted will be displayed on the site. There will be editorial checks carried out to make sure they are actually erotica and readable, but there will be no editing.

Please ensure that your work is spell and grammar checked.

Voting will be opened officially on December 1st, when the stories are posted.

Your work will be posted in a special area on the site. Have your submissions into Fayth by month’s end.

Submissions to November@forbidden-garden.com. Any stories submitted though the submissions interface onsite will be disqualified.

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Hot Rods

Website: http://www.seventhwindow.com/
Guidelines: www.seventhwindow.com/submit.html

Deadline: December 1, 2003

Seventh Window Publications is seeking submissions for a gay erotic collection titled Hot Rods. Submissions must be at least 4,000 words in length, erotic and focus on men, sex and cars.

Deadline: December 1, 2003

Send submissions to:

Seventh Window Publications
P.O. BOX 603165
Providence, RI 02906-0165

Submissions that can be made available in either Word or WordPerfect formats are preferred, but not a necessity. The pay is $50.00 per story accepted for publication (re-print or not). Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we must be notified in the cover letter.

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MikeDuron.com

Website: http://www.mikeduron.com/
Contact: mikeduron@mikeduron.com

MikeDuron.com *desperately* seeks short fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. If you think you'd be interested in submitting your work for inclusion in this website, please, read on....

Excepting Art & Photography subs, all email submissions should be included in the body of a plain-text email. Any submissions in HTML format or with the submitted work included as an attachment will be automatically rejected . The subject line of a submission for one of the categories below should contain the exact phrase indicated in the "subject line" description and nothing else . For example, the subject line of a flash fiction submission should read "flash fiction" (without the quotes). If you have any questions, please write to me at mikeduron@mikeduron.com and I'll be happy to explain.

Flash fiction - should be no longer than 100 words in length. You know what it should do, so I don't have to request you make it thought-provoking, funny (if it's supposed to be), erotic (if it's supposed to be) and everything else it's supposed to be ... and nothing it's not supposed to- oh, but you know what I mean. There should be a twist in the story somewhere - a Joycean epiphany, if you wanna call it that - and every other element that makes a story a story instead of a vignette should be present. I'm not interested in flash vignettes, but ultra-short stories that show off your skills as a writer. Please submit flash fiction to flash@mikeduron.com. Subject line: "flash fiction." mikeduron.com pays $10 USD, on acceptance.

Fiction - can be up to 5,000 words long. I'm interested in all subjects and styles of erotic short fiction. Please send submissions to fiction@mikeduron.com. Subject line: "fiction." mikeduron.com pays $20 USD, on acceptance, for short fiction.

Poetry - I prefer poetry that's written in form. Writing excellent poetry in form is difficult and, in my opinion, only when this difficulty is mastered should any poet attempt to write poetry without form. This is only my opinion though. I'll read anything less than 150 lines in length. Please send submissions to poetry@mikeduron.com. Subject line: "poetry." mikeduron.com pays $15 USD, on acceptance, for poetry.

Essays - Essays should be less than 1,000 words in length. Any subject is okay, so long as the essay says something in an interesting way. Please send submissions to essays@mikeduron.com. Subject line: "essay." mikeduron.com pays $15 USD on acceptance.

Reviews - I'm mainly interested in reading good reviews on web sites, movies, music and books. If you want to submit a review on anything else though, don't be bashful. Give it a shot. If it's good, I'll use it. Just keep your reviews under 1,000 words in lenth and send them to reviews@mikeduron.com. Subject line: "review." mikeduron.com pays $15 USD on acceptance.

Artwork/featured artists - If you are an artist (known or not), please consider submitting a couple of samples of your work. If I choose you as the Featured Artist of the Month, I will use your work throughout that month's issue and create a bio page with facts about you, samples of your work and links to your website. This page will be linked to by a prominent "Featured Artist of the Month" link in the table of contents. Please submit 3-5 samples of your work attached to one or several emails to artwork@mikeduron.com. (If you don't get selected as the Featured Artist of the Month, I may still want to use your artwork. If I do, the deal is that I will credit you on the credits page and link to your website from there, but I won't give you your own bio page.) mikeduron.com pays $5 for each image used, on acceptance.

---

PillowTalk Media
pillowtalkmedia@hotmail.com

CALL FOR WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS OF EROTICA

PillowTalk Media seeks to purchase short, original works of heterosexual erotic fiction/non-fiction (for use in an erotic audio sampler) written by or about African-American, Caribbean and Latino men and women. Submissions should be sexy and sensual. All writing formats are acceptable, including short stories, one-act plays, narratives, memoirs, essays, poetry, and song lyrics.

Please adhere to the following criteria:

· English language
· Preferred length of 15-25 page (however, longer and shorter pieces will be considered)
· Double spaced
· 12 pt. font (Courier, Universal, Arial, or Times Roman)

The deadline for consideration in this project is December 1, 2003. (However, we will continue to accept and review pieces received after December 1st for consideration in future projects). Submissions 25 pages or shorter may be submitted in electronic format as an e-mail attachment in MS Word format (subject heading “Submissions”); longer submissions must be sent via mail to the address below, enclosing a printed manuscript and a diskette containing the submission in MS Word format.

Submissions should include a short biography providing author’s full name, preferred publishing name or pseudonym, date of birth, ethnic/racial background, prior publications and contact information. All biographical information will remain confidential, unless author makes references to such information in his/her submission.

Writers are encouraged to share this solicitation with other writers or to post it on listservs for writers of erotica.

Please direct submission to:

PillowTalk Media
Attention: Submissions
175-43 Hillside Avenue
P.O. Box 7B
Jamaica, NY 11432
pillowtalkmedia@hotmail.com

***************************************************
Has this newsletter helped you get your work published or
motivated you to finally put pen to paper?

If so, please consider making a
voluntary subscription payment of $5 per year
to help defray the many costs inherent in running a webzine, such as
advertising, payments to contributors and prizes for the contests.

Order your voluntary subscription Here
And thanks for your support!
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============================================
--- Kevin's Book Review Corner ---
--- By Kevin Tipple ---
============================================
Masters Of The Sex Gates
By Darrell Bain and Jeanine Berry
2003 - Double Dragon E-Books
www.double-dragon-ebooks.com
ISBN # 1-55404-039-6
ARC

"They never got anything from a Seconder, but they never gave up trying. What a government can't understand, it attempts to coerce and suppress, and Seconders were no exception."

So nice to read a book that makes sense and has actual sentences. I don't know about you, my readers, but after two very bad books in a row, I needed a break. A breath of fresh air, if you will, and I needed to find something worth reading again. This one was it and another great read from these authors.

One thing many authors in this day of 'anything gets published' don't seem to understand is that sentence after sentence containing sex isn't necessarily erotic. Instead, it becomes boring and often laughable as various characters are used for whatever means necessary to do whatever, in the thinking that it will sell. Sure, some folks will buy those kind of books just like some folks will buy the videos featuring nothing more than naked ladies doing whatever, supposedly for their first time, but it isn't erotica. In the case of a woman who has been in the biz for over ten years filming something claiming to be her first time, it is bad casting at the very least. But, that is another subject for another day.

Erotica, especially in writing, should be based on building a believable story with interesting characters and the sexual component, no matter what it is or how far you as an author take it, should build from the basic story and characters. The erotic element should be just another element of your overall work. An addition to the story, and not the be-all, end-all that everything in your work is based on. Strip away the erotic stuff and there should be a good story there and workable characters that the reader will care about. That certainly is the case of this every enjoyable novel, which is a sequel to the "Sex Gates," reviewed previously in this space.

Picking up a short period after the first novel, The Sex Gates, society is still in a massive upheaval from the arrival of the gates. If anything, society is beginning to crack under the strain as temporary measures of control are failing and some people seek to exploit the situation. The gates, while providing a glimpse of immortality for some, have also had severe repercussions for others. Suffering some of those repercussions, as well as the unique possibilities, are Lee and Rita, the primary couple from the first novel.

They have survived multiple passages through the gates which has made them part of a minority group known as "Seconders." In addition to giving them a possible glimpse into the intelligence behind the gates as they pass through them, it has also made them outcasts in a society unable or unwilling to cope with tremendous change. Many people don't make it through the gates the first time and that number shrinks even more when a second passage is attempted. Those that survive twice ,and subsequent attempts, discover that certain skills are enhanced by passage as well as they fact that they can sense something vast as they pass through the gates.

The fact that they can survive finite multiple passages makes them convenient scapegoats for a government bent on restoring control over the nation and putting a firm end to the chaos and social upheaval the gates have created. But Lee and Rita have their own allies and realize that the only way out is to make still more trips through the gates. By doing so they hope to discover and possibly contact the force behind the gates. If they can, they may learn something that will help mankind survive the growing chaos and authoritarian rule.

With less graphic sex and considerably more social commentary, this sequel is another enjoyable novel from these authors. The characters are complicated and the storyline itself is complex. New characters have been added in this sequel and old favorites are revisited in this fast read.

Numerous questions that arose from the first book are answered and new ones raised, which leads to the expected third novel of the series. Well written with plenty of action and deep philosophical questions on gender, religion, government, and society, among others, this novel provides an entertaining read as well as plenty of thought long after the novel is finished.

Check out C.B. Potts' new ebook: What I Didn’t Know: The Collected Columns! It's available now - for only $3.95! - and it contains 3 brand new columns. Click on http://www.katyterrega.com/what.html for chapter headings and excerpts Or Order here!

====================
--- Readers' Response ---
===================

Have any thoughts on something you've seen in the newsletter? Send 'em to me at katy@katyterrega.com

Nightflower writes...

Thank you so much! I love the site, and I've already made two sales!!! You rock!

---

Seduced2Cheat writes...

Just wanted to let you know that I had another story, "The Outlaw" accepted by Justus Roux for her website, www.justusroux.com. I also wanted to let you and everyone else know how valuable a resource your newsletter and sex-writer.com have been to me.

I appreciate all you have done.

---

Congrats! If you sent me your Goings On but don't see it here, just let me know and I'll get it out.

---

Check out my column at http://www.absolutewrite.com/ on - what else?! - writing porn. This week I wrote an essay called "Judicious Use of the Thesaurus" which covers all of the wonderful things a sex-writer can learn from a Thesaurus...Check it out here - http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/porn_101.htm

---

Check out the (now free) Daily Jack-Off Stories...

===========================================
--- Q & A ---
===========================================

So, what's up with Penthouse, anyway?

I've fielded several questions on the subject lately and, while I don't have all the answers, I do have some info for you...

A couple of weeks ago Barbara Pizio of Penthouse Variations emailed me and said that Penthouse Variations is currently not accepting unsolicited freelance material.

Then there are these two Reuters items...

Penthouse Founder Guccione Resigns as CEO
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3779564

Penthouse Warns of Loss, Delays Report
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3838821

Now what this means for we writers is anybody's guess. Barbara Pizio did assure one reader that issues would go out and writers would be paid as usual.

I happen to be working on an article for Penthouse Forum, so I sincerely hope that's the case! But either way, I'll keep you posted.

---

Many gay magazine guidelines talk about "vanilla" sex, can you tell me what that is?

I went straight to the source on this one, and asked Diana Sheridan, former editor of many gay magazines. Here's what she said...

"Vanilla sex is sex of the "plain" variety--essentially sucking and fucking and mutual j/o, along with tame "games"--as opposed to rough sex, S&M, fisting, enemas, humiliation, and other such activities."

---

Send me your questions! I'll answer the most common ones here, and if I don't know the answer, I'll do my best to find a pro who does. (Of course, failing that, I'll ask y'all for help...)

Send Me Your Articles And Ideas!

I'm looking for essays and articles that will inspire and/or instruct other porn and erotica writers. These could include: success stories, how to break into certain markets, unique views on the genre, etc.

For full guidelines see Guidelines

===============CLASSIFIEDS================
Do you have a product or service that might interest almost 1,300 (and growing) writers? Advertise here
(six lines maximum) for only $5.00! E-mail me if you're interested.
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IT'S A DIRTY JOB...WRITING PORN FOR FUN AND PROFIT!
INCLUDES PAYING MARKETS! By Katy Terrega.
This e-book has EVERYTHING the aspiring porn writer needs to know!
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==============END CLASSIFIEDS==============

Writing Porn For Fun and Profit!
The Bi-Weekly E-Letter
Copyright 2001 - All Rights Reserved

Katy Terrega
http://www.katyterrega.writers.html
Katy@KatyTerrega.com

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