My wonderful friend and fellow writer/blogger Franco Bolli (no longer active) has invited me to join in on a blog tour. I’ve been following his blog from nearly the beginning and love how open he has always been about his relationship with Princess. Few ever admit to feeling less than at the top of their game, especially Dominants, but in the end sharing those moments with us help us realize that it is ok for us to have them as well. Thank you Franco for sharing your love, your life, with us.

The tour is simple, though you do have to think about your answers. At least I did. I never really thought about what makes me different or how my writing process works. I generally just do what I do and hope that someone likes it or is inspired in some way. So, like I said, the tour is simple. Answer four questions and invite other bloggers to join in the fun. Include links to the person who invited you and the bloggers you invite as well. This is a tour after all and we do want to be able to easily visit everyone’s blog and see what they are all about. Maybe you’ll find some new people and interesting reads along way.

1. What am I working on at the moment?

I always have a file of ideas and partially written pieces to work on. The biggest project I am working on currently is a novel. It is a long and arduous project for me getting just a first draft finished. I joke about being a better editor than I am a writer, which is true, but it doesn’t work to my benefit when I have hundreds of pages to fill and keep nitpicking about the details before filling them. The novel is about a woman’s introduction to BDSM and how it helps her recover from past traumas to find true happiness.

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

My non-fiction differs because it is me, my thoughts and feelings on things. That has to differ because, well, I’m the only me there is. Isn’t that a good thing!☺

When it comes to the fiction though, I don’t know that I am really that different. I do try to make my stories intimate and to have them evoke some emotional reaction. I want the emotion to be the part that catches you as that is the biggest part of a story for me. You can describe how a character looks so the reader can paint a mental picture of them but the way they react, the way they think and feel, that gives us far better insight into a character than any visual description. I re-read one of my pieces from a series earlier and cried. I knew what was coming yet I still found myself caught up in the emotional turmoil of the character and tears came to my eyes. I want my readers to connect in that way and I hope that if I can have that reaction they certainly must as well.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write what I do because I want people to know they are not alone in their desires, that they can take things slow, and that they don’t have to conform to some stereotypical “norm” of what it means to be involved in the BDSM lifestyle. They can find what is right for them, be it one little aspect or going full on into it. I want to show them that BDSM is about more than the scenes and the broken people we have always been told are part of it. I want to introduce them to the lifestyle, to show them that it isn’t as scary or far removed from their personal kinks as they may think. I want to show the feelings, the emotions, the caring and loving side of it. I want people to realize that all sadists are not just mean men who inflict pain on others strictly for their own gratification, that being submissive doesn’t mean you are a doormat with no voice, that you can express your sexuality and be desirable without having to be a size zero.

4. How does my writing process work?

This is the tough one. I don’t have a set process as it’s quite difficult setting a schedule, or rather sticking to it, when I am a single working parent of a four year old. When he wants my attention he gets it regardless of what I may have planned. The saying is “write drunk, edit sober.” I tend to write tired and edit refreshed. Unlike most writers I know I tend to write at night, late into the night, and edit first thing in the morning. I enjoy the complete stillness of the night, the silence that lets my mind wander without distraction. I also do not usually have an end scene in mind when I start writing. I will have an idea, maybe just one line or a picture I’ve seen, and see where that takes me as I write. Maybe that is another reason I am having issue with the novel.

Several of my blogger friends have already participated in this tour but there are still many who haven’t. I would love to hear about your writing process if you’d like to share.