Digging in

Sometimes (okay, lots of the time) I forget to take a step back and remember what I love about the work I do. When the days and weeks seem to blur together, the highs and lows mashed into some forgettable mush of middle, the speed of everything racing by so damn fast I long for the night, not to sleep, but to savor the quiet, I can easily lose track of what the hell I'm doing and where I'm going. Escaping into my novel's fictional world, I can take a break from this one, and that's been challenging and exhilarating, and will soon be coming to an end. I have to try to remember the moments when things go quickly not because it's all too much, but because I hardly notice. While it's "work," it's the kind I'm proud of, excited about, full invested in.

One of those projects is Best Sex Writing 2008, which I'm editing (taking submissions through May 15th) for Cleis, to be published in November. November seems so distant (I will also be turning 32 then, which sounds somehow not right) and yet I know it'll be here soon enough. And as I read and research some submissions for it in the wee hours, I remember again that exhilaration of finding writing I love and being so glad I get to publish it. And pay people and bring their work to a new audience. I remember the thrill of anthology editing as I gather stories for another one I'm putting together, relearning the lesson that the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Please do click on the submissions link and feel free to forward that/send it to whoever. I definitely need more submissions!

For now, though, I wanted to share with you a few favorites that are the kinds of sex writing I'm looking for:

Kink.com and Porn Hysteria: The Lie of Unbiased Reporting, Violet Blue, San Francisco Chronicle

"Battle of the Sexless" by Ashlea Halpern, Philadelphia City Paper

The Pink Ghetto series, Sexerati

"Double Your Panic" by Kevin Keck, Babble