Dirty Girls party photos (aka, scroll down to the boob cake)

What can I say about the Dirty Girls book party? It was a lot of fun, though the start of it was rocky because I had a rough time prior to it, forgetting my cell phone and hitting traffic in the cab, unable to communicate with the friend I'd promised a ride,and having as close to a panic attack as I get. Anyone who saw me arrive knows I was pretty stricken, and I realized that I'm just not a book party, evnt planning kind of girl. I can fake it, sure, but no more. That will be the last book party for a long while; if Harpercollins wants to do somethnig for Bedding Down, (my winter-themed erotic novella anthology out in December) great, if not, whatever. It just hit me so hard that event planning and all the leadup promotion and preparation severely detracts from my duties as a writer/editor/human being. Like, do I really care if people think I run good events if that comes at the cost of writing? No. I know now I can do it, after 2+ years of In The Flesh. And I like parts of it, but I find that with cancelling authors, so many social networks and places to spread the word, and just too much else to do, something's gotta give. Writing is insanely stressful too, but it's still a calmer kind of stress. I am reliant on myself, and yes, I'm flaky and dumb, but at least I have control of my flakiness and dumbness. I have no real control over cab rides or who shows up or any of the vagaries of planning events.

And sure, you could say I could hire an assistant or get help with it or not stress over it so much, but I'm too much of a control freak to do that. So at least I can be safe in the knowledge that I only have to have those mini panic attacks for aslong as I'm running In The Flesh, which probably won't be after this year, though we'll see. (I am thrilled to announce that Sexography author Carly Milne (more on her and her RAINN fundraising campaign later) is starting In The Flesh LA, kicking off May 29th with me and famus porn star guests at Freddy and Eddy.) That being said, I had a fabulous time once it got started. THANK YOU to everyone who showed up. So many wonderful friends were in attendance - Heidi, Nichelle, Twanna A. Hines, Michael Malice, Christen Clifford, and others. I got to feed people cake which was awesome, and it was great to have a big cake, especially such a cool one, for once (no offense to my beloved cupcakes.

Sutra Lounge was an amazing, intimate, gorgeous venue, with a throne-like chair for us to sit on and drink specials and loveliness. Between 40 and 50 people showed up and listened raptly as I read along with Lillian Ann Slugocki, Suki Bishop, Tsaurah Litzky, and Sofia Quintero. Then I got to cut the boob cake from Moist and Tasty, which had thick fondant as the "skin" and yummy chocolate cake with a light layer of frosting beneath. I sold out all my copies of the book and we signed autographs, primped and posed for photographer Stacie Joy, and chattered away. At the very end of the night, Marie Lyn Bernard (who is reading at In The Flesh on Thursday along with Sofia Quintero) showed up. See my entire photo set here


L to R: Lillian Ann Slugocki, Sofia Quintero, Suki Bishop, Rachel Kramer Bussel

Lillian Ann Slugocki read from "Trucky Stop Cinderella:"



Suki Bishop read from "Flight:"



Tsaurah Litzky read from "Lily:"



Sofia Quintero read from "El Mar de Encanto:"



The cake was amazing:



My friend Tess was sporting amazing cleavage to match the cake: