Email: rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com



 

Lusty Lady

BLOG OF RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL
Watch my first and favorite book trailer for Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica. Get Spanked in print and ebook

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Last chance to vote for SXSW panels

Yes, it's true, today (Friday, August 29th) is your last chance to vote for SXSW Interactive 2009 panels. If you haven't voted yet, what are you waiting for?

Here are my picks again (with some updates):


It would be super, super awesome if you like my cupcake blog if you’d log in to the SXSW Panel Picker and vote for my proposed panel “Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging” and also leave a comment. First you register, then go to the panel URL, then give it 5 stars. (It’s easy, I promise. But if you have a problem, email me at rachelkb at gmail.com and I’ll try to help.) The details are below:



What does it take to build a successful food blog? From niche single-food specific blogs like Cupcakes Take the Cake to broader blogs like Midtown Lunch, we’ll share the secrets of making readers hungry for more and attracting press and advertisers. Free cupcakes.


Tentative panelists include:


Rachel Kramer Bussel (Moderator) of Cupcakes Take the Cake


Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakes Take the Cake


Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch


Hunter Walker, Editor-at-Large, Digital City (formerly Associate Editor, Gridskipper)


Cathy Erway, Not Eating Out in New York



Also, some other great panels worth your vote:


Touching Me Touching You: How We Feel Technology by Cory Silberberg of About.com


Intimate computing is bringing real touch into the virtual world. But does computer mediated touch change the users, functions, or feelings about technology? We’ll be looking at interactive clothing design, philosophy and teledildonic sex and peer into the future to answer these and other questions about socially acceptable touch, and touch that brings in the money.


Sex Ed Online: How Teens Self Savvy


Creators of popular online teen sexuality content—including the Midwest Teen Sex Show and Scarleteen.com—community educators, scholars and advocates discuss teenagers, sex, and the Internet. Content developers, parents and teens: Bring your questions, fears and hopes. We’ll answer generational quandaries. Sexy prizes for the best questions. With Karen Rayne PhD, Heather Corinna, Nikol Hasler, Kris Gowan PhD.



How to Protect Your Brand Without Being a Jerk! - by Twanna A. Hines of Funky Brown Chick


You’ve already created content and a brand. Now, a copycat is making money pushing a product ridiculously similar to yours. Congratulations! Imitation is flattery. So, why are you pissed off? You’re upset because it’s unfair and, possibly, infringes on your rights. Learn how to protect your creative projects without going overboard…or broke.


- I’ll wait for her official word, but basically, she has created a unique site/brand, and has been dealing with another blogger trying to encroach on her brand by forming a similarly-named site, redesigning it to look a lot like hers, and covering the very same topics she did. When we did our Man and Wife podcast, the sites were confused by Shanda, an example of how easy it is to confuse people when it comes to names and branding online.


That’s Not My Name: Beating Down Online Misogyny by Samhita Mukhopadhyay of Feministing



This panel explores the complex and violent ways that women are treated online, specifically feminists when they speak publicly about politics. Presenting some of the lead feminist voices on the internet we will discuss and share our war stories while offering tips for how to survive the anti-feminist internet.


DIY Empires: Taking Your Online Fanbase Offline


The internet has increased our ability to spread information and ideas — and it’s also made it easier for grassroots organizations to promote, market, and recruit a following. In this panel, the founders of three “DIY Empires” explain how to use the internet’s community building power to create loyal, evangelical followings in the real world. Panelists include Molly Crabapple (founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School), Jenny Hart (Venus colunist and co-founder of The Craft Mafia), Chris Baty (founder of National Novel Writing Month), and Emily Bristow (Austin coordinator of National Novel Writing Month). And moderated by Lux Alptraum of Boinkology/Fleshbot.



Sex Lives of the Microfamous by Rex Sorgatz, with Nick Douglas and Melissa Gira


What kind of person talks about their sex and dating life on the internet? Someone desperate for attention? Or someone who already has lots of it? For the microfamous, having a relationship in public is as much a potential career boost as it as a vulnerability.


Now with a post-breakup update from Rex:


VOTE FOR IT! Seriously, behind all this fameball nonsense, there are serious questions about how breakups work when a micro-micro-micro audience can see it. Everyone has their Facebook status story, or their why-did-I-find-this-out-on-Flickr story. This is interesting stuff! And all the “microfame” aspect means is that a few dozen people can see it.


Bloggers: You’re Fired! by Zoe Margolis of Girl With a One-Track Mind



From anonymously whistle-blowing on your money-grabbing, corrupt colleagues in the Stock Exchange, to taking your employers to court when they fire you for blogging, ‘outed’ British sex-blogger Girl With a One-Track Mind moderates a panel to find out: have bloggers now got the upper hand?


Comics on Handhelds: Taking Webcomics Mobile by Dan Goldman, illustrator of Shooting War


Comics are evolving right off the printed page into an online medium all its own; what do new mobile hardware platforms mean for online/digital comics? Acclaimed webcomics creators discuss what portability means to expanding your readership, creating new business models and exploring new global distribution channels. Did I miss something super-awesome I should know about?


Let me know!

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Scooteriffic

I sat on my first scooter on Sunday, while being interviewed by the lovely and corseted Jincey Lumpkin of the new queer girl social networking site DigiRomp (go check it out - worth logging in for Jincey's vlogs and sexy KFC photos). Anyway, I didn't ride the scooter, but it was purple and gorgeous and I got to sit on it and talk about Spanked, which you can watch September 3rd at DigiRomp as part of the Spanked virtual book tour! Working on lots and lots of other stuff too.

Getting interviewed on Jincey's scooter

Spanked on a scooter

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Like, OMG! In The Flesh is tonight!

I think it's just cause I'm up way too late, as usual, that I wrote that subject line. Anyway, please come out tonight and tell your friends - we have a very special In The Flesh, with a showing of the Spanked book trailer, readers from the book, and other special guests. And snacks! And giveaways! And my new sparkly silver dress. Anything could happen...okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but I promise it'll be fun. And sexy. And apologies for lack of updates - more soon, I promise.

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
AUGUST 21st at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com


Summer heats up as In The Flesh celebrates the release of host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthology Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, with readings from contributors M. David Hornbuckle, Andy Horwitz, and Madlyn March. Also featured are novelist Jessica Anya Blau (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties), comedian and playwright Julie Klausner (Wasp Cove), erotic poet Monica Day (host of A Taste of Sex) and filmmaker Tony Comstock. Copies of Spanked will be available for sale and the book trailer will be shown. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.



Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, was recommended summer reading in The New York Post, New York Magazine, and The Today Show. She has published over twenty-five short stories and optioned a screenplay. Currently, she is teaching at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she graduated from The Writing Seminars.
www.jessicaanyablau.com/



Rachel Kramer Bussel’s most recent edited anthologies include Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2008. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmopolitan, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. She also co-edits the cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Tony Comstock came to New York City in the early 90’s as a journeyman commercial photographer and advertising copywriter. In short order, New York City decided his talents were better suited to film and video, and over the course of the next dozen or so years he directed films for Fortune 500 companies, international relief agencies, and circled the world several times on both commissioned and self-financed documentary projects. In 1995 he and his wife Peggy began shooting experimental erotic shorts that were to become the conceptual and technical foundation for Comstock Films. When not shooting or editing he enjoys spending time with his family and splashing in the sea. His sixth erotic documentary feature, Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless, is slated for release in early Winter '08.
http://www.comstockfilms.com

Monica Day wears many hats: entrepreneur, mother, writer and poet, performer, coach, trainer, and community leader. Her new online publication, The Sensual Life, features erotic writing and ideas about how to infuse your day-to-day life with more intimacy, sensuality – and yes, raw, hardcore sex. She is a sensuality coach who works with both couples and individuals. She also hosts “A Taste of Sex,” an erotic poetry open mic night at the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center in New York on the first Wednesday of every month.



M. David Hornbuckle is a full-time writer and musician, originally from Birmingham, Alabama. His fiction has been published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Isms, Peek, Air in the Paragraph Line and Astarte. His novella The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter was published as an e-book by Cantarabooks in October 2007. Hornbuckle now lives in NYC where he is finishing up a novel and is the leader of the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra.
www.mdhornbuckle.net

Andy Horwitz is a writer/performer/producer in NYC. He has performed his comic monologues and spoken word pieces to sold out houses all over New York in such venues as P.S.122, Dixon Place and Here Arts Center. His writing has appeared frequently at Nerve.com, Heeb Magazine and other outlets. In 2005 he ran for Mayor of NYC, a campaign which is documented in the film The Promise of New York. He is the founder and editor of Culturebot.org.

Julie Klausner is a comedian, writer and actor whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine.com, and Salon. Her TV credits include TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live and The Big Gay Sketch Show on LOGO, and, with Rachel Shukert, she's the creator and co-star of Wasp Cove, the monthly live soap opera, Season Two of which returns in October. She recently sold a memoir, I Don't Care About Your Band, to Penguin, scheduled for release in Spring 2010. Her website is, predictably, julieklausner.com.


Madlyn March is the pseudonym of a writer whose work has appeared in the anthology First-Timers, Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Black Table, AfterEllen, AfterElton, Complete Woman, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and others.

And a bonus - book trailers for The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter respectively.



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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Leave cupcakes alone, David Rakoff!

Read my response to David Rakoff's New York Times Op-Ed slam against cupcakes in "Leave cupcakes alone, David Rakoff!"

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Get spanked (and read to) by me tonight at TES

The Spanking Group at TES, where I've spoken before, is fabulous. And tonight, I'll be there reading from Spanked and...spanking people! I will even bring my new paddle I got at Dark Odyssey (well, I got two, but one is MIA). Please join us - I'll also be reading from Spanked and selling copies! I was looking for a photo of me spanking someone, and sadly, I don't have any! Will have to rectify that on Saturday. :)

Join us for an evening of spanking fun as author & Penthouse Variations editor Rachel Kramer Bussel will both spank & read excerpts of her new book 'Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica'. Rachael is both a fine spanker as well as writer and it's sure to be a great evening. Cupcakes may even be served.

August 16, 8 pm (doors at 7:30)
Paddles, 250 W 26th Street, Basement (between 7th and 8th Avenues.,side door next to the parking lot)
$4 for members; $8 for non-members
Click here for directions

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Lesbian cupcakes

Really, lesbians and cupcakes, but I just like saying that.

Lindsay Pecikon's cupcakes
photo of Linsey Pecikonis for The Washington Blade by Henry Linser

(Sorry, not a porn movie…yet.) But this Washington Blade article came out at the perfect time, good synergy with an idea I’ve had bubbling around in my brain. Oh and there is no hyphen in my name, but it’s okay, I’m used to it being spelled wrong. Also, fun RKB trivia: Shar(lene) Rednour published my very first erotica story, “Monica and Me,” in her anthology Starf*cker way back in 2000, launching this smut writing career of mine (though at the time I had no idea I had so many more dirty stories in me!).



Rachel Kramer-Bussel started her popular blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake, in December of 2004, and two friends joined her blogging efforts the following February. Kramer-Bussel, who is bisexual, says that although there’s “nothing specifically queer about cupcakes,” she has seen some parallels between lesbians and the little desserts.

“I’ve been seeing them in the queer community at gay marriages, and there are also Gay Pride cupcakes. You can very easily decorate them to match any color or theme, and do things with them that you can’t do with cookies.”

But there’s more to the queer cupcake relationship than decorating them.

“There’s a segment of my blog readership that comes from the indie-craft world, and I see an overlap between people who go to craft fairs, and who are lesbian or bisexual,” she says. “I think that’s coming from the ‘do it yourself’ mentality. We can make our own, and we’re taking back some of those traditionally feminine skills by doing them in a feminist kind of way … It’s kitschy cool. Even though cupcakes are very mainstream, if we make Pride cupcakes and bring them to the parade, then there’s a reclaiming of that as something valid for women without it capitulating that idea that women have to cook.”

Sharlene Rednour, a California-based writer and filmmaker, became a stay-at-home mom after adopting two children through a foster-to-adopt program, and she also started her own cupcake company, Sharlene’s Babycakes.

“I have always been a foodie and when I became a mom, I couldn’t do creative things by myself,” she says, “Baking cupcakes was something I could do with the kids and I always got a lot of compliments on them.”

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Lynne Spears book out from Thomas Nelson September 16th



The Lynne Spears memoir Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt has been Twittering about comes out September 16th. It's called Through the Storm: A Real Story of in a Tabloid World.

According to OK! (via The Calgary Herald):

According to sources, in her new book Lynne Spears will discuss how she really feels about teenage daughter Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy. Older daughter Britney is not happy that their mother will disclose personal details about the family. Despite reports to the contrary, Lynne Spears' book will hit stands as planned Sept. 16. The memoir by the mother of troubled starlets Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears will be entitled Through the Storm.

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Friday, August 15, 2008

In The Flesh August 21st

We will have the usual smorgasbord of snacks, so many amazing readers, I'll be selling copies of Spanked and the hot-off-the-press Tasting Him: Oral Sex Stories and Tasting Her: Oral Sex Stories and...we'll be showing the Spanked book trailer! That's what I'm most excited about. It's never had a public screening before.

See you there!

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
AUGUST 21st at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseris.blogspot.com


Summer heats up as In The Flesh celebrates the release of host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthology Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, with readings from contributors M. David Hornbuckle, Andy Horwitz, and Madlyn March. Also featured are novelist Jessica Anya Blau (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties), comedian and playwright Julie Klausner (Wasp Cove), erotic poet Monica Day (host of A Taste of Sex) and filmmaker Tony Comstock. Copies of Spanked will be available for sale and the book trailer will be shown. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Spanked, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.



Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, was recommended summer reading in The New York Post, New York Magazine, and The Today Show. She has published over twenty-five short stories and optioned a screenplay. Currently, she is teaching at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she graduated from The Writing Seminars.
www.jessicaanyablau.com/



Rachel Kramer Bussel’s most recent edited anthologies include Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Rubber Sex, Dirty Girls, Yes, Sir, Yes, Ma’am and Best Sex Writing 2008. She is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice. Rachel has also written for AVN, Bust, Cosmopolitan, Gothamist, Mediabistro, Metro, New York Post, Punk Planet, San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York and Velvetpark. She also co-edits the cupcake blog Cupcakes Take the Cake.
www.rachelkramerbussel.com

Tony Comstock came to New York City in the early 90’s as a journeyman commercial photographer and advertising copywriter. In short order, New York City decided his talents were better suited to film and video, and over the course of the next dozen or so years he directed films for Fortune 500 companies, international relief agencies, and circled the world several times on both commissioned and self-financed documentary projects. In 1995 he and his wife Peggy began shooting experimental erotic shorts that were to become the conceptual and technical foundation for Comstock Films. When not shooting or editing he enjoys spending time with his family and splashing in the sea. His sixth erotic documentary feature, Bill and Desiree: Love is Timeless, is slated for release in early Winter '08.
http://www.comstockfilms.com

Monica Day wears many hats: entrepreneur, mother, writer and poet, performer, coach, trainer, and community leader. Her new online publication, The Sensual Life, features erotic writing and ideas about how to infuse your day-to-day life with more intimacy, sensuality – and yes, raw, hardcore sex. She is a sensuality coach who works with both couples and individuals. She also hosts “A Taste of Sex,” an erotic poetry open mic night at the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center in New York on the first Wednesday of every month.



M. David Hornbuckle is a full-time writer and musician, originally from Birmingham, Alabama. His fiction has been published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Isms, Peek, Air in the Paragraph Line and Astarte. His novella The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter was published as an e-book by Cantarabooks in October 2007. Hornbuckle now lives in NYC where he is finishing up a novel and is the leader of the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra.
www.mdhornbuckle.net

Andy Horwitz is a writer/performer/producer in NYC. He has performed his comic monologues and spoken word pieces to sold out houses all over New York in such venues as P.S.122, Dixon Place and Here Arts Center. His writing has appeared frequently at Nerve.com, Heeb Magazine and other outlets. In 2005 he ran for Mayor of NYC, a campaign which is documented in the film The Promise of New York. He is the founder and editor of Culturebot.org.

Julie Klausner is a comedian, writer and actor whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine.com, and Salon. Her TV credits include TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live and The Big Gay Sketch Show on LOGO, and, with Rachel Shukert, she's the creator and co-star of Wasp Cove, the monthly live soap opera, Season Two of which returns in October. She recently sold a memoir, I Don't Care About Your Band, to Penguin, scheduled for release in Spring 2010. Her website is, predictably, julieklausner.com.


Madlyn March is the pseudonym of a writer whose work has appeared in the anthology First-Timers, Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica, Black Table, AfterEllen, AfterElton, Complete Woman, The New York Post, Time Out New York, and others.

And a bonus - book trailers for The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter respectively.



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Thursday, August 14, 2008

Should I buy a Kindle?

I will post about my Minneapolis trip more over the weekend; quickie version - had a fabulous time, ate tons of cupcakes, a Jucy Lucy cheeseburger, hung out with some very amazing people, visited Mall of America, and missed my 5th flight of 2008 and had to sleep for a bit at the airport (if you are going to sleep at an airport, MSP was actually very comfy - go upstairs, and you will likely find fellow stranded passgenders).

Right now, I am insanely behind on many deadlines and have an annoying, persistent headache, which has made for, oh, a wee bit of stress (and by wee bit of stress, I mean, I'm pretty fried).

Anyway, I am thinking of buying a Kindle, mainly because some of my books are available in Kindle editions. It's not like I just have an extra $400 lying around, but...it might be worth it. I'd like to see how they look and try to market to Kindle and other e-reader users, if I can (haven't got that far in my brainstorming yet). Any ideas?

I mean, I could be reading this: (and there's actually a great chapter in Dagmar Herzog's Sex in Crisis about Every Man's Battle and Christian sex ed)


image via Flickr user swbuehler

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In spirit, if not in practice



My family's pretty much all liberal; I was trying to think who the most conservative person I'm related to is, and I couldn't really. By not smoking pot, I'm probably more conservative than a lot of them. Anyway, this was one of my favorites of the My Yard Our Message campaign, found via clicking around at the Walker Art Center website. If you are ever in Minneapolis, you must go to The Walker.

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Dooce's memoir title

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce (and yesterday's New York Times) fame comes out March 24, 2009 from Simon Spotlight Entertainment.

She mentioned it on her blog:

However. I have another enormous deadline looming over me right now, the one where I'm supposed to turn in the final pages of my manuscript to my editor (hi, Patrick!) at Simon and Schuster. It's sort of a memoir about my pregnancy and postpartum experience with Leta, and it's only one paragraph long. It goes: "It sucked and then I cried. The end." My editor thinks I should elaborate a little bit. He's so picky.

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Sex and cupcakes at SXSW Interactive 2009



It would be super, super awesome if you like my cupcake blog if you'd log in to the SXSW Panel Picker and vote for my proposed panel "Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging" and also leave a comment. First you register, then go to the panel URL, then give it 5 stars. (It's easy, I promise. But if you have a problem, email me at rachelkb at gmail.com and I'll try to help.) The details are below:

What does it take to build a successful food blog? From niche single-food specific blogs like Cupcakes Take the Cake to broader blogs like Midtown Lunch, we’ll share the secrets of making readers hungry for more and attracting press and advertisers. Free cupcakes.

Panelists include (this may change slightly, but hopefully will stay as is):


Rachel Kramer Bussel (Moderator) of Cupcakes Take the Cake


Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakes Take the Cake


Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch


Hunter Walker, Editor-at-Large, Digital City (formerly Associate Editor, Gridskipper)


Cathy Erway, Not Eating Out in New York



Also, some other great panels worth your vote:

Touching Me Touching You: How We Feel Technology by Cory Silberberg of About.com

Intimate computing is bringing real touch into the virtual world. But does computer mediated touch change the users, functions, or feelings about technology? We'll be looking at interactive clothing design, philosophy and teledildonic sex and peer into the future to answer these and other questions about socially acceptable touch, and touch that brings in the money.

Sex Ed Online: How Teens Self Savvy

Creators of popular online teen sexuality content—including the Midwest Teen Sex Show and Scarleteen.com—community educators, scholars and advocates discuss teenagers, sex, and the Internet. Content developers, parents and teens: Bring your questions, fears and hopes. We'll answer generational quandaries. Sexy prizes for the best questions. With Karen Rayne PhD, Heather Corinna, Nikol Hasler, Kris Gowan PhD.

How to Protect Your Brand Without Being a Jerk! - by Twanna A. Hines of Funky Brown Chick

You've already created content and a brand. Now, a copycat is making money pushing a product ridiculously similar to yours. Congratulations! Imitation is flattery. So, why are you pissed off? You're upset because it's unfair and, possibly, infringes on your rights. Learn how to protect your creative projects without going overboard...or broke. - I'll wait for her official word, but basically, she has created a unique site/brand, and has been dealing with another blogger trying to encroach on her brand by forming a similarly-named site, redesigning it to look a lot like hers, and covering the very same topics she did. When we did our Man and Wife podcast, the sites were confused by Shanda, an example of how easy it is to confuse people when it comes to names and branding online.

That's Not My Name: Beating Down Online Misogyny by Samhita Mukhopadhyay of Feministing

This panel explores the complex and violent ways that women are treated online, specifically feminists when they speak publicly about politics. Presenting some of the lead feminist voices on the internet we will discuss and share our war stories while offering tips for how to survive the anti-feminist internet.

DIY Empires: Taking Your Online Fanbase Offline

The internet has increased our ability to spread information and ideas -- and it's also made it easier for grassroots organizations to promote, market, and recruit a following. In this panel, the founders of three "DIY Empires" explain how to use the internet's community building power to create loyal, evangelical followings in the real world.

Panelists include Molly Crabapple (founder of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School), Jenny Hart (Venus colunist and co-founder of The Craft Mafia), Chris Baty (founder of National Novel Writing Month), and Emily Bristow (Austin coordinator of National Novel Writing Month).

And moderated by Lux Alptraum of Boinkology/Fleshbot.

Sex Lives of the Microfamous by Rex Sorgatz, with Nick Douglas and Melissa Gira

What kind of person talks about their sex and dating life on the internet? Someone desperate for attention? Or someone who already has lots of it? For the microfamous, having a relationship in public is as much a potential career boost as it as a vulnerability.

Bloggers: You're Fired! by Zoe Margolis of Girl With a One-Track Mind

From anonymously whistle-blowing on your money-grabbing, corrupt colleagues in the Stock Exchange, to taking your employers to court when they fire you for blogging, ‘outed’ British sex-blogger Girl With a One-Track Mind moderates a panel to find out: have bloggers now got the upper hand?

Comics on Handhelds: Taking Webcomics Mobile by Dan Goldman, illustrator of Shooting War

Comics are evolving right off the printed page into an online medium all its own; what do new mobile hardware platforms mean for online/digital comics? Acclaimed webcomics creators discuss what portability means to expanding your readership, creating new business models and exploring new global distribution channels.

Did I miss something super-awesome I should know about? Let me know!

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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Please vote for my SXSWi Foodblogging panel "Nom Nom Nom"

The SXSW Interactive Panel Picker went live yesterday. I would really appreciate it if you'd do me a favor and register and vote for my panel proposal “Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging.”

(details below). And yes, I know there are dozens, if not hundreds of other worthy panels being proposed by my friends and colleagues. Do your research and check those out too, but, you know, please vote for mine. FREE CUPAKES! (Yes, I am up for bribing, plus I want to sample as many Austin cupcakeries as I can.) And if you can't figure out the Panel Picker system (it's easy, I promise), drop me a line at cupcakestakethecake at yahoo.com and I'll try to help.

Here's the official description:

What does it take to build a successful food blog? From niche single-food specific blogs like Cupcakes Take the Cake to broader blogs like Midtown Lunch, we’ll share the secrets of making readers hungry for more and attracting press and advertisers. Free cupcakes.

Panelists include (this may change slightly, but hopefully will stay as is):

Rachel Kramer Bussel (Moderator) of Cupcakes Take the Cake

Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakes Take the Cake



Zach Brooks, Midtown Lunch



Hunter Walker, Editor-at-Large, Digital City (formerly Associate Editor, Gridskipper)



Cathy Erway, Not Eating Out in New York

Voting closes on August 29th.

I’ve yet to peruse the numerous listings, so if you are pitching a panel I should vote for/know about, please let me know at rachelkb at gmail.com (put SXSW in the subject line). Same goes if you run a unique food blog and are interested in being on the panel; that’s iffy cause right now we have enough people, but there is a chance I may need someone down the road. Thanks!

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What's going on

Me with two of my closest friends, Twanna and Nichelle. The three of us are going to Martha's Vineyard over Labor Day weekend. Me, to visit my grandmother (who grew up there) and they to have fun. I can only imagine the troubleadventures we will have!

Twanna, me, Nichelle

I'm in Minneapolis this weekend, visiting friends, seeing Fringe Festival shows (tonight I have many options, so if you have a great suggestion, let me know!), eating cupcakes, and doing a booksigning and reading (today at 5:30: Amazon Bookstore, tomorrow, reading and open mic 7-8:30 at Smitten Kitten)

And cupcakes! Do go check out Miel y Leche's FANTASTIC cupcakes at Letterbox Creative if you're in town today at noon. I am gonna try to hit them up, then am going to the inaugural Minneapolis/St. Paul Cupcake Meetup at Cupcake, home of the best S'mores cupcake I've ever had.

I'm staying with friends in this really cool apartment building in the Elliot Park neighborhood:

Drexel Apartments, Minneapolis

I went for lunch with my super-awesome publicist Buzzy Porter for Bedding Down, my December Avon Red novella anthology of winter erotica, and this is the dessert we had (I forget exactly what it was called but it was delicious!):

Beautiful cake closeup

And now, the food that has captured my taste buds and won't let go - the shawafel from Chickpea, which just opened on Houston Street on the Lower East Side (after being on 3rd Avenue off St. Marks). Twanna can tell you; I devoured it in about two minutes!

Shawafel from Chickpea

This is the shawafel from Chickpea, which just opened on Houston (near the Sunshine theater) after being on Third Avenue off St. Marks. They are the felafel restaurant that had a reader contest to name them. Anyway, they make a felafel and shwarma combo sandwich called the shawafel that is so amazing. There's also hummus and salad and (if you want) hot sauce in it. Omg! They also have flavored felafel which I had never seen before (3 flavors of felafel, 3 flavors of shwarma). I chose spinach and broccoli felafel and was not disappointed. The felafel is baked, not fried, too.

It was so good I went back the next night and had another! And I also cannot recommend enough the side of roasted eggplant- I could eat a giant bowl of it! It's mushy and tasty and yummy. Getting hungry now just thinking about it.

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Friday, August 08, 2008

Over 20,000 hits for the Spanked trailer!

The book trailer for (NSFW blog) Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica just hit the 20,000 view mark on YouTube! Yay - I consider that a success (you can also watch it on Blip). I won't see sales numbers for probably six months, but I think Spanked is poised to be my bestselling book; at least, I'm counting on it!

I'm planning a fun/sweet/sexy trailer for my Avon Red (Harpercollins) debut, an anthology of novellas, Bedding Down: A Collection of Winter Erotica, out December 1st. More on that when it gets closer to pub date; there should also be a NYC book party (something I don't do much anymore, wisely, but in this case I have such fabulous support, I want to go all out).

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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Major book lust - Cooking Cute


photo via Cooking Cute

from Publishers Marketplace:

NON-FICTION: COOKING
Japanese pop-culture blogger La Carmina's COOKING CUTE, a "kawaii" (think Hello, Kitty) cookbook that brings the recent trend of personified bento boxes to an American palate, to Meg Leder at Perigee, by Lindsay Edgecombe at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency (word).


This is a perfect time to tell you that tomorrow the SXSW Panel Picker goes live, and I will be spamming you like crazy to vote for my food blogger panel (with free cupcakes!) "Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging." (which, if there's room, I just may ask La Carmina to be on!)

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Freaks Read (including me!) August 28th at gay bar Nowher

August 27th, I read about bukkake at a gay bar

I'm reading at gay bar Nowhere for the Freaks Read series. I'll be reading an excerpt of my bukkake erotica story "A First Time for Everything," which is being published in Susie Bright's X: The Erotic Bedside Companion in October by Chronicle Books. Also, if memory serves me right, Nowhere has the naked girl game (my favorite video game ever).

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Jefferson's custody case and the First Amendment red herring

I need to preface this by saying I have never slept with Jefferson. I know him from hanging out in the same sex blogger circles, have been to a few parties he's attended, have traded a few emails with him, once ran into him on the subway with his kids. I used to read his blog a fair bit.

I really wasn't planning to post further about this, but I'm truly dismayed at what's been happening online regarding blogger Jefferson's custody case. Well, actually, regarding discussion of it. I blogged about it on my Tumblr blog, only after it was written about publicly on Viviane's Sex Carnival, Fleshbot, and The Huffington Post. I had heard privately about it last week, but had refrained from commenting, because really, his custody case is none of my business. I'm not privy to enough details about it or New York State custody law to have a proper opinion on it, though from what I know of his situation, I don't wish him to lose custody. But I didn't write about that. I wrote about the fact that if you can read, if you've ever studied anything about the First Amendment, you should know that it applies to the government dictating what you can and can't say, not your vindictive ex-wife. Nobody ever said he didn't have the legal right to post anything he damn well wanted.

The next day I had the following exchange with him:

Rachel,

I'm trying to get the word out that people should not discuss my custody case online in any way. No matter the intent, any public discussion of an ongoing court case can have adverse affects. While I respect people's right to their opinions, I am unable to share details of the case, so misinformation is inevitable.

The Friends of Jefferson committee is issuing appeals that are approved by my attorneys. These can be circulated as you wish, but please don't alter the text.

Above all, everyone's primary focus should be what is best for the children concerned.

Thanks!

--
Jefferson

One Life, Take Two
www.onelifetaketwo.com

The life of a parent, and pervert, in New York City.


I replied:

Hi Jefferson,

While I do understand your point of view, when it's being written about on the Huffington Post, I think that makes it a public discussion. I have only commented thus far on what has already been written about publicly.

Rachel


And he replied:

The post on Huffington Post came a surprise to me. I know some people want to help, and others want to weigh in, but any public discussion of this case can only be detrimental. There will be time later to discuss it, when the facts will be available.

For now, please: this is about
children, Rachel.

That alone I find incredibly offensive. (And from a man who posts his blog under a Creative Commons license, no less.) It's arrogant, obnoxious, and foolish to, on the one hand, fling around the term "First Amendment" in the Friends of Jefferson plea, then ask not just me, but other bloggers and even blog commenters, to refrain from writing about the case and/or to remove their posts/comments. I then posted this on my Tumblr, under the title "How to piss off a writer: try to dictate what they write:"

Want to know how to piss off a writer? Tell them what they can and can’t talk about. Act like you are doing it for some hgher moral cause. Get indignant when it’s pointed out that I’m responding to an already-public discussion. It reminds me of the parents who won’t let their kids read Harry Potter books; G-d forbid they may get ideas in their heads! What would happen if someone doesn’t agree with you?



In response to my post about Jefferson’s custody case, I got an email asking me to refrain from public discussion about said case. No mention of the fact that is now been written about on Fleshbot and Huffington Post. You know, those very low profile, low traffic websites.



To me, that request is mind control at its worst. It’s saying, I have the write to put my viewpoint out there (oh! and a plea for $20,000) but you don’t. I’m right, you’re wrong. My way or the highway.



It’s fucked up and it’s bullshit. Of course I get the motivation behind it, but it does not make what essentially is an attempt at Internet bullying okay. Asking people to remove posts is cowardly.



As I stated previously, the First Amendment gives you the right to free speech. But to hide behind it, then ask others not to exercise their free speech, goes against the principles of this country. And since this person is behind heralded as akin to a Founding Father, well, I think that’s extremely fucked up.



If someone has done something and thinks they’re right, stand up for yourself. Say it loud, say it proud. I think that’s wonderful. But recognize the risks that you personally assumed. I didn’t assume those risks, so don’t ask me to take the fall.



I had actually deleted part of what else I had to say about this case, because I recognize that it’s complicated. But trying to shut down discussion furthers nothing. In my opinion, it does not set a good example, for children or adults. It’s selfish and unfair and also ignores the thing that makes the blogosphere so wonderful: a diversity of opinion.

I think a comment he left on Audacia Ray's blog truly says it all; we're all just bitches, but bitches whose money he wants:

Yeah, I fucked pretty much all of these commenters. Bitches weren’t complaining then.

Have fun with the flaying, y’all.


Though he later apologized, to me that speaks to the fact that he doesn't care about anything but himself; ideas, discussion, thought, blogging, community - what-fucking-ever. You're either with him or against him, and if it's the latter, shut the fuck up right now.

Susan Mernit asks:

Do you have to approve of someone's actions to fund their legal defense? In this crowd, the answer is clearly yes, potential loss of kids or not.

I think that's unfair. He has asked fellow writers and bloggers not to discuss this case, which basically is saying, agree with me or have no opinion. You are not entitled, because this is MY case, my life. And yet, he is free to post on his blog, and ask for money, and act like it's all for "the greater good." It's not for him, it's for the children. Well, no, I don't have kids, but I hope when I do what I teach them is that we all have plenty to learn from each other. That discussion, disagreement, debate, are good, not evil things. The stunning hypocrisy astounds me.

If that's what it means to be part of the "sex-positive community," count me way the fuck out. I don't want to be associated in any way whatsover with trying to shut down discussions in the name of sex-positivity, with the idea that a plurality of opinions are not welcome. My friend Kristina Wright left a truly brilliant, spot-on analysis of the situation at Audacia's blog, saying in part:

In a perfect world, we could all write what we want to write without fear of repercussions. Hell, in a perfect world, marriage would last forever and custody fights wouldn’t exist. We don’t live in a perfect world and Jefferson knows this, which is why he wrote his blog anonymously. He can’t now pretend he didn’t know the risks and play the victim while others foot the bill.

But then again, I guess I'm just a bitch, right?

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"How Many Partners Makes You Promiscuous?" on Huffington Post

I’d love it if you’d check out my latest Huffington Post piece on “the number” (of one’s sexual partners) and if you think it worthy, please Digg it. Yes, I’m revisiting this perennial issue that I also covered back in the day (sigh) for The Village Voice. I miss being a sex columnist, that’s for sure.

I'm not going to tell you exactly how many people I've slept with, partly because I don't know, partly because I stopped caring long ago, and partly because it's none of your business. But I will tell you it's more than French First Lady Carla Bruni's reported number: 15. Way more. I share that information to make the point that how and why we choose our sexual partners differs for everyone; there's no single perfect number that will make you: a) happy and b) not a slut.

But to read Virginia Ironside's recent tirade against Bruni's perceived promiscuity is to think you've landed back a few centuries. Any hint that we might have come a long way, baby, that there was ever such a thing as feminism, let alone the misguidedly labeled "do-me" feminism, is forgotten as Ironside leaves us with such gems as more than fifteen lovers means you're "starting to demean sex itself" and "it's no longer something special that you do only with the chosen few."

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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

My first frosting shot



Yes, I am referring you to Cupcakes Take the Cake, because eating this frosting shot was too wonderful, in an overwhelmingly decadent kind of way

Frosting shot at Sweet Revenge, 62 Carmine Street, NYC - Read my review at Cupcakes Take the Cake

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Monday, August 04, 2008

Spanking spanking spanking



I got interviewed by Zille Defeu, who asked me really great questions about spanking and Spanked as part of the Spanked virtual book tour (NSFW, needless to say). In the comments, someone asked whether the model on the cover of the book was spanked! Read my answer in the comments too.

I also wanted to share all the links to my interviews on the Spanked blog. Contributor interviews:

Madlyn March
Madeline Glass
Tenille Brown
Elizabeth Coldwell
Laura Bacchi
Alison Tyler
Donna George Storey
Teresa Noelle Roberts

And one with paddle maker John of Leather Thorn Paddles.

Happy reading!

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Sunday, August 03, 2008

Spanking writing contest - win a copy of Spanked!

Over at today's installment of the Spanked virtual book tour at Thomas's spanking exploits, you can win a copy of Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica! Go to his blog to enter, but here's the premise of the contest:

The result, then, is a drabble contest. To clarify, a “drabble” is a short passage of exactly (or at least close to) a hundred words, typically used as a writing exercise to teach brevity. The theme for these passages will be “setting the scene.” Describe a scene in which someone is about to be spanked. It could be the moment before the first swat, or the ritual prior to discipline, or even being caught red-handed for a spankable offense.

Entries will be judged primarily for imagery and how easily the scene is visualized, but punctuation, spelling and grammar will count, too. The closeness to the desired number of words will also factor into judging. Entries will be accepted until midnight on Wednesday, then the contest will be closed for judging.

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Rosa Mexicano threesome

Well, a foodie threesome...Twanna, me and (NSFW) Desiree

Saturday, August 02, 2008

DigiRomp.com erotic lesbian social network launches

Yesterday saw the launch of DigiRomp, a lesbian erotic social networking site run by Jincey Lumpkin of Fashion Lawyer.

DigiRomp banner

I'm gonna be doing some lesbian erotica podcasts for them that I'm very excited about. Check it out - it's brand new so there's much to explore and make your digital mark on, so to speak.

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Pretty as a picture

Writing, as in blogging, will resume soon (trust me, I am writing away), but for now, in my tiredness and jumbled thoughts, here are some photos:

Pretty bondage by Flickr user newcatabella



"After the Kiss" by Jeremiah Ketner, 20 x 24 inches, Acrylic on wood, inspired by Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" (via Flickr)



And I'm kindof lusting after this entire Flickr fetishy gorgeous photo set by Laura "KoAn" Gioia I stumbled across. Simply stunning. Here are two favorites from the set, but check out the whole thing:

fetish files - torsion springiness



Shoes are a girl's best friends - modeling by Oceanoaloha



And through her, I discovered that there's a Sex and Psychology Flickr pool! How cool is that?

Snapshots

a self-portrait:

self-portrait

My silver shoe, Twanna's silver shoe:

P8010060.JPG

Guacamole from Rosa Mexicano = SOOOO yummy! (the food was good too)

Guac!