Read this book: Normal Gets You Nowhere by Kelly Cutrone

I just started reading People's Revolution head Kelly Cutrone's second book, Normal Gets You Nowhere, and I love it! I recommend her first book, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside, too. For a book with that title, it was surprisingly spiritual, and I like that about Kelly, at least, what I know of her from reading (I don't really watch TV) - she is tough but also tender and spiritual. And a single mom! This one has a sex chapter that's pretty spot-on and she talks about why we need straightforward sex ed, after a stranger asks her for advice on giving a hand job, not because she's dying to know about theart of the hand job, but because she wants to wait to have sex til she's married but doesn't want her boyfriend to leave her. Cutrone is not afraid to curse or piss people off and breaks down both having a personal brand and staying true to yourself.

One of the things I get stuck on when thinking about my "brand" is, well, where do I fit in? If my "brand" is some version of "Lusty Lady," how do I write honestly, in fiction and nonfiction, about all the complicated/sad/dark/not-very-sexy aspects of my life? How do I still promote books as well as I possibly can, so they, um, sell, when I really would rather be writing than ordering postcards/doing events/setting up websites/etc.? So I read her looking for some guidance on how she became what I someday hope to be: a successful businesswoman. I've made many inroads as a writer, but the big things I want to do, like write a book, sell a book to a foreign country, and pay off my debts, I've yet to do, and I know I will, to some degree, not feel like I've lived up to my potential until I do, or at least, until I know I really fucking tried my best. Thus far, I've always run away from trying my best, often in the most spectacular, cataclysmic way possible. That's the m.o. I know. 2011 is, for me, about trying to live differently, to live better, to push myself without berating myself.

Check it out! More on it later, and I plan to quote her in an upcoming SexIs column on sex ed. Find Kelly at peoplesrevolution.com and @peoplesrev on Twitter.