New York City event writeups for The New York Observer's Eight-Day Week

In this week's The New York Observer as well as online, I wrote up events for their Eight-Day week section. Among them are a rock show, a sake tasting, a free charity bike ride and museum hopping. I'll be writing up an event a day through October 30th, so if you are organizing or know of any wonderful events that the Observer audience might be into (think charity, arts, culture, music, books, etc.) email all the details to 8dayweek at observver.com and I will consider them. Thank you!

Have drinks and chat with me and Melissa Petro on February 13th

Writers Bloq has been kind enough to invite me to co-host this February 13th event along with Melissa Petro. Click through to their Facebook page to participate and get an invite. This will probably be my last New York City event before I move in May. I'll have a few books with me to sell, and am happy to sign any if you've got them. Looking forward to it! And if you're coming to the dinner, I will very likely have hot off the press copies of Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission with me and I'll be extra happy if you tell me you liked it on Amazon.

Saturday night! Williamsburg! Storytelling! $5! Tough Love Boulevard...

I'm so tired today from staying up til 4 trying to write procrastinating that I left my refillable mug at Starbucks. Full of coffee. That was sad. I will be more perky and awake on Saturday night when I tell a story of tough love. Which story of tough love I am trying to figure out...the one about the socialist? the one about the person I keep freaking dreaming about (literally, in my dreams, at night, once even with him and Sarah Palin)? the one about...?

Sign up at the mailing list here for a discount. If you get to Williamsburg before 6 I highly, highly recommend stopping by Saltie. I ate their Clean Slate sandwich on Saturday and Sunday. A photo is below, but each time it's a little different - Saturday the beets were in mini rectangles, Sunday they were shredded. It's homemade naan bread, hummus, yogurt and assorted crunchy bits. I also shared a chocolate meringue and seriously. So. Good.


Facebook invite

Official site


Clean Slate at Saltie

My January and February 2011 events

I'm still working on descriptions and jpegs and all that, but a heads up about my January and February events:

January 19, 8 pm - panelist at Gameshow Speakeasy at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC

January 27, time TBA - reading with Donna George Storey and others, Good Vibrations, Berkeley, CA

January 28, 7:30 pm - reading with free cupcakes at Booksmith, San Francisco, CA

Award-winning local writer and sexpert Violet Blue (Best Women’s Erotica 2011, Seal It With a Kiss) and New York-based erotica author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (Orgasmic, Fast Girls) join forces to bring you an evening of sexy smut! Featuring local Orgasmic contributors Susie Hara, Dusty Horn, and Donna George Storey, plus free cupcakes, this promises to be a steamy night of sensuous stories.

February 1, time TBA - Reading at Coco de Mer with Eden Bradley, Pamela Madsen and Oriana Small (aka Ashley Blue), Los Angeles, CA. Free cupcakes and champagne!

February 14, 7 pm - Hosting and curating erotica reading, Bluestockings, NYC

February 17, time TBA - discussion at McNally Jackson, NYC

After that, working on events in UK, Minneapolis, possibly LA again, Seattle in June and hopefully Denver, Madison, Milwaukee, down the road. Cities I'd love to visit and do events in (if you're the type who can make that happen, email me at rachelkramerbussel at gmail.com) : Santa Fe, Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston. And Russo's Books in Bakersfield, California is on my list.

I'm torn about events, because they are fun to do and organize, but extremely stressful. Even with In The Flesh, which had a steady audience, you are competing with all the other events in town, rushing to get press, to draw people in, to spread the word, and I'm talking here about free events. Readings are a hard sell, especially, imo, in bookstores, and I think draw a certain type of audience member. They can be a publicity boon and it's a wonderful chance to meet people you wouldn't otherwise meet, but the question I keep coming back to, as someone who pays for all my own travel, therefore not actually making money off these trips is, at what cost? It's something I have been doing despite the cost for the last few years, but as I'm getting older and also just don't have that disposable income, I have to truly consider. So in my ideal world, I'd love to hit all those places. In real life, with the constraint of money and limited time off, I am not sure how many I'll get a chance to visit. I'm already having qualms about taking 4 days at the start of the year, but will have to budget my time much better than I have in the past few years. So maybe the cities I don't get to, I go to in 2012. Because no way am I giving up on my dream of a real vacation, at the beach, by myself. That's what gets me through the tough days.

Free erotica panel at noon!!

A writing break for this great event. And check out the rest of the book fair lineup - it's awesome.\\

12:00pm-12:50pm
In the Flesh: Writing and Publishing Erotica
Learn how to break into the rapidly growing erotica genre, including short stories, novellas, and how to incorporate sex scenes into longer works of fiction. Learn what makes for quality erotica, where to submit your work, joining online critique groups and professional sites, and about the various subgenres of erotica, including erotic romance. Moderated by editor and writer Rachel Kramer Bussel, with authors Polly Frost, Tsaurah Litzky, and Sofia Quintero.

The 20th Annual Independent and Small Press Book Fair takes place on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd, at the New York Center for Independent Publishing (an educational program of The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen), at 20 West 44th Street in New York City. With over 100 cutting-edge presses from the U.S. and abroad, exhibiting some of the most innovative books in contemporary literature, the Book Fair is classified amongst the most notable independent publishing events of the year. Admission to the Fair is FREE and open to the public, although a suggested donation of $1 is encouraged.