My Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed on smartphone addiction

My first byline of 2019 is my smartphone addiction op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. If you're local, it should also be in print today or tomorrow (I have to see if it's available where I live in New Jersey or I'll get a Philly friend to get me a copy).



I'm proud to have a new publication to add to my credits as 2018 was a slow year with a lot of rejections (including one from this same paper, which I didn't hear back from when I submitted one in June on Seth Grossman). However, that one was to a generic address. This one was to a specific editor. I follow Sonia Weiser on Twitter and subscribe to her excellent editor pitch list newsletter, which is well worth the suggested $3/month and how I got this piece published. Sonia collects Tweets from editors about what they're looking for from writers. Happy writing (and less smartphone obsessing) in 2019!

Ridiculous but true: "I'm addicted to Google news alerts"

My latest essay is titled "I'm addicted to Google news alerts" and is in the genre of "I do something weird and a little crazy but I can laugh at myself." It's for The Kernel's Essays issue, which has lots of other wonderful pieces you should check out too, such as H. Alan Scott's "What getting cancer looks like on social media" and Samantha Allen's Thank you, Internet, for giving me a vagina." For more about Allen, watch the documentary Inside Her Sex, the subject of my recent DAME column, "Why do we feel so ashamed about sex?

How to Use Technology to Write Erotica and 9 Memoirs About Not Having Sex

I wrote 2 recent pieces about two of my favorite topics: erotica and books! "5 Ways To Use Technology to Write Erotica" - I link to a couple current calls for submissions for anthologies and offer up ways to brainstorm erotic story ideas. I will be ballsy/annoying and ask that if you like my Medium piece, you click "recommend" at the bottom -- I really appreciate it! And if you want in-person erotica advice, I'm teaching Erotica 101 September 27th at The Tool Shed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and November 12th at Self Serve Toys in Albuquerque, New Mexico (and am always open to teaching at new venues, email me at rachelkb at gmail.com for my rates).

"9 Memoirs About Not Having Sex" at Bustle (yes, Bussel on Bustle) - leading off with this week's release, Confessions of a Latter-day Virgin by Nicole J. Hardy, which I highly recommend. More on that one soon, but I think it speaks so much to the longing for connection and intimacy, and the ways that often religion (in this case, Mormonism), doesn't provide that. But it's also about self-discovery and travel and independence and is a lovely memoir.

An iPhone app will now calculate how good your sex life is

My latest Medium post is called "I Don't Want or Need an App to Measure My Sex Life." If you like it, please click "recommend" at the bottom and spread the word. And I took my Hitachi Magic Wand for a sex drive:



This isn't really related, other than to say that while I don't want badges for having sex (you earn them using Spreadsheets), even on Hannukah, I do highly recommend the JetBlue badges program. If you already fly JetBlue, it's totally worth it. You get frequent flyer miles just for joining, and then more when you earn badges for travel, social media use and other things. I have a few trips coming up with JetBlue: Burlington, Vermont, Charleston, South Carolina and Albuquerque, New Mexico--I chose the latter in part because JetBlue had cheap flights, $133 each way. But really I'm such a booster for them because they make flying as easy as possible. They don't charge for the first checked bag, which I so appreciate; for other airlines, I'd rather pay more for my ticket price and not have to fork over an extra $25 each way for my luggage. I just overall have had good experiences with JetBlue, though I check prices and fly whichever airline is cheapest.

I missed a plane and spent $345.60 but I hope you never do

Read all about my missed flight saga and travel tips I learned from it at Open Salon. Aka, I come out as someone who only now is learning all sorts of tech and travel and iPhone things and I am now a devotee of TripIt. Also, in other news, I'm on Instagram ("rachelkramerbussel"). Expect lots and lots of food porn.

Last month, I was supposed to land in Minneapolis at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon; instead, I spent five and a half hours waiting for a flight at LaGuardia and eventually arrived at 10:40 p.m. Here's what happened. I checked my flight information a few days before the flight and remembered I had to be at JFK for a 1 p.m. flight. I didn't write down the details or check in online, which I normally do. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't, probably because I was in a hurry and assumed I didn't need to. Instead, I figured I'd check in when I got there. I took the L train to the J or Z (I don't recall which) to Sutphin Boulevard, then paid $5 for the AirTrain to take me to my gate, but before I boarded, I checked to see which gate Spirit Airlines was located at, and discovered that Spirit doesn't fly from JFK. In a panic, since it was 11:32 already, I figured I'd take a cab to LaGuardia. If I was at the wrong airport, at least I had time to fix the problem.

Read the whole essay