Missing Persons

It’s been a while since I’ve updated here. I’ve had a lot of other things on my plate over in the other side of my life which you can find out more about on my other blog.

But, I do have a few things in the works that I’ll tell you more about over the coming weeks.

In the mean time. Here is a little musing about the concept of identity.

Have you ever met someone who turned out to be someone else? I recently found out that someone who I’d been corresponding with as an author was actually using a pen name. Nothing unusual about that… apart from the fact that he turned out to be someone I knew personally and I had no idea!

It got me thinking about what happens to the imagined persona after the reveal.

Even when you’ve never seen someone’s face, you build a picture of that person in your mind, an idea of what they might look like or sound like. The longer you correspond and the deeper the relationship you form with that person, the more ingrained that mental image becomes. But you’re never right. It’s impossible to be right. And when you find out the person’s real identity and appearance, the one in your head becomes obsolete.

How can an entire identity become obsolete?

What happens to the person in your head?

You can still remember the way you used to think of them, but the division is absolute; the person in your head is not the same, ergo they must be different people. The world shifts and that person you knew ceases to exist, replaced by the new person.

In the case I mentioned above, someone I thought was a stranger who I’d met through professional channels was suddenly absorbed into someone I already knew. An entire person just vanished from the world!

Have you ever experienced this phenomenon? Share your stories in a comment.

Update & Writing contest news

It’s been a couple of months since I posted anything here. While I wish I could spend all my time writing, unfortunately right now I need to have a day job, so my time has been limited.

I do have a few new projects in the works, but no specific time line on when they might be finished as yet.

You can find out more about some of my more mainstream writing, plus reviews and articles, over on my other blog – Chrissey’s Great Escape.

Of if you’re after something steamy to read, I have a whole bunch of free to read stories up on Lush Stories, so go check it out. And, while you’re there, you might want to check out the entries in the VIP themed writing contest. Competitons always bring out the best stories on Lush, so you’re sure to find something to enjoy. You might even want to give it a go yourself, especially with a top prize of £500!!

Six Sentence Sunday – My Stockholm Girl

Simon isn’t a natural criminal. He just doesn’t have what it takes. Which is why he finds himself stuck inside his ex-insurance company with a hold-all full of bearer bonds (and a hostage) while the police surround the building.

Just as a jail cell is starting to look like the soft and fluffy alternative to what’s waiting for him if he fails, salvation comes from an unlikely source; his hostage.

My six sentences come from the middle of the story, after Simon and Josie escape the police:

Josie had headphones in and bounced around the kitchen as she prepared the food, singing along to some indie rock track. I watched her for a minute, feeling a lot of things I hadn’t expected. Chief among them, a warm glow in my stomach.

She jumped when she spotted me lounging in the doorway, and then her eyes passed over my body and she flushed pink. Something in me snapped. Wrong or not, I wanted her.

You can read the whole story for free on Lush Stories.

And don’t forget, you can find a whole list of participating blogs on the Six Sentence Sunday website.

Spontaneous Liasions – Released Jan 2012

Naughty Nights Press‘ Spontaneous Liaisons anthology was released back in January and features my story, Unprofessional.

Okay, so this is the latest ever release notification but hey, better late than never.

I want to tell you a bit about how Unprofessional ended up in the anthology.

Unprofessional was the first erotic short story I wrote. At the time I had no idea if it was any good. I was more used to writing the odd sex scene in a non-erotic novel and this was the first time I’d tried to write a story about sex, where the sex is what drives the plot forward.

I shared Unprofessional with the community on Lush Stories and received overwhelmingly positive feedback. I was flattered and excited (and blushing a little; some of the comments were quite, ahem, descriptive about their ‘appreciation’ of my words).

Some time and several short stories later, I published my first piece, Youth and Experience, with Naughty Nights Press. And, not long after that I got an invitation to submit Unprofessional for the Spontaneous Liaisons anthology.

Being invited to have your work published is no small thing. With all the competition out there, publishers don’t need to go looking for material, it comes to them in floods. That someone sought out my work and actually asked for it was a serious compliment.

But, at the time, I was somewhat reluctant. Unprofessional was a personal turning point for me as a writer and the welcome, support and encouragement of the readers on Lush Stories drove me to write more and submit it. Without them I never would have had Youth and Experience published.

I felt like I was doing a disservice to someone, me, the readers on Lush Stories, someone anyway, by taking it away.

But, ultimately I realised that the story had done it’s job on Lush Stories and now it had the opportunity to reach new readers in new places. Hopefully, you’re one of them!

You can check out an excerpt from Unprofessional in my previous post for Six Sentence Sunday.

It joins the following short stories from some of Naughty Nights Press’ best authors:

A Little Knowledge – CJ Black

Reinventing the Quickie, the Diary of Sam – Kiki Howell

Summer Rain, Fiona’s Story – Vampirique Desire

Blind Date - Jennifer Stone

Fast Food on Campus – Abby Hayes

Pick up your copy on Smashwords, All Romance eBooks or Amazon.

Blog hop winners announced

Thanks to everyone who took part in the Naughty Nights Press six month anniversary blog hop giveaway. I hope you had fun touring around all the different blogs.

Winners for my giveaway are:

June Manning – You win a copy of Campus Sexploits

Wendy Dee – You win the diary and pen set

 

If you’re still after more gossip and news from Naughty Nights Press, then check out their blog.

Also, you can read a review of Campus Sexploits by Sherry Tooker on her site Raunchy Releases and Reviews.