Then again, the dancer would probably make a good character in some book…

When you use the virginity analogy about a first book, it brings to mind some interesting clichés that apply to both experiences. Some want the milestone to be etched in perfection upon their memories. Some, perhaps dysfunctionally, perhaps pragmatically, just want that awkward, bumbling milestone out of the way so they can, as you say, get to the real sex. Some worry about their choice of partner and hold off until they find a soul mate or at least some sort of trustworthy accomplice. Some recognize the futility of such a search and see the commercialization and hype of it in the media as insurmountable and sacrifice a stranger upon the altar of their virtue… or is it the other way around? Heck, in both cases, some just decide to make a career of it.

In any case, the world would be a better place if we could destigmatize both of these rites of passage. We would have more books and better ones, too, and fewer authors would confess to having trouble writing sex scenes.

What? Oh… my book? Yeah, I sacrificed it on the altar of a twenty-something Argentine dance instructor from Australia that I met in Bali. She said the book was crap… but could she ever dance.

Speaking of sex, that book had too much of it. One of my beta readers told me to cut half of it out and when I did, the book was 20K shorter.

Whoops. Funny thing is Bunny, despite giving a well-timed sexual favor to an older man, remains a virgin during the entire book.

Ha!

Yes, my first love was indeed Bunny. But my love belongs to the Princess.

It’s interesting reading you talk about your first book…. I think I’m the same with my first as well. It’s kinda like losing your virginity or something, right? There is always a mental connection. My first book was written when my parents marriage broke up. Jeepers, that was rough. And who was the book about? Hot, orphan, twin sisters – named after my sister and me – Lizzie and Kathryn. Lizzie was all sweet and innocent – and Kathryn was a raging sex machine. (Lol. Lets just say that many many bottle of wine were consumed as I tried to write the sex scenes in this book…to which I discovered that writing sex scenes really wasn’t my thing.) So it became my first book,my first thriller, and my first experience of finishing a hard labour of love. And trust me, this book will never see the light of publishing days. No way. Nah-uh. Baaaaddddd.

My friends were subjected to reading it (poor bastards) but what they gave me in return was absolutely invaluable: Keep writing – It’s not a bad story, but it’s not something I would pay for. (Whoa, tough love for me, huh?)

And so I continued writing. And I pumped out book after book, and storyline after storyline… and now I have a whole trunk of manuscripts. Some that will see the world, and others that are better left in the dark until I can deal with them. But my very first love will always be Kathryn and Lizzie. They were fabulous characters to write and cut my teeth on.