Okay, this is the story you didn't know you wanted to hear. It was nine years ago today that I finished writing Wayzgoose's For Money or Mayhem. For some of you, that was a depressing story. For me it was devastating. I absolutely hated myself! To top that off, I went to bed and attempted to cuddle up to my wife. Her response was to push me away and say, "I know you try hard but I'm just not interested." My world was crashing down around me.
As I usually do, I retreated into words. I desperately needed to write something with a happy ending. What better to have a happy ending than a romance? And what better happy ending than sex?
I went digging through my files and found a story I'd started twenty years earlier and put under lock and key because "I don't write stuff like that." Miraculously, I remembered the password. I opened the file and started working on it with some determination. Three days later, I posted the first chapter of The Art and Science of Love, my first erotic romance on SOL.
I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't the flood of email I got.
"I read the first chapter so far and I really like your story. I like the way you got right into talking about sex without it seeming forced. I always try to have some sexual action taking place in the first couple of pages, otherwise you'll lose the readers before they get into your story."
"An excellent start. I find the characters believable and the plot interesting. I hope to read much more like this from you in future."
"an incredibly good story. educational too. i particularly liked that trick of relaxation and exhaling while penetrating a sphincter. i have been doing wrong...i guess that is why i do not get to do it very often. sadly."
"your story stands heads and shoulders above a number of others because your characters are more developed. to me, it's less important whether i like or dislike them than that i care enough about them to like or dislike them. and i think you succeed in that. also, while there are sex aplenty, it's a part of the story (that enriches it) and not the ONLY thing in the story."
I was a little shocked to discover I was a sex therapist, but the positive feedback continued through the entire posting of the story with over 10,000 downloads, and hundreds of emails. And I began to look up and see something positive in my life.
The Art and Science of Love was 50,000 words and posted unedited. Pixel the Cat tells me that reading that story was what made him contact me to become a volunteer editor (who has proofread every story since then). BlackIrish edited my works for a while before he was overwhelmed with the workload from Jay Cantrell. Old Rotorhead volunteered to edit my stories. I received encouragement from some of my favorite writers, like InvidFan, Crumbly Writer, and Gentle But Firm. And now I have 45 aroslav stories, thirteen Wayzgoose stories, and one J-Hop story on SOL. Nine years of getting great feedback and developing a wonderful relationship with my readers on SOL.
So, to celebrate the ninth anniversary of that first post, I've completely rewritten and re-edited The Art and Science of Love. Instead of 12 chapters and 50,000 words, it is now 18 chapters and 75,000 words. There are more painting and posing scenes and a deeper relationship between Doc and Rita. I'll begin posting the new version, The Art and Science of Love--Refresh, on Wednesday, along with my thanks for helping to lift me from my depression and encouraging me to keep writing erotic romance and adventure. The book will also be available on Bookapy.
Thank you all, so very much.