Tag Archives: fiction

The Escort Life

My stories, “The First Time” and “Samantha” explore the world of escorting or, not to put to fine a point on it – prostitution. In “Samantha”, Sam is forced into prostitution by her brutal pimp, Barry. While in “The First Time”, we meet Becky, a young graduate who enters sex work in order to clear her debts and avoid homelessness. All of my stories are fictional as are the characters portrayed in them, albeit based on extensive research into the world of sex work.

Below is a guest post by a young woman who is engaged in escorting in Australia. As a writer it is important to listen to people with knowledge of the subject matter about which one writes. Information gleaned from the internet can be extremely helpful. There is, however value in hearing it from the horse’s mouth so to speak. I am, therefore grateful to Sydsugarbabe (not her real name) for taking the time to write the below guest post. The article below reflects the experiences and opinions of the author (Sydsugarbabe) and does not, necessarily coincide with my own. As a writer receptive to the lived experiences of others I do, however believe that the below piece contributes to our understanding of the world’s oldest profession.

For Sydsugarbabe’s blog please visit (http://sydsugarbabe.com/author/sydsugarbabe/).

 

The Escort Life

Desperation. One word that sums up what it took to finally make my plunge into the realm of pleasing men for money. There’s no real way to sugar coat, I

felt trapped by my circumstances, lack of time, lack of money and couldn’t see another way out. To be entirely honest though, the adult industry has always

been somewhat alluring to me, tempting me from the ripe young age of 18.

When I was young I lingerie and topless waitressed, the thought of becoming a stripper or a prostitute intrigued me though I never really thought I might

actually do it. I, like most escorts I know, have deep seated self esteem issues, I didn’t think men would pay me.

One year ago, I began a business quickly, with no money and little planning…. rookie move… but I was sick of living week to week, scraping together

dollars and cents at the end of each week to buy food. Something needed to change and I set out to change it. Once realizing my business needed more capital

than I had, I began looking into escorting.

I wasn’t game enough to meet anyone from an agency, I would get sick with anxiety at the thought, I wasn’t ready but goddam I needed money. I fell into

Sugar Dating and dabbled there for a few months. Sugar dating was more appealing because I didn’t feel like I was a hooker… sure, in essence it’s the

exact same thing. I am selling my time and my body to men for cash. How I justified it was, I got to choose them unlike in the escort world. These men

wined and dined you before bedding you. It somehow seemed to satisfy my mental anguish in some regards.

Still, I was extremely nervous upon starting. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about it all. It confused me to no end when a man paying for pleasure could make

me wriggle, squirm and moan in what would be called ecstasy if it were a partner of my choosing. I had no attraction to these people, how could my body

betray me like that and enjoy the moment?

I made the transition from sugar baby to escorting when I began dating a male escort. I fell for him because I didn’t need to hide anything. I had no

need to hide my raw sexuality or the fact I too fuck for cash. He began pimping me out in the most basic fashion, but as everybody knows business and pleasure

aren’t supposed to mix, even when your business is pleasure. Tsk Tsk.

I joined a long standing and reputable agency once joy turned to tears with the escort. I began seeing a lot more clients, for a lot less money.  I was

very happy with my decision, but a down day as an escort is a seriously down day. There is no real efficient way to articulate just how empty you feel.

All your energy goes into turning into your escort persona, turning on the charm, and becoming a man’s play toy for hours on end. They all begin to look

the same, they are a blank face with a cock, which you are there to fawn over and excite. You are theirs for that time. You have to mentally detach and

go somewhere else. This is easier in some bookings than others of course. Some clients make you focus and discuss the whole way through the sexual act.

This is draining but this is their time. You must look as though you enjoy every second of it.

It makes my stomach turn with particularly sleazy men, you can watch their eyes turn from corporate profession to this particularly glazed over look, deep

with desire and sexually driven. They don’t see you, they see sex, you aren’t a person, you are a piece of meat.

On the opposite end of the scale there are a few lovely, lonely and old gentleman that require more company than pleasure. The polar opposite to the other end

of the spectrum. The young men. It’s quite crazy to think that a prostitute would rather work with an old man than a semi attractive young one but it’s

true.

Young men are watching every second of their time and make sure they get their money’s worth. Hard, fast and full on for the entire time. Most certainly

not easy cash made in ANY regard.

Regardless of their age, the one thing I despise is a client making me cum. I can’t enjoy it, I don’t want to enjoy it, it’s a service and the situation

would never have happened without the exchange of cash. It is the one time I feel dirty. I understand this is hard for people to comprehend though a friend

worded it well

“Every escort keeps something from their clients, so they can remain detached, something anything. In your strange case it’s your orgasm”

Unfortunately however I can’t keep it away from them all the time.. such is escort life.

Would You Like To Do A Guest Post?

I am very happy to publish guest posts and have published several, on a variety of topics since the inception of newauthoronline.com. If you would like to submit a guest post please contact me at newauthoronline (at) gmail dot com, (the address is given in this way to defeat spammers).

Posts could include introducing yourself as an author, writing about one of your passions or a short story and/or poem. I am, of course interested in hearing from anyone with a love of books. What is your favourite genre? Or perhaps you would like to review a favourite book? I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Kevin

KDP Select – An Evaluation

The results thus far of the free promotion, using Amazon’s KDP Select programme (https://kdp.amazon.com/select), of my story, Samantha have been disappointing. For anyone unfamiliar with the programme, KDP Select allows authors with books enrolled in it to offer their titles free for 5 days in any 90 day period. As an alternative writers may sell titles at a reduced price (known as a Kindle Countdown Deal) for up to 5 days in any 90 day period. To qualify for KDP Select books must be exclusive to Amazon.

The free promotion of Samantha began on 19 November and ends on 23 November. Despite the book being free in the Kindle store and the kindness of other bloggers in publicising this fact, Samantha has, at the time of writing been downloaded 5 times from amazon.com and 3 times from amazon.co.uk. Both sites show that my book has sold 4 copies of Samantha (2 on both sites) in November.

The results thus far are causing me to evaluate the effectiveness of KDP Select. Samantha has a total of 6 reviews (counting both amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. Just over half of these have been generated by fellow bloggers while the remainder have eminated from people who, to the best of my knowledge have come across my book as a consequence of previous free promotions of Samantha. The position is roughly similar with my other titles (approximately half of reviews coming from bloggers and the remainder from readers who have, I assume come across my titles via KDP Select promotions).

The results of the current free promotion of Samantha are, as I say above disappointing. Where I to take a decision to remove Samantha and my other books from KDP Select the incentive to do so is compelling in terms of the current promotion. However, standing back and surveying the bigger picture, reviews have been forthcoming as a result of previous promotions, consequently I am not inclined to dismiss KDP Select out of hand. I will monitor how the remaining days of the free promotion of Samantha pan out and look at the results of the forthcoming free promotions of An Act Of Mercy and Street Walker to ascertain number of downloads together with any reviews generated. On the basis of these results I will take a decision regarding whether to keep my books enrolled in KDP Select. The evidence thus far seems to indicate (despite the current slow downloads of Samantha) that the use of both KDP Select free promotions and social media help in obtaining downloads and reviews.

 

(The 4 sales refered to above entail people purchasing Samantha, while free downloads are, as the name suggests just that – readers downloading Samantha at no cost).

Update to my About page

I have updated my About page to include links to my recent guest post Managing online distractions on Butterfly on a Broomstick, my author interview on Author Interviews, and my two poems Vampire and Dalliance on Calamities Press.

Visit my About page here: http://newauthoronline.com/about/

Controversy Rages Over Mantel’s Fantasy About The Assasination Of Margaret Thatcher

The author, Hilary Mantel has written a short story in which she imagines the assassination of the late Lady Thatcher. The story is set in 1983 and imagines a fictional scenario in which a middle-class lady allows an IRA terrorist into her house to assassinate the Prime Minister.

Mantel’s story has been condemned by people of all political complexions as being in poor taste and some are calling for the police to investigate. Others defend the story on the grounds of literary freedom. It is, they argue a work of fiction and Mantel has every write to express herself. For one of the many articles on this hot potato please see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2764520/Hilary-Mantel-unrepentant-backlash-grows-fantasies-assassinating-Margaret-Thatcher.html

Creative Journaling For A Writer – Guest Post By Linzé Brandon

Many thanks to Linzé Brandon for her guest post on creative journaling for a writer. For her blog please go to http://linzebrandon.blogspot.co.uk/.

 

 

Creative Journaling for a Writer

by Linzé Brandon

 

Most writers I know, keep a journal of some kind. I have three journals – two of them online (www.penzu.com) and another which I write by hand. There is a fourth, but it is a journal that I am keeping as a character in a series of erotic romance short stories I am busy with. Since this journal is pure fiction, I will leave that to the side for now.

You might rightly ask why three journals?

The first is a personal journal, I am sure you have one of those as well. You know that place where you vent your frustrations from the world and people around that you don’t want to share with people, since you don’t want to hurt their feelings. The place where you pen you personal dreams, fantasies and secrets. The one you don’t plan on sharing…ever. Since that is self-explanatory, I am not going say anything else on that.

The remaining two are my “writing journals”. The first is online and very handy when I have an idea in the middle of a meeting, or standing in a queue at the grocery store, or any place where using a pen and paper can be difficult. Since I always have a small notebook and a pen on hand, the Penzu smartphone app for the online site is helpful when sitting down and writing a few ideas is not possible.

This leaves the last one on my list – the handwritten journal. This is more of a self motivating slash information storing slash book ideas journal. It is also one of my favourite journaling experiences since I write it by hand with a fountain pen or a dipped pen.

While it might be old fashioned in this modern computer and smartphone driven world we live in, I find the experience of getting my journal out, unscrewing the lid on the ink, and picking a quill to write with, a relaxing experience in itself.

The experience is further enhanced by choosing a theme for decorating my journal each year. In 2013 I had butterflies all over the pages of my journal. This year words and sayings of all kinds add the colour around my handwritten words.

For 2015 year I am contemplating a few dragons to fire up my writing world!

While this might have you saying, ok, but why bother? Why not just write or make notes as part of a project?

I will let you in on a little secret: I need a more creative outlet than only writing books. Yes, writing fiction is a pleasure in itself, an outlet for my imagination and all the stories crammed into my head that are insistent on being written or they would never leave me alone.

I am also an out-of-the-closet artist. Painting and cross stitch projects are my passions too. With a full time job, and books to be written these more artistic endeavours take a back seat most of the time. So I compromised. And my handwritten writing journal is the way to satisfy, at least partially, all these creative outlets at the same time.

I add stickers, photographs, and printed and resized infographics to the journal. These are reminders of things to make me a better writer, storyteller and blogger. Constant reminders that I see almost everyday. Since adding this to my journal, the knowledge imparted is part of the enjoyable experience of keeping a journal.

I draw or sketch upon occasion, but only when the entry of the day has inspired me to do so.

As a pantser, or organic writer, I often find that the process of writing by hand forces me slow down and think about the words. As a rule I sit down and let the story I have in my head pour of me at the speed of white light.

A handwritten journal, that I use to keep track of new things I have learned, or reminders not to write in passive voice, and avoiding adverbs, has embedded these things deeper into my subconscious than would have been the case otherwise.

I do not claim that this is the answer for every writer, not even every pantser, but in my world, finding creative outlets within a schedule that barely allows for time to do anything more than work, write, eat and sleep, is a bonus any time.

Do I write everyday? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, I write words everyday, email, blog posts, entries into whichever journal is on hand, but no, not everyday is spent writing fiction.

Not all writers enjoy other creative hobbies, but for me finding ways to be creative will always include more than writing my next fantasy or sci-fi story.

Look out for more articles and ideas on Creative Journaling for Everyone on my blog in October.

 

 

Author Profile:
Teaching herself to read before she went to school, it was the start of her life long love affair with books. Trained as an engineer, Linzé has worked as an export consultant and is presently a project manager at a company that designs and manufactures products for the military industry. Although she still loves to read, she also enjoys counted stitch embroidery, archery, fly fishing, painting abstracts, her husband’s medal winning photographs and watching Manchester United play.

 

She is one of the moderators of the Google+ group, Writer’s Rabbit Hole, and leads the Pretoria Writers Group, consisting of ten members, seven of which are published authors in various genres.

 

Linzé Brandon lives in Pretoria, South Africa, with her engineer husband and German Shepherds who are convinced that the world revolves only around them.

 

Follow Linzé online:

Blog (Butterfly on a Broomstick) http://www.linzebrandon.blogspot.com
FB author page http://www.facebook.com/LinzeBrandonAuthor
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/LinzeBrandon

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/LinzeBrandon

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LinzeBrandon

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6035313.Linze_Brandon

Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LinzéBrandon

Wattpad http://www.wattpad.com/user/LinzeBrandon

 

Book Links

 

Science Fiction

Don’t Call Me Sweetheart – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/383111

 

Erotic Romance

Their +1 – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/360607

 

Erotica

Bubble trouble – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/364605

Pixie Dust, Boots and Reindeer https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/391625

 

The Third Gender Series (Sci-fi Romance)

reGENESIS – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/430285

Hunger – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/213647

Perfect – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/269278

 

The Nations of Peace Series (Fantasy Romance)

Géra’s Gift – The Grandmasters – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238397

Keeper of the Dragon Sword – The Dragon Masters https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/301923

 

Contemporary

The Cutting Horizon – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/430313

 

 

Update to my About page

I have updated my About page to include links to my guest posts on other authors’ blogs. These already appear on my blog however, due to being posted some time ago many are difficult to locate, hence updating my About page.

I would like to thank everyone who has kindly hosted me on their site.

To visit my About page click here: http://newauthoronline.com/about/

The Blog Of A Blind Author And (No) Its Not Me!

As a visually impaired author (I am registered blind but possess some residual vision enabling me to see outlines of objects) I was interested to come across the blog of a fellow blind writer (http://leapingtigerbooks.wordpress.com/). Apart from information about Thomas’s books, his blog also contains interesting and amusing posts regarding the unique issues faced by blind writers. Thomas’s post regarding the necessity of relying on sighted assistance when checking for formatting errors in manuscripts resonated with me. Please do consider checking out Thomas’s blog.

Would You Like To Write A Guest Post?

I am looking for guest posters. If you are interested in writing a guest post, on any subject (preferably with a vaguely literary angle but you can, within reason write about anything)! Please contact me at newauthoronline @ gmail . com (the address is given in this manner to try and defeat the scourge of modern life, spammers)! I look forward to hearing from you. Kevin

Samantha Remains Free In The Kindle Store Until Monday 2 June 2014

My short story, Samantha, which has received 5 4 star reviews, remains free in the Amazon Kindle store until Monday 2 June. Samantha tells the story of a young woman forced into prostitution in the city of my birth, Liverpool. Can Sam escape the clutches of her brutal pimp, Barry or will she end her miserable existence in the murky waters of Liverpool’s Albert Docks.

For interviews with Barry O’connor, the pimp who ruthlessly exploits Sam and other girls, please visit http://newauthoronline.com/2014/02/14/have-you-ever-interviewed-one-of-your-characters/. For an interview with Samantha please go to http://newauthoronline.com/2014/02/16/have-you-ever-interviewed-one-of-your-characters-interview-with-samantha/. For links to reviews of of Samantha and my other books please visit http://newauthoronline.com/reviews-of-my-books/.

My collection of short stories, Sting In The Tail also remins free in the Kindle Store until Monday 2 June. For reviews of Sting In The Tail please go to http://newauthoronline.com/reviews-of-my-books/