Project: Me

by Kristina Wright

I working on an unusual book for me right now. It's a bit of a hybrid-- part memoir, part erotic fiction, part advice. The theme is married sex and it wasn't a book I initially wanted to do. I mean, I thought I wanted to do it-- and I put together a terrific pitch for it-- but when the contract came, I took a big gulp and said, "I don't think I can do this." I'm a fiction writer, you see. I write make believe. What do I know about marriage and relationships and real life experiences? Oh wait, quite a lot as it turns out. I've just never written about it before. 

So I walk around muttering, "I can't do this," even while I'm doing it. I'm working with a terrific group of authors who have written some wonderful stories for me and have enough collective talent (and experience) to carry the book even if my part (the nonfiction part) falls short. But they've raised the bar for me and I find myself anxious to rise to the challenge. To deliver a one-of-a-kind book that will inspire, motivate, arouse and help couples connect. That's a tall order, isn't it?

After editing seven anthologies, I find myself itching to try something new. So my next two projects include the one above as well as a short-short collection of erotic fiction called xoxo: Sweet and Sexy Erotic Romance. (Call for submissions here.) Yes, it's an erotic romance anthology, but I'll be working with at least twice the number of stories for this one, so once again I find myself skimming through submissions and muttering, "I can't do this." But I will do it. Of course I will.

The truth is, my biggest work in progress is, well, me. Pushing myself to try new things, to brainstorm new projects that are a little (or a lot) different from things I've done before, to challenge myself for the sheer glee (and terror) of it. I'm waiting for copyedits on two anthologies, am actively working on this hybrid book and the short-short collection, i have several stories I'm writing for other anthologies and two novel ideas I'm playing with, and yet, just this morning I started a new list called "New Book Ideas." New works in progress, new challenges. New terror, new glee. 

This is what I do. Fill my plate, clear a little something, add two helpings of something else. I'm an ongoing work in progress and I'll never be finished. And while I may walk around muttering, "I can't do it," I'm going to do my best to try.