Stalking the Wild Reader in His Natural Habitat

So it sounds like the topic is pressure, huh? Well, the pressure I feel as a writer is funny- because on one hand, I started writing fiction in order to escape the stress of my more serious work. On the other hand, I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed and perform and generally be awesome in this smut-writing gig.

When I left my last day job, I figured if I worked myself anywhere near as hard as my boss worked me, I'd be fantastically successful. As it turns out, I work myself harder. However, achievement is more difficult to measure than I imagined. It turns out, I have a very particular idea of the type of product I want to turn out. Fifty percent of the challenge is writing to my highest potential, and the other fifty percent is finding readers who enjoy what it is I have to offer.

I write paranormal sex comedy, or at the very least, paranormal romance with a high irony content. One author described my outlook as being Harryhausen-esque, which I took as a compliment. So it can be hard to find readers who are looking for that sort of thing. Like Charlotte, I'm not a huge BDSM fan. And anyway, BDSM zombie-robot hybrids? What kind of person would write something like that? *

So I force myself to guest blog (not here. I LOVE guest blogging here. :). I send out a million books for review. I attempt to keep my website up to date even though I wrote my first three books in such a blind fury that I didn't pay any bills and our health insurance lapsed. In other words, I force my scattered brain to stay on top of things. Sometimes it works. Occasionally, not so much. But there's always the pressure to do more promo.

And still, I feel behind! I look at other writers' efforts and think, "Ach! I should be doing more!" However, it's my sincere belief that in life you have to play to your strengths. I'm good at madcap creativity. So I write, and squee, and enlist the help of other, more organized, people to help me out along the way. And every once in a while, something clicks.

So, um...yeah. Buy my books. Or, y'know...not.

No pressure or anything. :)

*For BDSM zombie-robot hybrids, see my Lust After Death Sequel, tentatively named Studdenstein

* * * * * *

Charlotte here, just wanting to point out that Daisy's latest novel, Mercury Rising, is out right now! It's got hot Gods in it! It's got man-love! And it's got Daisy's own amazeballs style. You want it, right? Look here:

Mercury Rising

by Daisy Harris

Publisher: Ravenous

• ISBN: 978-1-60777-407-5 • Genre: Erotic M/M Paranormal Romance (also contains M/F, Ménage) •

Length: Novel

Take a sexy romp with the gods in this hilarious and hot
ménage!

Over-extended - and closeted - charmer Mercury the
Messenger struggles to accommodate all the factions of
the Deities International Conference and Kibbitz. However,
his skills at diplomacy stretch to the limit when the object
of a chance tryst turns out to be his assistant, and his
arranged fiancée arrives at the scene.

Dillon Rodriquez, Mercury's executive aide and a soon-tobe
MBA student, refuses to be the closeted god's sidedish.
But when an accident at the conference strands the
god in the human world, Dillon agrees to act as his guide.
Traveling from San Diego down the Baha Coast to Cabo,
Mercury experiences a side of life he never imagined, and
he learns that if he wants to earn the love of the one man
who matters, he has to stop trying to please everyone
else.

MERCURY RISING is available for purchase here:

http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/mercury-rising.php


And you can find out more about Daisy here:

http://www.thedaisyharris.com

Or at our group blog, that's both geeky and kinky:

http://geekandkink.com/