You know Christmas is coming when you hear the first few chords of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ through tinny speakers in a shopping mall, and in the same vein I know Eroticon is on the horizon when meet & greet posts start popping up on the sex blogs that I follow. I’ll be at Eroticon 2020 in Camden on 14/15th March this year, eagerly hoovering up all the knowledge and advice I can from other attendees/speakers, and doing a talk on Sunday about how to turn sex blogging into your day job. And as is traditional, here’s an intro meet & greet post answering the questions Molly posed to kick things off…
Tell us 3 things you are most looking forward to at Eroticon 2020
- I’m going to cheat a bit by writing ‘all the awesome sessions’ as one specific point so I can put other things for the second two, but yeah: the sessions. I love hearing other people’s advice and tips on how to work, so I’m keen to go to Nikki Delgado‘s session on audio erotica (of course!) and Amy Norton‘s advice on affiliate sales. Tatyannah King is running a session on sex tech, which obviously as a huge sex tech nerd I am very excited about. I’m hoping I can go to some creative sessions this year too – 19 Syllables is running an erotic haiku workshop which sounds incredible, and I would love to dip into some of the crafting sessions held by Kinkcraft and Cameron Clark.
- I’d love to get branded again during the Kinklab. Gryph gave me a really lovely brand many years ago when Eroticon was still in Bristol, and you can still juuuust about see it in the right light, if I’ve tanned a bit over the summer. I’d really like to get a new one, because although I was really nervous of having one the first time round, once it was there the look of it absolutely delighted me.
- Being able to talk about my job. I love my job so much, and I wake up every morning deeply grateful for it. But one of the downsides of being an anonymous blogger is that when people ask me ‘what do you do?’ I have to fob them off with some random waffle about being a freelance copywriter, then bore them with talk of SEO until they change the subject. But deep inside I am desperate to actually explain – to talk about the detail of what I do with people who understand the challenges and the excitements and everything in between. I love that at Eroticon I can be honest about what I do, and talk shop with people who get it.
What is a song that always makes you want to dance?
START WEARING PURPLE. I cannot hear this song and not leap to my feet and begin flailing and twirling dramatically.
What is the best book you have read in the last 12 months?
This is going to make me sound like a terrible person, but books tend to fall out of my head once I’ve read them, leaving just a trace of either happiness (if it was a good book) or frustration (if it was terrible). So I genuinely cannot remember what I was reading 12 months ago, but I’ve just finished Marian Keyes’ Grown Ups, which is exceptional, and I’m currently reading Codependent No More, which isn’t exactly a laugh a minute but it’s interesting.
Edited a mere couple of hours later to add: fuck my life, I knew I’d remember a book I want to recommend mere hours after I hit ‘publish’ – Catch and Kill, by Ronan Farrow. It is frightening and incredibly valuable. Huge thanks to the commenter here whose email nudged me into finally getting round to
reading it.
As you sit writing this post what are three things you are grateful for?
- My job. I love my job so much that even just talking about the things I do on a day-to-day basis feels like bragging of the worst kind. It has its fair share of challenges, but I would not swap it for anything. The fact that I can do it is almost entirely down to…
- Eroticon – the vital skills and info I have learned from the people who attend and speak, the support from other incredible writers, and the really important lessons about inclusion, listening and learning. I am a very different person today to the one I was when I first walked into Eroticon many years ago, and I will always be incredibly grateful to the community for being so utterly amazing.
- My friends. I have really astonishing, brilliant, kind friends. Sometimes when I am at my most anxious and self-hating I remind myself that these kickass people wouldn’t like me if I were genuinely as terrible as my brain tells me I am.
What is your mobile (cellphone) wallpaper or home screen image?
I have two phones: on my GOTN phone my wallpaper is just the default one which came with the phone, and on my personal phone it’s a picture of one of my best mates pulling a silly face. I put it on there as a joke but kept it up because we don’t see each other as much as I’d like at the moment, and it reminds me to message her regularly rather than just do what I’d usually do which is save all my conversation for the pub.
If someone gave you £5000 today which you were not allowed to save but had to spend within 24 hours what would you do with it?
Patreons will know this already, but I’m looking to expand the audio porn project very soon – bringing more writers on board to record their amazing work. So basically, I would give the money to writers, studios and a producer, to record delicious smut. I know it sounds weird to say ‘I’d spend it on work!’ but I’m not that fussed about holidays or gadgets, and as I mentioned above, I love my job. So if anyone gave me a big pile of money it would go straight into the website.
Complete the sentence:
I need…
£5,000. I’d settle for a pint and a bag of dry roasted peanuts, though.
There are still some tickets left for Eroticon 2020, if you’d like to join me there along with absolutely loads of amazing writers, bloggers, podcasters, and anyone who has an interest in erotic creativity. I’ll be doing a session on Sunday afternoon about how to turn your blog into your day job, and I’ll also be hosting a panel with the fabulous Meg John and Justin. In the evenings I will be where the alcohol is. If you spot me at the conference please do come and say hi, and if it’s your first time at Eroticon and you’re a bit nervous, I will endeavour to introduce you to some other interesting people!