Harper Bliss

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Q&A: Lisabet Sarai on ‘Her Own Devices’

June 4, 2015 by Harper Bliss 2 Comments

Her Own DevicesI’m truly honoured to have erotica legend Lisabet Sarai as a guest on my blog today. Ladylit recently published her F/F erotica short story collection Her Own Devices, and she has stopped by to answer a few of my burning questions. Before we continue to the questionnaire, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to tell you that Lisabet’s lesbian erotica is of absolute excellent quality. Her stories are real, sometimes painful, always sensual, and written with an expert pen. In my humble (and, admittedly, somewhat biased) opinion, Her Own devices is a must-read for F/F erotica lovers.

Take it away, Lisabet!

Sell us your book in one sentence.
I hate being a salesperson, to be honest. But I’ll give it a try:
“Her Own Devices goes beyond arousal to explore the lives and desires of women you’ll care about.”

Favourite line (or paragraph) from Her Own Devices?
Come on, Harper, that’s like asking a mother to choose her favourite from among her children! These stories are my offspring and I love them all.

However, here’s one bit, from “Clean Slate”, that I am especially fond of:

“Tension crackled between us. I saw raw desire flicker across her face, shattering her usual calm. My body tightened, nipples in aching knots and pussy clenched like a fist. My heart slammed against my ribs. Adrenaline coursed through me. I wanted to grab her. I wanted to run.”

Last book that blew you away?
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver took my breath away. The prose is achingly beautiful, the characters show astonishing depth, and the author entwines personal and universal themes with devastating skill. I was also incredibly impressed by the intimacy with the heroine that Ms. Kingsolver manages to evoke, while still using the third person point of view. Since reading this novel three months ago, I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know.

Which celebrity is at number one of your imaginary to-do list?
I’m not all that interested in celebrities, to be honest. I can’t remember the last time I fantasized about somebody famous. However, if I were forced to choose someone, maybe I’d nominate Salma Hayek. I recently saw the trailer for her film “Everly” — she’s spectacularly beautiful, and gutsy as hell.

What’s your favourite sexy song?
Quite a few come to mind, but “Come to my Window” by Melissa Etheridge is definitely up there, partly because for me, it has a D/s vibe:

“You don’t know how far I’d go to ease this precious ache,
And you don’t know how much I’ll give, or how much I can take…”

Melissa sings with such raw passion. I melt every time I hear it.

What are you most proud of?
I’m particularly proud of the work I’ve done for the Coming Together charitable erotica imprint. I’ve contributed stories to nearly twenty altruistic anthologies, as well as editing six single author collections for Coming Together Presents and a multiple-author anthology of vampire stories entitled Coming Together: In Vein, that benefits Doctors Without Borders. Other causes my work has supported include Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Coalition for Positive Sexuality and the National Organization for Women.

As your prototypic starving author (!) I don’t have a fortune to contribute to these organizations. I’m glad I can use my creativity and my editing skills to make a small difference in the world.

Who’s your favourite TV Character?
I haven’t watched television in decades. When I was a teenager, I was a big fan of Ilya Kuryakin, in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and Barnabas Collins in “Dark Shadows”. That dates me, doesn’t it?

Which author’s books are a must-read?
I’ll eagerly read anything by Remittance Girl, Cheyenne Blue, Giselle Renarde or Annabeth Leong. But honestly, I have so many talented colleagues, it’s very difficult to choose.

Anything else you want us to know?
Actually, I’d like to offer a few words of praise for Ladylit. (I’m not just brown nosing here, either!) I first heard about the press when Cheyenne Blue chose my story for her Forbidden Fruit anthology. That book was handled with such skill and professionalism that I was eager to work with them again. There are so few publishers these days dedicated to lesbian fiction. I’m so pleased to see Ladylit stepping in to help fill this void.

What’s next for you?
Alas, I have far more ideas than I have time to write. In the past two months, I’ve watched deadlines for three F/F anthologies whiz by. I would have loved to submit to them all— I have four different stories kicking around in my mind—but with the demands of my regular job plus some business travel, I just couldn’t make that work.

Anyone who wants to know what I’m up to can join my VIP mailing list, by sending me email at lisabet [at] lisabetsarai [dot] com. That’s how I keep my readers up to date on my new releases and frequent giveaways. I also host a monthly contest exclusively for list subscribers.

I’m not on Facebook for privacy reasons, but I’d love to connect on Goodreads. I am active there more as a reader and reviewer than an author, though I do have an author’s page:

I also have a lively blog with lots of guests and a website that features information on all my books, plus lots of free stories and other goodies.

Thank you for visiting my blog, Lisabet! (And for the kind words about Ladylit!)

All information and retailer links for Her Own Devices can be found here >>

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Filed Under: Q&A, Uncategorized Tagged With: Her Own Devices, lesbian erotica, Lisabet Sarai, Q&A

Under Construction

May 25, 2015 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

I’m doing some work on my website, so some pages and posts may appear a bit wonky. I’m trying to get this sorted asap. Things should look shiny and new soon.

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Writing ‘Seasons Of Love’ – Mission Aborted

May 25, 2015 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

I’ve decided to not write another book in ten days and have therefore postponed writing the first draft of Seasons Of Love. I did this for several reasons, the main ones being:

– There are 14 work days left before we leave for Belgium. If I use 10 of those for writing this book, that leaves me only 4 days for all my other work, including 1 day to move the Ladylit office from the city to the island. And, yes, there are 2 weekends left, but they are reserved for 1) celebrating my birthday, 2) putting together a top secret surprise present for my wife’s 40th birthday, 3) having a life. Four days is, quite simply, not enough.

– My writer’s fuel tank hasn’t been replenished yet. I started Release The Stars not long after finishing Once In A Lifetime, and I poured a lot of emotions into those two books. As much as I regret having to come to this conclusion: I need a break before I can do it again.

– The first part of Seasons Of Love is actually set in my holiday destination: Algarve, Portugal. I’ll be spending a week there at the end of June and instead of relying on Google Images and such, I concluded it would be so much better to be there, soak up the sunny (cougar-y) atmosphere, and then write the book.

– I have a shitload of work to do before we leave. Finalize Once In A Lifetime. Publish and promote Summer Love, the lesbian romance anthology I’m co-editing with my wife. Move our office. Freeing up my schedule will also allow me to make the Harper Bliss and Ladylit websites mobile responsive and give them the overhaul they’ve needed for a while.

So, for now, this mission has been aborted. It’s definitely not been canceled, just postponed. I’ll keep you posted.

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Writing ‘Seasons Of Love’ – Day 1

May 22, 2015 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Well… I did start, but I didn’t get very far. As much as I wanted to just jump from one book to the next, apparently it doesn’t work that way. I felt it as soon as I opened my eyes. I was actually nervous to start this book. I have many emotions when starting on a new story (of any length), but stress and anxiety usually aren’t among them.

I had trouble with everything, but mainly with staying off the internet (which is usually a sign that it won’t be a stellar day for writing.) I also had problems switching from 3rd person POV past tense (which I used for Release The Stars) to 1st person POV present tense. I tried, because, despite the nerves and the not-really-feeling-it, I am very excited about this story, but some days it just doesn’t happen.

I did manage to somehow ‘bang out’ (that’s how I call it) 3000 words, so today was not a total loss. (And lest you think all I did with the rest of my day was watch The Voice, there’s always plenty of publishing stuff to do for Ladylit… I did however watch The Voice finale (on fast forward because who needs to see more white dudes sing?) during my lunch break. My favorite part was when Christina impersonated Britney, Lady Gaga & Cher. Respect!) (My favorite contestant didn’t win, though… they never do.)

So, back on track with this blog post… I decided to scrap tomorrow’s writing day from my schedule as well, and start again on Tuesday, when I’ve at least had a few more days to put Release The Stars behind me. As much as I would like to be a ‘book machine’ at times, I’m just a writer of flesh and blood (and many many feelings.)

But, I do already have a proper title for this new book: Seasons Of Love. Props to my wife who came up with it when we had a little brainstorm over lunch yesterday. The book deals with a May/December relationship, so the word ‘Seasons’ in the title is a reference to that.

What I also have, is the cover for Once in a Lifetime! Again, props to my wife, who made it. I love it so much.

Once in a LifetimeThat scarf on the model’s body isn’t there just for show!

Screen Shot 2015-05-22 at 4.58.06 pmI guess that 0 in the ‘Words Start’ column was too daunting…

For this book, I’m going to keep a proper tally, so you can easily follow along.

The numbers:
Day 1: 3000 words
Total: 3.000 words

I should be back on Tuesday! Have a great weekend.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Seasons Of Love, Writing in Public

Writing ‘Release The Stars’ – Day 11

May 20, 2015 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2015-05-20 at 11.33.04 amI posted this screenshot on Twitter today at 11.30AM, after I had typed the two most satisfying words in a writer’s life: The End.

A heavy rain shower woke me up at 4.30AM this morning (it’s rainy season in Hong Kong) and instead of trying to get back to sleep, I just got up and started writing. I began my first session at 5.20AM and everything came together nicely. By the time I finished just before lunch time, I was riding a massive adrenalin high (and was feeling mightily pleased with myself.)

So, that’s the first draft done in 11 days! (Actually, 4 of those were half days so it could have been 9.) ;-p

I had a few lesser days, but never anything alarming, and I think my crazy writing experiment was, at the very least, a word count success. Whether it will be successful in other ways, remains to be seen, of course. But, first and foremost, I had a lot of fun writing this book. If only half of the joy I experienced while writing it translates to the page…. it should make for an enjoyable reading experience as well. 😉

But, as always (and as I like to say): no rest for the dramatic! On Friday, I’m starting on the next one. My wife and I sat down last Monday and plotted it out already. I’m very, very excited about this one as well, so I actually can’t wait to get started.

I’ve certainly learned a thing or two while writing this book. Here are the most important ‘lessons’:

Stay off the internet
I can’t repeat this one enough. The internet is a massive time suck. I try to stay off until lunch time (I don’t always succeed) because the morning is my ‘golden time’.

Wake up early
This one is very person specific. Until a few years ago, I’d never have guessed I was a morning person. But, for me, the early hours easily dissolve a lot of ‘writing resistance’ I would otherwise struggle with (aka I’m not so prone to procrastination in the morning.) I will definitely be getting up earlier to write my ‘Swimming Pool novel’.

A little bit of plotting goes a long way
I’ve always been a massive pantser, but the 1 sentence per chapter I had outlined for this book prior to starting certainly helped me to write faster. This doesn’t mean I always stuck to my plot, but it did steer me back in the right direction when needed, and kept me from having to have ‘a long hard think’ before starting a new chapter.

Believe in yourself
Writers doubt themselves. It’s in our blood. It’s normal. Half the time, we believe that what we put out is utter crap. I do suffer from this also, but writing fast helps with that simply because I don’t give myself the time to doubt. Because I use 30-minute writing intervals, I also don’t have to believe in myself all day, just for 30-minute stretches of time. 😉

* * *

If you’re wondering what I’m planning to do with all these first drafts and why I’m so keen on finishing them before I go to Belgium… I’ll be away from Hong Kong for two months and I think my writing time might be seriously compromised when I’m away from home. (I’m quite anal about my writing rituals.) I will be working while away (but will also take some time off!), but the focus won’t be on producing new words (although I would like to return in August with a good start on French Kissing Season 3…)

As for polishing these first drafts (Release The Stars is still full of notes and is missing one very important, crucial paragraph e.g.) and getting them ready for beta-reading and professional editing… that’s going to be a whole new experiment in itself. Sorry to be lame and not give you more details on this yet, but I kind of want to test if it will actually work out first.

If you followed me along the way, thanks for reading. And not to worry, I’ll most likely be back on Friday. 😉

Screen Shot 2015-05-20 at 4.44.58 pmThe early bird catches the… word! (Possibly the lamest joke ever, but my brain is really, really tired!) 😉

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Release The Stars, Writing in Public

Writing ‘Release The Stars’ – Day 10

May 19, 2015 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

I’m so close to the end of Release The Stars now, I think I might be suffering from (wholly imaginary, I’m sure) Finishing Fear Syndrome. After a decent morning (where I did start later than usual, but the words flowed nicely), I only managed one more session after lunch. I just blocked. It’s a bit crazy because I’m almost at 53.000 words now and I know exactly what’s going to happen (lots of sex, basically) (just kidding), but I just couldn’t sit down any longer and write the scenes.

Before I started this crazy writing experiment, I would have been over the moon with a 4700 words day, and I’m certainly not displeased with the progress I made, but it just feels like the last few writing days have been much more tricky than the first.

That being said, my story did take me by surprise today. I’ve ventured off the plot I laid out in the beginning quite a bit (although the outcome will be the same, the route to The End is a bit different than I had first envisioned). Something came together in a way that I hadn’t expected and made me a little emotional. The main character is a writer and perhaps I put a bit more of myself in her than I wanted to. 😉

I would also like to clearly state that this is just first draft writing. The manuscript will need quite a bit of work before it’s ready to be edited (or even be sent to my Dearly Beloved Beta-Reader.) What I’m mainly trying to accomplish by writing so quickly is a sense of freedom and an easy way into ‘the zone’. Shut off the critical brain and just let the fingers on the keyboard do the work.

Anyway, my schedule doesn’t allow for a lot more goofing around and I WILL NEED TO FINISH TOMORROW (all caps as a reminder to myself.) 😉

Screen Shot 2015-05-19 at 5.48.13 pmNo lunch break allowed tomorrow! 😉

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