Tag Archives: events

Smut Luton! Don’t Miss It!

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The Hat factory, Luton will host the first smut event of 2015 sponsored by House of Erotica. Smut Events are fun, safe, inclusive days out when erotica & erotic romance readers and writers get together to socialize, exchange ideas and inspire one another.

The theme for Luton is Kinkification. We’ll be adding a little kink to your life with some great workshops, demonstrations and performances. Not to mention the book stall where you can pick up some sexy reading material Smutluton2and the erotic raffle where you’ll be able to win prizes from Bondara.co.uk , Segzi.co.uk and a special something from Smut UK.

Charlie J Forrest will be showing off some rope tricks and answering your questions on getting your lover all tied up, Zak Jane Keir will be talking about taking your hobbies and giving them a naughty spin for your erotic writing and sexy play and Victoria Blisse will be exploring all the senses and how they can heighten your sexual arousal on the page and in the bedroom.

We’ve got readings from Lucy FelthouseJennifer Denys, Charlotte HowardBella SettaraCharlie J ForrestMeg PhilipAnna Sky, Cara Sutra and Victoria Blisse that are sure to tempt and tease.

Pick up your tickets at Smutluton.co.uk and join the facebook event to keep up with all the event news.

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An ETO Award … And it Has My Name on It!

I’m begging a bit of indulgence from readers on this post, since it was written on my BlackBerry in the wee hours in bed in the dark in the Crown Plaza Hotel after the 2014 ETO Awards. Hopefully there’ll be a more coherent post a little later on. 

My award 2It’s three in the morning. I’m lying in bed next my sleeping husband, knowing I should try to get some rest. But I’m too keyed up to sleep. How can I possibly when I keep glancing over at the desk and seeing the lovely ETO Award glinting in the moonlight streaming in the window. That award has my name on it! Yes! My name — KD Grace, it says! Best erotic author, it says in bold letters as big as you please.

Lee Schoefield called my name. As the winner. After Dale Bradford had read off all our names, the nominees. And they are all amazing writers, people I admire, people I look up to — And the fact that half of that esteemed company are Brit Babes made the event even sweeter! In addition to Sylvia Day and the fabulous Violet Blue, Brit Babes – amazing writers and dear friends – Kay Jaybee and Lucy Felthouse were nominated too! At first it didn’t register. How could he be calling my name? I sort of remember walking to the stage. After kissing my husband. Shell shocked. Hoping I wouldn’t trip over my own feet, wondering if I could remember how to speak. Me, speechless! Can you imagine such a thing?

P1020080The ETO and ETO Magazine have been so supportive of erotic writers. We’ve always been able to count on them to promote us and what we do and to give us a chance to promote ourselves. It isn’t just that, it’s knowing that people voted, people who like what I write, and that what I write, what all of us erotic authors write is appreciated. yup! Pretty much speechless.

I remember seeing the slide of my image in walking togs, gigantic and huge for all the world to see with Best Erotic Author in huge letters. I remember thinking how much more comfortable I would have been in those walking togs, and probably how much more surer on my feet I would have been. Strange P1020093the things you think about. And then I was on stage receiving that gorgeous shiny award with my name on it. I could see the Brit Babes cheering. It was their award too. It was our award. They hold me up. We hold each other up and challenge each other to write better, to be more creative. I was so glad to be celebrating with them. I said something to that effect, or at least I think I did. I’m much better with written words than impromptu speaking in front of a roomful of people. I remember there were pictures then and I went back to my the table, Ruby Kiddell and Velvet Books had so generously shared with the Brit Babes, gripping the award and the bottle of fizz and smiling like a crazy person. I barely got sat down before Cara Sutra won the best journalist award and I was cheering at the top of my lungs and the totally P1020088awesome Renee Denyer, manager at  Sh! Women’s Erotic Emporium and one of my true heroes, won best shop manager for Sh! And, icing on the cake, Xcite Books once again won the award for Best Erotic Books Brand. Kay Jaybee and I had the honour of accepting the Xcite award for Hazel Cushion, who couldn’t be there. That gave us the lovely opportunity to fondle two ETO Awards! 

So many reasons to celebrate.!

Then we danced like wild women, we Brit Babes. And I danced with my long suffering husband who’s always been by my side on this crazy writing journey — really loving the pride I saw in his eyes.

Later, when the dancing was over and the bus had taken us back to the hotel, I sat in the lobby with my award collageVictoria Blisse,  Kay Jaybee & Lexie Bay and we talked and planned and schemed and laughed. Sadly we had to leave Tabitha Rayne who was in a different hotel. As the subject turned to the challenges of writing a story and living the writers’ life, I couldn’t help myself. I kept touching that shiny award, reading the name on it again and again. Just to be sure.

And now, outside my hotel room window, the first Blackbird is just starting to sing because I’m up at such an hour. I still can’t believe it, and I think I’ll go check out the name on the award one more time before I try to sleep. Just to be sure. And hasn’t this just turned into a total navel-gaze. But what do you expect at this hour? 

Later when I’ve had time to rest and reflect, when I’ve had time to think a little more coherently, I’ll do another ETO post about the show, about the people, about the fun. But surely just tonight I can be allowed a little navel-gaze.

Thanks for a fabulous evening, ETO! You rock!

Smut By The Sea! It’s Almost time!

SBTS 2014 posterYES! That’s right! It’s almost time for Smut by the Sea Year Two! Look out Scarborough, here we come!

I’ve been waiting anxiously for Smut by the Sea 2014 ever since, well ever since I attended the first SBTS and had such a fantastic time meeting other writers and readers and vendors, and then there were readings and a Tombola and panels and tea and biscuits and wine and a launch party and karaoke and …*takes deep breath* Well you get the picture.

Year two, and the fabulous Team Blisse, Victoria and Kevin Mitnik Blisse have done it again with even more exciting offerings this year than last.

Here’s what the lovely Victoria Blisse has to say about Smut By The Sea:

When you think of Scarborough, many good things jump to mind. From the beach and many arcades to fish, chips and ice cream but I don’t suppose erotica is automatically one of those things. Well on the 14th June this year for the second time Smut by the Sea will take place at Scarborough library and it’s going to get really smutty.

What is it? Good question. It’s a gathering of authors and readers of erotica and erotic romance. There will be talks on Inspiration from Victoria Blisse, Writing Better Erotica from KD Grace and Social Media and promotion with Lucy Felthouse.

There’s also an afternoon stuffed full of sexy snippets read by the authors themselves, a free lunch and the unique and much loved Erotic Tombola and book stall, to feed your need for smut! If you ask nicely you can get your favourite authors to sign the books for you.


What you can expect:

Smut by the Sea is an Erotic Social Get-Together taking place at Scarborough Library on the14th June SBTS 2014 poster 22014, it’s a chance for erotica readers and writers to gather, share ideas and interact with one another in a friendly smutty enviroment.

In the morning there’ll have a few simple workshops where the authors will pass on their advice to those who have a desire to start writing, or to improve their existing writing endeavours, you’ll be able to ask questions and share your own experiences and gain some valuable knowledge from these talented authors.

The afternoon will consist of the erotic reading & poetry slam, authors will get up to 6 minutes on stage (and not a moment longer, the trusty timekeeper and her pesky paddle will see to that!) to read a short excerpt from one of their stories; with excerpts spanning the wide world of erotica you never know just what you might hear next and what ideas it might spark 😉

Throughout the day we’ll have refreshments on hand, and if you are feeling lucky you can try your hand on our Erotic Tombola  with some fabulous prizes on offer. We’ll also have our Book Stall where you’ll be able to pick up some special smut to tale home and maybe even get it signed by the author themselves.

 So come along, and bring your friends. It’s going to be a very special day and a great first step to take if you are wondering about breaking into the world of Erotica and Erotic Romance and even if you just come along for the Reading Slam it’s a chance to maybe experience something a little different if you’ve never heard erotica read aloud before.

A snippet from my experience at SBTS 2013:

For a writer, sharing a story is like breathing. We can’t NOT do it. That’s why we write. And to be able to read it out loud to an audience that’s there specifically to hear our words is like the rich, thick, butter cream icing with sprinkles on the cake. It’s a very physical reminder of why we do what we do.

I love to hear the stories other writers are reading, and I especially love to listen to first-time readers. I love to share their excitement, and I love to be one of the old timers who can encourage them and tell them not to worry it’ll be amazing. I love the looks on their faces when they’ve finished their first ever reading for an audience, the look that always tells me they’re hooked, just like I was, just like every one of us who has stood on that stage is.

In between the readings there was another key component that made SBTS such a fantastic experience, and that was the chance to chat, to share ideas, to meet people face-to-face who we had only ever talked to online before and to discover that they were just as amazing face-to-face as they are on social media.

And, of course, the thing writers love to do almost as much as they love reading their work out loud is to talk craft with other SBTS post1writers, and there was a lot of animated talking shop that went on in Scarborough.  We talked fears and pleasures, we talked nuts and bolts, we talked failures and successes. We talked works in progress, we talked new and old publishers, we talked self-publishing and self-promoting, we talked about our characters and about our plots, we talked about what fun it was to be who we are and do what we love most. The celebratory atmosphere was very contagious.

 

 

The good news is that Smut by the Sea 2014 is only two weeks away! 

The even better news is that you can still get tickets so you won’t miss out on the fun. 

Click here for tickets, and details. 

 

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Smut By The Sea:Scarborough is THE Place to be this June

sbts-buttonKD: The event everyone is talking about this summer is Smut By the Sea, which will be held June 22nd in lovely Scarborough. Today, I’m talking with the two lovely people responsible for this exciting event, Victoria Blisse and Kevin Mitnik. Welcome, Lovelies! So good to have you!

Could you tell us what inspired the idea for the Smut by the Sea event? How did it all come about?

V&K: We’ve had many holidays in Scarborough and we love it there, so we wanted to have a good excuse for another holiday in Scarborough! That wasn’t the only motivation though, attending readings down south made us think about having such events up North so that people who couldn’t readily reach the capital could enjoy some erotic fun too!

So we talked about it between ourselves, just as a pie in the sky idea really, but then we mentioned it to other author friends who thought it was a great idea, so suddenly Smut by the Sea was born. We got Scarborough Library on board to host, we picked a date (The 22nd June) and went for it.

KD: Which came first, the SBTS anthologies or the event? Were they always planned together?

V&K:  We think the ideas evolved together, we always planned a Smut by the Sea anthology to go with the event but the other Smut anthologies spun off from there, we weren’t expecting to do those, but the smut idea just caught on and now we can’t stop thinking of smutty ideas!

KD: Why Scarborough? I hear the two of you have a special place in your heart for it. Do tell!SBTS1

V&K: I (Victoria) have been to Scarborough every year of my life for a holiday since I was four. I love the place, it’s my second home. When I got together with Kev, I introduced him to Scarborough and was overjoyed when he loved it just as much too.  We now go every year for a family holiday and Kev and I try to get there for an adults only break at some point too.

So when we thought of ideas for an event up north, our minds automatically turned to Scarborough, we love it so much and want other people to find out how brilliant it is too.

KD: Tell us a bit about how the two of you work together to plan such a huge event. Who does what? Is there a specific division of labour? How has Team Blisse come through  when one person working alone might not have?

V&K: Kev is the tech guy and I am the talk girl. Kev is brilliant with everything computer, he designs the websites, smut covers and advertising images and he does it all very well indeed.

I am gobby, by this I mean I can talk, email and chat up just about anyone. So I do all the social side of things. I email companies about becoming sponsors, I chat to readers and authors who’d maybe be interested in coming because Kev’s not as comfortable with that as I am.

I wouldn’t have been able to do this on my own because I don’t have tech skills and Kev couldn’t have done it because he’s a little bit shy sbtsmed(1)(awww) and together we both try and work the money side of things out. This isn’t fun and neither of us are particularly big fans of maths.

How we’ve actually managed to pull it all together? God alone knows, but apparently we have!

KD: And the rest of us are very glad you have! Tell us a bit about what we can expect at Smut By the Sea.

V&K: There will be readings from authors such as Janine Ashbless, KD Grace (do you know her at all?) Jenna Bright, Lucy Felthouse, Lexie Bay, Slave Nano, Ruby Kiddell, Jacqueline Brocker and many more.

There’s also going to be a marketplace where you’ll be able to buy some smutty things and fudge. Mmmm, fudge.

In the evening we’re having a big Smut by the Sea Launch party with readings from some of the authors, sparkling wine, cakes and treats and a burlesque performance from Moorita Encantada.

And the best bit? You’ll get to chat to lots of authors and readers and people who love erotica, how brilliant is that?

KD: That is totally brilliant! I can’t wait! What has been the most exciting thing about preparing for SBTS?

V&K: Every time an author or a company decides they want to join in we have a little mini Blisse party, it makes us very happy indeed. In fact, the same thing happens every time we sell a ticket. It’s party central at the Blisse house right now!

KD: That sounds fab! Always good to have reasons to party! What has been the most difficult thing?

V&K: Working with Kev. *OUCH* I was only joking.

Kev’s serious answer: The fact that this is the first event, we have nothing to go on, no figures to give out, no real idea of what to expect. It’s all very new and that is a little bit scary.

KD: I’ve never known the two of you not to be scheming and planning something new and exciting, so go on then, tell us what does the future have in store for the Blisses?

SBTSblissebunniesV&K: Well, there’s more smut on the horizon with Smut by the Sea Volume 2 being in production as we speak and there’s a call out for Submissions for Smut in the City:Sapphic Special http://sexyreads.co.uk/smut-in-the-city-sapphic-edition/

And there’s also a big Blisse Kiss event coming up called Blisse Bunnies. Lots of fun excerpts and blogs about New Beginnings, and a big booklovers prize. http://blissebunnies.co.uk from the 1st April.

And then there’s Blissemas http://blissemas.co.uk  on the horizon and Smutmas http://smutmas.co.uk  too, and a Blissemas Party and…well, lots and lots. We’ve always got something brewing at Blisse HQ!

KD: Wow! Sounds like a very busy year at Blisse HQ indeed! And now, details please! Tell us what people need to do to get their tickets and plan to join the fun.

V&K: All the information you need is at http://smutbythesea.co.uk

The daytime event is totally free (how cool is that?) but if you want in on the Smutacular evening book launch you need a ticket and you can pick one up here: http://smutbythesea.eventbrite.co.uk/

Just a tenner and you’ll get refreshments, entertainment AND a goodie bag!

KD: Wow! That sounds like a great deal to me! I can hardly wait! And thanks for being my guests! I’ll see you both in Scarborough 22nd June!

V&K: Thanks for having us, to visit KD.

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Finessing Sex at Eroticon 2013

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This time next month I’ll be enjoying Eroticon 2013. I’ll be partaking of the feast of workshops on blogging, writing, publishing, photography, art,  sex education, and more. I’ll be taking advantage of opportunities for networking and meeting new people. I’ll be enjoying and participating in readings by erotica authors. I’ll be getting to know in person people I’ve chatted with online. And just like last year, no doubt, there’ll be lots of dreaming and scheming and just flat-out fun. I’m looking forward to seeing more than a few of you there.

I have to admit my knees get a little shaky and I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about Eroticon 2013 because this year, there’s a delicious list of creative writing workshops offered over the two-day period. There’ll be workshops taught by some of my heroes in the erotica writing world – Kristina Lloyd, Remittance Girl, Vena Ramphal, and Ashley Lister. I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to learn from the best.

So why the butterflies and nerves? Well, because this year I’ve been asked to teach one of the five creative writing workshops at Eroticon! It’s a first for me. I’ve never actually taught a writing workshop before, and I’m very excited to have been asked. And to be asked to do so in such excellent and exalted company is definitely an honour.

Everyone who knows me and reads my books or my blog (hopefully both) knows that the only time I’m not talking or thinking about writing is writing image 2when I’m sleeping, and then I’m often dreaming about it. Yup, I’m a bit obsessive, and to say I’m enthusiastic about it would be an understatement. I hope to bring some of that enthusiasm for sexy stories into my workshop.

My workshop is called Finessing Sex and, while it’s aimed at giving newbies a foot-up in writing and selling erotica, I like to think that everyone can benefit from another peek at the basics — I know I always do. So there’ll be a little something for everyone.

Finessing sex will take writers beyond the slang of the old ‘in and out’ and beyond the biology of coitus to the other levels within the story and the characters where sex takes place. I hope it will show how well-written sex shapes the story and the characters. The session will involve some writing, some brainstorming and hopefully a whole lot of fun.

I also hope to talk a little about how to best make sure one’s story gets and holds the attention of an editor and how to deal with the inevitable rejections that litter the route to those first sales.

For me, writing has always been about fun. I can’t remember a time when it hasn’t been one of the best parts of my life. But finessing that writing, finessing the sex and the story that goes with it is where the real fun begins, and I hope to share the fun on Sunday March 3rd at 2:15 pm.

Eroticon speaker badge pinkPlease join me for  Eroticon 2013!

Get your tickets here:

Eroticon 2013:

Date and Venue:

Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd March 2013 which will be held at the Coin Street Conference Centre, 108 Stamford Street, SE1 9NH