Shanna Germain

Saying Goodbye & Hello

I've been thinking a lot about this blog, and my writing, over the past few days. Trying to make some decisions about the future, about what I'm moving toward and what I'm hoping for. I have some things laid out, in my head if nowhere else, and I have some things that are left up to chance, because if there's anything that I've learned, it's that life will throw you lots of loops and you have to be flexible enough to take them in stride.

In addition to making goals and deciding what direction my future is in, I've also been deciding what to let go of. Some of these are things I've been trying to let go of for years; others are new things that I'm ready to move on from.

One of those things is this blog. I started this blog sometime in January of 2005, so it feels right to give it three years and move on to something else. I've loved keeping this blog in lots of ways -- not the least of which is the online community that it helped create, the friends that I found, and the way that others inspired me with comments and emails. So, I don't want to give up a blog entirely, I just want to say thanks to this space and move into something new.

That decision goes along with my goals for next year as well. I've created a new space for news and information that is geared toward my goals (and yes, you'll have to visit to see what they are!)

So, goodbye 2007. Goodbye my lover (as James Blunt sings). Goodbye my blog.

Welcome, 2008. Welcome new blog. Welcome friends!

May your new year be filled with love, laughter, joy and great writing!

Best, s.

PS -- If you link to this blog somewhere, I'd love it if you updated the link to the new place. Thanks so much!

Here 'tis: http://yearofthebooks.wordpress.com/

Audio Erotica?

Help! I'm looking for some paying audio erotica markets for something that I'm working on...anyone out there worked with an audio publisher (do they call them that?) that they've had a good experience with? Something that you'd recommend?

I know they're out there, but my brain seems to have lost all memories of names/sites/etc.

You can email me privately if you'd rather not post the info. -- shanna.germain (at) gmail.com.

Thanks so much!

Support the One You Love

I love this. I signed up and listed Soapstone Retreat as my non-profit to donate to. Check it out...it just might be a great way to support the literary (or other) organization that you love.

Clearing the Deck

This is the time of year that always makes me contemplative. I draw back, draw into myself and think of what I've done with my life, and where I hope I might be going in the future. What have I accomplished, not just in a work/writing sense, but in a personal sense? How are my relationships? How is, as one of my favorite poets says, "my interior life?" Have I grown? Become a better person? Killed (or at least sat upon) some of my demons?

Every year, I like to think that I've grown a little, accomplished a lot and mainly, been kind and thoughtful and caring to those in my life. Some years are better than others in those regards, of course, but this year hasn't been too bad. It's seen me settle in and buckle down, make some discoveries about myself, and have some incredible experiences.

My tally, for those things that can actually be counted:

Writing

• 40 poems submitted (16 accepted, 13 rejected)
• 40 erotic stories submitted (30 accepted, 5 rejected)
• 10 other stories submitted (2 accepted, 1 rejected)
• 1 novel written
• 1 poetry manuscript submitted (rejected multiple times)
• 1 anthology finished (accepted)
• 2 novellas written (2 accepted)
• 3 writing classes taught
• A year-long how-to column completed and published
• At least six books edited, ghost-written and/or proofed
• More than 20 articles published
• Editor for a year's worth of Roast magazine
• Editor for Clean Sheets, 42Opus, on staff at Poetry NW
• Completed three readings, one at Powell's Books
• Awards: Soapstone residency, nominated for Pushcart Prize

Non-Writing

• Traveled to: All over the U.S., Italy, El Salvador. (Plus Iceland, if you count our emergency plane landing)
• Trained for a marathon (walking, not running. duh.)
• Managed not to alienate anyone I love (I don't think...)
• Made some really amazing friends and contacts, many thanks to travel and the WWW.
• Celebrated 13 years of being with the same man, and six (I think?) years of being married to him.
• Completed a pole-dancing class

I think those are the highlights. There are a lot of other things that happened along the way, but they're either intangible or I can't remember them at the moment.

So, what's on the docket for 2008? That's the burning question, right? I'm going to answer it. Just not yet. I need to think about it for another day or so. Come back, will you? Then you can tell me your goals too, and we'll move forward together.

Isn't She Lovely?

Oh, my, my. The cover for The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Volume 7. It looks like Maxim has done it again, bringing together some of the best of the best for the year, all wrapped up in a gorgeous cover. I haven't seen the book yet, as I don't think it's out in this next of the woods, but you can read an excerpt online at Amazon. And the authors are out of this world: Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman (holy shit! My second anthology that I share with Neil Gaiman!), M. Christian, Susannah Indigo, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Jeremy Edwards and many more.

And while I'm at it, I also received my contributor's copies of Best Gay Romance 2008. Yummy cover, yummy stories so far. What a treat. Includes my heart-breaker of a story, "Coming Home." It's also the story in which I fuck with all kinds of taboos, including step-siblings, and thus thought that no one would ever publish this story. So a huge thanks to Richard Labonte for looking past the taboos and taking me on anyway!

Hope everyone had a very, very merry, merry XXXmas and that you got all that you wished for and more!