Monday, July 20, 2009

Re-centering the bubble

When you're paid to do something you're a professional.
When you do it for fun you're an amateur.
When you're paid to do something that you'd do for fun anyway, isn't that the best of both worlds?

Well, unless you're a hooker.


The last couple of weeks I got involved in a project that looked like a good money making opportunity for me. It was something that came naturally to me and that I do well. The only problem that I encountered was perception. Other people's perception.

What the project consisted of was writing custom gentle erotica for couples in love to buy as gifts for one another.

I launched a website using a pseudonym and put some of my written samples up for people to get an idea of what they could purchase.

I IMMEDIATELY got solicited for sex.

The first guy was from Japan. The second guy was from Michigan. The third guy couldn't spell well enough for me to get past the first line of his email. I learned a hard lesson about myself that day….that even with a possible order on the line; I'm still a snob when it comes to literacy.

They each wanted to place an order….. it's just that what they wanted to buy wasn't what was for sale.

Part of the problem was the traffic that the name of the site engendered.

I was going for the young couples in love/newlywed kind of crowd, but what I got was the creepy guy who still lives in his parent's basement kind of crowd. I thought that naming it Erotica feeds the soul would set the tone from the get go.

APPARENTLY not.

The good news is, I ended up submitting an edited version of one of my poems from that website to an online poetry journal and it has been accepted for publication. I'm publishing it under my real name and am pretty pleased about it being published.

I'll provide a link to the poetry journal later this week when I know when the poem will be published.

The further good news is that the ick factor that came up with the perception of erotica as PORN and my alter ego as a hooker didn't tarnish my soul and I let all the creepiness float away out into the ether as soon as I deleted the website.

Thanks to everybody who was with me throughout this whole thing and heard about the ups and downs already.

You know who you are and I thank you for a) supporting me wholeheartedly and b) not living in your parent's basement.

12 comments:

Rachel S said...

Haha, so I just got this weird voicemail from you that really confused me, so I loaded this up to see what on earth you were talking about. And let me just say: You worry too much. Yes, I'd be horrified if you really were a hooker. Very horrified. But this? Not at all.

Karen from Mentor said...

Thank you baby. [hugs you] You're a good kid charlie brown.

:0)

Amy Branham said...

Sounds like quite an adventure and learning experience!

and those guys still living in mummy and daddy's basement are creepy...

Karen from Mentor said...

Yes they are Amy, and this is the sanitized edited version of the story...[shudders]
nice to see you.
Karen :0)

Karen from Mentor said...

And Amy,
The extra extra silver lining to the whole learning experience is that I got to meet two lovely new people in a round about way because of it.

A lovely man named James and the editor of the poetry blog Annmarie Lockhart. So again...being open to opportunities turned into a win/win.....
now if I could only win the lottery.... :0)

Judy Haley (CoffeeJitters.Net) said...

I love the quote at the beginning! :)

everything we do is a learning experience, whether it works out or not. it's the ick factor that's hard to deal with. At least they don't know who the real you is (I hope).

and yay for getting the poem published.

Karen from Mentor said...

Hey Ms. Jitters,
I enjoy the thoughts that randomly spout out of me too. :0)
have you read my random thoughts side bar? I change it periodically and often sneak a new one into the middle of the old ones just to keep folks on their toes.

And unless the weirdies somehow have xray vision or interweb space time contiuum blog author tracking [oh crap these are guys that play dungeon and dragons and hack into NASA...]devices... well, I thought I was safe...but now that you brought it up....

no, just kidding...pretty sure I'm ok.
Thanks for stopping in.

Karen :0)

michelekam said...

Amazing, humorous, and yet so believable.

Congrats on the poem.

Michele

Karen from Mentor said...

Hey thanks Michele,
Yes people are weird.
Some more than others.
But the nice thing is that for every icky guy out there I'm sure that there are ten stand up guys...so it evens out...

:0)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the acceptance of your poem.

jane, candid said...

Getting your poem published is such a fun outcome from your adventure!!

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks Linda, and yes it is Jane!
:0)