New Story: "Texas Hold 'Em"

My latest story, "Texas Hold 'Em" is now available for sale on Amazon.

I started working on this story in June of last year (2016). It was originally one of my procrastination projects, based on a simple, sexy premise: a guy loses his manhood in a poker game. Poker led to Texas hold 'em, which made turning the main character into a sexy Texas cheerleader an inevitability. The name of the game also led to what I think is an obvious double entendre. (Double. Get it? Bah-dah, bum. *Tish.*)

The story was originally supposed to end after chapter 13, Into The Sunset. By the time I got that far, though, the story and its characters had taken on a life of their own. What I intended as a short, fun, sex romp became a more serious dramatic conflict that segues into a romance. It felt very organic as I was writing it.

As for the romance itself, if you liked the ending of "The Party Favor," I think you may like this story's ending even more. I think that what I'm most proud of isn't where the story ends up, but the journey the main character takes to get there.

Story Description:

The popular saying about everything from Texas being bigger is the main reason Ken's favorite football team - and their famous cheerleading squad - is from the Lone Star state. When he has a chance to win big at his weekly poker game, he bets big and loses even bigger. Now he's stuck as a buxom Texan beauty, forced to cope with a body that's a real handful ... and then some! But the real game begins when the night is over and the stakes are raised to include his marriage, his children, and the direction the rest of his life will take.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 78,200 words)

The story is my longest to date. So long, in fact, that I'm working on a paperback version. Yes, it's long enough to be made into an actual book. It comes in at about 280 pages in dead tree format (closer to 190-200 in my standard working format; the smaller page size adds to the length). That version is going to be on sale as soon as I can get the *insert choice profanity here* formatting to do what I want it to do. If you can't wait, the ebook is priced at $5.95, unless of course you have Kindle Unlimited, in which case it's FREE with your subscription, as are all my stories.

Enjoy!

- Sara

PS - For those of you keeping tabs on what I'm up to, my Twitter feed is now probably the best way to keep track of me. Most of the time, I post there. If I have too much to say for Twitter to handle, I still use Blogger but include a link back to the post here in my Twitter feed. 

Rejected

I got word by E-mail that my submission to Topside Press was rejected. I was copied on the E-mail as a BCC, so I suspect this was a mass rejection.

This is a first for me. My first story, "Shoes," was submitted to TG Forum. They were kind enough to publish it even though publishing fiction wasn't really what their site is about. "Shoes" was on their site for many months until they did a site reorganization, at which point they removed it from their archives. I never did find out why.

Reluctant Press published me with such speed and gusto my head spun. Right up through my last contacts with them, they were polite, courteous and eager to publish me.

When I was looking to self-publish "Alien Body Suit: Under Her Skin," femur, the head honcho over at TGComics.com reached out to me when I posted in the forums there looking for an artist. The next thing I know, we're collaborating on publishing not one, but two of my stories. You all may have seem my posts here about the sequels, which will also be published there. (I hope and expect.)

While the results of my efforts at self-publishing have been mixed, falling about halfway between Reluctant Press and TGComics, they've still been a fun, profitable endeavor. I would have to call that a success.

So getting rejected by Topside Press is, I must say, kind of a downer.

:_-(

Ah, well. Back to work.

New Story: "The Birthday Girl"

Time for the last of my longer stories for the summer. "The Birthday Girl" is now up for sale on Amazon. I was originally going to call this story "Bitch and Moan," (BaM) but it didn't really seem to be a good fit for the story as a whole, so I changed it.

This story is the second time this year that I've had something almost done (or so I thought), only to end up with WAY more pages added at the end to tie things up. For those that read my blog regularly, or my Twitter feed (@TGAuthor), you may have seen me do some complaining / procrastinating on this one. Trust me, that's par for the course. I normally just keep it private. In this case, because I'd promised a longer story in July, I felt the need to be a little more open about my process.

I have to say that I'm really, really happy with the cover for this one. Being the worrywart that I am, I felt it might be a little too reminiscent of the cover for "The Cardinal Sins," but I think it's different enough to stand on its own. Plus, it uses elements of the story, which I always love. (The red satin sheets. The black lace lingerie.) I didn't notice until the last minute that the stockings are fishnets. I also wish the model had a better hip to waist ratio. All in all, minor gripes. I guess my inner perfectionist will just have to put on her straitjacket for a while until she calms down.

The story itself is pretty NC-17. To use Femur's proposed rating system:
Genre: Slice-of-Life / Magic
Transformation: Magic Transformation, Full XX Change, M2F Transformation, F2M Transformation
Transformation Details: Forced, Ravished, Transformation As Punishment, Tricked
Sexual Preferences: Pre-Hetero, Post-Unsure

In fact, this is the story I was describing in the thread. You'll notice I left out the "Bad Boy to Good Girl" from the transformation description. That's because the primary character is more of a "Bad Boy to Bad Girl" in this story. I mean, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but you can't help feeling (IMHO) like he's always going to be a difficult person to like, no matter what his gender is.

Story Description:

A man's long-suffering girlfriend throws a very special party for herself to celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday. Her plans include decorations, dressing up, alcohol, black lace lingerie, red satin sheets, candlelight, lovemaking, a very special meal, cake and a big helping of revenge! By the time this party's over, it will be a night "The Birthday Girl" will never be able to forget.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 33,800 words)

This story came in at 53 pages in my standard format. I priced it at $4.95 because I wanted it to come in under five bucks. Next up, the final two chapters of the Turned Into A Love Doll series. The next chapter is done. The last chapter just needs an epilogue to tie up the loose ends and give the story some closure. Fingers crossed for that to go quick!

New Story: "The Party Favor"

My latest story is up at Amazon. "The Party Favor" is a story that's been complete for a long time, sitting on my hard drive gathering dust. Or electrons. Or whatever it is files gather when they sit around too long without being accessed.

It was started in 2006, left half-finished for six years, then finished in February of 2012. I blogged about it HERE. I had to remove some content from the original version of the story to avoid referencing a well-known licensed character and two celebrities. The astute reader might catch the remnants of those edits. I also left a couple in, but I think they both fall pretty squarely under fair use. I hope. (Please don't sue me.)

If you're looking for a sex romp, this isn't it. It's more social than sexual, exploring the best and worst in male social behavior, which the main character has to endure while transformed. If you want something with more sex, why not check out "The High Price of Inflation?" Its follow-up, the second of four stories, is going to be coming out at the end of the month. I want it available to everyone before the July 4th weekend.

Story Description:

As a favor to a girl that he likes, a man agrees to what he thinks will be a temporary transformation. Surrounded by his friends, he begins realize that the transformation has altered not just how others see him, but also how he sees himself. Who he is and who he will be is something that the night's events will lead him to discover.

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 44,300 words)

This story came in at 91 pages in my typical format. I didn't want to price it at $9.10, or even $8.95, so I used the reduced page count when formatted for Amazon, which was a lean 67 pages. Those blank lines between paragraphs add up quick. Because of that, the price is $6.50.

This means I'm now out of longer stories to make available. I'm very close to finishing one longer one (tentative title of BaM) which I plan on putting out in mid-July. More news on that to come.

New Story: "The High Price of Inflation"

I have a new story up at Amazon, "The High Price of Inflation." This story is considerably shorter than most of my published stories. At only twelve pages in my standard format, it gets right to the point ... which is all about the sex. I think it's far more explicit than anything I've put out before, with an ending that is dark. I wouldn't quite call it horror, but I found it unsettling to write. As the story description makes clear, this story is about a man transformed into a love doll. Speaking of which ...

Story Description:

A young man turns 25. For his birthday, his friends give him a blow up love doll as a gag gift. In the privacy of his apartment, the man finds out that it works really well … but not in the way he was expecting. It isn't long before he finds himself transformed from a "he" into a "she," trapped as a living sex toy, with an owner that's eager to teach her exactly what that means. 

(Transgender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 5,600 words)

Due to the shorter length, this story is very affordable. It is also the first in a four part series. There will be follow-up stories coming out once a month over the summer. (Or at least that's the planned schedule.) Check it out now! (Please.)

"What Have You Done For Me Lately?"

... and by "You," I mean me. What have *I* as an author done for *You* the reader lately?

First, there's "Head Games." This is the first of many (I hope) titles that I will be making available through Amazon. For now, it's electronic only because it's easier to format and setup. My hope over time is to offer a mix of short stories, novelettes and novels in both print and electronic eBook formats.

As my second step towards that goal, I'm going to be putting out a short story. I have four done with a fifth very close to completion. Three of the four completed stories and the one that is close to being done are part of a four story series. They are about ten pages long in my preferred format for writing, so all of them would be available on Amazon for $2.99. For now, the tentative plan is to put one of these out a month over the summer. I'm looking for cover art with the hope of putting the story up the weekend of June 1st.

Third, I have one more novelette length story completed with a second a handful of pages from completion. Like the short stories, my hope is to put them out about once a month over the next couple of months. That means that for the next couple of months, there would be a short story and a longer story coming out from me every month, with more short stories through the end of summer.

I do have a third story that's longer completed, but this one is a Christmas story. I had hoped to get this one illustrated and put up for free at TG Comics for the holiday, but that fell through because of several issues that are going to be next to impossible for me to work around. Femur was very gracious and supportive - as always - but can't publish it there due to some of the content. (There's children in the story, and even though their role is non-sexual, there's a strict "no minors" rule for content on TG Comics. Why? The credit card providers require it.)

Last of all, my goal for the summer is to turn my outlines for the sequels to "Under Her Skin" into stories. That would put something like a two year gap between the original story and its sequels, with time to illustrate and format for publication. That seems like long enough. (I know, I know ... maybe a little too long.) After that, I have a script I'm aching to write. Along the way, I expect I'll keep writing stories to keep myself interested like I did with "Head Games," the Christmas story and the four short stories.

It's a labor of love, but I ache to share it with all of you! Now all I have to do is find a cover image from Shutterstock to use with those darn short stories and the longer one for next month ...

HEAD GAMES: My first eBook for sale at Amazon.

I have my first eBook up for sale at Amazon. The name of the book is "Head Games." I just put this up yesterday afternoon and it already has some sales before I've even had a chance to promote it at TG Comics, here or on my Twitter account, which really shocked me. I'm very excited to begin self-publishing and hope to have some more of my finished stories up for sale soon.

Story Description:

Five friends abducted by aliens try to escape captivity with the assistance of two less than helpful strangers. With their heads separated from their bodies and attached to strange machinery, an unexpected malfunction starts a chain of events that leads to their escape. But at what price? Not all of them will live, while some that do will find their lives transformed forever.

(Trangender Erotic Fiction, Approximately 42,300 words)

As is normal with Amazon, the first 10% of the book is up for preview so you can read some of the story for free. Go check it out!

Graphic Designs

In case you haven't figured this out yet, I'm an author. Words are my medium of choice. Which is what makes the fact that I have seven completed but unpublished works a little frustrating. I'm working towards publishing two of the longer works on Amazon. The problem of the moment is cover art.

I've been playing around on Shutterstock trying to find photos I can use for the story I want to publish, HG. At the same time, I finished up a Christmas story that I'd like to give away at TG Comics, but to do that, I have to find art. I also have another longer story, BaM, that's close to completion that will also need cover art. I was so desperate that I opened DAZ 3D for the first time in months to toy with the option of creating my own art work. Then I remembered: my content library is really, really shallow. Making my own images isn't really option without investing a lot of time and some money that I don't really have. Far easier if I could find photos I can use at Shutterstock.

Just ... really frustrated at the moment.

New Year's Resolution 2014

I'm sitting at home waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square. At this time, as I always do, I'm looking forward to the new year. Here are my goals in no particular order:

1. Turn my outlines for the two sequels to "Alien Body Suit: Under Her Skin" into completed stories.
2. Publish / find a home for a number of the stories I've completed but not released. (TPF, TotTC, HG, and a trilogy of shorter stories in the same universe I don't think I've mentioned before: AH, INF, BU)
3. Finish the stories I have mostly - but not all the way - completed. (COT, TB, BaM, MAU: SEP)
4. Complete my outline and start work on my screenplay project: CS.
5. Set up a webpage as a home for the content / stories I intend to start self-publishing. It's past time for me to jump on the Amazon bandwagon.
6. Start work on the on one or both of the two book projects I've had in mind for a while now.
7. Make time to write. This resolution involves watching less TV, which is a huge, HUGE time suck for me.

There are a couple more minor goals, like how many pages a week I want to write, forming an LLC, getting illustrations done for my stories to be published and so forth, but the ones above are the biggies.

Wanted: Writing Agent

I've got a few finished stories that I'm not sure what to do with at this point. I really wish I had a test reader that I could trust to give me feedback on my work. One of them for sure is bound for Fictionmania and TGStorytime. I've considered self-publishing a couple of them. Really kind of lost and frustrated.

All my writing lately is the literary equivalent of puttering in the garage. Things happen, progress is made, but nothing really gets done.

I need a like minded individual to bounce ideas off of. Like an agent. Someone that could say, "Hey, this story is really good. Don't give it away for free. This one's OK, but don't charge for it. And this one? Burn it; it's horrible."

... And Closer

I got ABS:UHS back from my publisher with the edits applied last night. VERY close now to being done, with publication not far behind. At least, that was the impression I got from the E-mail I received. I'm 110 pages into my final pass through the story out of approximately 225 pages including illustrations. (Illustrations have been done since early summer of 2011.) The remaining revisions are few and minor ("they" instead of "the," some discrepancies between illustrations and captions and so forth). I should be done tonight, with the rest of the work in my publisher's hands.

This will be the first major story I've put out that wasn't with Reluctant Press. I was so close to self-publishing. I was ready to take that on, but with so little money of my own to invest in illustrations, the offer from this publisher to do 100+ illustrations just kind of blew me away. At the time, I thought my chain was getting yanked, but it was a serious offer. And the quality? Light years beyond the illustrations I have had coupled with my work before this. Now 3 1/2 years later, it's coming out. "I can't wait to share this with you," well, those words just don't seem adequate to express how I feel.

I'm getting nervous. Scared, even. I know some people are going to hate it and dump on me. There's always a few people that seem to enjoy going negative. I hope there are more that love it. And buy it. I'm pretty certain that a bad financial outcome will close the door on anyone that wants to follow in my footsteps. I think that would crush my spirits.

I can't stop rereading this story, though. I don't seem to get tired of it. I hope other people feel the same way.

Another One Bites The Dust

I finished another story. Now what?

I had a week off this last week. As I often do, I used some of my extra free time to write. I banged out 28 pages to finish it off. Writing at an average pace of about one (1) page an hour or less, that's more than three days of full time work. The time flew by. I could do it again easily, because it's just too much fun to write. "T_ P_ F_" (TPF, from now on) is now sitting on my hard drive, needing revision, waiting to be polished to a gleaming shine before being published at ... I don't know where.

Like my other unpublished work (ABS:UHS), I will not be submitting it to Reluctant Press. I think I've outgrown them. It's less about them than it is about me wanting more control over the content I create. If I write something and it bombs, I want to know. If it succeeds wildly, I want to know. Most of all, I want to succeed or fail based on the merits (or lack thereof) of my own work.

To that end, ABS:UHS has been extensively illustrated (paid for by a third party) and will be published at some point in the future at a website that won't suprise anyone that follows my writing. As great as that is, I'm looking to publish independently for my next story. I have Lulu and Createspace (Amazon) accounts set up, but I'm not sure which I'll use. I'm leaning towards Createspace, as I think it will get more exposure if I use them. A friend of mine uses them with great personal success.

For now, I've got a several stories with finished outlines and enough pages to know I want to finish them. (C_ O_ T_, MAU:S_ E_ , T_ B_, TotTC:M_ V_) Before I worry about publishing, that's were I'm going to put my focus, starting with COT. Besides, TPF makes reference to a licensed character that needs to be edited out if I'm going to sell it.

That Crazy Space

The whole self-publishing of ABS through Lulu is going smashingly ... as in I want to smash my computer to bits! (Extra points if you get the geek pun in that statement.)

Here's the glitch. Lulu is converting my Word documents as part of the publication process, so that part is fine. The problem is that the source document added a space at the top of each page at the beginning of the first line. This happened when I added page numbers, and can be easily fixed by removing the page numbers. Now, I am using an older version of Word (97, to be exact), but this is a real pain. Page numbers are kind of important.

So at some point this week, I will be downloading OpenOffice. Let's hope that lets me fix these annoying formatting issues so that I can focus on doing a final round of editing and purchase a proof copy!

Midnight Oil

Not last night but the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers .... ha ha. No. What I was really going to say was that I got home from Oswego Harborfest at one in the morning and ended up writing until 4:30AM. I was very, very tired after that.

On an upside, ABS - the acronym I'm using in place of my current project's title - is done. More precisely, the added chapter / section I wanted to write to flesh it out is done. I think the new section makes the ending seem less abrupt.

Now to decide what to do with it. Reluctant Press? TG Comics? Self-publish? I can't decide.

As much as I would like to support RP, they seem to be doing well without my help. Femur has big plans for TG Comics and I would like to support that. On the other hand, a straight story doesn't really fit in at TG Comics. As for self-publishing, I worry that I won't do well at all. I suppose the only way to find out for sure will be to try.

Max Forward Broke My Heart

Well, crap.

I've been toying with the idea of self-publishing thru Lulu.com. As part of those plans, I've wanted to hire a professional illustrator. I was searching Craigslist.org and found someone that seemed ideal: Max Forward. His work is reasonably priced. He draws well, and the women he creates are very sexy. He even does some nudity. He works in an electronic format which makes working over the internet ideal. Even his name breathed cool. I mean, really, Max Forward is just about the awesomest name ever. With high hopes, I contacted him with the basics of my project and asked for a quote.

I was shocked and more than a little disappointed when he expressed discomfort with the subject matter and declined to provide a quote.

In the larger scheme of things, I suppose I'm not surprised. I commonly swim with ideas that makes the public at large squirm, or at least giggle in discomfort. In my own family, my sister kept me away from her children for years and implied to our siblings that their own children weren't safe around me based on nothing more than crude prejudice. I've even had problems at more than one job based solely on small minded people not being able to wrap their head around my personal life.

I'll find another illustrator that *will* work with me. But still, I'm mourning for the lost fusion of Max Forward's art and my writing. I feel a hole in me where the synergy we could have created was supposed to go. I think he would have been proud of the resut if we had worked together. Luckily for me, I'll find someone else that will fill that hole.

Too bad for Max. He is the real loser here.