Writing good erotic romance is like having good sex-there has to be great foreplay

Saw it once and I believe it one hundred percent. Here's the problem, there are all kinds of different levels of foreplay and readiness of one partner versus the other. But for the reader, they are usually all starting out at, so not ready. I hate to say I really forgot that. As I go through a story I was editing and I just have to say editing is a bitch and a half, it was painful enough to read though it on paper and see mistakes but to see just how flat it was until just as....okay to be frank he was about to stick it in....it was murky and stark without the lube so to speak. Why I wondered would a woman get into bed with him without the reader seeing it, really seeing and feeling it?

It was shit, it didn't need editing it needed drastic revision and I'm not going to lie I was really pissed. I wanted to scrap the whole damn thing but I don't have the time and money for it. The covers are done and delivered, shout out to Carrie at Cheeky Covers who was fucking awesome and amazing and did such a good job it made me want to deliver on the hot cover on the outside. I'm not just saying it, I stared at the covers and thought about what would make me buy one book over another and cover is important, extremely important then the hook and to take it home the story. Would my story deliver on the initial hook? Honestly, the answer to that was no.

Then, to make matters even worse I read a book that was sooo damn good I was pissed that I know only two maybe three of the seven I have finished are that good. Now I have to read through them all just to make sure. It's funny because this chick at my writing meetup was talking about one million word commitment to become a better writer. Umm...duh? Not just due to Outliers but if you do something often enough you will get better at it but still I don't think enough people truly understand it's not more writing, it's reading. Reading allows you to see the mistakes and accomplishments of other writers. It allows you to avoid the hole you might have stepped in and the things to do right. True, good writing is so often in the eyes of the reader and tastes can vary but no one can go over one road and say this isn't bumpy and another person go over it and says it's smooth. Both will feel the something differently but both will know it's not smooth.

As a reader and a disgustingly honest person at least I can look at what I wrote and see it how it compares to others and say if it's good or crap. It kills me that I was just talking with others about how, at least it's better than some of the crap that's out there. I talked about how I downloaded like 9, hell it could have been more and how I didn't get through half of them, sometimes unable to continue past the first or third chapter. Was I really willing to let that be my standard? People joke about how being a perfectionist is what you say is your 'worst' trait but the truth is it can be an extremely bad trait. It can hold you back from completing something and causing other things from being done to finish one thing. In the past I have called myself a perfectionist and it is true. I told myself I was going to fix glaring errors and push it out as I was just damned tired of having them sit on my chest but now I know it's not an option. Yes, I'm a perfectionist, yes everything can't be perfect errors will find their way in but no it won't keep me from putting out the best work I can deliver and I should be thinking that with every book. So often you get just one chance with a reader, I don't want to waste that reader's time or money. They'll remember that and really as a writer putting out work I need to remember it too.