I never knew how thrilling it was to get

ready to publish a book, but that is what I am doing right now, with the help of various friends….

When you have never done this before, it seems a daunting task, and damn if it isn’t. But! Friends who have the previous experience, and also have the love of writing, lent their energies and expertise and got me down the road.

In the two years I have been writing on ERWA, (Erotica Readers and Writers Association) I have written a lot. From the beginning, I gained a lot of advice and notice, not so much for the skill of my writing, but because it was so goddamn awful. But I listened and worked hard, and found a particular voice deep inside…and here I am. The book is going to be called “A Seasoning of Lust” and no, it’s not a cook book. It’s a compilation of flashers (200 word stories), many grouped into themes, (Japanese, bdsm, Seasonal, stuff like shibari (Japanese rope work) and the Metamorphosis series (crazy Gorean bats) and lots of different forms of poetry. Lots of poetry. Too much poetry, and a couple of short stories.

And that is the rub. You need a sharp knife to decide what to put in and what to leave out. You want to put in the best, but that is rather a subjective idea I am finding.

So, here comes the editors….that’s a bitch because it’s giving up some control over what you have written. But it’s necessary to get ‘real’ about publishing. I have a couple of friends who are ready to read the stuff…but then again, why should they do so? Most of them are writers themselves. I think it is wrong to ask someone to put aside their own endeavors to attend to the work of someone else. That can make it very hard to pick up the treads of their ongoing work. We all need to treasure what time and hard writing we are doing. For some of us it’s more than words on the page.

So now I find that I have too much for one book….too much poetry and not even considering all the short stories….which are not necessarily short.

My dear husband, who has been my greatest supporter through all the phases of my present behaviors, has suggested that I publish two volumes….but I think that I will just start to peel down the pieces.

His only request is that I publish SOMETHING. He’s been waiting for years, when I quit my work at a local university in ‘94 to write a novel. It was written, but I didn’t know squat about writing….am still learning…and it’s 120,000 words that needs a lot of work. In the past two years, I have followed up with 4 or 5 novels and novellas….still half finished, but with ‘promise’. My butt has spread with the amount of time sitting here at the computer writing….and that is where the belly dance comes in.

Recently I went back to dance classes and dancing…I am so far behind. We are working on some difficult choreography, to the track “Battle” by Beats Antique. Amazing tribal fusion stuff…very new for me, because my whole background has been Turkish. The performance is late September…and I am struggling to catch up. I remember now why I hate set choreography, because it demands discipline.

And about discipline…I am going to Montreal, Canada January 24th, in the middle of winter for a belly dance workshop with Audra Simmons….my tuition is already paid, and my troupe is happy I’m going…actually they are happy they aren’t going to face a Canadian winter.

I’m also to study privately with Lina Moros…a famous flamenco dancer in Montreal. She is planning to take me on for a couple of beginning lessons. This is something I have always admired…and have ‘danced’ flamenco before, with a Spanish group of drummers and guitar players…. I was so taken with the music that the next morning I could barely stand my calves hurt so much. But I won’t ever forget the primal thrill of the music and the dancing.

I was told last night by Aya, our troupe leader, that Montreal is a excellent place for belly dancing…so many different styles…so many different ethnics there as dancers…I thought it was only the French….I am getting phone calls from Frenchies in Montreal telling me what to pack, other things about the workshop….

Apparently belly dancers in Montreal wear woolies ….long johns. There goes the glamour of exotic dancing.

Lady Nyo and Teela as my performance name.

THE TROUPE

Jane Kohut-Bartels
March, 2008

Waves on a dark but sparkling sea
They cluster together
And with the sounds of the first drums
Sail into position
Striking a pose.

Stretching out in formation
Gentle waves of skirts flaring
Breasts lifting in sweet provocative gestures
Hands arched in arabesques
Like leaping dolphins.

The coins on their bras
Catch the lights and sparkle
Like Sun lighting the whitecaps.

Spiraling outward
Like a nautilus shell
Eternal in movements
Eternity flows
From long fingertips.

Now the Sea roils
With stomping feet
They mark the tempo
Increase it with breakers
Crashing over their gleaming heads
To fall together in
Turkish drop
The Sea finally
Calm and restored.