Guest Post: How Did THAT Happen? By Candi Delshamagus
Get ready for some total honesty. After nearly a week of wracking my brain for fresh new blog ideas, I woke up this morning still at a total loss for what to write. When I’d gotten through a short panic attack, I messaged Lissette for any clue or direction of where she’d like me to go with this guest post. Her response jump-started my brain. She asked where Taste Eternity had come from.
Such a simple question, and yet I didn’t have a definitive answer. Sometimes the things I write are inspired by events in my life, things I see on the news, questions I have about the world, or a song or piece of art that starts the muses whispering amongst themselves. Taste Eternity seems to have walked right out of the fog between fantasy and reality, and taken up residence in my brain. Don’t think I’m complaining. In fact, I’m thrilled, but I’m still a little hazy on exactly how it happened.
It started, I suppose, with a submission call. When I heard that Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly was opening a new Erotic Imprint, I was excited. A call went out for submissions to a debut anthology, Belle Morte, (excellent, super-hot read, btw), and the excitement doubled. It was a little intimidating to know that Rue Volley, a talented author of some of the hottest fetish erotica available, was putting the anthology together. After all, I’m still fairly new at the erotica thing, and I had no idea whether my work was even in the same galaxy as Rue’s work, let alone the neighbourhood.
Eventually, the temptation to give it a shot won over, and I decided to write a story for submission. Nothing I had already written looked remotely worthy, so I chose to write a new piece. I tuned out the world and started writing.
The beginning was fairly simple. I wanted to write about a woman most people could relate to. She wouldn’t be stunningly beautiful, or pitiably homely, just average — and bored. Her life would have become stale, restrictive, or just plain mind-numbingly dreary. Everyone gets there once in a while, I think, and that makes it easy to relate to the main character, and sympathize with her. Once I had Darcy fleshed out, it was time to start mixing things up, and see what lovely new potion I’d made. I wanted something exciting, mysterious and maybe a teensy bit dangerous. An unplanned encounter, and animal attraction, a telepathic lover, or maybe a supernatural pursuer?
That’s when things get a little blurry. The ideas came so fast, then, I just started writing. I didn’t even know that I’d be diving into my love of mythology, or my knowledge of biblical studies, until both were so deeply woven into the plot that I couldn’t tell the story without them. It all happened incredibly fast. Before I knew what I’d done, I was well past the 10,000 word limit for Bella Morte, but I was far too committed to the story to turn back, and it couldn’t be properly told in less words. Instead of reeling myself in, I charged ahead to find the ending.
The main character took on a life of her own. Every time I thought I knew where the next turn was, the crazy broad redrew the map! When I wrote the last sentence, I was just as stunned as I expect most of the readers will be.
Of course, I went back and checked my details, expanded the research and fixed the structure of the story, but I was still surprised that this —I want to say ‘creature’ had somehow crawled out of the jumbled mess I call a brain. I took a deep breath and submitted it directly to Hot Ink Press. The worst they could say was ‘no’. Can I just say, I nearly passed out when it was accepted?
So it seems I had another blog post in me, after all. Hahaha! It just goes to show you, inspiration really can sneak up on you, when you least expect it.
Synopsis:
Darcy Adams is about to discover that her sex life is far more complicated than she imagined after a drunken orgy with her husband, and his friends. When Darcy’s husband arranges for her to participate in a foursome, with a couple he knows to be swingers, she discovers a sexual appetite she couldn’t imagine she possessed.
The aftermath could send her straight to Hell. Her destiny has been waiting centuries for this. Heaven, and Hell, are waiting for her to decide how she’ll Taste Eternity.
About The Author:
Candi Delshamagus has been writing most of her life, but never really shared her work until now. Her debut publication in erotica marks the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
She believes in “everything and nothing”, and lives “everywhere and nowhere, but mostly in my head.” Always open to new experiences and adventures, Candi is a true gypsy at heart.
She loves books, music, dancing, dreaming and writing.
