Erotica

Despite what many people think, it really isn't a dirty word.

Erotica.  According to Etymology Online, the word is derived from the Greek erotikos, which means  "caused by passionate love" or "referring to love".

Clearly, it's not a dirty word.  So let's say it again.  Erotica.

Having said it, I am forced to admit that I've never been fully comfortable broadcasting the fact that I am a writer of erotic fiction. I'd like to blame that discomfort on my upbringing, but maybe I'm just uptight.  I've been in the United States for most of my life, where attitudes about sex are not all that restrictive, but I spent my formative years in Nigeria, where having sex was grounds for expulsion from school.  I don't know if things are still so drastic in Nigeria—if I have any Nigerian readers, please feel free to comment—but you see what I'm getting at. 

Perhaps because of my upbringing (or my uptightness), my erotic writing is very tame.  Some people have called my writing Romantica.  Not that there is much romance in what I write; my characters just like having sex.  Often.  And all of my characters are different, so my writing goes from mild to raunchy, depending on whose head we're in.

When, you ask, is she going to give us an example of this Romantica and let us judge for ourselves?  

My answer:  right now.