Check What’s Up: Mischa Eliot Brings the Moxie

[Originally posted on Sisters in Smut}

Hi there, I’m Mischa Eliot and I’ll be your cruise director today. Oh wait… my apologies. I’ve been informed this is not a cruise. I’m sorry for the mistake. Most days I’m lucky to remember where I live (and you have no idea how badly I want to live aboard the Frances with HoHo and his Cupcake).

In between the day job and being forced to pet the kitty (not a euphemism) I write smut. Steamy, dreamy, set your pants on fire smut. I recommend pants removal prior to reading erotica, btw. Easy access and all.

How did I get here? I have no idea. I’ve always known I wanted to write. I was bitten by the bug when I ventured into the old RPG chat rooms on AOL. If you remember the Red Dragon Inn, then you know what I’m talking about. After lurking, someone messaged me and introduced me to the world of wonder known as Dungeons and Dragons.

It was all downhill from there. I created characters based on nothing resembling a gaming system. Made my own chatrooms. Met some wonderful people, one of whom has become an amazing influence in my life. She’s one of the reasons I still write. I wrote stories about my characters that turned a little smutty. Those stories went nowhere because I got bored and started something new and shiny instead.

One day I got tired of the romance novels I was reading.

The women were always needing rescued. They were either simpering weaklings or calculating harpies bent on ruining the lives of good people (generally the simpering weakling).

So, I sat down and started writing random short stories. They always had a beginning/middle/end and always included the characters getting off. I mentioned this to my sister. She asked to read something. She then read it to her husband. My best friend read it. She read it to her boyfriend. You see where this is going, right?

The worst thing I did was to quit writing during the kindle boom. I thought that’ll never last. The amount that Amazon was paying for kindle unlimited back then could have set me up for a few years. (Cue tiniest violin here.)

By the time I officially stuck my toe into the stream, it was so full of sludge I almost suffocated. I had no writer tribe. I asked for emotions/thoughts/loves/hates on my stories from those that asked to read them.

Sometimes I received excellent feedback. Other times not so much. The worst was being told they hadn’t had a chance to read it. In all honesty, I’ll take “I hated everything!” over not being read because at least then I’m invoking emotion.

Eventually, I learned to write what made me happy. I learned new things by watching porn (gasp!) and reading other erotica. I learned by listening to podcasts. I grew by taking chances, spreading my wings (still not a euphemism), and jumping off the cliff.

I found my voice. I found my writing group. I found family and friends and people I can turn to when I’m unsure about this writing life. Because in case I haven’t said it on twitter enough: writing is hard. The more you write, the more you learn… which then results in better writing but then you have to push harder, go deeper, and find the sweet spot.

I just can’t turn off the smutty faucet – nor do I want to!

Sure, sometimes I’m side-eyed by someone at my day job and other times I’m the one being serious and ignoring all the snickering my inner smut muse is doing and they’re the ones I’m side-eying while they snicker and make naughty comments!

Growing up, we didn’t talk about sex really. I mean, eventually, there was talk of sex, but more of the ‘omg, you’re pregnant!?’ variety. In school we learned about our bodies, first separate genders, then together. We even had a semester of sex education. I remember the teacher (who was also our biology teacher and I think a coach of something or other, too) asking us to find songs about sex. Someone behind me actually brought in a boom box (showing my age) and played “Let’s Get Drunk and Screw”. We learned a lot more than I know most people did in that day and age at school.

We did a lot of snickering and giggling. The class was actually fun. People raised their hands and asked questions. I was not one of them. I already knew about sex because (dun dun dun!) I found the Playboy magazines hidden away in a closet at a young age (they were in a box under another box, hidden so very well) and decided to go through them. Seeing naked people never really phased me. Being naked was always fun. I used to draw stick figures having sex and then scribble it out so no one would know.

I never really got into touching myself until later. I prefer battery operated boyfriends over real ones more often than not because they can’t get you pregnant or give you diseases and they don’t complain when you put a condom on them or wash them before and after use. They don’t care if you haven’t used them for a couple of days or months, either. Hell, I would be extremely happy with the whole Demolition Man version of casual sex.  You’ll be surprised to know that I haven’t gotten into VR-sex or anything however because… well, that takes time and money away from what I really want to be doing – writing.

“Here’s a towel.”

When I officially decided to jump into the deep end of writing, I did it backwards, blindfolded, and upside down. I’m sure something was tied behind my back… who knows what, though. Kinky, right? I wrote a story, created a simple cover and then uploaded it to Kindle. Then I did it again. Two different pen names, two different stories, different covers. You’ll never see them, though. They are in permanent draft in my KDP Dashboard and will remain there.

I removed the author names from author central in order to start M.J. Spencer and later (the name I love) Mischa Eliot. Yes, the names do have meaning behind them. Eventually, I may recreate everything under M.J. Spencer and move them to the Mischa Eliot name since it’s the one I prefer. I had a plan once upon a time that M.J. would be for pure unadulterated smut and Mischa would be the sweet steamy romance with five alarm sex scenes. Since I have a day job, it’s honestly easier just to maintain the one name.

I actually fucked up, btw… Public Affairs was supposed to be a Mischa Eliot title and not an M.J. Spencer title. Oops. Those kinds of things happen to everyone when they’re starting out. I don’t even recall how it happened. I think I was using a Photoshop PSD file of other covers. I tend to keep serials and so forth together (I have a PSD with most of the Fix-It Fast covers in it) when it comes to artwork and forgot to change M.J. Spencer to Mischa Eliot. Either way, the title is a fun one to read and I don’t regret using the M.J. Spencer name.

Anyway…

I was always the “shy one” (INTROVERT) in school. At one point someone started spreading rumors that I was a lesbian. Interesting, right? The best way for me to work out my feelings and thoughts regarding sex was to write about it. I could safely explore positions and partners and kinks through writing and reading. Later in life I found friends through online gaming that were willing to read my BDSM stories and let me know if I had crushed it or needed to start from scratch. I’ve gone so far as to allow someone to bind me in order to know what it feels like to have rope on my skin in order to better describe it.

Writing in my life has been and will always be a journey. I can do anything with a blank page and a keyboard. I hope you’ll stick around to find out what comes next. It just might be you. (Now that was a euphemism!)