I first started writing essays in high school (western Massachusetts). In my senior English class, I was required to write an essay each week on an assigned topic. I recall reserving Sunday afternoons for most of this task, though I believe that I made notes during the week. Some topics were more difficult than others, of course, and 50+ years ago the Internet was not available as a research tool, so when my family’s World Book encyclopedia wasn’t very useful, I visited the city library. The experience of this weekly writing assignment contributed significantly to my learning the skill—and it allowed me to develop an affinity for—writing.

When I was about 35, my family and I participated in “family therapy” for a time, which introduced me to a therapist with whom I became comfortable. Somewhat later, I experienced a panic attack, and went to see her again. I continued individual therapy with her for several months, as I recall. In discussing intimate matters, the subject of erotica came up. I told her that, in my opinion, the problem with erotic fiction was that there was not enough good material available. She suggested that I try writing some. At the time I was working free lance as a management consultant and had some time available. It took me about a year to complete the first draft of the novel, which I would later call Mastery 101: The Manual, (M101) the target reader of which is the submissive woman, women who think that they might be submissive, and men and women who are fascinated by such women. When I thought that the novel was ready, I researched publishers of erotica, and began submitting M101 to them. On my 27th try, a publisher in the UK agreed to take it on, but a few weeks later they withdrew their offer, explaining that they feared that publishing erotica would hurt their reputation. At that point I was working full time, so I just put the project on hold.

When I began writing the novel, serious business-oriented personal computers were just becoming available, but I didn’t have a PC until somewhat later. When I did have one, I entered the novel into an early word processor and continued to massage it. Over the next 30 years, I shared M101 with a few dozen people, mostly women whom I met online. They gave me some excellent critiques and suggestions, many of which I incorporated into the novel. Occasionally, I thought about trying again to publish the novel, and finally, in late 2012, I decided to get serious about it. This time, with the Internet available for research, I learned that publishers do not accept novels from authors; they accept them only from authors’ literary agents. Determining that I was unlikely to find an agent, I chose to self-publish my novel as an eBook.

In exploring the possibility of trying to get M101 published, I learned that it is virtually impossible for a first-time novelist to find a literary agent unless s/he can obtain a referral from an established author. Not knowing any established authors, it became clear that I would have to become an “indie” author, i.e., to self-publish. It also soon became clear that publishing my novel as an eBook made the most sense since it represented the least financial risk while making it possible to get very wide distribution. After exploring a few of the distributors and service companies for eBooks, Smashwords seemed to make the most sense for me. However, since Smashwords is not currently distributing to Amazon, I am also dealing with them directly through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

I’d like to answer this on two levels. I have found that my fiction, once I have established an outline, tends to write itself. So, in a sense, I am reading it while I write it. I can truly say that there have been plot developments of which I had had absolutely no recollection until I typed them onto the screen. On an entirely different level, it has always given me great satisfaction to hear that a reader has experienced pleasure as the result of reading what I have written. That’s why I write.

Since a reader can only become a fan when what s/he has read has been meaningful, I write for my fans—or readers who, I hope, will become my fans. I am really writing for a small audience, made larger because naturally submissive women—who, I am quite certain make up a very small fraction of all women—seem to fascinate so many other readers. However, I am not writing for these other readers directly. My published fiction can only be commercially successful if many of these other readers find what I write for submissive women to be attractive to themselves as well.

I am thinking about trying to tell the story of my own tragic online relationship. But I am not going to make that kind of investment in time unless M101 proves that erotica readers want to read what I write.

Writing is not a full-time activity for me. I spend much more time making music with—and helping to manage—the wind ensemble of which I have been a part since 1970.

Many different things: Time to be spent with someone I care about. To see how my characters will deal with difficult or particularly erotic situations. Time spent in individual practice of my own parts for an upcoming concert. A rehearsal involving challenging music, hearing how its performance has improved since last week.

Almost everything I do involves my desktop computer, so I have little need for a conventional desk. My computer desk/table fits into a corner. It has wings, each of which has a swing-arm desk lamp attached, that give me as much surface area as I need. The drawers that would ordinarily be found in a desk have been replaced by two plastic rolling sets of drawers that I bought at Target. The PC applications that I use most often are MS Word, MS Excel, MS Publisher, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Premiere Elements. I continually back up all of my files with Rebit to a local external hard drive. I use Windows XP Professional despite the coming of the end of its support by Microsoft, and have no intention of any change in this area. I use many websites. Most of my communication is done via email.

I have evidence that I have known that I am dominant since at least the age of 6, possibly earlier. My first sub was a teenage babysitter. I can remember initiating this relationship; I don’t recall any resistance. I have always loved women. By the time I was a teenager and understood what it meant to be dominant, I have searched for submissive girls and women. I have only been interested in naturally submissive women—those who have an innate nature to give up control to the right man and who, themselves, are perpetually searching for the right dominant man. I have observed from my earliest years that it can be extremely difficult for dominants and submissives to meet their opposite numbers. I also understand that this is quite understandable as the dimensionality of the dominant/submissive (D/s) relationship is so great; that is, the number of ways in which the two partners must be compatible is so much greater than in a conventional, or vanilla relationship. As I believe further that D/s is a type of loving relationship, finding one’s opposite number is that much more difficult.