The Erotic Journal Challenge 2022

As I have noted in several posts the past week or so, CONSISTENCY is one of my focuses for this year.

I have a tendency, like many others (raise your hand if you’re in the I-make-big-plans-and-then-fizzle-out-on-keeping-then club), to commit to too many things or create projects that I simply can’t complete or stop caring about over time.

I tried to keep that in mind with my blog plans this year. I’ve committed to 3 things: a photography challenge, flash fiction, and an erotic journal.

Now, the journal is basically just the personal narrative core of this website, so I’m really just re-commiting to doing a better job of posting regularly. My plan is to journal every day, but I may not post those entries every day. I may collect them for a few days, or even an entire week, and then publish them as one post.

These posts may not be long. Some may be very, very short.

In fact, as a writing teacher, I have often given people note cards for journal entries just to take the pressure of length away. Or I’ve set a 10 minute timer. Even those little journals with small spaces for each day might work.

Small is okay. The real goal is just being CONSISTENT. Making reflection a daily practice.

Since I also have a tendency to lose track of my erotic side, to forget sexuality, to stop feeling it, I’m hoping maintaining awareness with a regular sex journaling practice will help me to improve this. I know I can blame some (most?) of my libido issues on hormones, but I really can do better by simply keeping sex on the brain.

If I lived alone, this might not be an issue. I could possibly let my sexual side dry up *like a grape in the sun*. It could just be a shriveled up raisin of feeling that once was.

But how sad.

And it’s not a good idea in a marriage (duh), as intimacy (of which sex is a part), is the core of romantic connection. I’m not judging those with happily sexless marriages or asexual partnerships. I’m just saying that this isn’t a plan that will work for us. So…

When I originally came up with the idea for The Erotic Journal Challenge, it was because there was nothing else like it at the time. I could find very few journal guides based on sex and relationships. There weren’t any journal prompt apps (still aren’t, that I know of), or websites devoted to sex journaling.

So, I’m making my own.

Because I don’t want to dream too big on this and let it fail because *I flew too close to the sun*, I’m running this through Instagram to force myself to keep the prompts small. Posting these will be a daily practice, as will responding to them.

At some point, I may collect these in a guide. Or create a website just for The Erotic Journal. But for now, I’m looking at this year as a *beta version*.

If you’d like to join me, I am posting on Instagram, but those posts will also show up here in the side bar. So no need for an Instagram account of you come here on a regular basis.

If you are joining, I encourage you to write every day. It can be small. You can time yourself. You may even find that you build writing stamina over time and begin to write for longer amounts of time. There is no need to edit or censor yourself. There is no need to share (though if you choose to, you can link up, share in the comments, start your own blog, etc.).

Journaling is a personal process. A few of us weirdos with an exhibitionist streak like to tell the world all our inside thoughts. You don’t have to be like us.

That’s the beauty of journaling. It is writing for you. Writing to learn. Writing to purge. Writing to heal. Writing to process.

So if you plan to join, use today to figure out where and when you will write. Maybe get a stack of 365 note cards. Or a journal with 365 pages or spaces to write. You could even do this as a bullet journal. Or set up a private (or public) blog. Keep it as small or open as you desire.

The first prompt will go live tomorrow. Since I know I have readers in the U.K. and Australia, I want to get prompts up early enough for everyone to take part.

Also, prompts won’t be done in any linear way, so you can join at any time. Don’t let the prompt dates stop you.

I’m excited to begin!