7 Questions with Sasha White

1. On a scale of one to ten, rank your current level of insanity–where ten is belongs-in-lunatic-asylum insane–and tell us why.

I’d say around a 6. I’m pretty mellow right now. I’m working out again, and hanging out with friends, not constantly holed up in the writing cave. If you’d asked me two months ago, I’d be a 9 LOL

2. I think your release schedule for this year is second only to Saskia Walker‘s. How do you keep up the pace?

I stop having a life. LOL For the last year and a half I’ve done nothing but write. Like I said, my schedule is slowing now, and I’m trying to find a balance. It’s hard to find a balance when I have some much I want to do. So much I enjoy doing.

3. Speaking of Saskia, how did the Kink anthology come to be? Through your agent, Roberta Brown?

Actually, it was my idea. 🙂 Saskia and I have been in so many short story anthologies together over the years, where we’re one(or two) or ten or twenty authors that when we both sold to Berkley – and both hired the same agent – I figured it was about time we saw our names on a cover together. I love Saskia’s stories, and I figured our styles would work off each other very well. I emailed Saskia, and she was into it. Roberta pitched it for us, and Berkley liked the idea.

4. On the cover of Secret Thoughts: Erotique, it says “collection compiled by Sasha White”. Does that mean you edited it as well, or only that you selected the stories? I’ve not read it, but the content seems pretty varied. Was there a theme to the collection?

The theme is Secret Thoughts. 🙂 The stories are everything from first person POV naughty thoughts to fantasies lived out. There really is something for everyone in it, and I think it’s a great collection for people to try as an erotica sampler. They can see varies styles, levels of heat, and maybe find a new author to love.

As for editing…Well, Yes, I chose the stories to go in. I also chose the order they’d be in, and I did a small amount of editing. Jessica, from Samhain edited them after me, for safety thought cuz I’m not really an editor. LOL.

5. Having worked FOH (front of house) as a bartender, do you think it’s a good experience to have? And confirm for me that you’re one heckuva smart woman: a guy who treats servers badly is a guy to be dumped immediately, right?

YES!! To both. Dump anyone who treats servers badly. It’s a very telling trait about who they really are. 🙂

And yes, I think serving is fantastic experience. I’ve worked many different jobs, but in the hospitality industry not only will you see people in a different – and clearer – light after a few months. But you learn a lot about how to work under pressure, how to multi-task, how to deal with money, and how to talk to people. You a lot learn a lot about yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses.

I think everyone should try waitressing for a month, if for no other reason than I bet those who’ve never done it, truly have no idea how much work it actually is.

6. You have been taking part in Half Naked Thursday. Is that a reflection of you, as a person, growing more comfortable with your body?

Definitely. Not just with my body though, but I’m becoming more open about how strongly I feel sexuality is a part of who we are. Body image really effects how much pleasure we can get from our bodies. Simply because when a woman feels to self conscious of her not perfect body, it becomes lot harder to relax and enjoy what’s happening to that body. I’m at my heaviest right now, yet I’m so much more in tune with my sexuality because I’m learning to love my body for what it does for me – even if it doesn’t look as good as I’d like it too. HNT is a way to show that how you think can effect how you feel, and that often effects how you look, and act.

Plus, I’ve always had an interest in photography. I’ve done quite a bit with travel photo’s and now I’m thinking I’d like to explore people more. Everyday people. Real people. We’re all beautiful, and we need to remember that.

7. Recently, you did a poll on your blog, asking readers what genre should your next fiction work be in. Do you think it’s just the human need to explore and push the boundaries? Or is expressing or fulfilling creativity through reinvention?

Oh Lord. I blame a short attention span. Which I guess is the human need to explore and push boundaries. My need anyway. I’ve always had a hard time sticking with any one thing for too long. That’s not to say I won’t always do erotica, or erotic romance, but yes, I think to keep the creative muscles functioning they need to be stretched and worked out every now and then.

Sometimes it’s just dreaming or contemplating. Sometimes it’s the urge to expand my own little world, not just my writing, as I said above, I’m that way with photography, and pretty much everything. It keeps life interesting!

Sasha White blogs with Allure Authors and the Berkley Babes.

She has already released stories in the Secret Thoughts: Erotique, Kink, Dreams and Desires and Alluring Tales anthologies this year.

Her current release is Lush, and the one after that will be Trouble, out in August.