If you count my first novel at age 10, well, that's a pretty long time! I don't think you can set out to do these things. You either are a writer or you aren't. You can't force a talent if it isn't there to begin with. I've been creating my entire life - drawing, painting, writing - it's just that the writing took off, taking me along with it. I feel I'm doing what I finally should be doing, however. It's like when you go into a shop and try on a garment - it either fits or it doesn't. This fits.

God only knows. Ideas just pop into my head. They can be triggered from the strangest things. I got the seminal idea for my M. S. Valentine novel Elysian Days and Nights from watching an Alan Bates film set in the Orkney islands of Scotland. Mind you, that's about the only similarity between the two projects. Most of my work seems to grow from something seemingly negligible - a crack in a teacup, for instance, which became the starting point for the novel I'm working on now.

As Mitzi Szereto, I've just wrapped up Foreign Affairs: Erotic Travel Tales, due out this autumn from Cleis Press. I'm covering a whole new batch of fascinating locations and cultures in this one and, as with the previous volumes, readers are guaranteed the best prose and the sexiest storytelling to be found anywhere. I wouldn't dare offer anything less! I'm also nearly done with an anthology of erotica featuring famous historical characters, which I'm very excited about. The response from writers has been overwhelming - they really got caught up in the concept of speculating on the lives of famous people throughout history. I think it's safe to say that this book will be full of surprises! Look out for it in 2005. I also have something else cooking, and will be putting the word out this summer. Meanwhile, I continue to work on my novel The Wren, and the occasional non-fiction piece. As for M. S. Valentine, keep an eye out for the re-release of Elysian Days and Nights from Blue Moon.

My erotic novels such as The Captivity of Celia, The Possession of Celia, The Governess and The Martinet are of a specific type - highly explicit erotic fiction with a gothic-novel flair. By gothic I don't mean Ann Rice gothic, but gothic as in Brontë gothic. I suppose that explains why I've been dubbed "The Queen of Wuthering Heights Erotica." Although I hadn't realized it when I began, the M. S. Valentine name has, in effect, become a brand name, since these novels are so different from what I'm doing now. Fans are always urging me - or rather M. S. Valentine - to do another Celia book. Although I can't commit to doing so at this time, I won't slam the door on M. S. Valentine either. A third Celia book. Hey, you never know…

Madness. You've got to be mad to spend your life doing this! Other than that, the drive to create, to succeed. I'm an all or nothing person - I put everything I have into what I'm doing, and I do it to the best of my ability. I need to create, I always have. I'm sure I'd die if I couldn't create.

I'll say! I tend to be juggling so many projects at the same time that the writing sometimes has to take a back seat. I also spend a lot of time doing publicity related things, like readings and book signings, not to mention conducting my erotic writing workshops. A simple half hour reading can take all weekend, if you factor in traveling and having to be away from home, and that's not even counting the preparation time. I am finally working on my novel again, and hope to get it where I want it before summer. But then, you know what they say about the best intentions….

Well, I've become fairly known, so that definitely changes things. The demands being placed upon me are greater than ever, although that's a good thing - it means I must be doing something right. When people you don't know know you, that's a pretty weird concept to get your head around as well. On a more personal note, I'd say that being published has validated my belief that I'm a writer. It's all well and good to consider yourself a writer, but if no one wants to read or publish your work…. I've had several careers in the creative arts, and if it weren't for my first publishing contract, I might have gone in another direction. So yes, it's definitely changed my life.

I don't write porn. Having said that, a lot of erotica authors do write porn, but call it erotica. And that's the problem - it damages those of us who are trying to produce quality literature. If we had more high-end projects making it onto the bookshelves, there wouldn't be this stigma against those of us who work in erotica. But it's up to authors, editors and publishers to start putting out material with real literary merit. Until this happens to a greater degree, there'll always be the danger of being lumped in with the downmarket smut, since critics and readers will continue to paint us - or, indeed, taint us - with the same brush. I've been working extremely hard to change this attitude by producing work that is more than just erotica - work that can also cross over into the mainstream. I'm continually getting my viewpoint out via my non-fiction articles and in the interviews I do. My erotic writing workshops, which I've pioneered in the UK and Europe, have done a lot to advance my cause and my reputation. If I were writing porn, I doubt I'd be invited into universities to teach erotic writing, or invited to read or teach at literary festivals either. I try to make the conference circuit whenever I can, and will be presenting my paper The Tourist Reader in Erotic Literature at the Travel and Literature Conference at the Harrogate Festival in July. I feel it's important to do these kinds of things, since it demonstrates that erotica can be taken seriously as a legitimate form of literature - providing that those creating it are capable of producing something that can function as more than just a sex aid.

I started out writing mainstream novels, and came fairly close to getting them published, with major New York agents and publishers expressing interest. But things kept falling through. I suppose I was at a loose end as a writer, and ready to try something new. The erotica writing happened almost by accident, I'm afraid, although I will confess to having read the classics, so it was not a genre I was altogether unfamiliar with. I'd met someone who claimed to write erotica, and he forced me to read his work. It was pretty awful. Still, it must've set the wheels in motion, because not long afterward I was waking up in the mornings with whole scenarios playing in my head. This kept happening for several mornings in a row, until I finally had to sit down and write. The result was my first erotic novel The Captivity of Celia.

After five M. S. Valentine books I began to move in a different direction, i.e. Erotic Fairy Tales: A Romp Through the Classics. I wanted to do something with a more literary and multicultural focus - something that was still technically erotica, but which could cross into the mainstream. I appear to have hit on it with the fairy tales, since it's proven successful as both erotica and as literary fiction. Part of its success is due to the fact that each story is prefaced with a scholarly introduction outlining how the tales came into our contemporary literature. This unique hybrid of fiction and non-fiction has made the book a popular selection in public libraries. I should say that I became sufficiently encouraged to turn my more literary focus to anthologies. I couldn't find a single anthology of erotica out there that I was interested in reading. Oh, some were a hit and miss bag - perhaps containing a few stories with some substance to them, with the rest being the typical one-handed smut you find pretty much everywhere. I wanted to put out a collection that I'd be interested in reading - and I was willing to bet there were a hell of a lot of readers whose literary tastes in erotica had been ignored as well. Hence my Erotic Travel Tales series. My goal was to prove that you could offer sexually explicit erotic fiction without dumbing down to the reader. Readers of erotica have been disparaged in much the same way as writers of erotica have - I felt it was time for a change.

Not consciously. I think as writers we tend to file things away in our brains, which we then call upon later as we need them. I may use bits and pieces of people I've known or come across, but I've never actually created an entire character from a single person or experience. I like to invent my people and plots, and relying too much on your own life experience is, in my view, not something a writer should do all the time. You find that you keep repeating yourself. I've noticed this happening in other people's work. I don't want it to happen in mine.

Work hard, and don't look for shortcuts. There aren't any. Don't get discouraged by rejection - use it to become stronger and make your work better. Believe in yourself and your ability and never stop trying. But - and this is a big one - make sure you're being realistic about your talent. That's the hardest part of all.

Well, if anyone fancies a writing holiday this summer, I'll be conducting a pair of residential erotic writing workshops in Greece. The first will be for Skyros, June 5 - 18 on the island of Skyros or email. Then from Sept 5 - 11, I'll be conducting one for The Greek Experience, on the island of Kythira, or email. The workshops will be stimulating, productive and fun. Plus the food and scenery are fantastic!

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to interview with us.

Interviewed by: JoAnn