Welcome back to the Hot Tub, where this time I have the lovely Dierdre Winter joining me and…. ummm, Dierdre? That bikini was Aleson’s.
Dierdre Winter: *gets in the water* I know! She messaged me and said I could wear it, since she knows it turns you on so much. I hope you don’t mind! *pushes breasts together just so*
Shawna Cummings: Not at all, and make sure you don’t knock over that yummy gin martini with a twist! So tell my readers/horny minions about yourself, and make sure you give us those sexy stats so they can fantasize about you while reading.
DW: My name is Dierdre, because that was my grandmother's name on my father's side. My father is Irish and my mother is Mediterranean, but they were both born in Canada. They met in the dentistry program in Toronto. As a result, I have great teeth, my skin is olive toned, but my eyes are blue. I've forgotten my real hair color, but I think it's a basic brown. Lately, I've been keeping it a sort of metallic blonde. My nipples are really dark, which the other girls teased me about in the changeroom. That bothered me for a while, but now… *jiggles tits for effect* … I really enjoy the way they're kind of visible through white t-shirts, blouses, and this very thin bikini top. I'm 5'4, 34b, size 6 shoe, 129 pounds. I've had my belly button pierced since I was 16, and I have a Gaelic bracelet tattooed around my ankle.
SC: I know you’re a woman that is incredibly proud of her sexual freedom *proud sexy woman hugs… shivers as our breasts rub together*. When did you discover your sexuality? How old were you? Who was the one person that really unlocked it?
DW: Oh yes. Ummm, can you repeat the question? Right, sex. Me and sex. Well, the first time I had an orgasm was by accident. I started rubbing against my body pillow, and then I just couldn't stop. Ever since then, I was hooked. I felt like I'd discovered something no one else knew about.
When I was a senior in high school, I got into drugs and I went over to this college guy's apartment with my friend Sarah. He'd get us high after we sucked his cock (and sometimes his roommate would be there, so we'd suck him off, too). I loved being dirty in front of my best friend. That was the key to unlocking me. When Sarah and I were alone, we'd tease each other and giggle and talk about what filthy sluts we were. Of course, then we couldn't help but fool around together because we were so turned on. That year we did everything we could imagine with those boys, egging each other on to new levels of debauchery.
Oh wow, this drink has really got me talking here. I hope I haven't said too much.
SC: How long have you been in love with the written word? How does writing make you feel?
DW: I'm an introvert by nature, so anything that keeps me in a quiet space where I can create and imagine by myself is something I'm naturally drawn to. I have published a few poems and stories, but I was scared of the uncertainty of writing full time. I teach Art and English at a high school, and I have never regretted it, but whenever there is space, I like to write. It slows me down, it deepens what can sometimes be a shallow existence of running from one thing to the next, and it lets me say what I wouldn't otherwise be able to articulate. That's what really drew me to erotica. I LOVE sex of all kinds, but in real life it often happens in a tangle of sensation. Writing allows me to live in those moments, to really savour them, to watch it happen over and over again.
SC: I wanted to talk with you about your writing. You have one book out, an incredible book entitled Lost And Found: A Pansexual Polyamorous Adventure (buy it on Amazon here). First, I love poly stories, so that stuck out first in my mind. But the story is more than just five people who fuck each other — well, four — it has a deeper resonance than just the sex in an erotic novel. There is substance to it. The sex is secondary. Was that intentional when you set out to write this book?
DW: Sex is such an important part of our lives, it does seem like when we find out about how someone fucks, we find out a bit about how they view the world.
I have written some shorter, more sex oriented stuff, but I wanted to try something else. I wanted the story to be as compelling as the sex. The seed of the novel, actually, started with the idea that heat is really sexy, and I wanted to try to capture that thick, humid, sultry, sweaty heat as much as I could. So, I set the novel in Guatemala in May.
Also, when I started the novel, I'd just, sort of painfully, ended an affair with an older, recently divorced woman. Grace is a tribute to her and for the repressed longing she'd finally unleashed on the world. So that all got mixed in there as well.
SC: We’re introduced to Grace, your protagonist, right from jump street, and she is a professor in Minneapolis. She’s on the phone with her sister, yet as soon as she hangs up, she undergoes this transformation when she’s alone in her apartment: she becomes a rather ravenous slut for sex toys! Dierdre honey, you had her SUCKING A DILDO ON A COUNTER! Grace is obviously an incredibly sexual creature…and I think there’s a little bit of you in Grace, given your professional life outside of fiction. So how did you create Grace to be like this?
DW: There is definitely a lot of me in there. My public persona as a teacher must be chaste and even a bit prudish, but I love coming home and shedding that skin.
There's a part in the novel about Grace almost failing out of high school because of chronic masturbation, and that's all about me. The more stress I'm under, the more ferociously I masturbate. When I really need to put the day behind me, I'll do exactly as Grace does. I love to slide my buttplug in, get the drool running down the counter, while I work myself into a frenzy.
Anyway… what was I saying? Yes, masturbation! I love it. But, sex, too. I love dirty, sweaty, loud, creative sex. I like to be bent over the sink. I like to be chased around the house and tackled in the hallway. I like the thrill of almost getting caught, and the jolt of the unexpected.
Of course, I do know that it doesn't happen as easily in real life as it does in erotica. Great sex takes great communication and practice. Writing helps me to clarify what I want.
SC: Grace gets to Guatemala at the behest of a former lover, Michael, her former instructor and mentor. He, too, has gone through a change off the page, too. And now he’s hunting for treasure in Central America. How difficult was it to plot this novel, and how much research into this vast world did you have to do?
DW: I did some research about the Mayans and about Guatemala, but I had an interest in that already. It was challenging to plot the novel because as much as I tried to plan ahead, as I wrote the novel, the characters changed the story from what I'd imagined. Then the story had to sit for a few weeks until, all of a sudden, the solution presented itself. I was happy with the way it worked because it seemed pretty natural given the characters, but at the same time, I think I'd like to try tighter plotting in the future because sometimes I felt like I didn't want to get them in too much trouble for fear I wouldn't be able to get them out of it.
SC: In addition to all of this, there’s a little bit of a thriller aspect to this story, too. It looks like this will appeal to a broad range of readers. What did you have to read in order to make these parts life like to you and to the reader?
DW: Actually, the book was more inspired by movies like Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider or The Mummy. I love those rollicking adventure movies where the good guys win, but not without having to outsmart and out dare their adversaries.
SC: Is there anything new in the works with these characters? Or are you working on something completely different now?
DW: I'm working on a new book about a woman who moves to a small town. She meets a man, well actually she meets a number of men, but one in particular. Just as they are falling in love, his ex-wife shows up threatening to expose some potentially damaging secrets. Of course, there's lots of sex along the way with her new boss, Bethany, her neighbors, Luke and Daniel, and Caroline, the bratty barista.
SC: Now… *takes bikini top off* Dear Dierdre, what would I — or any of my dear horny minions — have to do in order to seduce Y.O.U.? Is there something to it? Do women have to show you their panties? Do men have to hold their hands about 10 inches apart and point to their crotch? Come on, give us the secret.
DW: Oh dear, well taking your top off is a pretty good start, and honestly, I'm pretty easy. All I need is to feel a little bit of danger balanced with a bit of safety. In other words, I like you to make me squirm with anticipation, wondering what kind of crazy things you'll do, how hard you'll spank me, or how roughly you'll fuck me, or how long you'll choke me, but at the same time, I need to know that you're going to be cool, trustworthy, loaded with integrity, and in it for both our pleasure. As soon as I feel that, I'm all yours!
SC: Thank you so much, Dierdre, for coming into my Hot Tub and talking about your book. Seeing you dripping and talking about your work is a thrill for me, and has me drenched in so many different ways. I hope you can stay a little while longer…. *bats eyelashes*
DW: Thank you for having me. I love the position of this one jet. It seems to be bubbling right against my clit. Truthfully, it has made it pretty hard to concentrate. I hope I didn't blather on too much. Thanks again!
