A while back, I read a Tweet about 10 Things I Never Thought I’d Do as an Author. I thought that sounded interesting, so I clicked on the link only to learn that the 10 things were about self-publishing, building a website, building an audience through social media, etc.

Man, that wasn’t what I’d expected, so I decided to write my own list of 10 Things I Things I Never Thought I’d Do as an Author. They are totally different than the other writer’s. So tell me what you think of my list.

  1. Hold in my hands vials of a dead woman’s blood and tissue. (Wasted.)
  2. Slurp down chips and salsa while reading autopsy reports in Mexican restaurants. (Wasted.)
  3. Sit knee-to-knee with a killer, for hours on end, and take a tattoo tour of his body. (Wasted.)
  4. Be subpoenaed to testify in a capital murder trial. (Wasted.)
  5. Write true crime. (Wasted, Wages of Sin, Breaking Point, The Fortune Hunter.)
  6. Write about true sex. (Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality.)
  7. Sit, for hours on end, with people who are completely nude. (Secret Sex Lives. Actually, that’d be in the sequel to Secret Sex Lives, if there is a sequel.) And for the record, I was clothed and interviewing the people.
  8. Take a tour of a man’s … hmm, how do I say this? Take a tour of a man’s ring wrapped around his most intimate body part … at his wife’s direction. (Secret Sex Lives. Again, though, that would be in the sequel.)
  9. Watch two married-to-women men have sex – while I sat beside the bed, taking notes on a yellow leg pad. (Secret Sex Lives … if there’s a sequel. But prior to a sequel, it may be in an anthology about real sex.)
  10. Write about myself. (Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality.)
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Do I dare ask what are 10 things you thought you’d never do and did?

Suzy Spencer is a New York Times best-selling author and journalist.
  1. Jim Platt Reply
    I just read your post, " I Don't Want To Be This Way." Such anger rose in my mind, as having been raised in the Mormon church the head in the sand approach is so irresponsible and irrational. I can so appreciate your anger over the rejection, since your logic and thoughts are far more realistic that the "Christian" view of life and what love and sex are to be. I still find you to be an awesome writer, but, especially an awesome and amazing woman. I so enjoyed the challenge of 10 things, and will post mine as soon as I can find 6 more...*S* One last admonition, PLEASE, do not let ignorance of others disturb your beliefs and talents....XOXOXOXO Jim
  2. Angela Reply
    I am not bragging here but I am not too sure I should list the 10 things I thought I would never do and have actually done. Many ot those things are sexual, some are good "war stories" material and some defy categorizing. Oh what the heck I will give it a whirl. Readers be warned some of these things may be offputting. 1. Spend a week at the Sturgis Bike Rally as a "friend" of a nationally known outlaw biker gang. True they call themselves a club but they are not weekend warriors. I saw things there that I will take with me to my grave and never share with anyone else. 2. Be toe to toe with not one but two serial killers. I was working in corrections at the time and had near daily interactions with these two men. The experience was rather like swimming with very hungry sharks with bleeding wounds weeping into the water. 3. Have sex in an operating room theater on the surgical table with a partner who was high on nitrous oxide at the time. For the record I was stone cold sober....and those blasted tables are freezing cold! 4.Be the main course at a 10 man gang bang. In addition there were at least another dozen onlookers at any given time. 5. Hold my mother in my arms during her last 5 minutes of life and watch her die. Her last words were I love you. It was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever experienced but also the most blessed experience. We had no unresolved issues, my mother was not in pain and she got to die while in her bed with me beside her in her home just as she had desired. 6 Fully embrace my sadism and engage in no holds barred rough kink play. Expanding upon this I mean a scene which contained full strength body punching, pulling out hair by the roots, choking and puncturing the skin with multiple needles. Totally consensual, totally mutually satisfying and totally freaky. Oh yes also totally the single best orgasm of my life. 7. Walking inside an active volcano. I got to do this on the Big Island of Hawaii. I melted the soles of my sandals and scorched the bottoms of my feet. Absolutely terrifying yet filled my pagan heart with joy to be able to experience the earth in its' most primal form. 8. Standing on a beach in Carmel-by-the-sea and pet a sea lion pup. It approached me and sat on my feet staring me in the eyes. I simply had to touch it. The fur was unbelievably soft and plush. I have no idea how long we communed but I felt so privileged that this wild baby trusted me. 9. The first time a patient thanked me for "saving their life". As a nurse we usually get nothing but complaints and frustration directed at us. It was awesome to have someone acknowledge my expertise and dedication to my profession. 10. Marrying my husband and living every day since then with him. On the surface that may not seem like such a big deal but for me, a veteran of failed marriages, the queen of co dependency and always picking the wrong person, to find someone who truly, fully, willing sees every aspect of me and loves me unconditionally is something I thought I would never have in my life.
    • Suzy Reply
      I love numbers 5, 8, 9, and 10!

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