It’s been so long since I’ve written one of these, I feel a little ashamed. It’s not because I haven’t wanted to, in fact it’s often been on my mind, but I just haven’t found the time to read the blogs I usually enjoy, nevermind collate my favourites in to a #SOSS post.

In my previous #SOSS post I spent a long time searching through the sex blogging community for posts about mental health. Since then, Sassy Cat 3000 with the help of May More has launched a fantastic new weekly meme called Sex Bloggers for Mental Health or #SB4MH. It’s got more sex bloggers talking and writing about mental health. I’m impressed by anyone who can write coherently about their personal experience with mental health struggles; this is a project worth following and supporting. It’s a topic I find both very difficult to write about and very cathartic when I do write about it. You can see my mental health posts here. Looking at my list of mental health posts, I really couldn’t believe it was so few. I put so much of myself in to those posts, it feels like they are a much greater presence than they actually are. I hope to one day contribute to Sex Bloggers for Mental Health.

I’ve also joined in, for the very first time, the Smut Marathon, hosted and organised by the wonderful Marie A. Rebelle! Smut Marathon is an erotic writing competition, with lots of rounds and fortnightly assignments. So far it’s been an interesting experience. The challenges are more difficult that I thought they’d be, and realistically I think I’ll be voted out soon, but it’s a good motivation to write something imaginative.

One thing I didn’t realise would be a problem before I started was my dyslexia. I’m fortunate that modern technology (the joys of spell check!) mean that my dyslexia doesn’t hinder my writing much. However, what’s been a problem for Smut Marathon is that I have a very slow reading speed, and I often have to re-read things to make sure I’ve got it. This has become an issue for the voting rounds: I want to read every story and process it properly to make sure I vote for the three I like the best. It’s been taking me three or four days to finish reading them all, making a note of the ones I like to read again for the final choice. It’s a time commitment I didn’t factor in.

Having said that, I highly recommend you check out all the stories on Smut Marathon so far, and vote for your favourites when the voting rounds are open! There are some real gems of stories you can enjoy for free!

While we’re on the topic of erotica, I want to recommend you check out Posy Churchgate’s lovely shiny new blog. It’s looks great and is full of Posy’s wonderfully imaginative and fantastically sexy erotic fiction.

Do you know what Figging is? I didn’t, but this joyous post from Scandarella illuminated me in the best possible way. I really recommend giving it a read, it’s also a perfect example of Ella’s skilful, frank, hot and hilarious writing style. She really is talented.

On a far more serious note, Aurora Glory has written a heartfelt piece about the fear of having sex after sexual abuse. I think Aurora perfectly sums up the fear of being triggered and the huge amount of trust it takes to be sexual with another person if that trust has been abused in the past. Recovering from abuse is a long and difficult process, and I completely relate to the fear of letting someone get close; that self-preserving urge to try to make sure the abuse never happens again. I highly recommend checking out Aurora Glory’s blog in general too, if you enjoy mine, I feel we are quite similar in our mix of sex toy reviews and personal pieces, but Aurora has a much better sense of style and photography skills than me!

Finally, I want to mention this wonderful body positive poem celebrating her sober body by Angel of LupeSpace. Check out LupeSpace. for more poetry, sex toy reviews, and sex positive personal blog posts.

I’d like to say I’d write these posts more often now, but I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep. Life and depression gets in the way. But hopefully it’ll be sooner than the last one! Remember you can follow #SOSS on Twitter, and support your favourite bloggers by sharing their work!