I asked a question: will you write for my book?

I got an answer: in a heartbeat.

I burst into tears.

Let me tell you, this book—The V-Word— has me by the heart and throat.  It is being born into a world where girls are bombarded by sex at every turn and yet no one is really bothering to ask them what they want or how they want to feel.  We’re all sexual beings.  Exactly how looks and feels different for each of us, but we all have to find our own way to be with our sexuality.  The subject is vital, and the book feels important and scary at the same time.  It matters, and I want to do it justice.

To do it right, means that I find women to contribute essays that are honest and frank and real.  I spend hours crafting emails that I hope convey the importance of the book, the vision I have for it, and why I think each person I contact is exactly the right person for the book.  It is harder than writing a novel.  I pour so much of myself into each one.  I was embrace what Amanda Palmer calls the art of asking—the way we make ourselves vulnerable, which opens a path for us to  connect on a deeper level.

And it is hard.

So when a writer, whom I admire for the way she lays everything bare, the way she refuses to allow dishonesty in her writing, responded: in a heartbeat.

I burst into tears.

The art of asking.

The gift of responding.

The power of stories.

I am grateful.