After Hours – Page 16 – She was easy to look at and easy to be with most of the time, but she was in no sense of the word an easy person. -Harper Lee

Posted on January 11, 2012January 11, 2012 by Miss Brook$

gratitude and growth

This love letter to my readers was supposed to be written three months ago. My blogging is as timely as ever.

October 16, 2011 was a very special day for me. It marked five years since Book 1 came out. It’s never been a hot seller by mainstream publishing standards, but it has most certainly sold. It’s still selling at a steady rate and I do very little to publicize it (that’s changing as of this year). It inspired other people to write similar books or do similar things. I like to think it was a moment where people connected to the industry saw there was a need to take it seriously as a business and they could create business-related offerings without unnecessary justifications or the worry that there wasn’t a market.

Would I rewrite it? Oh yes. But I recently re-read it and it wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered it being. (This has nothing to do with what I think about its value to others, only what I — the author — thinks about my own writing from the perspective of self-criticism.)

A lot has happened to me in the last five years. A lot has happened to the economy in the last five years. Still, that book has helped male readers stand in an escort’s shoes and has helped many woman understand what escort work requires from them before they take their first client. That was the whole point of the book. I get feedback from readers almost every day. It’s always humbling, especially the positive ones (this doesn’t mean I’m a free-advice hotline, though I always want to help). You’re all very welcome.

Posted on December 17, 2011December 17, 2011 by Miss Brook$

dec 17 — back in the usa

Not only am I late with this post, but I’m honestly not doing much of anything about it this year. Last year I was in Hong Kong, marching with Zi Teng (still need to post about that). This year, in Dallas, going to spend the evening with someone I’ve just started seeing, someone who I feel isn’t sex-worker-friendly. So there is only so far things can progress. A good friend’s relationship just went down the toilet, due in part to issues surrounding her being a sex worker.

Though none of that compares to the lives lost this year. SWOP-USA has put together a great Dec 17 site, so please peruse at your leisure.

Expendable can happen in so many ways. The job can overshadow so much: who the sex worker is, their basic civil rights, their claim to humanity.

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Miss Brook$

a little bit of progress

Though the news is disturbing (a NC trucker who kills sex workers), the quotes in the article and comments from readers are mostly positive. That is, they actually condemn what he did and feel sympathy for the women who lost their lives to this monster; as opposed to the usual flood of hatred toward sex workers in online articles like this.

There is hope yet.

Posted on August 31, 2011August 31, 2011 by Miss Brook$

longer tweeting

I came up with this idea months ago, which is why it’s appearing here in my usual timely manner.

While I was traveling, I Tweeted quite a bit, sometimes more than others. A lot of those Tweets were more notes to myself about that specific moment in time. So for fun, I’m going to share some of these Tweets here and the little stories behind them. Not sure what I’m going to call this series yet. This is more just expanded notes for myself and for a few people who have asked a lot of questions about “the little differences” I found when I traveled.

wanker

Created 2010-12-30 02:58:56 -0500
I don’t save client numbers on my phone. But if yours is saved, it will contain “Wanker” in your name and there’s a reason I don’t respond.

Though this was shortly before I returned to the US, I started using the term “wanker” with complete familiarity soon after arriving in London. I also quickly learned how to save numbers into my world-phone. Though I do not save client numbers in the US because I don’t post my number, my work in rest of the world operates differently. Good clients sometimes were saved (upon request) with first name and initial. Wankers got designated by their special way of being annoying. So in every country, I’d have a list like:
Wanker Married (an Aussie bloke who texted me for sexy pix while sitting on the couch with his wife)
Wanker Anal (another Aussie bloke who failed to understand some basic concepts about anatomy, consent and women)
Wanker Timewaster 1, etc. (I usually had to number these wankers)
Wanker Beer (English guy who spent a lot of texts trying to haggle down my rate because he didn’t want sex, then proposed that we meet in a pub to drink beer, got offended when I declined and ranted about my materialism and greed)
Wanker Rich (well-off Singaporean who seemed to just want a party companion and would make appointments just to cancel at the last minute)
Wanker John (no defining feature to his wankery, so was stuck just using the name he gave)

…and so on and so forth. (I have a whole number of saved wanker SMS conversations, debating whether or not to post it.)

Anyway, creating phone wanker lists is apparently something every escort does in every country. Which is why we like phones with room for a gigantic number of saved contacts.

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Miss Brook$

escorts and sexual consent

Not sure why I received a spam email about this particular site, but I did. And when I read the site, I had to write a post. (As usual, this is a few months after the fact.)

sugarbaby advertising mall agency pimp or something

The site is incredibly confused about its purpose, but this may have a lot to do with the mentality of the person behind it. It claims to be a sugardaddy/independent escort advertising mall/escort agency site. Further reading clarified things as it really just seems to be a site run by a rather dumb pimp.

His stellar attitude, motivational skills and deep understanding of the business are displayed on the employment page (mind you, this isn’t an agency!) as he explains that having clients paying good money just to sit/talk/cuddle isn’t going to happen and that he has no problem telling his advertisers/employees they’re not worth the rate they want. If I were a pimp, I would ensure my girls made as much as possible. (This also reminds me of another advertising site I’ve discussed.)

Which makes me wonder just how good his pimping skills are. Either that, or he’s simply making an accurate observation about the quality of his clientele, in which case, why bother? Be an indie and not only charge what your little heart desires (without having to give him a free piece of anything), but meet clients who do need the therapy or extended-romance and are willing to pay for it.

He reverses this thinking shortly after by telling girls that they’ll have many types of dates with the clients/SDs off this site, including ones without sex. You mean, ones where the client just pays her to talk and cuddle with him? Really??? But I thought that didn’t happen because he said it didn’t. Wait, my little blonde escort brain is all confused now.