M’kali-Hashiki writes encouraging, enlightening essays on her blog, Fierce Passions, and is a Passion Griot & Erotic Empowerment Guide, using her writing as a tool to stimulate an expanded understanding of the role of Eros in our lives. Her work supports QTIPOC and allied folk to heal their erotic wounds as a foundational step to our individual and collective liberation.  

I first met M’kali-Hashiki doing hands-on sexual health education in medical schools. I admire her teaching approach and value her wisdom on healing and writing, so it’s my pleasure to promote her new online course, “Turn Your Junk Into Treasure.”

Tell me about the “Turn Your Junk Into Treasure” course.
From the time we are born, we are inundated with negative messages about our genitals. We are told that they are smelly, that they are ugly, that they are gross, that they’re the root of evil, that they are somehow just wrong; and/or we were given unrealistic images to compare them. These messages sink into our unconscious and affect how we see ourselves, how we treat ourselves, and how we treat others. Self-love and self acceptance include all of your body— including your genitalia. 

“Turn Your Junk Into Treasure” is an 11-week group cyber-journey to strengthen the relationship between your genitalia and the rest of your body: between your genitalia and your heart, between your genitalia and your voice, and for you renegade mystics out there between your genitalia and your third eye. 

What does our relationship to our genitalia have to do with our writing?
Our relationship to our genitals is foundational to our relationship with ourselves as well as to the quality and depth of our embodiment. So many of our negative thoughts about our genitalia are unconscious & color our understanding of people and relationships, and isn’t all writing ultimately about people & relationships? And when you consider that our genitals lie in the same plane where our creative energy is generated & stored, deciding to actively unpack our relationship with our genitalia often has a deep impact on our content: not only shifting what we write, but how easy it is to get at it, not to mention the new ease in communication (and frequency of communication) with our Muse(s). 

Tell me about your writing heroes.
I like that you frame it that way specifically, because my writing heroes are different than, say, “my favorite authors.” The writers that I usually consider my favorite authors are my faves pretty much because the craft was invisible to me, or rather I really wasn’t in a space to be able to simultaneously focus on the craft & the story.

But these last 5 or so years I’ve been getting into slash fic. Specifically Marvel slash fic. And for the first time I find myself able to appreciate the craft just as much as the story. And some of my fave slash fic writers are my fave because I can see the craft & I’m in awe of how they do what they do: character development, how to show the depth of a character’s emotions & thought in short, bare phrases, and the amazing task of taking someone else’s work  (many someone else’s since some of it is a mix of comic canon & movie canon) and putting their own spin on things but still having the character *be* “in character.”

But I also have writing heroes whose work I’ve never read. One of my writing heroes is the MIL of one of my heart-sibs. She (the MIL) is an immigrant to this country, and the daughter of an immigrant to the country of her birth. She’s led a fascinating life. She’s in her early 80s, and a few years ago she started writing her memoirs. I admire that so much. It lets me know that it’s not too late, that I can still figure out how to carve out the time & focus to do more writing that is not simply creating content for my Mystery School.

What do you love about writing?
I view it as a necessary survival tool, not just a “hobby” or part of my helping others to heal. For me, writing allows me to externalize my internal chaos & to understand my truth as well as ask questions to help me evolve.  My mother and I were the only survivors of a pretty horrific car crash when I was a child. She died a couple of decades later of what I am convinced is Survivor’s Guilt & Rage that she was unable to express. So for me writing is a way to lance the boil of rage & grief that threatens my emotional & physical health.

Also I just feel like I communicate better with writing. I’d be happiest if I could conduct all of my personal communication through writing & never had to speak in the moment again to another living soul. I feel like there’s a way I can force words to mean what I want them to mean when I write in a way that I just can’t seem to grasp when I’m speaking (although some of my hardest, most profound truths have only come to light in talk therapy, something about not being able to filter does have its uses).

Writing to me feels like an adventure without a map.  Sometimes I know where I’m going, but how I’m going to get there unveils itself while I’m writing. Sometimes I just feel like going on a journey & I have no idea where I’m going to end up. Sometimes I think I know where I’m going to end up & during the journey I end up somewhere else entirely. I like how the process of writing teaches me things about myself that are actually universal & not that unique.

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I coax sexy writers like M’kali-Hashiki to reveal their creative secrets and processes in writer interviews to inspire you:

• Explore all M’kali-Hashiki’s generous educational offerings on her beautiful website.

• Read the Fierce Passions blog and follow M’kali-Hashiki on Twitter.

• “Turn Your Junk Into Treasure” starts February 17. Sign up now.

Feeling inspired? Book a private session with me, The Sexy Grammarian. You always leave private sessions with homework and inspiration, and the first session is always free.