When my family heard that I was writing for the confessional market, they dubbed me the Queen of Smut. In fact, most people actually think that confessions are smut. Who could blame them? After all, some of my titles were, I Killed My Children, I Married My Father, I Was In Love With a Serial Killer, My Father Murdered my Fiancé's Family, Love Knows No Gender, and My Boyfriend Peddled Kiddie Porn. However, for the most part, the titles found on the covers of such magazines as True Story, True Love, True Romance and True Confessions are nothing more than titillation to catch your attention. Let's face it, sex sells.

But, when you thumb through the magazines, you find it's mainly innuendo. Though True Love has been pushing the envelope a bit by publishing saucier stories lately. All in all, confession stories depict working blue-collar women who often have to juggle a full time job and family. Sound familiar? I guess you can say that Confessions mirror life.

And now that I've said all that, the Black Confessions are a different breed. These stories have to have at least one viable, graphic love scene included. By viable, I mean, you have to have a reason for the two main characters to be doing the horizontal hula.

For those of you who write novels, if you need a change to clear your head or an added form of income while you're waiting to hear from an editor, Confessions might be just the thing for you. If you stop and add up the number of stories that the editors of the four True magazines have to purchase each month, you'll need two more sets of fingers and toes to count on, because it comes to over fifty stories a month. And if you figure in the Black magazines, you have quite a chance of getting your story used. Here they're crying for your work. It's a great deal easier fighting your way out of this slush pile.

Since most Confessions concern problems facing women with their families, love life or job, ideas for these stories are all around us. Just pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV. Sit back and really listen as your family talks around the dining table during a holiday meal. My family has been the inspiration for many of my Confessions. I can't begin to tell you how many murder scenarios my mother-in-law has starred in. And my brother-in-law...you don't want to know. And the beauty is, even if they happen to pick up the magazine and read my story, they'd never know who wrote it. There's no by-line. Revenge is sweet, even if it's only on paper.

Since practically nothing is taboo, though I wouldn't send any sex with animal stories, you can write about nearly anything letting your creative juices flow. Along with this, I have found writing Confessions to be therapeutic at times. I can't begin to tell you how many times a news article has gotten to me.

One in particular was about a well-known orphanage that was supposed to be one of the best in Manhattan. If you were able to adopt a child from there, you were considered lucky. To make a long story short, this couple adopted a beautiful baby boy. When he was a senior in high school, he began to unravel. He went from a brilliant out-going individual to a paranoid, introverted one. They took him from one doctor to another. No one could help him. The parents appealed to the orphanage for his mother's medical history. In the end, the son died from the interaction of the medicines. His body simply gave out. He never knew that the adoption agency lied to his parents about his birth ones. Both had been severely mentally ill and in and out of mental institutions most of their lives. A relative of the boy's biological mother eventually came forward with the info. I went nuts over this and wrote a story. I'm a closet reformer. Not only did I feel better for having written it, I got paid to do it as well.

To sum it up, Confessions are about today's women's problems. The stories don't have to be true, but true-sounding. Don't send any vampire or werewolf stories, for not everyone believes they exist. Keep in mind, when you write about some two-timing, cocaine snorting husband and how his wife deals with it, there are most likely women out there experiencing this and identifying with the characters in your story. When you help your character work out a solution, you'll be helping them as well. If you ask me, that's pretty good.

Candace Goldapper has published 129 stories with True Confessions to date. A member of the Long Island Romance Writers, she currently serves as Librarian and is expanding one of her short stories to a full-fledged Single Title novel. To find out more about writing for the True Confessions market, check out their website at www.2.trueconfessionsmag.com