What is the pillow book?  The pillow book is my personal blog. 

My name is Leila Raven, and I was born in 1969, the Chinese year of the rooster, or as I like to say, year of the cock.  I guess I enjoy putting it that way because it mixes my favorite elements, word play, a blatant sexual tone, and an oriental influence.

Pillow book is a traditional term, a common term for the diary kept in Japan under the pillow, often a diary of chronicling erotic events, and often illustrated.  This journal will be illustrated as well, photo illustrated, as much of my life is captured through the lens of a digital camera. Erotic photography is one of my passions, regardless of which side of the camera I'm on, model or photographer. All the little icons above are of me, except for the man, which is my mate, Wolfe.

I have kept a diary online for many years now, originally under my nick-name, Katt, which I still use in many circles, it's a name many people know me by, and I use as often as my real name.  The archives before 2003 were all written under the name Katt, these archives are available here as part of the pillow book.

I live an alternative lifestyle, I'm bisexual, polyamorous - from the Latin many + loves, and into kink and fetish.  I engage in these activities, in this lifestyle because it's who I am, because it calls to me, and feels right.  I enjoy reveling in the primal soup of human nature, and we don't get much more basic and primal than our sexual and creative drives.  I'm a loving and responsible hedonist.

Our sexual life is perhaps one of the few areas where as adults we allow ourselves to 'play'.  Perhaps were we are most spiritually and biologically, mentally and emotionally connected to ourselves and one another, is through the realm of sex and sexuality.

The pillow book above all else is about exploring my truths, about exploring and exposing who I am, and listening to myself.  Life is too precious for us to be pretenders.  It's time the world opened up it's bedroom doors and it's closet doors.  As someone who has interacted with many others in many corners of secret erotic worlds they've kept, I know many people are living hidden lives.  We're all afraid of the judgment and rejection of others, because we don't fit the 'norm', but the reality is, very few fit the 'norm'.  

I'm fascinated by peoples passions and have a fetish for fetish.  You are not as alone in your desires and curiosities as you might imagine. I think my primary fetish is engaging others in their own greatest passions.  Perhaps a form of cyber geisha, for my interests are varied and my pleasures come so often from the simple entertainment of others.  A sexual chameleon, I blend with my surroundings and take satisfaction in the feast of diversity and connecting with other's obsessions.

I can't hide myself away, and haven't for many years.  I never hid behind the name Katt, it was simply a nickname I chose when I first entered the cyber realm, in the very dawn of the internet, and have kept since.  I will turn my head just as readily in a crowd if someone yells 'Katt!' or someone yells 'Leila'.  It doesn't matter to me which of those names people apply to me.  I think I chose to go with Leila Raven here, because somehow people recognize more the authenticity of something labeled with a full and legal name.

There are so many things I could tell you about myself, but I would rather go into the present, than back to the past, and enter into the pillow book. The style of writing traditionally used in pillow books is stream of consciousness writing, and that is the way I write, in the moment, and completely unedited.  The only editing you will find will have to do with the background dressings <smile>.  My occasionally quirky grammar and language is just the way my thoughts emerge on paper, whether journaling or writing poetry.  It's one steady flow from start to finish, this introduction, is being written the same way.  

I will do one last paragraph on the laundry list of details that people often like to know about others, those commonly asked questions.  

I'm married to an equally open minded man, Wolfe (also bisexual, polyamorous and kinky).  As I mentioned at the beginning I was born in 1969, and I'm a Gemini. I'm 5'9" in bare feet, but wear heels up to 6" so can reach a tottering 6'3". My weight has fluctuated over the years.  I'm a curvy girl, sometimes a big curvy girl, and proud to be a sexy fat chick (and as you can see, I'm not much for feminist gender policed linguistics, I'm proud to be a girl and a thick chick to boot).  I have green eyes and brown hair, when I have any hair that is, or when I have hair that's not dyed. Since I shave my head often, and when I have hair, it's almost always some other colour.  I also wear wigs, I have a wig collection that just falls short of my shoe collection.  (Did I mention my foot wear fetish?).  I'm a bit of a chameleon, and it's safe to say any photograph you find within these pages is of me, unless otherwise specified. I have no children, and no plans to.  I have a number of pets, and love animals of all kinds.  I've been a student of life as well as university.  I have a BFA in studio arts, drawing and printmaking.  I also have a BA and MA in counseling psychology. I've studied and taught kickboxing.  My favorite food is sushi. My favorite drink 'coke free coke' - diet caffeine free cola.  I don't smoke, don't do drugs, and very rarely drink, when I do, I like red wine and dark beer.  

Anything else, you'll have to learn from the pages within.