Hello and welcome!

This is a newsletter about the process of writing a book. I’m Ellen Huet, and I’m a San Francisco-based reporter for Bloomberg News.

I’m writing a book! (And when I’d like to avoid writing my book, writing this newsletter is a welcome distraction.)

I’ll give you a peek behind the scenes — the struggles of motivation, the different stages of the writing process, my inability (so far) to pick a good title.

Plus, every newsletter issue has a recommendation of an item I really love. Or one I don’t like, just to mix it up. It’s called Review it with Huet.

That’s the short pitch. If you want even more context, read on.

So what’s the book about?

In 2018 I wrote an investigation for Bloomberg Businessweek about OneTaste, a sexual wellness company founded in San Francisco. OneTaste teaches a practice called orgasmic meditation, a partnered practice in which one person, usually a man, strokes a woman’s clitoris with a gloved, lubricated fingertip for 15 minutes, while she focuses only on receiving pleasure. 

An entire philosophy based on women’s pleasure was a radical and intriguing idea. OneTaste says 300,000 people have learned orgasmic meditation, or OM. For many of its students, OM blew open a door to a completely different kind of intimacy and human connection.

But for others, the experience of being part of OneTaste left them scarred. From the story:

“OneTaste pitches itself to the public as a fast-growing company teaching connection and wellness to an increasingly mainstream audience. But many who’ve become involved in the upper echelons describe an organization that they found ran on predatory sales and pushed members to ignore their financial, emotional, and physical boundaries in ways that left them feeling traumatized….

Many of the former staffers and community members say OneTaste resembled a kind of prostitution ring—one that exploited trauma victims and others searching for healing. In some members’ experiences, the company used flirtation and sex to lure emotionally vulnerable targets. It taught employees to work for free or cheap to show devotion. And managers frequently ordered staffers to have sex or OM with each other or with customers.”

I obsessed over this topic as I worked on the story. I dreamt about it. The story I wrote was the first to reveal the dark side of the company. A couple months after my article ran, the FBI started investigating OneTaste. Since the story ran, dozens of ex-OneTaste members have reached out to me. Some told me that I’d been able to capture something about their experience that they’d struggled to explain to their family and closest friends. And they told me: there’s a lot more.

They were right. The story of OneTaste connects to so many others: the history of the Bay Area, the future of cult-ish movements such as QAnon, the rise of the wellness industry, and the commercialization of female empowerment. But to me, its most central question is about how humans influence each other.

Why do cults form? Why do people join? If you’ve ever read about cult members and thought, “I’d never fall for that,” you might be overconfident. You, they, and everyone else are probably looking for the same things: connection, purpose and a sense of belonging. 

Newsletter? Why?

The OneTaste story captured me more than any other story I’ve reported on. So I’m writing a book on it. I started this newsletter in August 2021, when I went on book leave for three months from my job at Bloomberg. The goal was to use that time to write what writers lovingly call a barf draft — rough but at least it’s out there.

The newsletter is here for anyone who wants to join for the ride. 

By subscribing, you will:

Get the hottest freshest updates about The Book 

• how my procrastination has evolved to new heights of cleverness, how I’m really into this new teapot I bought, what other books I’ve been reading as “preparation” / light avoidance

Maybe help me decide stuff about The Book 

• anyone who suggests something that eventually becomes the title of the book gets to be first in the acknowledgements, serious offer

Have the chance to ask me whatever question you want!

• I reserve the right not to answer but will strongly consider it

Receive irregular updates about my well-being

• they may be short and frantic but they’ll arrive

Really, the goal is to give people a way to feel connected to the process of making this book. When you eventually hold it in your hands I want you to feel like you know the backstory and played a role in bringing it to life.

How can you support this adventure? I’ll write the book. All you have to do is hit the subscribe button below and come along as I figure this out. 

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