Preparing to play with erotic writer, pull out (6)
I believe the answer is:
tuning
'preparing to play' is the definition.
(preparing to play a musical instrument)
'erotic writer pull out' is the wordplay.
'erotic writer' becomes 'nin' (erotic short story writer Anais Nin).
'pull' becomes 'tug' (tugging is a kind of pulling).
'out' is an insertion indicator.
'nin' inserted into 'tug' is 'TUNING'.
'with' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tuning that I've seen before include "Calibrating to a standard frequency" , "- Fork aids a musician" , "Modifying vehicle engines to improve their performance." , "Adjusting the pitch of an instrument" , "Adjusting, to receive radio signal perhaps" .)