You heard me. Which is strange to me since I wrote it ... right? I'm at a bit of a loss for words but I'm a writer so I'll get over that. The strangest thing happened to me yesterday and as I started my coffee early this morning and wondered what to blog about, I figured I might as well share.
Let me point out first that I'm not angry and this is not a post against anyone. I'm not going to mention names or tell any conversations that happened after the initial facts. This is just very, very strange and I can't help myself. Actually, I keep thinking about it and laughing.
Here's what happened. I realize that not everyone is going to like what I write. That's a hazard of the job, so be it. This isn't about that. My mom and I were in the car yesterday on our way to pick up my son from school and she started telling me this. One of our neighbors, whom my parents grew up with, was at my aunt's house. (Now, all of these people are my neighbors and some of them are my family which to me makes this even stranger.) My aunt had a copy of my first book, Red, on hand. So, they started talking about it. My aunt (God bless her) is very supportive of me which I greatly appreciate. She offered to let this neighbor borrow her copy of the book when he expressed interest. After all, he's known my parents for years, it might be neat to see what their kid writes, huh?
Well, I'll be honest and say I'm not sure of everything that happened between him leaving and him returning. Apparently his wife (who we've all known for years too) freaked out. She wouldn't let him even bring the book in the house. She snatched it out of his hands and took off back toward my aunt's house. (My aunt lives around the block.) This neighbor called to warn my aunt about the kind of mood his wife was in and that she was on her way. So, my cousin (God bless him too) met her at the door and accepted back the book.
That's weird enough, but get this. Throughout this entire incident she was waving the book around and screaming and I quote, "It's goddamned porn!" She kept repeating that her husband couldn't read the book because it's "goddamned porn." (It's okay to laugh at this point if you want, because I can't stop.)
First of all, anyone who knows how the rating system at NCP works will understand that the book is definitely not porn. And if you've read it I'm sure you'll also agree. It isn't even considered erotica. Which is also not porn, but some people have that definition confused as well.
Honestly, I can't pick my jaw up off the floor over this one. My parents, myself, and much of my family have known these people for years. She was one of the first people I told about my first contract while out riding my bike one day. I told her all about the book and she said she couldn't wait to read it, that she loves that sort of thing. WTF?
Like I said, I get that not everybody will like what I write and that's fine. I don't like everything I read either. I'm just at a loss here. I've been trying to figure out since yesterday what would cause a grown woman to behave this way. Especially a grown woman who reads (or has in the past) romance novels. Once again, a great big WTF? LOL
Anyway, this was so bizarre I couldn't resist sharing it with you guys:) Any thoughts ... or medication suggestions? LOL
10 comments:
Tracy, a similar incident happened to me by my Uncle and his wife. My Mom tried her best not to tell me what happened, but I eventually dragged it out of her. So, one night my Uncle, his wife and Mom are visiting at her house. They pick my book up off Mom's reading reading table and, get this...they start roaring as they search for and read the only "such" scene in the entire book to my Mom. I don't use purple prose and I'm the type of reader that tells like it is. Hell, I'm that kind of person anyway. It's not a long scene, and it's more sunsual than anything else. Anyway, my poor Mom sat there in shock, not because of what was written, but because my Uncle had the audacity to scorn and ridicule his niece. BOTH he and his wife are frigen PORN fanatics!
Not everyone will understand or like what we have to write, but come on! Waving a book around and screaming it's PORN when she hasn't even read it... Sheesh! Poor judgment, IMHO.
Thanks for sharing that, Dawne. A friend of mine and I were still alternating between laughter and shock last night over what my neighbor said.
Like I said, I'm not mad at all. A writer has to have rhino skin. LOL I'm just so surprised at her lack of ... judgment is a good word for it. Thanks:)
My aunt on the other hand is still pissed off from what I gather and so is my mom and my husband. He suggested that when I write some porn I send her an autographed copy. LOL It's funny, but I would NEVER do that. Worth a good laugh though:)
If it's any consolation, when I was in college, my father used to lend my husband and me his porn tapes. Yes, he did. Now, he won't read my books (though he supports my writing), because they have premarital sex in them. As you said... WTF?
But, I HAVE seen things like this before, I'm sad to say. I've dealt with two people who got the wild idea that EPIC (The Electronically Published Internet Connection) was a porn publisher. Well...EPIC doesn't publish ANYTHING except the yearly New Voices anthology (which is young writers from 6th-12th grade), and they aren't writing porn. Shakes head.
Brenna
I am constantly amazed by people's perceptions. My husband tells anybody that will listen that his wife is a published author who writes M/M erotic Romance. He's very proud of me.
On the other hand, my adopted brother's mother stopped calling my house the minute she found out I wrote "smut", as she puts it. My brother thanked me for that one...LOL
One of my teens was in school and everyone was talking about what their parents did. She said "my mother's a published author". The teacher asked what I wrote, she said romance novels. Even that got distain, like it isn't a real book and take a lot of hard work to write anything, romance or not.
People's minds are closed a lot more than they should be. You would think, in this day and age, we had a lot more to worry about than what someone is or isn't writing/reading/ or living.
Wow. EPIC, a porn publisher? Sheesh. What will they come up with next?
My aunt got me so tickled the other day though. She told my mom that she was reading the book so that she could find that "GD porn" That way when the next person said something she could tell them which page it was on and shut them up. LOL
I love her, I really do.
I know what you mean, Stormy. I interviewed for a job several months ago. They asked what I did and what my interests were, that kind of thing.
Well, I've got my writing listed as part of my professional accomplishments. It simply states that I am a published author. When the woman asked what I wrote I said, "Paranormal Romance." She snorted, laughed and with a wave of her hand said, "Ack, romance."
Bitch! I gave her a cold look and said, "Is there a problem?" The other people in the room were obviously embarassed by her behavior, even though the interview (to my surprise continued). Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
Tracey, you wouldn't want to work for that woman, anyway. Not simply because of her misinformed opinon on romance, but because her behavior in the interview was completely unprofessional, which breeds serious doubts about the company she represents.
I think a majority of us in the romance field, whether m/f, m/m, f/f, or some variation thereof, have met with situations like yours.
I was at my husband's daughter's house, and I was introduced to an aunt whom I hadn't met. My stepdaughter had told her that I write m/m, and she immediately began asking me questions.
I answered them as best I could, but my answers were obviously not the ones she wanted to hear. She wanted me to say that I disliked the subject matter, but wrote it for the money. When I disagreed, her questions grew increasingly hostile, until finally I felt as though I was being grilled, rather than in a civil conversation.
Her mindset was that all m/m was porn, period, and nothing I said was going to change her mind. She even stated - with the arrogance of someone who couldn't possibly be wrong - that no straight woman would ever read my work except, perhaps, because of "curiosity."
I didn't bother to tell her my sales said differently. I got up, excused myself politely, found my husband, and avoided her like the plague for the rest of the evening.
You're right, I would have hated working for someone like that. In just 20 minutes I hated her I couldn't imagine working a whole day with her.
I know you already know this, but that aunt is wrong about what straight women like. LOL
I read m/m. I think it's HOT. And I'm straight, not even bi-curious. LOL But the thought of two hot guys ... that does it for me.
Anytime people turn up their noses at what I write, I tell them that studies show that women who read romance have 74% more sex with their partners. That usually shuts them up.
LOL Brilliant! I may use that one next time myself.
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