Okay, let's be honest. Racy writing is out there. Some woman or man is busily clacking fingers against keys right now, laying down some words that they wouldn't necessarily use in mixed company. Hell, I would be if I wasn't typing this post (I do so love my rare days off). They may be a teacher, a secretary, a fireman, a cop – they could be anyone. That lovely older lady who greets you at Wal Mart-yeah, could be her.
My initial reaction to watching the video playback was, "Man, these women are prudes." Then, after thinking about it for a moment or three, I realized the author in question could be me. My response to that? "Go take a flying leap if you don't like what I write or for whom I write it." Writing is as much a part of me as breathing is to everybody else and passing judgment is to the morally self-righteous women who are currently going nuts over what a teacher does in her free time.
This is a case of offending people's morals. Am I immoral simply because I choose to write ménage or quarte? I don't think so. In my opinion, it's part of my job as an author to entertain my reader. My publishers and I very nearly go out of our way to tell a potential reader that a Belladonna book is not for the weak of heart. I'm totally okay if you don't want to buy my story because it's got sex in it. That's your choice. I'm not shoving it down anybody's throat that they have to read a Belladonna book for fear I'll unleash some crazed, intergalactic blood-sucking vampire on them.
Here's the part that pisses me off. These women are speculating that just because the author in question writes erotica or erotic romance she's a deviant. That she's sitting in her classroom imagining her students without their clothes on. That's flipping ridiculous and a huge jump to conclusion. Here's a clue for the complainers out there. I take photographs for a living. Some of the clients I have are over eighteen but most are not. I have never-swear on a stack of bibles-fantasized about someone who is my client. Have aspects of some of the older people I photograph made it into a story – most definitely, but those are character traits. A little nervous tick. A certain frown. The way someone laughs. Yep, blatantly have used those aspects of human nature.
As to the kids speculating what the teacher is musing over as she's lecturing on Othello – well, why are they doing that? Shouldn't they be more interested in learning? Shouldn't they have been taught by their parents that school is where you get an education? Where you sit with your mouth closed and books open? (Actually, I wish I had listened to my parents more when I was in high school.) Considering the amount of graphic content on the web--parents, don't kid yourselves, your children have been exposed to a lot more than you might think. A hot and steamy title wouldn't even phase them.
I confess, with humbleness, most of the sexual escapades my characters take part in I have never experienced. In fact, most of the experiences I've plopped my characters down in the middle of nobody has experienced. But here's another clue – it wouldn't mean diddly if I had lived through having symbiotic sand mate me to a starship captain (Intimate Space), or I had a hunky Highland Laird screw me (The Laird's Time). What I do in my free time is my choice as well as what I write is what it is.
Don't judge me. Don't speculate about the lovely older lady who greets you at Wal Mart. Don't get all uptight because your kid's tenth grade English teacher is writing for Ellora's Cave.
Just stop and get over yourself!
Given all the problems we have with the American educational system, I think going nuts because a teacher is writing for Ellora's Cave is pathetic and narrow minded.
Okay, you tell me – do you think this is just a group of women getting fifteen minutes of fame because they're uptight or is this something I should worry over. *wink* You already know my answer to that.
Best,
Bella
