Purple Passages

I am a (former) author, as some of you know!  If you've read any of my stories, you know that there were few—or actually no—purple passages in them.  Actually, I can remember a few; but they weren't that purple, really.

But I have mostly stopped writing, but I'm reading.  But when I see the word 'steamy' in the description of a story, I'm beginning to cringe.  Honestly, I've been turned off sex for more than a year, and as much as my active sex life has evaporated,  (which can be explained by a medical treatment I'm getting) my interest in reading sexy passages in fiction has also gone away. 

This is not a disaster, except that most writers feel obliged to have some degree of physical sex in the writing, which I mostly skip over.  I get the very strong impression that authors write this stuff reluctantly.  Furthermore, I think they crib these 'juicy bits' from each other, so much so that they all seem to look the same.  But don't worry; I'm not going to indulge in forensic reading.  As far as I'm concerned, the sex in WLW fiction is most definitely not the core of these stories, it is the emotional aspect of the sexual encounters when they happen. 

There is plenty to write about on this subject, namely the interplay between sex and emotion, and to what extent graphic sex interplays with it.  I don't think I'm the one to write about it.  But I ļike to write stories set in the nineties, where the US was just beginning to emerge from the old closeted world, and women and girls were being more courageous about expressing 'forbidden' love.  It certainly was a lot more romantic than it is today!

But the climax in many lesbian relationships was often punctuated with a physical encounter, a big emotional event, and often one or both of the girls were new to it, and that was part of what propelled them through into a different stage of their relationship.  Those are the stories I like best, and they're difficult to dig up. 

Well, regards to all of you, and here's hoping our semi quincentennial celebrations are satisfying, despite a green reflecting pool. 

Kay

A Memory I Can't Place

I have a memory of a dying person, writing to a friend, or a lover, saying that soon they would be together, and then they would have a good time.  But it never happens.

Where did I read this?  When did I read this?  It seems like a well- known situation that everyone knew ...

I give up. 

Kay

P.S.  I suddenly recalled where I heard those words!

It is from James Taylor's  'You can close your eyes.'  The second verse goes:

Won't be long before it's another day

We're gonna have a good time, 

No one's gonna take that time away from you

You can stay as long as you like

 

I think I confused the order of the words. 

An Episode of the Helen story that had been forgotten by me!

Here is the link, and I'll explain below:

Chopsticks

This is a 'page' on the Blog.  It is set at the time Helen had had her most recent, and most invasive, brain surgery, and had returned home with Maryssa, to the Primrose house (Maryssa's family home, from where they would move to the new, rented home near where Lalitha's family, and the instrument factory were situated).

I was just reading this page this morning, and I was startled at how well I had been writing at that time.  Many of the characters are illuminated beautifully by this episode, but I'm a little nervous about slicing it into one of the other stories, for fear of having to do some lengthy inspections, to avoid duplication, etc.  The painfully slow steps Helen took to become a functional adult again have been glossed over in Concerto.  This episode also highlights how Erin struggled with Helen's nemory loss.

A Scene from "On the Run!"

This weekend I ran out of stuff to read, so I re-read Helen On the Run, and I concluded that it must be awfully confusing, because there were so many plot lines being interwoven!

Firstly, Helen is trying to avoid being caught by the FBI, because she had picked up her two adopted daughters, and made a run for it. 

Secondly, she met up with a mother and daughter couple, soon after she had left home to go into hiding, and they wanted to come along with Helen and the little girls!  The daughter is Erin, who figures in all future stories. 

Thirdly, Helen is pregnant with a baby.  The baby's father is Geoffrey Gibson, a musician, and a recurring character.  Geoffrey keeps pestering Helen to marry him, but of course she,  being a lesbian, isn't going to. 

Fourthly, while in hiding, Helen disguises herself as a man, and takes up a job as a construction worker.  One of her co-workers—a woman—has a daughter in high school.  Helen is invited to their home, and the daughter falls in love with Helen.

Fifthly, Helen and company have to go underground again, because one of their party,  Michelle, is caught by the FBI.  They wind up in the vicinity of St. Paul, and Helen and Erin's mother get jobs at a private boarding school. 

Finally, Helen begins to show, and she's taken to an obstetrician, where Helen is declared to be high-risk.

There are at least four more threads, having to do with Helen's work at the school, and the teachers, and the principal, and the music in the school chapel on the weekends.  I must have been mad when I wrote the story, but it seemed very plausible to me at the time!

Well.  I had to get that off my chest. 

Kay.