miscellany monday at lowercase letters

I’m guessing Meet me on Monday isn’t running anymore as the blog that sponsored it seems to be “stuck” at a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll do this one. Just a bit of Miscellany to talk about.

1. This week seemed to have a Fifty Shades of Grey theme. It is NOT a book I plan to read, but my daughter did, as have several people I know, including some very devout Catholic women. Not having read it, I don’t want to try to comment on it other than to say that if you wan to read a book about a relationship, try any romance novel, not a book about a domination and bondage. That’s not love – that’s use.

2. This erotic “theme” has given me a lot to think about. If you follow this blog, or know me on Facebook or whatever, you know that I write “clean” or “wholesome” or whatever you want to call it. My daughter says I’m “innocent.” I think she means that in a good way, but actually, I’ve been wondering if my friends/other writers look at me as a naive/prudish author. I don’t think I am. I have defended erotic authors when RWA didn’t want them to include their promotional items on the goody table because they might “offend” people. I knew it was a short jump from that rule to one that said that Christian authors couldn’t include crosses or Bibles on their materials because it might “offend” someone.

Still though, I have had people I thought were my friends tell me that they “know” what kind of book I would/would not like to read. I’ve had people email me or comment on Facebook that “that’s not your kind of book.” I don’t tell anyone that. Is it because I don’t write sex scene that people think they know what I read or don’t read? Am I so “naive” that I have to have other people tell me what to read or not read? I don’t mean my daughter, who knows me well. Actually my “real” friends would never do that. The people who say those things are people who are casual friends or people who only know me from the Internet.

Is there as much a stigma in writing clean as in writing graphic?

I don’t know. Thoughts, my friends?