Or, well, kind of. Little by little, more of the people in my life are finding out 1) that I am an author, and 2) exactly what I write. In the last few weeks, two of my oldest and dearest straight male friends found out that I write gay romance. I'll be honest, I was worried about what they'd say. Not because I write GAY romance, but because I write romance at all. You have to understand these two to understand why I was worried about that. One has a doctorate in philosophy, the other actually speaks Klingon. They are the type of people who actually have long, heated discussions about deep philosophical issues. I was scared to death they'd both think I was a shallow airhead for writing romance, even though they know better about me. I was afraid they'd look down on my chosen genre as being beneath their notice. Instead, both these guys have been wonderfully supportive and encouraging.
Lesson learned: do not assume you know what someone is going to think based on stereotyped ideas about their personality type, their likes and dislikes, etc. People can still surprise you, even after twenty-plus years :)
The next hurdle: letting people at the EDJ find out. Eep. I am not sure that's going to happen. They might decide that erotic romance reflects badly on the business (it's a hospital) and fire me. They're allowed to do that, which is scary. And I cannot afford to lose my job no matter how much I despise it. So, yeah. I guess my gay smut will remain a delicious secret in certain circles *g*
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5 comments:
That was an interesting read. Oddly, I would think my job would have more trouble with it (teaching in a private school), but I don't tell the kids what I write and the adminstration is fine with it.
Yet some friends have grown more distant the more I keep writing and selling.
Mmmmm...Ally's gay smut...*licks cover of Willow Bend*
My co-workers are just finding out that I read and review gay romance. They enjoy teasing me about it. My very conservative Southern evangelical family would be terribly disappointed in me if they knew I read about sex, particularly gay sex. So I keep that secret locked safely away, along with my porn and sex toys. ;)
K.A., that's cool about your job :) My boss and the administration might be fine with it, I just can't afford to take the chance that they're not O_O
Not so cool about your friends :-( It's sad that people would start shutting you out because of what you write.
Jen, LOL! Molesting your books, oh my. I would never do such a thing!
**waits for hysterical laughter to die down**
I hear ya on the family. My dad and That Harpy He Married would disown me and say prayers against me like the Church Lady if they ever found out O_O
Oh no, not you, Ally. You'd neeevver do that. ;)
My family's not crazy and critical like the condemning religious fanatics on TV and in the movies, but they definitely have hung on to some of the more old-fashioned beliefs that are so common here in the Bible Belt.
It's not just restricted to the church folks either, so I don't think it'd be fair to blame religion. Things just change slowly around here. I'm lucky though...I work for a gay-friendly business, so most of my co-workers are cool about my entertainment choices. :)
Ally, I'd definitely keep it a secret at work. You just never know how people might react, and it's better to be safe than sorry. That's my policy, at any rate. :)
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