Switch Blayde: Blog

I currently use Yahoo Groups to announce stories, but Yahoo is making significant changes and it might go away. As others using Yahoo Groups have done, I created a new group.

So if you are not a member of my Yahoo Group or didn't see the announcement there about the new group, I'm letting you know here. Members get emails when something is posted on the group, like me notifying members of a new story. Both groups are active, but I'm doing this for precautionary reasons.

The new group is: https://groups.io/g/swblayde

While writing my latest novel, I had an epiphany. I'm definitely not a commercial author. I'll explain.

I write erotica (which I do not consider porn although prudish people would). I also write thrillers. My current work-in-progress is a thriller/mystery. But it's an erotic thriller/mystery because, well, I write erotica and it has graphic sex scenes.

So here's my dilemma. For those readers looking for erotica, it's not page after page of sex. For those readers looking for a thriller/mystery, they may find the graphic sex vulgar. Isn't that a lose/lose for a commercial author? (That's rhetorical.) A commercial author would target one type of reader and write for them. I don't. I write what I believe makes a good story.

My first novel was rejected by a traditional publisher of Romantica (Erotic Romance) because the heroine committed adultery. That's a no-no in the romance genre. I discussed it with the publisher's editor who said their readers were typically housewives who were turned off by adultery. She wanted me to change the heroine from a wife to a fiancé (I guess it's not adultery if she's not married). I explained why it would hurt the story and she agreed so to preserve the integrity of the story I self-published it. I didn't buckle to the commercial rules back then and I don't intend to now.

Thanks for listening. End rant.

I just realized I panicked when I blogged that the end of Chapter 8 was messed up and forgot to blog that the story was complete. All 9 chapters are now posted. The story is complete. Thanks to all those who provided feedback.

It's fixed.

Something broke at the end of Chapter 8. I submitted Chapters 8 and 9 at the same time and somehow the top of Chapter 9 (story title and author name) ended up at the bottom of Chapter 8.

I requested it be fixed, but as of now it's broken.

Chapter 5 is now posted.
The story now moves into the next phase.