Right Decision, Wrong Reason…

First of all,

Thank you!

The outpouring of support here on this blog, Twitter, and on Literotica has been tremendous. It has reaffirmed my faith in the basic goodness of humanity – the individuals anyway. I appreciate that more than I can say.

And, no, I do not plan to leave you hanging on these stories. I continue to write, even during challenging times.

My plan is to post chapters here as I finish them. I have created another page called WIPs or Works in Progress. I will continuously update that page with new chapters as I write them. I will stick dates next to them so you have the order in which they come, and the latest chapter’s title will appear in RED.

I hope to add the latest chapter (Goodbye Earl) later today or tomorrow. As most of it is written already. After that, I expect to add a new chapter every two to three days. The positive side of this is that there is no more waiting for someone else to approve my stories.

I will also be editing and posting old chapters. So that if you have friends you want to refer to my stories they can get in on them from the beginning. I will begin with Night Walker’s Woman – which I will need to rename since I changed the word to skinwalker. I am shite with names, so suggestions welcome. Honestly, that’s a whole lot of editing. But oh well, it is worth it.

My finished books will appear in PDF format on the Books page. They are licensed under Creative Commons, which basically means you get them for free but cannot change them or sell them elsewhere in any format.

I am also toying with a couple other options. You can find those on my Contacts page if PDF format does not work for you.

If you follow this blog then you should receive emails when I update things. But Twitter is the best place to find out that information, again check out my Contacts page for that info.

---

Now that those specifics are out of the way, I want to address more fully what I mean when I said… Right Decision, Wrong Reason.

I have been writing at Literotica for twelve years. In many ways, I owe Laurel and Manu a deep debt for making me into the writer I am today.

Writing is one of those skills that is not easily taught. Much of it is raw talent, you either have it or you don’t. Yes, sometimes taking courses can teach you new forms or skills, and I have taken many courses over the years. But all the talent and courses in the world won’t develop your writing in the way that practice will. Much the same as playing a musical instrument.

Literotica has given me a place to practice and hone my talent. I was reminded the other day of just how much so. One of you sent a message pleading with me to tie my ‘abandoned’ story Forbidden Fruit into the Trouble Texas Style series. I cringed when I read that first chapter. It was much worse than a teacher’s nails on a blackboard or even the ten-hour version of Nyan Cat.

(Oh, I do intend on doing that. But not now. There is a second series called Reconciliation Texas Style after this one ends. Jack’s story will be central to that one.)

I have grown so much since those early days. Having a platform and an audience has been wonderful. I do appreciate that.

But somethings have been bothering me for years. As I have discovered the hard way with Ready To Run, the Interracial Love category is a magnet for racists, who want to see stereotypical black men with huge c*cks mistreating women. As long as it validates their world view, they get off to it.

Life and my own journey from a child raised in a racist home to a woman who for a decade had only black lovers to the epiphany that race is the very last thing that should matter when it comes to lovers is reflected in my writing.

If Interracial Love attracts racist, then Loving Wives is a misogynist’s breeding ground. The abuse of women in that category is frankly unacceptable.

It has been years since I wrote in those categories because I do not want to be part of the problem. I never want to perpetuate those myths.

But as times change, as things intensify, I have been asking myself –

Is that good enough?

Right now, we need not just to face the truths, but to find a path to move past it all. To find a way to that Reconciliation.

Yes, we need to do that as communities, nations, and as a civilization.

But I believe that begins not at those levels but at the personal one first. We need to create or sometimes recreate relationships built on trust and respect even more than love and passion.

And all those old myths and tropes are blocking that. The whole…men are a$$holes, women have to save them…trope is damaging not just women, but men as well.

Our relationships need to be safe harbors of understanding, acceptance, unconditional love, and respect. Where we are partners in building up one another, our families, our communities, and this world.

But how? It seems we have lost that…IF we ever had it.

Bards, storytellers, writers, and their modern-day equivalent of YouTubers have always been the harbingers of hope, giving the world a blueprint or in some cases warning it against dare consequences of its current path.

That is the role I see for my writing. Showing people what a good relationship should be like.

But does that kind of writing belong somewhere focuses on the color of someone’s skin or foster the belief that women are all cheating ‘hoes?

Yes, those messages upset me. Yes, I acted rashly. I made a decision based on emotion.

And I have heard you, the arguments that I am letting ‘them’ win, even Alan agrees with that.

But in the beautiful, warm light of a sunny summer day, both my mind and my heart agree…

This was the Right Decision, even if it was for the wrong reason.

Yes, this is incredibly scary. This blog has had five times more traffic over the past couple of days than it usually gets. And I might have broken my record for comments. Without the built-in audience of someplace like Literotica where I am well known, I may fall flat on my face. I recognize that.

But it is still that Right Decision. The only one that aligns with my moral compass anyway.

I hope that many of you will stick with me. I hope you will send your friends, once I have all that backlog updated and added, of course. Because another positive of this move is that you can feel more comfortable sharing stories if they aren’t at a ‘porn’ site. (Uh-oh, now I realize I need to put ratings on all my stories.) But whether you stay or go, I will keep writing and posting it all here.

When I wonder why, I remember that one of my favorite writers, Henry David Thoreau, died a ‘failure.’ His works read by only a handful. Yet, on Walden Pond has become a centennial work of the environmental movement, and his brief sixteen-page personal essay, Civil Disobedience, has been credited by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela with inspiring their non-violent protests. Think about that. Lying on your death bed wondering what it was all for. But one-hundred and seventy years later, your writing has changed the course of nations and human history…and continues to do so.

That is my blueprint. To live as Thoreau did – true to his conscious and conscience. Because you must be awake and aware in order to know right from wrong.

I hope to entertain, challenge, and empower you through my writings here.

Okay, now off to make those changes to the WIPs and Books page.

Goddess bless and keep you and yours,
Tara