When I was younger, I had a fascination with mechanical things, cars especially. To me they were a thing of beauty. My grandfather, who raised me for the first few years of my life, encouraged many of my quirks, one of which was reading, which stymies a lot of my family members.
This is a picture of me going through a Sears catalog, which was really the only way to get really cool stuff in Hilo at the time. Please notice the page. Cars, and Hot Wheel tracks.
Of course would it have killed them to wipe my face before they took the picture? I was a very grubby child…who they kept insisting on dressing in light colours. The bleach bills must have been outrageous.
The woman next to me is my mom. She looks about the same, except her hair isn’t blond any more. It’s back to its natural brown-black. She swears she never had her hair blond. We all say… huh. Sure. I’ve got about 10 photos of her with her hair like that.
But I digress.
My love for cars in my family’s mind equals a masculine trait so therefore, I must be a lesbian. This was a curious thing for me to encounter, mostly because I’m fairly clueless about people outside of my brain (we’ll get into that later) but mostly because I really love men. I even lived with a few but this did/does not shake my family’s undercurrent of belief that I like women.
It doesn’t really bother me. It gives them something to talk about in church, I guess but it feels strange to be in the closet for something I am not. Because believe it or not, there is actual encouragement although very light that I should admit to my loving women.
Very complicated. Suffice it to say, I’ve grown okay with my supposed conflict of who I am and who I’m attracted to. I’m a girl that likes cars, whisky and well, boys. Even boys that love other boys. I cook and can change out a toilet’s guts. I design for a living and write for a torture. No really, writing’s a torture. It hates me.
But I’m okay with it.
I used to wonder if people now were raising their children to accept who they are. That’s my biggest concern. It’s not enough of a concern for me to have a kid but one I have anyway. Are people letting their heterosexual leaning little girls like cars? Are they letting their heterosexual leaning boys to like dolls? Are we heading to being okay? At some point, I hope we are.
Then, I came across this and thought; Yeah, thanks for raising this kid right. You all give me hope.
Rhys, Rhys, Rhys….I was happy suffering under the delusion you are a man! Now I have to kneel in awe of your writing talent! Way to go, girl! (but still, I can’t believe it!)
Oh no, I’ve been very open about my physical state. :::grins::: Am I masculine? Yeah. I’ve never given much thought to gender identity until apparently recently when it was pointed out that I tend to be whatever “sex” suits me at the moment. If it makes you feel better, I don’t feel very feminine when I write. 😀 Can I be a het omnisexual? :::chuckles::::
But my name is Rhys. Well a different spelling but a Rhys I am. :::Grins:::
Well, Rhys, I have to admit that I wondered if you were a guy. The spelling of your name which I assume is pronounced like “Reece” was as non-gender-specific as could be-and the cat profile pic didn’t provide any clues. Not that it mattered, of course. It was more my curiosity getting the best of me. With the m/m romance genre being new to me and all, I was surprised that some of my favorite authors of the genre are women. I loved Dirty Kiss and very much look forward to it’s sequel. Do you have an ETA on it? Loved the video BTW—I’ve never liked pink either….green, any shade of it!
:::waves hello::: I guess I never really figured that people wouldn’t know I was female. Goes to show how clueless I am. Yes, my name is Rhys/Reece 😀 I lucked out in the name department. My sister is Chablis.
Ah, Dirty Secret is being worked on in conjunction with Sinner’s Gin which I’ll probably finish first. ETA: I hope to have both books done by June. SG probably will be done in January and then submitted to DSP for review if they want it. Dirty Secret is DSP’s option to pick up so that’s at least got an avenue but I have high hopes for Sinner’s Gin. Someone read the first two chapters and liked it. I’ll post more about it as I go. And I’ll be looking for beta readers here in a month or so.
To be honest, I don’t feel all that feminine or masculine. I kind of just am. :::grins::: And I am glad that you liked DK. Oh how I agonized over its reception. :::hugs:::
Funny, I thought you were a guy, too! Obviously it doesn’t matter, but it’s funny the assumptions we make. What DOES matter is that I have to wait til frakin’ June to get Dirty Secret!! 🙁
Well, I need to finish writing it and there was a HUGE plot hole. I needed to stuff it with Scarlet to fix it. :::nods::: I’ve got two books going. Promise.
Yeah, i’ve got female bits but according to many of my friends and family, not so much of a girl brain. Go figure ::::grins:::
Eeeeh, How do I keep missing your twitter posts about your blog posts…. This little girl was so worked up about the gender-specific colors…I so enjoyed her verbaling her frustrations with companies marketing gender biases. Such a young tyke and already hear her roar! thanks for sharing
Meantime, what a cute photo of you with a grimy face! I assumed you are female mostly because there are few writers’ work I read in the m/m genre who aren’t women. 🙂 And wonderful news–a second book coming along with the sequel. (makes me so happy)
Have a nice night, girl who likes to work on cars (they are sorta fascinating.) Hugs. (scattered21 on twitter–aka Michelle)
::::grins:::: Isn’t she adorable? She’s ready to kick ass and name her victims!
Yep, there will be a sequel to Dirty Kiss and hopefully I can get Sinner’s Gin out soon because it’s kicking MY butt!
I just love the look and sound of cars. I can do routine stuff but oh, the heavy lifting can go to my mechanic, Jason. :::Grins::: Snooks
The little girl in the vid is adorable but I LOVE the dad. I assume the cameraman is her dad – well, male role-model anyway. She was hesitant to say boys wanted princesses until he said it. Got to love that!
I adore her 😀 heh heh heh