Hello again.

To all my loyal readers, the fourth book in the Gala Series is now active on Amazon Kindle.

This book looks at a different side of the Gala girls, and the story is darker than the previous books.

As always, please rate the books after you’ve read them, and constructive feed back is always welcome, as is suggestions for future books.

René

CAMERON

Well, I’m back. To much going on with politics and COVID. Will be going live with the 4th book in the Gala Series a month early. Cameron has a different twist. Just have to see how it goes. My life has been stuck in boring mode now for over a year. Got my COVID Vaccine but still concerned about going out in large crowds. I have read all the data, not the propaganda from both side of the aisle, and I must say I am amazed that the CDC is so resistant to recommending treatments that other countries are advocating. I agree with immunization but also recognize that everyone needs to make their own choice on this subject. I can only look at the facts; if your vaccinated you less likely to end up in hospital or die.

I’ve finally finished the edit on the newest book in the Gala Series ‘CAMERON’ and I presently don’t have another in the works. Future books will depend on how these sell.

Life in the COVID world is different, but looking back at past pandemics (Spanish Flu 1918) it takes a good 3 years to get past these infections, and we have another surge or two yet to go. We’ll have to see if this is going to be a yearly thing.

So far I have not caught the virus (that I know of). Neither have those around me. One fact about COVID is that is initially infects the back of the throat before descending into the lungs. To this end I have been gargling with a shot of Brandy every evening since the Pandemic started and this maybe why I’ve not caught COVID. But even if it is doing nothing it relaxes me every evening, so I’m happy.

Still, I wish everyone the best and hope no one catches COVID. Be happy, and remember, Tolerance, Inclusion, and Compromise are the key to Peace on Earth.

I would apologize for my procrastination but it would do little good, and just occur again. I am recalcitrant towards the need to keep up a frequent monolog on this blog site, preferring to write on my next book. However, I return today in hopes of correcting my long absence. The Pandemic is finally winding down, but not gone or forgotten. Variants will continue to pop-up and wreak havoc with out lives. Between disease, weather, rising sea levels, and overall warming of the mud ball (no matter what you consider the cause or source), it will be amazing if humanity survives the century. But, I feel extremely confident it will, it’s just in what condition that I am pessimistic. There is just too much turmoil. No one is happy with little gains or improvements in their situation. We live in a world of ‘me and now.’

“I want it yesterday and I want exactly what I ask for, no compromise. And, if I don’t get it, I’ll take my ball and go home, but not until I’ve ruined your life.”

I remember this attitude from my elementary school days. We use to called them ‘bullies’ but now we call them ‘activist.’ In the end it’s all the same. It amazes me how no one learns from the past, even our own personal past. The victim becomes the bully, making the former bully the victim. That is until the new victim rises up in retaliation, and it all cycles again. We are not learning or solving anything.

Tolerance, Inclusion, Compromise

I was listen to a group of average, normal, everyday people. It included a cross section of society. There were a couple of African-Americans, a white, and a hispanic. They were discussing various TV series. I suggested Netflix Schitt’s Creek as an interesting comedy about riches to rags and back to rich again, overly educated to less educated, types and attitudes of people from various segments of society, and (here it comes) a look at the LGBTQ community. Once I mentioned that it had an element of a gay love story the attitude went from interested to ‘no way’ in a nano second. Yet, these same people are very tolerant of individual LGBTQ persons. So, what’s the difference? Why can they be friends with a real LGBTQ person face to face, but be so critical of an award winning TV series, just because of its gay romance?

Tolerance, Inclusion, Compromise

Our society HAS come a long way. It’s not perfect, but it is better, and things seldom change overnight. We no longer lynch African-Americans, we do not tolerate the murdering of LGBTQ+ individuals, and we don’t burn red-haired women as witches. Employment is fairer (still not perfect) and everyone’s life style has improved (if you doubt that go visit Honduras or El Salvador). But instead of trying for steady upward socioeconomic progress, we want it to happen yesterday. This is causing more confrontation than solving problems. If I throw a running drill at a metal plate it will only make a small dent before bouncing off. If I press the running drill bit against the metal plate, with a constant steady pressure, it will eventual drill through the plate. Look how long it has taken for 95+% of our society to wear seat belts. I remember, as a child, when they were first put in cars. It has taken over sixty years to change people’s habits. Now, most of us feel wrong when NOT wearing one.

That’s not to say that we should tolerate hate crimes. No, we need to press for laws to prevent such things. But we all need to look at our own contribution to the problems in our society. Even the best intentioned among us is not perfect. Getting up in someone’s face to admonish them is not going to make them change, it will just ‘piss them off’ and make them dig in their heels, hanging on to their own misconceived attitudes even stronger. I preach at people all the time, but in a nice way. Convince someone to your point of view and you have an ally, force them and you have an enemy.

The next book in the Gala Series, Cameron, is coming along but is different. It looks at a different side of things. While it is 2/3rds finished I’m having writers block on the last third. Still, I hope to have it done by the end of the year. As always, it is the editing and Beta reading that slows things down. I look at my books more as a way to put out my feels (since I’m not on social media). I try to show a reader that there are different ways of looking at things. My greatest frustration is how totally oneway the minds of many people are, how strictly black and white, with no gray gradients allowed. Unfortunately, life is seldom straight oneway or another. There are so many little twists in the how and why of our lives that it is a maze. And, it’s just going to get worse. As our society becomes more and more multicultural, more and more varied, it also becomes more and more complicated, and less oneway or another, less strictly right or wrong. The least stressful societies are those which are the most homogeneous in their makeup, all one ethnic group, or one religion, and so on. Societies, like the US, are very difficult to live-in. Not because they are wrong or evil, but because there are so many different groups, with so many different needs, that finding common ground is difficult. All the more need for Tolerance, Inclusion, and Compromise.

As with everything else going on in the world, it’s all related to COVID-19 and the Pandemic. Well, it’s all related to Politics, COVID, and the Pandemic. Well, it’s all related to Craziness, Politics, COVID, and the Pandemic. And I could go on and on with this list.

My overall release of the Gala Series has been horribly delayed (and that is mostly due to COVID). But it looks like things will be back on track soon. Some final editing has been done. Why is it that no matter how much you edit there is always something more to find? Things have drastically change in the U.S.A. since I start my literary adventure, Pandemics, new Presidents, poor economy, polarized and opposite groups, and so forth. As always I thank those who have been supportive my endeavors, and concerned about my well being.

I’ve always heard the old saying about the son growing up to be like his father. That is certainly not true in my case, but I must say I see a similar situation in the world today. Groups empowered by their own success over the last decade have grown up to be just like those they so readily condemn. I find that the reversal of roles/situations elicits a universally similar response; the repressed becoming the repressors. I guess I had hoped that we would all learn from the past, but with the attempts to obliterate the past we seem doomed to again repeat it. We should be striving for Tolerance, Inclusion, and Compromise, however, this is not the case in politics or the society at large. Still I am hopeful.

We have all witnessed the shameful invasion of the Capital by a few dozen minimally armed (or in most cases unarmed) fanatical citizens and call it an insurrection. This is an insult to the term insurrection. We seem to live in an age of double speak, where we call rioters in Seattle protestors, and idiots in Washington insurrectionists. It’s all politics and it’s all nonsense. Those stupid enough to unlawfully enter the Capital will be found and punished, as they should be, but will we ever find that Tolerance, Inclusion, and Compromise that this country so sorely needs? Still, many good things have happened, that makes me optimistic about improved Tolerance and Inclusion. Only time will tell if this trend will continue, and if we will also find the Compromise we desperately need.

Well, so much for another blog. I really must try to be more consistent now that things are back to some semblance of normal (or at least the new normal).

Be well and be safe.

Well, the editing is complete and I’m ready to publish.  I thank all the Beta Readers for their input.  I especially thank my friends from Texas. It is always difficult to impossible to know whether a published work will do well.  Did I put too much fiction and too little fact in it?  To much educating and not enough entertaining?  The overall purpose of any literary work is to entertain, secondarily to educate, but never to preach.  As an author I hope to achieve this goal and entertain, but I apologize for any preaching I may have done.  

Any literary work is a balance between story and fact.  Even Science Fiction must have some fact to base the fiction on.  I will see if I have the mix correct. At any rate, the die is cast and my first book of the Gala Series soon to be online.  I thank you all in advance for your tolerance and hope you enjoy the series.

R. C. Delacroix

I’m not doing well with this blogging thing; not consistent. My excuse is my newness to this whole experience. I’m still trying to finish up the last edits on the books. I find it a delicate balance between a good story and trying to keep things real. Stories often deviate from reality but need to stay close enough to be convincing. You might say it’s like a con artist. Mixing enough truth with fiction to blur the boundary between the two. I have friends who tell me they don’t agree with my stories approach to the trans female – cis male relationships. That they prefer the up front approach for trans persons. I agree with them, actually, but the Gala girls are a unique group, and not really part of the normal transgender community. I justify my approach in that I’ve always felt that trans females are just another variation of women. They’re real and don’t need to justify themselves to the world. As Helen said to Remasce, “Of course your real, my dear, but I sometimes wonder about the rest of the world.” Just as cisgender woman have a multitude of variations and problems, the trans woman’s problems are just another one of the things that are out there for woman. Of course, I am looking at this from a fully transitioned perspective. I understand that a woman lacking a SRS needs a different approach to relationships.

Between a new porch, new pictures for the walls, and new quilts, things are busy around the house. Everyone here always has a new project. I must admit it would be wonderful if I could retire from medicine and write. However, who knows how this great experiment will go. I find that medicine is no longer as fulfilling as I once found it. The attitude of everyone has changed, from greatful to demanding. My generation wanted to be self-employed as physicians but the new doctors simple desire a well paying job. They wish to be off at five and play all weekend. I can’t blame them for wanting to avoid the hassles of of owning a business. I find we are becoming less and less independent as individuals and a nation, relying more on the government and our corporate employers and less on ourselves. Personally, I do not feel this is good. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are indicative of this. They are totally non-personal, just fill in the blank and check the box, with to many unnecessary boxes to check off; cut, paste, and macros. But an EMR can’t give you a real feel for a patient, like a good hand written chart note can.

Being an employed physician takes away many options. In private practice I can take tamales in trade for care (and I did), but when employed our employer does not want tamales, they want money. So people with no insurance, who were once cared for by doctors through a barter system, now have to pay cash, that they can’t afford, or get insurance throught the government, that we all ultimately pay for with our taxes. We destroyed a working system that cared for the uninsured without it costing the taxpayer anything, and replaced it with a system that cost lots of taxpayer money. It makes no sense to me.

I’ve learned to go with the flow. See you next time.

As I get closer to my release date I find myself getting more excited. I’m trying to come up with a new idea for another book. I have several, and once the first book is released I plan to start on one of them. It is always exciting to begin a new project. Creative juices flowing and the first draft just pours out. Of course the final draft never looks like the first. My Gala Series books have changed considerably from the beginning. Still it is invigorating to start something new.

This COVID-19 pandemic is a mess, but it does leave me with more alone time to write; always a plus. Still, I’ve had to cancel several trips because of it. I revel in exploring new places and people. Many individuals that I have talked too over the years lament about their boring lives, but I’ve found that most people have interesting lives. Funny how things look different from the outside. We never think our life matters, but the reality is that everyone’s life touches someone else. Our lives are a sum of all the other lives we’ve touched, and those who have touched our souls in return.

One thing I do find distressing is that people do not want to discuss controversial subjects anymore; I do love a good argument. Everyone wants to be in a safe zone, tucked away from anything that is uncomfortable. So, they isolate themselves with people of the same mind set, and turn off any talk that challenges their beliefs. I understand this intellectually but find it a problem, we can never come to an understanding unless everyone talks and listens in a respectful way. I have changed many of my views and opinions over the years, due to articulate individuals presenting a good argument. Still, while there is life there is hope.

Until next time, stay safe and be happy.

Where to begin! This is all a new experience. I’m getting all my basics done for the release of my new Erotica Romance LGBTQ books, “The Gala Series”. Its been more than 2 years in the making and the last 6 months have just been boring as hell (editing, proofing, yuk), but I am just about to that polished point.

While these are not my first foray into the world of publishing, it is my most interesting. It’s topic stems from my confusion about the conflict between what some individuals view as morality versus the commandment to love thy neighbor. I have read the Bible several times and have yet to find a reference that states “love thy neighbor except” this one or that one. I do recall a reference where Christ places loving your neighbor just a hair below loving God (Mark 12: 28-31).

I must admit, I’ve had no encouragement in my writing efforts for this series. Still, as with all writers, I do it because I love to express myself. Whether there will be more books in the Gala Series may depend on how well these comport themselves in the literary shelves. At any rate we will see how it goes.

Thank you for taking the interest in finding my website and reading my post.

Have a joyful life and a great day.

R.C. Delacroix