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That is it for Sweat and Tears, Dear Readers. My muse is dormant now, as she has been screaming at me for the last few months and has felt the need for a rest. Thank you for staying the course, those of you who could. I knwo there are some who couldn't get past the unpleasantness, but I trust all understand it wasn't written for any salacious reason. I wanted that part of the story to be as brutal as I could manage while keeping at least some restraint and tact.
I wanted once more to try and bring out the nastiness of such things as PTSD, but this time written from a male perspective, with the level of violent hate that I suspect only a man brings to such things.
An inteesting writng experience!
Comments
Thanks Cyclist
It has been a great adventure to follow along with. Looking forwards to when your muse kicks in again with another tale.
Fifty
The temptation was there. I could have padded out a lot of things, but the story arc needed closing. I thought of expanding on the joys and sorrows of parenthood, but it was clear to me that if I did so the story would move away from the track it was on, and perhaps I would end up with a dormouse instead of a dormuse (sorry, Angharad, couldn't resist it)
I needed to keep focus tight on Stephen, so that was how it best worked for me. Fifty would have been nice, but....
I cant say "I loved it"
but, despite the nastiness, it was a compelling, well written read, and I totally identified with the main characters. By the way, does anybody know if Money, who caused so much grief in real life, was ever charged with anything?
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Charges
Not as far as I know. He died in 2006, two years after David Reimer killed himself.
I can't begin to thank you enough...
...an instrument of peace, as St. Francis wrote, this story has been another integral part of my own continued dealing with PTSD. It was well written; both in form and substance, and one of the best stories I've ever read anywhere. Thanks again, as much as I can, for being open enough to share this part of yourself. Excellent, dear one!
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
Yes, this for me has been irresistable reading. I liken it so much to a moth being drawn to the flame but I'm afraid your wonderful writing does this. Your portrayals are just so realistic and your style devastatingly captivating. Yes, as you know in our PC's I was afraid in the beginning and indeed I had to take some of the chapters in bits. But I managed, just' to get through it. That is a testement to your concern for such as me who went through much of what you described, (Including the suspected murders.) (They were murdered but it will never be proven!)
I understand why you surrounded Stevie with much love and many loving characters in the later chapters. It is a plausible mechanism to bring the story to an acceptable and non-destructive conclusion. In doing that you showed great consideration and tenderness towards us and for that I thank you yet again. I don't think I could have born another fatal conclusion there have been enough in my own life, the suicides, the overdoses and the 'illegal deaths'.
Here I must guiltily confess to being a bit angry and jealous of Stevie for finding a reasonably happy and supportive end to his trauma but I accept he is technically a fictional character and I understand your wish not to traumatise yourself or us. In one of your replies you stated that you prefer to write about nice things, well I perfectly understand that principle and indeed it is one of the theraputic mechanisms associated with cognitive therapy. So you may consider yourself right to do so.
I wasn't expecting such a sudden end for when you PC'd me a few days ago you suggested there might be two more chapters however your ending is realistic in it's brevity. Early deaths are always unexpected and doubly painful. There is a sense of having failed others when one learns of their having taken their own lives or precipitated an unexpected end. This is one of the reasons that many of us are loath to acrue too many friends. It's like the old hands in a military campaign, to afraid to befriend the new recruit because of the risk of more pain when they die. That coupled with the lack of trust and loss of hope are the factors that complete the destructive equations.
I was glad you wrote this story especially to show what enforced feminisation is all about. It was a somewhat bizarre vehicle to carry the abuse plot but it worked very, very well and it conveyed the reality, the distress and hurt associated with consequential abuse precipitated through childhood transgenderism; - either transexualism (a horrible misnomer,) or transvestism or, as in my case, both.
I know you're off on holiday for a few days so I wish you well and much peace (as Khadija puts it,) you deserve it for bringing such satisfaction to so many.
Have a good rest. Enjoy the Med and don't bump into any barbary pirates.
Much love and many hugs.
OXOXOXOXOXOX
Beverly.
Growing old disgracefully.