Musings & Thoughts for Thursday, May 9, 2024, or: Of Rainy Days…and Steamy Scenes

Late Morning, Thursday, May 9, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone, and welcome to my 1,523^rd post for A Certain Point of View, Too. It’s a cool – I’d say chilly, but I’m a transplanted Floridian – spring day here in my nook of New England. Currently, the temperature is 54°F (12°C) under mostly cloudy conditions. With humidity at 68% and the wind blowing from the north-northwest at 6 MPH (10 Km/H), the feels-like temperature is 59°F (15°C). Today’s forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high of 59°F (15°C). Tonight, the skies will remain mostly cloudy. The low will be 39°F (4°C).

On Writing & Storytelling: Rainy Days & Steamy Scenes

Yesterday was a cold, rainy, and sometimes depressing day. For much of the daytime, the skies were gray and gloomy, and though what we got in precipitation was light rain instead of heavy downpours with lightning, the weather sucked just enough to keep me confined to the house.

Although I am indeed, by circumstances and inclination, a “homebody” who loves staying at home most of the time, I do like getting out to get some fresh air and sunshine. Not just for my physical and mental health, but to break up the monotony of living in a rural area after living most of my life in big cities. So, I try to include at least a 10–15-minute spell either walking outside – with hiking poles to help me negotiate the steep incline of the terrain out front – or sitting on a chair on the front porch and basking in the sun.

The Effects of Rainy Days….

Unfortunately, I could not even enjoy the front porch for most of yesterday due to the weather conditions. I stepped out briefly sometime between 4 and 5 PM because my Weather app said it was cloudy and not raining. But we had light rain for a large part of this week’s Wednesday, and as you may know, if you have been following this space for a long time, I do not like “rainy days and Mondays.”

This was quite gloomy. It affected me so much that I doubted whether I could write an opening paragraph for Scene Three of Reunion: Coda’s sixteenth chapter.

As you can probably tell from the heading, I sat down to work on my manuscript after lunch, although it was a bit later than I had intended. I opened the Word document containing the Reunion: Coda novel and finally wrote the scene where Jim and Maddie consummate their romantic relationship. It was the first truly steamy scene in the book.

As a general rule, I don’t read a lot of romance or erotic fiction. However, I do have two short e-books from the latter genre that were written and self-published by women in my Kindle library. Admittedly, I prefer other types of fiction and non-fiction. That being said, in order to understand how to write “bedroom scenes” that are sensual without being too graphic, I have purchased a few titles on Kindle, such as Diana Gabaldon’s “I Give You My Body”: How I Write Sex Scenes.

Initially, I faced difficulty in figuring out how to portray Jim and Maddie’s first intimate moment in his midtown Manhattan apartment’s bedroom. I aimed to create a scene that generates a lot of sexual tension while maintaining a realistic tone. However, I also wanted to hold the novel’s overall sweetness, as suggested by my Beta reader Denise Longrie. Despite my urge to include explicit sexual content in the scene, I decided against it. It’s not that I’m a prude; I do have two erotic stories in my Kindle library. But, as a writer, I lack experience in balancing sweetness and R-rated sex scenes, which is why I chose to avoid it.

A Teasing Taste of Things to Come….

Because I want readers to buy Reunion: Coda when I send it out via Kindle Direct Publishing later this year, I will only show you how I decided to begin Chapter 16’s third scene in the following excerpt:

Rhythms of the Heart

The hallway feels longer than a marathon track, each second stretching into infinity as I stand here, waiting. The soft hum of Mozart’s Andantino from Concerto for Flute and Harp, K.299, seeps through the door, a delicate reminder of Maddie’s presence just beyond it. The sound is a lifeline, a melodic tether to the woman who’s consumed my thoughts for over two days since her plane touched down.

I shift my weight from foot to foot, the anticipation gnawing at me. There’s a symphony in the silence, punctuated by the rustle of fabric and the occasional giggle that slips through the cracks—a private concert just for me. It’s maddening and exhilarating all at once.

The door finally swings open, and there she stands, a vision in black lace, her silhouette framed by the city’s glow. “Come in,” she says, her voice a mix of command and invitation. The room is a canvas painted with shadows and light, every corner whispering secrets of the night.

To continue reading, you can order the book later this year from Amazon, Barnes & Noble Online, or any other bookseller or public library that can get it for you by special request.

Action This Day

As usual, today is the second-last day of my regular workweek. Therefore, my agenda for the day is to post this article in my WordPress blog, have my normal two-hour midday break for lunch, rest, and recreation, and then go back to my desk and write the next scene in Reunion: Coda.

That’s pretty much all the news I have to share with you today. I wish I had some more exciting or personal updates, but most of my time and energy goes into writing these days. I hope you don’t mind hearing about my progress and insights on my novel project. I appreciate your interest and support very much.

If you haven’t read Reunion: A Story yet, I highly recommend checking it out before the novel is released. It’s a short and captivating novella that introduces you to the main characters and the premise of the story. You can find it as a paperback or Kindle e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers. Additionally, there’s a free sample available at the end of this post, which will give you a taste of the story’s style and tone.

Thank you for reading and following my blog. I hope you are doing well and staying healthy and safe in these challenging times. Enjoy the rest of your day and see you next time!