February 1, 2015 by May B. Bridges

Falling in Love & Suicide

I was reading one of my recent WIP lines, and it struck me that the line worked for both falling in love, and suicide. Pleasant thought, I know. Well that thought led to a few more.

“You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

I rummaged through some romance novels, of which I have plenty, and noticed that often analogies for falling in, or being in love, sound like dreadful things. I did a quick search and found a whole list of things falling had been compared to: the plague, disease, murder, suicide, a virus, etc.

“Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed. Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed. Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.” Amanda McBroom, The Rose

Yes, I know there are a myriad of quotes that describe falling in love in a more fanciful way, but as I read through some quotes from others, it became alarming how well they work for the darker sides of life.

“…a fever which tests our strength, and too often leads to perdition.” ―George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel

I don’t I know what falling in love is like for others. Perhaps for some, it is sunshine and soaring. I can’t say I’ve ever known it to be that way. It has always been a process of reluctance, digging heels in and eventually being taken over. Something close to drowning, where I flail and fight ‘til my limbs give out, and the enormity and power of the water around me wins out.

“I have flown and fallen, and I have swum deep and drowned, but there should be more to love than “I survived it.” ― Lisa Mantchev, So Silver Bright

It has always been a process that is freighting to me. One I can’t imagine going willingly into.

“….but you’re still jumping off a cliff…” ―Lisa Kleypas

Yes, we can just chalk me up to being a lost cause on believing that falling in love can be a painless, openhearted process. It may be true enough that I am jaded, but you can’t deny that there are too many quotes that work well for awful things in life, as well as falling in love.

I pulled some of my own lines and have posted them below. Thing is, not all of these are about falling in love; some most certainly are, but some are just about unfortunate life events. Can you figure out which are which?

The cuts were small, one here and there, but each opened her wider. As they came faster, it became too hard to close them all. And then it happened, she surrendered and lay open before him.

Her heart raced in her chest and her arms threatened to give out. She clung fiercely to the crumbling edge, resisting the fall to the shimmering water below, the depth of which was still unknown.

Looking in the face of what was before me, I shivered. This could hurt, pain that would only be made bearable by the sweet adrenaline high that accompanied it for a time.

She stood on the edge, looking out over all that was before her. Closing her eyes, she spread her wings and jumped.

The blow came fast. It slammed in from the side, catching her unaware. She scrambled to recover, but it was too late. She had dropped her guard, and the damage was done.

Gwen was trying to balance just on the edge of the abyss. She saw how deep it was and knew if she slipped over the edge the fall would be endless.

He made the first cut. It opened a vein I knew I couldn’t close.

He careened over the edge, tumbling helter-skelter down the side with nothing to slow his fall. The hit waiting at the bottom would be swift and hard.

-Lines by May B.B.

Do you see what I mean? Love and suicide, sometimes murder, seem like peas in a pod at times. Still, I suppose it’s a part of life, however sweet or bitter, painful or freeing, that is all but avoidable.

As always, you can find me on Facebook and Twitter. Hit me up, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this or anything else.

Sincerely,

May B.B. (The, goes kicking and screaming, Writer)

January 24, 2015 by May B. Bridges

Prince Charming is Dead, Now What?

I try not to put things out that sound like a PSA announcement, but this might. Sorry. Today, things feel a little sad for me. But that is part of life, right? Some days just aren’t great, and as someone who lives part of my life on paper I suppose that eventually it was bound to happen that I would want to write something on one of those sad days….

Prince Charming isn’t real. There will never be a man that whisks you away, that drags your life up from the mundane, pulls you off your floor scrubbing knees, thrusting your life into this idea of happily ever after. I’m sure this isn’t a shock, or even a revelation to any of you. We all know that perfect man we read about as little girls isn’t real, but for many he was the dream.

So when you come back down to earth, open your eyes, and realize this is the real world and not your fairytale, where does that leave the Marks, Johns, and Bobs in your life? If Prince Phillip, Eric, Adam, and Charming(yes that was really his name) were the pinnacle, albeit unrealistic, what does the bottom bar, minimally acceptable look like, and all the shades in between?

We read, and for some of us write, stories where the guy is the hero, he saves her, but for a lot of girls that is not what the men in their lives will be. Even if you never bought into the fairytale, I can tell you that this is a hard blow to take when it really hits home. Maybe that is because as much as we don’t believe it, some part of our heart secretly holds onto wishing it could be true.

So how do we reconcile the dream with what we really have, Charming with Bob? I have spent most of my life dealing with other people’s addictions; first a very close family member, then men I let in my life. So what happens when Charming drinks too much, or does drugs? What happens when Charming has a temper? Disney never answered that for you, did they? That’s what life is though, at least for many women.

I asked above what the bottom bar looks like. I asked because I think it’s important. As women we need to figure out what is acceptable from the people we love and what isn’t. From the outside looking in you might think these are easy standards to set, but I know that they aren’t. I can easily paint you a verbal picture of the perfect man. I can also articulate one that is completely unacceptable, but there is an in-between that is blurry and hard to explain.

I don’t know if anyone ever really learns from other people’s experiences, or if we have to live it ourselves, but I’m going to put this out there anyway. Living with, or loving people with addiction issues, hurts. Unfortunately sometimes it hurts physically, and more often than not it hurts emotionally. It’s lonely. Even when they are there, in some ways they live in a different world, one you can’t live in with them even if you try. You will always be second, maybe even third, or forth. If you stick it out you’ll have to be in love with the person you know they can be, not the person they are, and both will break your heart.

So this is where this is going to get very PSA-ish. We know Charming isn’t real, but too many of us are still waiting around for him, or worse, hoping we can love the man in our lives enough to somehow transform him into Charming. You can’t. He will never be Charming, and that’s okay, but make sure he is still someone that is good for your life.

Think about, talk about what you want and what your bottom bar is. Aim far above it. Don’t wait for someone else to save you. When life is too hard, when you’re sad, tell someone. And not the person that is making you sad. Tell someone else. He isn’t going to put you first, so put yourself first. Live healthy, live happy, and let people into your life that want those things for you too. Prince Charming is dead. Reality killed him. Now we need to paint a different picture of what the people we give our hearts to should be.

Promise to those who read the silly things I write: the next one will be happier. Episode one of Holding Out for Home should be posted very, very soon!!! You can read it here on my site and it is free. I can’t wait for you all to meet Gwen and Jackson.

Here’s to hoping we all find our happy place. You can catch up with me on Facebook and Twitter.

May B.B. (The, not always happy, Writer)

January 24, 2015 by May B. Bridges

Love & Other Things I Don’t Know Shit About.

Being a romance writer the subject of love comes up often in my circle. Usually not spurred on by me, but that’s another story. Today’s conversation had to do with loving someone you have never met, and if it’s even possible. The conversation was based around falling in love over the net, but it applies to all scenarios where one can fall in love without ever having actually met the other person: letters, private messages, email, tweets, posts… for example.

The group of us seems to be much divided on whether or not it’s possible to fall in love over the internet. I was thinking about this on my ridiculously long drive home today and am truly torn on the subject.

Let me first say that the subject of love in general is such a colossal idea that I wouldn’t even begin to tell you I understand it. Yes, I know I write about it, but in small fragments and sections. I write about pieces of love that exist in a word I created.

Mostly I write about the dark parts of people, the ugly, broken sides we try to hide from the world; what it’s like to love with scars and loving those who have them. Writing about love and relationships in that context is like looking at a single speck of dust floating in a galaxy.

So now that we have established that I don’t know jack shit about love, let’s get back to the subject at hand. Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?

I can come up with two arguments on this. One – and the more pessimistic side of me leans this way- you’re not falling in love with a person, just the idea of them. When I interact with someone new online I form an idea, if only rough, of who they are. More accurately, who I think they are. I take their, tweets, posts, words –whatever- and start to paint a mental picture of what they’re like. I give them characteristics like funny, smart, witty, kind, any number of ways you can describe a person.

The more I really think about it, however, it is their words I am assigning characteristics to. Not them. This would beg the question, are we our words? That is a rabbit hole I’m not diving down right now, but a great topic for debate, later.

So, I know a guy. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but really I know a guy. This guy spent a very long time in prison; most of my life, actually. During his extended stay in one of our fine penal facilities, he found love. Awe how sweet.

Through a series of events he started writing a woman he had never met. They wrote for the better part of a decade before he was released, recently. When he was released they got married after spending a week together and then he moved in with her. I read a post from her not so long ago that said, “I thought you were my knight in shining armor. Turns out you’re an asshole in tinfoil.” Well said, lady.

I can only assume she was ranting about that guy I know. I think this is a perfect example of what I mean about falling in love with the idea of someone. She formed an idea of who he was based on the words he wrote her. Apparently the idea she had was a shiny knight.

I’m projecting here- When he moved in and didn’t smile as often as she imagined he would, didn’t use all those polite words he had written when he spoke to her, when he showed the flaws we all have but don’t present in written form, she saw something less than her imaginary knight, like tinfoil.

So the other side of me, we’ll call it the smaller side, would argue this: Falling in love with someone via written words that you’ve never met, is falling in love with the purest form of a person. Yes, that sounded more than a little idealistic and philosophical, but hang in here with me.

I will be the first to tell you that physical attraction is important. A man with a beautiful mouth does funny things to my heart. (Unimportant side note) I very much believe that the small things a person does – the way they grin when you compliment them or how they always let you walk through a door first – are things to be adored and loved. They can, however, also be the things that get in the way of actually seeing someone.

I know from my own long term relationships that there are times when all you see are those things, the small ticks that annoy you. It doesn’t take a long term relationship to stop seeing who a person is past what you find irritating about them.

I had a professor in college whose class I hated going to because he flailed his arms like a fish without water when he lectured. I found it so distracting that I couldn’t concentrate. But we are not our ticks. That professor was not his flailing arms. I’m not my tattoos and piercings, though I know plenty of people who dislike them. My daughter is not the annoying way she pops her gum. My brother is not the stupid voice he makes when he tries to impersonate me (poorly).

Getting to know someone by letter or internet interactions gives you the ability to know them apart from physical form. When all you have is a person’s words and thoughts, their ideas and feelings, you have who they are outside of what you see and the things they do. Who we are at our purest form, maybe?

Okay, so I did nothing to help answer the question of whether or not you can really fall in love with someone you don’t know. I’m just as torn on the subject now after making both arguments as I was driving home.

I know that I get happy when I see certain people in my Twitter or Facebook feeds, and I couldn’t begin to tell you why, considering I don’t actually know them. No, that’s not love. Not even close but I can’t help but wonder if for some people those unexplainable moments of happiness is how it starts.

Maybe it’s that there really isn’t one answer? Love is different for everyone, certainly, and that is the only thing I am certain of when it comes to love. So whether you love the idea of someone, or the purest form of who they are, I say if it’s making you happy go for it. Life isn’t long enough to deny yourself the people that make you happy or improve how you feel in some way.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. Let me know your thoughts on this, or anything else, via the contact page, or on Twitter and Facebook.