Every now and then on one of my writing group listserves, someone asks about profanity in Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) novels. Apparently, "geeze louise" and "for goodness sake" can offend readers.
One time I had a dream in which a deacon from our church called and left a message on my answering machine, saying several church members were upset about my blog on profanity and the deacons needed to have a chat with me.
So two deacons came to my house while I was in the middle of pruning my neighbor's overgrown azaleas. I left my son to clean up my mess as my neighbor watched (he'd given me excellent advice on pruning). The deacons then rambled on about my profanity blog. Even though I wasn't promoting profanity, they said, because I'd blogged about what words I thought were cursing and not was enough, I would have to go before the deacon board and apologize. Then I'd have to go before the church and apologize. AND if I didn't apologize, I'd be excommunicated.
The next morning I saw a blinking message light on my answering machine. Was it all a dream? Was the answering machine message real and my half-asleep mind fabricated the rest?
The phone rang, and I almost screamed. I've never been so nervous to answer the phone. It was hubby. His mom had send an e-mail about a cute baby contest where the winner each month wins $2500, which hubby said could pay for me to go to ACFW or RWA conference. I'd just need to get all my friends to vote for my cute baby. So then I ran to the computer to see what I'd blogged about last.
Whew! No profanity. I washed my mouth out anyway.
Phew! What an anxiety dream!
ReplyDeleteRecently I've read CBA books with darn, gee, etc in them. Maybe the rules are softening..? Not that I plan to find out the hard way.