50 Shades of Grey, My Ass.

In all fairness to EL James, I have not read any of the "Shades of Grey" trilogy. I read a paragraph of an excerpt that was so poorly written, I honesty had no desire to read more, regardless of how steamy it was purported to be. And for those of you who have read the books and liked them, well... more power to you. I think if you're honest with yourself, James' great command of the English language is probably not the reason you're a fan.
In my quest to write chick lit, I've found it at times necessary to write a sex scene. I try not to make it gratuitous and I try to have some emotion behind the ripping off of clothing. These scenes in my first book, "Crazy Quilt," are fairly tame. I was afraid what Nana would think if she read them, so I might actually have been a tad timid in my descriptions of the act. But the more I've written these types of encounters, the easier it has gotten. Would you be shocked if I told you I actually like writing them now? If I come back two days later and read the scene and it still gives me hot flashes, then I know I've done my job.
What has been interesting to me, however, is to find there are several men I know who are quite good at writing sex scenes. I know! Who knew?
My friend David writes thrillers, and there's typically a good looking guy and a good looking girl in them, and well...things happen. I'd let my grandmother read his scenes and they always make sense in the context and flow of the story.
My new BFF Mark is a master of these scenes, and truthfully, his writing is more sensual than sexual. He's able to convey every emotion, touch, smell, sight, taste to the reader until you feel like you're right there...not a bad place to be, eh?
The big surprise is my funny friend, Warrick. He's a more casual acquaintance and we usually just verbally spar for fun. I finally got around to starting his book "Sleeping With God," which as the title suggests is about a man who, well...sleeps with God. Only God is a beautiful woman, who likes sex...a lot...and doesn't mind wearing a french maid's uniform on occasion. Knock me over with a feather.
So I guess the steamy, bodice ripping, fan your face type stuff isn't just the territory of us women writing chick lit. I know a few guys that could teach us a thing or two. Now that sounds like fun.

The more I've written these types of encounters, the easier it's gotten. Would you be shocked if I told you I actually like writing them now? If I come back two days later and read the scene and it still gives me hot flashes, then I know I've done my job.