I don't know if that's good or bad.

Honestly? Neither. It's what it is.

That's one of those emotional feedback "ping ping ping" moments: while it may not be what you intended, it's what a chunk of readership took away from it, courtesy of their own issues, at least in part.

So the piece gets an emotional landscape, a whole secondary life, that you, as the author, didn't intend.

When mine do that, people always say "That's so sad!" And I think "It is?" I guess I'm better at playing hurt than I thought.

erika, nope - it's sad as filtered through the reader, not sad as you wrote it. That's the point, for me; that's where the work gets its own life, not from what I meant, but from what the reader, any and all readers, take away from it.

Said it before, saying it again. If the reviewer in Jacksonville saw the plague in Plainsong as "a sly take on the Rapture", how is she wrong? She's only wrong if she insists it's what I meant or had in mind when I was writing it.

But what I meant doesn't and shouldn't dilute her take on it, because it's valid for her, and it gives her acceptance or dismissal of the book a whole new dimension.

And somewhere in the Bible Belt, where they actually believe in this Rapture thing, someone's read it and taken that with them into their memory banks, and the book has a different breath from where I was going with it.

Where's the downside?

I want that, and I haven't felt like that with anyone for a long time. Romantically, I mean, which is a whole different level, a whole different type of feeling like home, than there is with friendship.

This could be cleaner. "I want that, and I haven't felt that with anyone for a long time. Not romantically, which is a completely different level, a different type of feeling like home than there is with friendship."

"Or, rather, I made myself think that he was, because of how much I wanted him to be."

Small things which would help the flow without diluting the power. It is wonderful as is. I think a small polish could still make it better. YPMV.

Bev, you mean just cleaning up and tightening?

I didn't really look for that; I was going more for the effect, since I read it as a rumination (in Teppy's LJ, before I read it here), rather than as an essay.

On that definition of polishing and tightening, yep, total agreement.

Steph, I liked it. It hit strong with me, and I, too, felt longing as well as a sense of being lost and restless.

When you first mentioned C., I was a bit lost for a second. I could use a transition to let me know you are talking about a second man.

Steph, I know that feeling.

I think, for those who haven't seen Garden State, and maybe for it to last beyond now, something a little more introductory. Oh, like,

In the movie, Garden State, there's a scene at the end where Andrew and Sam, the main characters of the movie, are sitting in the bathtub where Andrew's mother died. Andrew tells Sam, "When I'm with you I feel safe...like I'm home." That's when I cried.

Maybe the sense of longing people are getting is from the bolded words and from the introduction telling us you cried. Also, there's thwarted desire. You've wanted home, and despite trying, you haven't gotten it. It says restless longing to me, too.

My heart lurched at the end when you said that you didn't measure up in one particular way, but don't tell us what that way is, though you tell us what the problem is, in general, with the other two. I think I'd like to know what that inadequacy is; I think it would give it more punch, though I could be wrong -- it might be the entirely wrong way to go with it. I know how you were wrong isn't the point; but it niggles at me since everything else seemed right.

This line is breathtaking:

My soul was quiet with him.

And I'm sorry, I must have skimmed over it in your LJ, assuming it was about a movie I haven't seen. I try not to read those, assuming there are spoilers and I might get to see it someday.

My heart lurched at the end when you said that you didn't measure up in one particular way, but don't tell us what that way is, though you tell us what the problem is, in general, with the other two. I think I'd like to know what that inadequacy is; I think it would give it more punch, though I could be wrong -- it might be the entirely wrong way to go with it.

My small group said that, too -- what was that one thing I couldn't change? Mostly, I don't know how to say it the way I want, to say it without damning him, or making excuses for him (or for me, for that matter), or coming across as a cliche.

I think I want to add that in, but I don't have the words just yet.

My small group said that, too -- what was that one thing I couldn't change? Mostly, I don't know how to say it the way I want, to say it without damning him, or making excuses for him (or for me, for that matter), or coming across as a cliche.

I'm fairly certain you've told me about this, and actually, I feel it more when it is unstated--the way you have it--Teppy. It's more universal, that way.

(Like everyone else, I saw "Garden State" in your LJ, and figured it was a post about a movie I haven't heard of, never mind seen).

This is a powerful piece.

Cindy said what I was going to say: I don't want it articulated. There's no need for me to have it all. Let me wonder; let me see where my own senses take it.