Words Mean Things

 Yesterday, an author acquaintance posted about her "clean romance" novel and another author took a good deal of umbrage with the term, although it's been used for a lot of years to describe romance with no cursing or sex scenes.

Her claim, restating an article she read, said that calling a romance "clean" inferred other romances were "dirty."

Honestly, I think that's a huge stretch, but if it's true, so what? Why the negative connotation of "dirty"?

Not an endorsement.
I haven't read it, but Simon &
Schuster apparently think
dirty is a good thing.

As I replied, getting dirty is a good thing. (It worked well for Baby, after all). We should all get dirty more often, or at least a lot of us should get dirty more often. Being dirty is physically and mentally healthy. Honestly, it is. You can find articles all over the place stating the same, with more research than I'm going to look up for this little blog post.

Spring is a great time to get dirty and I'm looking forward to the resurgence of activity that comes along with warmer weather and sunnier skies. I'm even starting early to work up to it. Getting dirty just makes you feel better.

Granted, getting clean after getting dirty is also a good idea. Still, you have to do the dirty work first to get the best results of getting clean again.

Dirty is so popular, there are a plethora of restaurants with dirty in their names, which is maybe a little iffy on some level. You'll see it on a lot of book covers, song titles, even various products and services. It's everywhere. And it sells.

Some of my favorite people are the dirtiest people. Their productivity shows all over their hands and often their clothes, faces, even their shoes and hair. They're movers and shakers and have to shower before getting into someone else's vehicle so they don't leave traces of their personal dirt behind, but they're getting stuff done.

Right? Of course right. (Which musical is that from? I'm drawing a blank..."

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"the earth has healing power! ...A recent study by Northeastern University revealed an antibiotic strain in a sample of soil that shows potential in the fight against "superbugs" (infections that are resistant to current antibiotic treatments) and even tuberculosis. Scientists are certain that we've only identified a fraction of the natural healing properties of the earth."

Why Getting Your Hands Dirty Is A Good Thing

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Wait. What kind of dirty did you think I meant?

Words mean things. Of course right. But words mean different things in different contexts and to different people. So, clean fiction is something readers understand. So is dirty books. But why is one of those automatically a positive thing while the other is a negative thing?

Whichever way you take it, dirty can be healthy. Clean can be healthy. As long as readers understand well enough to find what they're looking for and can avoid what they don't want, it's all good. Call it clean, sweet, wholesome, family, even Christian, or call it dirty, spicy, sensual, gritty. We get it. Calling some books "Christian fiction" doesn't at all infer that there is no Christianity in other books, and it doesn't infer the religion or lack thereof of the author. It's a genre. Readers understand it.

Let's not get our hopefully clean undies in a bunch. Really, I think a lot of us could use far less "clean" tech time and far more "dirty" outdoor play time.

Me? I have veggies and herbs started in peat pots getting ready for my favorite dirty time. It is good to get some dirt on your hands.

And it's good to sweat. Ask Mike Rowe.
S.W.E.A.T pledge

Happy Spring!

As you can tell, I'm a bit worked up about it finally being spring, at least in my part of the world. But, I'm in good company. Do you realize how many poems have been written about spring? No, I'm not researching that, either. I'll just leave this here from one of my favorite poets: