Interview with Lucy Bexley

Lucy Bexley joins me to talk about No Strings, Must Love Silence, how she met her wife, The Golden Girls lesfic version and more! 
Check out Lucy's website for links to purchase her books and follow her on social media: 
Lucy Bexley

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Transcript

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Laura (00:00):

My guest today is one of the most talented writers in our community. She also happens to be one of the funniest and the nicest Lucy. Bexley welcome. And thanks for joining me.

Lucy  (00:11):

Thanks so much for having me. I hope I can live up to any of those things you just said about me.

Laura (00:15):

Your recent book. No Strings is now one of my all-time favorites. How does one sit down to write and out comes Puppet sex jokes, and is there a date for an audio book release?

Lucy  (00:27):

Okay, so great news on the audio book front, I personally didn't have the date, but someone who was excited about the audio book told me that the release date is May 31st. So I actually just learned that a couple of hours ago.

Laura (00:40):

Wow. Excellent.

Lucy  (00:42):

Yeah. It's interesting because, Tantor bought the audio rights and they just don't communicate very well. Like after you sign the contract, you don't hear that much from them. So I didn't know the release date.

Laura (00:56):

And who's narrating that book?

Lucy  (00:59):

Abby Craden.

Laura (01:00):

There you go.

Lucy  (01:03):

Yes. I'm very excited. I think she did a really good job with Must Love Silence.

Laura (01:08):

Yeah, she did. She was the perfect narrator for that book.

Lucy  (01:12):

She's perfect for every book I've heard her do. I haven't encountered any that haven't been awesome.

Laura (01:17):

How do you sit down and write puppet sex jokes.

Lucy  (01:20):

Puppet sex jokes. I don't know. So, um, my favorite puppet sex joke in the book is, um, the hand stuff joke. That's my all time favorite. Um, I wrote that like very early on in the book and then had to write a scene around the joke. So generally I just like come up with weird jokes or weird scenarios and then I entire scenes or chapters around that joke.

Laura (01:46):

Excellent. Well, it was fabulous.

Lucy  (01:47):

Well, thank you. Yeah, , it's pretty easy though I think for me, if I have a specific topic to write a handful of jokes about that topic.

Laura (01:56):

No pun intended handful,

Lucy  (01:58):

A handful. Ha. Milena McKay for The Delicate Things We Make, she asked me to write circus jokes for it. So I wrote her a bunch of circus jokes for that book.

Laura (02:12):

I'm listening to the audio book. so good.

Lucy  (02:15):

Ah, yeah. She based Luce off of me.

Laura (02:19):

We talked and she's going to put me in one of her books.

Lucy  (02:22):

Yeah, you should do it.

Laura (02:24):

Apparently, she won't give people she knows like sex scenes and I'm like, why I don't understand.

Lucy  (02:30):

I don't understand why she wouldn't. Yeah. Write me into explicit sex scenes.

Laura (02:33):

Right. Maybe not explicit. I mean, fade to black, anything I'd like some action in a book .

Lucy  (02:42):

In a book

Laura (02:43):

Must Love Silence is a book that stays with you long after you finish reading it. Have we seen the last of Reese and Arden?

Lucy  (02:50):

Oh, this is such a hard question. I've gotten it a few times. I don't know. I don't have another specific story planed for them, but I'm definitely open to writing more., Arden makes some cameos in other books. She does in No Strings actually they're reading,, an Arden Abbott book.

Laura (03:10):

Yeah. I remember that.

Lucy  (03:12):

I really want to write a Judith club story. That's like what I really want to do so I could see them playing a role in a Judith book.

Laura (03:24):

I think that's a great idea.

Lucy  (03:25):

Yeah. I love Judith.

Laura (03:27):

Speaking of Judith, How much fun was she to write and who would you want to play her in a movie adaptation.

Lucy  (03:35):

Okay. So she was so much fun to write. And also I definitely cried while writing her. There's this moment where she's talking to Reese kind of near the end of the book and just being like so open and so loving. Yeah. And I just like, I don't usually make myself cry. I think that's the only time I've cried while writing. But I just loved it, like sort of, of like compassion it seems like she's kind of a busybody at first, but actually she just really cares. So when I was writing her, I was thinking of, um, Carol Kane. I don't know if you know that actress, but she plays the neighbor in Kimmy Schmidt also. So she's sort of like this kooky neighbor who's always showing up that Kimmy's place. So I think she would be a really good Judith and Judith in the book sort of had that like talk show on air for many years. So I think she's got a good personality for that too.

Laura (04:33):

That's right. And she was in, um, that one movie that I really like, that one. You remember that movie? That one.

Lucy  (04:38):

I know, I know that movie. I really like it. It's the one I really like.

Laura (04:45):

It's with Wesley and Buttercup. The Princess Bride.

Lucy  (04:48):

Princess Bride. I actually do really like that movie. I haven't seen it in a long time though.

Laura (04:54):

Well, I just think you should rectify that and you can see Carol.

Lucy  (04:57):

Oh yeah. Oh, I know who she is

Laura (04:59):

Yeah. She was married to Billy Crystal.

Lucy  (05:01):

Yeah. Okay. I'll have to watch it.

Laura (05:04):

Darby from the bright side is ridiculously cheerful, which normally annoys me. But in her I find it quite adorable. Are you more of a Darby or an Astrid or a combo?

Lucy  (05:17):

Okay. So let me just say, I actually agree with you usually super cheerful people. They make me so angry. And I think it's when people are like relentlessly cheerful and they don't sort of give you any space to have any other feelings. You know people who are always sort of doing like a silver lining, like no matter what's going on in your life, they're presenting you with a silver lining.

Laura (05:40):

I feel like those people inherently are depressed and sad and they're just trying to cover it up by overly cheerfulness.

Lucy  (05:46):

I actually think you probably have a point there. Um, but I think with, with Darby, I liked that it was a choice she was making to intentionally have a happy life.

Laura (05:59):

Just so weird.

Lucy  (06:00):

I know who would do that? A monster. I don't know. I think I'm kind of both of them. I don't know if you and I have talked about this, but, I actually have Bipolar 2. So I have like sort of depressive episodes and then manic episodes. And so I think when I wasn't on any medication, I was definitely sort of both of them just never at the same time. And now I think I'm more of a combo.

Laura (06:28):

Yeah. I, I'm probably more of an Astrid except I have more than five shirts.

Lucy  (06:32):

I have more than five shirts, but almost all of my shirts are plain white shirts or plain black shirts.

Laura (06:39):

Hmm. We need maybe get some color in there.

Lucy  (06:42):

I wouldn't wear it. I don't know. Okay. Let me show you. I'm in a black hoodie and a dark gray shirt.

Laura (06:50):

I've got a purple, but with neon yellow. Yeah.

Lucy  (07:00):

You've got a lot. It's so much color.

Laura (07:02):

I'm sorry. I'm blinding you.

Lucy  (07:05):

I don't know why I'm like that, but I think it makes it easier for me to get dressed. So I just, I stick with it. It works.

Laura (07:12):

You gotta do you boo.

Lucy  (07:13):

Yeah, definitely. And me is, almost no decisions if I can help. That's how I like to live my life.

Laura (07:20):

That's handy. What are you currently writing?

Lucy  (07:24):

Oh, okay. So I'm currently writing this book I'm very excited about it. It is a coyote ugly rewrite. It's called Howl and it's part of like a pride collection project that's going to be coming out at the end of May. I'm very excited about it. And it takes place in a struggling bar in Boston. And I live in Boston. I haven't based many stories here. And so it's been very fun to base a story in Boston. And I remember like when I moved to Boston and I was so shocked by how mean people are, But now I think it's just like how they are, you know? Um, but I grew up in the Midwest and so I moved to Boston from Michigan and I was just shocked by it. At the grocery store, even the person like scanning your groceries, doesn't acknowledge you. It's just like a very strange thing.

Laura (08:16):

It's a very North Eastern thing.

Lucy  (08:18):

Yeah, I adapted to it. But it took me a while.

Laura (08:22):

I think I'd like it. Everybody here wants to talk to you. I'm still in the Midwest. And that's what they do. Apparent I have that face. Everybody wants to be my friend.

Lucy  (08:31):

Yeah, exactly. So I was just, home in Michigan for five weeks taking care of my grandma. And when I was there, I had so many conversations. I never have in Boston. It's the people behind me in line, the cashier, the guy at the gas station. So I felt like I was constantly having conversations.

Laura (08:49):

You're like, I gotta get back to Boston. I need peace and quiet.

Lucy  (08:52):

Yeah. I was like this cannot continue.

Laura (08:56):

Okay. You've been cast in a lesbian reboot of the golden girls with Bryce Oakley and Stephanie Shae. What characters are each of you playing and who would be cast as the remaining character?

Lucy  (09:06):

Okay. This is the question I've been thinking about the most and it's funny because I actually conferred with Bryce on this.

Laura (09:13):

She told me that.

Lucy  (09:14):

Oh, did she? Okay. So did she tell you what I thought about it too?

Laura (09:19):

She said that you, you may both be the same character.

Lucy  (09:22):

Yeah. So I think we would both be Dorothy and I imagine us playing it like Mary Kate and Ashley Olson played the role on Full House. We're just sort of like switching off scenes.

Laura (09:35):

Wow. Dorothy, huh?

Lucy  (09:36):

I think so, because we both have sort of like a dry sense of humor. It is a missed opportunity to not say Betty White for sure. But her character on the show is just kind of so sweet, almost like a wide eyed sweetness. . I just don't think that's either of us to be honest with you. So that's kind of a cheat because then we're both one character. I think Steph who has never seen an episode of the golden girls, which I suspected.

Laura (10:04):

What?

Lucy  (10:04):

I Suspected it. I think she would be Sophia. I remember this one time I was visiting Bryce in Colorado and we did a video chat with Steph and I forget what Bryce and I were talking about. But generally together Bryce and I are just, we just feed off of each other. So it can either be like really great or we're, you know, conspiracy theories all the way. So at one point Steph like interrupted us and just said you two are the worst. So that's why I think Steph would be so Sophia probably. Cause I think Sophia's always like a little annoyed with the antics. Like tolerates them loves them is a little annoyed.

Laura (10:43):

Oh she's, a lot annoyed, I'm like a combo of her and Betty White because I have that Midwestern naivete. Yeah. With that, that like snarkiness that I'm just so over you people. But in college I, probably would've been a little bit of Rue McClanahan. Yeah. I was Rue. I was a flirt

Lucy  (11:02):

A little flirt.. Just a casual Blanche.

Laura (11:06):

Just a casual Blanche.

Lucy  (11:08):

Great. That's who I had you down as.

Laura (11:11):

You have me down as Blanche? Yeah. I'm on your crew?

Lucy  (11:15):

Yeah. You're part of it. That's right. So that still leaves Rose open though. Who do we think would be a good rose? I think Lily Seabrooke might be a really good Rose.

Laura (11:26):

I can see that.

Lucy  (11:27):

Lily is the kindest, most supportive friend.

Laura (11:31):

I know she's amazing. She'll send me messages and just be like, Hey, wondering how you're doing.

Lucy  (11:37):

Just an endless capacity for kindness.

Laura (11:40):

I know. I wish I had that.

Lucy  (11:41):

Yeah. She's really, really lovely.

Laura (11:44):

This is going to be a great show. I think I'll get on the horn with somebody.

Lucy  (11:48):

Yes. Why don't you set that up? Okay. If we do it for your Patreon, we'll record a pilot.

Laura (11:53):

That's right. Tell me the story of how you and your wife met. And did you woo her with any of your smooth pick up lines?

Lucy  (12:02):

No.. So how we met is I had moved to Boston and generally was just kind of having a hard time. I didn't really know anyone here. And one day I posted on Facebook, something about Boston and the snow we were having. And my friend from high school's mom responded to me and she was like, I didn't know you were in Boston, Stephanie who's my friend from high school is also there. I'm going to set you two up. So my friend's mom from high school set me and my friend Stephanie, up on like a friend date. And it just so happened that Stephanie was in a graduate program with Greta. And one night Stephanie took me as like her guest to a dinner party at Greta's house. And how she described Greta to me as was as a great resource for the LGBTQ community be in Boston.

Lucy  (12:55):

So that paired with the name Greta, I was like, oh, she's probably like 50 or 60, and then I get there and no, not at all. She's the same age as me, which was very shocking. And then also Greta prepared a meal that made me so sick. So, I like can't really eat peppers because they make me really sick and she had made this chili that was just full of peppers. But also I'm Midwestern. So I ate the chili because I was a guest in someones house and then proceeded to get really ill. I actually have no idea how I wooed her. Um, I guess I think I'm just nice to be around. I remember on one of our first dates, she asked me if I wanted to go hiking and because I'm from Michigan to me, hiking is like a nice walk through the woods. Greta took me to the white mountains in New Hampshire. And I remember we were driving there and she was like, did you let someone know where you'll be just in case anything happens and we don't make it back. And I was like, what? Like where would we be going?

Laura (14:06):

That would make me think she was going to kill me.

Lucy  (14:09):

I thought she might.I had an asthma attack on the mountain. I honestly don't know how we made it. Our first couple experiences were just like me getting really sick, me having an asthma attack.

Laura (14:21):

Wow. You could have died.

Lucy  (14:22):

So true. I could have died on a mountain. I should have let someone know where I was going. It's funny though because even now we're still sort of like that. I'm very introverted. I love to read. I'm pretty quiet and Greta can spend all day outside. She'll go to yoga in the morning and then she'll come home and go for a run and then she'll want to take the dog for a hike. And then she wants to go walk around town. And it's I love her, but I'm not doing all of that.

Laura (14:54):

Like I'll leave the house once. Maybe if you're lucky.

Lucy  (14:56):

Yeah. Today I was like, we can walk around downtown. That's what I'm doing.

Laura (15:00):

We're going get in shape. So we're going to start hiking. And I think tomorrow we're going to the driving range, which I'm not great at that. I'm not a golfer per se, but I like this smack the hell out of balls. So I should be fine.

Lucy  (15:13):

Yeah. Who, who doesn't it's an American pastime.

Laura (15:16):

If you had a month to travel the world and I know you don't like to leave the house, so just go with me. Where would you go?

Lucy  (15:22):

Um, I don't like to leave the house. I'd probably go to Rome. I've always really wanted to go to Rome.

Lucy  (15:29):

See, that's a nice place.

Lucy  (15:31):

I'm fascinated with ancient Rome. A book I'm writing. Not, not this one. Not the Howl one, but after that is going to be like two classists. And part of it will take place in Rome hopefully.

Laura (15:46):

Nice.

Lucy  (15:47):

If I can get my act together and go there.

Laura (15:51):

I think you can. I have faith in you.

Lucy  (15:54):

I think I can. I actually lost my passport near the beginning of the pandemic and haven't gotten it replaced. So I've got to do that.

Laura (16:02):

Well, at least it was a good time to lose it.

Lucy  (16:04):

It's true. But we drove to Michigan recently and it's so much faster to go through Canada. Like many I hours faster and I couldn't because I can't cross the border.

Laura (16:16):

You wouldn't be able to get back. You'd be stuck in Canada.

Lucy  (16:18):

Yeah. I thought Greta was maybe going to murder me, but we made it.

Laura (16:23):

Nah, she won't. I mean she hasn't so far.

Lucy  (16:25):

Yeah, she hasn't so far and she's had opportunities.

Laura (16:28):

See, I think you'll be okay. What was first music concert?

Lucy  (16:34):

Oh, Bare Naked Ladies with my entire family.

Laura (16:39):

Oh wow. That's family bonding.

Lucy  (16:41):

It's family bonding. It was at this place that was it's like an outdoor concert venue in Michigan and it's got all of this grass you can sit on and then seats up close. But we just sat on the grass and it was so much fun. I was a huge Bare Naked Ladies fan growing up because my stepdad was a huge Bare Naked Ladies fan.

Laura (17:02):

Nice.

Lucy  (17:02):

Yeah. It was a lot of fun.

Laura (17:04):

Mine was Barbara Mandrell and you probably don't know who that is.

Lucy  (17:07):

I don't who that is.

Laura (17:08):

She's a country singer or she was. It was in the eighties.

Lucy  (17:12):

Nice. We're going to see Lucinda Williams this summer.

Laura (17:16):

Oh very classy.

Lucy  (17:17):

I love Lucinda Williams.

Laura (17:20):

Nice. We were gonna go see Colbie Caillat

Lucy  (17:22):

Oh

Laura (17:22):

Yeah. But then it got, postponed and I had front row seats. I got them for, my partner for Christmas.

Lucy  (17:29):

Oh no.

Laura (17:30):

I know I was so proud of myself. I don't know if they're going to reschedule it, but I still get the points for thoughtful gifts.

Lucy  (17:38):

You did it though. You still did it.

Laura (17:41):

I shelled it out. Big, big cash man.

Lucy  (17:43):

Big cash. So, so much cash. You can't even imagine.

Laura (17:46):

Yeah, I can't even talk about it on the air.

Lucy  (17:48):

Basically like a million dollars

Laura (17:50):

Basically. Who are your favorite lesfic couples from other authors books.

Lucy  (17:56):

Ooh, good question. I'm so impressed with your questions.

Laura (18:02):

Thank you. I wrote them myself.

Lucy  (18:04):

Yeah, you did. You didn't outsource this?

Laura (18:06):

No I didn't.

Lucy  (18:07):

Okay. So Val and Jenn from Chef's Kiss by Stephanie Shea.

Lucy  (18:11):

Yes.

Lucy  (18:14):

I don't usually get like crushes on characters. Like I love reading lesfic books. I love the character development. I enjoy the sex scenes, but I don't usually get crushes on anyone. I have such a crush on Jenn Coleman.

Laura  (18:29):

Same,

Lucy  (18:30):

But it is an oversize crush.

Laura  (18:33):

Same. And I I'll tell Steph that too. I'll be like, oh my God Love her.

Lucy  (18:36):

Yeah. I'm actually kind of in love with her. I'm like, is she in San Francisco? Could we find out?

Laura  (18:42):

Yeah. Is she based on a real life person that, we could make our woman .

Lucy  (18:47):

Yeah. Steph has not confirmed any of this me, but it would be good to know. So yes, Jen and Val, but mostly for Jen if we're being honest. And then I really liked Margo and Liv In Count Your Lucky Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur.  Yeah. I just think that they were both  surprisingly, emotionally mature. And that's one of the things I really love about her books is I think characters sort of come to these points and they have the chance to either be emotionally mature or very immature. And she almost always picks emotionally mature in a way that's surprising and  really comforting. And I love that dynamic with Margo and Liv and also their chemistry was really good. Really good.  She's very good at that as a writer. It's impressive. And she's very funny too. She does a really good job, balancing  character development humor and  really steamy scenes.

Laura(19:52):

Yeah. Just like you.

Lucy  (19:53):

Oh my gosh. I mean, I don't feel that way, but thank you. Yeah. It's like, I know what's happening. So nothing's surprising to me.

Laura  (20:01):

Thanks for joining me today, Lucy, it's been a lot of fun and I look forward to our next chat.

Lucy  (20:05):

 Me too. Thanks so much.

Laura  (20:07):

Thanks for listening. And thanks again to Lucy for joining me today. For links to purchase books, visit Lucy bexley.com and you can follow her on Twitter at Bexley_ Lucy. Here's a preview of our Would You Rather game available to my Patreon subscribers at  Sapphic Book Review is creating Bonus fun with lesfic authors | Patreon until next time happy reading. Would you rather have to high five strangers uou pass on the street or hug everyone in the grocery store?

Lucy  (20:35):

Oh, hi five strangers on the street.  Our dog passed away and then we got this new dog and everyone stops me anyway because she is very cute. So I'm already talking to everyone on the street. So I would just high five them.

Laura  (20:52):

I think I would hug people Just for the sheer shock of seeing what they would do when I just started hugging them.

Lucy  (20:56):

Yeah.

Laura  (20:57):

I mean, granted, if they're dirty, I'm not gonna hug them. Or if they look sketchy, like they've got bodies in the basement, not hugging those people, but like old, the old ladies I hug

Lucy  (21:07):

Him. Yeah. I mean, I do think this is maybe like a cultural difference too, because I could see myself hugging people in a grocery store in Michigan. I think if I tried it in Boston. Yeah. It might not go very well. I only survived the one trip to the grocery store.

Laura(21:23):

But you think if we were in the grocery store and Jenn Coleman was there, you'd hug her.

Lucy  (21:26):

Oh, I'd hug her. I'd actually, um, I'd do a Val move where I just like trip into her and she has to catch me.

Laura  (21:33):

Nice. Very smooth.

Lucy  (21:36):

Yeah. It would be 

Laura  (21:36):

 Would you rather be known for your intelligence or your good looks?

Lucy  (21:41):

Uh, my intelligence. I think

Laura  (21:43):

I'm shallow. I’d go with good look. 

Lucy  (21:46):

preferably it would be both. Hopefully people are already admiring both of these things. No, I'm just kidding. Um, yeah. I think, I intelligence though, which is probably why I'm a writer. So people are just reading my words and not looking at me.

Laura (22:07):

Yeah. I don't write anything so I want be shallow and I want people to say she's almost 50. She's all right.

Lucy  (22:15):

Yeah. I mean, they will say that when they watch our pilot episode of The Golden Girls.