Getting to the Heart of Romance...

As most of you know, I write romance. I also blog about romance and the need for more of it in our lives. As I've said many times, romance helps in so many ways.If you're married, you need sprinkles of romance in every aspect of that marriage. If you're in a relationship and it's leaning toward love, well you need romance. It just helps out with even the most tense moment. I've read hundreds, dare I say thousands of romance novels. Sometimes I have to laugh at the lengths a writer will go to when trying to tickle a readers ears. I know all about those lengths. I do it everyday in my writing. Are we giving people false hope? I don't think so, but I recently read an article on just that. The writer talked about teen girls today expecting to find that one man that will give them the romance and life they've read about in novels. She talked about having a trend of romance novels that actually talked of real life interactions. This made me think about my writing. Could a romance novel written from real life interactions make difference? Would the couple waking up with morning breath, totally avoiding one another until they've freshened said breath make a difference? What about those unglamorous moments when you have no make up on and your hair is scraggly? Do you write about that? Will it sell or will people laugh you right out of business? If you take a long look at your own life, how many times have you had a muscled man rescue you and sweep you away to a beautiful location to propose and give you a huge diamond ring, then kiss you into oblivion? Really, how many times? What about a virile cowboy sweeping you off your feet and taking you away into the sunset on his horse? I know, I'm being a little far fetched, but let's get to the heart of real romance. In real life it's the simple things. Maybe it's a flower picked from the yard, a card to say I'm sorry, maybe it's just a loaded dishwasher after a long day of work, but let's get real about romance. For me it's that look across the dinner table or simply a quick kiss as he passes me in the kitchen as I fix dinner. But in order to sell books, sometimes we have to go beyond the simple and blow the romance up to a higher level. But that's what sells books, so we'll continue to do it. I can say that I haven't heard of anyone being swept off their feet by a sexy vampire or shifter. But it makes for fascinating reading. As always good writing, and May God Bless You...

Exploring Your Heart...

I'm a hopeless romantic and if you haven't gotten that through my blogs where have you been? In my writing I express the romance and love that's in my heart. I hurt when my characters hurt and laugh when they laugh, of course my son thinks I've lost my mind much of the time. I'll just laugh out as I'm writing. He just looks at me and shakes his head. Oh well, I have to be a little crazy to be an artist, right. Since I've been working on my Christmas romance I've experienced many feelings. I've been angry, happy, sad, mournful, cold, and then excited. This book runs the whole lot of feelings. I've tried to carry my reader into a new world. Hopefully one that they will want to explore further with the second book. Whoops did I just give away a secret? Yes I did. Well the cats out of the bag, There will be a book two for The Alpine Romance. It's funny how it just hits you when something needs to be carried to another plateau. I've also been working on finishing book two in the "Lean On Him" Christian series. This one has to be visited in spurts. The book has taken a toll on me emotionally. A couple of months ago I put an excerpt on Avon Romance submission pages and a kind lady came in to tell me how emotional that scene made her. It brought a smile to my face. My editor read the first chapter and when she turned to me she had tears in her eyes. Yep, it's going to be a emotional romance. I just hope it inspires my readers to find romance and hold on to it, because you never know when it will slip away. Sometimes we lose the love of our life, but there's always the chance to find love again, you just have to open your heart. So to me, writing romance explores your own heart. Can you write romance if you don't believe in it? I really don't think so. I think you have to believe with all your heart that romance is real and that love can be found in the oddest places. Every book I've written has taken a different angle of love. Maybe it's the love lost, then found again, or new love found, but held away by force. Whatever the way, the love always shines through. That's what makes romance one of the top genres right now. We all need something to hope for, to wish for, and to know it exists if only in fiction. My challenge to you is this. Explore your heart to find the part of it that expresses how you feel. Pull on it until you're just drained and then you're ready to pour it out in fiction. Some days when I close my laptop I'm exhausted, but content. I've explored the many emotions of my characters and made it through. That's what draws in the reader, the pull of your heart to theirs. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...

Living my dreams through writing

If you're a writer you know where I'm going with this. As a young, starry eyed, very impressionable, soft hearted, dare I go on, teenager I started reading romance novels. As I picked up the first one I opened it with excitement. This was a new era for me. I could smell the new paperback smell, which of course is Heavenly. The book drew me in and pulled out the romantic in me. After that I was hooked on romance. This started my desire to be a romance writer. I'd sit for hours writing, that's handwritting for those that don't remember that, many manuscripts. I kept most of my old manuscripts. Of course now they're old and yellowed now, but I still pull them out and read them now and then. Actually a couple of my books started from those old teenage dreamy romance manuscripts. Of course I had to do some changes to get them a little more up to date. Through my writing I can live out childhood dreams. I've always loved horses. If you've read any of my books you will usually read about a horse or two. I have to say it's helped with my desire to own a horse. I get to own them in my writing, even have a horse ranch in my writing. Sound crazy, hardly, just writing from the heart. Then there's my dream of traveling to Switzerland. I've had that dream for as long as I can remember. When I was in school I actually did a report on Switzerland. I even went as far as writing to the Swiss travel center and they sent me a whole package of information. I still have that package. In my newest book, Open The Heart - A Alpine Christmas Romance, I travel to Switzerland. I've enjoyed researching every aspect of it. It's been my Christmas present to myself to revisit my dream through my writing. It comes out this weekend and I hope you will check it out. What are your dreams? Do you work on making them come true or do you write out your dreams? Sometimes your dreams can inspire you in many ways. Mine inspire me to write. Writing from the heart is the best kind. It shows your true colors and your true heart. So as the Christmas Season gets into full swing do something from your heart. Make a dream come true for either yourself or someone you love. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...