Hi all!
Sorry for posting my blog entry late. I’ve been running behind since returning from the Romance Writers of America conference back in July. The conference was wonderful – DC and the hotel beautiful! I gave a workshop with Kathleen Scheibling, the senior editor for Harlequin American. While I thought our presentation was going well, the fire alarm went off, and we had to evacuate. There were many theories floating around about why it went off – fire in the kitchen, bomb threat, water leaking from a sprinkler somewhere – but I wonder if it wasn’t because of how I ramble when I’m nervous. I kept teasing a friend who attended our workshop that she pulled it to put me out of my misery or her out of hers...
However, the Q & A portion of the workshop continued as we walked down the eight flights of stairs to the street and up a steep hill to the lobby entrance, so at least some of the attendants were interested in what we had to say about writing mini-series within series. So, although cut short, I guess it had gone well.
I have substantially more nerves about a speech I’m giving this Thursday at a women’s literary club. After booking me to speak over a year ago, they’ve almost cancelled me because some of their members strongly object to what I write. How can anyone object to romance? To happy endings? I know – it was probably more the sex to which they objected. But since they booked me following a newspaper article that had dubbed me the “Steam Queen” I thought they understood what I write.
So my plan is to let them know how popular romance fiction is – the most popular of any other genre of fiction – and that I write for the biggest publisher of romance – a company now celebrating its 60th anniversary. I have facts and figures, graphs and pie charts, but I’m wondering if that’s the best approach. Especially since I don’t want another fire alarm pulled on me – or worse! Maybe I need to share with them why readers love romance books as much as we do. I can tell them why I read – as well as write romance – but please share with me your reason for reading romance. I’d love statements from people all over the world.
Thank you for your help!
Lisa Childs
Sunday, August 09, 2009
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6 comments:
Hello Lisa,
I read romances to escape to new and exciting places. I get to tour the world in the privacy of my own home. I also get to meet some truly amazing characters. You even learn new ways of dealing with situations through reading. You can even learn history, psychology, police procedures and whole number of other things depending on the authors realm of expertise. I hope I have given you some reasons. Have a great day.
I read and write romance to experience falling in love all over again. I've been married 22 1/2 years, so the initial thrill has fallen into the comfort zone. I kind of miss the thrill and the what-if. In romance, you always know it will end up happily, something you don't always get in real life ;)
Good luck!
So many reasons, so little time....
I enjoy being whisked away to a fantasy world far removed from "real life" to me, yet I enjoy the "realism" of the stories; go figure!
I enjoy how they can keep me glued, sitting on the edge of my seat; and yet I enjoy how peaceful I feel when I finish a book that has a happy ending (as I found one years ago that DID NOT have a happy ending). Peaceful works for me, especially at bedtime, so I try to read the majority of a book in the daytime hours and set aside the "finale" till bedtime. I drift off immediately, while "pretending" that I was actually the heroine in the book, etc. I've got to have my fantasies, ya know!
I enjoy learning about new places, jobs, etc.
I enjoy the quirks of the characters, yet the "everyday-ness" of the characters.
I appreciate that some books only take about 1.5 hours to read while others take perhaps 2.5 hours to read. I try not to read longer books, as I don't like a book lasting days and days and days on end.
Hope this helps.
I read romances because I enjoy happy endings and to escape to new and exiting places.
Thanks for the great comments! I have to have that guarantee of a happy ending, too. I think there's more than enough negativity in the world -- romances are so positive and uplifting! I also love sharing the emotions and thrills of falling in love with the characters -- whether ones I've written or the ones I'm reading about.
Lisa, Since it's a women's club, you should mention the variety of jobs depicting heroines in strong roles. You should mention the empowerment of women in these books. These people have the wrong idea of what a Romance is. They've definitely judged our books by their covers and listened to too many jokes at our expense. Or they haven't read a Romance since the olden days when women were doormats. Good luck and I hope they don't give you a hard time.
Please give us an update on how it went. And I'd love to know if you're going to post your speech from Nat'l on a blog (or here) some time. I was looking forward to it on audio since I was at lunch during your talk. Never heard the fire alarm. eeks
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