Happy Ending Please

I was having lunch with friends today and the subject of movies and books came up. We all agreed we wanted a happy ending—in a romance that is, though I suppose we’d take one in real life too. This isn’t a surprise considering we all write romance but I’m sure we aren’t alone. So why is it that now a days we have to watch and read everything (including romances) with one eye closed, waiting for the ball to drop, or the gunshot to explode or the cancer to hit? Why can’t our heroes and heroines have their happily ever after?

Have you seen the promos for Nicholas Sparks’ latest movie The Longest Ride? It looks right up my alley—hot cowboy type, cute girl, guaranteed romance. Yes please. And yet I haven’t watched it because I don’t know who’s going to get the ax. I’m sure it is coming because in far too many of Mr. Sparks’ works he’s reluctant to give his couples a happy ending. My theory is that if they get to walk off into the sunset in one piece he’s written an honest to God romance and men don’t do that. In fact, most mainstream creatives don’t do that.

If we spend a good chunk of our lives pursuing and then maintaining love, why is it that watching and reading romances so shameful? Why can’t Nicholas Sparks be a true romance author and be proud? Why not give us romantics the happily ever after we crave? I read romance because I adore watching couples fall in love and create lives together. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Happy Birthday Clueless, Dammit!

I don’t have any children, so I have the luxury of not having daily reminders that the sands of time are sliding by me. When I do get reminders, it can be very jarring. I can firmly remember the first time pop culture made me feel old. It was over ten years ago and I was working at a middle school. Walking down the hallway one day I overheard a conversation about Wham. I’d smiled to myself listening to the girls talk about a group I loved, until I heard a girl refer to them as an old group from the 80’s. Old group, what! Wham was the bomb and very relevant. And then I realized that they hadn’t had a hit in a couple decades. Ouch. Damn pop culture, reminding me of my mortality.

I felt it again today. Innocently perusing the net, I stumbled on an anniversary story. The movie Clueless turned twenty this weekend. Yikes! Dionne and Cher can’t possibly be twenty years older. Because if they are that means I’m 4…. Well, I’m certainly older than 40. I loved Clueless back in the day and will stop and watch a scene or two (or the whole movie) when I catch it on tv. Knowing all of the crazy fashion and catch phrases are twenty definitely makes me feel past my prime. Ouch again. I suppose I need to remind myself that age is all in one’s head or even remind myself that aging is a good thing—the alternative is not something I want to experience any time soon. Hmm, maybe I need to rent Clueless for old time’s sake. And who knows, I might just have to mosey over to YouTube and catch a Wham video J

Crushing

 

Amanda Peterson’s tragic passing has oddly brought back fond memories for me. In the last week stars have been tweeting about how she was their first crush and reminiscing about their younger days. I too gazed at Can’t Buy Me Love with stars in my eyes. My heart didn’t beat faster for Amanda, though she was certainly a cute girl. Oh no, I only had eyes for Patrick Dempsey. That’s right, I loved McDreamy long before he ever set foot in Seattle Grace. His dark curly hair, bird chest and all around nerdiness made my heart go pitter pat.  I even insisted my mother take me to Can’t Buy Me Love on opening weekend just so I could get my fill of Patrick.

He wasn’t my first crush though, no that title belongs to Robby Benson—remember him? Well, I do and just thinking about him still makes me feel squiggly inside. Remembering his awe-shucks smile is all I need to be thrown back into my younger days. And that’s what crushes of yesteryear do, they make us feel young again.  I was sad to learn of Amanda’s death, she died far too young. But in my mind she’ll always be young, beautiful  and somebody’s crush.

 

Yippee

My brother sent me a link to this video when he learned marriage had been granted to gays. He said that marriage equality reminded him of this song. His gesture quite touched me. Happy marriage equality everyone! Oh and the 80's rock!

Vacation from Vacation

After reading a few entries of this blog you’ve probably picked up on the love theme. Authors, actors, shows, I’ve even discussed what I love about romance novels.  This week I’m writing a little more of the same, with a twist. This week my adoration is focused on vacation. There is almost nothing in this world I love more than vacation, particularly summer vacation. The sun is shining, breezes are warm and I don’t have to be anywhere for two months. Let me tell you, there is nothing more seductive than knowing that you don’t have to do anything or go anywhere or see anyone (unless you want to) for eight weeks. Can you tell I’m an introvert?

Vacation is rejuvenating, and relaxing and full of adventure all at once. During my vacations I get to see friends and family, stay up as late as I want, sleep in, sit on my couch for hours (I kid you not) and do whatever the hell I want. I usually have goals I want to meet during each summer, and many times they fall by the wayside (the seduction of lazing the day away can be hardcore). Here I am ten days into my vacation and I haven’t  written a word (this blog post not included). Not that I didn’t have good intentions. I took my honey to a romantic cabin in the woods to celebrate her birthday and I brought my Alpha Smart with me. Yeah, I didn’t even open the bag I had put it in until the second to last day we were there, and then only because I had to find a power chord. I kept telling myself I have plenty of time, I had a rough year and deserve a break, there are plenty of days left. Say the phrases enough times and they can sound very reasonable.

Heck, I even contemplated bailing on this blog post because it is a reminder that I should be producing pages. And then it happened. I was surfing Amazon looking for another book I don’t need to read, when I decided to read the author bio. The book was a Rita Finalist and I was curious about who wrote it. The author, it turns out has written several seemingly successful books (hence almost getting the Rita) and I was impressed. But what stopped me cold in my tracks was learning that the she started writing after taking a short story class in January of 2012. Yup, 3.5 years ago this chick was taking writing classes and now, well now she’s certainly more successful than me. And I realized she didn’t earn that success by avoiding writing her stories. So vacation for me is over or at least the carefree I don’t have to do jack part of vacation. From here on out I need to be producing pages so that soon some writer can read my bio on Amazon, or Goodreads or somewhere else and get inspired to put her butt in the chair and write. As always, wish me luck!

Wedding Love

Weddings, I love weddings. I always have. Again, not surprising since I’m a romance writer. I think I love them so much because they are a part of my childhood. My mother had a beautiful voice and was often asked to sing at folks’ weddings. She didn’t want to go by herself and so I kept her company as her plus one. When I was young, watching brides and grooms pledge their love for each other was nice, but not the main event for me. It would take my teenage years for me to actually appreciate the ceremony. Back then, I had different priorities. Mainly, the cake. My mom would usually hang around for the meal but had little desire to stay for the whole reception. And yet I insisted that we stay long enough to watch the couple cut the cake, and for me to sample it.  Even then I knew what was important in life J

I still adore wedding cake, and won’t leave an affair without having a piece. Heck, even bad wedding cake is still pretty good. Now in my mature years, my favorite part of the wedding is the dress. I’m obsessed with wedding dresses. My favorite television show is Say Yes to the Dress. When the show aired for the first time, I said to myself ‘finally they figured out what people really care about’. Now every Friday (and some weekends if there’s a marathon) I get to indulge in my favorite past time, drooling over wedding dresses. Tulle, lace, taffeta, sweetheart necklines, oh the sight of them makes my heart flutter. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a woman choose an amazing dress.

My college roommate’s wedding was this weekend. Guess what I obsessed about? Yup, the dress. Okay, I was a little obsessed about the food too—my friend knows how to throw a party. Full disclosure, three weeks before the wedding my former roomie enlisted her friends’ help to find what looked like from the picture she sent a blue tutu and white tank top. I was petrified she wouldn’t find anything she liked in time and then I was petrified the vision in her head would not work in real life. I worried for naught. What was a blue tutu and tank top in the picture she sent became a light blue tulle skirt and sleeveless blouse with a cowl neck. It fit my friend’s personality to a tee while being fun, elegant and beautiful. Even though I didn’t get a chance to see her walk down the aisle in a traditional white gown, she looked fabulous. Wedding dresses, it seems, can be amazing even when they aren’t dresses.

Oh and her cake was pretty awesome too!

Falling Off the Wagon

“I’ve got friends in low places…” okay, the falling off the wagon referenced in this week’s blog title isn’t about alcohol or drugs. I’ve fallen off the New Year’s resolution wagon. And I’m not even counting my weight loss resolution. No, I’m talking about my romance reading goals.

I started with such great intentions, no buying any more books until I finished all of the unread ones on my Kindle. They were piling up like crazy and truly driving me crazy thinking them. For the sake of my sanity, I had to reduce their ranks. It was definitely an ambitious goal (you do remember The Craving right?) but then I got realistic and immediately amended the goal so free books didn’t count.

 Well, I did pretty well. I didn’t break my word until last week—kinda. Actually, the wheels started falling off my resolution pretty early. In January I bought a paperback. The book was almost twenty years old and I got in a half price bookstore while on vacation. What am I, a saint? So that didn’t count. Amazon Prime kept reminding me of my monthly free books and in the grips of the The Craving, I picked up a few books. Hey, I didn’t buy them, so that was okay. But the guilt set in, and the books weren’t that great, so back to Amazon they went. I promised myself no more Prime slipping. Two months ago I convinced myself library books weren’t cheating. Bad idea. And of course, I needed to support my friends, so I bought five of their books a month ago. Oy. Last week I finally cracked, really cracked. It was only 99 cents, practically free. But that slip led to me buying a paperback of a favorite author. It had been a rough week and the book had been on my wish list for weeks—don’t judgeJ But, I’m sliding down a slippery slope, so I’ve decided to put the brakes back on. I’m almost at goal, just seven more books to go. I just need to hold on a little longer, read a little faster and stop opening those damn Book Bub offers!

So how are your New Year’s resolution’s coming along? I hope better than mine. If not, it isn’t too late to recommit, 2015 is still young.