Where Normal Need Not Apply
Thanks for stopping by!
Welcome! Readers make all the work worthwhile, so I’m glad you’re here!
Here’s a collection of posts from my blog you might find interesting. These include news about my book releases and contests, as well as some fun stuff about me and my thoughts about the romance genre, books, and reading in general.
Many readers want to read and support “own voices” stories, where authors share a marginalized trait with their protagonist, but authors can be uncomfortable with the label due to judgment or privacy concerns. Bran L. Ayres shares their tips for avoiding problems.
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Many authors try to create a sense of friendship and connection to their readers. But some “authors” aren’t authors at all—they’re marketing people using ghostwriters and fake personas to trick readers into forming those connections.
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I’m proud to write romance, so it’s no surprise that the #MeToo movement has prompted a lot of thoughts in me about the role of the romance genre in women’s lives.
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Science can be influenced by societal assumptions, so we certainly can’t keep “social ideas” out of our fiction. Our preferences, biases, beliefs, assumptions, etc. affect everything—whether we recognize them or not.
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There’s no right or wrong answer for how to depict intimacy in our writing—only what’s right for our story. The “right” amount can depend on our genre, our characters, their situation, their emotional journey, and our target audience.
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About a year ago, I talked about what we should do for our author website. I’d recommended adding bonus content for our readers, and I finally followed my own advice. *smile*
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It’s that time of year again. My seven-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th. And I’m once again amazed by the fact that I’ve been writing this blog for seven years. How can something feel like yesterday and forever at the same time?
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What makes a “strong female character”? We can struggle to define them because we see so few successful portrayals of such characters—especially in movies. Luckily, Diana Prince in Wonder Woman is a wonderful (ha!) example, so let’s break down her strengths so we can push for more characters like her in our stories.
Yesterday marked the release of my fifth book, Stone-Cold Heart. Even though I didn’t do anything special, that was a mistake. We should take the time to celebrate our victories, no matter what they are or where we find them.
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Certain types of reading are sometimes valued more than others. One descriptive term that’s often used as a put-down for genre stories is escapism, but is romance or any other genre story really “escapism”? What does that mean? Is escapism a “bad” thing, and if so, why?
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