Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Guest Author - Faye Hughes

Winner! Winner!

The winner of the autographed copy of Wild, Wicked & Wanton that Faye Hughes gave away is . . . Abigail Beat. Abigail, please contact me through my website - http://www.Christie-Craig.com - and give me your mailing address.

Thanks again to Faye for blogging this week!

CC

Hi, everyone,

I'm in Alabama this week visiting my daddy, so I asked my non-fiction writing partner Faye Hughes to step in and blog for me.

She's giving away a copy of our book Wild, Wicked and Wanton: 101 Ways to Love Like You're in a Romance Novel, so make sure you leave a comment. And I'll be back next week!

CC

* * * *

Thanks, Christie! A couple of years ago, Christie and I did a series of blogs entitled "Why Can't Life Be Like a Romance Novel" and I've pulled out one of mine that I'd like to share. Hope you enjoy!

Why Can’t Life Be Like a Romance Novel?

I have a confession to make.


It’s nothing dramatic, so don’t get too excited, but it is kind of telling about me as a person. So here it goes: When I was younger, I used to be ashamed to tell people I read romance novels. Now, I’ll admit that when I was in my twenties, I was all about impressing other people. Maybe that’s why I shoved those dog-eared paperbacks under the sofa cushions whenever anyone came over to visit. Maybe that’s also why I made sure I sprinkled my conversations with lots of references to Faulkner and Wilde. (The dead author I chose depended on who was visiting, naturally.) But all that changed when I hit my thirties.


That’s when I got serious about my writing and actually wrote a book and got it published. And guess what. It was a romance novel.


Only I never used the words, “romance novel” when I described my work to other people. Nope. I wrote fiction, damn it. When pressed to describe the kind of fiction I wrote, I mumble something about women’s fiction. Or, my personal favorite here, light-hearted escapist fiction for a female demographic. The thing is, I called it anything but what it was. Namely, romance.


Now, did I mention that I was an idiot when I was a lot younger?


Yeah, well, I was, or how else can I explain all those bad relationship choices? And now? Well, now I’m a few years older and I like to think, a whole lot wiser. Now,I can admit it. I read romance novels. Wanna know what else? I also write romance novels. And—oh, this is probably the best part—I’m here to tell you that a woman can learn a hell of a lot from reading a romance novel, too.


Five Things I’ve Learned From Reading Romance Novels:

  1. Never go to the basement/attic/cemetery/abandoned warehouse after midnight. Trust me. Bad things happen to stupid people who break this rule.
  2. Be very careful about foolish declarations that begin with “I will never…” Again, trust me on this one. When romance heroines make those “I will never . . .” statements in Chapter 1, it’s guaranteed she’ll end up eating those words over in Chapter 10.
  3. If you get locked out of your hotel room with nothing on but a towel, it’s a given you’ll meet a hot guy. Okay, I actually know women who do this sort of thing just so they can meet hot guys!
  4. If you suddenly find yourself becoming the object of desire by a lot of really hot guys—and that isn’t the kind of thing that usually happens to you—you’ve probably just inherited a fortune. That means it wasn’t that new perfume you picked up at Neiman-Marcus.
  5. No matter how hopeless things may appear, you have to keep believing in that happy ending. Okay, fine. Call me an idealist. It’s okay—I learned that from reading romance novels, tool.

Faye


12 comments:

krisgils33 said...

cute post. we can all learn a lesson or two from romance novels! my husband still makes fun of me for reading romance novels (yeah, his sports figures books are sooooo much better). here's what I've learned...I really don't care!!!

Zita said...

Those 5 things you learned...excellent! Thanks for sharing :-)

catslady said...

I especially liked #2. The only person who gives me a hard time about reading romance novels is my daughter (26). She's a book snob lol. I read everything. But there's just times when you don't want to read Faulkner or Wilde lol. I keep trying to sway her - after all, she is going to inherit a couple thousand books lol.

Abigail Beal said...

I laughed especially at the towel one (3#). It does seem that everytime the heroine of a book or movie gets locked out in that towel - she runs straight into that cute guy! Great topic all of them, very funny. :) Abigail

Anonymous said...

Hi, krisgils33,

I love your response to your hubby's comments. lol.

Thanks for dropping by!

Faye

Anonymous said...

Hi, Zita,

Thanks!

And thanks for dropping by.

Faye

Anonymous said...

Hi, catslady,

Ah, book snobs. Honestly, if we changed the covers to something that looked more literary than genre, they'd probably enjoy a good romance, or mystery.

Thanks for dropping by!

Faye

Anonymous said...

Hi, Abigail,

Isn't it funny how that towel scene always pops up? lol.

Thanks for dropping by!

Faye

Unknown said...

Excellent post, Faye.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Francyne!

And thanks for dropping by.

Faye

traveler said...

I enjoyed your excellent post. Most women I see at the gym or at the pool read romance and I wonder why. thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi, traveler,

Yep. There are a lot more to romance novels than most people realize.

Thanks for dropping by!

Faye