...But you look so normal?

Not too long ago I was at a friend's framing shop. I had stopped in to say hello and catch up, but seeing as she was busy, I told her I would come back another time. Needless to say, she asked me to stay, saying she'd only be a minute finishing up with a client that had come in from New York City to have some custom work done.

We all got chatting, and my friend mentioned that I was an author, and had been successful with recent book signings at a few local Barnes & Nobles. The look on the client's face was nothing short of incredulous. It wasn't because she had read my work and couldn't believe I had scored book signings at such a big chain, nor was it because I was a small pubbed author...it was because she couldn't believe I was an author at all. And her reason?

"But you look SO normal!

She simply couldn't wrap her head around the idea that someone with talent could walk around without being pierced, tattooed, or sporting mutli-colored neon hair.

"That's certainly not what we see walking around the city?" she said staring at me like I was some sort of anomoly. I half expected her to turn me round and ask me to open my mouth so she could examine my teeth.

I politely told her that while those things may very well be the "costume de rigueur" of people who consider themselves creative, true creativity lies in how one dresses the mind, not the body. And while fashion choices may be an outward show of a creative mind, it certainly ISN'T a pre-requisite for one.

Now I'm no stranger to the stranger types...I hold an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and have my fair share of friends who choose to dress as such, but that doesn't automatically make them more creative or talented than anyone else. Sadly, in my opinion, it almost makes them cliché, a stereotype of just the thing they are trying to rage against.

For Romance Writer's the stereotype is even sadder. When most people think of us, it's usually the image of a lonely woman sitting in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, conjuring lovers and adventure in her imagination. In other words, one step away from being the neighborhood cat lady. If that description just made you go "eeewww", then you get it. Thankfully, for most of us that image is far from accurate, and the same goes for the people who read our work.

On one of the Amazon forums, a woman once described what we write as 'white noise', what she reads to dumb down her mind after a busy day. While I don't mind the idea of our genre being escapist, I do mind the stereotype that it's somehow less than, and to say that it's something one reads to "dumb down a mind' is insulting to those of us who work so hard at our craft.

Stereotypes are hurtful and wrong... especially when they bleed into your personal space.

Marianne Morea

Do You Peek?

My daughter is eleven and is VERY engrossed in Christmas this year. She loves to wrap gifts, so has done everything but her own, and each time she adds another under the tree she admonishes us, "Don't peek!"

I've never really had any desire to peek at my gifts ... it ruins that surprise on Christmas morning. I like to fondle the present a bit when it's handed to me, turn it over in my hands, listen to the sounds it makes and spend some time wondering what it could be. Then, once I've had that foreplay, I slowly peel back the layers and find out what it contains.

Peeking would ruin my joy.

Surprisingly, this doesn't extend to reading for me. You see, I'm one of THOSE people... you know the kind: the ones who frequently read the ending of a book first.

I can't help myself. I was horribly traumatized at an early age when I read "Where the Red Fern Grows". That book utterly destroyed me. I cried about it for days. I know, I know, I suppose it's the mark of a good book that I cared so deeply about the characters (even if, in this case, they were dogs), but it didn't matter -- from that moment I swore to never read another sad book.

Since I slowly eased my way into reading romance, I never really worried about the endings. I mean, it should be a foregone conclusion, right?


So, off I went on my merry way, reading romances and finishing every book with a smile. More than a decade ago, however, I heard about this amazing romance novelist who was A MAN. His books were 'must reads' and of course, I had to join into the lemmings running off the edge.

I read "Message in a Bottle" by Nicholas Sparks.

You're all nodding your heads now, aren't you... you KNOW what happened to me. Once again, my heart was ripped from my chest. NONONONONONONO..... one of the protagonists should NOT die in a romance! NEVER.

And I remade that vow from seasons past.

Now? If I'm not reading a category romance, I read the end first. Usually I only read the last line or two -- I have to know if the H/H are both still alive and whether they are together. That's all. I don't care about the rest of it -- that's the journey I read the books for. But I expect a payoff, and now I make sure I get it.

I peek.

What about you? Peeker or not? Why?

See how determined I am about the HEA by checking out the tagline on my website.