Hello, Dr. Freud
Why would a supposedly intelligent group of women start blogging without any explanation of who they are?
This intelligent group of women, I mean.
I don't think we need the good doctor to help us figure it out. I think the reason is painfully obvious. We're the kind of women who say, 'Let's do that' (whatever 'that' is) and just go ahead and do it. Ergo, this blog and, ergo, no introductions.
So, here's who I am.
I'm a woman. (I know, I know, but I figured I'd start at the beginning.) I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother to two gorgeous, brilliant, adorable babies who are leaving babyhood behind at a breathtaking pace. One is about to turn three. One's about to turn five and--gasp--starts kindergarden this September. I am an avid if not very good gardener, an amateur but dedicated bird watcher and, always, a student of wildlife. I cook when I must and sometimes even enjoy it, read all the time, hike a little, knit a little, travel as much as possible.
What I have always been is a writer.
I wrote fairy tales as a little girl, poetry as a teen-ager, short stories so deep and dark nobody could understand them when I was in college and then, via a long and circuitous route, I realized that I wanted to write romance fiction.
My only problem? I'd never read any. Well, yes. I'd read Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre. Rebecca. I didn't know those book were romance fiction. I just thought of them as wonderful stories.
My determination to write romance fiction grew out of an article I read in a popular magazine. The more I read, the more I realized this genre suited me. So I began to write a romance novel. I wrote and wrote. Wrote and wrote some more. Tore up what I'd written and re-wrote it and, finally, sent it out into the world.
And Harlequin Presents bought it.
How I wish there were a way to add fireworks and sparklers here! Take my word for it. I was incredibly excited.
Fast-forward 20 years. I'm writing my 60-something Presents. I've written other things--novellas, short stories, what we call single title novels, but Presents is my true love, perhaps because I love writing stories about passionate, exciting men and women. I have readers literally all around the world. I've made writer friends who are as close to me as sisters. And hardly a day goes by that I don't pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming... except for those days (All writers have them, don't they? Please, please, we all have those days, right?) I sit at the computer and wait for Something To Happen.
As for knitting... I explained, in an earlier post, that I'm just returning to knitting after a long, long, very long hiatus. Well, the news on that front is that I've gone from furrowing my brow as I count stitches to loving the feel of the yarn under my fingers.
Now, that's progress.
This intelligent group of women, I mean.
I don't think we need the good doctor to help us figure it out. I think the reason is painfully obvious. We're the kind of women who say, 'Let's do that' (whatever 'that' is) and just go ahead and do it. Ergo, this blog and, ergo, no introductions.
So, here's who I am.
I'm a woman. (I know, I know, but I figured I'd start at the beginning.) I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother to two gorgeous, brilliant, adorable babies who are leaving babyhood behind at a breathtaking pace. One is about to turn three. One's about to turn five and--gasp--starts kindergarden this September. I am an avid if not very good gardener, an amateur but dedicated bird watcher and, always, a student of wildlife. I cook when I must and sometimes even enjoy it, read all the time, hike a little, knit a little, travel as much as possible.
What I have always been is a writer.
I wrote fairy tales as a little girl, poetry as a teen-ager, short stories so deep and dark nobody could understand them when I was in college and then, via a long and circuitous route, I realized that I wanted to write romance fiction.
My only problem? I'd never read any. Well, yes. I'd read Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre. Rebecca. I didn't know those book were romance fiction. I just thought of them as wonderful stories.
My determination to write romance fiction grew out of an article I read in a popular magazine. The more I read, the more I realized this genre suited me. So I began to write a romance novel. I wrote and wrote. Wrote and wrote some more. Tore up what I'd written and re-wrote it and, finally, sent it out into the world.
And Harlequin Presents bought it.
How I wish there were a way to add fireworks and sparklers here! Take my word for it. I was incredibly excited.
Fast-forward 20 years. I'm writing my 60-something Presents. I've written other things--novellas, short stories, what we call single title novels, but Presents is my true love, perhaps because I love writing stories about passionate, exciting men and women. I have readers literally all around the world. I've made writer friends who are as close to me as sisters. And hardly a day goes by that I don't pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming... except for those days (All writers have them, don't they? Please, please, we all have those days, right?) I sit at the computer and wait for Something To Happen.
As for knitting... I explained, in an earlier post, that I'm just returning to knitting after a long, long, very long hiatus. Well, the news on that front is that I've gone from furrowing my brow as I count stitches to loving the feel of the yarn under my fingers.
Now, that's progress.
posted by Anonymous at 7:57 PM
3 Comments:
Sandra and I met in 1985. I was an old Harlequin veteran (3 years) and she was a relative newbie and we bonded over the fact that we both lived on Long Island and hadn't a clue what this business expected of us. We shared a room in Minneapolis (our first RWA conference; now there's a bonding experience for you) and thus were two nicknames born. (I won't tell if you don't, Sandra!)
Come on, we want to know the nicknames and their origin. PLEEEZE!
You see why I love this woman, don't you, Nancy? She respects the objective case! We're a dying breed.
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