Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
— I haven’t had the greatest personal track record with ‘romance.’ My last boyfriend lied to me about… well, everything. And then he stole from me. Money. A pair of earrings my grandmother gave me. My remaining trust in humanity.
— I don’t really, um, go places. Or do things. (What I have heard some refer to as ‘peopling.’) When I’m overstimulated, I get kind of… manic, I suppose. So, I try to avoid it whenever possible.
— I’m what some might call ‘cynical.’ (They’d be right. I am. But at least I’m self-aware.)
— I’m a snob. I really am. I’m not proud of the fact, but I grew up in a house that was so filled with snobbery and self-judgment, and, frankly, fear of failure and of what others think, that I actually feel like I should pat myself on the back for turning out as well as I have so far. (I won’t though. Pat myself on the back. Because of the aforementioned self-judgment.)
Britney countered all of my arguments one by one.
— So? You think crime writers go out and commit murders? I mean, unless they’re really, really good at hiding it, probably not. (Probably.)
— You don’t have to have gone places or done things to know they exist. Have you ever been to Saturn? No. Do you believe it’s there? Of course. So, just make up what happens there. It’ll be fresh and original!
— Cynicism is amazing! What better to write about than someone whose cynical, hardened heart is made all gushy and soft by the magic of love? (Note: Britney is not a cynic. Clearly.)
— You think all writers aren’t snobs, no matter what they’re writing? That’s what makes you a writer. The kind of introversion that requires you to stay locked inside your house, scribbling away, but, at the same time, the kind of ego necessary to believe that anyone wants to read a hundred thousand words that just happened to fall out of your brain? If you’re going put that kind of energy to use, may as well put it to use writing the kind of thing you like.
She is incredibly persuasive.
And so… I decided to go for it. I followed my dream. I became a romance writer.
I haven’t told my parents yet.
They know I’m writing, but I’ve just been cagey about what I’m writing. Because if I can get judge-y about stuff, they can get Supreme Court judge-y about stuff.
(Which is also ironic, given that they spent almost half their lives writing jokes for sitcoms, but I know if I told them I was making a go of it self-publishing my own romance novels they’d give me grief about it.)
Ugh. I need to cut them some slack. I have this tendency when I’m feeling anxiety about anything to pivot it back onto them, and that’s not fair. They’re not bad parents, they’re really not, they’re just very… specific in their opinions.
I mean, look, it’s not like I don’t still have an aspiration, just like the ones my parents still have, of writing a great literary novel someday, but I have to tell the truth: I’m happy writing what I write. I really, really am. It gives me joy in a way that not a whole lot of other things do. And I have to believe that makes it right. They say if you eat a meal prepared by a chef who’s happy and loves the food they’re making, you can taste it. And if you’re eating something made by someone who’s just going through the motions—cooking by the numbers—you can taste that too.
I have to believe it’s the same with writing books. I want the people who read what I write to feel that I put everything I have into it and to get something out of it that moves them in a real, meaningful way.
And I think it might be working? Maybe? Because the first two books I’ve written—the start to a series I call The Purity Principle (a blatant homage to my girl Jane and P&P)—have sold okay(ish) and I’ve begun growing a little bit of a fanbase.
But, even more exciting…
I’ve now been invited to attend the Sin With Us Romance Convention in a few weeks! SS’s convention! She runs it and only invites all the hottest authors. It’s, like, the biggest romance novel convention in the world and they want me there!
(Okay, so I realize I probably got invited last minute because someone dropped out and I just happened to be the first one to respond when they sent out the mass email asking if anyone wanted to take their place, but still…)
I’m going! And this book I just finished is going to be the thing I lead with at my big romance con coming-out party.
I’ve taken a little break from writing book three of The Purity Principle because I had a new idea come to me in the middle of the night and I had to get it out there. It shook me to my core and I knew that if I didn’t write it down, I’d never forgive myself. So I put my scheduled release of the next PP book to the side to focus on this one.