Romance

A kiss that speaks volumes is seldom a first edition. ~Clare Whiting

I've had a big case of the totally tireds lately. I've been visiting blogs, but honestly haven't had the brain power to think of coherent comments. Today is no better yet, but then it's early. Maybe the cells in my brain will start firing more readily soon?

Something outside has scented my lawn and the neigbhoring woods to the point where I can't let Dakota off leash at all ... not even to fetch the ball (something that usually keeps her quite focused). Yesterday morning, we tossed her ball, she went racing after it, grabbed it then stopped. Dropped the ball and started sniffing like mad. Tail straight up, nose alternately on the ground and up in the air. She wouldn't come, wouldn't stop ... it continued into the night, with her asking to go out about every 15 minutes and doing nothing but tracking something.

Late last night, as she was outside and finally settling down to actually do her business though, we heard a pack of coyotes singing (which, of course, distracted her again). Makes me wonder if they've been visiting our yard.

Here's what they sounded like:



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Did some more editing. Still like the story, which is important. Needed to watch or read something romantic so I watched a couple of videos last night on YouTube. This:



And this:



What are some romantic moments you can recommend for me?

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You Are Festive

You are an open minded, happy go lucky person. You don't need a reason to celebrate. You are prone to overindulgence. You have a hedonistic streak, and you enjoy spoiling yourself. You find yourself liking so many things, it's sometimes hard to juggle them all. You prefer to have busy, adventure filled days. There's so much to do that you rarely get bored.

The Thanksgiving Dinner Test

About 75% right :-)

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Romance and Marriage

Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate. ~Barnett R. Brickner

A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time. ~Anne Taylor Fleming

So, I have a writing friend who has a short romance story nearly completed that involves a married couple as a H/H. They're childhood sweethearts, married for nearly a decade and now on the verge of divorce. The wife has moved out and filed, because she has cause to believe her husband was cheating. The story is about how they overcome the trust issues and learn to love each other again.

Her first choice of romance publisher (the one she's contracted with on another story) doesn't contract stories with married couples as the protagonists. They don't feel that a married H/H is "romance". Romance should be (loosely):

Boy meets girl.
Boy loses girl.
Boy gets girl back.

And with married couples you don't have the "boy meets girl" component.

While I agree that much of the fun of a romance is seeing how they meet and slowly fall in love, I wonder if watching a couple remember why they fell in love to begin with isn't just as romantic? OTOH, married couples aren't something you see often in romance novels (aside from Eve and Roarke ... but their books are more suspense than typical romance), so maybe this publisher has a point.

I'm on the fence. What think you?

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DD loves her new curriculum. She loves the format, and is enjoying school. On Tuesday, after breakfast I was going to take the dog for a walk, and couldn't find DD. Then I heard singing ("My Country, 'tis of Thee") and discovered she'd headed up to the school room and started school without being asked!

I hope it keeps up. Having her excited about school is awesome.

I haven't been able to get in touch with either 4H leader that I wanted. I've called and left messages, but haven't gotten a call back. **sigh** I'll try again today, and then if I don't hear back, I'm calling their "headquarters" and ask what else I should do.

We're enrolling in art lessons today. I hope she enjoys them. And, we'll be heading to the library to pick up our volunteer forms and do that (and, yes, I'm volunteering with her ... might as well, since I'll be there anyway).

When she's older, we'll probably start volunteering at the nearby animal shelter instead. We tried that a couple of years ago, and they let her be with me, but she couldn't DO anything so it was no fun. She has to be thirteen, so we'll hit them up again in a few years.

Do you volunteer anywhere?

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They Lived Happily Ever After

There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God's finger on man's shoulder. ~Charles Morgan

So.

My blog post on Tuesday about HEA's and the length of time a H/H know each other garnered some interesting responses AND a blog post from Allie.

Mostly, folks thought it was okay and believeable that characters fall in love and want to get married after a short period of time. There were a couple of folks who didn't. Some simply didn't believe lasting love could occur in a short space, some believed that it could be the START of lasting love, but not that they'd be ready to leap into marriage.

Charity brings up the idea of a "Hopefully Ever After" -- the thought that two characters can agree to try out the whole relationship thing. That they can awknowledge their mutual attraction (to body, heart and mind, IMHO... don't want to put words in poor C's mouth) and decide to date exclusively or whatever.

The question is, though, for the typical romance reader, will a HOPEFULLY ever after be enough? Will the, "I really like you. I like everything about you. Let's give this relationship thing a whirl." ending settle comfortably with them?

Truthfully, I see more and more of those types of ending occuring in romance. They appear more frequently in series, of course, since the edge of your seat "will they or won't they" feeling keeps people reading. But I've seen them in category and single title (more often in single title) as well.

Is this where romance is headed? To end, not with a real committment but an "I'll try?". That is, after all, where the real world has gone. We live together, "try" starter marriages, etc. So, is a "hopefully ever after" realistic? Absolutely.

For, me, though... I struggle with it. "Hopefully" just doesn't feed my romantic heart... it's like eating white chocolate. Sure, it's sweet... but it isn't exactly what I craved. It'll do in a pinch, I suppose, but it always leaves me wanting more.

And, that's just my two cents, FWIW.

You?

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Dakota... my little sweetheart.



She is stubborn. She is independent. She is smart.

Eventually, she will "get" what we want her to do. And when she "gets" something, she doesn't forget. From the time she was bitty, I mad her sit to get her leash on and she always does. I taught her to not rush the door, and she doesn't. So, I know she'll learn, but-- wowza-- is she STUBBORN. But I am MORE STUBBORN, and I'm the boss. So we'll get it pounded into her hard head eventually, or die trying. LOL.

A couple years ago, my SIL gave me a bag of miscellaneous bulbs, which I planted of course. I found a few blooming yesterday--does anyone know what these flowers are?



Or these:



It's just that they are lovely and bloom early and I'd love to find some more!

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You Should Drive a Green Car

You're the type of driver who sees driving as a necessary evil. You much rather be biking or taking a pleasant walk to where you're going. And because of this, you tend to be a "green driver" - as best as you can. Whether this means driving a hybrid, supporting alternative fuels, or simply not littering out your window.

What Color Car Should You Drive?

That is SO NOT ME. I love to drive. If I didn't have a husband who worried, I'd be taking cross-country road trips all the time!

It's Valentines Day

The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but what takes place in our hearts. -- Sir Arthur Keith

BSP:

My tour stop today is: Welcome To My World of Dreams.

My daily contest is here.

:-)

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So, it's Valentines Day. Huh.

For me, it's really just another day. I'm, very possibly, the least romantic romance author you will ever meet. Years ago I dated a man who was terribly romantic. I'd open the door for my morning paper, and find a hand written poem and a rose waiting on my stoop. He'd plan marvelously creative and interesting days to spend together. I must have frustrated him terribly because I never really reciprocated in any clever way.

My DH is also a non-romantic. His co-workers think he's terribly lucky because he doesn't have to buy me two-carat diamond earrings or take me out for a fancy dinner on Valentines Day. DH says he loves me the same every day, why should he have to have a special day to show me that?

I don't disagree with him.

So, happy Valentines Day to those of you who ARE romantics at heart. I'll spend my day writing about two people falling in love. Now THAT is romantic.

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Yesterday didn't quite work out as planned. No soup, salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden because my other neighbor told me that she wasn't able, after all, to take me to the airport.

This created a bit of difficulty for me, and really made my day ... not so good. My poor neighbors (who sat in the plane on the tarmack for four hours waiting for the weather to clear) trusted me to get their car and the person I'd relied on changed their mind at the last minute. Thankfully, my SIL came through and took me when she got off work.

We won't talk about how much short term parking costs when you stay there all day.

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So, I'm working on TWO projects. I do love my mystery, but it's not very "light" and I need light, so I've pulled out Camilla's story, too. I'm having a lot of fun going through that one, AND I've figured something out with it--something that had really been blocking me from being able to finish it. Yay!

Here's the collage for Camilla, if you're interested:



In any case, it does feel good to write. Wish I was doing more!

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Today's random quiz:

Your True Love's Name Is

James K.

What's Your True Love's Name?

YIKES! Don't tell my husband...