Romancing the Tome

It's all Gail R. Delaney's fault. Not only did she sign me for a futuristic romance, but she actually had the gall to make me stick to the contract I'd signed with her for that romance book! I've never been a big romance writer because I get too carried away with the plot, conflicts, and themes and forget there's supposed to be some romance in the story. I find myself with heroines and heroes who have major problems and weighty baggage to drag around behind them, which can be a good or even great thing if you don't forget what the most important line is in a romance novel: the romance.

Before I was officially signed to Desert Breeze Publishing, I checked out Gail's work and was pretty impressed. She wrote one line that described the hero and heroine gazing at him in perfect yet detailed prose without a lot of flowery description. I still remember one detail that still sticks with me to this day. (If you want to figure it out, buy the book—buy 'em all) It was so simple but so realistic that it created the image she was trying to convey. That to me is the litmus test of an author.

Before everyone claps a hand to their forehead, sighing, "What a suck-up" let me tell you I rarely praise authors and besides I'm not signed to DBP (no Gail, I'm not asking that, LOL) so I'm not getting any recompense for this. I just like to give credit where it's due when I can.

And credit is due Mrs. Delaney. I don't think anyone else could have squeezed a romantic plotline out of me like she did and I imagine if we had an arm wrestling match on the subject of romantic scenes, she'd win easily. She taught me how to ride that romantic rail with logical character traits and made me see the difference between a hero and heroine and a romantic hero and heroine. There is a difference believe me.

So thanks Gail. Thanks for inflicting romance on me. I'll never be the same. Neither will my writing—hell now I've got three WIP novels based mainly on a love story with all the drama relegated to the sidelines!

Thanks loads Gail!