My friend is just one of the reasons I write what I write... #AmWriting #RomanticSuspense




One of my few, in person, living and breathing, reach out and touch, friends (most of my friends are online or imaginary), is also one of the most loving, sweet, and, here’s the most important quality, honest women I know.

I’ll get to why that last characteristic is important in just a momentas I think you wouldn’t be able to read through your tears because you’ll be laughing so hard.

Anyway, what also makes her quote so funny is that people who don’t know her, might think she’s a prude, just because she’s such a strong Christian woman.

I’m going to back up to 2004 for a moment, the year I walked away from a six-figure job to spend more time with my sons, who were seven and twelve at the time. One of the things I also gained from stepping down was time to read. I’d been working sixty to eighty hours a week for fourteen years, so reading, something I’d loved since I was old enough to hold a book, had taken a back-burner in my life. When I was in college, I’d read a book in one to two days, on top of my regular studies. And although I still read when I was working the above-mentioned job, it’d dropped to about three a month, as I could only read an hour or two a day.

Then, in 2009, I finally quit working altogether, as my youngest son was twelve, and he needed me at home. NowI had hours to read, and just like when I was in college, I started gobbling up a book a day. Onlysomething had happened. I couldn’t find what I wanted to read. Everything I picked up—from authors I once loved—had become extremely graphic or erotic.

Here’s the problemI love romance, suspense, and mystery, and I love them even more when the genres are finely woven together like a great blanket that wraps around you. In my opinion, Sidney Sheldon was the inventor of romantic suspense. His main character was usually female, and although she wasn’t a hard-nosed witch, she learned to stand on her feet while she battled her inner demons or whoever was stalking her. Yes, there was sex, yes, there was violence, but it wasn’t to the point that I had to worry if one of my kids looked over my shoulder at what I was reading.

So, what’s a girl to do? You guessed it. I started writing what I wanted to read. Yes, I’m a Christian, so I often share my characters’ Christian beliefs, but that doesn’t mean I preach. That’s not my job. My job as a fiction writer is to share my characters’ characteristics, and their beliefs—good and bad—are what make my characters believable.

So, onto my friendwho, as I said, is a strong Christian woman; she believes that if she holds back her thoughts, it is a lie of omission.  We’ve since discussed that a lie of omission is only if you willfully withhold information. She’s so cute… Seriously, I hope this translates, as I’m laughing so hard as I try to put this in writing.

While on a two-week teaching vacation (my husband teaches geology in the Grand Canyon), my friend, along with her husband, my husband, and about eight others in our group of eighteen were preparing to do the rim-to-rim hike, so a guide had to drive them to the north side of the canyon. The guides always offer information on the way up. On this trip, though, above and beyond his normal commentary on the canyon, the guide pointed to a group of cowboys in the distance.

And my friend, God love her, out of nowhere, blurts out, “I have to be honest; I like me some cowboys...”

Her husband, of course, also a great man—after a moment of silence—says something like, “That’s nice to know, honey.”

My husband, who happens to have a great sense of humor, can’t stop laughing now. He is a country boy, by the way, since I happen to like that kind of man too, only I don't usually blurt it out to a van full of people. :)

But my comment to my friend was… “You know what I can’t help but notice, you didn’t just say a cowboy, but you like you some cowboys.” 

I hope you found that as funny as I did...because it reminds me that as Christians and old-married women, we don't have to stop enjoying romance and noticing that a certain type of manthat God made, by the waylooks good. We are supposed to appreciate beauty in all its forms, but that doesn't mean we're going to act on it. Heck, if I see a beautiful woman, I'll often point her out to my husband. Of course, he probably already noticed her, and that doesn't bother me, as I know he's not dwelling on looking at her; he just notices a good-looking woman and then looks at me, and says something like, but you're prettier, which isn't true, but we've been married almost twenty-five years, so I think he does look at me like that.

Anyway, my friend loves my booksnot because I write about cowboys, but because I write sensual and romantic suspense without being graphic and erotic, and yes, often, my leading men are good ol’ country boys.

So, if you like you some country boys, please check out my Southern Romantic-Suspense Collection. All of the stories are stand-alone stories, so they can be read in any order, but I recommend you read Charlotte One before Charlotte Two, and Nantahala One before Nantahala two.

Until next time, happy reading and imagining about some country boys, my friends.

Carmen

Thank you for stopping by my place and reading my musings. Remember these are just my opinions and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. If you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section, and I promise you I will answer.  If you’re curious about what I write, please visit one of my author pages, where you can read all about my novels and short stories.  And hey, I’ll even give you a free book just for stopping by.


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2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a great time, I like me cowboys to.❤️ Welcome back��☀️

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    Replies
    1. I had a feeling you might, Kim. ;)

      The question is... Do you feel the need to blurt it out as though it were an admission of guilt. LOL!!!

      She knows I love her. :)

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