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Hello, my favorite VIP Readers!
“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” ~ Epictetus ~
Have you ever wondered what a romance writer’s life is truly like? Just ask around. You’ll get variations on a theme.
We write in an office the size of a small barn. It contains at least one elegant sofa designed for brainstorming comfort, not to mention the leather-bound executive chair where we happily sit and dash off our word count each morning before heading off to lunch with our eager publisher.
They love all of our words, even the ones jotted down on cocktail napkins at the fancy parties we attend together.
We’re surrounded by carefully organized, dusted bookshelves displaying our many writing awards, maybe a family photo or two mixed in. Life-sized posters of our heroes, muscular chests gleaming down on us like manna from heaven, hang on our walls providing heroic inspiration.
There’s soft music wafting from speakers cleverly hidden out of sight, while we leisurely pen our tomes on the uncluttered tabletop of our antique cherry-wood desk. There’s the requisite dog or cat sitting at our feet staring up at us with undemanding adoration, and the kiddies make their own snacks when they come home from school to avoid disturbing Mommy’s creative “zone.”
And, since all authors live in warm climates, we can wander outside and write poolside while a cabana boy—okay, an understanding significant other—keeps us fed and watered because we’d surely starve or die of thirst without someone to take care of us.
Hmmm, when did I start writing fantasy?
The reality is most authors don’t live this beautifully organized, bucolic scene of creativity, much as we may long for a smidgen of it. We’re often lucky to have an office. Some of us write at the kitchen table we may or may not have had time to wipe clean of peanut butter.
We carve space out of our living rooms, jam a battered desk in the corner, and block out Spongebob’s maniacal laughter as he runs through the jellyfish fields with his butterfly net. That last sounds vaguely familiar! We pull out a secretary’s pad in the lunchroom at our day jobs and jot down a thought or, if we’re lucky, a scene before we rush back to work.
We might have bookshelves... but dusted? Trade that executive chair for the front seat of a car that carries you and half a dozen ball players to three different fields across town at the same time. And where in hell is that cabana boy when your significant other and kiddies are sitting around the dining room table with empty bellies and expectant expressions on their faces?
I don’t know about yours, but mine is scrubbing the toilet while I lounge poolside with Apocalyptica streaming through my headphones, my laptop at my fingertips, eating bonbons.
It’s so difficult maintaining creativity when the toilet doesn’t sparkle, isn’t it?
(For more insight into today’s topic, meander down to my writing update.)
START YOUR NEXT READ HERE…
Contemporary Romance with a kick of humor. Karen Docter’s romantic comedies and contemporaries are spicy-sweet hometown-hero romances filled with warmth, love, family, and happily-ever-afters. You might even laugh out loud.
Women hunted by killers…men who’d die to protect them. K.L. Docter’s psychological romantic suspense novels are filled with romance, although the dangers the hero and heroine face are intense…usually because a serial killer is bent on ending one or both of their lives. You’ll find romance, danger, justice, and a happily-ever-after between these pages!
Sadly, writing fell by the wayside this week thanks to my new wacky medicine mix. It started last Sunday with what is likely an allergic reaction—you don’t want to know—and carried through with a brain fog and ennui for much of the week. I didn’t even spend much time on social media.
I did, however, watch a lot of movies and read three books this week, as you can see below. AND, I finished my Meanderings. My work is done here!
I hesitate to call this week a vacation. But meh! Just another day in the glamorous life of a romance writer, right?
Website/Karen’s Killer Book Bench & Killer Fixin’s Blog
X/Twitter
Instagram
Karen Docter Facebook
K.L. Docter Facebook
Docter in the House! chat group
Midnight in the Garden chat group
Book Bench for Romance Lovers chat group
Pinterest
BookBub Karen Docter
BookBub K.L. Docter
Explore this week’s books, spotlighted on Karen’s Killer Book Bench (spotlight) & Karen’s Killer Fixin’s (spotlight + recipe).
MONDAY #Gothic #Horror #Paranormal #Thriller: A PENANCE FOR CROWS, A Novel by Shannon Morgan
WEDNESDAY #K-9 #Search #Rescue #Suspense: DEADLY REVENGE, A National Forest K-9 Suspense by Kathleen Donnelly
FRIDAY #Vegetable #Recipe: POTATO-ZUCCHINI LATKES from Karen’s Kitchen
What are you reading? I’m always on the lookout for books to add to my TBR pile! Join me for the challenge. It will be fun to motivate each other. You can find my 2026 Goodreads Challenge here.
Interested in booking your own Book Talk Spotlight? Contact me at kldocter@yahoo.com. Does not have to be a new release. Only one spotlight per book.
Thank you for being a huge part of my reader community. Y’all are the best! Wishing you oodles of reading pleasure and happiness. Hope you are getting cooler weather.
Happy Reading!
Karen
P.S. Every heart/like you click helps other people find my books. Leave a comment so I know you were here. I read every single one. Thanks for being here.
Recommend Docter’s House of Books & Meanderings to your Besties!
Karen Docter writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy under her own name, and romantic suspense as K.L. Docter. A book lover, she spotlights books of most genres on her Karen’s Killer Book Bench & Killer Fixin’s blogs and her newsletter, Docter’s House of Books & Meanderings. When she’s not hanging with her own personal hero, a persnickety Border Collie, and a flock of chickens that “sing” really loud every morning, she’s living her best life reading and writing lakeside on the South Carolina coast.
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