Hello, Friend,
It’s been a couple of months since I’ve posted here, and I’m excited to be back. January feels like the right time for jumping back in and posting here on Substack.
I don’t know that I’ll post twice a month like I did before my break, but you’ll get this once a month post. So, let’s catch up and talk about the following:
The Authors Who Inspired Me to Write Romance
Why Later in Life Characters Matter
What I’m Currently Reading
I didn’t wake up one day and decide to write sweet romance out of nowhere. I fell in love with it first as a reader. Hope Holloway and Rachel Hanna were huge influences, even though their books lean more toward women’s fiction with romance. There’s something about the way they write community and second chances that grabbed me.
Elana Johnson and Leeanna Morgan’s sweet contemporary romances showed me how to balance emotion with hope. These authors created worlds I wanted to live in—and eventually, that made me want to create my own.
Why would I have later in life characters in my stories? The answer is easy. I’m a woman in this age bracket, and these are the stories I want to read.
While I enjoy reading romance of all ages, I got tired of only seeing characters in their 20s and 30s falling in love. Where were the women starting over at 42? The men finding love again at 52?
Then I started hearing from readers who felt the same way. Women who emailed me saying they were grateful to finally see themselves in a romance.
That’s when I realized this isn’t just about what I want. We all need these stories. Life doesn’t stop being romantic or worth writing about after 40. My characters are in their 40s and 50s because that’s where some of the best stories are happening.
After avoiding audiobooks for a long time, I’m happy to say I’m listening to my first one, The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden. I’m doing a reading journal this year and have joined a reading group on Discord. They’re doing a couple of different challenges, so I am trying to do them.
The Housemaid is definitely not romance, but reading outside our comfort zone is supposed to make us better writers, right? I’m enjoying the suspense, even if I keep waiting for a happily ever after that probably isn’t coming.
If you’re curious about the kind of sweet romances I write, my reader magnet, Returning Home, is now available! It’s set in Sunrise Beach, the small-town world where all my stories take place. Get it free and see if my stories are something you’d enjoy.
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