I keep trying to encourage co-author to go into romance. Oddly, it's where he's most comfortable, creative, and...fluid I think is the word I'd use to describe it.

I just wonder how it would go over, having a man enter that playing field. Or am I ignorant? Are there any men writing in the genre?

Dear god. I need platitudes to get through the next two chapters. Tim isn't picking up his cell, and he's usually the one who will tell me I'm brilliant for 5 minutes so I can get through the worst.

Are there any men writing in the genre?

There are more than a few, Allyson-- several in collaboration, many on their own. Thing is, there are plenty of male authors who write romance, except it doesn't get called "romance." It gets called clever, sensitive, fiction. (Nicholas Sparks, Charles Martin) A lot of it's not even good romance (again-- see, Nicholas Sparks) but because it's written by men, gets a certain measure of respect and attention that the same book, if written by a woman, never would.

If his writing leans that way, he should certainly give it a try.

I like the computer better because I can get the words down closer to the rate that I think them. My handwriting is terrible, and I've printed everything handwritten for over ten years now, and I just can't move fast enough to be anything but frustrated.

Yes, "sensitive." Look, a man with feelings! It must be great!

Nicholas Sparks makes me feel like I'm walking across a theatre floor where a dozen sodas have been spilled.

Nicholas Sparks makes me feel like I'm walking across a theatre floor where a dozen sodas have been spilled.

When I was in San Francisco for the Romance Writers of America conference back in July, a couple of friends and I escaped to the nearby movie theatre to go see Dark Knight. During the previews, they were showing the trailer for Nights in Rodanthe and all of us leaned forward because hey, Diane Lane, Richard Gere, who can do a decent romantic leading man, beautiful setting, looked like a touching story... until they got the end of the trailer and the voiceover intoned, "Based on the bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks."

Hand to God, all of us simultaneously slumped back in our seats with the most disgusted noises.

I am amused.

I went back to writer-readers on Library Thing--slow work day, looking to indulge some intellectual masochism--and I found the guy who was most adamant about how true, important writing can only be done on paper.

He's become so tired of publishers not appreciating the transcendent art he produces that he has bypassed that process and now puts everything on his website. But, he assures us, he's struggled with every word. Afer all, "What experienced authors can teach us most is just the sheer amount of work and strife and pain the writing life entails. Aspiring scribes should be under no illusion--years of anonymity, a marginal existence, often accompany a life devoted to the arts. Success and rewards will be a long time coming (if at all)."

I know, I know, I need to stop obsessing about this guy. But he's just so dedicated. His wife and kids go camping without him, they watch videos without him, because his Muse demands so much of him. (She's the one with the job, by the way.)

Ah, the heck with it. I've got WIPs on my hard drive that I could be working on instead, and this quiet day won't last forever.

Oh god, link me? I could use this guy as my own personal muse of putting my fucking shoulder to the wheel before I become him.

Here's the thread I most recently looked at.

[link]

Look for CliffBurns. He's in several places. You'll know him when you read him.

This guy is AWESOME, Connie. I'm trying so hard to not LOL at my desk. Totally cheered me up.

My work here is done.