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TB’s week got off to a rough start, when her laptop had a hissy fit, turning a ten-minute task into forty-five long minutes. A London Love Story, the Kindle Vella series TB is cowriting with Miranda MacLeod, is past the halfway point, a good thing, because the project has become more time-consuming than either thought it would be. In more writing news, Miranda and TB are cruising along on the ranch story, that Clare prefers calling raunchy. ACX dropped a bomb on US tax payers, causing TB many headaches, because taxes weren’t already headache-inducing.
Clare is back from Whitstable, and she had a fabulous week, getting loads of words down. She’s been watching the Winter Olympics and is applying the discipline of athletic performance to her current writing project. Will she be able to nail the landing? Clare’s workspace is going well, aside from a noisy and slow crisp eater. There’s always one in a shared space! The best news, she’s made some pals to have lunches with. Imagine that. Human contact! But, that’s not all. Clare did a lesbian social event on Zoom, reading from two of her books. Clare is putting herself out there!
They crash on to the topic: romance pride. TB suggested this topic on romance, not knowing it’d come out on Valentine’s Day, because TB and dates don’t get along. Her reasoning for wanting to discuss it was an article she read about Marion Keyes, a brilliant Irish author both TB and Clare admire. The article mentioned stories by and for woman don’t receive the same acclaim as ones penned by men. TB, who’s been confronted by romance hate by people in her life, and even in author circles, decided to rant about this on the episode. Clare sums up their feelings well: pooh-pooh romance at your own peril.
Have you been confronted by romance hate?
Head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com, and leave a comment on the episode. Or you can email them at: lesbianswhowrite@gmail.com.
Next week, they’ll be back with more sparkly conversation.
Happy listening!
Clare and TB
Link:
A London Love Story: www.amazon.com/A-London-Love-Story/dp/B09KP4SRJ5/
What a great episode! Agree with everything you both said.
As someone who adores the The Fifty Shades trilogy, unapologetically, may I add, it was refreshing to hear your views.
The ‘romance formula’ I definitely agree is hard! Hence why my romance WIP remains just that, unfinished 😂
Are you still working on your WIP? As we say on the podcast a lot, just keep going. It doesn’t matter how quickly you make it to the finish line.
The prejudice with romance is so subtle and absurd. I mean, I had my pedantic phase in college, but even before it I’d never pick a romance to read and I’ve no idea where this distaste came from and I don’t think anyone openly criticized it in front of me, ever. And the hypocrisy is that I’d watch soap operas, series and films with romance all over it (hellooo, the L word, in my late teens), even read fan fiction, but lord forbid my young self picking a proper romance novel. The shame.
Now I’m often thinking how many years I wasted not reading good ol’ romance, because I’ve never been happier with my book choices. I mean I still like other genres, but if there are no queer women romancing in my books I’m not that interested. Accepting I liked romance was almost like coming out all over again lol
Yes. It’s so true. We get taught that romance is not ‘real fiction’ before we even realise what different genres are.
EVERY genre has a formula. If you don’t hit certain beats the audience WILL get pissed off.
Writing my first romance (I’ve written other genres and they are also sapphic fiction) and it is taking a lot more work to write this than some of the other things I’ve written.
Thank you both for being awesome positive and proud representatives for sapphic romance.