Sometimes it seems the day blows by so fast and I was barely able to keep up with the absolute necessities. I stayed up late Tues night working on my website. Last night, while dh watched Blood Diamond- which turned out to be a really good movie - I typed up my youngest daughter’s poems. We’re having two copies bound and one donated to the Candlelighter’s dinner auction at the end of April. She’s very excited.

So, I did that, then we went to bed and I did something I knew was a mistake, but I couldn’t stop myself. Craig brought home from Borders, Predatory Game by Christine Feehan. My husband loves me. *twinkle*

I began that and I gotta say, it didn’t take long to fall in love with Jess Calhoun. Of course, being wheelchair bound myself, I keep reading about his awesome strength and workout regimen and thinking, hell, I know exercise is good for me. Why don’t I do more of it?

Then I try to imagine fitting it into my schedule with my fatigue levels. I have therapy twice a week and right now they are getting me to walk with Swedish Knee Cages so I don’t hyper extend. It’s been a couple of years since I walked so much. If I devoted each day for a month or so to working out, I’d be doing really good.

Instead, I am devoted to sitting in my recliner and writing on book 3. And having a very hard time regretting it. lol

It feels so wonderful to have my website back again! I’ve spent the last several hours working on the content of several pages. I’ll be adding more soon. At the moment, I’ll be happy to see links working.

As I was working, I came across a discussion of the “rule” for happily ever after in romance. As usual, there were the typical derogatory remarks about how nothing is real in a romance and it’s all about the hot bods and the eroticism. Why, oh why, does the hero and heroine have to walk off into the sunset? Why can’t one of them die? Why can’t the reader experience the “real” emotions of pain and anguish?

Why are pain and anguish the only “real” emotions? What is the point of reading about people who fail to realize their dreams and never rise above the adversity in their lives and relationships? How many people would enjoy reading a mystery that was never solved? Unsolved Mysteries, certainly, but in the mystery genre? How many people would watch CSI if they never solved a case? Or House if he never managed to heal someone? How big would Stephen King have gotten in the thriller genre if his books didn’t thrill?

Yes, Gone With the Wind was beautiful in it’s tragedy. Many books are. If you want to feel haunted and sad and hopeless about fulfilling certain dreams, tragedy is certainly the market for you. But there are other “real” emotions to surround yourself with. Hope, fulfillment, optimism, love.

How many people do you know that are on anti-depressants? I have my own. It’s called a romance novel. If I see two people struggling to be together and I read through hundreds of pages about it, then they should end together or what was the point of reading about their struggle? If one of them dies, then there should be a reason why they have to be dead, that makes sense, or what was the point of killing them?

Mark Twain said “Truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” The same with death in fiction. We use stories to understand life, to influence our feelings, enhance our thoughts. Real life is not just about the negative, the depressing or the tragic. Real life is also about happiness and peace and joy.

Personally, I think a good romance mixes the pain and the joy and ends up with the best representation of real life there is. It’s not all sex, hot bods and eroticism. There is some - of course! Who wants to live without ever having sex or close intimacy with another person? A monk or a nun, and that’s about it. But the point is the relationship! The thought that with work and perseverance, we can have a close, lasting bond with another person.

And after hundreds of pages of working and persevering, if we make it work, why is that so horrible?

I think something touched a nerve. What do you think about the HEA in romance? Post in the comments over the next few days and I’ll be drawing one lucky person to win an autographed copy of Betrayed!