Over the weekend my mother came to visit. We discussed my books as the topic inevitably comes up. She does not like the fact that I have ... (don't say the word too loud) S ... e ... x in my books. I am a romance writer - hellloooo....

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~ woohoo ~ I AM A WRITER - READ MY WORDS!!!

I realize that you don't have to have s ... e ... x in a romance book. I have actually read a few that had nothing more than a peck and it was a wonderful book (Roz Denny Fox's Wide Open Spaces is a prime example of a great book w/ no - you know).

My mother said - hold on, let me get this right - "You don't need gratuitous sex scenes in your book. You're just pandering to the public." Now, the fact that she is my mother can be held for some of this, but she and I went over other authors - so it's not just her Babygirl's books she objects to this in.

I have heard from other people that romance novels are soft-core porn. This I take objection to. Not because they are right or wrong - I truly don't know what defines one or the other but these are the same people that watch Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives or the likes and "R" rated movies. And God forbid, the dreaded soap opera or "programs" as my grandmother would call them (which I watch when I have time to sink on the sofa in the middle of the day =) which is not often enough but I can keep up w/ why Todd is in jail this time. Why Carly got out of Glenhaven or whatever and why Erica is still trying to micro-manage her daughters' lives - don't get me started on Harley Cooper...).

But, please. If you want to cast dispersions on my writing, maybe you should 1) read it first and 2) take a look at your own choice for media entertainment. (This is directed not at my mother - becasue obviously she has read my stuff.) If you don't like the s ... e ... x in the book you're welcome to not buy anymore but don't knock it. If my numbers are right, romance books make up a majority of fiction book sales in the U.S. - the largest majority!

I write what I write. I like what I write. I read what I write.

Just imagine if she read the semi-erotica that I just pitched to Samhain. . . (where Michelle Miles has her first book out in July! woohoo!!) she'd faint dead away!