What Romance and comedy mean to me, plus Christmas pictures!

People who don't read Romance sometimes have some misconceptions about the genre. I don't know exactly what to say to them because I don't want to be disrespectful, but what I want to say is, people who don't read Romance really don't understand how vast the genre is (or how hard it is to write (ahem)). To me, Romance novels are about life. Sometimes they are also about fantasy. Sometimes science fiction. Sometimes about police officers, FBI agents, Navy SEALS, or cowboys. But they are always about people doing the hard work to overcome baggage and make a life. Making a meaningful life requires building and sustaining relationships with people. Romance stories examine this very human activity, always fresh because, as with life, the people and circumstances are always at least a little bit different.

My favorite kind of Romance to write at the moment leans toward the light side. With Love Caters All and with its sequel (currently in progress), I am aiming for that banter of classic romantic comedies, the ones my mom introduced to me. I love that back and forth, particularly when the strong and highly verbal woman is keeping the sweet guy off-balance. (Philadelphia Story and His Girl Friday, for example.)

Maybe my preference in writing these tales has to do with remembering all the nice times I had later in life when my mom and I watched shorter comedies. She had a lot of memory loss, and in the end the very best things to watch were comedies like Golden Girls. She had all the seasons on DVD and we'd watch them all the way through and then start over. Golden Girls had great writing, and the best thing for my mom was that the comedy was of the one-liner variety. The humor didn't rely on a long sustained comic set up. Getting that kind of joke requires memory. I would say that the writers, directors, actors and everyone else who made that show made a huge contribution to our lives. They gave us many hours of shared enjoyment.

Mom also liked Friends, but not Seinfeld. When I started watching those re-runs with her, I realized that while I liked Seinfeld a lot, the show did rely on very long comedic plots. The punch line was often at the end of the show. But Friends had physical comedy, goofy stuff, very in-the-moment kinds of humor. There was a sweetness to the character ensemble, and the actors and actresses were pretty. I loved seeing my mom laughing and enjoying that show. I gained a whole new appreciation for the artistry of Friends.

What kinds of books, TV shows or movies do you like?