Romance/Love
This week: The Prolific Nora Roberts Edited by: eyestar~* More Newsletters By This Editor
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Hiya! I am happy to be a guest editor for this edition. I have always enjoyed reading romance, first as a teen idealist and then as a fast light entertainment and break from high level study stress. I remember laughing with my mom about some of the totally unrealisitic relationship scenarios and thinking how so many of them were all the same. One day I found Nora Roberts, whose work seemed richer and more balanced. She is one of my favourites now. I had never really read about her so when this newsletter come up, I thought it was time! Hope you enjoy a little look into her romance magic!
"Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice." ~~ Nora Roberts
"Write what you read for pleasure, don't worry about the market. Concentrate on writing the best book you'd ever love to read. If you love your subject matter, you'll put more heart and feeling into what you write. Have fun with it! You've got the greatest job in the world; gloat about that for a little bit, then get back to work." ~ Nora Roberts
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Nora Roberts is one of the most prolific romance writers and been on the top of the best seller's list many times both as Nora and as JD Robb. From her first Silhouette novel Irish Thoroughbred in 1981, to the Playing the Odds, her breakthrough novel that put her as a fan favourite in 1985, down to her most recent book last year, Island of Glass she has touched and inspired many. Over 213 books in 3 decades, she has won awards and been called the Queen of Romance.
She began writing in 1979 as a young mom who got bored one winter and needed to get all the ideas in her head out! She still lives in the house where she raised her two boys and she wrote under different names while honing her craft. She was one of the romance authors who transformed the genre from the formulaic young heroine with the older cardboard cutout hero. Her characters are more realistic and down to earth. Her heroines are strong and flawed and have their own lives, seek themselves and not obsessed with marriage.The heros are more realistic too and having grown up with 4 brothers and having two sons, she once said she had to learn to understand them! It was much more appealing and in the 1980's her book "Playing the Odds" led her to be a fan favourite with its newer concepts.
Born in 1950 in Maryland, the youngest of 5 and only girl, of Irish descent, she grew up reading and making stories in her head. Writing became her joy, saviour and job as she learned to baalance her life, first as single mom and then with a growing social arena. In 1985 she met her second husband Bruce Wilder when she hired him to build book shelves for her. They have since travelled together, expanding home and opened stores. He built a room in the bookstore for her works. Talk about romantic!
My favourite books are her family dynasty works and those collections with the paranormal and magic feature where both men and women can be believers or non believers in the magic. I recently discovered that her Boonsboro series, with its added ghost, was actually based in her home town and on her experiences of restoring an old Inn. Bruce Wilder runs the bookstore in town and her son Dan has Vesta's Pizza, three places feature in her stories. To give back, they bought the heritage site in a effort to reboot the town. Each room in the bed and breakfast features a different era and romantic couple, like the Darcy and Elizabeth Suit. Her Bride series was inspired by her having to help with two son's weddings and all the aspects that brides consider.
I discovered in my reading that she truly goes her own way and had much to say about the genre as romance has not always been looked at as a serious genre as she was coming up the ranks as a forerunner. She likes is as you can really write anything you like as long as you have the relationship center. It could be sci-fi, paranormal , even crime as she has done. She also believes there is nothing wrong with a happy ending as all genres have rules and narrative solution. So why not celebrate love, committment and trying to make relationships work! It does happen and as to the stories, we do know the difference between reality and fiction. She has inspired a generation. And her gigantic fan base and email connections attest to that. She has always been kind with her fans.
Self discipline and development has been key to her success too. She has been in several writing groups and meets with writers often. She mentors others and here are some tips, that even those who may not appreciate the genre, admire her style and success.
Advice she gives to writers:
Write the best book you possibly can, and don't worry about the future.
Build a foundation to create a career as an author by writing a series of works that fans will follow, not just hoping for a One big hit.
This is a job. Treat it like one. Learn to juggle family, friends, and social time so that your writing career is as important as any other job would be.
You can't find the time to write -- you make time. Make it a priority.
Never wait around for inspiration. It's your job to sit down in the chair and figure out what to write. There is no muse. There is no writer's block. There's only writing.
Write what you read for pleasure, don't worry about the market.
The most important advice in the world: BICHOK, which stands for Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. In other words, sit yourself down and write. Write like it's your job, not a hobby.
I would say these ideals have truly worked for this disciplined creator of magnitude, who says she does her "job" 6-8 hours a day, works out, enjoys her crafts and family and has a goal of writing better with each book. I also learned that she is quite a fast worker, which is why she began writing under JD Robb as well. Her publishers couldn't keep up! I was quite impressed with her story and it was fun to learn about her life and catch a sense of her from her blogs. In a nut shell, it seems being a life long reader, writing every day to improve , loving what you do and never giving up are her main keys.
Hope you enjoyed this little view and.... now.. let's do BICHOK! Back to it, authors of magnitude!
Cool sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/20/nora-roberts-interview-romance-fic...
http://blog.infinitypublishing.com/bloginfinitypublishingcom/nora-roberts-top-7-...
http://www.noraroberts.com/about-nora/boonsboro/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP33VYU1ROI
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