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Wednesday, January 11, 2006

The Thrill of the First Time

All right....I admit it. I am a virgin, rookie, first-time blogger, as green as the hills of Ireland and not nearly as pretty. But I agreed to launch the Silhouette Desire blog this week -- welcoming readers, fans and interested parties to our brand new site (isn't it gorgeous?) and our new Desire blog. We've set it up to give ourselves a chance to share our brilliant insights (otherwise known as opinions) and get a little closer to our readers.

I have resisted blogging. I read others, fascinated by many blogger's ability to magically transform into Jerry Seinfeld, able to see amazing nuances in the mundane elements of life, and twist them in the light to make readers ponder and laugh. I write *fiction* and blogging is so real.

Since I have a January Desire (ahem! THE SINS OF HIS PAST...fabulous book, reunion romance, pro baseball hero, feisty heroine, great read...end of commercial), I agreed to be the first Desire blogger, to introduce you to Silhouette Desire blogging and kick off our new web site. Our brilliant web mistress even devised some clever questions to ask the authors -- sort of spoonfeeding us blogging ideas. I may use some of those questions this week, but I've decided to try this like a big girl. Without the crutch of prepared questions. And so I started this day looking for ideas.

Guess what? They're everywhere. The first one hit me as I opened my much loved Sunday New York Times to the Style section, where I normally spend just a few too many minutes lingering over the Chanel ads. In today's "Modern Love," a weekly column of reader-written essays on the many aspects of love in our society, the editorial proclaimed romantic comedy movies as both "a source of ridicule" and an incredible aphrodisiac that have renewed the writer's interest in sex with her husband. While the author, Lainie Keslin Ettinger of Portland, Oregon, tried a book club, dinner with friends and other activities to fill her weekly night-out-away-from-kids-to-regain-her-sanity gift from her loving husband, it wasn't until she discovered movies that she calls "embarrassing" did her marriage become re-infused with sizzling chemistry and memorable lovemaking.

Movies, she says, that are "really no different from the princess stories that captivated" her daughters. Movies with a "heady repartee of pursuit and courtship" and "where monogamous commitment begins." Movies, I might add since she didn't, that make millions at the box office, win Oscars and create household names out of Julia and Meg. These movies, she exclaims with no small amount of self-deprecation, have given her marriage zest again. These movies have made her remember the delight of falling in love, the dizziness of being seduced, giving her what she calls "renewable virginity" -- and making her "float" home from the movie theater to relive the thrill of the first time. According to the writer, movies with Meg, Reese, Renee, Sandra and even junior chick flicks with Hilary (Duff, in case you're not twelve years old) were the very thing her marriage was missing, the magic elixir that finally heated her marital sheets.

Hel-lo, Lainie!!! Read a romance novel. There are hundreds out there in every imaginable iteration and they are GOOD. Today's romance novels, whether they are fluffy comedy, dark suspense or set on another planet, are NOT the "bodice rippers" that you would hide from your highbrow friends. Come on, girlfriend. Save your $6.50 admission, the $4.00 popcorn, $2.75 soda, gas and parking and pick up a paperback. Take the ride, feel the pain, wallow in the pleasure, admire a powerful woman, lust after a challenging man, solve a murder, save a child, fall in love. It's all there in the section of the bookstore Lainie's book club would skip because Oprah, it seems, doesn't believe in fairy tales.

One of the spoonfed questions on our list had to do with why we write romance or how we started. It sure is tempting to use this electronic soapbox to wax blissfully about why I like stories with relationships at their core, how I read romance straight through my college years and all the while I held executive positions at two international marketing firms, and when I decided to pursue a lifelong dream of being a novelist I chose the genre that I loved to read. But then, if you're visiting the Silhouette Desire site...you already know why.

Thanks for the chance to lose my blogging virginity. Write to me at roxannestc@aol.com or visit my web site at www.roxannestclaire.com. And, Lainie...read our books! Your husband will thank you.

xoxo
Rocki

posted by Roxanne St. Claire at 8:58 AM

8 Comments:

Marilyn said...: I discovered romance novels late in 2001 and my life hasn't been the same since. I devour them like some women devour chocolate. I love a dashing hero and capable heroine and especially live for the happily-ever-after ending.

Great first time, Rocki! Was it as good for you as it was for me? *g*

I can't wait to check out the rest of the new Desire site.
raine said...: I agree! I'll take a good romance novel any day. I can curl up, be snug and comfy, eat what I want, not worry about distractions, and immediately fall asleep and dream about a romance of my own...sigh...

Great first time, nice new site, Rocki! Congrats!

~Raine/Dream
Charlene said...: Great job for a rookie, Rocki! I enjoyed your comments on movies versus reading! While there are some great romantic movies out there, there's nothing like holding a book in your hands and sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading a story that tugs at your heart, makes you root for the heroine, adore the hero and wish the book would never end! And doesn't the new site look great!
Charlene Sands
Bronwyn Jameson said...: Great post, Rocki. Well done in launching the Desire Authors blog with such style. I agree 100% about romances keeping the verve in a marriage. I love when a reader thanks me from her husband / partner too!
blueberri said...: Great blog entry, Rocki...you're a natural!

I can add a step...have your husband read the Desires too...put them in a tempting place where he'll be lured to open the pages. My love life has SIZZLED since my husband became hooked on romances. He now takes time with me, instead of springing his sudden interest on me when my hands are in the dishwater. :)
Eve said...: Rookie? You could have fooled me! Great job Rocki! As usual, your writing is superb. And now I see that it's not just your fiction that can pull me into the words and make me keep reading.

Btw, I'm looking forward to THE SINS OF HIS PAST! I do love a good romance novel!

Great opening Rocki!

Eve
Anonymous said...: Rocki
Great comments! As usual.

I love Romances of many kinds. I had a Lit prof in college who said romance was at the heart of most great novels!

So why hide them. We read romance more than any other genre for heavensake. We are the majority. let's speak out and let other people ( Oprah) know what they are missing.

hugs
Kathi h
MissChievous Me said...: Rocki? A virgin? Yeah, right, since when?
LOL!

You're a pro and a champ, Rocki! :-)

Love ya and your first blog!

As for me, reading the books and watching the movies are fun and fine, but MAN! when I started writing romance -- now, that's awesome!

I went to my hairdresser after a writing session, and she looked at me up and down with suspicion and said, "You're glowing. What have you been up to?"

Hehehehe! I won't tell, but you can read all about it when I get published.

Anne

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