Wednesday, May 6, 2009

chatting over chocolate

Someone once said chocolate stops the aging process.  Now it may not be true, but do you want to take a risk?  Of course not!  That's why we eat chocolate, right?
Well, tonight we set our aging clocks back a decade or two.  And I was glad to be a part of it.  The ladies at Main Street Church, in Sackville New Brunswick, invited me to their 'Chatting over Chocolate' ladies' night out.  I was one of the guest speakers, and with table strewn with chocolate chips, chockie pretzels and little Dove chocolates about, AND chocolate trifle for dessert, am I one to turn that down?
Duh, of course not.  I decided to talk about Mythbusting The Romance Novel.  You see, my brother narrates for the Mythbusters show and so I 'borrowed' the idea a bit.  I wanted to set them all straight on romances.  I had to give my spiel twice, once on Monday night and the next Tues night.  
I think it turned out well.  I pulled no punches.  Romance writing isn't easy, and Harlequin, Love Inspired, esp. sets the standard high.  You think that Christian romances are easy to write?  You think that because Harlequin owns the line that they can't be wholesome Christian stories that touch our hearts and encourage our readers?
I wish you could have heard me, then.  Harlequin sets the bar high and is by far one of the most professional organizations I've worked for.
And, because I am who I am, I coloured my talk with a bit of fun and humour.  Things like my editor just asked me to move my island.   Apparently, it's not going to work where it is.  Other stuff like getting a 19 page contract in full blown legalese and the only thing I understand is the very tight deadline and the amount of money they're going to pay me.  (I flipped to that first)
I'd like to tell you the ladies enjoyed every minute of my talk, but the Bible says something like Speak not thine own praises, but let other men speak it.
So I'm not going to tell you they laughed and congratulated me on my talk.  (You didn't hear it from me, okay?)
And if you quote me, I'll deny it!
Have a great day!

2 comments:

Jphillips1107 said...

Sounds like a very fun and entertaining night..

Mystery and Mayhem said...

Jessicue,
thank you! It was wonderful. I met such interesting women.
Barbara