Girls' Night

One of the best things about being a romance author is romance author friends! Yup, I'm really blessed. My best friend is a romance author (Hi Cathy McDavid!) My sister-in-law is a romance author (Hi Patti Osback!). My father-in-law's girlfriend is a romance author (Hi Sandra Lagesse). Well, need I go on. A few weeks ago, I went to see the musical Girls Night with a few friends. There were four romance authors and one mom. I'm not going to tell you about the musical, but I'm going to tell you what romance authors do to musicals... we analyze them. We did this one a little different. We focused on characterization. There were four heroines and one angel.

Heroine number one: Married, a bit bipolar, prescription drug addict,
one child, a husband who loves her and she knows it.
Heroine number two: three times divorced, no children, loud and cheeky,
doesn't feel loved. She blew her big romance.
Heroine number three: Married, chubby, three children and one on the way,
doesn't feel loved but should.
Heroine number four: Married, schoolteacher, two children, klutzy, doesn't
feel loved but should.

After the show, we all tried to identify with one heroine. Of my friends, none of us picked heroine number one. None of us picked heroine number two. It was a 50/50 split. Two of us were chubby girl. Two of us were klutzy girl.

So often, when we write, our heroines are, well, somewhat us. I've written six books for Harlequin. I'm a teacher - yup, I've written a teacher. I have one son - yup, I've written a heroine with one son. I've stayed in a cabin in the middle of nowhere - yup, I have a heroine who spent much of her time in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Okay, look at the heroines. Which one are you? And/Or, do you write about or try to find books that are, well, somewhat you?