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Here's the Real Heroes
Author: Gaynelle Doll
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: February 2003
One of the thrills those of us who are as yet unpublished like to experience
vicariously is attending book signings of friends whom we have cheered on,
critiqued, and envied.
After attending several of these joyous occasions, I have concluded that
published writers are lucky in more ways than their writing. More often than
not, there’s a supportive husband lurking in the background — carrying in
books, hoping for a good turnout, quietly basking in the reflected glow of his
wife’s success.
I was thinking about the unsung role our husbands and boyfriends play
recently during my critique group’s monthly session. We were all holding forth
with our opinion of some plot point in Annie Solomon’s work in progress, when
Annie casually said, “Well Larry thinks…”
“You mean Larry’s read it?” I asked.
Annie’s husband, it turns out, reads all her books — not just the cleaned
up, Ready for Primetime version, but the beginning draft. My former critique
partner Tammy Schmanski (aka Tamara Leigh) also routinely shared her writing
with her husband and valued his feedback. Annie’s husband has some kind of
investments job I still do not understand, and Tammy’s husband owned a real
estate company, so it’s safe to say romance novels are out of both of these
guys’ everyday world.
And still, they read what their wives write.
When I won The Tennessean’s Summer Fiction Contest a few months ago, my
husband was so proud and excited he got up at 5:30 a.m. the Sunday morning it
was to appear in the paper, drove to our neighborhood Kroger and bought up a
dozen copies, bringing it up to me while I was still in bed.
“It’s great!” he said. “Your picture is great!” If he was a
rooster, the whole neighborhood would have heard him crowing. And he refrained
from pointing out that he had given me the best line in the story which won.
Let’s face it: No one hopes for us, believes in us, soothes our neuroses,
feels our rejections more than the guys who share our beds and our lives. This,
despite the fact that we are taking time away from them, time away from our
families, to write about fantasy men who are not real flesh and blood guys but
superheroes who are impossibly handsome, richer than God, and instinctively know
how to make love that would blast your socks off.
This, despite the fact that romance novels are not held in highregard among
the male of our species. This, despite the fact that, thanks to our most
creative burst of energy, they can’t remember the last time they had a Meal
Like Mom Used to Make (probably the last time Mom made it).
Those readership surveys that show that a high percentage of romance readers
are married don’t surprise me a bit. We may idealize men on the pages, but it’s
often the relationships that we have in real life, with men with real flaws,
that inspire us, that make us believe in the power of love.
Here’s a valentine to the men in our lives. Here’s to the real heroes.
***
GayNelle Doll is a charter member of MCRW. When she’s not writing articles
for her day job at Vanderbilt University, she’s penning hilarious stories of
love and laughter.
Love Notes, the official monthly newsletter of Music City Romance
Writers, is provided to paying members free of charge. If you are an MCRW member and would like to submit an article to
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