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| Bodice-Rippers Make
Mellow Valentines
Capital News Service Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 WASHINGTON - Historical romance author Janet Mullany has to stop laughing at the idea of being a romance expert before she can talk about Valentine's Days with her husband of 11 years, Steve. "He's bought me presents, or flowers? I really can't remember," she said. "He'll be really insulted if he reads this," admitted the Cheverly author of "Dedication," a steamy novel about reunited lovers. In her fictional world, romance ensues when the hero ties the heroine to her sofa with a scarf before licking her toes in an effort to blackmail her. In reality, she says, "I don't really have a lot of romance in my own life. I'm busy." While members of the Maryland Romance Writers' group might write exotic fantasies for publication, their own romantic expectations are much more ordinary. Some For Valentine's Day, most have a sedate evening planned with their husbands. Yet, the writers all agree, sounding a lot like women everywhere, that while Valentine's Day isn't a huge event for them, year-round romantic intentions and unexpected gestures of love are encouraged. "It's one day a year, (but) it would be nice to keep things going all year round," said Mullany. Her husband does understand her needs, she said, and sometimes even brings her flowers for no reason at all. "I'll go all silly about it," she said. "I have to confess that Janet is pretty easy to please," Steve Mullany wrote in an e-mail. "There have been times when I wanted to take her to some pricey restaurant or buy her something big and gaudy, but she would have none of it. Often, she just wants to stay home and cuddle up to watch a favorite Regency romance flick, a genre we both adore," he wrote. Erotic writer Emma Sinclair, of Greenbelt, also endorses everyday romance. "I think of romance as being more of an everyday thing, bringing home flowers for no reason -- which I don't get, by the way," she said. Sinclair, the author's pseudonym, puts aside her own modest romance when writing her books, which leave nothing to the imagination. "There's no door closing," she said. "There's graphic sex scenes, but they further the plot." The heroine in Sinclair's first novel, "A Walk on the Wild Side," finds her love interest at a strip club, Lenny's House of Tail, on amateur night. Her character, Shannon, wants to try out some moves she picked up in her cardio striptease class, and the protagonist, Nick, is there to evaluate her lessons. Sinclair's own love life is decidedly simpler. She and her
husband dated while at Ohio's Case Western Reserve University, where
she remembers they made each other valentines from computer paper
and crayons.
Knowing your wife is imagining hanging out at Lenny's House of
Tail while you're making her a crayon Valentine might intimidate
some spouses, but these romance writer husbands not only encourage,
but sometimes participate in the creative process.
Lauren Sharman, author of the upcoming "No Worries," a romantic
suspense novel detailing a love affair between characters named
Rebel and Gypsy, uses her husband Joey's wild youth for plot points.
"He is the inspiration for a lot of my novel. He is my ultimate
hero," Sharman, of Laurel, said. "He told me stories, adventures
that they had during trips to Ocean City."
Sharman's husband is no slouch when it comes to those daily
romantic gestures. Every day before he leaves for work he kisses his
wife goodbye, and occasionally he'll drive out of the neighborhood,
turn around, and drive home for another kiss.
"It's the little things," he said.
Historical romance writer Diane Wylie, of Havre de Grace, also
uses her husband as a reference: Edward fought in Vietnam, and his
experiences helped her create the Civil War soldiers that populate
her novels, "My Enemy, My Love," and the upcoming "Secrets and
Sacrifices."
Wylie's husband also helps with sales.
"I will sell her book to anybody. I'll mention, 'Oh yeah, my wife
wrote a book!' and everybody is immediately interested," he said. "I
love her a great deal."
The beginning of the Wylies' own love affair could have been a
scene from one of her books: Diane unhappily attended Edward's first
wedding as a guest.
"I was trying to be happy for him, but I didn't like her," she
said of his first wife. She finally got her man after helping him
through his first divorce.
Now, they keep their Valentine's Day plans simple.
"We'll probably just go out, just the two of us. We're a little
low-key, after 25 years," she said.
Even relative newlywed Sinclair only has tentative dinner plans
with her husband of about 18 months, Graeme.
"We'll go out to dinner, but probably the day before or after,"
she said, plotting to avoid the crowded restaurants.
Sharman will most likely make heart-shaped cookies for her two
children, 12 and 5, and leave a card for Joey in the bathroom.
Mullany says she'll probably be asleep by the time Steve gets
home from work about 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
"The passion between you takes a lot of energy," Wylie said of
any couple's romantic beginnings. "You couldn't go on like that.
You'd have a heart attack."
Spoken like a true romantic.
Copyright ©
2006 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of
Journalism |
