A Book about My Life...?

Last week I did an interview on author Matthew Peters’s blog—it’s still up there, go take a look. I had a good time answering Matt’s questions and they were great questions, ones that really made you stop to think. One that particularly intrigued me was this: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called?

 

Hmmmm… that was a tough question because I had to start with the whole concept that someone would be interested enough to want to write a book about me. I can probably count on the fingers on one hand—maybe just using only three fingers—the people who would want to do that. My husband is that interested in me, maybe my kid is, but who really knows what goes on in the mind of a 30-something male, and most likely, my mom. But she passed away over twenty years ago, so that’s probably not going to happen.

To answer that questions, I had to think about what made me interesting. Another hard concept because to me, I seem very ordinary, except that I’m a writer and people do seem to find that kind of intriguing. Particularly fascinating to others is that I’m a romance writer. When that is revealed, most folks stop to gaze at me for a moment, as if they’re trying to picture this rather round, Baby Boomer involved in a ménage-a-trois or some other torrid activity. Because you know, all romance writers are out there doing stuff that the average menopausal woman wouldn’t dream of doing.

Sometimes, I just gaze back and let their imaginations run wild. If I’m with Husband, they’ll sometimes give him a raised eyebrow or a knowing smile. He’s the spouse of a romance writer and by golly, his life has to be pretty darn… um… fun. I would tell them that we’ve pretty much got the same life that most long-married couples do, but I don’t because unlike many long-married couples, we’re still kinda silly about each other and I still think Husband is the sexiest guy out there. And, well… maybe I do take some of what I write from my own experience.

My heroes are always gentle, uber-intelligent guys—sexy nerds, if you will—who are artsy and a little (okay sometimes a lot!) geeky and want a happily-ever-after just as much as my heroines. The women I write are closer to me than I might admit, although often, physically, they’re the me I’d like to be (read skinny here). They’re also confident, but a little unsure; intelligent, but sometime prone to thinking with their hearts instead of their heads; and always, always apt to overthink most situations.

My answer to Matthew’s question was SNAP OUT OF IT. It was my mom’s best advice when I worried too much about stuff over which I have no control because I’ve always believed I can fix everything for people I care about. If Mom had written the story of my life, I’m sure that’s the title she would have chosen. She was right. She still is. I need to relax, let life do its own thing, and stop believing I’m responsible for other people’s happiness. I need to snap out of it.

So, how about you? If someone wrote the story of your life, what would the title be?

**Oh, and the stuffed beaver? Well, he has nothing whatsoever to do with this topic except that he's cute and he's sitting on desk staring at me while I write this, probably wondering what he'd choose as a title for a book about his life.