Real Love Scenes

With the recent surge in popularity of erotica, there’s a lot of discussion these days about love scenes in books. How much is too much? What words can be used? Which words go too far?

I haven’t really been paying attention. My books don’t have sex scenes in them. Though I like to think I do have a good many love scenes.

I suppose it’s a difference in definition, but when my hero realizes in MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE that his ex-wife volunteers her precious little free time to a charitable organization that helps abused women find a safe place to live, and his heart turns over in his chest…Well, I sort of think that’s a love scene.

A real love scene. Sex scenes can absolutely involve love. But I don’t they are the only love scenes in town.

There are several great ones in MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE as the hero tries to deny his love for his ex-wife. She’s back in his life, working as his once-a-week housekeeper. Technically, they shouldn’t even see each other. But he loves her. He always has. He can’t admit it because she left him and he’s one of those alpha males who doesn’t like people leaving him. But having her in his house tempts him beyond belief. He simply can’t stay away.

Not because he wants to sleep with her, though they do have amazing chemistry. But because they have an unresolved past. And part of what needs to be resolved is the love that he just can’t seem to get rid of.

Liz, the heroine, has some real love scenes too. When Cain pitches in and helps out with the charity as a way to get close to her, Liz sees his kindness to kids who’ve been forced to leave their abusive dads. She sees him take them under his wing, provide a male role model, show them how men are supposed to behave.

They’re strangers, people Cain doesn’t have to help or love or even like. Yet he can’t resist that either. And as Liz watches, her heart expands, the way a heart should expand to accommodate real love.

MAID FOR THE SINGLE DAD, the August release in The Housekeepers Says I Do duet for Harlequin romance, is a tad different. Mac Carmichael is divorced with two kids and needs a nanny. The first thing Ellie Swanson notices is that his kids are love starved. Not that Mac has tried to fill the void of the missing mom, but it’s hard for a dad to be a mom. Ellie, a former foster child who had run away when she was in her teens and has been without family since, is as in need of someone to love as the kids are in need of someone to love them.

When Mac arrives home unexpectedly and finds Ellie playing tea party with his daughter, Lacy, under a tree, dressed in bed linens knotted into a party gown, his heart turns over. As Ellie tells Lacy the story of Cinderella, Mac realizes his little girl’s own mother never told her fairytales, but this virtual stranger is so good she’s willing wrap a sheet around her and fill in the blanks.

Real love scenes frequently sneak up on readers. They happen in those normal moments that somehow turn extraordinary when a hero forgets himself and steps out of his comfort zone to make someone else feel special. They happen when a heroine forgets her own troubles and steps up to be a mother of sorts for a little girl starved for affection.

They happen when a heroine sees her hero really acting like a hero and her heart unlocks a bit.

I have no problem with sex in books. In fact, I sometimes read erotica, but to me there’s nothing that takes the place of a real love scene. A scene where real love blossoms. Sometimes from sacrifice. Sometimes from someone simply going the extra mile.

To me that’s where real heroes and heroines are made.

My First Love!

My first love

I'm not going to tell you the year. I won't even tell you how old I was. But the summer I fell in love for the first time, it wasn't with a boy, but with a book. A Harlequin Romance.

My family wasn't poor, but we weren't wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I have ten brothers and sisters. We grew up on a small farm too far out in the country to get cable or the Internet. Winters were cold, but summers were long and boring. Tuesdays I'd walk to the bookmobile and usually pick up a biography. One day, I casually grabbed a paperback on my way to the checkout desk. After my chores were done the next morning, I took the Harlequin to a shade tree and that began an adventure that continues to this day.

Except today Harlequin Romance authors don’t write about downtrodden heroines. Our heroines are women of the twenty-first century. Educated. Talented. Their troubles aren't financial. They're deeper, richer. The ordeals my heroines face are the same trials faced by modern women. Broken marriages, miscarriages, widowhood, abuse, betrayal. My heroines have already gone through the ringer. They aren't searching for someone to take care of them. They can take care of themselves. They're searching for someone to share their journey.

Our heroes aren't overbearing wealthy guys willing to step in and save the day if only our heroine will submit to them. Nope. They might be rich. Some might even be Alpha males. But they quickly recognize our heroine doesn't want to be saved. She wants to be considered an equal. Which usually throws the hero for a loop. It's easy for a rich guy to provide a bit of cash. But give his heart? For real? Forever? That's usually a deal breaker.

And that's also what makes the journey to real love in Harlequin Romances so interesting and so diversified. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no formula for getting a hero and heroine together. Just as in real life there is no one way men and women fall in love, there is no way to predict or formulize how our strong-willed, sometimes broken, always determined, big-hearted heroine will fall in love. No way to predict or formulize how our equally strong-willed, sometimes broken, always determined hero will allow himself to be vulnerable enough to find real love.

But when they do, ah, when they do, it's magic. Your heart lifts. You realize that happy endings can be found. You'll smile. There might even be a spring in your step. The world won't change, but you might see it through a happier perspective.

So take a Harlequin Romance to the beach this summer. Hey, take one of MY Harlequin Romances to the beach this summer -- MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE or MAID FOR THE SINGLE DAD. Lift your heart. Inspire your soul. Make yourself happy on vacation this year. Come home rested, happy you took a journey with two people on their way to destiny.

susan meier

Some fun this week

Today's blog is next in line...scroll down for the blog. Here's soee info for writers. But scroll down for today's blog!

I'm doing a Q&A session on savvyauthors.com on Friday. I'll be answering questions all day on How To Write A Category Romance!

In August I'll be doing Story, Theme and Vehicle...Here's the info.

WritersOnlineClasses.com is proud to present one of its two online classes
in August: Story, Theme and Vehicle with instructor Susan Meier:

Instructor: multi-published author Susan Meier
CLASS: Story, Theme and Vehicle
4-week class $30 August 1-31 COST $30
Registration ends July 31, 2010

CLASS: Story, Theme and Vehicle

Have you ever written a book that was good, but simply didn't seem good
enough? Or one that wasn't cohesive? Or one that should have been wonderful
but seemed to fall flat? In Story, Theme and Vehicle, Susan Meier explains
how knowing your book's story type, story question, and the difference
between its theme and its "vehicle" will keep your book focused. Learn the
five easy steps to a synopsis and the four steps to a one-paragraph pitch.

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Susan Meier is the author of over 40 books for Harlequin and
Silhouette and one of Guideposts' Grace Chapel Inn series books, The
Kindness of Strangers. Her books have been finalists for New Jersey's Golden
Leaf, Reviewers Choice Awards, National Reader's Choice Awards and
Cataromance.com and Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer's Choice Awards. HER
BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS won the 2009 More Than Magic Contest, Sweet
Contemporary Category. Her Pregnancy Surprise an October 2007 release was
both a Walden Books bestseller and a bookscan bestseller! Her 2010 releases
are MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE, MAID FOR THE SINGLE DAD and COUNTRY TWIN
CHRISTMAS in the Enchanted Christmas anthology for Harlequin Romance with
Barbara Wallace.

Susan loves to teach as much as she loves to write and is a popular speaker
at RWA chapter conferences. Her article "How to Write a Category Romance"
appeared in 2003 Writer's Digest Novel and Short Story Markets. Susan also
gives online workshops for various groups and her articles regularly appear
in RWA chapter newsletters.

For more information or to register, go to
www.WritersOnlineClasses.com OR email info@WritersOnlineClasses.com

Great Time in Florida Over the Weekend

That's me and my friend, Sharon at a booksigning last weekend. I love to travel, but there are certain places I love visiting more than others. The STAR chapter in Melbourne, Florida is one of them.

We had a great dinner out on Friday night, then a wonderful meeting where I gave the CAN THIS MANUSCRIPT BE SAVED workshop. Everybody at the meeting was intersted and attentive. After the meeting, we walked across the street to the Books A Million where I signed copies of MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE for everyone.

I returned home on Sunday refreshed and ready to write! Good thing since I have a book due next Friday!

MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE is now on the stands! Pick up a copy today!

susan

Great Review of MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE

This is from Elizabeth at Bellaonline. If you like romance novels and you're looking for some ontarget reviews, here is a link to her reviews. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art67659.asp

This time out, I have the latest from Susan Meier, Maid for the
Millionaire (Harlequin Romance, received from author), first in a pair of 'Housekeepers Say I Do!' In the series starter, Liz Harper and her partner Ellie have a cleaning business called Happy Maids. Except that Liz is not very happy when the first job of her day presents her with her remote ex-husband standing nearly naked in the kitchen. Cain Nestor isn't all that happy about the situation either. He knows he screwed up their marriage and being reminded of it now doesn't make him feel any better about the past. Only maybe now he can make up for hurting her the way he did back when they were married. Liz knows better than to get involved with Cain again, no matter what her heart says. Their marriage started off perfectly, and then went straight downhill, and only a masochist would put herself through that again. Plus Liz has kept a secret all these years from Cain, and sharing it with him now can only make things worse. Except their paths keep crossing, and no matter what their best intentions, their emotions are bound to get tangled up again. Liz is a terrific heroine, smart and determined, and her pet project aside from work is fantastic. Cain thinks he can make the past right and move on, until he finds out about Liz's secret, and by then he's fallen in love with her all over again. Which makes him believe they can't have a happy ending. Make sure you have some tissues handy when you sit down with this one, as Ms. Meier is a master at getting her readers' emotions just as tangled up as her characters'. I'm borrowing four of Cupid's five arrows for this one. It's absolutely great!

Authors Helping Writers

I've always been one of those people who believes in paying it forward...and giving back in gratitude for the gifts I've received. In particular, I believe in helping new writers.

If you go to my Coming Attractions page, you'll see that. I'm flying to Melbourne, Florida this weekend to give a workshop for their RWA chapter. (Hi, guys! Waving!) In September I will once again give my CAN THIS MANUSCRIPT BE SAVED workshop for NEORWA. Online workshop slots for 2011 are already filling up.

Flying to RWA chapter meetings and conferences and posting 2 lessons a week (and checking the homework and answering the email questions) takes a huge bite out of my time. I've actually seriously considered quitting twice.

But the urge doesn't last for more than a week. Why? Because I love teaching because it really is a way to touch the future. To help somebody who might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.

I remember how I longed to be a published author. I remember studying, scrimping and saving for conferences, driving places I'd never been, getting lost, longing for a moment of a published author's time in the hope that she could tell me what I'd been missing...

And lots of authors took the time to help me.

It's weird for someone in the public eye to put herself in the vulnerable position of admitting she didn't know very much so she had to study and she studied so hard that she now has ten workshops full of material! But if I don't admit the truth...how will the author who's just holding on by a thread hold on just the one more year or month or week or day that she needs to before her manuscript is noticed?

If writers who are successful, who make a living doing what they love, don't admit it wasn't always easy...How will others see the struggle is worth it?

And if writers who are now bestsellers for their publisher (or category line) don't say...Hey, I had to search out my style and voice so that I could find a place where I would entertain the wonderful readers who like what I write...then how will the writers desperately looking for their place in this business know that there is a place for them?

So I teach. I teach a lot. I don't teach to sell books...though I would hope that those who benefit from my workshops would do me the favor of supporting me the way I'm supporting them! LOL I don't teach for money. Though expenses are paid, I typically don't get a speaker fee from the chapters I visit. And, well, you've seen online workshop fees. My cut of the money is minimal.

But I like it that way. I like knowing that I do this with a pure motive. That I'm not doing this to shake down poor writers who are already struggling. I like knowing that I setting something in motion ...

A wave of writers allowing themselves to be vulnerable and admit they had their hard times...

A wave of writers helping other writers...

A wave of writers building the future.

I want to know that in twenty years or so when I retire to a beach, there'll be an abundance of books by wonderful authors that I can read!

So, if I'm coming to your chapter or your confernce or if I'm the online speaker for the next online workshop you attend, settle in and get ready for a ride. If you listen, really listen objectively, you won't just get a lesson on how to plot or edit or create a character to die for...you'll also see that the journey might be a bit difficult, but it's certainly worth it.

And you can do it.

susan

MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE is out at the local Walmart! THAT'S the thrill you're working for.

A Rite of Passage

My friend just told me a cute story about her granddaughter cutting her own hair. That reminded me of my daughter, Sarah, cutting her hair two days before her older brother Mikie's first communion.

She was about five and she had the most luxurious thick brown hair. Apparently, she wanted bangs because she cut a swatch out in the front. But, not really understanding hair cutting techniques, she snipped close to the scalp.

The only thing my sister, Laura, the family beautician, could do was give her a "spike" hairdo, which at the time was wildly popular.

So Sunday for Mikie's first communion, we walked into the church with a little girl who could have been a little boy. I tried dressing her in pink, but the hairdo didn't go well with a dress, so we were stuck with a pink "peanut suit" and even in pink she looked like a boy.

The funny part of it was she was proud of herself. She liked her new short hair and believed that her liking the new do made everything she'd done to get it okay. For years we couldn't risk letting her alone with scissors!

My friend's story ended a little differently. Her granddaughter Payton ended up in the very same beautician's chair that her mother Amy had sat in when she cut her own hair. The beautician was the daughter of the beautician who had straightened out the mess Amy had made of her hair.

They laughed remembering Amy's self-inflicted buzz cut. But we were struck by the sense of continuity and tradition in one silly act. All little girls must cut their own hair, but only in a small town can you end up in the same beautician's chair to get it straightened out!


susan

Don't forget MAID FOR THE MILLIONAIRE should be in stores next week.