Why I Write.

Pat Davids here.
Someone asked me why I wanted to write romance novels?
Well, its because, once upon a time, I fell in love with a love story.
It was The Wolf and the Dove, an awesome historical romance by the great Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.




After I fell in love with romance novels, I started to read as many as I could. At one time, I could read five or six books a week. Yes, a week. Historicals were my favorite, but I read all kinds of romances. My husband loved to read almost as much as I did and we spent many happy hours browsing in the local book stores. He liked vampires and serial killers, not romances.

Then, a sad thing happened. I began to notice that not all books were created equal. I don't remember the name of the book I was reading, but I remember tossing it aside in disgust and thinking. "That was a terrible ending. I'd never end a book that way."

After that, I began to notice that some characters said stupid things or did stupid things that didn't make sense. I began to grumble more about poor quality writing. I lost that easy suspension of disbelief that is so important in keeping a reader engaged in the story.

All my life, stories had formed in my head and I thought I would write a book when I retired from nursing. Suddenly, I didn't want to wait. I wanted to tell a story that a reader couldn't put down. I began to think that I could write a better story and make a fortune doing it.



Right!

With an inflated sense of talent and zero knowledge of the business, I set out to write a novel. A historical novel set in Canada in the 1880s. Thankfully, it was never finished and will never see the light of day. I actually had a scene in the female grizzly bear's POV. (FYI, it wasn't really a romance.)




Along the way of my writing journey, I joined WARA. I learned what POV was, I learned what pacing was, I learned what publishers were looking for and that it wasn't one of my stories. I learned about rejections. Lots of them. I learned to revise and follow the market trends and I listened to other published authors.

I discovered that my voice fit the inspirational market, a place I wouldn't have looked to become published if not for a speaker I heard at one of our WARA meetings.

I might have fallen in love with romance novels when I was a reader, but WARA made me the writer I am today.

What are some of the things WARA or research has taught you about the craft of writing?