VALENTINE'S DAY

As a romance writer, how could I slight the one day of the year to honor love and romance? But I’ve been happily married for many years and have a few grown children, so--although I might write contemporary romances as if I were young enough to participate--it’s all from memory and imagination. (Well, not all: I still get more than hand-holding from my hubby.)


Along with wisdom as we age, we accumulate memories that find their way into our books. In my first blog I mentioned the romantic way I met a man many years ago and put that into a novel. And today, I’m thinking about long before that, to when I was a child, and looked eagerly for valentines from grade school boys to come my way (very few did). I also remember when my gift was a blender! And another time when it was a huge bouquet of red roses.

As you may remember, some years ago, a group of Hollywood writers sued the studios for age discrimination. They couldn’t get writing assignments when they reached forty. “You’re too old to write about twenty-somethings,”` they’d been told. That’s ridiculous, because we remember being twenty. How can a twenty-year-old write about people in their fifties or older when they’ve never been there? I think the writers won that battle. At least I hope they did.

The television magazine 60 Minutes just did a story about three women--all in their sixties--who are attractive, vibrant, and still making people sit up and take notice. Does Meryl Streep sound familiar?

So romance, like wisdom, opportunity, success and love can come at any time. My husband’s aunt married for the first time at sixty; a friend did it at sixty-two, another friend at seventy-eight. To all who believe in romance, let’s celebrate Valentine’s Day by remembering, reading about, and writing about love. We may not receive any valentines, but our hearts will be full of joy.