Relationship Inspiration

Inspiration for me can come from so many sources: songs, personal experience, and people watching. The latter being one of my favorite pastimes when I am out and about. I often find myself completely mesmerized by the interactions of those around me. Is it rude to blatantly stare at people while they go about their day, fight, kiss, make a shifty exchange, discipline their children? Sure. Do I care? Nope. I love it. It is fascinating. The exposure to different scenarios and personalities is plentiful.  My husband rolls his eyes at me and laughs. I want to think he finds it cute, quirky, and deepens his love for me. However, I think the truth lies somewhere between adorable and nosy. Hiring a private investigator to find your spouse so you can divorce them, happens in real life, people!

Personal experience inspiration can come from my relationship with my husband or even the relationships of those we are around. There are some truly epic dating, love, and heartbreak stories amongst our friends and family. 

For example, our close friend had to hire a private investigator to find his ex-wife to serve her with divorce papers. She ran away after the split, not wanting to deal with her family and the debt they accumulated

as a couple. They were married for less than a year and a half and admitted they should never have gotten married at all. Devastating, but writing gold for conflicts or past heartache.I think perhaps couples forget to consider something fundamental before they tie their lives together: are they on compatible paths? Sometimes our life goals change. Thus our paths change. That’s life.

You may diverge for a while, but some of the great love stories I’ve read (think second chance

romance) has those paths intersecting once again. As our paths turn and weave, compromise is key. You want the other person to be happy. Everyone deserves the kind of love where your partner lives to make you happy and to be happy with you.  My books will have conflict, disagreement, character flaws, miscommunication, and times where a character or two react in ways I don’t agree with. We all have these moments. Unpredictable or adverse behavior is real. The times I have been most surprised by novels I’ve read is when the hero or heroine does something seemingly out of character. Typically, I am pretty good at predicting endings, events, or secret reveals in novels and tv shows.  As paths turn and weave, compromise is key.So, I do like to be surprised now and again. My friends and family usually send my head reeling. They are not as predictable as our book friends. Books and movies can be scripted and plotted in ways that sometimes become entirely foreseeable. With most romance novels, there is a bit of a formula we all follow. However, the characters themselves, well they can be wild cards.  I take these relationships I see around me, the good and the bad, examine them to come up with various scenarios. Sometimes it becomes a conflict point between the hero and heroine, other times I re-write the event to give it a different ending. 

"Love is friendship that has caught fire" ~ Ann Landers Advice Columnist

Love can come in different shapes and sizes. Is it always epic? I don’t necessarily think so. Instead, it can be soft, warm, quiet. Or maybe it sneaks up on you. It can grow and blossom. Romance readers I know can get caught up in the drama and the all-consuming hugeness that love seems to be in some of these books. Don’t get me wrong; it’s fantastic. But, if you are waiting for these epic displays of love or a guy/girl just like your favorite book boyfriend/girlfriend. . . you may be missing out on the other kinds of love that are waiting for you. The feeling of love is what is epic, not necessarily the story of how you met, the crazy journey. It’s not always crazy, but it sure will be sweet. I want my books to portray all the different kinds of love, and I hope you can feel that.