Isn’t This Glamorous? Leading the Life of a Romance Writer

By Stephanie Queen

If I’m leading the glamorous life of a romance writer, then what is glamour anyway? It’s every gal’s dream come true, isn’t it? For instance, at a book-signing, having every Fabio-like guy in the room standing in line for an autograph… or a photograph with you. There’s something about the flash of a camera in a buzzing crowd-filled room that screams out “GLAMOUR!” (at least that’s what I thought I heard).

Don’t look now, but in this photo taken at my recent book-signing, this random fan (I use the term *fan* loosely—but he was definitely random) topped the male portion of the audience. Not exactly Fabio-like (so who really likes Fabio anyhow? He’s so 80s cliché.) but we weren’t exactly in Hollywood. (We were at an undisclosed location which I can’t disclose due to my super-notoriety and wanting to maintain some privacy—the downside to the glamorous life.) (yeah, right. Boo-hoo.)

Back to figuring out what glamorous means. According to Webster, glamorous means : full of glamour (no kidding): excitingly attractive, such as a glamorous life. As if Merriam knew. Had they even invented cameras in his day?

Favorite Synonym: romantic. Yes, even Merriam is enticed by the connotations of romance. Although I’ll bet he never wrote a romance novel. Outlandish was my second favorite synonym. I can testify to outlandish. I’ve been to a romance writers convention.

Least Favorite Synonym: Bizarro. Hmmm.

Favorite Antonym: plain Jane, closely followed by the uncreative antonym, unromantic.

And my favorite unrelated feature in Websters: “Rhymes With” GLAMOROUS: amorous and clamorous. They definitely go with the glamorous territory. I could write a poem (but don’t worry, I won’t) (see bizarro).

So in summary, the answer to the question “Isn’t this glamorous?” is of course it is! If my life as a romance writer wasn’t excitingly attractive, why else would I do it? Isn’t glamour everything? Plain Jane is out. Bizarro? Well that’s another story for another day.

What do you picture as the ultimate glamorous moment of a romance writer’s life?

We'll give a copy of The Throwbacks to one commenter today. Here's the scoop on the book: 

To salvage his career, exiled Scotland Yard "Flying Squad" detective, the not-so-young David Young, joins the Boston Police Department. But this rogue detective can’t resist an unlikely romance with his young and vivacious decorator, Grace Rogers, even when she becomes a key witness in his high-stakes case—and like Kryptonite to his career and well-being.

Stephanie Queen writes romance novels while running from the paparazzi who constantly haunt her excitingly attractive life. Her most recent release is The Throwbacks, the first in the Scotland Yard Exchange Program series of romantic comedy suspense novels. Visit her at www.StephanieQueen.com for all the latest in her glamorous romance-writing life.

Where Has March Gone?

Sorry to have been absent from the blog these last couple of weeks. Things have been nuttier than usual! I was sad to hear on March 2 that my friend Doug Haywood died during heart surgery at the age of 59. Doug is a past president of the Association I work for, and as the communications director, I work closely with the presidents. Yesterday, at Doug's memorial in Phoenix, I told his friends and family that my job is to make the presidents look good during their year in office. Some require more help than others, but Doug didn't need much help from me to look good. We hit it off right out of the gate and have been friends ever since. In 1997 we held our annual conference in Doug's home city of Phoenix. Doug and his wife Kathy held a memorable party at their home the night before the conference began. I hadn't been back there again until yesterday when we gathered at Doug's house after his memorial service.

The last time I saw Doug was this past June, at our conference in New Orleans. He "kidnapped" me from the welcome reception and invited me out to dinner with Kathy and one of the other past presidents and his wife. I said I was worried about being a "fifth wheel," but Doug told me not to be ridiculous and insisted I come with them. I'm so glad now that I did. We had such a great time with lots of laughs and old stories. Doug treated us all and was in high spirits to be spending time with old friends. That's how I'll remember him, as an old friend who was always happy to see me whenever our paths crossed, as a devoted family man who loved his wife and daughter, as a dedicated public servant who gave his entire professional career to the state of Arizona, and as someone who was taken from us far too soon.

After the memorial service, Dan and I headed over to the Arizona Grand Resort, the same place where my company held its meeting in 1997. Way back when, Dan and then two-year-old Emily joined me here and we had such a great time. We went exploring this morning and checked out the place where we held the conference, which I remembered like it was yesterday and not 13 years ago. It's nice to enjoy some kid free R&R after a crazy couple of months.

This past week, I blogged at Magical Musings about the sale of Fatal Affair. If you didn't get a chance to check it out, here is the link. There's a great story behind the story, and I hope you enjoy it. Have a great weekend!