Embrace your Gifts
Fears are a funny thing. Sometimes they are based on something that actually happened, while other times they are based on what hasn't happened, or what might happen. Sometimes fears are in your face obvious. Some are constantly in the back of your mind. And then there are those that have been so deeply internalized into you that you had absolutely no idea that it was a fear. Recently I have uncovered two very deeply held beliefs: I am afraid of prosperity because of taxes and I'm embarrassed to be a writer of "romance."
I know. Those are very random and specific things to be afraid of. Who in their right mind would be afraid of prosperity? And because of taxes? Really? (Imagine an unimpressed look here) There are ways of quelling that fear by learning about the dumpster fire known as taxes. You fear what you do not understand so if I eliminate that fear by understanding the process, it's not a fear any more.
So, now that I'm taking care of the "easy" one -- Now comes the more challenging one. You would think my fear would be grammar mistakes the manuscript gremlins make and publishing work with *gasp* spellings errors both you and spell check didn't catch. Nope. I had always believed that I'd be a mystery writer. I'd be stringing together murder-mysteries and haunted novels. But, c'mon, a romance writer? I mean, that's kinda like being a fantasy writer or even a fantasy sci-fi writer. A romance writer? I'm envisioning the "Romancing the Stone" movie and Hallmark holiday films and the long haired renaissance style dressed characters like Fabio on those 1990s paperback novels we saw in the grocery store as kids. I have been so very insistent that my writing is fiction. That's it -- FICTION.
So, as you can clearly see, my writing is fiction. But when I'd explain my work to someone else, they'd nod with understanding and say, "Oh, so you write contemporary romance."
Confession: What the heck is contemporary romance?
Modern Romance.
Oh.
(Insert frowny face here.) Yeah, no, I'm NOT a romance writer. Just because your work covers life, doesn't make it romance.
Then it came to publishing my books and choosing the categories. I chose fiction. But what kind of fiction? Uh, just fiction. Thank you. Then people began reading my books and that's when I realized 'holy crap, they are romance novels.' (buries face in hands)
Alright, so now that I realize that, I thought, I'm just going to do what every normal human being does and immediately ignore and deny. I'll point fingers and redirect and nobody will EVER realize I write romance. Just fiction.
And how's that going for me?
The funny thing about life -- about being human. We are very very powerful balls of energy. We create what we focus on, and we manifest our experiences in life based on those deeply held beliefs we may or may not be aware of. Yes, we have control of life, however things do happen, but those happenings are attracted to us to show us that we are "right" in what we believe. (I promised not to get more philosophical.) So, although I was mortified about being a 'romance writer,' I subconsciously told the rest of the world to 'ignore' my writing, my posts, my books, me. Just ignore me. I'm too embarrassed. Don't look at me. Let me hide in shame. I'm too embarrassed to discuss my work because because ask a lot of questions. Romance novels are sappy. (I should know because I've read more than my share of romance novels and even have some on my book shelves with the mysteries and ghost stories and non-fiction books.)
Fast forward to my big A-Ha moment. Amazon recently updated their categories for books. As a 'publisher' I got to go back into my work and choose new categories. I had them all listed in "Fiction/Romance/Contemporary Romance/General." It grated on me. I narrowed my eyes at that category, seeing just how my rankings for that genre was. Wow. There were over a million other novels selling better than any one of mine. That is....deflating.
So, I popped open the new category lists and chose: Fiction. Ok. that's cool.
Then it wanted a subcategory.
Aw, crap. I chose "romance" because well, it's not exactly sci-fi....or historical....or.....well shoot.
So far I have: Fiction/Romance. And then they asked for me to chose three more sub-subcategories to better let my readers know what my books were about.
I saw the first one: Action and Adventure. Oooooh, I like that. All ten of my books have action and adventure in them. I'll choose that.
As I'm reading the list I begrudgingly choose "contemporary" and then it hits me as I read the next one that stands out.
I swore to myself. Nine out of ten of my books classify as this next one -- Military.
There's no denying it -- I am am an author of fictional contemporary military action and adventure romance. Oddly enough, I was writing that far before I even met my veteran husband.
So...Days later, I have slowly accepted that I am still an author of fiction. I write whatever comes to my mind. On June 19th, my 10th book, Could've Been Something, a collection of short stories, is going to be released. You can pre-order it on Amazon and at www.barnesandnoble.com. It is fiction. It offers a little something for everyone, not just military romance, but since my books contain life, that's what you'll get -- an adventure full of life, mystery, and romance.
After all, what would life be without romance?
So, hello. I am Em Brooks and I write fictional military romance. Thank you for hanging out with me today, I appreciate it.
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