I have four kids under five years old. It’s a lot. I’m really tired most of the days I exist, and I rarely sleep through the night. I wake up with coughing babies, or a screaming toddler, or a panicked kindergartener. I would think that I would want to spend all my free time staring at some really stupid tv and turning off my brain.
But, I write. And, I write for so many reasons. It makes me happy. It makes me crazy. It makes me feel justified in my intellectual self. I’ve written forever. In eighth grade, I wrote a book (probably a short story) in a composition notebook that had a giant pink hippie daisy sticker on the cover and the girls in my grade passed it around. Every single girl in my grade read it. Now, I went to a really small school and there were only eleven other girls, but still! I was a best-seller in my mind. (I have no idea where that notebook is, but I would give ANYTHING to read it. From what I remember, it was horrible, in the best possible way. I think the main character got married at seventeen and the story took place in the 1990’s.) So, why am I writing contemporary romance? That is a really good question, especially for me. I’ve never been a contemporary romance writer, well, at least not since eighth grade. I’ve written fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, anything to get me out of the world that I live in and somewhere else. But, then I had kids, and what I was reading changed. I no longer wanted to throw myself into 1,000 page epics. I wanted to read something light, happy, and a little naughty. I started reading tons of historical romances and fell deeply in love with a few kilted-Scotsmen and several English Dukes with surprisingly ripped abs. I also switched from watching Law and Order: SVU and Spartacus to Hallmark movies. I never stopped watching Outlander. But, as what I read and watched changed, so did what I wrote. I was in the midst of writing the third book of a fantasy series I wrote (years ago) when I opened a new document and wrote the first chapter to And Then It Was You. I had no idea why I was writing it, or who these characters would turn out to be, or if I would ever even use it. To be honest, I walked away from it for a long time. I finished the fantasy series, got pregnant with twins, delivered twins, and when the twins were seven months old, opened up that document again and poured myself into it. I wrote the initial draft in about three weeks, the fastest I had ever written anything. So, I challenged myself. I knew I wanted that book to be the first of a four-book series. I was going to write a book a month. And I was going to become a contemporary romance writer. So here I am, about 65% done with book two, Dance for You. I’m a little ahead of schedule for finishing, and that’s better than behind. I never know when we’re going to get hit with strep, or hand, foot, and mouth, or the flu. And the best part is, I’m so happy doing this. I hope reading this series makes you as happy as writing it makes me. Love always, Lucy
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Lucy HudsonMy thoughts on the writing and indie publishing process, as well as life occasionally Archives
April 2020
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