I’ve got be honest here, I’m a sucker when it comes to romance. That’s why I write it and that’s why I read it. I mean, what’s not to like? That rush you get when that certain someone makes you feel as if you’re the only person in the world; it’s a pretty heady feeling. So I decided to look up the meaning of romance and this is what I found.

“A feeling of mystery and remoteness from everyday life, associated with love.”

Hmmm. Remoteness from everyday life? Associated with love, but not necessarily love. Most of us have experienced romance, and usually love is involved, but not always. So I got to thinking, if you can have romance without love, can you have love without romance?

February 2nd is my 45th wedding anniversary and in those years I’ve experienced amazing love and amazing romance, but not always at the same time. I’ve always felt the love, but as life happened in our marriage, when kids came along, and careers brought pressure, the romance took a back seat. Doesn’t mean I liked it, but between sporting events, dance lessons, music lessons; well, you get the idea, we definitely fell in the category of love without romance.

So, if I could only have one for the rest of my life, which one would I choose? The excitement of romance, or the tenderness of love? Id go with love any day of the week. Because for me, this is what true love looks like.

I had a terrible cold, and was miserable. But then so was my husband. At 3:30 am I woke him up because my swollen sinuses were making my head feel like a watermelon about to be smashed, and I needed relief. In the cold, dark morning he went downstairs and got me a decongestant, along with a hot, steamy rag for my face. And then he wrapped me up in his arms and for the next hour massaged my head and neck, until I fell back to sleep. There’s not a flower or a sonnet in the world that could have been more romantic than that.

And just for the record, I get up some mornings and find sweet notes in the coffee can! Maybe not the romantic notes I sometimes yearn for, but the ones that tell me all I need to know. After 45 years my husband still wants me, and that’s love and romance all wrapped into one!

This is a picture from our wedding, when we were young and thought the highs of romance would follow us throughout our life. And you know what? Maybe they did, because 45 years together is quite a feat, and I look forward to every one of them yet to come.

Until we read again 📚…

Blessings,

Dana L ❤️

💝The giveaway celebrating love begins on my anniversary, February 2, 2019. Be watching for the links and the #450202, and enter by sending Charlotte or Nick a valentines message through my website comment section. The WINNER will receive both of my romance novels, personally signed to them💝

Contest runs through February 13, 2019

A couple of weeks ago an new author I met on Twitter sent me a message telling me that our romance books were very much alike. Of course, I panicked because Lottie Loser was written in my head for two years before I ever sat down at a computer, and there was no way our books could be alike! Turns out they aren’t, but there are a few similarities, and that got me thinking about just how different books in the same genre can have some of the same features, without being identical.

Romance has a set style. A protagonist, often a beautiful woman, an antagonist, a handsome man if the protagonist is a female, some conflict along the way and ends with an HEA, Happily Ever After. But the nuances, like the storyline, the character’s personalities, even the setting is all determined by the author.

So why is it that after Lottie was published I was reading a book and the protagonist had an elderly neighbor, like Lottie’s Mrs. Danvers, that she befriended? Or the times since when a book I was reading vacillated between today and another period in the characters life, and even though it was presented differently, it still felt very similar.

Then last week I was reading a brand new book and all of a sudden I thought, “Hey! This is a lot like my series.” Old friends, whose relationship ended uncomfortably meet again after several years, and you guessed it, the connection between them is still strong. There was even a little back and forth in time, but presented differently than my books do.

At first I was concerned, but pretty quickly realized that this new book was just like the ones I read after Lottie was published. I hadn’t taken anything from another author, and this one hadn’t taken anything from me. We each had a concept for a book, and when we wrote them, we each thought we were brilliantly coming up with something fresh and new.

So is there really any brand new way to present a romance story? Of course, and lots of authors find them, but there are still a lot of books out there that are totally different, but subtly the same. The good news is, if a reader falls in love with your books, they don’t seem to mind.

Until we read again📚…

Blessings,

Dana L. ❤️

💝February is the month of love so beginning February 2, my wedding anniversary, through February 13, I’m holding a giveaway for one winner to receive a signed copy of both Lottie Loser and Call Me Charlotte. Be watching for more details next week and for the posted links.💝

Until 2017 I had no Facebook account. Until 2017 I had no Twitter acount, and until 2018 I had to Instagram account. I guess you could say I was a Social Media recluse; and then I wrote Lottie Loser. What a difference a day makes.

I need to be really honest with you here, and tell you that I never had any intention of sharing my life over the internet. Social Media, in my opinion, was intrusive and dangerous, and I wanted no part of it. So why did writing a book make a difference? You guessed it, exposer.

Marketing and sales are kind of my thing. I did both in my previous life as a banker, and was good at them, but selling myself as an author, as well as getting Lottie into the hands of a broad sector, was going to take more. A lot more.

Having daughters who are part of Generation X was my saving grace in setting up both Facebook and Twitter accounts. I posted things related to Lottie, and even started liking and replying to other people’s posts, and before long, I was one of those annoying people with their face in their phone, watching to see what the world around me was doing. Ugh.

Then Call Me Charlotte released and I really got serious about my Social Media presence. Wait! I wasn’t serious before? Apparently not, so with a little help from my friends I’ve become more enlightened on how to use Twitter, and in 2019 I’m reinventing myself.

I’m not strong technically, and my skills with graphics could be better, but I can post words with the best of them! And thankfully those words have led me to some amazing new Social Media friends, several of whom are authors.

Jerri Hines…author of The Southern Legacy Series, was one of the first authors to follow me, and read and wrote an endorsement for inside Lottie Loser.

David Edmonds…Multiple Award Winning Author of Lily of Peru and The Girl in the Glyphs, was one of my first Social Media friends because we both published with Southern Yellow Pines Publishing. David also wrote an endorsement for Lottie.

SE Rose…author of the Portenous Destiny Series, follows me on every Social Media site, and even subscribes to my Blog.

Willie Handler…author of The Road Ahead, is a Twitter guru and has been helping me with my brand. Who knew I even needed one?!

Sandy Barker…author of the Someone Series, is a fresh new voice in romance, and even asked me to write a blurb for her newest book.

Meka James…whose latest book, Anything Once releases January 22, actually came to The Decatur, Georgia Book Festival just to meet me. Me!

KJ Gillenwater is my newest Twitter author friend, and not only do we both write romance, we found out we’re going on the same writing cruise! We’ve had so much fun getting to know each other through Twitter that I know we’ll glean from each other on and after the cruise.

So where am I going with this? Well, I have to be honest again and tell you that I now enjoy Social Media in a way I never thought I would, and Twitter especially, has expanded my horizons in a whole new direction. I no longer cringe at the idea of Social Media, and while I’m still careful about posting when I’m going to be out of town, and don’t share really personal things, I now look forward to getting up every morning to see what has posted overnight. And yes, I check it throughout the day, too!

Social Media and me? Let’s just say we have an understanding. I give information to her, and she helps me get it to just the right people.🤗

Look for me on Facebook:@DanaLBrownAuthor

Twitter : @DanaLBrownBooks

Instagram: dana _brown_author

And on my Amazon Author Page: http://Amazon.com/author/danalbrown

Now if I could just get motivated towards all the other Social Media sites out there, but baby steps, right?!

Until we read again📚

Blessings,

Dana L. ❤️

Zelle and I became friends this past year through our publisher, Southern Yellow Pines, and sealed the deal at the 2018 Florida Authors and Publishers Conference in August. We share many similarities in our writing style and genre, although our characters are totally different. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed both of her books, and encourage you to try them for yourself. They are available from all the large retail channels as well as http://www.syppublishing.com

When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?  

Shortly after my daughter was born, I tossed around the idea of writing a novel, but life got in the way and raising my children took priority. It wasn’t until twenty plus years later that I was sitting at work one day and the bug bit me again. I kept my notes and writing to myself for a while. I didn’t even tell my husband

Tell us the story of your husband finding notes around your house with bits and pieces of ideas for a novel?

One day while we were cleaning the kitchen he ran across a scrap piece of paper that I had written the beginning of chapter one on and began reading it. I yanked it away and whispered in embarrassment that I was writing a story. He was more excited about it than I was and has been supportive all the way. It took three years to write my debut novel ‘Paisley Memories’.

How did you come up with the story-line for Paisley Memories?

I’m one of those people who can drive a car and if a random image pops up, I’ll write a scene or story in my head. With this particular story, I was thinking what a single, teenage, mom would do faced with raising a child that has down syndrome alone. I didn’t write a story-outline. It literally played out like a movie in my head and I just ran with it.

Is there any part of Tess, your Main Character and Paisley’s mother, that comes from your own life?

Both of my novels, PAISLEY MEMORIES, and DANCING WITH DANDELIONS, are works of fiction. The only similarity I have with the character Tess is that we both have a daughter with down syndrome. It is not a recollection of my life with her. Although, I have incorporated a few snippets of funny things she may have said growing up or a random scene slightly altered to fit the story.

What is your writing process?

1.  Do you outline the story first? I have never written an outline. I’m a fly by the seat of your pants kinda writer. I write where the story takes me. I might be working on Chapter four when something comes to mind that I want to happen later in the story and I’ll jot it down to be merged into the story later.
2. Are you a panster who just sits down and writes? I don’t have a scheduled time that I write. Almost every single time that I’ve designated or scheduled a time to write, something comes up. Whenever I have a free moment, and I’m not sucked into the social media world, I’m writing.
3. Do you write the story in your mind before you ever put pen to paper? Of course! It plays out like a movie for me and my little chubby fingers have a hard time keeping up on the keyboard.If I think too hard about a story-line, the writing reads as if it’s forced and I end up starting over.

Who is your favorite author and why?

I think this is the hardest question for authors to answer. For me, it varies. It really depends on what I’m reading at the time. Currently, I’m reading Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown. It’s a glimpse into the life of Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan wife that was kidnapped by Native Americans in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. It’s loosely based on her account retelling of the actual events. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on two novels. The third, and final, novel in my Paisley series and a historical fiction novel about a young woman who is accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692. The Paisley series is published through SYP Publishing. The historical fiction novel will be self-published.

Is writing your fulltime job?

Not at this time, but that is my goal.  I relish taking extra days off from work that flow into the weekend. I’m able to get a small glimpse of what life as a full-time author will be like.

What was your favorite book growing up?

I didn’t have a favorite. But the ones I enjoyed reading were The Little House on the Prarie series and any books that involved animals.

What’s one thing you’d like to share with my readers about you, your life or your books?

Writing has always been enjoyable for me. Even the editing process. Some authors hate that aspect of getting their manuscript ready for publication. I see it as making my baby the best it can be. I have so many story ideas rolling around in my head. As long as people enjoy reading my stories, I’ll keep writing them.

Keep your eye on Zelle! I’m expecting great things from her!

Until we read again📚…

Blessings,

Dana L. ❤️

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