Read-a-Romance Month. Why I celebrate romance.
I am *thrilled* to be recommended by the fabulous Darynda Jones for Read-a-Romance Month. How awesome is that? Not only do I get to read the amazing books by my favorite authors, but I also get to share a little about myself with everyone too. So thank you, Darynda! (And everyone else who’s either read my books, or might give them a try in the future!) Thank you for letting me be a part of something that is deeply ingrained in my soul. Romance.
I read an article the other day about the benefits of reading fiction. Basically, it gives your brain time to shut down everything else that may be going on in your life and allows you to simply enjoy the moment. To disappear, to be in another world, another setting. To feel! To get swept away. What better way is there to enjoy a moment than stepping into a world where you know that love wins in the end? Where you not only feel the characters’ struggle with everyday moments—with their careers, their heath, their relationships (whether family, friends, enemies, or their significant other)—but you KNOW without a doubt that in the end they’ll come out winners. Maybe not with every situation, but their hearts will be healed. They’ll have a steady partner. They’ll have love. They’ll have a deep happiness and a life that they’ll want to charge through with passion.
I love it. That right there. Knowing that good conquers evil, and that love wins in the end.
Yes, I’m a rose-colored glasses kind of girl. I’m optimistic, and I want world peace. I know there is ugliness in the world, I’m not naïve, but there is also beauty and happiness and big, beautiful feelings that can be the steady in your life every single time you need it. All you have to do is pick up a romance novel.
Romance books will do this for you. Always. Because the promise of a romance is that it *will* have a happily-ever-after. And I can’t think of a better thing to have with me every single day.
Describe the most daring, adventurous or inspiring thing you ever did.
I would say that the most daring thing I ever did was walk away from my good paying, four-weeks-a-year of paid vacation, I’d-been-there-long-enough-to-get-really-good-perks job to write full time. It was four days before my first book came out, but I quit. Walked out without looking back (though I did give them notice!!). The job was out-of-control at that moment and had been for the previous eighteen months, requiring far too many hours of my time, and it wasn’t my long-term ambition. Full-time writing was. So I decided that if I was going to make a run at this new career, then I needed to jump all in. I needed to have the time to actually write. So I walked away. And I really only panicked over the fact for the next year. 🙂
I still could go broke at any minute and have to get another job. I know that. Nothing is guaranteed in this career. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I love this too much not to give it my all.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer. (How did you decide to get started? Did you always know or was there a specific moment when you knew?)
I always knew. I started writing stories as a kid. I even submitted some of them to Highlights magazine. (I was rejected.) I had my parents get me writing books for Christmas, and I romanticized the whole career I was going to someday have. Then reality happened and I went to college and got a computer programming job. J With a kid to raise, I didn’t have time to write, but I still always knew. Writing was a part of who I was, therefore I would do it. It simply had to be the right time. I studied romance novels over the year, every time I read one, and I planned, and I dreamed. Then one day it occurred to me that if I was ever actually going to make this a career, I really needed to put words on the page. So I joined Romance Writers of America and began writing!
Tell us about The (or A) book that changed your life. (Why?)
I’m sorry, but I don’t have an answer to this question. There were so many amazing books I’ve read over the years that I can’t pinpoint The One. I do remember reading one years ago, though—it was a Silhouette Special Edition—and realizing that my whole body was tense with anticipation with practically every page I turned. What would happen? When? And why was the author keeping me on the edge for so very long? For crying out loud, just let them be together!!! 🙂
That’s when I knew that that was how I wanted readers to feel when reading my books. I want to make them feel every emotion under the sun, and then I want to do it to them again! I wish I knew whose book that had been when that revelation happened (there’s a high chance it was one of Nora’s, as she swept me away from an early age and I devoured her books), but I don’t. I do remember where I was, though. Not that that helps 😉
Thanks for stopping by today! And here’s to celebrating romance! I have a new book coming out on August 19th, SPRINKLES ON TOP, and am celebrating the days leading up to it by running daily giveaways on my Facebook page. I hope you’ll join me over there and enter to win free books and prizes!
As a child, award-winning author Kim Law cultivated a love for chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, “The Gigantic Talking Raisin,” in the sixth grade and got hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a college degree in mathematics and then worked as a computer programmer—for far too many years. Now she’s pursuing her lifelong dream of writing romance novels. She has won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, has been a finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, and has served in varied positions for her local RWA chapter. A native of Kentucky, Kim lives with her husband and an assortment of animals in Middle Tennessee.
