Everyday Romance​​​ By Vanessa Peters

Today I  have the wonderful opportunity to share my blog with a guest blogger. Enjoy this great piece about Romance by my great friend Vanessa Peters.


Everyday Romance​​​

By Vanessa Peters
 

As a writer and reader of romance it is easy to get caught up in the web of happily ever after found in the stories we love.  The bated breath and nervous butterflies of the first kiss never will get old and we will fawn over those pages again and again.  These stories can sometimes cloud our perceptions and make it difficult to catch the subtle beauty of romance we maybe experiencing every day in our own lives.  

Romance does not…almost never…comes in the form of a hero riding in on horseback to sweep you off your feet.  Sometimes it is the partner that takes care of the little things for you day after day so that you can work towards fulfilling your dreams.  

Sometimes…almost always…it is the quiet romance that fills in the corners of your day.  

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”   -Lao Tzu

For me my quiet romance, so very often fills in at the end of the day.  It finds me on nights when my day has been nothing less than hellish and I crawl into bed exhausted and overwhelmed.  My love will find me in the dark and pull me close.  I can ease into his side without either of us having to say a word.  His arms are enough to tell me he supports me and everything will be okay.  In his unassuming embrace, I know I can recharge for the day to come.  His love helps me keep going when the ins and outs of life becomes too much.  His support on my journey as a writer means more than any heart shaped box of chocolates ever will.  This quiet romance is what my stories are made of.


 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  

Born and bred in Brooklyn, I am a freelance artist and writer. 

I am looking to create stories of love and romance that reflect the people and the world around me. I am currently working on my first romance set in the Tri-state area.

Website/Blog   www.vanessa-peters.com

Twitter/ Instagram @VPetersBKNY

WRITING LATINO ROMANCE By Maria C. Ferrer

This guest blogger shares her view of what it means to write Latino Romance. I am glad to have the opportunity to share my blog with her today.

WRITING LATINO ROMANCE

By Maria C. Ferrer

When I started writing romance I admit that my characters were primarily white.  Latinos were the BFFs, but never the villains in my books.  White heroes and heroines were the industry norm and I was writing to the trends back then.  

            For the past five years, my lead protagonists have all been Latinos, and I've done that purposely.  Even before the “We Need Diverse Books” campaign, I wanted to see Latinos like me in stories, and since I couldn't find them, I’m writing them.

            I find inspiration everywhere.  Sometimes it’s an article in the paper, other times a setting, a name, or a wedding!

            For example, for my secret baby book, DADDY FOUND, I was inspired by my cousin’s wedding.  It was a great party.  Lots of hot single guys to dance with, luckily not all of them related to me.  And I thought… kissing cousins.  

What if cousins of cousins meet at a wedding, have a wild three-day weekend resulting in a baby?  What if when she goes to tell him she finds him getting married to someone else? And what if the reason he married the other woman was false?

            So I had the plot, now I had to come up with characters.

            Yessenia.  I love my heroine’s name.  It says, sexy and Latina in a big way.  And I love this actual spelling.  Yessie I knew right away.  She was the jet setter of the family.  Had a great job with the airlines, traveled a lot.  The love them and leave them type, but in a good way.  And she loved visiting her cousins in Connecticut, where the wedding took place.

            Rafael.  Another name I love.  If I could I would name all my heroes Rafael.  (Never Rafa.  Yuk.)  Rafael is a strong name.  I imagine angelic features with a strong character and a winning smile.  Rafael is the best man at the wedding.  A straight arrow.  The oldest of the cousins on his side, always setting a good example.  But being good was chaffing a bit.  He wants more than the childhood sweetheart, more than a job in the family firm.  The wedding is his last hurrah before going off to a new job and a new life in Virginia.

            These two meet and sparks fly.  He’s tall, dark and dangerous.  She’s fascinating, alluring and curved in all the right places.  

A wild weekend.

A secret baby.

A separation.

A reunion six years later.

Now, if you didn't know, secret babies are super popular among romance readers.  We love them.  So, I added some love and sabor to an old theme, and made it all mine.

My characters too will struggle to do what is best for their child; and will fight the attraction between them because they want to fall in love and not just in lust.  And, they’ll do it all surrounded by a big, fat, Puerto Rican family.

And that is how I write Latino romances – with love, sabor, and great characters that readers will be able to identify with and cheer for.♥

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Maria C. Ferrer writes contemporary romances under her real name, and erotica under the name of Del Carmen.  She has been published by Cleis Press and Ravenous Romance, as well as in magazines including Star, Cosmopolitan for Latinas and Penthouse. 

Visit her at www.marializaferrer.blogspot.com and www.mydelcarmen.com.

            

Valentine Day Everyday

Its Valentines Day here in the USA. Its both a beautiful day and a very confusing one for many people; especially young people. For many women it defines their love from their partner, depending on if they receive a gift, what kind of gift, what was said, not said.

For me personally its a great day to celebrate my love for all of the great people and things in my life. An excuse to celebrate a union of love between two people. The fact that I am alive and in good health is a reason to celebrate and the bonus is being able to share this life with another person who wants to be with me around me and share experiences with me. I in turn can only expect that my partner feels the same about me. No amount of fancy chocolates, roses, jewelry or fancy dinner date will ever replace the feeling being happy in your relationship. Knowing that the person you share the most time with has your back, is reliable, dependable and above all loves you, even at your ugliest moment. That is Valentine Day everyday or almost.

Happy Valentine's Day
Mercedes E. Cruz

 

Check Out these wonderful authors and how they celebrate Valentines Day.

 

Vanessa Peters

Maria Ferrer

My Writing Desk

My writing desk is a space in my tiny apartment that I share with my boyfriend. I cherish my writing desk, sometimes it’s the breakfast table, sometimes it’s the dinner table. Its purpose depends on the time of day but mostly it’s my writing desk. The place I seek to improve my writing skills, to complete my novel, post weekly on my blog, enter writing contest and submit short stories. My writing desk is not fancy, it’s probably made of plywood. Sometimes it’s not sturdy if I lean on it, deep in thought as I often do. I know that sometime in the future my writing desk give up on me, one leg at a time. But for now my writing desk is here with me day and night and in-between.

Pssst… Sometimes I do my writing on my coach, but don’t you dare tell my writing desk.

Mercedes Cruz

PS check out these other great Latina writers as they talk about their writing desk. 

Maria Ferrer


Vanessa Peters

Love Me Harder

Everyday in my relationship with my wonderful boyfriend is something different. Sometimes we have great days and sometimes we have shitty days. My boyfriend is usually the one apologizing at the end of the day, even though we were both at fault.

Everyday is a new day to do something different or try again. I try to remember this every night before I go to bed and when I wake in the morning. I realize that those days that challenge our relationship is great opportunity to love each other harder.

Any Given Sunday

This Sunday evening as my wonderful boyfriend and I sit on the coach watching the football game. We discuss the teams playing, he tells me the "Playoffs" stats on the teams. What teams he's rooting for. I was never a football fan until I met my boyfriend, and he introduced me to the game. Sunday is always game day so he does no activity that takes him away from our big screen TV to watch Sunday football.

What have I learned about football ? That everyone has a chance to reach their goal, sometimes yearly, monthly or weekly.  My goal with my boyfriend is to strengthen our communication skills, and to always help each other reach our personal goals. We have the opportunity to work on these goals when we are together any given Sunday.