Why we NEED our "Happily Ever After."

Good evening all!

 

I know it's been a while.  I've been putting the final touches on the second Elsie W. book, "It's Elsie's World, we're just here to clean it."  That will be released, hopefully, quite soon.  Meanwhile you can purchase the FIRST Elsie W. book here.

 

No one is going to be surprised when I say there seem to be a lot of depressed people running around these days.  Between unemployment, gas prices, the health care debacle (and no matter what side you look at it from, the thing is a debacle), the shrinking middle class, crushing personal debt, foreclosures, the ridiculously rising cost of education, and the fact that we now have a human person walking around this planet named NORTH WEST, there are plenty of reasons for a normal person to be depressed. 

 

Studies over the last few years have shown us we are getting fatter, drunker, less informed, and way less intelligent all around.  Not sure you believe me?  Take a look at what we are watching on TV these days.  The biggest names on TV are an overweight red neck family that farts at each other when not going to children's beauty pageants(Honey Boo-boo), or a bearded redneck family who make duck calls really well, but seem to be confused by the rest of life in general. (Duck Dynasty) Well written comedies and dramas are replaced by "reality programming."  Hey, we can't focus on a scripted TV series, but we can watch C-list celebs dance/cook/dive/date/swap wives/pretend to do your crappy job/find interesting things about their family trees.

 

Hey, I'm not knocking it.  I'm sitting on the couch with ya, watching the nonsense and laughing about it.  Because, see, comedies aren't that funny anymore (I mean, how funny can 8000 jokes about sex and drugs be in one night of "comedy?") and dramas don't make us laugh.  And lordy, we need to laugh.

 

We have, hanging in our hall, one of those multi photo frames.  In each spot is a shot of a wedding party, friends or family, all taken around the same time, roughly 20 years ago.  (Hey, those things are TOUGH to change out.)  As I look at that photo frame, and all the pictures of all the weddings, I realized that more than half the couples in that picture have split up, some long ago, some very recently.  Of those that have stayed together, I see histories of tears, upheaval, and long nights of prayerful, sorrowful pacing.

 

In short, this is a harsh, hard world we live in, and it's especially hard, it seems, for love to last forever.

 

Book sales are down, across the board, in all genres, save one:  Romance.  For some reason, and some will say it's because women buy far more books than men, romance novels have increased in sales by leaps and bounds.

 

It's no secret, to those of us who read and write romance and romantic stories.  It has nothing to do with the price of the book, or who's reading the book or if vampires are a hot commodity.

 

It's the happy ending.

 

I've read several books on Oprah's book list and I can tell you...they made me want to poke my eyes out, they were so depressing.  The covers are sad, the stories are sad, the people in the books are sad.

 

Forget Oprah.  What people want is a happy ending!  What people NEED is a happy ending!

 

We don't need yet another book about delving into the darkness of the human condition...unless there's a good looking hero and a happy freaking ending because guess what:  our jobs, if we have one, sucks.  Our kids are a mess, We're probably on some sort of mood enhancing meds, and movies cost more to go seen them on the big screen than they do to own, so we have to wait three months for that "feel good" hit of the summer to come out on video...and it will probably suck because the vast majority of what Hollywood is cranking out these days is crap.

 

We. Need.  A. Happy. Ending.

Forget the huge hair...this is a huge song!

 

 

Bonnie Tyler sang it best: 

 

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the Gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need

I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero
'Til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight

 

So my friends, don't be ashamed anymore!  Pull that romance novel out from the covers of "Les Miserables"  (You told the kids you were going to read "Les Miserables" this summer, didn't you?  It took me two years.  The musical is just over two hours long and pretty much gets the point across.)  Admit to your fellow readers that yes, you read romance, because your life is tough and you need a happy ending!  You need to know that there is such a thing as HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

 

And if you'd like to read my "happily ever after" novels, CLICK HERE!