Book Stores

The Insufferable Writer’s Podcast Episode #3: Creating the Perfect Writing Space, Romance Sub-Genres, and A Sort of Book Review

In the third episode of the Insufferable Writer’s Podcast, I discuss how to set up your perfect writing space for maximum creativity. Then I discuss the most popular subgenres of romantic fiction, and I finish the podcast with a mini book review of In Her Hands by Adriana Anders. 

Where to Listen:

You can subscribe directly to the Insufferable Writer’s Podcast’s RSS feed HERE

Show Notes from Episode #3:

Quarantine Stories

Spotify Quarantine Stories Playlist

The Yankee Widow– by Linda Lael Miller -Historical Romance. Note* The description of this book given in the podcast is incorrect*

Where The Lost Wander by Amy Harmon – Historical Romance Mentioned in the Podcast about the wagon train.

Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown- Contemporary Romance

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren- Contemporary Romance

Make Me by Beth Kerry- Erotic Romance

The Breathless Trilogy by Maya Banks- Erotic Romance

Neon Gods– by Katee Robert- Paranormal Romance

The Red by Tiffany Reisz- Paranormal Romance

The Ghostwalker Series by Christine Feehan- Paranormal Romance

The SeaHaven Series by Christine Feehan- Paranormal Romance

In His Hands– Book #3 in the BLANK CANVAS SERIES* Series by Adriana Anders

Verity by Colleen Hoover- Book Review Mini

Transcript of Episode #3:Creating the Perfect Writing Space, Romance Sub-Genres, and A Sort of Book Review

Please note: this transcript was generated using A.I. so it will NOT be completely accurate.

Podcast Episode #3: 4/26/2022

Hello, and welcome back to the insufferable writers podcast. I’m your host and self-professed and sufferable writer, Jackie Thomas. In episode three. Today, we’re going to discuss. Writing space or a writer’s writing space and why it’s important and why it matters. We’re also going to discuss the genres of romance.

Not all romance is created equal, lots of different stories and types of stories to tell. And then we’re going, I’m going to give kind of, sort of a book review. I know that sounds crazy, but I’m two thirds of the way through, in his hands by Adriana Anders, which was the third book in the under her skin series.

Really good. So far wanted to share my thoughts about that and maybe think about what I’m going to read. So let’s kick off about writing space, because I feel like this is the most basic, jumping off point for an insufferable writer. If I’m going to talk about being an insufferable writer.

Like it’s the actual writing. So where do you write? And I think a writing spaces is as unique to a writer as the words that they write. And that is probably the most insufferable sentence I’ve ever uttered in my entire life. But with that being said, um, I want to, just to describe kind of my journey in defining my writing space and how I’ve learned, what works for me and what doesn’t work for me.

And. Discuss the different kinds of writing spaces out there and the different options for writing spaces and maybe, help somebody out there who’s struggling and setting up their own space or, you know, go, oh, well, that really works. Or no, that definitely doesn’t work. So my writing space , is a space that has really sort of come together over time.

And I imagine it’s probably for anybody who’s been writing for a little bit of time, it’s probably very similar. , it’s evolved. Into what it is today. And it’s a space that I love and it’s a space that I feel like I can be very creative in which I’m so thankful for. , when my husband and I bought our house, , one of the selling points of the house was there was this big empty room in the house.

And my husband, who is a writer himself, ,said from the get-go like that is going to be a library in our house, which is insane because. Who has a library in their house, but we are very blessed or lucky or however you want to look at it that we found a house with a space for a library. So the room that I’m recording in right now, , and my defacto office, since I, I work currently work from home, is my library.

And I’ve always written in this room. It’s always been a spot where I’ve kept a desk. And when I started writing, in this room, I had to secondhand tables and, I had a computer and. I honestly, I didn’t think about writing space creativity and lighting and sound and all of those good things.

Like there was no time when I started writing and I know I’ve shared this before, but, and I’ve definitely shared it on the blog, but the first book I ever sat down and wrote like romance novel, like I wrote it in a week with a cold, I even wrote some of it in bed, on my laptop. Like it came screaming out of me and there was no stopping and there was no.

Time for like, thinking about creative process or any of that stuff. So fast forward I wrote the first book and then I always like from then on, I’ve always been writing and, and as a writer who is continuing to write and continuing to create what that space has looked like over time has changed. You know, I remember like, Uh, I think the second novel I wrote, I did a NaNoWriMo, which if you’re not familiar with it, it’s national novel writing month.

And it happens in the month of November and my husband and my sister, um, both have done it successfully several times. And they said, Jackie, you really should get in on this. And I, I wasn’t sure, but, so I. Oh, okay. All right. I’ll I’ll do it. So the second novel I wrote, I participated in NaNoWriMo and they have, um, like writer, meetups, local chapters that get together and support each other.

Talk about plot and all of that. And, and so, , Is insufferable and cliche, as it sounds, of course it has to be in a coffee shop. So I went to a couple of the meetups in the coffee shops in the area and kind of wrote publicly with my laptop. And I found it to be very distracting and at least for me, and there’s no judgment if it works for other people, Hey, if it works for.

Run with it. But for me, I, it just felt a little cliche to be like that writer with a laptop in a coffee shop. But I get that for some, this really works, but like I said, it was, you know, hearing dishes, clinking, and people laughing and coming and going. Like, I just like, I could not focus, but, It’s funny about like kind of, I talk a lot about sense of place in the blog.

Um, but I actually started that project in a coffee shop and I, for some reason it felt very important to me to sit in the same spot. I started the book to finish it in the same spot. So I actually finished it in the coffee shop, but, Other than that, I think the following year, when I did NaNoWriMo the next time, I tried to start it again in a coffee shop and I mean, I did.

Okay. It was a different coffee shop this time, a little smaller, a little quieter. Very good coffee. , unfortunately. They’re not around anymore, which they were because actually that spot kind of works, but only because it is a little quieter. Um, so yeah, I didn’t, you know, not a public writer. I I’m, it’s not like some, I’m not ashamed of it.

It’s not something to be done in private, but I just have a really difficult time in, writing is somewhere that’s loud. So I realized that. Like fast forward a couple of years and I was still writing and, I had just, Taking a job where I was going to be working from home. And I invested in a desk.

I bought a beautiful desk, which I could not afford at the time, but it has served me so well. And it matches the bookshelves in the library. And funny story, like trying to get this desk home. Um, I bought a car. I bought, I drive a wagon and. You know, I thought like everything would fit in the back of this vehicle, but nothing fits in the back of this vehicle.

So like I went and like it’s a higher end desk. So I went and picked up the desk because being typical, impatient me, I had to have it right away. I didn’t want to wait for it to be delivered. So I went and picked up this desk and drove like, I don’t know, 70 miles with the trunk or the hatch tied down because it didn’t fit in the back of the.

Car, but it didn’t make it here in one piece. And I was absolutely thrilled to have it. And I’m actually sitting at the desk now. I work at it, which poses its own challenges, like working in a space and then trying to be creative in a space. And that’s something that I’ve struggled with, since working from home and I’m sure, lots of fellow writers can relate with, you know, w word being virtual and that sort of thing.

Over time. I’ve, I’ve learned some things that work for me. And some things that don’t work for me, I should say. , I I’m a private writer. I like a private space. I don’t like to write when, you know, with others or near others. And, Very very recently, I was actually gifted a set of French doors to the entrance, to my library, which sounds like again, super bougie, most insufferable thing ever.

But, um, it’s not, I wanted to set a doors for like, Since we’ve moved in the house like six or seven years. So I’m just literally about two months ago, I was gifted a set of doors, which is fantastic. I can shut the doors and it can be private. And it’s wonderful. And I, I have a sign on my door, so that my family has learned if the sign is on the door chances are, I’m either taking a conference call for work or hopefully I’m writing.

And so they’ve been pretty good about honoring the sign on the door, which is great. Yeah, it’s, it’s definitely allowed me to shut away and focus my thoughts. And, um, just when I remove myself, , I find that my thoughts flow much easier and, more seamlessly. So. Which kind of brings me to my next point about your writing spaces noise.

I know that some people, again, some people thrive with noise, like thrive writing in a coffee shop, or, you know, need total silence. I’m I’m a music listener. I need music when I write. And I do mean need music. Like I do not write very well in total silence. I, it’s a little silly, but, as I write romance, you know, every couple has a song and for just about every project I’ve completed, There’s a song that accompanies the book.

, so, and it’s been varied. It’s been like Kings of Leon or edit James or some instrumental music or it’s just, it’s been, you know, I feel like again, warning and sufferable moment coming here, but I feel like the project itself speaks to the type of music that. The music influences the book, the book influences the music.

It’s like it’s symbiotic. It, it just, it works. Like I said, I have to have music when I write and my music choices again are very varied. when, when I’m writing, depending on the project, am I writing a di a dramatic scene? Am I writing a love scene?

And I feel like the music I choose for a project sets the tone for the project as well, which is nice. It, it has that music kind of helps keep me on track too. I don’t share my writing playlists with the exception of quarantine stories. I do have a playlist on Spotify for quarantine stories.

And if you’re not familiar with what that is, , at the beginning of the Panda. In early spring of 2020, I wondered what a loves stories look like in lockdown, in the era of COVID what, like, how do people meet and people who’ve already met, like, but can’t be together because at the time, you know, if you were a healthcare worker, you, you know, people were camping in their backyards.

If you were healthcare workers to not come in the house and get family sick and you know, or if you were. You know, in a long distance relationship, like how did that work? Or if you hadn’t met somebody and wanted to meet somebody, like, do you start dating virtually what is virtual dating look like? And so these were all things like creatively.

I was like, pondering, like, how does this work? And so I came up with the idea of, of quarantine stories and I wrote 20 short stories in a. 20 days or about a month. So it was like March 20, 20 to April, 2020. And I wrote love stories set during the beginning of the pandemic. And it was, uh, it stretched me incredibly as a writer to be able to turn around and turn out those stories like every day.

Yeah, I had music and, and each, I think there were 20 songs on the playlist. Like each story has a song and you know, it was fun. It was fun to publish the playlist because it went very well with the, with the book and. If you’re interested in reading quarantine stories. I, it, they are available on Amazon.

I learned a lot with that project too, like self-publishing, and maybe I’ll talk about that another time, but. Yeah. So music is coming back around. Music is such a big part of, of my writing and it is such a big part of my writing space.

The project that I had mentioned in the last podcast, a new piece that I had started was actually inspired by a song. Um, it’s inspired by, uh, the song, Claire and Eddie from Kings of Leon, I think. Um, yes, it’s Kings of Leon, uh, and. , it was just like this spark of creativity, imagination, like the song set off my mind, thinking about the characters and the song and, and the book.

Isn’t the characters in the song. But it, I think that it borrows generously, um, from, from kind of the scene that is set in the song. So coming full circle, I have to have a way for my writing space to be successful, to listen to music. I’m very lucky that I have a room to my own, to write in. But if I didn’t, and there’ve been times where, you know, either my husband’s needed this room for something he’s doing, or for whatever reason, I, you know, in a pinch, I find that a good set of headphones are worth investing in, headphones or earbuds or AirPods, or, you know, however you prefer to listen to music.

But I find that. Especially if I’m somewhere that I’m very busy. If I pop on a set of headphones, it’s like an instant room for me. And it’s like a, I’m like cocooned in that sound and I can, I can focus and I can write ironically, the exception to the rule to writing publicly. As long as I have headphones is an airplane.

, don’t ask me why. Like, I don’t know why I can write in a confined space very well with 300 other people, but I do write very well on an airplane. I pop my headphones on and maybe because it, you know, there isn’t all the distraction from the outside world and that kind of, I don’t know, it just works, but, and it works exceptionally well, but I obviously.

Can’t always be flying to. Right. So in a pinch, I do recommend a good set of headphones or however you prefer to listen to music. Um, if you do prefer to listen to music while you write, I find that , for me it works very well. Yeah. So. So now that, you know, I’ve got my space, I’m closed off. I’m away when I can be in that, you know, I’m out of the way of other people.

, and so I’ve got a door, I’ve got my room, you know, I’ve got my music going, and like you said, that it’s varied based on what I’m writing next comes the lighting, which. If you’re not a writer, like I don’t blame you for rolling your eyes at this point. I’m a writer and I’m almost rolling my eyes, but I swear to you, the, the lighting makes a difference.

I write very best if it’s dark outside and I’ve got just my desk lamp on again, it creates this feeling of intimacy, this feeling of not necessarily privacy, but it just. I dunno, I feel like I’m on an island. If that makes any sense, like, I I’m completely shut away and I write very, very well. And now granted, I, I choose to write on a computer.

I know there are lots of people who write in lots of different ways, but for me, it’s, it’s getting it into the computer. It works for me. I re more recently, after working from home working remotely for about two years, I finally did invest in some, in some good lighting for the library, , and for my office and for my writing space.

And I really did keep that in mind while I was shopping for, shopping for lighting. I, you know, I know others like. Loved to sit in the sun and write and don’t get me wrong. Like I adore sitting in the sun when it is lovely and warm outside, but I don’t write very well in that setting again, maybe because it’s outside.

I don’t know if it’s. Or I’m too warm. I don’t know. But it just, it doesn’t work. So, you know, task lighting, I would imagine, um, probably for most,, I mean, if you’re not writing on a computer, you absolutely need good lighting because how else are you going to see what you’re writing?

So for me, very little lighting works, works really well in my writing space and task lighting works exceptionally well. it just creates an intimate space, which is great. Next comes. I, and I just hinted at it a little bit. How are you writing? What are you writing on?

Where are you capturing? What you’re writing? I have seen, I cannot tell you how many memes I’ve seen about writers and notebooks. And I, you know, you have those who are really passionate about a typewriter. You’ve got the computer. I mean, I, I think there are a million. To write, to write and to capture your ideas.

And I think that for me, it’s, it’s gotta be a computer. I am not organized enough to keep it on paper. I’ll just be honest writing something like physically writing it on paper is just incredibly too slow for me , and I do like writing on my computer. , I, again, I’m, I’m very lucky.

I have a desktop and I have a laptop and I, you know, sometimes I have to take my writing with me if I’m out of town. And I just, I like that, with, services like Dropbox or Scrivener or even word, um, Google docs, there are ways to, you know, pick up writing where you left off, where you don’t have to physically be at one time.

I’ve never entertained writing on a typewriter, if I’m perfectly honest, , I’m, I’m dyslexic. And so, , I’m a terrible, terrible speller, but I’ve learned and tried my very best to overcome this and, looked at lots of different editing software and that kind of thing to catch those mistakes. And so.

Like the idea of doing it on a typewriter. Like I would, single-handedly like raise the quarter’s profits for the whiteout company, because it would just be a hot mess. Like, I, I love the sound of the typewriter and I know that there are purists out there who are all about it. And if it, you know, with, with all of this being said with writing space, like if you found something that works for you by all means run with it.

And I really do, like, I feel for the. Um, writers out there who do write really well, like in a coffee shop and then coffee shops have been closed. I mean, they’re, they’ve been open for a little while now, at least in the part of the country that I’m in. But gosh, I could only imagine if, you know, if you’re a very public writer, if you like the noise and you like writing in public and then suddenly you can’t do that, that’s gotta be incredibly difficult.

But yeah. So again, you know, I write, I write on a computer. I’ve traditionally I write in Scribner. They do make the, they do make it for apple and for, I believe they do make it for, windows as well. It is a awesome tool to write in. I absolutely love Scrivener. It breaks things down by chapter. It, it has distraction free writing mode.

, I love Scribner. Sing its praises highly enough. The current project I’m working on though. And I haven’t done it in a very long time. I’m writing in word. Don’t ask me why I’m writing in word. Well, okay. Let’s be honest. I’m writing in word this time for the current project I’m working on because I felt like.

As I shared in my last podcast, like I would hit that 10,000 word mark in a project and then suddenly the muse or the inspiration or the drive or whatever you want to call. It was like gone and I was dead in the water. And so this time around writing this project and word, it just felt like, oh, just add a little more, just add a little more.

Like I wasn’t necessarily starting a new chapter. Although when I do sit down to write, I do try and write a full chapter at a time, if I can, unless it’s a, you know, a love scene or it’s a really tense scene, sometimes I’ll break a chapter down and be like, just get this, let’s say love scene down on paper.

Um, and that, that works. But for this time around, you know, I’m writing in word, , it’s got. Bonuses and that it didn’t feel, it felt easier to kind of get past that 10,000 word mark as I wasn’t like starting a new chapter every time. Like I wasn’t visually seeing myself start a new chapter, like I would be in Scribner.

, but I still wrote with my, you know, do a whole chapter. Uh, kind of ethos when I write. But it, you know, it, it has its drawbacks too, like finding the chapter where I left off. Like, I mean, I always do a page break after a chapter, and I give a chapter a heading, but still it’s no, I, you know, I could, I could go on a long time about different writers.

Uh, spots to write on a computer and I won’t bore you about it, but there are a lot of different ways. And I know there are a lot of great products out there for writers, but, I’m not like getting paid or anything to promote any one program over another, but I would definitely say if you have not had a chance to check out Scrivener, definitely, definitely do yourself a favor.

Give, give it a look. I’ve been using it for more than five years now. And I will say that I’ve probably only scratched the surface of the things that it can actually do. Uh, it is comprehensive and it’s, you can tell that, you know, when it was developed that it really was developed with creativity and writing in mind, it wasn’t a different platform that it was like, oh, well, I guess we can kind of make this a writing platform.

No Scribner was made specifically for writers, , and lots of different writers like they do, what is it? Fiction, nonfiction and script format, which is pretty cool. So it’s pretty comprehensive and I really do like it. So kind of coming full circle to my writing space, , that is literally the spot where my words are captured.

I did speak a little bit about. You know, like the physical furniture. , I shared a little bit about my desk, and , how my desk came into being, , and it really wasn’t until, , I became a remote worker that I did invest in my space more. I bought myself a really good office chair.

That’s comfortable, , Although I worked best in this space. I didn’t want to sell them. Like I can only work in this space. I can work at a lot of different spaces, but I also recognize where I’m most successful. And so I, invest in a really good chair , something that you can sit in for a long time.

I mean, there have been. Times where I’ve spent a whole weekend writing or a whole night writing , I also have a standing desk. I find that if I’ve got to get through a really tense scene or a scene where I really, really have to concentrate, like, let’s say a love scene, like concentration for writing a love scene, at least for me, like I have to be incredibly in the.

Incredibly focused. When I’m writing a love scene, you’ve got to pay attention to where hands are and feed and, you know, body parts are, and that kind of thing, you know, you want to make sure to somebody, it doesn’t sound like somebody has grown a third arm or something, you know? So I have to be very focused in doing that.

And so sometimes that requires. I said, or stand for an extended period of time, but additionally, like what other furniture do I have in my writing space? I do have a big chair. , I can’t remember who said it and I apologize for that, but I think somebody said you right at the desk and you edit on the couch or you.

In the, in a big chair or something like that saying you don’t edit where you write. And I found this to be exceptionally true when I try and edit where I write, I end up writing more than I’m editing. So. I have a spot where I can sit and read what I’ve written, when it’s time to edit and I can go back through.

And I think that’s, for me, I’m very lucky that I’ve got the space to do that. Again. I have a light next to that chair. So if I want to create a very intimate environment, I can do that to, read. For the first time ever, just a couple of weeks ago, I actually sat in the big comfy chair and wrote, it was very comfortable, but until I got up and then my back was like, why did you sit here for a couple of hours with no support?

, won’t make that mistake again, but you live, you learn. , I’m in a library, so I’m surrounded by bookshelves and books, thousands of books. And I’m not kidding. It really is thousands of books, but, and to me, there’s something very, very special about that. Again, You’re listening to the insufferable writers podcast.

So I’m going to be totally insufferable here for a moment, but it feels like, you know, every book that is sitting on the shelf in my library, as someone who took the time to share their ideas, to tell a story, to put the words down on paper, if I’ve bought the book, You know, I would say like 98% of what I have in my, in my library physically have in my library has been traditionally published.

Those authors have went through that process that I’m striving to go through. And it just feels like, kind of like I have this vision of kind of like running a marathon, right. It publishing is running a marathon and the. The books on my bookshelf are those authors who have made it to the finish line.

And those who are cheering you on saying, come on, keep going. You can, you can, you know, you can do it. And so in a lot of ways, , the space is very encouraging to me and it pushes me forward in my writing. And it’s like, okay, well, All of these folks, these brilliant people can do this. I’m not saying I’m brilliant, but if all of these people can do it, you can do it too.

Just keep writing. So all in all, that’s my writing space. I know that a writing space is just as unique, , as the words, the writer puts on the page , but I just wanted to share what works with me or works for me, I should say. And what doesn’t work. I hope you’re have the opportunity to make a writing space of your own, play around, find what works, you know, and embrace it and, and be able to step away from what doesn’t work. And for those of you who are public writers, I, you know, I’m so glad that things are open for you guys again, and you can get out there and you can write publicly and in a space that makes you creative and happy.

So moving on, I wanted to talk about. , genres of adult romance, because I think that, you know, if you’re not a romance reader, and I, I write romance, it just has this like cliche of like, oh, the kissing books or, oh, the dirty books, or I don’t know, it just. There are so many different types and genres, sub genres within romance.

And so I just wanted to take a little bit of time to, so if you’re not familiar with the genre itself or the sub genres like romance is having its most. And I know, I think I shared in the last podcast, I think it was last year or the year before romance was the top selling genre, including sub genre, um, in American publishing.

And so when I say romance is having its moment is really having its moment. And so I think it is awesome that there are lots of different types of romance out there. And. Again, I just wanted to kind of talk about what these are and, , if I can give an example, I will. And if I can’t, well, I probably don’t read that John rub, but, or sub-genre I should say, but yeah.

So the first one is historical romance, and I like to think of this one as. And I mean, it kindly as the bodice busters, , you know, this is like, , when I was a girl, my grandmother had a collection of romance novels, and it was always like this guy in a big flowy shirt, you know, with a woman dressed in a ball gown or something like that.

And, , he had come to rescue her and, so that’s kind of this cliche that I had of historical romance and. Upfront, like it is not my preferred sub genre to read. It’s not that I haven’t read it. I think. It’s a different time, you know, with gender roles and that kind of thing. It’s, it’s just not my cup of tea, but, that’s not to say that I dislike all historical romance.

I’ve just not found a historical romance that I’ve read that I’ve actually loved. Oh, wait, actually I take that back. I did read a historical romance that I adored. The last historical romance that I w that I read and I loved, I believe was called the Yankee widow, I’ll have to put the show, put it in the show notes but it was set during a wagon train across the us and. So good could not put it down although it’s set in the past, you know, when I tend to think about historical romances, tend to think more like, you know, bridge curtain or something set in Regency or something set like more than 200 years in the past, but it doesn’t have to be that.

So then, You have contemporary romance, which contemporary romance or books that take place now. And a lot of romance could be classified as contemporary romance. So dramatic romance, Saifai erotic romance, paranormal romance, romantic comedy, like all of those. Fit under the, uh, or I should say most of them could fit under the, the sub genre heading of contemporary romance.

I write contemporary romance and I’ll be honest. I write contemporary romance because writing historical romance. It seems really, really hard. There’s a lot of research there. You want to have your facts pretty close, you know, especially if you’re writing about historical events, you want to have it, right.

So I don’t write historical romance, my hats off to those of you who do, and those of you who do it very well. Like Bravo. So contemporary romance is any romance that takes place now, , in the present day.

And there are tons of great contemporary romances, , uh, gosh, most of the bookshelf books, if they’re not historical and they’re not Saifai they’re contemporary. So I’m just trying to think, like maybe Sandra, Sandra Brown’s books, Christina Lauren’s books, , those would be considered contemporary romances.

Like I said most, most books that I see on the bookshelves at my local booksellers are actually contemporary romance unless they’re historical romance. Next is romantic comedy, pretty self explanatory and romantic comedy out of all the sub genres of romance is the highest selling. Sub-genre of romance and, and, and definitely leads the pack.

I mean, there is not a shortage of romantic comedy out there. I don’t write romantic comedy. I’m not that funny. I can admit it. I have so much respect for those writers out there who can tell a whole story and be funny, or be charming. Romantic comedies tend to be a little more sweet. , And I kind of shared my thoughts about this last in the last podcast for me, love is love, can be sweet, but it’s also scary and dramatic and can be very tense.

I’ve tried so, so hard to really get into romantic comedy and, I have such respect for romantic comedy writers. I think that usually you can tell what is a romantic comedy just by looking at the bookshelf. It’s usually has like a cartoonish cover on the front.

Tends to be a little cute looking sweet. And I’m not using any of these terms in a derogatory way at all. Because I understand. And completely respect that there’s an audience for this, or it wouldn’t be the top selling sub genre. , so we’ll just move on. Uh, you have a Roddick romance and this is like your 50 shades of gray.

, let me think. My, a banks does a lot of erotic romance and these are like, , they’re definitely adult they’re graphic sex scenes in these books. They are so much fun to read. , there’s nothing like a good steamy book. , I was going to say on the beach, but let’s be honest.

There’s nothing like a good steamy book whenever, because they’re fantastic., if you haven’t picked one of these up, and you are a romance reader, I highly recommend it. I will say, you know, not all Roddick romance is created equal as far as, you know, the writing goes, I know.

Different people read different things for different reasons and don’t get me wrong. I love a good CME romance, but the story has got to be there too. And there have been some writers where holy cow, like this book should be called wrapped in brown paper. I’m not really, I’m joking. Like the story is not there.

Like the sex scenes are super hot and super entertaining, but like the rest of the story fall short for me. But then there were other, um, books where the story is absolutely fantastic. And. The love scenes are hot as hell. And like, that is awesome , like I said, I’m not going to name names in this genre, but there are definitely some that do it well, and then there are some, in my opinion, who don’t do it very well, no pun intended there,

The next sub-genre is paranormal romance or science fiction romance. This one I’m not super familiar with. I know I’m if you follow, romance, neon gods was a big one. Was that last year or the year before. , I’ll have to put the book in the show notes. And in fact, I’ll try and put a list of the books that I’ve liked in each genre.

In the show notes. So that they’re, that they’re there. So paranormal romance. I’ve not read a whole lot of this genre at all. , I know that, you know, things with, um, psychics or there’s a lot of like psychics in romance, like, you know, the gift of sight or, that sort of thing.

Uh, vampire. Aliens werewolves, like this would kind of fall under paranormal romance. The first romance books that I ever read, um, called the ghost Walker series. Loved loved, loved, loved these books. Um, again, I’ll put a link in the show notes to them, , it’s a group of psychics who are, genetically predisposed through weird experiment, like government experiment to fall in love with each other.

And, they have psychic abilities in the later books in the series. They’re human DNA has been melded with, you know, different types of animal DNA to kind of make them super soldiers. And, yeah, it’s a little bit of a leap, but. It’s been really fun to, to read. There’s a series, about a bunch of sisters who live on, on the west coast and they’re witches and psychics. And that, that series was absolutely a blast to read. Very of the paranormal element, but also they’re very dramatic books and I really, really loved them last but not least what I hold nearest and dearest to my own heart is romantic suspense.

And so this can be anywhere from a romantic thriller it’s the genre I write in , where it’s high stakes. It keeps the reader at the edge of their seat.

I’m either, you know, you’re, solving a mystery in the book. It’s , things are not. That’s a whole, like, things are not, they’re not sweet. They’re not funny, but they are really entertaining and they hopefully are very gripping and they keep you at the edge of your seats. Hopefully, this gives a good overview in the, to the sub genres of romance.

So if you have not had a chance to take a look and you, , have questions or that kind of thing, and you go into the bookstore now, you know, a little bit more about. and again, I will put some links and some recommendations for the different romances that I’ve read, , in the sub genres, in the show notes.

, if you’ve got a favorite one that you think speaks really well to the sub genre, let me know. I’m always open for book recommendations.

The last thing I wanted to do was sort of a book review, which sounds funny. I read the third book or. I’m two thirds of the way through the third book in the, uh, called in his hands by Adriana, Anders. I think it’s the, in his hands series. It’s the one that I was mentioning.

And again, uh, I’ll put the link to the book in the show notes. Um, it’s the third book in the series. It’s a dramatic romance. Um, it’s a suspenseful romance. It’s contemporary. Um, it’s the story of a woman who lives within a Colt and her neighbor is a French wine maker who is wonderfully dishy.

And it’s definitely what I would call a slow burn. , and what I mean by that again, if you’re not familiar with romance there’s sexual tension from the get-go, but neither acts upon it. So I’m two thirds of the way through the book. I really liked it out of the three books out of the series.

, so far. I would not say it’s the strongest book out of the series. I really, really liked. Um, I liked the first one. I liked Ooma story. But it’s really enjoyable. It’s still, it’s so great. And I will definitely circle back around, , You know, to get my final verdict on the book and to give a more in-depth review.

. It’s interesting on how the story is being told because it’s in the same universe. Literally the same town as, as the first two books in the series. And I would say I was probably halfway through this third book before, unknown character pops up. And well, I don’t want to give anything away, but part of it’s now set in town.

And so it’s going to be interesting to see where unders goes with this and how like to see if we see any more people from, from the other books. And I always really do enjoy those kinds of, um, drips of information about how the characters from the past books are doing and you know, what’s going on in their lives.

I think that that’s really exciting. I’m almost done with the book. , in all honesty, I think I probably have maybe five or six chapters left and the chapters in that book are short. Um, so , I could do a couple chapters in a sitting easily. So starting to kind of think about what I’m going to read next, I’m always open to recommendations.

, I would love defined, um, I gave a book review of Verity from Colleen Hoover in my last podcast, I would love loved finding another romantic thriller holy cow. By far, one of the best books I’ve ever read. And I know that some folks really love Colleen Hoover and some people like she’s not their cup of tea and I’ve read some other work by her.

I think I did ugly love, , which was good. It was good. It wasn’t, , it was enjoyable. But it wasn’t one of those, like it wasn’t Verity. I’ll just be honest. Like, I’ll just say it. Like Verdi ticked every box for me. So I’m going to have to do some research into looking for a really good romantic thriller.

Um, if you know of one or you’ve read one recently, please feel free to reach out and recommend.

Thank you for tuning in to episode three and listening to this insufferable writer, drone on about romance and writing spaces and a sort of book review until next time, have a great time.

The Insufferable Writer’s Podcast Episode 2: Is Trauma the New Taboo In Romance?

In the second episode of the podcast I review Colleen Hoover’s romantic Thriller Verity. I also discuss the feedback from the blog post, Is Trauma the New Taboo in Romance. I elaborate more on the subject, sharing some of the feedback and further make the case why these stories matter.

I finish off the podcast by talking about what I am currently writing, and why it’s a big deal to me.

Where to Listen:

You can subscribe directly to the Insufferable Writer’s Podcast’s RSS feed HERE

Show Notes from Episode 2:

Verity by Colleen Hoover- https://www.colleenhoover.com/portfolio/verity/ 

Blog Post: Is Trauma the New Taboo in Romance?  https://jacquelinecthomas.com/is-trauma-the-new-taboo-in-romance/ 

The Blank Canvas Series by Adriana Anders- https://www.adrianaanders.com/blank-canvas.html 

Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown- https://amzn.to/3r52ws0 

The Steel Brothers Saga- https://www.helenhardt.com/book/?series=steel-brothers-saga 

Transcript of Episode 2: Is Tramua the New Taboo in Romance

Please note: this transcript was generated using A.I. so it may not be completely accurate.

Podcast Episode 2: 4/6/2022

Hi, and welcome back to episode two of the insufferable writers podcast. I’m Jackie Thomas self-professed insufferable writer, and your host in episode two, I’m going to review Colleen Hoover’s romantic thriller Verity for the discussion topic for today, I want to discuss is trauma, the new taboo in romance.

And last but not least. I want to close out the episode by talking about what I’m writing right now, because after all, if I’m an insufferable writer, I should actually be writing.

Let’s kick things off today with a book review. I read a lot and I read. A lot of romance because that’s the genre I write in and I have heard such good things about Colleen Hoover’s work. And I read a book by her awhile back and it was really good.

Um, I’d rather not kind of name what the book is. I, it was a great romance. It was fun. It was. No offense to Colleen, like it just, it was a good romance, but it wasn’t like one of those books where I was like, it was life-changing. It was, it was a great story. The characters were really likable by.

Everybody raves about calling Hoover’s work. And I thought, well, maybe I just need to give this another chance. So I picked up a copy of Verity. That’s what the. And it’s a romantic thriller. That sounds like, how do you, how do you do a romantic thriller? That is such a weird combination of work, , and weird combination of genres, but actually it really does work

So I’ll give you kind of the brief synopsis of the book. The premise is, there is a writer, her name is Lowen and she is. Uh, I would say like, not the most confident writer, but she’s written a book it’s been somewhat successful and I’ll be really honest in the first chapter of the book for me, at least the character of low end comes off as really unlikable so much so that I actually almost didn’t finish the book.

But the premise is, is that low and is hired to come in and finish writing a series of books for the very famous author named Verity who has succumbed to a pretty serious, , accident and, and is left incapacitated and cannot finish writing her best-selling series. , and we meet, Verity’s husband, Jeremy in the first chapter as well.

And, uh, lo and who’s the writer who’s hired, , meets Jeremy out on the street, , just by chance. And they witnessed this really traumatic event. And really from the very beginning of the book, like Jeremy is he’s Swoon worthy. Like you like. Wow. Like Helene Hoover did a fantastic job writing this character.

He is Swoon worthy before you even scratch the surface of who he is and what he’s been through and just, oh my God. So, like I said, I read the first chapter and the premise of the book is. That low is hired to finish writing Verity’s work and low incomes up to Jeremy and Verdi’s country estate where Jeremy lives and Verity is cared for by, by a nurse.

And she’s basically. I don’t want to necessarily say in a vegetative state, but definitely not conscious, not able to, you know, be present and that sort of thing. One of the things that I find really interesting about the work is that I think Colleen Hoover did a really great job in kind of getting into the psyche of around.

And again, right? This is the insufferable writers podcast. So I’m going to be really insufferable for a moment. She did such a great job, in describing the thought process that low-end had in attempting another author’s work and especially a highly successful authors work. It was absolutely fantastic to I found myself really liking the character of low end and really being able to relate as the book moved on. What is incredible about the book is how the story is told as well. You were kind of taken on a wild ride as a reader. We, you know, get to, experience everything through Logan’s eyes.

And she finds me a new script and her first day going through Verdi’s office. The manuscripts written by Verity it’s, it’s a biography that she’s written by her of herself and . She’s telling this nitty gritty tale of who Verity really is.

It’s it’s, it’s shocking. It’s uh, you know, I think Verity says in the beginning of the manuscript, like, you’re not gonna like who, who I am by the time I finished reading, you finished reading this manuscript. And so we learn about Verity and who she is through Loewen’s eyes. And. Like I said, first chapter really did not hook me, but what I did love about the first chapter is that there was action from page one.

I try and write in a similar style where you are interested in what is going on from page one even though there was action from the get go, like I said, I didn’t really enjoy the character loan from the start. She definitely grew on me, but. I picked up the book. I gave it a second chance. I started chapter two and I did not put the book down until I closed the back cover.

It was that good. I literally could not put it down. Absolutely fantastic. A masterclass in how to write a romantic thriller. Which again, I would never think that the two genres go hand in hand, but they absolutely. I also just as a side note in doing a little bit of research about the book and about, Colleen Hoover, I learned that there’s talk about Verity actually becoming a movie, which that would be exceptionally cool,

so we’ll have to keep our eyes out for that. So moving on, , I wanted to, discuss, a blog post that I had wrote about a month ago now. And I asked the question in the blog post on my website is trauma, the new taboo in romance. And I want to start by saying that. You know the purpose of the blog again, much like the podcast is to build a platform, to build an audience, to share my thoughts as a romance writer and, you know, very rarely do I get a lot of feedback.

And that’s okay. But let me tell you guys, this blog post struck a nerve , and I think in a really good way . When I put a blog post up or now a podcast or both, I share it out on social media and what I was really shocked at was the response. I got a lot of comments, , a lot of private comments, , A lot of DMS on Twitter saying I write suspenseful dramatic romance with a heavy subject matter.

And I agree with you completely. There’s not a lot of it out there on the shelf. I wish there was more of it out there for readers. And I thought that that was really, really incredible. So with that being said, I wanted to discuss it a little more. In the podcast today and kind of elaborate on, what I mean by is it taboo and why it’s so important that really, this is a discussion that I think should be happening, especially in the romance community, the romance, writing community, the romance reading community.

I want to start by saying that. Stories are meant to entertain. They’re meant to inspire the, they fill a number of different needs. With that being said, , I really want to make it very, very clear. What I mean by is, is trauma taboo in romance and what I mean by depicting assault and abuse. I just want to be clear, , for those of you out there where my position is on this, because. I do understand there is definitely kind of a flip side to this argument.

Sexual assault, depictions of rape abuse, that kind of stuff for the purpose of entertainment in literature, in romance in really kind of anything, any entertainment medium for me, is not okay. In my work there are instances where, my female characters are survivors of different types of trauma and that sort of thing.

And I don’t, I don’t write in this trope for, the shock value of. For me, it brings more to the story. It just, and I’ll go on a little more about that here in a minute or two, but I just want to make very, very clear. I am in no way, advocating for abuse or assault or mistreatment of others as a form of entertainment in the case of my work.

And in the case of some of the work that I’ll cite in a little bit, , it is a, . Mode to show character development, to show where somebody has come from for lot authors use it for lots of different reasons. And again, I’ll speak about that in a little bit, but, , I just want to make very, very clear that my position is that assault and abuse is not entertainment.

So. Let’s circle back to the blog post. Right? Where did the idea of the blog post come about? Cause it’s kind of a weird subject matter, to just be thinking about, it really kind of started with what I write. I write serious dramatic stories of really strong women who overcome all sorts of obstacles to find.

And not necessarily be rescued by a man, not to say that there’s not a spot for that and romance. And sometimes the Knight on the white horse is awesome, but I really, my passion is writing stories about women who have really come through really tough challenges and some of the true ugliness of life.

And. Overcome that and how they build trust. And they heal as people, because I think that these stories are really, really important to tell. . So I started looking at what I write and there’s the old adage, right? The book that you want to read and looking on the bookstore shelves, like physical bookstore shelves, if you.

Happened to take a Gander at the romance section, . I will say the majority of the bookshelf in the romance section, , is filled with romantic comedy. And let me just say, I have nothing against romantic comedy. It’s fun. It’s funny. But for me as a writer, as a reader, As a life experience, love is serious stuff.

Love is scary. You, you put yourself out there and you become vulnerable and you have to overcome things to learn how to trust another person. You know, when you look at. What’s on the bookshelf. As a whole, , the majority of it is romantic comedy.

And then there is a subsection of really serious dramatic romance. And it’s kind of broken down in, , more often than not. You’ll have the male lead in the book will be somebody that’s recovering from trauma and you don’t really have. A lot of stories out there about women recovering from trauma and women finding themselves and who they are and healing through a relationship.

And I feel like if we break it down further, like you kind of, as far as what I would consider, like dramatic or serious. AKA, not romantic comedy. You’ll have stories that kind of fall into it into a sub genre of dramatic romance. And I feel like they’re very male focused in that. It’s the man who’s recovering from something and you’ll get usually one of three things, the rugged emotional warrior.

So this is like military special ops paramilitary guy who’s like closed off or maybe is, you know, went through some sort of trauma where he’s been harmed and he’s just not open to a relationship. And he meets a special woman who suddenly changes his life and, and helps him heal and helps him get better, you know, not just physically, but emotionally.

And whatnot. The second subset is you’ll have what I call the cowboy romances or the rancher romances, where, he’s a rough, tough guy and, , there’s trauma in the past, or, you know, he’s been wronged by love before, and he’s kind of a loner and he’s out on the land and the land is his love and he’s not interested in, you know, Uh, mate, and that kind of thing.

And then a woman comes by and suddenly he’s intrigued and, , together, they work through his issues and they all live happily ever after. And then the last one you’ll have is like firemen or cop or even millionaire, bad boy, like that. That’s a big one. Like who they’re all emotionally damaged in some way.

They’re recovering from trauma. They’re recovering from some sort of abuse and through the love of a good woman, , they find their way and they live their happily ever after. But the point I’m trying to make is is that when you take the small subset of. What I would call serious dramatic romance on the shelf.

And you take away those three tropes. What you’re left with, where the female heroine is the one who is recovering. From trauma. There are very, very few of them. And I say this over years, as, as a reader, when I find a book where there is a female, , heroine who is overcoming some sort of obstacle in life and learning how to trust again and learning, you know, who they are as people like seriously, I can not put my money down on the counter fast enough.

So. The blog post came about by just kind of observing this. , and I’m so glad that, romance, as a genre is growing, I think it was 2021. It might’ve been 20, 21 or, yeah, it was 2021 romance, I believe was the highest grossing fiction genre , in the U S so people are reading love stories, and , I’ve noticed this kind of, this lack of, of these stories being told. It’s not something I’ve noticed just as of late, it’s something that I’ve noticed for a while now. And I think it’s probably one of the reasons I write what I write. But in addition to that, I, , as I mentioned in the last podcast, I’m querying a book, I’m querying a story about a woman who.

, overcomes a really, , horrific experience where there is abuse and she’s learning to stand on her own two feet and she is not interested in a relationship. She’s not interested in a man and she meets this incredible guy who’s going through his own stuff and he’s got his own baggage and together, they kind of find their way towards which will hopefully be their happily ever after.

I don’t want to give anything away, . So, I started querying this book , at the beginning of this year. And I think I talked a lot about querying in the last episode of the podcast, but usually the querying process, once you send your query will take anywhere from like really, really fast as three weeks.

That’s not common. You know, the average I would say was between like six weeks to three months for a response from an agent. And then sometimes you just never hear and then. I started getting responses back really quickly, like under three weeks. And I got quite a few of them back in quick succession.

Which as an author, I’m going, okay, wait a minute. What, like, is there a massive typo? Did I attach the wrong manuscript? Like what is going on here? And I started to wonder why I was getting these responses back so quickly and I’m not so full of myself that I can’t think that there may be other reasons for getting.

The manuscript rejection so quickly, maybe the writing’s not there. Maybe the story isn’t compelling enough. It could be like a laundry list of other things. But this is a third book that I’ve put kind of through the querying process and all of the books that I’ve written about are. Stories of, like I said, of these strong heroines overcoming, you know, really, really kind of coming out of a tough, horrible situations and kind of blossoming into people through love.

And, I started to wonder that mixed with what I was seeing on the bookshelves . And I started to wonder, is it the subject. Is trauma and abuse when the female character of the book experiences at is this the new taboo in romance?

Is this something that the publishing industry has said, we don’t want to publish this. And it, like, I really thought about it and I thought about how hard it is to find those kinds of stories. They’re not impossible. And I’m going to give some great examples of a couple of books that that illustrate, , when it’s done really, really well.

In querying. As you look up, an agent, each agent has something called a manuscript wishlist, and it’s literally, it’s a, it’s a wishlist of the projects and the types of books that they want to represent. , I see a lot, I, you know, I’ve been querying for a couple of years now for different projects and I see.

Trends and shifts, but over the past two years, and, and I, I want to just state for the record right off the get go. I am completely in support of, of what I’m about to say. I’m not saying that we can champion one cause and not another cause or anything like that. We can champion all causes, but there’s really a push in the publishing industry and it’s.

Do it’s warranted, , for representation across the board. And I think representation is so incredibly important. There’s this, massive requests from agents right now for books written in like own voices and LGBTQ IAA and marginalized authors and represented authors. And. I think , yes, I absolutely, I championed this a hundred percent.

We should have these books on the shelf and we should have these, these, authors should be represented in all genres, not just romance, but I think it’s, it’s, it’s important that you know, that the publishing industry seek out these voices, but. What I find really interesting about it is if we’re going to be inclusive, let’s be all the way inclusive.

Like let’s tell stories and let there be stories published where we do see female heroines coming through something. And I think that, you know, By not publishing these stories of women who overcome and heal and come out of really bad situations. You know, it makes me wonder, like, are we really being inclusive in the romance genre?

I mean, I can’t really speak for other genres, but I can for romance. Are we being inclusive as is, are on rod to make sure that we’re telling all stories? I mean, like I said, if you look on, on the bookshelf and what is out there and I’m talking like traditionally published bookshelf, I know that there is a wealth of great stories out there in D published.

And, but I I’m mainly speaking about traditionally published work. You know, I think that these stories are just as important to tell, as let’s say, you know, a romantic comedy that, you know, makes you. Hurt because you’ve left so hard. Like I want to read a story about a woman who has fought like hell to find love again and to learn how to trust somebody again.

And I think that for me, you know, as a reader, I feel like there’s so much more on the line when it comes to that relationship that is being built in that story. There’s a deeper level of trust. I’m compelled as a, as a reader and as an author, it is really fulfilling to write these stories.

It’s fulfilling to see, to build a character who, you know, has really been through some stuff. And, you know, now is taking a second chance at happiness and is taking a second chance at life. And what that looks like I think is, you know, if we’re going to be representative of. Different voices and different, different subsets of, of culture, then why aren’t we telling these stories in such a big way as well?

And I think that, you know, here, I see, I see a lack of these stories and one of the things that surprised me in the feedback I got to the blog posts, where I discussed this, is that. Fellow authors who, who write in this genre and some, uh, I, I, I’m not gonna name names, but I had somebody reach out to me via Twitter and they’re well-known author and said, you’re on the money here.

And I was like, holy cow, like, okay. You know, which. It makes me sad. It’s not just, and it’s not just like, self-absorbed, I know, you know, a whole, my work won’t be published because I write in this genre or this TRO, but I’m just like, wow, if you’re at the top of your game and you’re seeing this and I met the beginning, we’ve got a problem here.

And I thought it was interesting and it made me think of a quote by Judy. , the famous children’s author and she is famously quoted by saying librarians save lives by handing the right book at the right time to a kid need. And although I’m not talking about children, or librarians, I think you could just as easily translate that to an author.

An author writes the right book and it ends up on the shelf. For, a woman who doesn’t think that she’ll ever recover from the trauma that she’s been through and has no idea what a path forward looks like. And, , maybe it’s through reading these fictional stories of women who do take a chance on love again and, , gain strength.

And maybe this is the book that, that woman needs at that time to continue her healing journey and, you know, I think with all art, like, I think I saw somewhere, something somewhere the other day that said something like we’re writing books, we’re not curing cancer and yes, yes. But you know, like all art it’s meant to inspire in a life without art, whether that be, you know, Music or, you know, literature or, you know, performative art, like, wow, I’m not, I’m not real interested in a life without art because it’s a reflection of life.

And so, I guess my concern is that are we really, as a genre, are we being fully representative of all different types of love stories. If that is the push,. As a genre that we’re telling all kinds of stories, these stories matter. We need to be telling these stories. I think that the only way forward is to vote with my dollars. So I wanted to put together a. A few recommendations of a few series recommendations where that really illustrate female heroines who have come through really traumatic experiences and, come into a relationship, maybe not looking for a relationship at all.

Um, but. I wanted to illustrate a couple of examples of what I’ve meant, what I mean by this and where I’ve seen it done really, really well. And I hope that, it’s, if it’s not triggering for you, I, I highly recommend them. And I think that, you know, give it a shot. Let’s vote with our dollars.

Let’s, you know, if this is something that you agree with, . Let’s support this work. The first one I wanted to call out was the blank canvas series by Adriana Anders. , she’s famously known she’s fantastic romance writer. She had a great hit, I want to say in 20, 20, 20, 20 or 2021, she wrote white out, which was absolutely fantastic, um, that doesn’t fall into this category, but, , Maybe we where you would know the name, if you follow romance.

The first book in the series under her skin. And it tells the story of a woman named Ooma who is fleeing from an abusive relationship. And the, the abuse depicted in the book.

It’s like flashback style abuse, and it is. It’s gripping, it’s chilling. It rocked me to my core. Um, and it made me root for the character of Ooma in a way that. Uh, like I, I so wanted things to work out for her and it’s a wild ride. And I think that it is a masterclass in how to write this genre really, really well.

It’s done in a really sympathetic way. And I think that. It really illustrates the point of what I mean by not necessarily writing trauma or abuse for the sake of entertainment, but it’s, it’s put in the book because it shows character growth and it shows some of the roadblocks that una has Ooma. Sorry, I keep saying it’s Ooma.

Ooma has in, growing as a person and learning to trust somebody again in the challenges that the male love and trust. You know, has in trying to strike up a relationship with somebody who is just really. Is is, I don’t want to say not willing because she’s willing, but you know, she’s got some baggage, she’s got some pretty significant baggage and, and what that love story looks like because it’s not easy.

It’s really not easy for both partners really. So, um, could not put it down, literally read it in one go. I had, in fact, I had to remind myself to slow down. You can only read a really good book the first time. Once, um, this, this book was good enough. I would probably read it again for entertainment and I know how it ends.

The second book in the series is by her touch. This one, the table is turned a little bit. It’s still stays kind of in the same town in the same universe, that under her skin takes place in. , and it’s, , the story of a police detective, clay Navarro, he’s an undercover cop and he goes through some really traumatic things and he goes to see a doctor who lives in the same town, where the first book takes place and they all kind of know each other.

Which is fun because. Little tidbits of how, Ooma is doing and her relationship. And that’s really fun. we see Dr. Georgette, in, by her touch and she is, she’s got some baggage too, and she’s going through a lot and she comes from a place where it’s trauma, recognizing trauma it’s hurt people, recognizing hurt people.

And I think that that’s really, powerful and. Again, I literally, I could not put it down. Granted, this is a story where it’s a more male-focused,, trauma recovery, but I think Georgette has has enough there and it kind of swirls in that universe that it’s still relevant and I would highly recommend it.

The third book, which is actually lined up on my Kindle is in his hands. So it’s the third book in the series. I haven’t read it yet. I cannot wait to read it. Um, I think it’s been out for a little while, but, I just haven’t gotten around to it, but like I said, it’s queued up on the Kindle. So hopefully that will be this weekend’s entertainment.

Switching, I’m switching authors. I thought Sandra Brown’s fat Tuesday. This is another story where the female heroine in the book is it’s not just sexual abuse. It’s it’s an older man who. I don’t want to necessarily say grooms, but for the sake of lack of a better term, I would say, groom’s this woman and she’s emotionally vulnerable and she falls into a relationship with, With the villain and the book, and he really is a villain.

Um, and a lot of the grooming in that happens before the story takes place, but she’s in this relationship with this man and he’s very controlling and he’s abusive. And, there’s a detective who’s investigating the villain and we see in the story. The detective, you know, much like us, the reader has like an outside view of kind of what the life that this woman is living and why she’s living it. And it’s a really great depiction of a woman finding herself coming out of just really. Ugly circumstances and you know what she has to do to fight, to survive and keep those who she loves alive and, you know, kind of finds her own inner strength. And I don’t want to give anything away.

It’s, it’s absolutely fantastic, really gripping, super compelling, but another great example of a woman who is really kind of in a bad situation and how she comes to trust someone else and starts to begin to heal.

. The last example I have are the steel brothers saga by Helen heart trigger warning, super, super heavy subject matter in these books.

The heroes and the male love interest in the first book is overcoming. Um, it tells the story of he was abducted as, as a young boy, um, and was sexually abused. And it, again, trigger warning. Graphic, but it’s not written in a way to shock. I don’t think, and it’s not written in a way, like I, that is not entertainment, like to depict stories of, you know, sexual abuse of children.

That is like, that turns my stomach. But it’s written in a way where we see, the character is now a grown man and he’s really kind of working through this trauma with a therapist and we see him. Really want to work past it and really work to build a life. And what is trust look like again? And what is intimacy look like maybe for the first time, you know, intimacy in a way that it is, um, you know, W, how do you even begin?

How do you even begin? Where do you even begin to heal from that? And the trust that it takes and the relationship that they build together as a co as a couple? Um, there are, gosh, I think there are now 24 books in this series, full disclosure. I think I’ve read 10 or 11 of them. , And it’s not just males in the series who are overcoming things. It’s, there’s female love interest, whoever come abuse and, and all sorts of abuse, whether it’s physical or sexual or, mental, . They are incredibly gripping. And I think that they’re done really, well in that they, they show character development and they show, , I think probably a pretty realistic idea of what it takes to trust somebody and what it takes to allow yourself to be in an intimate situation with somebody again, after you’ve really, been through something traumatic and really ugly and, and.

What that looks like. so those are my suggestions. Just off the top of my head. I’ll put links to them again in the show notes., if you have a recommendation of a book that you think is. This really well. Please shoot me, shoot me a email or, you can contact me on the website, Jacqueline C thomas dot com or, I’m also on Twitter at Jackie C Thomas. , I would love to hear your recommendations of where this. Been done really well. , like I said, I vote with my dollars and these are books I’ll buy because it’s something I want to support because in the end I really do feel very strongly that, , no matter the genre, if we say we’re going to be representative of telling all different types of stories we really should, and that means being inclusive.

And that means. Some readers enjoy the heavier subject matter and others don’t and that’s okay. But we should make sure that the right book is on the shelf at the right time for the right person. Okay. So now moving on, I wanted to talk a little bit about what I’m writing right now, because if it’s the insufferable writers podcast that assumes that I’m writing and I am, so.

I wanted to talk a little bit about kind of where, where I have been, , within the past year writing and why it matters to me. So. The last full-length novel I finished, , was a love story. Again, it’s a love story of a woman who comes out of it’s the one that I’m querying that I mentioned, where she comes out of a really serious, abusive situation.

And she’s not looking for love, but she finds love. And I finished writing that, , that work in February of 2020. And. It was an incredible book to write it. The writing was easy. It came naturally. I did a career transition as I was writing that book and started to commute in Chicago. and I would have a train journey back and forth, and that was like my built-in writing time.

I absolutely adored it. And like creatively like it was percolating, like from the first time. The first novel I ever wrote, which was about five years ago. I pretty much wrote continuously. There’ve been little blips of time where I’ve taken a break, but I would say no more than, let’s say six weeks, I’m either writing something or I’m revising something or like I’m always writing.

Well, when I finished the novel, at the end of, February of 20, 20, um, little did I know. Nobody knew, I don’t think that what was coming down the line, which was a global pandemic. And, , I know that for a lot of writers, stress can either kind of dry up the creative muse or they write prolifically.

I was not one of the lucky ones. I think to make matters worse. I was in a professional situation where I had an experience with gaslighting where I I’ve been always been very, very lucky wherever I’ve worked to have my work really well respected and have the respect of my colleagues and vice versa.

And this was a really challenging time in my life and really affected me deeply. And, you know, I don’t want to go too far into it, but it was something where, It took a long time. It took a long time to kind of find me again through that, through that situation. But in that process, I stopped writing it wasn’t that I didn’t want to write it just, it, it wasn’t.

It wasn’t easy. And, and I’m not one that like, oh, it’s not easy, so I’m not going to do it. I just, I could not be productive at it. And it, I felt like, okay, life is hard enough right now, give yourself a break, step away from it and come back when you’re ready. So, I ended up leaving that position, for a lot of different reasons, but about a month monthly.

I had an idea for a book. So I wrote it. Um, I wrote the book and it came out like fast and furious as, as it normally does with me. And I wrote kind of a dystopian. Romance novel and like scifi is not my genre. Like it, my husband’s a huge Saifai fan. Like I think I’ve maybe read two scifi books in my whole life, but this book came out and came out of me and it’s, it was an incredible experience to write.

But after that, Again, still kind of, working through the trauma of 2020. And I just, I couldn’t write, like I started lots of different projects but it just seemed that no matter how, what I did, how invested I was in the story idea, I’d get to this point where I was like at the 10,000 word mark and.

I just like if writer’s block is, something visual, this was like the great wall of writer’s block. Like I could not, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get past the 10,000 word mark. And so, you know, I kept trying eventually I was like, okay, you know what? You just, you need to stop. You need to pause.

There are other things you can be doing. You can be reading, you could be like, just, just relax. So. I did. And I hadn’t written anything in more than a year. And for me, uh, like that, I just, it ate at me at who I am as a person. And yes, I know I’m being insufferable. I’m not going to apologize. It seems sufferable writers podcasts, but I.

Finally, hopefully knock on wood, have broken the streak. I had the spark of an idea. There is, um, a song by Kings of Leon and the song title is I believe it’s clear and Eddy and there’s, there’s a verse in it where he says there they’re like swimming in the Colorado river and she reveals herself to him for the very first time.

And it like gave me the spark of an idea for a book. And I even called my husband. And I said to him, I think I have got an idea. And I think it’s a really good one. And I think this might work. And so I started writing in February and I’ve approached this project a little differently and the kind of writer where, when I sit down to write.

Like a story comes fast and furious. I will write a novel, which is like about six, between 60,000 and 80,000 words for the romance genre. I will sit down and do that in a week. Nine days, 10 days for the first draft. And it’s just, it’s how I write I’m, you know, they say you’re either a planner where you outline a book or you’re a pants stir, and that means you’re flying by the seat of your pants.

And I’m definitely a pants stir in, in how I write. I don’t plan it creatively for me. It just, it like. Let it go where it wants to go, that, you know, that’s what editing is for. You can always come back and take something out. Um, but I’m happy to report with this new project. I am almost at the 40,000 word mark, and I could not be more excited, that I’m writing and then I’m pushing through and, , writing a project where, this is another story as somebody who’s kind of, uh, coming out of a really bad situation and giving life another chance and giving love another chance.

I’m approaching this project differently and that rather than sitting down and getting it, down in the computer as fast as I can, I’m approaching it in a more relaxed manner and, for example, like I wrote probably the first 10,000 words and I was like, oh, okay. Or, Hey, we got to make it past this 10,000 word mark, like, come on and keep going.

You’ve got the idea. It’s there. It’s strong. The characters are strong. And I, I paused, like I never pause when I’m writing and. I really wanted to think about the characters. I really wanted to think about the setting and the situation, and I really wanted to be respectful of the story that I’m writing in that.

Really kind of looking at what a character who’s come out of this situation really acting this way. And would they really do this and just kind of letting the idea kind of marinade for a couple of days, which is just sounds ridiculous. But if you ask any writer about, character development and that kind of thing, They’re going to know what I’m talking about and they’re gonna, you know, just kind of giving some time and some space for the characters to kind of introduce themselves to you.

And again, like completely insufferable. I know if you’re not a writer you’re got, you’re gotta be like, oh my God, Jackie, please stop droning on about this. But if you’re a writer, you get it. And. It’s been a whole new way of writing and it’s been an incredible way of writing so far. And I, you know, I’m getting the ability to fall in love with falling in love again, and falling in love through my characters and through their love story and it’s complex and it’s scary for them.

And it’s, you know, getting to feel all of those emotions is, is just really, really incredible. Yay. I’m writing again and, and it’s going really well. And I hope to finish, , I feel fairly confident that, , there is a novel length story here. , I, you know, I don’t necessarily write to hit a word count, but, , I, I always feel too, you know, You get a first draft done.

And then,, when you come back through and you do that first edit, that’s kind of where the rubber meets the road in, as far as word count goes, where you can add or subtract. And it also allows me to see like, are there holes in the story here? Do I need to add a chapter? You know, or do I need to take a scene out?

Like this is not relevant, you know, that kind of thing. So, you know, I think that. It’s interesting, right. It, how it all comes together. I’m just so grateful to be writing again, and I’m grateful that it’s, it’s coming pretty easily and I’m writing every day again. And I’m reading, you know, at the same time I’m reading romance right now.

And, Reading romance, but, I think Stephen King famously says like reading his writing, or he says something to that effect. Obviously that’s not a direct quote, but you know, that it’s important as an author to be reading and to be reading in the genre that you write in.

, I don’t want to share too much about it because you know, I’m not superstitious and I don’t want to jinx it, but the story is still coming together. Um, and you know, who knows it could change directions very, very quickly. I don’t want to necessarily commit to something, but, um, yeah, let you know, I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going.

So all in all, this was the second episode of the insufferable writers podcast. Thank you so much for listening in today. , please feel free to leave me a comment. , again, you can comment on the website where the show notes will be. As well as feel free to hit me up on Twitter. , I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode book recommendations.

Thanks again. Have a great day.