'Scribbling Women' share hope of happy every after with homeless
Last summer a series of circumstances led me to an aha moment. As romance authors, we make it our job to celebrate not only romantic love but also the heroic men (and sometimes women) who partner with us to make that love possible. What better way to celebrate this Valentine's Day than to hold up for huzzahs our real-life romance heroes, the spouses and life partners without whose love and support, wit and wisdom, strength and loyalty we would likely have little in the way of "romance" to write about? And while we were at it, why not use our real-life love stories to not only inspire readers but also to provide practical, hands-on help to those less fortunate — formerly homeless women and children for whom Happily Ever After once might have seemed as attainable as a trip to the moon?
And so Scribbling Women and the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them was born.
Styled along the lines of the best-selling Chocolate for a Woman's Soul anthology series, Scribbling Women and the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them is a collection of 28 non-fiction essays by popular romance authors, one for each day of February 2014, on how they met, wed, and love their real-life spouses and significant others. Contributors include Lisa Renee Jones, Deanna Raybourn, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Julie Kenner and Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick.
As the anthology's editor, by now I've read the collection straight through — and line by line — easily a half dozen times, and yet each of the 28 true-love stories never fails to make me smile, laugh out loud — and sometimes tear up — every time. Some authors' journeys to True Love involved overseas travel and sometimes relocation (Mary B. Rodgers, Sonali Dev, Kat Simons) or military service (Carlene Love Flores, Carole Bellacera); others such as Jen McLaughlin's took place in writers' own backyards. Some couples met as college sweethearts (Katana Collins, Delilah Marvelle), others as seasoned second-chance lovers (Leslie Carroll). Some of the essays are tongue-in-cheek, even laugh-out-loud funny (Patience Bloom), while others are poignant, even bittersweet (Katharine Ashe, Elf Ahearn). All affirm that Happily Ever After isn't only the stuff of fairy tales and romance novels.
It is every woman's birthright.
In that spirit, all 28 authors contributed their essays pro bono, waiving any royalties or advance so that we could raise the maximum money for charity. Because of their generosity, we are able to donate ALL net proceeds from sales of the anthology to Win (formerly Women in Need). Since its Feb. 14, 1983, launch — yes, Valentine's Day! — Win has worked tirelessly to bring the hope of Happily Ever After to disadvantaged women and their children in New York City. Win has been the official charity of Lady Jane's Salon since our 2009 founding for good reason — the work they do empowering families to build positive, independent lives and forge forward into brighter futures is beyond "good." It's transformative.
As with True Love, the course of launching a book does not always run smoothly. Our New York City book launch party took place at Lady Jane's Salon this week in the aftermath of a proper snowstorm. Our intrepid guest authors Suzan Colón, Isabo Kelly, Katana Collins, Salon co-founder Leanna Renee Hieber, and Harlequin Books Senior Editor Patience Bloom braved the bluster to come out and support us, as did many of our regular Salon attendees. Others were stranded in the city's outer boroughs or shoveling out from as far away as Westchester.
But in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, we made do. We focused on what we did have, notably a great venue, Madame X, that opened its doors for us despite the weather. Snug inside its red-bedecked upper story, we had electricity and heat, a working microphone, and scrumptious libations including life-size shoe-shaped confections courtesy of pastry artist Claudia Carrillo and champagne and cupcakes provided courtesy of our sponsor, Entangled Publishing. www.entangledpublishing.com/
And while authors' releases were in short supply — alas, our fab Posman's bookseller was stuck out of town — we had plenty of print copies of our Scribbling Women anthology for sale.
Our very first Scribbling Women reader, Patience Bloom, treated us to her essay, Wedding 101 for the Anti-Bridezilla, based on her memoir, Romance Is My Day Job. Going forward, the program for each monthly Lady Jane's will feature one Scribbling Women contributor as our special non-fiction guest. Look for Scribbling Women readings from Megan Frampton, Leanna Renee Hieber, Katana Collins and Suzan Colón this spring. Check the Lady Jane's Salon blog for event details.
A Kindle Top 100 best seller within hours of going live, Scribbling Women is available as a digital release on Kindle, Nook and Smashwords as well as in print on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more information on the anthology, including the full list of contributors, visit the book's website, www.scribbling-women.com. For now …
Happy Valentine's — and Happily Ever After.
Award-winning author and Lady Jane's Salon co-founder Hope Tarr is the editor of Scribbling Women and the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them. Connect with the Scribbling Women on Facebook and Twitter (@ScribblingWomen).