Just how far is TOO far?

A rambling on the prejudice of close-minded people -

Sure, I'm probably going to get some backlash for this post. Hey, everyone's entitled to an opinion. Feel free to express yours in the comments. I promise I won't yell, berate, or even take it personally. After all, I'm a professional, and I will thank you for just commenting.  That being said ~

Those who frequent here often, know that I write romance. From sweet contemporary to flowery language. I'm what you would call a level 1-2 heat romance writer. That's just my personal comfort zone in writing.

Many of my friends write much higher heat levels, and they are good at what they do! I absolutely LOVE reading their work, but deep inside I know that it is not in my comfort zone. So, I leave it to my expert friends.

On one of my publisher's author sites, I saw a post from a man who had just released his first book about a month ago. He writes a pretty solid level four heat, but has been recently discouraged on writing anymore. His book is awesome! Well thought out plot and intriguing characters had me turning through it quickly. However, he has received some HEAVY discouragement just because he is a MAN!

I don't understand. Really people! "Women write Romance, Men write Crime." In all bluntness, may I just say... "Bull Shit!" One of the most noted romance writers of our time right now is Nicholas Sparks. I mean who hasn't seen his books turn into blockbuster movies for more than 10 years.

The age old thought that "mean can't show their softer side because it shows their weaknesses" was said by a MAN! WOMEN love to see a man with emotion. We want to know that he actually does care about something, and sometimes saying words are simply not enough.

I guess I get so worked up, because as a women I have spent most of my life trying to change the image people stereotyped me as. I wrestled in high school. (Yep. I did that! The only girl on the team.) I joined the Navy and was billeted as the 10th female to graduate the Sonar ITASS Pipeline. (When I was placed on a ship, I was the only female on the team for Sonar). When I went back to get my college degree, I chose teaching. Yes a mostly female profession. But, I chose Middle School! Out of our 113 teaching degrees given out that year, only 17 of us were Middle School Certified.

People have the right to live the lives they want to lead. They have a right to be happy. If a man wants to write romance, he should! If a woman wants to be the next big Sci-fi writer, I say go for it!

If it's not hurting you, who are you to say anything to hurt them? If you don't like the fact that a man wrote it, don't buy it. But also, don't go around slandering his name. As authors we write for the love of it. If you haven't heard of us, it's because we make only small amounts from our writing. We do it to TELL a story. If you don't want to HEAR the story, please have the courtesy to be quite, so others may enjoy it.

Lisa