Romancelandia. When I started my writing career, I never thought I’d end up here. I wanted to be a horror writer, maybe some historical fiction—I was a history major after all—but romance? I didn’t even read it. Don’t get me wrong, I had no ill-will toward the genre, it’s just that my only exposure to it was glancing at the shelves at the supermarket where shirtless men gazed scandalously back at me. I didn’t really have a clue what was under those covers, but I had the vague understanding I wasn’t supposed to look at it. I’d throw a sneaky peek out of the corner of my eye, then move to the snacks aisle and pick out some popcorn for a movie.
See, film was more my thing. Though I loved writing fiction, because I had a minor in English, most of my reading was in the literary world. I didn’t have time for commercial fiction in the early part of adulthood, so I started consuming stories in the quicker, less-demanding-of-my-brain medium of television. Luckily for me, as my TV and movie binging grew, so did the quality of content available. You could find some amazing drama on Netflix and cable stations. Most of the more meaty drama was found in the darker genres—mystery, horror, tragedy, so that’s where I stayed. TV fangirl; reader not so much.
Like my interest in reading, my goals of becoming any kind of writer just sort of fizzled. The real world makes it hard to focus on art. It’s constantly screaming at us that art and creative endeavors are frivolous and, oh by the way, you can’t live off of them. So I packed that plan away with some of my other college experiences, like Arbor Mist and wearing pajamas to dinner, and set about a rather productive, though creatively unfulfilling, adulthood.
Though I loved drama on screen, my own life wasn’t movie-esque. I dated a bit, eventually met my husband, got married, had kids. I’d like to say meeting my husband, the love of my life, was the serendipitous moment where I found my calling of writing love stories… but, like I said, I took the long way around. Baby, I love you, I really do, but it wasn’t until I met my OTP that a light shone down from heaven and flicked on my creative switch yelling “Wake up! Your life is about to begin.”
Maybe that’s hyperbolic, but I’m using my writer card here, because that’s what it felt like. The one thing I’ve always been drawn to in stories is the beauty in pain. It’s why I’ve always focused on drama and tragedy. I loved a good romance side-plot, but, again, straight up romance? I never sought that out. And it was exactly by not seeking it out that I happened to stumble upon it—while watching a show about zombies.
Let’s back up. One day my husband was watching a show called The Walking Dead and oh my god, Rick Grimes, you guys! Here I was watching one of the most gory and violent shows I’d ever seen, and I looked a little (a lot) like that Alicia Silverstone swooning gif.