Dating is hard. I mean, way harder than writing a book. Way harder than getting published. Even harder than walking in five inch stilettos. Mostly, I’m convinced, due to the inordinate amount of frogs out there trying to pass themselves off as Prince Charming. Some of my recent forays into Toadville: a man who, after three weeks of dating, admitted to me he was actually married, a guy who committed a felony (While on a date with me! Hiding from the cops – not my idea of foreplay.), a man who learned English from watching old Seinfeld reruns (If everything in your life relates back to Kramer, you have a problem.), and Hairy. Nope, I didn’t spell that wrong. The man was a walking wookie. But, the one that capped it all off, my favorite amphibious fellow, the man with one leg. That’s right, just the one. Not one to discriminate (Hey, love comes in all shapes, right?), I went out with him anyway. Until he dumped me. That’s right folks, I was dumped by the guy with one leg. See, what I mean? Dating is really hard.
So, as I set out to write my latest story, I’ll admit, I was kind of in a jaded place. (Understatement alert.) I decided I was going to write a short about a woman that worked as a decoy to bust cheating husbands. She was hot, kick-butt, and had a bunch of James Bond worthy gadgets. I loved her. (Okay, I’ll admit, kinda wanted to be her.) The story started out with her waiting for the mark she was totally going to bust for cheating on his wife. She was all set to seduce him, take photographs, and present them to his wife so she could milk him for beaucoup alimony. (Bwhahaahaha!) But as I wrote, somewhere along the line the story took a turn. Instead of busting him, she started falling for him. Instead of being a cheating creep, he turned into a sexy, suave and actually truly caring guy. Oh, no, what had I done! Despite the frogs I’d kissed lately, I’d turned my story of kick-butt girl revenge into a romance. I realized that no matter how rough it was out there in the dating world, something in me still wanted to believe in real heroes. What can I say? I guess that’s why I write romance.
And, I’m happy to report that, while I haven’t yet found my frog that morphs into Prince Charming, I’m not giving up on real life romance, either. You can read about my latest dating triumphs and disasters every Friday on the Killer Fiction blog at http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/ And if you’re in the mood to have your faith in romance renewed, too, be sure to pick up my short story, “Mark of a Bond Girl“, in the Dreams & Desires Vol. 2 anthology to benefit victims of domestic violence, out February 1st!
Gemma Halliday
http://www.gemmahalliday.com/
http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/
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