The world of fiction lost two writers this week.Robert B Parker died 'at his desk' at the age of 77. I learned this from Anne McAllister's blog. So if you want to know more about him, she can tell you more than I can. I never really read any of his Spenser detective novels. In fact the only time I was ever aware that Spe
nser existed was way back when, when there was a TV series starring Robert Urich that I watched for a while.The other author who died at the weeked was Erich Segal who was 72. Segal was of course the a classics professor at Yale University who he wrote the book, Love Story which became an Oscar-winning 1970 film starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw.
Love Story was the film that was famous for coining the line that everyone went around quoting at the time - and that is :
Love is never having to say you're sorry.
That infuriated me at the time and really it still does. It was too simplistic, too neat . I never fully believed in it.
Thinking about my own writing now and the resolutions of my books where my hero and heroine have to sort out the conflicts between them to reach a happy ending, I think that if I had to say why I don't like this line it's because I'd need to say that loving someone means that if you're the one who needs to say sorry because you've hurt someone you love, then you'll really really want to say it.And if you're the one someone has to say sorry to, then you know you're happy to forgive them - so in one sense they 'never have to say they're sorry' but you're so glad they want to say sorry because that shows they know they hurt you and they regret it.
Of course there are different ways of 'saying sorry' and actions can speak louder than words . . . but well now perhaps you see why I always found this line too simplistic and rather sentimental. That's also why I always find writing romance so fascinating and complex and I don't get bored with it.
But it made me think of an idea for a one off quick contest. Because yesterday I received some author copies of the bok from the Mistresses collection that contains one of my earlier stories. This i
s the book with the lovely cover. The full title is Mistresses Shackled with Rubies and my book in it is Her Secret Bridegroom.
I got far more copies of this book than I was ever expecting so I'm giving away one as a prize today.
All you have to do is to leave a comment completing the following sentence -
Love is . . . .
And I'll pick out a favourite and the poster will win one of the extra copies of Mistresses.
13 comments:
Agreed - that line is utterly wrong!
Love is...? This a cliche, but it's still true (at least for me): love is what makes life worth living. :)
It's the twinkle in your partner's eye after years of being together, letting you know that - even though you know you're heavier, greyer and more wrinkled - he still thinks you're the most gorgeous thing he's ever seen. It's the smile on your baby's face when you walk into the room. It's a friend being there on the other end of a phone at 3am when a crisis hits. It's having to make a hard decision but knowing that your partner, friends and family will back you all the way. It's making memories that will never dim with age. It's a a special gift that's worth much more emotionally than it is financially.
Hmm. I sound like my current heroine talking to my hero. Time to go and do some work, methinks!
Love is...your children, after a dreadful day, when you've been caught in the wind, rain, sleet and snow, been drenched by a passing truck, have dirt dripping of the end of your nose and are about to burst into tears and they look at you and say...but mum your still an 11 out of 10!
love is what heals us, whatever life may throw at us.
Love is everything and without it we would be nothing.
Love is that special place in my heart -- sometimes calming and soothing, and other times beating faster with each moment, in anticipation of happy times ahead.
Love is...all around us. No matter how big or small the deed it's there. (Particularly so this week when we see the massive response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti - and the response of the world to it, whether donating 50p or being part of the rescue operation. Caroline x
Love is what's left at the end of the day, when everything else goes quiet.
Gorgeous cover, sweets.
Kate, what a wonderful post. I agree with Kate H and Donna and for me I can't imagine a life without it!
Love is...best when you least expect it.
Love is...the humming undercurrent charging our lives. It's makes us laugh, cry, scream, shout and experience every emotion we were born to experience. Love is amazing!
I'm a little late getting here, but:
Love is when the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
Love is.... still feeling for your partner the same as you did that first day, even when they are old and grey.
Love is... a melody that makes my heart sing whenever I look at my partner, companion, best friend forever, husband. (What ever he is to you).
Post a Comment