{"id":5649,"date":"2015-02-15T07:03:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T07:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5649"},"modified":"2015-02-15T07:03:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T07:03:14","slug":"proud-of-what-we-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5649","title":{"rendered":"Proud of what we do\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Contemporary<\/a>
I read a lot of contemporary novels. I look forward to trying some of these.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week the RNA announced the shortlists for the Romantic Novel of the year awards.<\/p>\n

As the RNA website administrator, I spent a lot of time working with the shortlist images and uploading them for everyone to see.<\/p>\n

One thing that immediately struck me was the incredible diversity of the novels on that shortlist.<\/p>\n

Some of the authors are old favourites \u2013 Julie Cohen, Barbara Erskine, Jenny Colgan, Jill Mansell and others are authors I read and enjoy and have for a long time.<\/p>\n

The list also has lots of authors who are new to me, but won\u2019t be for long. I always try to read as many of the shortlisted books as I can.<\/p>\n

\"Although<\/a>
Although I don’t read a lot of historical novels – I find I really like the ones I do read, so I may need to read more of them<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have on occasion heard fellow authors say they are a little embarrassed when people ask what they write. They don\u2019t want to say they write romance, or romantic fiction\u2026 because romance is looked down on as not \u2018proper\u2019 writing.<\/p>\n

I know what they mean \u2013 other genres \u2013 crime, fantasy, sci fi are regarded more highly than romance.<\/p>\n

I wince every time I hear someone say it\u2019s \u2018just romance\u2019. There\u2019s nothing second rate about these books.<\/p>\n

They are books that look at the depth of human feeling. They are books that bring delight to millions of readers. They can help readers cope with difficult times.<\/p>\n

There are \u2018literary\u2019 romance novels. There are light romance novels and romance for young adults. There are scary romantic thrillers and thought provoking sci fi romances.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>
These epic nominees deal with some powerful issues and troubled times. There’s nothing lightweight about them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And romance novels are among the best selling books in the world.<\/p>\n

Why should anyone feel ashamed or second rate writing books like these?<\/p>\n

So I say \u2013 congrats to all those authors on these shortlists. You deserve the recognition.<\/p>\n

And I say to all writers of romance \u2013 be proud of what you do. It\u2019s not in way second to anything\u2026 not by a long shot.<\/p>\n

Stand tall and say, as I do – \u00a0I write romantic fiction \u2013 and I am proud of it!!!<\/p>\n

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\"Books<\/a>
Books to make you laugh – that is a special gift. I wish I could write comedy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Short<\/a>
Short romance is not easy to write – it’s concentrated emotion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"What<\/a>
What better goal is there than to encourage young adults to read?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week the RNA announced the shortlists for the Romantic Novel of the year awards. As the RNA website administrator, I spent a lot of time working with the shortlist images and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1t7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}