I like the number ten. It’s a good number in terms of measurement.
It’s a decade, for one. An achievement by which we recognize milestone birthdays, for another. In the metric system, multiples and fractions of units are expressed as powers of ten of each unit. Unit conversions are always simple because they are in the ratio of ten, one hundred, one thousand and so on.
For me at the moment, the number ten holds personal significance. This month, my tenth romance novel with my publisher, Bella Books (www.bellabooks.com) hits the shelves. Delay of Game is a story about rediscovering a love from the past while set in the competitive maelstrom of women’s hockey in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. There is suspense (who will win the gold? And most of all, by what nefarious means?) and of course there is love and romance (can old lovers who are sworn enemies on the ice continue to ignore the passion between them?).
I’ve always meant to write a novel with hockey as the main setting, but never got around to it until now. I’ve always loved hockey, watching it as well as playing it. I remember as a kid in the early 1970s, my brother was forced to play hockey for a couple of years because it’s what boys of that era did (there was no hockey for girls at the time, only figure skating). He used to cry when it was time to go to games and practices. Meanwhile, I would have killed to play, so badly did I want to be the one who got to play and go to practice. I had to settle for pond hockey and figure skates instead.
I finally did get to realize my dream of playing organized hockey when I was in my thirties and continue to play the game today. It was time for me to take my passion for the game and write it into the pages of a romance novel.
And that brings me to the other point of this blog (the first being to talk about my newest novel!). Write about the things you’re passionate about. If you really enjoy cooking for instance, or your job as a nurse, or your piano playing, write it into your novel. Give your characters those same passions. Or set your novel in a restaurant or in a hospital or in a concert hall. Imbue your novel or short story with the things you love and are passionate about, and you will never get tired of what you’re writing. Readers too will absorb and appreciate your passion in the pages of your novel.
You don’t have to write what you know. But you should always write what you are passionate about!
