Hometown Healing with Jennifer Slattery & Romance

Hello, reader friends! Jennifer Slattery is sharing some thoughts on writing romance today as part of a JustRead Publicity Tours blog tour celebrating her recent release, Hometown Healing!

 

Jennifer Slattery & Writing Romance

author guest post

When I first started hacking at my keyboard, I never imagined I’d write romance. I hate to say this, but I’m not always that romantic. It’s not that I don’t want to be, it’s just that I can be a bit … distracted and, simultaneously, hyper-focused. For readers who assume those two traits can’t possibly co-exist, simply visit the Slattery home for ten minutes and you’ll understand. These aspects of my personality can, in fact, work quite well together—when what is distracting me (from cleaning, cooking dinner, doing laundry, answering my phone or emails …) is my focus. Because I’m rather book-obsessed, ninety percent of the time, I hold my current story to blame.

And yet, while I’m not particularly romantic, at least, not in real life, I do rather enjoy being swept off my feet, something my hero-of-a-man does regularly. In fact, it’s often because I’m distracted that he’s most able to do this. For example, I almost always forget our anniversary, which makes it super easy for my Romeo to surprise me—and he does every year. Every year for the past twenty-five. He loves it, I love it. In short, it works for us.

And, it works for my story. If I had a dime—no, make that piece of chocolate—for every time one of his adorably sweet moments or plans made it into one of my novels, I’d be the envy of every addict around. On our honeymoon, while I visited the ladies’ room, he paid the band playing at our restaurant to pay our favorite song, led me to the dancefloor, then sang softly in my ear while pretending as if I didn’t completely clobber his feet.

One night, he donned a sports coat, took me to a fancy restaurant, just because. And while I was in the restroom—which, appears to be a frequent occurrence for me, if these memories are any indication—placed a single rose on my place setting. He spent the next five minutes telling me everything he loved about me.

Those unexpected, tender displays of his heart touch me deeply, but perhaps what I cherish most is all the little, less than romanticized moments he shows me his love. Like now, as he drives me to Topeka for a meeting with ministry leaders—on his birthday. Then tomorrow, he’ll help me pack my plethora of luggage (including a bag packed with my personal reading and a box loaded with books to sell) and will drive me to a speaking engagement in Oklahoma City.

Why does he do this, again and again and again? When asked, he gave two reasons: First, “I like you!” he said. Yay for that. I suspect that means he enjoys spending time with me, which is a good thing, considering, by contract, he’s stuck with me. Second: “If I make your life just a little easier, then you’ll have more time to write.”

So there you have it! It’s much thanks to him that I have time to create heroes with a similar, swoon-worthy bent. And for that, I’m super grateful.

B: Thanks so much for this wonderfully sweet peek into your writing world and home, Jennifer!!

 

 

tour giveaway

(1) winner will receive a signed four print book bundle including Restoring Her Faith (Love Inspired), Hometown Healing (Love Inspired), Breaking Free (New Hope), and Restoring Love (New Hope)!

Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway will begin at midnight February 22, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on February 29, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Continental US mailing addresses only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

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tour schedule

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Let me know if you’ve read it or plan to read this story, reader friends!
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