R.T. Wolfe: Married to a romance author? We're so sorry!

So if you think marrying an ax murderer is scary, try being married to a romance author. It's not that we're going to kill you, though we have been known to kill other people (characters in books, that is!). But we do have the tendency to drift off in the middle of conversations and disappear for hours or days at a time while we're on a roll. Best-selling author R.T. Wolfe of Flying in Shadows, the latest in her Black Creek Series, expands on this narrative …

R.T.: Married to a romance author? It's like being a milkshake (yes, being the milkshake). Take a healthy dose of patience, add some necessary independence and throw in a touch of sugar coating. Put it all in a blender and push "liquefy." After your ears are ringing and your nerves are fried, you'll likely be topped with a large dollop of whipped cream and probably a cherry, too.

Authors can be moody. (Did I say that?) It's true. Our moods can be swayed by the tone of the scene we're writing or by the success of our novels. Flying in Shadows is book two in the Black Creek Series. It was released earlier this month. The pivotal scene is dark. As I wrote that section of the book, I was in the dumps right there with the characters. It was like waking from an especially bad dream. It took hours to come out of it. On the other hand, when my work-in-progress is flowing, I'm on a cloud. If I've just written a love scene — well, that could be the large dollop of whipped cream (metaphorically speaking, of course).

But our moods can also be affected by the success of our sales. Did a large promotional opportunity attract readers? Woo hoo! Get out the champagne! Or was it a waste of time that could have been spent writing? Is one of my characters trying to pull my story on an unnecessary tangent? Is my editor picking at my commas? I love my commas! Just this week, Black Creek Burning, book one in the Black Creek Series, went on sale for 99 cents and was featured on BookBub. I was checking stats and sending tweets like someone on meth … only with all of my teeth.

As with many artists, we often work in binges. When a book is flowing, it's flowing. That's not our fault! I can go for days at a time with late nights, middle of the nights, or early mornings of writing. It takes a solid independent to put up with this. I've been known to pull into a Starbucks at 5 a.m. for a week straight to sit and drink their blissful coffee as the characters I've come to know fall in love. Just this week I woke with an idea. Instead of jotting it down on the trusty notepad I keep with me EVERYWHERE, I had to get up. I wrote from 1 to 4 a.m. and then fell back into bed with a thud. My husband refers to my writing binges as the roommate phases. He says we're more like roommates than a married couple when I'm on a binge. Eventually, I crawl back out of my cave, give myself a facial mud mask and voilà, back in the now and good as new. Lucky for me, my husband is just as busy as I am.

Sometimes embarrassment can be added into the milkshake ingredients. Do you ever sit and watch television with a spouse or significant other who gets out their beloved notepad every few minutes to write down an idea? Lucky you! Or one who pulls it out of the pocket of their blue jeans as they drive and hand it to you with instructions of what to write? And … I admit, I've been known to leave a movie a half dozen times to jot down great ideas that keep flying at me. At least I don't use my cellphone as a light and write them down in the theater! I'm so considerate.

After all is said and done, being married to a romance author can't be all bad. We are generally creative people with a sense of humor and the ability to poke fun at ourselves. And, think of the thousands of readers who think Mr. R.T. Wolfe is an Adonis in the sack. It's like the cherry on top!

While you're here, check out the trailer for Flying in Shadows:

To find out more about R.T. and her books, you can visit her website, rtwolfe.com.