I am getting better at hassling my Facebook friends for this REAL Woman Wednesday stuff. Today I pestered a long time follower Sara. One thing I adore about her is her PURPLE hair. I mean it…it always catches my eyes as much as her brilliant, sometimes funny and sometimes thought provoking posts. So please join me in welcoming her to REAL Woman Wednesday.
Me: When I speak to readers, I always want to know one thing: what is the number one thing that you think makes a good book/read?
Sara: Character development and plot. If it has great characters, I will read and re-read that book till it’s in tatters!
Me: Who are your favorite writers? Do you have specific genres?
Sara: I think I love books in general! But my favorite genres are fantasy/sci-fi….I love Jacqueline Carrey, Terry Goodkind, Kim Harrison, the Gor series by John Norman is an interesting favorite of mine. Laurell K Hamilton is one of my favorite authors as well. She generally has some well developed plot lines with massive, sometimes too much, character development. But I love her books anyway! I love Stephen King, Dean Koontz….I really read across most genres!! When I was in grade school and had learned to read, I was reading high school level books, and I read most all the books our tiny school library had!!
Also, if you haven’t read Jacqueline Carrey’s Kushiel’s Dart series, you really should. I do not, however, recommend it if you don’t like hints of BDSM and masochism.
Me: Who me? The ‘hurt me harder, please Master’ type?
Sara: You’d love them then!!!
Me: So besides writing…what else do you enjoy doing? I have seen this precious little kitten on your Facebook feed.
Sara: Hahaha, my little baby….my 14 year old found her outside during a rain storm the beginning of Sept. We figure she was maybe 10 days old….so it was bottle feedings, a playpen to keep our older kitties from hurting her, and a LOT of trips to the vet!! Now she is almost 4 months and doing VERY well. She is spoiled, slightly. We call her Missy D (short for Diablo).
Me: That is funny…ours is also Miss…Little Miss Fluffy paws. That is what happens when you allow a 7 year old little princess with Asperger’s to name them. Another thing we share in common besides being those little old cat ladies with stacks and stacks of books…kids. What do you think is the hardest part of being a mom?
Sara: Oh my goodness…I have 3 girls. One is on her own, one is away at University but will be home for Christmas soon, and my littlest….who is 14…is my handful.
And I think the hardest part of being a Mom is letting them make their own mistakes, even and ESPECIALLY when you know it’s not the right one…I never liked falling on my face when I screwed up and I really don’t want that for them. So standing back, letting them be themselves, that’s hard.
But they have grown into beautiful women! I attribute most of their wisdom to my parents because they helped me raise them. I was a single Mom, most of my life, until I found my Mr Right, who had been my best friend the whole time. My parents were really good about helping with baby sitting, rides while I was at work, ya know, stuff that maybe a spouse would help with! They are awesome people.
Me: Mr. right who was your best friend all along…now where have i heard that one before?
Sara: Seems to be a common theme!
Me: So how long did it take you to grow up and see what was plain as day all along…that the best ones are your friends?
Sara: I was 35 when it hit me….had kicked my youngest daughter’s sperm donor to the curb the year before….and he called. He’s like hey….long time no see! Let’s catch up! So he showed up at my door, we stayed up ALL NIGHT till he had to leave and get ready for work.
He called the next day and then came back over and we had this wonderful talk…he told me he wanted to date me, and always had but I was always with these asshats. So he just kinda waited.
Man, I’m so lucky he waited…. He helped me realize I had no idea what love was. I thought I had been in love 3-4 times before. Nope…love…with friendship….oh man, there is NOTHING that can top that!
Me: There sure isn’t!
Sara: We had some many people tell us “it’s about time.” Like they knew something we hadn’t.
Me: Just sometimes we have to kiss loads of those frogs before we notice the one that was waiting politely all along.
Sara: Oh my god, right! Sometimes I look back and go, ‘what was I thinking’???
Me: Thank you for your time and sharing the hope of your story.
Note: Yes, I know this is Thursday and NOT Wednesday. But I had unexpected company that stayed all day yesterday (but they gave me an awesome Freaky Friday post). When they left, I tried to write and post this, but the words were not coming out right.
And I will NOT compromise on REAL Men Mondays or REAL Woman Wednesdays. As Sara’s story today illustrates…despite the lies of Disney fairy tales and romance novels, with their ridiculously young, thin and perfect heroines and beefy Prince Charmings, the truth is that REAL love is about REAL people…with all our flaws, physical and emotional, making a decision to risk being hurt AGAIN and finding something special with our best friend and soul mate (or mates).
I am passionate about changing how we see beauty, love and romance. So if you are one of my Facebook friends, you might be surprised with a message sometime pleading you to take your turn. Sara said I made it relatively painless. Just like two friends sitting down over coffee or wine and chatting…except with a computer screen. And if you have not friended me on Facebook, I hope you will. Or email me and volunteer. Please…nothing changes if we don’t fight the system.
REAL men and women living REAL lives and finding REAL love with loads of GREAT sex…that is Tara Neale in a nutshell!
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