Yes, I like romance novels.

Once upon a time, I decided an easy way to make money was to write romance novels. Never mind that I had never written anything closely resembling a novel in my life. I figured, "How hard could it be?" However, I HAD heard that you needed to be familiar with the genre you chose.

So, off I go to the book store and find a rack of series romances (like Harlequin and Silhouette). I grabbed a couple at random and went home to read them.

Oh. My. Word. They were so dreadful (my opinion) that I couldn't get halfway through either. The whole idea of writing romance went out the window.

Fast forward a few years... My sister calls me to recommend a book (Did I mention that we are voracious readers?) She gave me a lengthy description of how wonderful the book was, before finally admitting it was a romance. But, I promised to read it since we usually had the same taste. After reading REMEMBRANCE by Jude Devereaux, I learned an important lesson: Even the romance genre has good authors -- you just have to know who you like!

It's me again. FINALLY. I found a layout I like and updated my blog today. 'Bout time.

Well, today is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise known as "shop til you drop" day. As expected, people were waiting for stores to open before dawn this morning. Sadly, their fervor was terribly illustrated by the 5:03 am death of a worker at Walmart in New York somewhere. They believe he had a heart attack. They also believe he was trampled since he was at the front door when the store opened. The shoppers were NOT happy when the store had to shut down. I'm sure Walmart wasn't happy either.

This is a very sad story. But before we condemn all of humanity for "what we've become," we should remember: None of this tragedy was planned. There was no malicious intent. Only a very few people would have been involved if he was indeed trampled. Many people who made it into the store probably didn't even know what happened. I don't know about you, but I'm saying a prayer for the victim's family and for all present.