From RWA .... what makes a blogger tick?

During RWA, an author asked me, "What makes a blogger tick?"  I have asked other bloggers to write a guest post with their answer. For now, here is mine.

Why do we use that phrase, "What makes you tick?"  It refers to what motivates a person.  I assume the phrase is a metaphor for the second hand of a clock, that literally ticks each minute, moving forward to the next hour.  To understand what keeps me moving forward, let's take take a quick peek into the past on how I discovered romance.

Kasteel Limbricht, with a medieval moat and bowling alley
Link

In 2003, I was living in the Netherlands near Kasteel Limbricht - I walked around it every day as part of my morning exercise. My husband worked for NATO and I volunteered with the International Spouses' Club.  I enjoyed afternoon tea with the British delegation.  NATO troops has just deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as peacekeepers.  They contacted the American Spouses' Club (ASC) to collect and send donations for an orphanage the troops adopted as community outreach in Kabul.  As the president of the ASC, I recruited volunteers to empty the shelves from our long neglected thrift shop.  We sent what we could - clothes, linens, and toys - leaving behind the paperback books written in English.  I  picked up a blue cover with a tartan sash, Cathy Maxwell's THE MARRIAGE CONTACT.

Unlike most members of Romanceland, I was not a voracious reader as a child. I read a few Nancy Drew books. As an adult, I indulged in some cozy mysteries (with a cat, no less) while traveling in the Air Force. But it was Cathy Maxwell - Navy veteran and Avon author - who drew me into the enchanting world of historical romance. The heroine, a penniless London debutante, accepts a contract from the hero's sister to marry the "mad" lord who buried himself in the Scottish countryside. The story centers around their discovery of what makes the other tick. For the hero, it is helping his Scottish kin to reclaim their Gaelic culture after a hundred years of British suppression. Maxwell includes an epilogue of the couple's descendants participating in the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 after the Scottish people overwhelming voted for its own government.

I realized that the so called "bodice rippers" were, in fact, smart reads. Romance books delivered the hope that we all seek in our lives ... just as NATO troops was trying to bring hope to the orphanage in Kabul ... and the people of Afghanistan. NATO continues to support an orphanage in Kabul at this link. 

Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford
"Inventor" of afternoon tea 

Fast forward to 2007 on Fort Meade, Maryland. As the vice president of the Officers' Wives' Club (OWC), I hosted an Old Fashioned Tea Party with romance authors. I previously posted the details on my blog at this link. The first author I invited to attend - Cathy Maxwell. She drove 3 hours from Richmond, VA, in snowy weather to join us. I did not realize how many spouses read romance until they "came out of the closet" to attend this event and share their passion for Romance. This experience taught me that romance brings people together - authors and readers - to celebrate the hope in the books we loved.

Fast forward to 2010 on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After living in Hawaii for nine months, I felt detached from Romanceland.  So I started a blog, SOS Aloha, to share my life in Hawaii, to offer suggestions for readers to support military families, and, of course, to share what I was reading in romance.  

Fast forward to 2017 at the RWA Conference at Walt Disney World. During the St. Martin's Press cocktail party, an author asked me what makes bloggers tick. Just as I was about to answer, others joined our table and the conversation shifted focus. But author's question has remained in the back of my mind.

And the answer is .... hope! Hope makes me tick. The hope that I can escape into a smart read. The hope that I can find others who enjoy romance. The hope that I am welcomed just as I am into Romanceland.

Tintagel Castle in Cornwall
English Heritage (link)

I am giving away a swag pack from RWA17 to four randomly selected commenters from my posts published in the month of August. To enter the giveaway,

1. Let's chat about castles - do you have a favorite? Mine is Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, England.  Its ruins hug the coast and whisper the legend of Arthur ... a boy who brought hope to England.

2. Comments are open through Thursday, August 31, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I'll post the winner on Friday, September 1.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Celebrate Romance Every Day: SOS Aloha's 6th Anniversary (part 1) - Romance blossoms in the Netherlands

Limbricht Castle (Kasteel Limbricht)

Public Domain (link)

Six years ago, I created SOS Aloha while living in Hawaii.  Yet it was an other overseas assignment which introduced me to romance.  In 2002, we moved to the Netherlands when my husband received an assignment to NATO's Joint Forces Command Brunssum (link).  I found myself in the perfect storm to spurn my interest in historcal romance novels:

- We lived across from the Limbricht Castle, a medieval home complete with a moat, tower, and modern duck pin bowling alley!

- I enjoyed afternoon tea with the British Delegation.

- Military families jumped aboard Ryanair to visit London, Dublin, and Edinburgh - home of castles, castles, and castles!

Shortly after our arrival, NATO troops deployed as peacekeepers to Kabul, Afghanistan.  The international staff adopted an orphanage in Kabul and asked the America Spouse's Club to collect donations. So we rolled up our sleeves, cleaned out the long neglected thrift shop (link), and sent boxes with clothes, blankets, and toys. We also received an anonymous donation of $1500 to purchase a generator for the orphanage.

Once the dust settled, I looked around the thrift shop to see what was left - books written in the English language. One paperback caught my eye with its blue cover and tartan sash:

Journey with Cathy Maxwell to nineteenth-century Scotland...a land of romance and dreams. There, away from the stifling ballrooms and idle gossip of London, a debutante hopes to find a life she could only have imagined...and a noble Highlander discovers that the truest love of all awaits him in the form of an unexpected bride-to-be.

After consuming every historical romance from the thrift shop shelves, I moved onto the Army's library where I discovered romantic suspense from my fellow Floridian, Heather Graham:

When private investigator Dane Whitelaw discovers he is being set up to take the fall for the murder of his former lover, Sheila, he teams up with Sheila's best friend, Kelsey Cunningham, to discover the truth.

I also cultivated a friendship with the manager of the Stars N Strips bookstore.  She raved about Bertrice Small:

There has never been a woman like luscious, raven-haired, hot-tempered Skye O'Malley. She is the courageous seafaring captain of her own mighty fleet, and intelligent enough to win a battle of wits with Queen Elizabeth herself. Follow along as Skye O'Malley is swept up in a journey filled with romance and passion that takes her from glittering Ireland, to lush Algeria, to the heart of London in pursuit of a unique and eternal love.

I would later meet Cathy, Heather, and Bertrice once we moved back to the US ... Cathy is a Navy veteran, Heather has participated in a USO tour, and Bertrice's beloved husband, George, was an Army veteran from the D-Day Landings in WWII.   

How did you discover romance?  One randomly selected commenter wins a book choice from my convention stash. Comments are open through Saturday, March 12, 10 pm in Baltimore.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, March 13.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Next week:  SOS Aloha's 6th Anniversary (part 2) - An Old Fashioned Tea Party with Military Spouses and Romance Authors.

The Tea Party by Frederic Soulacroix