 Honey Bucket and Hey You!Posted by Jo Robertson Sep 30 2007, 7:00 pm in Jo Robertson, Terms of Endearment by Jo Robertson I’m not particular what name people call me. As my dad was fond of saying, “You can call me anything as long as you call me for supper.” By the time I went to college, however, I was pretty fed up with having to spell out my first name to everyone – B-E-N-I-T-A. So I immediately adopted my middle name J-O, just Jo, and have used it ever since. Hey, if Roy Scherer, aka Rock Hudson, could do it, so could I!
Remembering that experience got me to thinking about the pet names we give one another, whether friends, lovers, or children (think babies and the gosh-awful, cutesy names we use).
My children have the strangest names for their offspring. Preston became “Wheezer.” I have so idea why. Annalise was “Annalise the Beast” and later became “Lou-Lou”; where DO they get these strange appellations? Siblings Gabe and Ezra are both called “Bubba,” as are their father and mother. Go figure.
I had a cousin named Bubba, a result of some in-breeding, I think, but that name was short for brother.
Some of the names we give our husbands and lovers are the most interesting. When I was a young woman, a man in our church referred to his wife of twenty-five years as My Bride. Now, to some wives this might seem deferential, sweet, perhaps even respectful. To me the reference merely conjured up images of a woman on a pedestal, thrust down into a pit. Not a pretty thing. On the way home from church, with steel in my voice and fire in my eyes, I said to my husband, “If you ever call me Your Bride, I will kill you.”
As you might suspect, that name lasted about a year.
So what’s preferable? Sweetheart (which is what I call my husband, but also how I address my daughters, shortening it to Sweetie)? When we were dating, my husband once wrote me a letter in which he called me sweatheart. Uh, not the sam
 e thing. Honey? Darling? Baby? Remember Dirty Dancing and Patrick Swayze’s line, “No one backs Baby into a corner”? What kind people name their baby . . . well, Baby?
Hot Pants? Hootchie Mama? Is there a P.C. term that I’ve missed somehow?
So, gentle reader, the question today is – what terms of endearment do YOU use with your boyfriends, husbands, or lovers? What names used in novels make you cringe? Which ones do you love to hear? Oh, and don’t forget the most interesting part, the WHY.
RESEARCH CAN BE FUN!Posted by Suzanne Ferrell Sep 29 2007, 7:01 am in firefighters, Jo Davis, research, romances, Suzanne Welsh, writing by Suzanne WelshAs any of the Banditas or any romance author will tell you, we try to use facts to keep our books authentic. This requires research. Sometimes that is as simple as looking up a word in the dictionary. Sometimes it is as complicated as interpreting a doctor’s long-winded explanation of a disease process so that the author, and therefore the reader, can understand this over the course of a scene or a manuscript. Sometimes it’s just plain fun! Recently another of my critique partners, Jo Davis, asked me to accompany her to a fire station in Irving to The Last BanditaPosted by Susan Sey Sep 28 2007, 7:01 am in introduction, Susan Seyfarth By Susan Seyfarth and Kirsten Scott Ladies and Gentlemen…you may have noticed a new symmetry to the blog lately. Check out that sidebar–TWENTY BANDITAS! That means we’re finally complete. Hurrah! I get the pleasure of introducing our new Bandita, because she happens to be my critique partner (CP, to the acronym-happy among us) and one of the dearest people I know. If it weren’t for Susan, I wouldn’t be a member of RWA, I probably wouldn’t have finished my first manuscript, and I certainly would never have entered the Golden Heart–which means I wouldn’t be a Bandita! (The horror!) Yes, GUEST BLOGGER, SANDY BLAIRPosted by Suzanne Ferrell Sep 27 2007, 9:23 am in Uncategorized Interviewed by Suzanne Welsh My very good friend and critique partner, award winning author Sandy Blair, has slept in castles, knelt in cathedrals where kings and queens have been crowned, dined with peerage, floated along Venetian canals, explored the great pyramids, misplaced her husband in an Egyptian ruin (she continues to deny being the one lost,) and fallen (gracefully) off a cruise ship. Winner of RWA’s Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance, Sandy’s debut release A MAN IN A KILT also won the 2004 National Readers Choice Award for Best Paranormal Romance and was a 2005 RITA finalist. Sandy’s newest Happily Ever AfterPosted by Nancy Northcott Sep 26 2007, 6:01 pm in Genres, Happy endings, Optimism, Romance by Nancy Northcott How many fairy tales have you read that end “and they lived happily ever after?” A lot, I’ll bet. One feature that sets romance apart from other genres is that the characters will live happily ever after (HEA) at the story’s end. A lot of critics and non-romance writers mock the genre for this (and a lot of other things, each of which could be its own blog), but romance outsells all other fiction categories. We must be doing something right! As we grow older, I think each of us redefines what HEA means to us. It What Happens In Henderson …Posted by Kate Carlisle Sep 25 2007, 7:01 am in Plot Group By Kate I spent part of last week at Plot Group. And good news – I survived! My Plot Group is really amazing. Most of them have been plotting books together twice a year for over ten years, but this time there was something new and different added to the mix. Me! Yes, I’m a Plot Group virgin! I had no idea what to expect when my fabulous friends, Susan Mallery, Maureen Child, Christine Rimmer and Teresa Southwick, invited me to join their very successful Plot Group. There are plenty of plot groups out there and apparently, they all work And the winners are…Posted by Beth Andrews Sep 25 2007, 12:00 am in Uncategorized Cristyjan is the winner of a poster of the cover of Lord of the Fading LandsClaudia Dain is the winner of a poster of the cover of Lady of Light and ShadowsAnne is the winner of an autographed copy of Lord of the Fading Lands, C.L. Wilson’s wonderful debut book! Congratulations, ladies! Please send an email to C.L. at cheryl@clwilson.com with your information and use the subject Romance Bandits – I won! And thanks to everyone for participating! STOP, POLICE! James O. Born handcuffs mistakes in fictionPosted by Guest Sep 24 2007, 3:19 pm in guest blogger, KJ Howe by KJ Howe KJ Howe welcomes talented author and police expert, James O. Born who talks about common mistakes in fiction. If you have any questions for James, please fire away. He’ll do his best to answer. I am of fan of books and authors. No matter the genre, no matter the subject, I can usually find something I appreciate and enjoy in every area. I happen to write novels in the area of crime. We like to call it “Crime Fiction” as opposed to “Mystery”. No real reason other than I like to explain that my books tell more And the Winnah Is…Posted by Caren Crane Sep 24 2007, 10:58 am in Uncategorized Lily is the lucky winner of the pink keychain corset Donna promised in her Rewards post yesterday! Lily, please visit Donna’s website at www.DonnaMacMeans.com and leave your contact information. Congratulations, Lily and thanks to everyone who posted! RewardsPosted by Donna MacMeans Sep 23 2007, 2:42 am in Uncategorized by Donna MacMeans This time last week I was on vacation, walking on a beach in South Carolina, when I found a lightning whelk half-buried in the sand. I picked it up, noticed that a snail still lived inside, and promptly tossed it back into the ocean. The shell would have made a lovely souvenir, but not at the sacrifice of the snail. Later in the week we zipped down to Savannah, Georgia where I found the reward for my shell sacrifice. A pottery corset. How perfect is that? Sitting on a cage, waiting for the crinolines, my statuette is
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