MamaWriters are thrilled to have Loucinda McGary here as our last (for now) special guest!
Her second book, The Wild Irish Sea, releases next week from Sourcebooks, and look – there’s an Irish hero! 
Please help us welcome Loucinda McGary.
My Mom Writes “Those” Kind of Books
My son was still a toddler when I made my first attempt at writing a novel. Lucky for me, he was always very good about sleeping through the night, so my earliest attempts at fiction writing happened after I put him down for the night. I’d rush into my bedroom and write until my husband (who worked swing shift at the time) arrived home shortly after midnight.
Alas, that early tome was destined to sleep forever with the dust bunnies under the bed, but I continued to write in fits and starts all though my son’s early years. He never really knew anything else and accepted that his mom ‘wrote stories’ as a simple fact of life. Then, when he was in high school I made my first attempt at writing a romance novel (it too lives with the dust bunnies and for good reason). By now, I was a divorced single mom with a less than stellar dating life, so my son thought it inexplicably weird that I would want to write about romance. But he shrugged it off, and like most teens, totally ignored me and my interests in anything.
When I finally sold my first novel, he was happy. But I think that was mainly because he’d seen all the frustrations and anger and tears I’d gone through with all the rejections that preceded the sale. My son has never read much fiction (he doesn’t really like chocolate either – GO FIGURE!), so he never asked to read any of my work, and that was fine with me. I did name a very minor character after him in my first published novel, The Wild Sight, and he did read the couple of pages on which that character appeared. He was actually pleased with his namesake character and pronounced the whole thing “cool.” But that’s as much of any of my books as he has ever read, which is probably just as well.
There are some things you just do not want to know or even think about when it comes to your parent, and sex is definitely at the top of this list! Of course my son knows there are sex scenes in my books, and he is not above giving me a bit of razzing over the bare chested men on my covers. But he does not want to read a sex scene knowing that his mother wrote it, and quite honestly, I don’t want him too. Can you say, “Awkward?” Or as he used to tell me when he was a teen, TMI (too much information)!
Recently my son decided to go back to college (my fingers are XXed this will help him find a J-O-B!), and is working toward a certificate in a field dominated by women. Most of his classmates are women as are his teachers, and yes, I know he considered this when he chose this course of study.
A couple of weeks ago, I joined three of my romance author friends in a book signing event at a local winery. The winery was actually
about an hour’s drive from my house, so I asked my son if he would go with me, help me set up, and drive me home. And yes, I’m sure he considered the free wine tasting when he agreed. However, I was surprised on the drive over when he told me he had told one of his teachers and several of his classmates about the event. As I listened, he related how he told his teacher, “I’m helping my mom with a book signing this weekend.” He continued, “She asked, ‘Your mom wrote a book?’ and I told her you’d written several. Then she asked me what kind of books you write and I told her romantic suspense.” As I sat in stunned silence, he said, “I told her I’d bring her one of your book marks. Is that okay?”
It was all I could do not to shout and hug him! Instead, I controlled my exuberance and said, “Sure, and tell her I’ll gladly autograph a book for her.” Then, I very timidly asked, “She does realize I write ‘those’ kind of romance novels, doesn’t she?” He grinned and said, “Oh, I told her, and she can’t wait to read one.” He sounded as proud of me as I felt about him!
I shared my story for all you mom’s of young children who are trying to write and have a publishing career. Don’t worry that what you write might have a negative affect on your little ones. Some day, they will grow up, and the fact that they saw you working hard to achieve goals that were important to you will only be positive. It may take awhile, but trust me, someday they will be proud of you!
I’m giving away an autographed copy of my newest release, The Wild Irish Sea to one lucky commenter. Feel free to ask me questions about it!
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