I was five years old when my parents moved from Manhattan, New York to Jamaica. It was always their dream to go home, but for me, it was a nightmare. Gone were mornings spent with Bert, Ernie and Big Bird. Strawberry Shortcake and The Smurfs were also things of the past. You see, when we moved to Jamaica, the island had only two television stations so, I turned to books.
My mother has always had an extensive library and it didn’t take long for me to quickly grow tired of Nancy Drew and her escapades. As soon as I was able, I delved into my mom’s collection of Danielle Steel novels and found myself fleeing the Russian revolution with Zoya and discovering my independence with Samantha in Palomino.
Those novels, along with an ever accessible stack of Harlequins, were what fueled my love of the romance genre. I can’t tell you how many days I sat on my parent’s verandah completely lost in the pages of a book.
Now that I’m a writer, my goal is to do the same. I’d like that when someone picks up one of my novels, they are transported to another time and place. If I can help just one person forget their troubles (even for a short while) then I’ve done my job.
Always,
Amusing Abi
Wednesday, February 04, 2009 |
Category:
Recollections
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7
comments
Comments (7)
I think it's our hope as authors that the readers do 'forget their troubles' because a romance is a friend that you can count on for a happy ending when you're down in the dumps. I know I'll read a lot when I needed the escape. Great post!!!!
I think its a great thing to want to help someone to escape into another place. It certainly does wonders for me.
Hey, Abi! Great blog you ladies have.
Ah, I remember those days. I totally snuck into my mom's romance stash too :) Love the new blog you ladies have!
I only hid when i was supposed to be doing home work,I guess mt parents figured that if I they didn't make such a deal out of it I would stop reading the Harlequins. They were so wrong.
- Thanks Jax! I love how you can count on romances for happy endings too.
- Brandy I still think that the days I spent on my parent's verandah reading were some of the best days of my life. I hope to share that feeling with someone soon.
- Thanks Kelley!
- Katie and Chudney, I'm so happy you ladies came to visit! Did you ever think when you were sneaking into your mom's stash of novels all those years ago that you would be writing them one day?
I always escaped into books as a kid. I'm not sure what made me decide to become a writer, but one day it was just this desire that I had to indulge.