SquawkRadio

TERESA MEDEIROS WRITES:

What are you trying to say? That just because Liz and I live in Kentucky that we're probably barefoot and wearing overalls? Hey, I might be barefoot right now but I'm not wearing overalls!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got me a cow to milk and a cousin to marry...

I've been seeing this term bandied about the various message boards and websites. It's "TSTL" and it refers to the heroine of a romance novel whose actions are so bizarre or so self destructive (either physically or relationship-wise) that the reader deems her not only not worthy of the requisite "happily-ever-after" but Too Stupid to Live. I'm willing to step out on a limb here and suggest that any reader who deems a heroine as being TSTL is one cocked elbow away from hurling the book that she inhabits into the wall. Ouch.

Now I can understand feeling let down especially if the heroine is moving along in a reasonable and, most important of all, characteristically intelligent manner and suddenly does something out of character that endangers her well-being or the well-being of someone else.


BUT

Love does make us stupid. Act stupidly. Act impulsively. Act without thinking of the future or the past.

So...how stupid is TOO stupid?

Second point I'd like to broach. What about the heroine who is just plain old...unbright? Someone whose personality is, from page one, depicted as being a little frivolous, thoughtless, heedless ...Unintelligent. Any sympathy for her? I'm thinking of Lolly in Jill Barnett's fabulous book Just A Kiss Away. Aren't we all sort of sick of bookworm heroines? Aren't we ready to fall in love with a heroine who isn't a bluestocking, doesn't have any hidden but fabulously well developed skills, and doesn't aspire to be the top of some male-dominated profession? I am.

Connie Brockway

TERESA MEDEIROS WRITES:

Oooooh, Connie as Blog Dominatrix! You've given me some really scary mental images of Connie in black leather wielding a whip. Maybe we should quit talking about that AND women in prison before we attract the wrong sort of audience

You're probably going to note a regional flavor to some of our messages. Eloisa and I (and I will undoubtedly screw up and call her by her non-pseudonym at some point because pseudonyms are so un-Minnesotan!) are the intelligent ones (we already covered wh...Minnesota). Christina and Lisa are the short ones (hey, there's only so many comparisons I can make between Miss Mass and Miss Mess) and Terri and Liz are in Kentucky. Nuff said.

I'm trying to figure out if there is some general email address where you could contact us, but so far it looks like a simple email to (author'sname)Blog@www.(authorsname).com should work for now. I think, as per the reasons in Christina's post, I've managed to turn off the comments allowed.

Shoes? Donald Pliner. Stuart Weissman.

Connie Brockway

If you have a question you'd like us to discuss, email one of us and if we're not too self-absorbed, we'll fling it out and gnaw on it.

Christina Who is Starting to Like This Position of Power and Intends to Keep It at Least Until Connie Gets Back

For the moment you can add comments (sometimes), but altho we're all novice bloggers we've heard about the porn spammers that pick up on these blogs, so Connie (who's our blog dominatrix) is going to block comments soon. That's not to say we don't want to hear from you. Email us and let us know what you think, and if you're clever and witty, we'll post for you. If you're more witty and clever than we are, forget it, who needs the competition? And if you're a porn spammer, drop dead.

FOUR REASONS I DIDN'T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN A BLOG
1) I think they're pointless exercises in egotism. Just because I'm a bestselling author, why should anyone care what I think about the latest publishing scandal or last week's episode of DR. PHIL? (Oh my gosh! Did anybody see it a couple of weeks ago when Sharon and Ozzy Osborne were on?)
2) Because I'm a very shy and private person who hates to reveal details about her personal life(Did I ever tell you about the time I was accidentally put in Special Ed classes in the first grade? Or what about the time I fell between the bleachers during a choral performance and decided to just stay under there for the rest of the show?)
3) I don't read blogs
4) Because it's just another thing to do besides actually writing a book

FOUR REASONS I DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE IN A BLOG
1) Connie Brockway threatened me
2) I love to play with fonts. It's like having my very own coloring book
3) Because I'm the only one among us who regularly watches TV so I might actually have Something Important to discuss
4) Because when I told my husband about it, he said, "Oh, just another thing to do besides actually writing a book, eh?"