What I learned about Romance from my Husband :)

Before I start, my friend Emily at Get Busy Writing is soooo close to 200 followers. If you don't all ready--pop over and follow her. She is well worth your time :) Now back to the show!

I’m not sure how my hubby will feel about me exploiting his cuteness for my own nefarious blogging purposes, but since we don’t run in the same blogging circles I doubt he will know—if you don’t tell him.

I’m working through a difficult part in my 2^nd WIP where two of my characters must overcome impossible odds to be together—and when I say impossible I really mean IMPOSSIBLE. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to navigate them through the situation I’ve written them into.

As I’m working through the problem, I start to think about what I’ve learned about love and romance from my husband.

Love is challenging: My biggest pet peeve in stories is when people fall into sacrifice-my-life-for-you love without any kind of obstacle. I’ve learned from my husband that love is challenging, but the good news is—the more you overcome together the more you love each other. Overcoming challenges and love are in direct proportion to each other.

Smart is Sexy: We all know stories with big brawny guys that swoop in and skewer the bad guys with a sword. Now, I’m not saying that I don’t like that, but there is also something so amazing about an extremely smart guy who can out think and out maneuver everyone. If you were wondering—yes, my husband is VERY smart (smart alecky that is :)

Humor can cover a multitude of sins: My husband prides himself on the fact that he makes me laugh everyday and it’s true—he does! He uses humor to defuse my stress, get me to forgive him, make me happy, and get me to do what he wants :) I believe characters can use humor in the same ways. I would love to see a truly humorous leading man!

Sometimes talking is overrated: I know I’m not the only person who has had this experience: You are having an argument with your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend and you think if you can just keep talking…and talking…and talking…you can solve the problem, but you just talk in circles and don’t resolve anything. I read a lot of books where they don’t talk and it causes problems or books where when they do talk everything is resolved. But I think it could bring on a fresh wave of despair to characters (and readers) if they talk and it just make things worse.

Sacrifice IS love: I feel like we live in a world where sacrifice is a dirty word. People who give up something for someone else are represented as weak and giving up their dreams. I hate that idea, because I believe sacrifice is REAL love. If you have ever had someone sacrifice for you—you KNOW without a doubt they love you. When I think of all the things my husband has sacrificed for me, I get choked up.

I’ve learned a lot of other things from my husband, but they are too personal to share :) What about you? What have you learned about romance from your significant other?

-Angie

P.S. I hesitated adding this because I didn't want to make anyone who is follically-challenged feel bad, but it is too funny not to share. Girls LOVE hair :) My husband was once bumped from coach to first class because the girl working the counter loved his hair. Then on a different flight the male flight attendent kept bringing him free food from first class because he had a hair-crush on him. LOL!