By Helen Lacey
One of the many reasons I started reading and then some years later writing Special Edition stories was because of the strong sense of community running through them. I not only loved the romance between the hero and heroine, but the families and secondary characters who very often became the main characters in their own story later on.
I also love the friendships that entwine the characters. The ever faithful girlfriends or sisters the heroine can’t do without – they are her allies, her sounding board and very often her conscience. And who can go past that one friend of the hero who you just know is a little bit wicked and will get his comeuppance when the right girl walks into his stratosphere. When I read a Special Edition book a feel a sense of ‘realness’ that stays with me. It’s like these people could be someone I know – a neighbour, a friend, even myself.
I’m eternally grateful that reading and writing romance has gifted me some of the most important relationships and friendships of my life. My writing group formed nearly twenty years ago and we still get together every couple of months to talk romance and trends, what’s hot and what’s not. We still celebrate our successes and commiserate if something goes pear shaped. We recently caught up at a conference and I was so proud when our founding member and mentor, Helen Bianchin, was honoured as the inaugural inductee into the Romance Writers of Australia’s Hall Of Fame. Another highlight was doing the Palazzo Versace hotel tour – including a limo ride and a delightful High Tea. But really, it was about hanging with people I care about.
(From Left to right, my lovely friends and fellow authors - Lesley Millar, Laura O’Connell, That’s Me, Helen Bianchin, C.C. Coburn, Louise Cusack)
Here are a couple of snaps of a few of us living it up on the Versace Tour. Did I say the High Tea was fabulous? And it was fun going through the swanky hotel rooms and our guide telling us which A-list (and some B-list) celeb’s stayed there.
So, do you belong to a group of friends that still hang together after a number of years? Maybe you have old school friends? Or perhaps you share a hobby with a few like-minded people?
I have a $10.00 Amazon voucher to giveaway to one commenter who shares their friendship story.
I love catching up with friends I only get to see at a conference too. i have a mother’s group who don’t catch up as regularly now our kids are school ages but when we do it’s brilliant. great topic!
Hi Bec – a mother’s group sounds fabulous, and you would get to watch each other’s littlies grow up. Thanks for stopping by.
Friends are life’s real treasures Helen. I remember at my first RWNZ conference they talked about critqiue groups, and the 2 other ladies and I that were sitting next to each other said, what a good idea. It turned out we lived just a short distance from each other, even walking distance with one and some 12 years later we are still great friends. We meet each month, sometimes even weekly if family commitments allow and I really treasure their freindship.
Also, 33 years ago in a youth hostal in France i met a Canadian girl. In the years since, i’ve been her matron of honor, she’s visited NZ 4 times, i’ve visited Canada 9 times and even went to give her support when her mother was dying. For such a fleeting meeting, we have a friendship that lasts years and across thousands of miles.
Jane
Hi Jane – it’s lovely that you had such a positive experience from a conference and have maintained the friendships since. And making friends from other countries is a great way to see the world!
Lovely post and so true of our Babes’ friendship, it just gets better and better! Here’s to the next twenty years and beyond.
I’ve made so many other friends through writing and love catching up with them at conferences – the only way we get to see each other, since we all live so far apart. It was my great pleasure to recently hav authors Cathleen Ross and Kandy Shepherd staying with me – we had such fun together. Such is the nature of our rather lonely existence (spending hours a day in front of a computer screen imagining characters and plots) that I’ve come to realize that only other authors can really understand each other!
Hi CC – You’re right, we do tend to understand other another. I’m so pleased you’ve made so many friends along the way. See you soon xx
I’m very blessed to be a part of a group of women (14) who gather each summer or Fall at the beach for a few days. We also get together for dinners and celebrate our children wedding, etc with… Mother of the Bride parties and Grandmother showed. Very blessed to have these friends.:)
Hi Leanne – a group a fourteen sounds wonderful. What lovely memories yuou must make when together.
I met several great friends in a writing class almost twenty years ago. We formed a critique group that was so strong for many years. I don’t meet with them regularly, but we still keep in touch, and one of the members of that group sold to Harlequin a few years before I did — Pamela Tracy who writes for Love Inspired.
I also met my best friend in high school many years ago.
We still see each other every week or so and try to go on vacations every year.
And I’m with you, Helen. I love the importance of friends in SEs!
Hi Stacy – how lovely that you all still keep in touch. And I love best friend stories where people know one another since school
Oh, Helen. Yes! Friendships matter in a big, big way. When I think of the forever friends, I think instantly of my pal, Susan Crosby. We not only share our love of writing–and Special Edition–but we’ve shared the joys and the heartbreaks, the laughter and the tears for years and years and years.
Oh, look! I made a rhyme….
I just graduated from college and one of the hardest things I had to do is leave my roommates, who are also my best friends, after four years. I still have a small group of friends from high school and we meet any chance we get when we’re all in town! Even though we all have our separate lives and paths, it’s nice knowing that all of us can meet again and not feel like a minute has passed apart!
Hi Christina! How wonderful that you and your friends can catch up after time apart and still feel that bond of friendship. Great to see you here
Hi Christine – Forever Friends – what a lovely way to describe them. And how fab to have a bestie who understand your love of writing.
Hi Helen!
thanks for sharing that wonderful story. Wow twenty years, that’s fantastic. Twelve years ago, when I first started my journey into writing, I hooked up with the local chapter of RWA and met like-minded ladies and men and fell in love! A few of us spun off into our own critique group, and though we’re spread all over the USA map, I still feel incredibly close to those five friends. Nothing like sharing the ups and downs together with fellow writers.
Also – I’ve been told so many times how “substantive” SE books are, and like you said, the characters feel realistic – like people we could know. That’s what I love most about this fabulous line of category romance. Thanks for putting it into words.
Hi Lynne – it’s great to see so many others who’ve had similar experiences with groups or friends.
And yes, SE’s have that way of making me feel like I have come home – they are such a fulfilling read.
im with my friends everyday twentyfour hours a day and love evry second of it,,,and reading my books is my hobby
Hi Lisa – how great you can spend so much time with your friends. And I think you have the best hobby of all! Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, Helen (and my buddy Christine
–
I’ve been part of a group of five compatible women for about 15 years now. Once or twice a year we go to the coast for a long weekend and just enjoy each others’ company. We cook, we talk, we fix the world
. Oh, and we shop. We pick a new city every time that’s close enough for a day trip from our location and spend the day there, shopping and having lunch. And we never shut up! My ears hurt by the end of the weekend.
Our favorite meal is appetizer night.
Yes, great friends and sisters are critical to my SE heroines. Can’t live without ‘em.
Susan
Hi Susan – Compatible women? That’s so right. How lovely you have a group to share with and make great memories.
aaahhhh, my senior high school friends… we’ve been friends since 1994 untill now and i wish we’re still be friends for many many years to come…
last wednesday just spent my time with them at the salon,do the girls thing while their husband look after their children (im not married,only me)
Hi Rosalina – high school friends rock. Maybe because they know our deepest secrets and the angst of those teens years. Thanks for stopping by.
My friend, and fellow SE writer, Nancy Robards Thompson, and I have stayed in contact since we met at a Romance Writer’s of America national conference fifteen years ago. We were both unpublished.
Though we don’t live close, we talk weekly (sometimes more) and get together whenever we can.
Great post!
Hard to believe it’s been that long, Cindy! I think it’s important to add that when we first met neither of us had email. We nurtured our friendship the old fashioned way…phone, letters and seeing each other at the annual RWA conference. Good times.
Hi Cindy – It’s lovely that you were able to share the journey towards publication with someone who has become a dear friend.
Christine Rimmer and I have formed a friendship due to me reviewing her books as a gift and ministry. It has been a blessing having her as a prayer partner too. Friendship on internet is my main friendship lately. But thank God for those I’ve met who are prayer warriors. I haven’t met you but since Christine recommended you here that would be enough for me. Please enter me.
Jane, much love and a thousand hugs!
Hi Jane – thank you for your lovely comment and for dropping by today.
Great post, Helen. Being part of a writers’ group has meant friendships for a lifetime, a resource for advice when life is giving lemons and comfort when the going gets tough. I also agree, the characters in your stories are real, like people I’ve known on my life’s journey.
Hi Laura – great to see you here. Lemons into lemonade I say. Thanks for being a great buddy. xx
Great blog, Helen! Here’s to the power of friendship.
HI Nancy – thanks so much. And yes, good friends are gold.
My romance friendships are most important to me. My friends CC.Coburn and Kandy Shepherd really get it. And we have the greatest laughs. Lovely to it with you at the Harlequin dinner, Helen.
Best
Cathleen
PS What did you do with your whip?
Hi Cathleen – it was great to get to know you a little better at the dinner, too. As for the whip? I actually scored the blindfold. And not saying
I have two whips, Cathleen, so if you want one I can bring it down when we catch up!
I have been really lucky in this area. I grew up with a group of friends, whom I have remained close to for my whole life. Some of them I met before Kindergarten and then we added one in grade school and then one more to our group in junior high. One of them is my co-blogger and we play on the same trivia team each week (I’ve known her for 30 of my 34 years) and the others have moved away, but we still get together once or twice a year. I love them like family.
“Strangers, they’re exciting, their mystery never ends, but there’s nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends.” – Ani DiFranco “Good, Bad, Ugly”
Hi Laura – how lovely to see that you have such life-long friends. And thank you for the fabulous quote