The Genesis of the Mad River Romance Series: Judy’s version

Sharon’s version is accurate—we just jumped in—why not?

It was Covid; we couldn’t travel or go out to dinner. Plus, our book club had just read another critically acclaimed but depressing novel. So, I thought—we need more books that make people happy. 

I had been working up to trading in a high-tech career for one in writing, Career 2.0. Over the past few years, I have written a scifi novel (it needs a rewrite, trust me), attended three EdX novel 101 classes, and read several craft books, and learned a ton from a fabulous podcast, Story Grid. So when a writer with Sharon’s experience and talent was interested in the project, I thought it had a great chance.

Then we grew the business idea … what if… we could also give back to the area we love, inspire tourism, or help local charities? Why not target romance since that’s the biggest content market in the US, over $1B in book sales every year—plus movies and Netflix series (Bridgerton anyone?).

So we started. Lots of reading on the “classics”: Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, Robyn Carr, Carolyn Brown. (Did you know Nora Roberts revitalized a dying town in Maryland with one of her series?) Lots of learning about craft: story plotting, character arcs, creating conflict….

And, to my delight, almost everyone (okay, every woman and only a few men so far) loves a feel-good romance. No matter that we all know they aren’t realistic, that the men are too gorgeous, that the woman are too trim, that the forces keeping them apart are contrived, we know it’s going to end happily. And we are in it for the ride; to escape, to cheer for the lovebirds to overcome the odds, and maybe even to enjoy a choice word selection, humorous secondary character, or evocative description.

And, here we are; about 1 year after the first white board meeting. We have a book we would like to see published (we ARE shopping for agents, hint, hint), a website, and a community of people cheering for us to succeed. Huge thanks to Sharon for stepping off the cliff with me; none of this would have happened without her.

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As a sidenote, PLEASE enter comments in the comment section of the blog area or the quickie stories so we know what you like and what you don’t.