Endings...

Obviously, I’m a freak—a Disney freak to be exact. I always have been and always will be. Whether it is Walt’s single-minded determination to succeed or the promise of a guaranteed happy ending, I think we can all agree on one thing: happy endings equal romance.

What’s my current dilemma, my urgent quandary of the day?

The happy ending to my WIP. I’m two and a half chapters away from finishing my second full-length paranormal novel, and for some odd reason, I find great pleasure in making my leading man and woman work their butts off for their happy ending.


Yeah, that’s kinda what I feel like. As a writer, I’m parenting these characters (my children) along the road of life, throwing stumbling blocks into their path to let them grow as they weave their way around them. Then I think it’s still not enough. They don’t want it enough. I just can’t hand them a ride-off-into-the-sunset-moment. Real life isn’t that easy! So, with villainous glee I write in another shiny bit of conflict.


Funny, right, seeing as how my hero is a werewolf trying to be a human, and my heroine is a gargoyle trying also to be a human, little realizing they can be happy if they just accept themselves as they are. Suffice it to say there’s a curse, a birthright gone askew, a ticked off dragon, a dark angel, a stolen soul…well it’s complicated and the path to true love is not paved with the cavity sweetness of the movies.

So then, I ask you, if the stakes are high enough, does that mean the ending will be sweeter, or does that famed happy ending depend on the personalities and emotions of the central characters themselves and how they react to the very conflicts keeping them apart?


Sound familiar? Yup, ladies, we’ve got the real life versions of fictional heroes at home as we live out our own happy endings. And what’s more, that’s fine with me because I’ll let you in on a little secret—here’s what you don’t see on the screen. Cinderella and her prince fought over the window seat in the carriage, Snow White and her beau bickered over why he didn’t ask for directions on his way over to get her, Aurora and her prince had their first spat when they each met the in-laws, and good ole Belle yelled at the beast for not wiping his paws before coming into the castle.

(And for our male readers, I'm sure our morning-breath, bed-headed, 10 year-old sweat pant wearing, haven't shaved our legs in weeks selves aren't exactly the vision of Miss America you had in mind, right? LOL)

Real life. Nothing beats it. These men we married, they’re the bomb, and something deep down within us knows that given the right mood, in just the right light and with a bouquet of flowers in hand, our guys can beat the crap out of those made up men any day of the week—and we wouldn’t trade them for anything…although, wearing a cape now and then would go a long way…I digress.


Parting thought for the day. No matter what the obstacle, real or imagined, nothing can stand in the way of true love or happy endings. Sappy? Maybe. Hopeless romantic? Nope, make that hopeful romantic. Every facet of life has an aspect of love in it, but it’s always there, and that’s what makes us smile at the end of a good book or movie, that’s what makes us hold hands in the park and makes us giggle for no reason.

Love—creating happy endings one roadblock at a time. Have a great day everyone.