One Last Time: Part 2 - by Sarah Raplee

In yesterday's Part 1 post , Judith reminisced about how she and I started RTG, how we couldn't have done this for fourteen years without all the contributions of our amazing Genre-istas, and how we became a community of colleagues and friends over the years.

In Part 2, I want to remember some of the things we did that we couldn't have imagined in the beginning.

For example, Judith and I often met at a little cafe and candy shop called Moonstruck Chocolate in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Early on, we came up with the idea of doing an Author Reading Event with local Genre-istas for Valentine's Day. It was a great success!

When the Outlander television series (of Diana Gabaldon's famous Time Travel Romance Books) aired, we recruited Author Michele Monkou to write weekly episode reviews for us.

Decades: A Journey of African American Romance

When Romance Author Patricia Sergeant told us about a year-long effort by twelve black Romance Authors to each write a Historical Romance book set in consecutive decades of Black history, we jumped at the chance to feature them as monthly Guests for a year. I love learning about history, and I learned a lot that I didn't know about our own country's history and the challenges overcome as well as the contributions made by Black Americans over 120 years. That knowledge has given me a better understanding of where we are today in this complicated country.

We launched a sister blog, Free Reads from the Genre-istas, that lasted a couple years. Those who wanted to could post free short stories, flash fiction, and poetry there to share with readers. Some of our stories later made it into anthologies.

These are just a few of the ways Romancing the Genres has more than met our original expectations. One of the statistics Judith forgot to mention is that we have had visitors from all over the world, and not just the English-speaking world: Russia, Japan, the European Union, Mexico, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Malasia, Vietnam, Argentina, El Salvador - the list goes on and on.

We wanted to be an inclusive, international blog for writers and readers - and we've achieved that goal.

That should make all our hearts happy.

Happy reading and Writing, 

Sarah Raplee and Judith Ashley

One Last Time, Part 1 - by Judith Ashley

There are so many, many memories that pop up or flow through my mind when I think back over the past 14 years. We met for tea and talk at the Border’s in Beaverton in February 2011. We put together the concept of Romancing the Genres and launched it less than 90 days later. Why? Because “blogging” was The Way to get noticed, become visible to readers. We commiserated on our reality that we didn’t want to blog every day, or every week.

What about once a month?

What if other authors were like us?

Those two questions started the brainstorming process that showed us we had a plethora of common views of the world. Our blog would have authors from diverse backgrounds  who wrote in a variety of sub-genres…initially romance sub-genres and then we dropped the romance genre as the over-arching genre and combined it with mystery, suspense, thrillers, etc.

As of today we’ve had 1,447,008 page views with 22,149 comments left and  so far this month, 53,541 have stopped by.

So many changes and challenges came our way. We managed to overcome them all with a little help (actually a lot of help) from the Genre-istas. When the Blog Queens aka Sarah and Judith put out The Call, one or more people stepped up.

Lynn Lovegreen and Marcia King Gamble took over individual months recruiting guests.

Paty Jager and Marcia King Gamble interviewed authors for our weekend guest spots. Paty the 3^rd weekend and Marcia the 4^th.

Marcia King Gamble organized our Facebook Party something the BQs had no idea how to put together.

Diana McCollum helped refresh and update our banner when we decided to expand our overarching focus to all genres not just romance. She has also stepped up with posts featuring images reflecting the theme of the month.

Many others have stepped up to help over the years. You all have our heartfelt thanks!

JUDITH ASHLEY

Although I don’t think it was a conscious decision, we did create a community, a family in some ways. Over the 14 years of our run, we’ve celebrated each other’s writer triumphs and helped promote each other’s book launches. We’ve also stood as friends when we’ve encountered life’s challenges. We’ve experienced LIFE’s challenges with the death of loved ones, unexpected illnesses and on the other side of LIFE, the sweetness of babies being born. Both Sarah and Judith have great grands, and many Genre-istas have welcomed new babies into their families.

We've had authors from all over the English-speaking world join us on this amazing journey. That was a dream come true! 

And some have become good friends. That was an unexpected gift from  RTG. I never thought I could have a close friendship with someone I never met in person. I was so wrong!!!

Stay tuned for Part 2, RTG's last post (or half-post?) tomorrow.

In Love and Light, Judith Ashley

 

Skye Sisters Trilogy Update by Sue Moorcroft

 It’s been a pleasure to contribute to Romancing the Genres over the last decade. My first post was written in June 2015 and was about the English-language market versus translations.

That was around the time I signed for Avon HarperCollins, dreaming of them taking me to Kindle UK #1 and making me a bestseller … which is exactly what they did. I’m just moving on again to Renegade Hachette (which you can read about here, if you’d like to) but my last book for Avon comes out on June 5^th 2025, so I thought I’d tell you about it.

Over the Sea to Skye is the third book of the Skye Sisters trilogy. I don’t know if you’ve been to the Isle of Skye, but it’s a gorgeous, largely unspoilt island off the west coast of Scotland. There are no high-rises or motorways and the scenery’s glorious. Skye’s part of the Hebrides, so other islands lie all around it like giant pebbles. I really recommend a visit.

The trilogy concerns three sisters, and although they all appear in each book, each has her own novel in which to tell her story. The sisters were adopted by musicians Maxie and Vince Wynter and grew up with an abundance of love. Of course, every adoptee has a birth story, so as well as all the usual conflicts, and finding love, each sister discovers how she came to live with Maxie and Vince in Suffolk, England. Sadly, Maxie and Vince died without sharing what they knew.

Each sister has a long name. Altheadora (or Althéa-Dora, depending which part of her story in Under a Summer Skye you’re reading) is Thea; Esmerelda (A Skye Full of Stars) is Ezz or Ezzie; but Valentina is always Valentina. Thea and Ezz took jobs together on the beautiful Isle of Skye after something bad happened to them in Suffolk. Now they work for the wealthy Larsson family at a restored grand house called Rothach Hall. Valentina also moved from England to Scotland but always on the mainland: first Edinburgh and then Inverness. She does buy a tiny summer cottage in Rothach village though. It’s a real fixer-upper and she pays a local builder to renovate.

At the beginning of Over the Sea to Skye, Valentina’s life has completely changed as she’s left her job as a corporate lawyer, and her husband has left her. She and her seven-year-old son Barnaby are on a tiny train between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh (where the Skye Bridge begins) when two American men jump on board at the last moment. They’re Xander Courage and his seventeen-year-old nephew MacDonald, and Xander’s just had his wallet snatched, which has made him stormy. He's usually a sweet guy, though rumpled, and Valentina’s shocked to find herself attracted to him. He’s travelling to Skye because his grandparents were born there, and MacDonald’s along for the ride, having got into a little trouble back in Pittsburgh.

Despite a ten-year age gap, Barnaby and MacDonald bond over computer games and both being away from home and their usual friends. To be honest, their companionship took me by surprise, the way it wove itself through the story. It’s sweet. And it helped me get Valentina and Xander on the same page.

Both Valentina and Xander are at crossroads, both on the cusp of new jobs, both out of relationships and spending the summer on Skye. His life’s in the US and hers in the UK, but why not a summer romance …? But life’s never that simple, especially not Valentina’s. Her ex-husband comes back into her life in an entirely unexpected way, impacting terribly on Barnaby, and then she begins to receive messages from a DNA-testing website. Xander’s always there when she needs him … until his life in the US calls him back. And it’s a call he can’t ignore.

 I’m honoured to be one of the guests asked back to write a final post for Romancing the Genres. It’s a wonderful site full of fascinating posts. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to talk about my latest book.

 

Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her novels have been #1 on Kindle UK and Top 100 on Kindle US, Canada, Germany and Italy. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Novel of the Year, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, two HOLT Medallions from the Romance Writers of Virginia and the Katie Fforde Bursary. She’s the president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

 Her novels, short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

 Over the Sea to Skye, published 5 June 2025

 Amazon page: Sue Moorcroft

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Website: www.suemoorcroft.com

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Young or Old, that is the Question by Cheryl Wright

I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less I want to read about women in their late teens and early twenties falling in love.

Oh, it was fine when I was in that age bracket, but I’m, ahem, a tad older than that now. Alright – I’m a lot older by about four decades. I really don’t want to read about such young couples.

I’ve been published since 2003, and writing older characters never entered my mind. Until it did.

I began writing mature age romances on and off the past few years or so. But after reading a number of reviews and chatting with my readers (many of whom are in my age bracket), it became clear, they too preferred to read more mature characters.

In this same time frame, I had been reintroducing romantic suspense to my books. It was how I began my writing career, but for reasons unknown to even me, I stopped writing it. Again, by listening to my readers, it became clear, they were enjoying my romantic suspense books.

As a result, I have moved away from writing historical western romance, to only writing mature age romantic suspense. At this point, I am only writing historical, but you never know when I might slip in a contemporary romantic suspense, as I enjoy writing those too.

One thing I have learned, after writing around 175 books (according to Amazon – I’ve lost count!) is if I don’t enjoy writing something, readers won’t enjoy reading it.

Much of the joy for me, is having the story unfold in front of me. I am not a plotter – I tried it once, and the story felt already written, to the point I couldn’t write the book.

I write organically. Most authors call it being a pantser. I loathe the terminology. It sounds unprofessional to me, like it’s not a real method of writing. But for authors like me, and there are literally thousands of us, it totally works. Many authors who don’t plot, have written themselves into a corner at some point, and haven’t been able to continue the book.

I admit, I did it once, and that was my very first book. I wrote around 30,000 words, and it took weeks to fix it.

I’ve never done it again.

When I begin a book, I know little more than my character’s names, which I inevitably change, and the fact the story will be a woman in jeopardy scenario. Sometimes it has been turned on its head and the female character ends up saving the guy.

My aim, when writing, is to bring joy to my readers. To write a story that is uplifting, and has a HEA, which all romances must have, is always my aim. There is no reason mature age characters cannot achieve their HEA, even if they believe they are too old to do so.

Cheryl Wright

What is your preference? Characters in their twenties or more mature aged characters? Let me know in the comments. I will do a random drawing for an ebook (sent via BookFunnel) for two readers who comment.

You can find all my books on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cheryl-Wright/author/B0088GDSKM

Check out my most recent series, the Unwelcome Brides. (Mature Age Romantic Suspense).

Book One is only 99c. *Each book in the series is completely standalone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D81H55NH

Join my VIP Reader Group on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cherylwrightauthor

Another Leap of Faith by Sarah McDermed

Sarah Raplee & Judith Ashley

 “Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing there’s a future.” —Daphne Rose Kingma

Writer’s block is something I’ve never really experienced until now. I’ve found it very difficult to write my final individual post for Romancing the Genres. It took me a while to figure out why.

It’s definitely time to move on. Blogging is no longer the necessity it once was for authors. There are many options available for reaching our readers. Judith and I have less energy as we grow older, and we need to spend it carefully.

That being said, I’ve loved working with authors from all over the world. Reading their blog posts and their books has enriched my life. I will try to keep up with them in other spaces, but closing RTG still feels like letting go. There’s a bit of grief and fear of the unknown that makes me want to hold on. (Hence the writer’s block.)

When Judith and I decided to start an international group blog for Romance writers and readers, we were 50% excited and 50% terrified. Neither of us had experience blogging. Both of us believed that blogging was a necessity for writers in 2011 to connect with their target demographic.

We were such beginners, but we knew we had to take a leap of faith. Fourteen years later, we must overcome fear to do so again.

“Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step.” —Muhammad Ali

Farewell my friends! Let go and leap into the adventure that is our futures!!!

Blessed be! ~Sarah Raplee McDermed

 

www.lovemarcia.com

So long, farewell,  I hate to see you go. https://romancingthegenres.blogspot.com/

It’s been fourteen incredible, educational ,fun years, and in honor, it  is worth taking a stroll down memory lane.

Over the   years, this talented group has shared so many special moments. In this, my final post, I’d  be remiss in not only honoring  our veterans  today, while paying homage to our  wonderful Blog queens  -the majestic- Judith Ashley and Sara Raflee.  They are the glue that held this group together. A round of applause please!

 I first heard of The Generistas when author Christy Carlisle asked me to  join the group. Christy used to design my Indie covers. Unbelievable, but that was over ten years ago and here I still am.   My saved e-invitation can be read below:

“I am a member of a group blog called Romancing the Genres. It's run by two RWA chapter mates of mine, and I've been contributing to their blog for several years. Since there are several contributors (we call ourselves Genre-istas!), I only have to post once a month, which isn't a burden. 

 

The site is here:  http://romancingthegenres.blogspot.com

 

They have just lost one of their contributors, and they asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested in joining. I have a short list of fellow authors I am going to invite, and you're the top of the list. In particular, they are looking to expand the diversity of Genre-istas, and that includes not just culturally but in terms of subgenre too. 

 

What an honor, I thought, and still do today.  But let me share some of the more memorable moments of this journey. The Generistas, over the years celebrated  birthdays and anniversaries, They’ve  had remarkable  guest presenters like  HarperCollins’s   Vice President of Editorial, Diane Moggy, New York and USA Bestsellers Heather Graham & Carla Neggers,  Amazon bestseller, V.S Alexander,  and the list goes on. How could we forget that incredible interview with Meg Cabot in 2016?

Yes, we’ve had renown editors and agents, and  an incredible 24 hour, or was it a 48hr international blog  party, with authors from around the globe popping in on the hour? There were prizes, Q & A sessions and  a lot of revelry. Then there was COVID, and for that we Zoomed through. I could go on, but I won’t. At some  point all good things come to an end.

And so, I am saying adieu with tears in my eyes . You can find me on any of the platforms below. And of course you are always welcome to share your opinions on Sundays, on Facebook. My Spicy Sunday column continues. Please keep reading! A mind is truly a terrible thing to waste.

 

 Instagram * Amazon * Website * Facebook * Twitter/X

 

Romantically Yours,

Marcia