Man, today I’m talking about something near to my heart. Diversity. You know it’s important to me to bring diversity into the romance genre. I remember too many times growing up how much I longed to see heroines who look and acted like me. It’s why I make my characters a variety of colors and sizes. It’s important to me that they come from different backgrounds and have different goals, because as unique as we all are, I feel our characters must be equally diverse, to be convincing. With that being said, it’s hard to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, push boundaries, and go out there doing something left of center. I always do my best to write honestly and realistically. But I realized the other day, I was afraid. My stories are dealing with some heavy hitting issues and I wasn’t sure how it’d be taken.

That bothered me. That I would feel that way about my own writing. I took some time out to examine the emotion and quickly slay it. I think to keep this community thriving, we need fresh ideas, new blood, and different options. That means stepping out of the realm of what we know and like to experiment and support different things. I hope you’ll join me today and listen with an open mind.